Pre-2000s Television on Blu-ray

Discuss TV shows old and new.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#26 Post by Minkin » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:03 am

I've done some housekeeping and updated the list. I do update the list with every suggestion that people give me... so if you have any new information, feel free to post here or message me - I've probably missed something (most likely anime).

Some pertinent news for bluray collectors:

Saved by the Bell Bluray - Apparently Mr. Belding was misinformed, as there will only be another DVD set coming out, no blu-ray, unfortunately.

Dragon Ball Z Season sets - It appears that somebody rigged that poll I linked to (or idiots took it over) - and Funimation has decided to crop the show to 16:9. No official word on this development yet, so there might be some last minute hope, but right now it doesn't look good.

Prime Suspect - Looks like ITV have decided to crop the show to 16:9 for some reason. Despite some potential "eye for widescreen" on the director's part, its still cropped, with information cut off. Into the shame list it goes.

Space 1999 / the Sweeney - Network has been rather mum about completing the remainder of the shows. Space 1999 is having audio work done and should hopefully be coming out in 2014. The booklet for The Sweeney promises the remaining three series, but Network hasn't given any clue as to when these will be coming out..

Delays:
Honeymooners -March 19th (hopefully the delay means we will actually be getting some special features)
Time Tunnel - November 18th (though you should still avoid it, since the distributor said its going to be an upconvert)

I am rather concerned by the continued trend of cropping shows to 16:9. I don't understand it. Companies (for the most part) have finally decided to release films in the correct aspect ratio, why is television suddenly treated so miserably? Its awful to have to keep adding shows to the "shame list," but it seems like this trend isn't going away anytime soon. I just hope the eventual Seinfeld bluray won't suffer this fate (I fear the worst, since its currently playing in 16:9 in syndication).

I'll spend the rest of this post lavishing praise and love on Network. They have really gone above and beyond on all of their bluray releases! No other company is putting forth as much effort as Network (restorations, special features, purist video quality/aspect ratio).

I had purchased The Persuaders (I'll have a lot to say on this show once I've seen some more episodes) and The Sweeney at the last Network sale, and wow did they go overboard with the special features. Both include massive books that detail every last exhausting detail about every episode (even listing all of the music tracks!). I was astounded by the packaging and the level of detail. Both shows are great fun and perfect blind-buys. I wholeheartedly recommend that everyone support Network and purchase these two bluray sets (along with their other great blurays - The Prisoner, Robin of Sherwood, Space 1999, etc). I just wish that Network would ratchet up their schedule, since I suspect The Saint will be next in line (given that they've already released two episodes in HD).

User avatar
Cold Bishop
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#27 Post by Cold Bishop » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:28 am

Minkin wrote:I just hope the eventual Seinfeld bluray won't suffer this fate (I fear the worst, since its currently playing in 16:9 in syndication).
It's not that simple, is it? It's my understanding that, for whatever reason, many shows were shot in or near a 16:9 and then cropped for television. I know a show as far back as Cheers was, and it's my understanding that while new HD versions Seinfeld do crop some of the top and bottom, they also open up the sides.

User avatar
jindianajonz
Jindiana Jonz Abrams
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#28 Post by jindianajonz » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:49 am

Sad about that DBZ news. I just took the survey, but who knows if they are still checking feedback.

The sad thing is that I'm guessing a good chunk of people who prefer full screen would find widescreen to be a dealbreaker, while the people who prefer widescreen would probably be happy buying either version as long as it's on blu-ray.

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#29 Post by swo17 » Wed Oct 09, 2013 11:29 am

That's why you have to be very careful how you word polling questions. You may get a completely different answer if you ask "Will you buy this if we release it in ratio x?" vs. "Would you prefer this release to be in ratio x or y?"

It's unfortunate when the way any shot was originally captured gets butchered by changing the aspect ratio, but it seems especially so in the case of animation--if the animators had known that fully 25% of each frame would eventually just be lopped off, maybe they wouldn't have spent all that time drawing there!

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#30 Post by Orlac » Fri Oct 11, 2013 12:31 pm

I wish Warners hadn't cropped Kung Fu Season 1 for DVD. I mean, what's the point!

User avatar
movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#31 Post by movielocke » Fri Oct 11, 2013 2:47 pm

I've spoken to post personnel that worked on Friends and they said the show definitely shot 3 perf, but the biggest problem with the widescreen (at least with the early seasons before they delivered widescreen masters for international) would be the numerous opticals in the show no one watching the show ever really knew were happening Those shots would be the most problematic, and are partly why they can't just rescan the negative in 4K because the neg isn't conformed to the video master, and all of that work would have to be matched and recreated as best as possible.

We picked up the season 1 and 2 bluray individual release earlier in the year and transitioning from the beautiful bluray presentation to the season 3 dvd is really rough, and the DVD master seems like it's been zoomed, and doesn't even reflect a correct 4x3 presentation. But that could just be that we've adjusted to the slightly looser framing with more headroom on the blurays.

User avatar
Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#32 Post by Minkin » Fri Dec 06, 2013 7:21 pm

TV Guide is reporting that I Love Lucy will be coming out on Blu-ray (in March).

In other news, it doesn't appear that Funimation will change its mind about Dragon Ball Z in widescreen. If only the "gotta have it in HD regardless of how crap it is" crowd would shame this release into making a change - just as what happened with the second Tom and Jerry set (when is that ever coming out - corrected -btw?)

User avatar
EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#33 Post by EddieLarkin » Fri Dec 06, 2013 7:47 pm

Hopefully I Love Lucy will look as amazing as The Twilight Zone does on Blu-ray.

As for DBZ, it's not just the aspect ratio that is being changed from the earlier Blu-ray releases. Those looked liked this, a rather fine representation of 16mm animation, with a healthy dose of grain. Apparently that went unappreciated by the DBZ community as Funimation stopped after 2 releases and have switched over to their new 16x9 massacre, which will apparently look more like this.

Even the trailer for the new sets appears to celebrate the fact they're chopping them up.

User avatar
Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#34 Post by Ashirg » Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:42 pm

I Love Lucy and Andy Griffith Show First Seasons are available for pre-order on Amazon with a March 18 release date. 129.99 is the list price for each set.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#35 Post by domino harvey » Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:46 pm

Surely you mean complete series at those prices?

User avatar
Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#36 Post by Ashirg » Sun Dec 08, 2013 4:16 pm

No, listed as "Complete First Season" for both.

User avatar
Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#37 Post by Minkin » Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:12 pm

domino harvey wrote:Surely you mean complete series at those prices?
I think Paramount is just stuck in their Star Trek pricing, which means a season = $129.99 MSRP.

I do hope this means that they will actually be adding meaningful bonus features to their blu-rays. The Star Trek blus have been rather sparse, especially compared to what a better company such as Network or Image have done with their classic television titles. We will also be getting Honeymooners around the same time (as previous noted) - so it seems that Paramount is going full board with their classic television titles (at least the image quality should be excellent, and in the correct AR).

Hopefully this will be like the Star Trek seasons and we will be able to pick them up on release week for about $55.

User avatar
manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#38 Post by manicsounds » Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:23 am

James Clavell's "Shogun" TV miniseries (1980) will get a release from Paramount next year.
Amazon Germany and Amazon Japan have preorders up for a February release date.

