It's hard to believe how over the course of 12-13 years animation could change. As a boy one of the mainstay staples of Saturday morning television was the ever-reliable "Super Friends", one of ABC's longest-running and most successful Saturday morning animated series. Beginning in 1972, the "Super Friends" - which initially consisted of Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and their teenage sidekicks Wendy and Marvin - went through numerous incarnations and expansions, taking from the numerous DC Comics titles of the era. By the late 1970's the series began to get a little more mature in its storytelling, with more sophisticated plots and adventures that excited kids of all ages. I was definitely one of them. I grew up with this series. It began when I entered first grade, and it ended during my freshman year of college. How time flies.
By the 1980's the "Super Friends" seemed almost passe' in the realm of animation. While the "Superman" feature films were taking off, and plans were in the works for a "Batman" feature film, the animated series was winding down. As animation began to move from traditional hand-drawn cels into the very new realm of realistic animation and the then-experimental form of computer animation (first seen in "Star Trek II" and "Tron"), traditional animiation and simplistic flights of fancy no longer interested young viewers. They wanted newer heroes with more elaborate powers and strengths, with internal issues and problems.
By 1984 ABC took another stab in revamping the "Super Friends" with "The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians", which would be the final animated incarnation of the long-running series. By this time Firestorm was already a part of the team, having been introduced into the series the previous year as part of "Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show", along with original creations such as Apache Chief, El Dorado, Samurai, and Black Vulcan (no relation to Tuvok, of course!) which were designed to bring in a more diverse ethnic culture to the series. With the addition of Firestorm the year before, another hero made his animated debut in the form of Cyborg, a character from the popular "Teen Titans" comic book series of the 1980's. More machine than man, Victor (Cyborg) Stone became a valuable addition to the Super Powers Team.
But things didn't stop there. Along with the addition of new cast members to the series, the look of the series drastically changed. For years Hanna-Barbera relied on the same tried and true look of the characters to drive the series. But animation, like comic books, were entering into a new era of more graphically realistic animation. To this end they turned to DC artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez to redesign all of the characters for the series, giving them incredible facelifts and providing a fresh look to the heroes and villains of the series, bringing them closer to their comic-book counterparts. And this was shortly before DC Comics itself was to experience a true makeover of its own with "Crisis on Infinite Earths", "The Dark Knight Returns", and "Superman: The Man of Steel".
Over the course of the ten segments produced in 1984 the Super Powers Team battled classic villains such as Lex Luthor, the Joker, the Penguin, the Scarecrow, Bizarro, and intergalactic space baddie Darkseid. And in one of its penultimate segments, "The Death of Superman", the series took a very mature theme and brought it to life (years before Doomsday did the unthinkable). But with the series on its last legs, even this fresh revamp wasn't enough to bring it back for another season. With this final incarnation, the Super Friends passed into history.
Now Warner Home Video has brought the entire "Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians" series to DVD in a two-disc set that presents each animated segment in its original broadcast aspect ratio and in Dolby 2.0 sound. The animation is clean and crisp, and for a 20-year-old series it looks pretty good, better than I remember catching it on Saturday mornings. Bonus features are limited to just a single featurette - "Super Powers Redux: Galactic Guardians Retrospective", which profiles the making of the series with DC writers and artists and also shows some vintage storyboards and even a copy of the ABC mandate regarding "The Death of Superman" - and a pair of trailers for other animated products.
"The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians", which followed the earlier "Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Team" release, is a great way to remember the final years of one of ABC's most popular and successful animated series. I'm looking forward to seeing the remainder of the "Super Friends" series arrive on DVD in coming months!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Spider-Man 3 out today - in multiple forms...
Well, the year's biggest box-office moneymaker, "Spider-Man 3", has now arrived on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It's out in no less than four different versions - single-disc full frame, single-disc widescreen, two-disc widescreen, and two-disc Blu-Ray format - so this should be a visual treat for the eyes. From what I have heard, the film's story is not up to snuff as the far superior "Spider-Man 2", but it made a boatload of money, so it should be worth checking out.
