Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1 Viewer)

[Brett*H]

Has anyone else had problems with their Kolchak Region 1 DVDs?

I took one of the discs out to watch last night and it just wouldn't spin up. I took the disc out and it is all cloudy in spots. I checked the other ones and they are the same way.

I looked at the cases and sure enough, they all had an oily, filmy feel to them.

I had forgotten all about the infamous "Curse of the Scanavo" plastic DVD cases...


I purchased this set when it was first released so I guess asking Universal for replacements is out of the question by now.


Suppose I will have to re-purchase the set. I'm not real happy about having to do so, but I absolutely love this show.

 

[jcroy]

Has anyone else had problems with their Kolchak Region 1 DVDs?

I took one of the discs out to watch last night and it just wouldn't spin up. I took the disc out and it is all cloudy in spots. I checked the other ones and they are the same way.

I looked at the cases and sure enough, they all had an oily, filmy feel to them.

I had forgotten all about the infamous "Curse of the Scanavo" plastic DVD cases...


I purchased this set when it was first released so I guess asking Universal for replacements is out of the question by now.


Suppose I will have to re-purchase the set. I'm not real happy about having to do so, but I absolutely love this show.

Did you check it on the computer?

 

[Darby67]

I purchased the double-sided discs set when it was frist released and haven't had any playback issues so far (thank goodness), but I really wish universal would re-release it on single-sided pressed discs at some point.


Darby

 

[Mr. Handley]

I purchased the double-sided discs set when it was frist released and haven't had any playback issues so far (thank goodness), but I really wish universal would re-release it on single-sided pressed discs at some point.


Darby

I'm with you 100%!

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I'm with you 100%!

I also wish they'd go back and fix the opening credits on the first few episodes (which were correct on the R2 discs.


For those who might not know what I'm talking about: the early episodes were simply titled "the night stalker" and the lettering was also in a different color than the "kolchak:" version. It wasn't until around episode 5 that "kolchak:" appeared in the title card.


Obviously, they did just like has been done on many other TV show sets: one opening gets cleaned up, and the "variant" version(s) get forgotten about/replaced.


To be honest, though, I don't think I'd bother re-buying unless we got a blu-ray upgrade. Unlikely, perhaps, but it is a "cult" title and there's not a gazillion episodes to remaster...

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

Has anyone else had problems with their Kolchak Region 1 DVDs?

I took one of the discs out to watch last night and it just wouldn't spin up. I took the disc out and it is all cloudy in spots. I checked the other ones and they are the same way.

I looked at the cases and sure enough, they all had an oily, filmy feel to them.

I had forgotten all about the infamous "Curse of the Scanavo" plastic DVD cases...


I purchased this set when it was first released so I guess asking Universal for replacements is out of the question by now.


Suppose I will have to re-purchase the set. I'm not real happy about having to do so, but I absolutely love this show.

I checked my set and the discs look great except for some scuff marks on one side of disc 3, it seems to play fine. I re-watched these a year ago and never had any problems. Never heard of the Scanavo problems, will look into it.

 

[Darby67]

Perhaps if the Johnny Depp remake of Kolchak ever materializes, that might motivate Universal to re-release the original tv series on single-sided discs.


Darby

 

[turtledove]

I've had the R1 discs for years but not watched them for quite some time.

But here in the UK Amazon recently had the R2 edition for under £7 so it seemed rude not to buy it in order to get single sided discs just in case.


It's back to £11.99 now.

All these years later there are still no UK discs for the pilot movies

 

[Bryan^H]

Perhaps if the Johnny Depp remake of Kolchak ever materializes, that might motivate Universal to re-release the original tv series on single-sided discs.

Darby

This would work. It's not a hard series to make into a good atmospheric thriller of the supernatural sort.

 

[Charles Smith]

Has anyone else had problems with their Kolchak Region 1 DVDs?
I took one of the discs out to watch last night and it just wouldn't spin up. I took the disc out and it is all cloudy in spots. I checked the other ones and they are the same way.
I looked at the cases and sure enough, they all had an oily, filmy feel to them.

I don't have this set, and this is just a shot in the dark -- but I found what I think you're describing in another set, and I was able to clean the cloudy shit off completely with a liquid disc cleaner and microfiber cloth. After that, they looked and played like new.

 

[JayHink]

I bought my copy on August 1, 2008 (thanks Amazon for keeping track. lol). Without replaying the discs, a quick look at them reveals nothing out of whack, physically.

One interesting thing to note: the Amazon entry for this set says it's 'under review' and as such, they've suspended sales of their inventory pending review of complaints they've received. Only third-party sales are available at the time I'm writing this.

 

[turtledove]

Many dvd releases that used dvd-18 ended up with problems like Universals 2 disc set with 8 Hammer films but in the intervening years I think they mastered the format.

My UK boxset of ER uses dvd-18 for the whole set and I was extremely surprised when I watched all 331 episodes over a 7 month period to find not a single glitch. Warner at least continue to use double sided discs on some releases.


If you do find these patches on the disc then something is wrong but as someone else posted it can be cleared although the problem is likely to return and may prove fatal.


IN the early days of dvd these symptoms showed up on several Anchor Bay discs and some UK Columbia releases where a manufacturing error lead to the dual layers of the disc starting to separate. From what I recall these discs were all manufactured in the same place.


The US disc of Opera was affected , and Anchor Bays Frankenstein Created Woman was out of print before the problem showed itself leaving many collectors unable to get replacements.

Amongst the UK titles affected were The Terminator and Silence of the Lambs.

 

[Darby67]

The complete series of Kolchak; The Night Stalker is getting rereleased on single-sided discs: https://www.amazon.com/Kolchak-Nigh...2X718?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&tag=dvdaficionado

Kudos to the original poster of this great news, John!

 

[Steve...O]

Great news - I can finally buy this. Thanks to John and Darby!

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Outtasighteous! I can finally consign my old, failing Kolchak DVD-18s to the dustbin of history!

Now if only Universal would be so kind as to likewise reissue single-sided Season 1 sets of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and '60s Dragnet, all will be square, from my perspective.

 

[Darby67]

Barnes and Noble has the reissued Kolchak series for $20.44: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-kolchak-the-night-stalker/30164245?ean=0025192369100

 

[dana martin]

thanks for the price heads up, was there any bonus features on the original release?, would be curious if anything is on this.

 

[Mr. Handley]

Would be nice if they included the two feature-length films, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler that were previously issued as a "double-feature" flipper disc (but I won't hold my breath).

 

[Darby67]

thanks for the price heads up, was there any bonus features on the original release?, would be curious if anything is on this.

Dana:

There were no bonus features on the original flipper disc release of the series.

 

[dana martin]

Darby,
Thanks the best set of reissues i have picked up is the Buck Rodgers sets, but i am wondering if these will get the same 1080p upgrade that Classic Battlestar release got.