Fess Parker Daniel Boone series (1 Viewer)

[michael_ks]

Imagine someone who repeatedly informs readers that he has no intention of buying a series, than proceeds to explain why it's not worth purchasing. That's not going to get old real fast...? If I turned the tables on "Greatest American Hero", I've little doubt that Jeff would bite back with an acerbic reply.

I've been searching for reviews to the first two seasons of "Daniel Boone" but I have not come across any so far. The restoration work looks excellent--crisp images and no detectable ghosting. The sets may not quite measure up to "The Time Tunnel" but should appear sharper than "The Big Valley" with the B&W first season having fewer scratches and flecks of dust than "Rawhide".

 

[Jeff#]

EVERYONE here is allowed to say both good or bad things about a TV show. That's what this forum is for. And I don't say the same things repeatedly. You and Alden complain whenever I write why I won't buy series that you happen to like. Your complaining is what gets tired FAST, guys.

If you want to say something against "The Greatest American Hero", go ahead. It's not the greatest TV show out there, but I enjoyed it in first-run many years ago. And also being a Robert Culp fan (from I SPY, which I also purchased) I bought all of the Hero series on DVD and I'm happy to report that I was able to get the show at bargain prices.

 

[Michael Alden]

I'm happy to report that I'll be transferring the show from my off-air broadcast masters so that I will have all of the original music and none of the hatcheting that is the trademark of all Cannell DVD releases.

 

[Jeff#]

Since it was 25 years ago, I don't remember what original music was heard on the Greatest American Hero soundtrack and I don't care. The incidental music on those discs now throughtout each episode is fine with me, and I'm sure most of it is as when it was when originally aired. The original theme song "Believe it or Not...." remains, and that was a hit.

 

[michael_ks]

FYI, there's a big difference between constructive criticism and petty disparagement.

 

[Michael Alden]

Not in Jeff's world there isn't!

 

[DanFe]

Please take this petty argument elsewhere.

 

[Jeff#]

Actually, I've given constructive criticism in my longer posts. However, due to time constraints in my daily schedule I prefer to get more to the point -- hence shorter posts such as these. And it's all good, so don't let it get to you.

 

[Jim-M]

Anyone get these yet? Are the discs in slimpaks?

 

[michael_ks]

Jim,

I just received both sets in the mail yesterday. The slipcases (1 7/8" wide) for the season sets are thick, sturdy cardboard like those you'd expect for megasets--A&E's "The Saint" for example. Four plastic slimcases (3/8" thick) per set, each slimcase holding 2 DVD-9s. The extras are roughly the same between the two season sets with the exception of episode chronologies.

Initial impressions: the 2nd color season lives up to the hype, i.e. warm rich colors, good to excellent contrast and sharpness of image with only minor imperfections here and there. The opening title/credits looks a bit less crisp with some color saturation and softness. Season one, I'm afraid is considerably less impressive with a fair amount of dust and grain, softness of image and a significant level of "middle toning" of the grayscale, in other words, less than stellar contrast. The difference between the two sets is stark enough that one could easily get the impression that the seasons were nearly 10 years apart. This really surprised me given the care extended to the color season, but perhaps the masters (or whatever source was used) were not in the best of shape for S1.

One more thing--leave the audio on the default stereo surround 5.1 option as the "English stereo" option is rather poor sounding and muddled by comparison. Very pleased with the 2nd set, a bit disappointed in the first.

Amazon sales figures last time I checked: #93 for S1, #111 for S2 so the fanbase seems high enough.

 

[Jim-M]

Thanks Michael. Your impressions of the video quality matches what I saw when TVLand showed them last month.

 

[Bob Hug]

Ditto!!!

 

[Michael Alden]

The black and white episodes have not been in syndication for a long time (if ever) so I'm sure that when these were remastered from film, probably 20 years ago, the first season wasn't remastered. That would explain the difference in quality. They were probably just straight transferred from film to tape (and then DVD) without any cleanup done to them.

 

[Jim-M]

Picked up Season 2 at Costco ($29.99, apparenlty $29.09 in some areas) last night and watched the episode 'My Name Is Rawls'. I thought it was the first episode of the season, but TV.com is showing it as the 4th. Hmmm, I'll have to check tonight and see if I messed up. Anyway, the video quality of the episode was excellent. Much better than I expected, even after seeing the TVLand episodes. Colors were very good, didn't notice any flaws or blemishes. It looks a lot better than more recent shows I have on DVD such as The Rockford Files or Magnum PI. I took a quick scan at another episode and it looked to have the same quality. They did a great job on this set.

Note: Just noticed at TV.com that 'My Name Is Rawls' was the first episode produced, but the 4th aired. So maybe the shows are in production order on the discs. Sorry if that's already been noted, I just don't recall seeing that info anywhere.

P.S. 'My Name Is Rawls' stars 1960 Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Just got season one and watched the 1st episode last night and was pleasantly surprised at the quality after reading your review. Maybe the quality gets worse latter on but I was happy with the quality on the 1st episode. There appears to be some use of stock footage of the indians in the attack on the fort. The condition of that footage was poor but the rest of the episode was good. I would say on par with Rawhide and Cheyenne although with less print damage than those 2 and definately better than Have Gun Will Travel. Looking forward to the Color episodes once I finish this set. Is it really suppossed to be a year before Season 3? I remember reading that somewhere.

 

[michael_ks]

I should have prefaced my mini review by stating that the pilot episode is indeed considerably better than subsequent episodes for image clarity. I did not scan all of them, but enough of them to realize that "Ken-Tuck-E" is in all likelihood the best of the lot. Taken as a whole, the episodes are nowhere near "Rawhide" for sharpness, contrast and overall cleanliness and still a notch below HGWT (excepting the handful of the poorest segments, e.g. "Death of a Gunfighter" from the S2 set).

Bob Hug indicated that according the GoldHill site, S3 is expected to be released in the 3rd quarter '07.

 

[Bob Hug]

Here's that link to the Goldhil site; announcement for season 3 is at the bottom:

http://www.goldhilentertainment.com/...productid=2355

 

[Bob Hug]

Season 1 has been gvien a "Recommended" review over at DVD Talk. Link:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=24332&___rd=1

 

[michael_ks]

Interesting read as the author gives a lengthy polemic discourse on the series' approach to race issues and historical accuracy. I was rather stymied by his assessement of the video, though: "Daniel Boone looks pristine in its newly scrubbed, digitally restored and remastered image." What was he smoking? I'm happy to have S1, don't get me wrong, but "Naked City" image quality, it most assuredly is not...

 

[Randy Korstick]

Michael
I'm curious about the setup you are viewing season 1 on. I have watched the 1st seven episodes now some on a Toshiba HD-DVD player through a Toshiba HD 56" set and some on a Phillips portable DVD played through a 27" tube and I'm not seeing what you are seeing. I am seeing something more in line with the DVDTalk review although not quite as good as they are saying. What I am seeing is head and shoulders over the Gunsmoke and Have Gun Will Travel sets and on par with Rawhide and Cheyenne. So I am very happy with the image. The Gunsmoke color episodes are the ones I consider abysmal and something Paramount should be ashamed to have their name on.