I’ve been a fan of TV shows since I was born. I am a proud member of the Rerun Generation. As a kid in the 70’s, I grew up watching the classic shows of the previous decade. I remember vividly sitting in front of the small, black and white Zenith TV for daily runs of I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek, Lost in Space, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Petticoat Junction and The Flying Nun.
Even such nonsense as Please Don’t Eat the Daisies and Hazel hold fond memories. Luckily, thanks to DVD, I can revisit many of the shows of my youth. However, as is my wont, I have things to bitch about. The integrity of the shows have been compromised for whatever reason. Many of the things which made memories of the shows special have been omitted. Nothing as important as whole scenes, but the little things like “In Color!” and previews for the next episode. I can see losing these to make room for more commercials, but on DVD there is no need to make this room. In fact, the DVDs should preserve the original viewing experience. With this in mind, this is a list of DVD issues that really grind my gears:
Even such nonsense as Please Don’t Eat the Daisies and Hazel hold fond memories. Luckily, thanks to DVD, I can revisit many of the shows of my youth. However, as is my wont, I have things to bitch about. The integrity of the shows have been compromised for whatever reason. Many of the things which made memories of the shows special have been omitted. Nothing as important as whole scenes, but the little things like “In Color!” and previews for the next episode. I can see losing these to make room for more commercials, but on DVD there is no need to make this room. In fact, the DVDs should preserve the original viewing experience. With this in mind, this is a list of DVD issues that really grind my gears:
1. Dual sided DVDs. So many of these are made badly. A dual-sided DVD is nothing more than two thin single sided jobbies glued together. So there are issues with bad glue, uneven layering and so on. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but having a label side is great for when you’re taking a DVD out of the holder. Especially if the holder is grabbing the disc too damned tightly. You can place your fingers anywhere on the label surface. Also, even if you don’t do that as a practice, there is potential for slippage where you can still touch it. Or if you’re taking off the disc on the right side of the two-DVD case and your hand rubs against the one on the left side. Body oils are hell.
2. Scanavo brand cases that ruin my two-DVD housed discs. Thank you Fox!
3. Not finishing the run of a show, even after releasing three seasons like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Have Gun Will Travel. (UPDATE: Thanfully, Voyage was finally finished in February 2011)
4. Half-season sets. I hate that shit. The Fugitive, The Untouchables, all the Irwin Allen shows (except the hideously expensive Land of the Giants box), now Gunsmoke, Route 66, The Mod Squad and so may more. Really, do studios think this is something collectors like? I’m serious, collectors are the only people who are going to seek out most of these shows. Why do they insist on pissing off the fan base?
5. Refusal to keep signs of the era, which is the initial reason for this post. Many of the classic shows of the 60’s are more fun when you have the In Color bill boards and previews for the next week’s episodes. Many of these things are attached to the 35mm prints, yet the DVD folks always take the time to delete them from the commercial copies. What does it hurt to keep them? It won’t make the show less attractive to young people (most don’t care about any of these shows to begin with) and it is a cool nostalgic trip for those of us who buy the series. Some studios do keep some for bonus feature reasons and I’m grateful for that. But most don’t even go that far. Only the Twilight Zone Definitive Sets do it 100% right. Really, does “The Invaders…In Color!” really bother people? For fans it would be great and for everyone else it would ad to the kitsch value.
6. Badly chosen versions. Check out the first episode of I Dream of Jeannie on DVD. When Jeannie first appears, she speaks in her native language. But you have no idea what she’s saying. Now, go check out the same episode on Columbia House VHS. Look! Subtitles! And yes, these were provided for the broadcast print in 1965. However, there is a second print (which corrects the end credits which originally read “Larry Hagman as Capt. Anthony Wilson”) which does not have the subtitles and that’s the print Sony DVD put on the sets. Also, some second season episodes had new sound effects on the syndicated prints. They are easy to spot; they sound totally different from everything else and are too modern. Yet, these same prints are used on the DVDs, yet not the Columbia House tapes. Thanks, Sony…. Or the first 4 seasons of Combat. Those prints were time compressed for syndication and it shows. Yet the 5th season, in color, runs at the correct speed.
7. Missing episodes. Like Hawaii Five-O season 2. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
8. Changing the credits to conform to the rest of the season instead of letting them remain as they were. Like The Rat Patrol and
9. Not keeping the original studio logo. For some reason,
10. Not updating the prints. Lost in Space DVDs are mastered from the same prints as the Columbia House tapes. Those were restruck in 1989, well before today’s new standards. Plus, episodes are missing scenes. The first set of Route 66 looks horrible, as do Branded, The Guns of Will Sonnet and much of Hawaii Five-O.
11. Altering the sound mix. Star Trek was totally altered. The engine “rumble” for the exterior scenes were in most of the first season’s episodes, but stopped about halfway through. The DVDs put that sound in every episode of each season. They’ve added sound effects to the torpedo scenes in Balance of Terror, all of this done for the sake of surround sound. Why not let the mono track be an option then? They also effed up the music for The Menagerie part 2, a first season show, by putting in new music at the beginning of each act. Some are from the first Fred Steiner rerecording album, but one is from The Doomsday Machine…a second season episode! A loud music sting from The Doomsday machine was tacked onto a dramatic speech in The Deadly Years. This was not there before (I have the series on VHS and laserdisc from the 80’s for this reason). Sound effects were changed in Errand of Mercy and The Paradise Syndrome: instead of the usual “impact sounds” in Errand, they put in the “door sliding sound” over and over and did the same thing for
12. Using edited prints. The El-Cheapo DVDs of Branded and The Guns of Will Sonnet are not only in horrible shape, they are missing 3 minutes each (the shows were half-hours). These are the same stinky prints ABC runs at 4 am on Saturday. This is the ultimate rip off.
13. Changing the ratio of a 4:3 TV series into 16:9 “widescreen.” Ugh, this is one of the worst offenses. In a misguided attempt to make an old TV show fit in a 16:9 aspect HD screen, they tops and bottoms of the picture have to be cut. So most of the time, the time the picture cuts off people’s heads. Route 66 Season 1, Vol. 2 is like this. So are the DVDs for the first two V mini-series’. Yeah, yeah, the director of the first V says they filmed it in scope for a theatrical release. Bullshit. Nobody did that in 1983. And sorry Kenny Johnson, I have the full screen VHS tapes to compare. Marc Singer’s head is missing an inch or two on the DVDs. And nice hack job on the “surround sound” audio. Once again, no mono track for us purists.
I could go on, but you guys are probably getting brain cramps as it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment