Batman ('60s series) STILL NOT coming to DVD! (Major update post #52) (1 Viewer)

[Tony J Case]

Hmmm, guardedly hopeful here. How many times over the years did we hear "Its coming! This time for SURE!" or "West and Ward are working on extras!"? Way too many times for me to get excited.

Dont get me wrong, I'll buy this the second this hits the street (actually, I'll get two - one for my friend who has kids), but until I actually see it in my hand, I'll take a "yeah, sure - fool me once, etc, etc. . . ." attitude.

 

[Sam Favate]

How great would it be if this was Time Life's complete series offering for the year?

I agree that a Blu-Ray release would be great, but the number of old TV shows on Blu-Ray is pretty small, so the studios might hesitate.

Here's hoping that the very long wait for this one means that all rights issues have been cleared up and we can expect to see 120 uncut episodes.

 

[Brian Himes]

Oh my, oh my, oh my! Well, let's hope that this does indeed pan out. Count me in for this series.

If this does happen, then maybe there is hope for The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. If those come out in the US then I'll know for sure that Hell has indeed frozen over.

 

[Corey3rd]

I'm not getting my cheese up until this boxset is in my house and I've watched each episode twice.

 

[Jason_V]

Not to be morbid, but I'm right with you on that. I'd love for the series to be sitting on my shelf in the near future...

I'm just not holding my breath. Yet.

 

[Nebiroth]

Extremely non-great if it's Time Life, since they don't ship outside of the USA. Spare a thought for those of us who don't live there.

 

[oscar_merkx]

For us across the pond, anyone but Time Life.

 

[Brian Himes]

I really don't see that happening. First of all, Fox knows what a huge money maker this would be and licensing this out to TimeLife would probably not be in their best interests. Also, Fox would not want to share any more of the profits from this show then they absolutley have to and by licencing this to TimeLife it would definately cut into all of the potential profits they stand to make on this release.

Additionally, TimeLife (I believe) is owned by Warner, and so I would think that Fox is already giving them a chunk of change to be able to release this series in the first place. So, again a deal with TimeLife could cut into Fox's profits.

If ever there was a time for Fox to be really gready, then the release of this show is it. They're not going to share anymore then they have to.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Being a comic fan, I am firmly convinced that even if this series is close to a release, DC Comics and Time Warner will find a way to screw this up and keep the series on the shelf for another decade.

Add in Fox, who don't have a great track record for classic TV on DVD, and I don't have much hope at all.

Would be nice to see the old Batman series on DVD, though. I just can't ever see it happening with the three parties involved.

 

[JasonJason]

Count me as another person who would be EXTREMELY excited if this turns out to be true. Both a full set or season sets would be a release date purchase for me.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well folks, looks like this is all a bust!

Our friends over at TVSHOWSONDVD has just posted this article
which essentially debunks the report that the series is coming
to DVD.

The article is a very interesting read and you can see how news
was misinterpreted and turned into rumor that the series was about
to be released.

On a personal note, I wish to apologize for furthering the rumor.
I had taken quite a bit of stock on the information posted on
THE DIGITAL BITS without consulting the studio directly.

Our thanks to Dave and Gord for the further investigations they
did on this story.

 

[Sam Favate]

Booooo!

Oh well. Warner and Fox have missed the window of opportunity for their maximum returns on this. Batman is not going to be as hot a property as he is this year for a very long time.

Cheers to Adam West though for taking matters into his own hands.

 

[WillG]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but why can the movie be released while the tv show cannot. Is is just because, as a theatrical film, it had a more iron clad licensing agreement for home video?

 

[Jeff*H]

The only ones that will be happy with this news (no Batman tv release; upcoming Adam West bonus material): THE BOOTLEGGERS.

 

[Brian Himes]

Well, I guess that, as they say, is that. What a bummer! I guess that kind of lets the air out of my tires.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Thanks Ron, the link to the article is very interesting indeed.

Let's hope that Adam West: The Batman Diaries gets a release somehow.

 

[Gord Lacey]

It sounds like this is still in the planning stages, not something that is nearly completed. It could be a long time before we see this for sale.

Gord

 

[oscar_merkx]

you would have thought that TDK massive BO would change things

 

[Ronald Epstein]

It's funny you mention bootlegs.

It's taboo to talk of them here, but the license holders have a
major problem on their hands as the bootlegs that are currently
available are off the original masters.

Though I insist no-one give any further information to their
availability, I would be looking to get a legitimate release out
to deter the sales of what is currently available.

 

[Brian Himes]

You would think that Fox and Warner would have gotten a clue about that a long time ago, but apparently not. Oh well. Their loss.