As if the above weren't enough to mention, Wal-Mart has an exclusive bonus disc with over 30 minutes of additional interviews and content not found in any of the other versions of the film. To add insult to injury, this bonus disc is packaged with the single-disc widescreen and full-frame versions of the film. That means if you want every last little bit of info on SM3, you're going to have to pony up the bucks to get the two-disc SE and the Wal-Mart release.
(This follows on the heels of Disney's reissue of "Cars" with yet another Wal-Mart exclusive bonus disc of 60 additional minutes of content. That's the second one in less than a year! What gives with these multiple dips of the same movie just to get every last bonus disc? Why couldn't Disney and Pixar do it right the first time and give everyone a two-disc set with the content from both of these bonus discs included as the second disc? It's all about one thing... money, money, money.)
In any event, as soon as I have my copy of "Spider-Man 3" in hand, I'll have the full review posted for everyone. (Oh, and don't forget to get your copy of the "Twin Peaks" Definitive Gold Box Edition today - 10 discs with all the episodes, the original TV pilot, the European theatrical cut with the alternate ending, and lots of exclusive bonus features! Of course, you'll have to hold onto your copies of the two previous season sets in order to have every last bonus feature that's not been ported over to the Gold Box - another head-scratcher of a multi-dip, but one that's worth getting for all the "Twin Peaks" goodness that's included.)
See you again soon!
As if the above weren't enough to mention, Wal-Mart has an exclusive bonus disc with over 30 minutes of additional interviews and content not found in any of the other versions of the film. To add insult to injury, this bonus disc is packaged with the single-disc widescreen and full-frame versions of the film. That means if you want every last little bit of info on SM3, you're going to have to pony up the bucks to get the two-disc SE and the Wal-Mart release.
(This follows on the heels of Disney's reissue of "Cars" with yet another Wal-Mart exclusive bonus disc of 60 additional minutes of content. That's the second one in less than a year! What gives with these multiple dips of the same movie just to get every last bonus disc? Why couldn't Disney and Pixar do it right the first time and give everyone a two-disc set with the content from both of these bonus discs included as the second disc? It's all about one thing... money, money, money.)
In any event, as soon as I have my copy of "Spider-Man 3" in hand, I'll have the full review posted for everyone. (Oh, and don't forget to get your copy of the "Twin Peaks" Definitive Gold Box Edition today - 10 discs with all the episodes, the original TV pilot, the European theatrical cut with the alternate ending, and lots of exclusive bonus features! Of course, you'll have to hold onto your copies of the two previous season sets in order to have every last bonus feature that's not been ported over to the Gold Box - another head-scratcher of a multi-dip, but one that's worth getting for all the "Twin Peaks" goodness that's included.)
See you again soon!
Friday, October 19, 2007
And now for something completely different...
As the week is fast coming to a close, I now turn my attention to something that's quite a bit unusual. As you may know from my earlier posts, I have a great concern for altered TV programs surfacing on DVD. That seems to be the bane for many a TV-on-DVD fan who likes to have his/her TV shows kept intact on DVD. Of course, there are many titles that have appeared over the last few years that have been altered. This includes no less than...
WKRP in Cincinnati
The Adventures of Superman (specifically, the episode "Crime Wave")
The Adventures of Superboy (the episode "Countdown to Nowhere")
The New Adventures of Superman (minus all the Superboy segments)
Star Trek: Captain's Log Fan Collective (an altered edition of the two-part "Chain of Command")
Soul Food: Season 2
The Odd Couple: Season 2
Jericho: Season 1
The Real World: New York, Season 1 (really bad!)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (the entire series!)
...and who knows how many countless other TV series with significant alterations. As more and more series continue to be released on DVD, the casualties mount.
But have you ever heard of a DVD release that, upon its TV broadcast, has been greatly altered for television? Believe it or not, there is one such direct-to-video series that has been altered for its TV broadcasts, and that is the long-running animated family series "Veggie Tales", nearing its 15th year of production.
Over the last 15 years Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, and the people at Big Idea Productions have produced 27 separate animated tales for VHS and DVD releases, as well as two big-screen feature films, "Jonah" and the upcoming release "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". In each of these hilarious animated stories and films, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber host a series of stories geared toward families that present significant Biblical truths and Scripture references tied in to the stories. Sometimes they even go to the edge and spoof different pop-culture references, including "Star Trek", the Beatles, "Gilligan's Island", "The Lone Ranger", "Bonanza", the "Batman" and "Spider-Man" films, "Indiana Jones", Sherlock Holmes, "Rocky", the WWF/WWE, "The Wizard of Oz", and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, among others. But in every tale they mention an active presence of God in their lives.
