Universal Studios & Warner Brothers Reissued DVD Sets (2 Viewers)

jcroy · Mar 30, 2014

UniversalPhan said:
Not only that but Universal re-releasing these TV shows via single sided DVD sets and the single DVD cases gives them a chance to soak TV fans for DVD sales. If you've noticed, many of these re-issued sets are averaging between $25-30. It's offensive. One would think that Universal would lower those price points down to around $15-20.

Definitely.

This would be further compounded if Fox also starts to re-release their previous flipper sets, as single-sided disc re-releases. (Dunno about Anchor Bay considering some of their original flipper sets were Stephen J Cannell tv shows, which they don't have the license to anymore. Mill Creek now has the rights to many of Cannell's old shows).

In the case of Warner, I'm willing to double-dip on the remaining Dukes of Hazzard flipper season sets (seasons 2, 3 and 6), the original V tv series, and the Wonder Woman seasons, if and when they're re-released as single-sided discs.

In the case of Fox, I'm holding off on buying The Pretender until it is re-released as single-sided discs. Though I'm willing to double dip on Remington Steele if they're ever re-released as single-sided discs. (If this ever happens).

For Fox shows I don't have yet, such as Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, LA Law, etc ... I may just wait for or pick up the "complete series" single-sided disc sets released by somebody else (such as Shout! Factory).

Looking more closely at Fox, I just noticed the season 1 dvd set of Bones is a double-sided flipper disc set. At this point, I'm tempted to just wait for a possible "complete series" bluray set for Bones, in the hope that seasons 1 to 3 are eventually released on bluray. Bones has been consistently released on bluray since season 4. (The "bonus episodes" from the season 3 dvd set, are included on the season 4 bluray).

UniversalPhan · Mar 30, 2014

That's why I've been waiting until they go on sale. Most of these reissues, I've waiting until they went on sale for around $10 per set.

jcroy · Mar 30, 2014

UniversalPhan said:
That's why I've been waiting until they go on sale. Most of these reissues, I've waiting until they went on sale for around $10 per set.

Same here.

jcroy · Mar 30, 2014

jcroy said:
Dunno about Anchor Bay considering some of their original flipper sets were Stephen J Cannell tv shows, which they don't have the license to anymore. Mill Creek now has the rights to many of Cannell's old shows.

For historical reference, the Anchor Bay double-sided flipper disc tv season sets which I'm aware of were:

- Hunter (season 3)
- Silk Stalkings (seasons 4 and season 5)
- 21 Jump Street (season 5)
- Renegade (season 2+3)

They were released back in 2006, during the height of the flipper disk madness for tv season sets.

With the exception of Silk Stalkings seasons 2 to 5, most of the other Cannell produced titles have all been re-released as "complete series" sets by Mill Creek back in 2010.

UniversalPhan · Mar 31, 2014

I just got a response back from Universal Home Entertainment regarding Season 3. While their response was neutral and ambiguous, they do acknowledge that Season 3 hasn't been released yet and that no current release date has been assigned for it yet.

You are correct: Season Three of "Magnum, P.I." has not been released on single-sided discs. No date has been announced for the release of this season.

What it sounds like, between the lines, is that it's possible they may schedule it in the near future. I think they didn't realize that it wasn't scheduled and that they may be prepping the season for a re-release to single sided DVDs.

Peter M Fitzgerald · Mar 31, 2014

If this is now the usual routine for Universal, I sure wish they'd reissue DRAGNET (Season 1)*, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS (Season 1) and KOLCHAK - THE NIGHT STALKER (Complete Series) on single-sided discs, to replace their original, lousy DVD-18 pressings.

* Actually, it seems like I remember the initial DRAGNET season getting reissued a year or two ago (by Universal, not Shout), but I forget if it was confirmed to be single sided discs, or another batch of DVD-18s.

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

UniversalPhan said:
I just got a response back from Universal Home Entertainment regarding Season 3. While their response was neutral and ambiguous, they do acknowledge that Season 3 hasn't been released yet and that no current release date has been assigned for it yet.

What it sounds like, between the lines, is that it's possible they may schedule it in the near future. I think they didn't realize that it wasn't scheduled and that they may be prepping the season for a re-release to single sided DVDs.

Hopefully such a re-release will include the crossover episode with Simon & Simon. (IIRC, this crossover episode was included on the bonus 4th disc that came with the original flipper disc version of season 1 set of Magnum PI).

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

For historical reference, here's a list of MGM tv show season sets.

