criterionforum.org

No news about any forthcoming shows, sorry.

But for those of you who own the Adam West Batman Blu-ray or DVD sets, here's some information about the disc replacement program, since all the information about it is jumbled all over the place.

I finally got the set back in June, requested replacement discs around the 15th, was sent an email immediately after submitting. The replacement website is here, and requires some info about your set, but you fortunately don't need to send anything to WB. Then a week ago, another email saying the discs had shipped, and then today they finally arrived (even though the place where they were sent from is only like 30 miles away, so it will still be a while after you get the shipped email).

In the mail, I received (blu-rays) Season 1, disc 1; and Season 2, disc 2. I was a bit confused by what was different, so I'll lay it out for you below:

Season 1, disc 1:
- Episode 1 (Hi Diddle Riddle) - the narration over the opening montage was previously missing.
- Promo for a re-broadcast of Episode 1
- Promo for the batcopter / cycle / boat (about 40 seconds)
- 7 minutes of the missing "villain tags"

I had originally thought the villain tags were the minute long endings of episodes for season 3, but it turns out that they are a 15 second promo of a still shot of the next episode's villain - which was only done on the last chapter of 2 or 3 parter episodes in seasons 1 and 2. So its nothing integral to the plot, but most are fairly humorous, though repetitive.

Season 2, disc 2:
- Marsha Queen of Diamonds - the last 60 seconds of the episode were previously missing. Here we find out what happens to Marsha's witch mother.

I highly suggest that anyone who has purchased the blu-ray or DVD sets to request a replacement. It might take two months, but its free and very easy to do - plus you are actually missing quite a lot of content without the replacement discs.

Phew, hope that can be of some help to anybody.

Amazon pre-order pages aren't always accurate when it comes to information like that.

colinr0380 wrote:One of the more well known anime series, Cowboy Bebop (1998) is getting a Region B UK Blu-ray release. The first box (episodes 1-13) has just been issued and the second box (with the remaining episodes 14-26) is coming out in September.

My wife remarked today that this show had been released on a blu ray box set and she wanted it. What is the difference between this set and this set?

It looks as if the much, much more expensive edition just adds DVDs of the episodes as well as being in a limited edition box with art books. If you just want the series that $60 4 Blu-ray edition would be the much better option, as it contains all of the episodes and extras.

A correction to the german UFO box which is on the Shame list. The listing on amazon.de is wrong. The box contains not only 1 disc but 6.
Here some images:

pet42 wrote:A correction to the german UFO box which is on the Shame list. The listing on amazon.de is wrong. The box contains not only 1 disc but 6.

Glad to know! Amazon really should change that description. Do you know of the quality of the set / reviews? Is it the correct aspect ratio? HD vs SD upgrade? Any other possible faults?

Minkin wrote:Do you know of the quality of the set / reviews? Is it the correct aspect ratio? HD vs SD upgrade? Any other possible faults?

The aspect ratio is correct (4:3).
There is a thread about this set on blu-ray.com: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=252232. The posting 10 mentions an small error for the episode 'Ordeal' which was already on a japanese boxset.

Network have just released Wolcott (1980) onto UK Blu-ray.

More info on the mini-series thanks to BFI Screenonline here.

In news that's finer than a genuine Parisian night suit, Shout Factory is releasing Freaks & Geeks on blu-ray later this year.

As it hasn't been mentioned here, the BFI are releasing the 1955 TV series Around the World with Orson Welles on DVD and limited-edition Blu-ray on 24 August.

The Monkees - Complete TV Series Blu-ray

(Includes Head with "never-before-seen" outtakes.)

Freaks and Geeks was announced several weeks ago, but it was recently re-added to Netflix (in HD, I believe). It's now in 16:9.

domino harvey wrote:Freaks and Geeks will be presented in both original full frame and new widescreen transfers in same set

Of course they will, because otherwise, how would they even try and put a $120 MSRP for 18x45 min episodes ?!