Last year NBC picked up the broadcast rights to "Veggie Tales", but for obvious reasons each of the segments were greatly altered from their original video presentations. In short, they wanted all references to God eliminated from the shows. That reduces the tales to little more than silliness without a message. For that matter, they also got a different opening credits sequence that has never been included on any DVD or VHS release of the series! Last week I happened to catch on the Guardian Television Network a broadcast of "The Ballad of Little Joe" that had a completely different main title sequence and introduction that was never featured on the DVD, and it was something I'd never seen before as well. At first I thought it was something from the earlier release "God Made You Special", but it quickly turned out that I was wrong.
I can understand having to edit one of these segments for time constraints, not to mention shadowboxing the end credits. That's fine and dandy when you're trying to squeeze something into a 30-minute time slot, and as the "Veggie Tales" series have gotten longer and longer it becomes a necessary hazard. But to create a different main title sequence for the TV broadcast and feature footage that's not available on the DVDs? I don't get it.
For that matter, I don't get Phil Vischer's decision to make necessary edits for television. To do that, he's robbing the series of that special something extra that makes "Veggie Tales" stand out head and shoulders above all other animated series. If I were in Vischer's shoes, I wouldn't have compromised for one second. I would have either held out for the message to be maintained in each episode, or I wouldn't have brought the series to TV in the first place. While I like the idea of appealing to a broader audience, dumbing down the message and completely cutting it out of the different segments is wrong. Had that been the case, then older series such as "Touched by an Angel" and "Doc" wouldn't have stood a chance on television, and look how popular those series were. For that matter, ABC wouldn't have stood a chance of even airing its yearly ratings spectacular, "The Ten Commandments" (the 1956 version with Charlton Heston), uncut.
Recently I saw on TBN that filmmaker Tyler Perry (who just released "Why Did I Get Married?" to blockbuster status last weekend) was offered a lucrative deal to bring his stage concepts of Madea (the character he made famous in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion") and company to television. However, he refused because he did not agree with pushing the envelope to television's edgier standards and watering down his Christian witness all for the sake of money. He rejected the big network deal, took it to a smaller network, and presented it uncompromised and with his Christian themes intact. I have to give Perry credit for standing firm for his faith amid his businessman's beliefs. Phil Vischer could learn a thing or two from Perry.
Bottom line, if you like your veggies uncut and in its original format, then stick with the original DVD (or VHS) releases. But at the very least Vischer and company should give us the alternate TV credits and monologues with each DVD release for completion's sake. That way everyone is satisfied.
Have a good weekend!
WKRP in Cincinnati
The Adventures of Superman (specifically, the episode "Crime Wave")
The Adventures of Superboy (the episode "Countdown to Nowhere")
The New Adventures of Superman (minus all the Superboy segments)
Star Trek: Captain's Log Fan Collective (an altered edition of the two-part "Chain of Command")
Soul Food: Season 2
The Odd Couple: Season 2
Jericho: Season 1
The Real World: New York, Season 1 (really bad!)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (the entire series!)
...and who knows how many countless other TV series with significant alterations. As more and more series continue to be released on DVD, the casualties mount.
But have you ever heard of a DVD release that, upon its TV broadcast, has been greatly altered for television? Believe it or not, there is one such direct-to-video series that has been altered for its TV broadcasts, and that is the long-running animated family series "Veggie Tales", nearing its 15th year of production.
Over the last 15 years Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, and the people at Big Idea Productions have produced 27 separate animated tales for VHS and DVD releases, as well as two big-screen feature films, "Jonah" and the upcoming release "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". In each of these hilarious animated stories and films, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber host a series of stories geared toward families that present significant Biblical truths and Scripture references tied in to the stories. Sometimes they even go to the edge and spoof different pop-culture references, including "Star Trek", the Beatles, "Gilligan's Island", "The Lone Ranger", "Bonanza", the "Batman" and "Spider-Man" films, "Indiana Jones", Sherlock Holmes, "Rocky", the WWF/WWE, "The Wizard of Oz", and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, among others. But in every tale they mention an active presence of God in their lives.
Last year NBC picked up the broadcast rights to "Veggie Tales", but for obvious reasons each of the segments were greatly altered from their original video presentations. In short, they wanted all references to God eliminated from the shows. That reduces the tales to little more than silliness without a message. For that matter, they also got a different opening credits sequence that has never been included on any DVD or VHS release of the series! Last week I happened to catch on the Guardian Television Network a broadcast of "The Ballad of Little Joe" that had a completely different main title sequence and introduction that was never featured on the DVD, and it was something I'd never seen before as well. At first I thought it was something from the earlier release "God Made You Special", but it quickly turned out that I was wrong.
I can understand having to edit one of these segments for time constraints, not to mention shadowboxing the end credits. That's fine and dandy when you're trying to squeeze something into a 30-minute time slot, and as the "Veggie Tales" series have gotten longer and longer it becomes a necessary hazard. But to create a different main title sequence for the TV broadcast and feature footage that's not available on the DVDs? I don't get it.
For that matter, I don't get Phil Vischer's decision to make necessary edits for television. To do that, he's robbing the series of that special something extra that makes "Veggie Tales" stand out head and shoulders above all other animated series. If I were in Vischer's shoes, I wouldn't have compromised for one second. I would have either held out for the message to be maintained in each episode, or I wouldn't have brought the series to TV in the first place. While I like the idea of appealing to a broader audience, dumbing down the message and completely cutting it out of the different segments is wrong. Had that been the case, then older series such as "Touched by an Angel" and "Doc" wouldn't have stood a chance on television, and look how popular those series were. For that matter, ABC wouldn't have stood a chance of even airing its yearly ratings spectacular, "The Ten Commandments" (the 1956 version with Charlton Heston), uncut.
Recently I saw on TBN that filmmaker Tyler Perry (who just released "Why Did I Get Married?" to blockbuster status last weekend) was offered a lucrative deal to bring his stage concepts of Madea (the character he made famous in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion") and company to television. However, he refused because he did not agree with pushing the envelope to television's edgier standards and watering down his Christian witness all for the sake of money. He rejected the big network deal, took it to a smaller network, and presented it uncompromised and with his Christian themes intact. I have to give Perry credit for standing firm for his faith amid his businessman's beliefs. Phil Vischer could learn a thing or two from Perry.
Bottom line, if you like your veggies uncut and in its original format, then stick with the original DVD (or VHS) releases. But at the very least Vischer and company should give us the alternate TV credits and monologues with each DVD release for completion's sake. That way everyone is satisfied.
Have a good weekend!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Are you ready to go back to "Titanic"?
It's hard to believe that ten years have passed since the release of "Titanic", James Cameron's mega-blockbuster that sailed to a staggering $600 million in U.S. box office receipts and 11 well-deserved Academy Awards (joining "Ben-Hur" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" on the list of films with the most Oscars). And yet, for all it's worth, "Titanic" is a simple love story set aboard the most famous luxury liner that faced disaster on its maiden voyage.
I remember seeing it over the Christmas weekend at the end of 1997. My ex-fiancee had just broken up with me, and it was a way of dealing with the catharsis of the end of the engagement. We had planned to see it together the weekend I was going to see her and her family; little did I know that it would never happen. Since that time I've only seen the film a grand total of...
...drum roll, please...
One time.
Not the VHS release, the HBO and NBC telecasts, or the DVD releases would add up to even a second time. Go figure.
In the dawning days of DVD, Paramount Home Video issued "Titanic" as a single-disc release in non-anamorphic format complete with a single theatrical trailer. For a long time it remained a top seller, but as DVD technology progressed fans clamored for a more elaborate deluxe edition. Cameron saw to it that said deluxe edition would be prepared, and in 2005 we were issued a three-disc collector's edition that was seemingly packed to the brim with tons of extras - three audio commentaries, branching pod featurettes, deleted and alternate scenes, the Celine Dion music video, the entire shooting script (I have a large trade paperback of this which I picked up in 1998), a Fox TV special, more behind-the-scenes production footage, even three hidden Easter eggs, you name it.