(It was a small enough list to cull through last night). I won't bother listing the Stargate franchise and Pink Panther cartoon titles, which were largely known to be single-sided discs.

There were some important MGM dates from that time period:

April 8, 2005 - Sony consortium buyout of MGM finalized.
May 31, 2006 - MGM distribution changes from Sony to Fox.

So for about a year or so from mid-2005 -> mid-2006, Sony handled distribution of MGM titles. After May 2006, MGM distribution was handed off to 20th Century Fox.

Here's a list of known MGM double-sided flipper disc season sets (by year), which I'm aware of.

- September 3, 2002

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 1 (1963)
The Outer Limits (The New Series) - Time Travel & Infinity (1995)
The Outer Limits (The New Series) - Sex & Science Fiction (1995)

- September 2, 2003

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 2 (1963)

- January 13, 2004

Green Acres: Season 1 (1965)
The Best of Mister Ed - Volume One (1961)

2005

- March 8, 2005

Green Acres: Season 2 (1965)
The Best of Mister Ed - Volume Two (1961)

****** April 8, 2005 - Sony consortium buyout of MGM finalized *******

- June 21, 2005

The Outer Limits - The New Series (Aliens Among Us/Death & Beyond/Fantastic Androids & Robots/Mutation and Transformation/Sex & Science Fiction/Time Travel & Infinity Collections) (1995)

The Outer Limits (The New Series) - Aliens Among Us Collection (1995)

The Outer Limits (The New Series) - The Death & Beyond Collection (1995)

The Outer Limits (The New Series) - Mutation & Transformation Collection (1995)

The Outer Limits (The New Series) - Fantastic Androids & Robots Collection (1995)

2006

****** May 31, 2006 MGM distribution changes from Sony to Fox ***********

October 24, 2006 - The Addams Family - Volume One (1964)

2007

March 27, 2007 - The Addams Family: Volume Two (1964)

April 24, 2007 - Flipper - The Original Series, Season 1 (1964)

May 8, 2007 - Cagney & Lacey: Season 1 (1982)

June 5, 2007 - The Outer Limits: Volume 1 (1963)

August 28, 2007 - The Outer Limits, Season one - Vol. 2 (1963)

September 11, 2007 - The Addams Family - Volume 3 (1964)

October 30, 2007 - The Outer Limits: The Original Series - Volume 3 (1963)

November 13, 2007 - The Addams Family - The Complete Series

2008

March 25, 2008 - Green Acres - Seasons 1-3

October 21, 2008 - The Outer Limits Original Series Complete Box Set Volumes 1-3 (2008)

2009

September 15, 2009 - Fame: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (2009)

For completeness, a list of MGM season sets which were single-sided discs, or appear to be so. (Though I may be mistaken).

2004

January 20, 2004 - Jeremiah - The Complete First Season (2002)

June 15, 2004 - Dead Like Me - The Complete First Season (2003)

2005

****** April 8, 2005 - Sony consortium buyout of MGM finalized *******

July 19, 2005 - Dead Like Me - The Complete Second Season (2003)

- July 26, 2005

Errol Morris' First Person - The Complete Series (1999)
Mister Ed: Barnyard Favorites (1961)
Green Acres: Farm Favorites (1965)

October 18, 2005 - Dark Shadows The Revival - The Complete Series (1991)

- November 1, 2005

Fame - The Complete First Season (1982)
The Outer Limits (The New Series) - Season One (1995) (1995)

- December 6, 2005

The Magnificent Seven - The Complete First Season (1998)
Green Acres: Season 3 (1965)

2006

January 31, 2006 - Rat Patrol - The Complete First Season (1966)

February 7, 2006 - Poltergeist - The Legacy - Season 1 (1996)

March 14, 2006 - She Spies - The Complete First Season (2002)

March 21, 2006 - The Young Riders - The Complete First Season (1989)

****** May 31, 2006 MGM distribution changes from Sony to Fox ***********

2007

May 22, 2007 - The Magnificent Seven: Season 2 (1998)

June 12, 2007 - The Rat Patrol: Season 2 (1966)

2008

- May 13, 2008

The Rat Patrol: The Complete Series (2010)
The Magnificent Seven: The Complete Series (2010)
The Magnificent Seven Collection (2008)

2009

January 15, 2009 - Dark Shadows: The Revival - The Complete Series (2010)

February 17, 2009 - Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection (2010)

2010

- January 12, 2010

Fame: Season 1 (2009) (repackage)
Fame: Season 2 (2009) (single-sided discs version)

If these lists are relatively accurate, in hindsight it appears MGM was knee-deep into double-side flipper discs from the dawn of the dvd era. Then there was a slight reprieve from the tv season set flipper disc madness, during that one-year Sony distribution era over mid-2005 to mid-2006. When Fox was handling MGM titles, it went back to flipper disk madness for older catalog titles until the practice fell by the wayside by 2008-2009.

UniversalPhan · Mar 31, 2014

I was kind of srurprised that Universal Studios responded as fast as they did, being that I had sent off that email on Friday. But, it's good news that at least they realize that they skipped a season. Additionally, I think that Universal might re-release the Simon and Simon season sets as well.

Professor Echo · Mar 31, 2014

JCROY, thanks for that list. Do you happen to know if all or most of the MGM releases were DVD-18s? The flipper discs from Fox were mostly DVD-16s and there hasn't been any evidence of those being problematic. Also, unless I'm mistaken, I believe the first season of FLIPPER remained true to its name and was on flipper discs.

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

Professor Echo said:
Do you happen to know if all or most of the MGM releases were DVD-18s? The flipper discs from Fox were mostly DVD-16s and there hasn't been any evidence of those being problematic.

I only have the Cagney & Lacey flipper set. I don't own any of the other MGM flipper sets.

I'll check later in the evening to see whether it is dvd-18 or dvd-14.

Ethan Riley · Mar 31, 2014

The only flipper discs I've ever had a technical problem with was the Big Valley...a glitch fest. Battlestar Galactica, Dynasty and others were just fine.

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

jcroy said:
- September 3, 2002

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 1 (1963)

- September 2, 2003

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 2 (1963)

Found some old reviews of these two flipper sets via googling.

http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/o/outerlimits_os.shtml
http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/o/outerlimits.season02.shtml

The these two reviews assert that the discs are dvd-18 flippers.

EDIT: Links on the re-released 2007-2008 versions.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Outer-Limits/7098
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Outer-Limits-The-Complete-Series/10365

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

The MGM flipper discs of Cagney & Lacey have 4 episodes on side A and 2 episodes on side B.

The Remington Steele flipper discs appear to have a similar setup too, also with 4 episodes on side A and 2 episodes on side B.

Such a configuration is suggestive that these discs are dvd-14 flippers.

IIRC, the flipper discs from season 1 set of Airwolf and the original season 1 set of Magnum PI, also appear to have the dvd-14 setup.

EDIT: The Cagney & Lacey flipper disc season set has a 20th Century Fox logo on the packaging. It fits into the pattern of some other Fox produced flipper season sets.

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

Found an exception to Fox doing dvd-14 flippers.

The "Alien Nation" season 1 set has six flipper discs, with 2 episodes on each side.

Looking more closely at these discs, they appear to be dvd-10 flipper discs which have a single-layer on each side.

(IIRC, dvd-14 flipper discs have a dual-layer on one side, and a single-layer on the other side).

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

Heh.

Just noticed more Fox season set re-releases of 24, on the UK and Canada amazon sites.

On the UK site, the season 8 sets of 24 on dvd and bluray were re-released on March 17, 2014.

On the Canada site, they're re-releasing seasons 1 to 8 of 24 on dvd and the seasons 7 and 8 bluray sets, on April 29, 2014.

Don't know if these re-releases will show up on amazon.com

This must be the second or third re-packagings/re-releases of these season sets of 24.

(Sometimes I check out other amazon sites to see whether some upcoming releases show up there first, before they show up on amazon.com).

Professor Echo · Mar 31, 2014

Thank you for all the information! Your efforts are appreciated. I misspoke earlier when I said Fox used mostly DVD-16's. I meant 14's which were a double on one side and single on the other. I've never had any trouble with those, but did have issues with the 18's Universal used for their monster Legacy sets. I tend to stay away from them. Lots of negative Amazon reviews for various titles on the 18's.

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

Some other Fox releases which were dvd-10 flipper disc sets, are the region 1 releases of "King of the Hill" seasons 3 to 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_King_of_the_Hill_DVDs

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

For the MGM season set releases of "The Addams Family", the discs may be dvd-10 flippers.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Addams-Family/7447

jcroy · Mar 31, 2014

Professor Echo said:
I misspoke earlier when I said Fox used mostly DVD-16's. I meant 14's which were a double on one side and single on the other. I've never had any trouble with those, but did have issues with the 18's Universal used for their monster Legacy sets. I tend to stay away from them. Lots of negative Amazon reviews for various titles on the 18's.

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