Little House on the Prairie, one of the most consistent tv shows on Blu (also one of the most perplexing, as its been going strong, no widescreen BS and super cheap MSRP). Anyway, season 7 (out of 9) for the blu-ray sets will be an Amazon exclusive MOD. I assume these will be BD-Rs? I guess Lionsgate has lost sales/steam after 6 seasons. I wasn't even aware the show was that popular.

On another note, I'm somewhat concerned that we probably won't see much else from Paramount. There was that interview with the guy who did TNG restoration - and he complained that the sets didn't sell (and I'm sure they lost a ton of money on them -as it was apparently the largest film restoration project ever undertaken). So who knows if DS9 or Voyager will be done next. Some concerns also for Andy Griffith Season 2 or some of those other shows mentioned a page or so back. So much for my dreams of Hogans Heroes on Blu (perhaps Shout or someone will start licensing these and doing them). I blame their stupid $130 MSRP, which is absurd when you're trying to earn money from people who mostly just watch them for free (or nearly so) on Hulu/Netflix.

Network are still going strong, fortunately. Professionals series 4 was announced today. Somehow Space: 1999 season 2 was finally released the other week - and I was completely unaware of it! I guess no press release on Blu-ray.com or elsewhere. They had spent forever working on some audio issues (I believe), and several years later of delays - it finally is out! I'm about done watching Lost in Space (on MeTV, before I get the bluray set) - so I plan to start Space 1999 as my weekly sci-fi & pizza show. I've heard that Space 1999 becomes significantly goofier as it progresses. I've only seen the first two episodes and it seems rather serious - is this a gradual tone shift (like Lost in Space) or something that happens in Season 2?

I've been working my way through the MPI blu-rays of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series, and it's mostly a pretty impressive over the ugly-ass dvds, but inexplicably- in the last of the four main series- the aspect ratio changes from the correct 1:33 to what looks to be 1:66. I've only seen the first one so far, but I can't figure out what the heck is going on. To the best of my recollection, the DVDs were all in the right ratio.

matrixschmatrix wrote:I've been working my way through the MPI blu-rays of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series, and it's mostly a pretty impressive over the ugly-ass dvds, but inexplicably- in the last of the four main series- the aspect ratio changes from the correct 1:33 to what looks to be 1:66. I've only seen the first one so far, but I can't figure out what the heck is going on. To the best of my recollection, the DVDs were all in the right ratio.

I never thought I'd live to see something as stupid as "reverse pan and scanning." It's just so inane.

Could be the first 3 series were shot on Standard 16mm, the last on Super 16mm...

I was trying to figure out if there were any justification for it, but I couldn't track anything down. I didn't notice anything too egregious in terms of heads and feet lopped off, but it does look to me as though it were the top and bottom being cut off rather than showing extra information on the sides.

I wish I still the DVDs to compare, since there were also some odd lip sync issues on more than one of the episodes. They look much worse than the previous ones, to boot.

The BFI looks set to be releasing a fair chunk of Alan Clarke's BBC back catalogue, at least going from BBFC records. And The Firm (1989) has been confirmed as a Blu-ray.

Matrix: I have the Memoirs DVDs and they're 1.33:1 as broadcast. In closeups some faces were already framed pretty tightly, so if there was much information cropped off I imagine it'd look pretty bad. If you'd care to link any screencaps that looked possibly cropped, I'd be happy to compare them to what's on the DVDs.
Same with the sync problems. If you post timecodes where you noticed it, I can check again to make sure there are no such issues on the DVDs.

I don't know how I would get screencaps off of blus- I don't have any computers with blu players- but the syncing problem was throughout The Three Gables. It looks like it's because they adapted PAL to 24fps stupidly for that one episode http://www.hometheaterforum.com/threads ... 69/page-10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes I still keep this thing updated. There hasn't been too much news on this front lately, but some surprises still turn up.

Star Trek: The Animated series is planned for a "holiday release" from Paramount this year. DS9 + Voyager don't sound too likely at this point (probably because of the sales failure of TNG)