I'm still awaiting the first season of Jeremiah on DVD, but it's looking unlikely to get a R2 release at the moment. I think it's time to get my player chipped to be honest...
You know, I never quite understood why regionless, or multi-region DVD players aren't sold more? Someone tried to explain it to me once, but I think I was really too dense for it to make sense.
Movie studios don't approve of multi-region DVD players because they like to stagger their releases across different countries - for reasons only they know. Here in the UK, most new DVD players seem to be multi-region ones, but unfortunately mine isn't. I had the option when I purchased it, but declined because back then I didn't really know much about DVDs. Now I wish I'd had it chipped when I had the chance. There's a handful of R1 stuff which isn't available here, and titles which have DTS soundtracks on R1 editions but not on R2 editions.
Simon, I've heard from many a poster in England saying that although they have almost every season of FRIENDS released there, the box set isn't as complete (with extras) as they are when released here in the States. True?
I'm not too sure about Friends, it's a little confusing. For example:
Region 2 - Season 7 box set
£73.99
No extras listed
Region 1 - Season 7 box set
£25.99
Interviews, gag reel, producer commentary of 3 episodes, Gunther "spills the beans"
These prices are from www.play.com and www.playusa.com respectively. Surely there can't be that much of a price difference? It seems even crazier when you take into account the extras on the R1 version.
Anyone know why there's such a gap in price between the two versions?
Season sets of FRIENDS have gone down in price consistently here. I started buying them at Costco (where I always get my box sets) for $38.99. The last set, Season 6, was priced at $28.99. Two weeks ago, I saw all six seasons at Costco for $23 a pop.
I had heard they were pretty expensive in your neck of the woods, Simon, as well as the sets not having the extras that we get here. Strange. I don't know why the huge price difference nor why you wouldn't get the same package we get here.
It's commonly referred to a "Rip-Off Britain" over here now, wherein basically everything is more expensive than its exact equal over in the States. Petrol (gas), food, clothes, CDs, DVDs, the works. In fact, it's now cheaper for me to pay for goods to be shipped from the States to the UK, than it is to stroll up the road and visit the local stores. That's how crazy this country has become now!
Apologies, I've hijacked a DVD thread to start a political rant...
It's been two years now since the release of Artisan's Twin Peaks Season 1 DVD set, and the question on everyone's mind is, where's season 2? The good news is that most countries outside the US will be getting it in September of 2004. The bad news is that no US release is in sight. Why is that you're probably asking? In recent months there have been various news reports in which Artisan has claimed that they either don't have the rights any more or that the first season didn't sell enough to warrant season 2. Neither of these is true. Artisan's deal for the Spelling/Republic library (which includes Peaks) doesn't run out until September of 2005, and the Peaks box set was a fairly good seller for them, only bested by large blockbuster titles such as Terminator 2. So why haven't they really gotten around to season 2 yet? I've spent the last month or so looking into this, including talking with a couple of sources inside Artisan. The answer, sadly, boils down to petty corporate rivalry between Artisan and Paramount.
Paramount's parent company, Viacom, owned 80% of Spelling Entertainment in the late '90s due to a 1994 purchase of Blockbuster Entertainment. At the time, Spelling was showing huge losses and Paramount was trying to unload the unprofitable division. Thus they made the licensing deal with Artisan in 1998, figuring the catalog wasn't worth much. Then things changed in 1999. Spelling Entertainment underwent a dramatic restructuring that caused the company to start turning a profit, and suddenly Paramount started paying more attention. Instead of trying to dump Spelling, they purchased the remaining 20% to gain full ownership of the company and officially merged it into Viacom's family. Around the same time, dvd sales really took off, and before you knew it, home entertainment companies were eager to exploit their catalogs for titles to release on the hot dvd format. That library that Spelling let Artisan have cheap was now worth so much more.
So here's the interesting question to ask: Why has Artisan done so little to exploit the Spelling/Republic catalog, when every other home entertainment company is scrambling to dig into their back catalog for new dvd releases? The Spelling deal gives them the rights to over 6,300 films, yet to date they've only released about 30, most of which are just re-issues of the pre-licensing deal Republic discs. The answer once again, is Paramount. Because Paramount owns Spelling/Republic, they own all the source prints and negatives to every film and tv show licensed by Artisan (aside from prints have found their way into the hands of collectors). And Paramount doesn't like to share. Like most large entertainment corporations, they protect their assets fiercely once they deem them to have value, and would rather do nothing with them than let go of them cheaply for another company to profit off of. We already saw this in Paramount's refusal to license the Peaks pilot (which wasn't covered in the Spelling deal) at a reasonable price to Artisan for the first season set. With this new huge DVD market to be exploited, Paramount knew it had value, and they weren't going to let go of it easily. So we lost out on getting a US release of the pilot with the season 1 set. Now something similar is happening with season 2, and all the Spelling/Republic titles for that matter. The licensing deal Artisan has gives them the rights to release the titles, but it doesn't guarantee them access to the source materials to make new masters from. Paramount owns those, and they are doing everything they can to make it difficult for Artisan to get a hold of them to make new dvd masters from. Artisan has older existing masters for much of the catalog, but most were done for VHS releases and don't live up to the quality expected for dvd releases. New hi-def masters have to be made for dvd releases. In most cases, Paramount is either asking huge unreasonable fees for access to the source materials, or outright refusing to let Artisan have them. Artisan is a small company without deep pockets, so they have to watch carefully how much they spend on a disc. At the prices Paramount is asking, in most cases they just can't justify spending the money for new transfers (and of course if Paramount refuses outright they're stuck even more). That leaves them with two options: release sub-par discs that they know people will complain about and not accept, or not release the title at all. Artisan has opted for the latter.