But for some reason the DVD release failed to carry a proposed feature-length DVD documentary produced by Ed Marsh on the making of the film. This is because Cameron had killed the Marsh documentary late in the game - go figure. That would be like Ridley Scott killing off any full-length Charles deLauzirika documentary off the "Alien" and "Gladiator" discs. Such documentaries really pull the curtain back on how films are made.
As if that weren't enough, while the U.S. market got the three-disc release, the overseas market got an even more elaborate four-disc set. On the fourth disc, it contained three short parodies (which were ultimately ported to the third disc on the U.S. set as hidden Easter eggs), a 25-minute HBO First Look special (with some additional outtakes not included in the film or the deleted scenes), and an extensive trailer gallery with U.S. and international trailers for the film. Why the fourth disc got killed off from release in the U.S. is beyond me. To this day I have yet to locate that fourth disc, particularly the trailer gallery.
Now for the film's 10th anniversary, Paramount Home Video is planning its third release of "Titanic" in a two-disc collector's edition. Apparently the two-disc set contains everything that's on the first two discs of the previous release. They're killing off the third disc! This is not the first time that something like this has happened. A few years back Warner Home Video released an awesome four-disc set of "Gone With the Wind" that had all the perks to it, then a couple of years later they re-released the DVD as a two-disc "special" edition minus the third and fourth discs. Who did this fool? Not me. Neither does this new two-disc "special" edition of "Titanic". It's just another way to milk the money machine even further. Even more so, you can still find the three-disc set at stores for a reasonable price.
My advice: stick with the three-disc set. If anyone has the trailer gallery on DVD, get in touch with me and let's talk.
On a personal note, Laura B., if you're out there reading this up north, send me an e-mail. I'd like to know how you're doing.
I remember seeing it over the Christmas weekend at the end of 1997. My ex-fiancee had just broken up with me, and it was a way of dealing with the catharsis of the end of the engagement. We had planned to see it together the weekend I was going to see her and her family; little did I know that it would never happen. Since that time I've only seen the film a grand total of...
...drum roll, please...
One time.
Not the VHS release, the HBO and NBC telecasts, or the DVD releases would add up to even a second time. Go figure.
In the dawning days of DVD, Paramount Home Video issued "Titanic" as a single-disc release in non-anamorphic format complete with a single theatrical trailer. For a long time it remained a top seller, but as DVD technology progressed fans clamored for a more elaborate deluxe edition. Cameron saw to it that said deluxe edition would be prepared, and in 2005 we were issued a three-disc collector's edition that was seemingly packed to the brim with tons of extras - three audio commentaries, branching pod featurettes, deleted and alternate scenes, the Celine Dion music video, the entire shooting script (I have a large trade paperback of this which I picked up in 1998), a Fox TV special, more behind-the-scenes production footage, even three hidden Easter eggs, you name it.
But for some reason the DVD release failed to carry a proposed feature-length DVD documentary produced by Ed Marsh on the making of the film. This is because Cameron had killed the Marsh documentary late in the game - go figure. That would be like Ridley Scott killing off any full-length Charles deLauzirika documentary off the "Alien" and "Gladiator" discs. Such documentaries really pull the curtain back on how films are made.
As if that weren't enough, while the U.S. market got the three-disc release, the overseas market got an even more elaborate four-disc set. On the fourth disc, it contained three short parodies (which were ultimately ported to the third disc on the U.S. set as hidden Easter eggs), a 25-minute HBO First Look special (with some additional outtakes not included in the film or the deleted scenes), and an extensive trailer gallery with U.S. and international trailers for the film. Why the fourth disc got killed off from release in the U.S. is beyond me. To this day I have yet to locate that fourth disc, particularly the trailer gallery.
Now for the film's 10th anniversary, Paramount Home Video is planning its third release of "Titanic" in a two-disc collector's edition. Apparently the two-disc set contains everything that's on the first two discs of the previous release. They're killing off the third disc! This is not the first time that something like this has happened. A few years back Warner Home Video released an awesome four-disc set of "Gone With the Wind" that had all the perks to it, then a couple of years later they re-released the DVD as a two-disc "special" edition minus the third and fourth discs. Who did this fool? Not me. Neither does this new two-disc "special" edition of "Titanic". It's just another way to milk the money machine even further. Even more so, you can still find the three-disc set at stores for a reasonable price.