User avatar
perkizitore
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm
Location: OOP is the only answer

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#39 Post by perkizitore » Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:15 pm


User avatar
Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#40 Post by Adam X » Sat Dec 14, 2013 6:12 am

Fingers crossed the rumours are true, and the set really will include the Fire Walk with Me deleted scenes.
Can't believe I still haven't gotten around to watching the Gold Box set. Not much point now...

pet42
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:20 am

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#41 Post by pet42 » Wed Dec 18, 2013 6:30 pm

The original 'Battlestar Galactica' is available in Germany from amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/Kampfstern-Galacti ... B00GUI0IDK
See also the blu-ray.com thread: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=232485

User avatar
FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#42 Post by FrauBlucher » Tue Dec 24, 2013 12:14 pm


User avatar
colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#43 Post by colinr0380 » Thu Dec 26, 2013 5:49 pm

I've updated the Simpsons post on the first page. The only pre-2000 episode that is included as an extra on the Season 16 Blu-ray is Lisa's Wedding from Season 6. The other two are Bart To The Future from Season 11 (which just barely falls on the wrong side of pre-2000, being aired in March 2000) and Holidays Of Future Passed from the far future world of Season 23.

User avatar
manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#44 Post by manicsounds » Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:21 pm

Mysterious Cities Of Gold: Season 2 is NOT the 1980's series, but a new continuation broadcast this year. The original series is still only on DVD, and the UK discs don't have the original Japanese versions.


User avatar
manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#46 Post by manicsounds » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:47 pm

Little House On The Prairie season 1 in March 2014 from Lionsgate.
The BD will have an English 5.1 dts-HD MA track, with English, Spanish, and Persian subtitles, because for some reason Iran has a huge "Little House On The Prairie" following?

User avatar
Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#47 Post by Minkin » Tue Jan 21, 2014 7:31 pm

Thanks for the info on Little House on the Prairie - surprised it's coming out - and for a rather reasonable price. I just hope Lionsgate doesn't screw it up somehow.

Still no news on the rest of The Sweeney series - but this is the show's 40th anniversary, so one would expect Network to make a move for that milestone. The BFI hosted a panel about the show (no mention of the blurays) - but its a fun watch if you are interested in the show.

The big news for today is the announcement of Network's The Professionals series 1 on blu-ray on March 31st. This should be excellent and the image quality improvements are astounding (see my link on the first page).

Network certainly are the best in the business for their television releases. I'm surprised they haven't gotten more chatter around here - as they have quite a variety of shows out on blu at the moment - all with a ton of supplements and perfect image quality (no I don't work for them, I just want their stuff to be successful so that we keep getting more - namely The Saint/Avengers/etc). For those in the US, Acorn have copied exactly what Network have released in the UK for Robin of Sherwood, Space:1999, Prisoner, etc - so don't miss out on them due to region locking.

I watched another episode of The Persuaders last evening - and anybody who considers themselves a fan of Roger Moore's Bond stint should pick this up immediately. Its a lot of fun and mixes the sort of goofy action very well. Plus it adds to the enjoyment knowing that Tony Curtis essentially was high the entire time (so that he'd be easier to deal with).

Lastly, I've heard competing sources about whether the Adam West Batman (which is finally coming to home video) will be out on Blu-ray or not. Anyone know anything more definitive? I guess we will have to wait for the final announcement from Warner.

-Edit
Looks like Little House on the Prairie might not actually be happening after all (or at the very least will be delayed).

Second Edit
Little House on the Prairie is back on original track for March 25th. Good news - it will be in the original aspect ratio (4x3)! I guess, given the budget nature, the special features won't be too exciting though: Original Screen Tests from Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert
"The Little House Phenomenon: Part One - A Place in Television History"

paulm
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 3:37 pm

Re: Criterion Laserdiscs

#48 Post by paulm » Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:45 pm


User avatar
manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#49 Post by manicsounds » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:09 pm

Had no idea that Criterion ever issued "I Love Lucy", although it seems to have been 2 episodes only for that release. Very tempting, but the price is way too much...

User avatar
Moe Dickstein
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:19 pm

Re: Pre-2000s Television on Bluray

#50 Post by Moe Dickstein » Fri Feb 21, 2014 3:57 am

There were 3 releases in the "Criterion Television" series

- I Love Lucy
- Tanner '88 (3 volumes, complete series)
- The Addams Family

Post Reply