Jo_C
Second Unit
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2001
- Messages
- 347
I don't know whether or not this belongs in an animated form, but it is worth mentioning here...most of you know the fate of the Filmation animated library over the years and how the successive owners have treated it. Classic Media is now the owner of this library, and part of it is the highly overlooked animated classic "Journey Back To Oz".
The story of its complicated production has been covered elsewhere on the internet, but long story short...production began in 1964, finally finished in 1971, and took even longer to find its audience. When it was shown on network television in 1976, it was reformatted as a television special with live-action segments featuring Bill Cosby. It has been issued on VHS numerous times, and most recently on DVD from BCI Eclipse. Although BCI did somewhat of a good job with the disc, and certainly the features of it were great to have, it was not the "special edition" it turned out to be. The PAL-to-NTSC transfer (time compressed, by the way, which I hated) wasn't the best, and even to a point where not all of the extra material from the TV version was included.
Somewhere out there, someone has a master 35mm print (or even a good quality print period) of the theatrical cut, and someone (maybe at SFM Entertainment, which had the broadcast rights to "Journey" for years) has a master video print of the complete telecast version of "Journey" for inclusion on a future DVD (or even Blu-Ray) set, and maybe then Classic Media will put out a better edition of the film.
Does anyone know where such elements can be found, if they exist at all? I have been busy tracking down a good home recording of the TV version as well.
The story of its complicated production has been covered elsewhere on the internet, but long story short...production began in 1964, finally finished in 1971, and took even longer to find its audience. When it was shown on network television in 1976, it was reformatted as a television special with live-action segments featuring Bill Cosby. It has been issued on VHS numerous times, and most recently on DVD from BCI Eclipse. Although BCI did somewhat of a good job with the disc, and certainly the features of it were great to have, it was not the "special edition" it turned out to be. The PAL-to-NTSC transfer (time compressed, by the way, which I hated) wasn't the best, and even to a point where not all of the extra material from the TV version was included.
Somewhere out there, someone has a master 35mm print (or even a good quality print period) of the theatrical cut, and someone (maybe at SFM Entertainment, which had the broadcast rights to "Journey" for years) has a master video print of the complete telecast version of "Journey" for inclusion on a future DVD (or even Blu-Ray) set, and maybe then Classic Media will put out a better edition of the film.
Does anyone know where such elements can be found, if they exist at all? I have been busy tracking down a good home recording of the TV version as well.