My advice: stick with the three-disc set. If anyone has the trailer gallery on DVD, get in touch with me and let's talk.
On a personal note, Laura B., if you're out there reading this up north, send me an e-mail. I'd like to know how you're doing.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Indy without Indy?
Next week marks the release of the first volume of "Young Indiana Jones" on DVD. This incredible 12-disc set, which will encompass the first seven chapters of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", is highly anticipated by many fans, including me. (I know if my dad were still alive, he would have looked forward to this set, as this was one of his favorite series.) This will be followed by the second volume on December 18th (the same day as THE DVD release of the year, the awesome five-disc "Blade Runner" set), with Chapters 8-15 included in the set. And next spring, the third volume with Chapters 16-22 will appear in stores in time for the highly anticipated "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls" (say that one three times fast!).
But there is a big concern I have with the third and final volume. As you know, we're only getting the re-edited movie-length stories that George Lucas tinkered with in the late 1990's, though the official Indiana Jones web site references information from the original ABC-TV broadcasts from the early 1990's. Can we all say, "Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal", with three incarnations of Indy in the two-hour premiere? So of course, no George Hall bookends are in this set.
But there's one that's got me extremely concerned, and if you're an Indy fan, you should definitely be concerned as well. From the earliest news on the press release for the third and final set, "The Mystery of the Blues" has apparently been re-edited from its original broadcast. There is no mention of Harrison Ford's bookend segments in the press release description provided by TV Shows on DVD. If that's the case, then you should definitely be angry about this one.
If you recall, in 1993 the series was experiencing a serious slump in the ratings. While "Young Indy" was very well produced, it just lost the kick along the way. In order to provide a boost in the ratings, Harrison Ford came back to film bookend segments for "The Mystery of the Blues" in which he explains his love for jazz music. The bookends were also complimented by a return of the classic John Williams Indy fanfare and portions of cues heard in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". These segments were shot around the time Ford worked on his big-screen version of "The Fugitive" - the tipoff is the beard. There's been only two times Ford has acted onscreen with a full beard, the "Young Indy" bookend segments and "The Fugitive".
And yet apparently the third set will, for some reason, omit the Harrison Ford segments from the episode. If you ask me, that's a slap in the face to the man who for our generation is the one and only Indiana Jones, as the episode marked not only one of Ford's very rare TV appearances (along with the classic ill-fated "Star Wars Holiday Special" - how many of you out there remember that one?), but also his fourth time out as the man with the hat. I've got only one question to ask Mr. Lucas at this point: why is Harrison Ford's footage being cut out from the DVD? If you ask me, that's an insult to all the Indy fans out there, and it's just going to cause fans to seek out the original TV broadcasts in some unofficial (read: bootleg) format all the more.
Mind you, I'm not advocating bootlegging, I'm simply speaking the facts of what's going to happen if this is allowed. The thing to do is press Lucasfilm and Paramount to go back and repress "The Mystery of the Blues" with the Harrison Ford bookends included in the movie.
One more thought to share before I close: lately on all of CBS/Paramount Video's DVD box sets, there's been a running disclaimer that reads to the effect of, "Some of the episodes have been re-edited from their original television broadcasts." In the case of "Young Indiana Jones", they should reword it to accurately read, "ALL of the episodes have been re-edited from their original television broadcasts." That's the only way to truthfully tell the consumer what they're really getting on DVD.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to find my hat, leather jacket, and bullwhip and start searching for those buried treasures in my video collection...
But there is a big concern I have with the third and final volume. As you know, we're only getting the re-edited movie-length stories that George Lucas tinkered with in the late 1990's, though the official Indiana Jones web site references information from the original ABC-TV broadcasts from the early 1990's. Can we all say, "Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal", with three incarnations of Indy in the two-hour premiere? So of course, no George Hall bookends are in this set.
But there's one that's got me extremely concerned, and if you're an Indy fan, you should definitely be concerned as well. From the earliest news on the press release for the third and final set, "The Mystery of the Blues" has apparently been re-edited from its original broadcast. There is no mention of Harrison Ford's bookend segments in the press release description provided by TV Shows on DVD. If that's the case, then you should definitely be angry about this one.