So what this all means, is that we'll probably never see a release of Twin Peaks season 2 here in the US until after September of 2005, unless Paramount suddenly has a change of heart. The good news is that since Paramount is already doing new masters for the European and Asian discs, they'll have them done and can quickly churn out the discs once they re-acquire control of the Spelling library. The other wild card in all this is Lion's Gate, who now own Artisan. They're a bit more agressive with their home video releases and may decide it's worth spending the extra money to bring out some of the Spelling/Republic titles. Though given Paramount's lack of cooperation, I'd say it's a long shot at best. Most likely if you want to see Twin Peaks season 2 on dvd, you'll have to either import a copy from another region late next year, or wait until after September 2005 for a US release.
The first 5 seasons of Friends were released here during 97 & 98. They're available in box sets or individually. Each season is on 3 double-sided discs, eight episodes to a disc. All discs contained the Rembrandts music video and the first disc had the extended version of the first episode. Seasons 4 & 5 had two featurettes about the London episodes on each disc. Season six followed the same format but without any extras.
Seasons 7 & 8 were released over six discs each, four episodes as broadcast on one side, extended versions on the other. The extra footage varied from a few seconds to a few minutes. No other extras. Season 9 was also over six discs but without the extended versions. So far, we've had the first two discs of season 10 - episodes 1 - 8 - with no extras.
"I'm all for it. How about Twin Peaks the pilot? The fine boxed set from a couple of years back unfortunately doesn't contain it. (Ownership issues)"
That's interesting. We got the season 1 DVD set here last year and it included the pilot which was getting it's first UK release in it's original broadcast form. When the series was originally released on VHS the pilot wasn't included because they had already released the European cinema version. This contained material never included in the TV show so as to give it an ending.
I bought the Twin Peaks Pilot as a Taiwanese imported Region-Free DVD. Amazon has it for $25.
The picture is passable, but the sound is bloody awful. It sounds like they used the same technique the Dave Clark Five used to record the vocals to "Any Way You Want It" which is to say they stood in a stairwell and had the microphone two floors away.
It worked pretty well for that song though, it's one of the hardest rock singles to come out of the British Invasion.
The upcoming "Woder Woman" release is good news. The first season (and pilot movie) played it fairly straight, as I recall. Certainly not as goofy as "Batman", anyway. I would not feel embarassed to have this on my shelf.
Not so sure about the later, "modern" episodes, tho.
And if I may be allowed, in my very best Homer Simpson voice. .
As a young kid I never did understand the switch from classic WWII stories to modern day. Especially since there were other WWII based shows around - like Black Sheep Squadron and Combat! reruns. I didn't understand the concept and I can't remember now how they made the update.
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Mike Nebeker - Super Genuis Good Judgement comes from Experience
And Experience comes from... Bad Judgement
Wonder Woman switching networks (from ABC to CBS) between versions helped me understand shift in timelines. They also changed the title on CBS to "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman." Around the same time (no coincidence, I'm sure) the comic book switched from WWII/Earth 2 to present day as well.
I just found out that Season 3 of Trailer Park Boys is coming out April 6. I've been looking forward to this since I got the Season 1 & 2 set. I completely missed Season 3 as I hadn't seen the show at all until Season's 1 & 2 came out on DVD. If anybody here has not seen this show you should know that it is NOT suitable for children however.
Yes, Netflix has been an awesome addition to my movie-freak lifestyle. I maintain my I've-been-meaning-to-see-that list on Netflix and every few days the mailman brings me another DVD that I can watch when I have a few slow hours. It's especially good for renting TV shows on DVD (coming back to the subject of this thread!) because I can watch a show a day for a couple of weeks without worrying about late fees.
I still get brand-new releases and spur-of-the-moment rentals at my local video store, but Netflix is a great compliment to that.
[i]The upcoming "Woder Woman" release is good news. The first season (and pilot movie) played it fairly straight, as I recall. Certainly not as goofy as "Batman", anyway. I would not feel embarassed to have this on my shelf.
Not so sure about the later, "modern" episodes, tho.[/i]
I'm with you on this assessment, JB. The pilot and the first season episodes are my favorites of the series, so I'm looking forward to this first volume. Doubt that I'll buy the "modern" sets, though.
How many Golden Age-era episodes were there?
~ Thomas
This message has been edited by thomasmoudry on Mar 28, 2004 7:00 PM
Well, I'm glad they are finally releasing the Batman Animated Series as season sets. Now I just need MAd About You season 3 and on. Unfortunately this series is not as popular as others so I don't know if they will finish it.
I am so thrilled about "The Waltons" I can't even tell you.
I would buy The Flintstones, but almost 60 bucks? No way. The same goes for the first two seasons of Scooby Doo. True, "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" has one of the best theme songs of all time (and has two different versions from seasons 1 and 2) but 60 bucks for pretty much the same story over and over? Plus, the really poor animation? Naw.
What I hate is how many classic TV shows get a season or two released and then nothing. Mary Tyler Moore just had the first season and due to poor sales, will not have any more released. Many shows don't even hit their stride until after the first season or so. I'm a completist, but many people just want to see certain episodes and not have to wait for a season after season release just to see the episode when Chuckles the Clow dies, or the Veal Prince Orloff episode.