If you recall, in 1993 the series was experiencing a serious slump in the ratings. While "Young Indy" was very well produced, it just lost the kick along the way. In order to provide a boost in the ratings, Harrison Ford came back to film bookend segments for "The Mystery of the Blues" in which he explains his love for jazz music. The bookends were also complimented by a return of the classic John Williams Indy fanfare and portions of cues heard in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". These segments were shot around the time Ford worked on his big-screen version of "The Fugitive" - the tipoff is the beard. There's been only two times Ford has acted onscreen with a full beard, the "Young Indy" bookend segments and "The Fugitive".
And yet apparently the third set will, for some reason, omit the Harrison Ford segments from the episode. If you ask me, that's a slap in the face to the man who for our generation is the one and only Indiana Jones, as the episode marked not only one of Ford's very rare TV appearances (along with the classic ill-fated "Star Wars Holiday Special" - how many of you out there remember that one?), but also his fourth time out as the man with the hat. I've got only one question to ask Mr. Lucas at this point: why is Harrison Ford's footage being cut out from the DVD? If you ask me, that's an insult to all the Indy fans out there, and it's just going to cause fans to seek out the original TV broadcasts in some unofficial (read: bootleg) format all the more.
Mind you, I'm not advocating bootlegging, I'm simply speaking the facts of what's going to happen if this is allowed. The thing to do is press Lucasfilm and Paramount to go back and repress "The Mystery of the Blues" with the Harrison Ford bookends included in the movie.
One more thought to share before I close: lately on all of CBS/Paramount Video's DVD box sets, there's been a running disclaimer that reads to the effect of, "Some of the episodes have been re-edited from their original television broadcasts." In the case of "Young Indiana Jones", they should reword it to accurately read, "ALL of the episodes have been re-edited from their original television broadcasts." That's the only way to truthfully tell the consumer what they're really getting on DVD.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to find my hat, leather jacket, and bullwhip and start searching for those buried treasures in my video collection...
Saturday, October 6, 2007
A bit of a delay...
Sorry I haven't been able to post any new reviews in the last several days. Sometimes, when you get an unexpected curveball thrown at you in your life, there's not much else you can do except deal with things one day at a time. Rest assured, I'll be back with more full-length reviews as soon as my time permits.
In the meantime, I've just gotten a review copy of the upcoming DVD release of this past summer's box-office blockbuster, "Transformers". Guys and gals, if you enjoyed the original series, you'll more than likely enjoy this movie. Word is that Michael Bay is planning an Imax version of the film with even more exclusive footage than in the original theatrical or DVD releases (what's up with that?), so if you live near an Imax theater, be sure to check it out soon.
Be sure to check out the new animated version of "The Ten Commandments" coming to theaters in the next week or two! My wife and I saw the preview trailer for this on TBN last night, and I have to say I was impressed with it! Think of "The Prince of Egypt" with "Shrek"-like animation.
And the good people at TVShowsonDVD.com have posted specs for the second "Young Indiana Jones" set, entitled "The War Years", set to come out December 18th. Looks like Christmas is going to be sweet for DVD fans! I hope I'm able to enjoy as well - we'll see.
And that's all from my neck of the woods at this time. Take care, and I'll see you again soon!
In the meantime, I've just gotten a review copy of the upcoming DVD release of this past summer's box-office blockbuster, "Transformers". Guys and gals, if you enjoyed the original series, you'll more than likely enjoy this movie. Word is that Michael Bay is planning an Imax version of the film with even more exclusive footage than in the original theatrical or DVD releases (what's up with that?), so if you live near an Imax theater, be sure to check it out soon.
Be sure to check out the new animated version of "The Ten Commandments" coming to theaters in the next week or two! My wife and I saw the preview trailer for this on TBN last night, and I have to say I was impressed with it! Think of "The Prince of Egypt" with "Shrek"-like animation.
And the good people at TVShowsonDVD.com have posted specs for the second "Young Indiana Jones" set, entitled "The War Years", set to come out December 18th. Looks like Christmas is going to be sweet for DVD fans! I hope I'm able to enjoy as well - we'll see.
And that's all from my neck of the woods at this time. Take care, and I'll see you again soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)