When are We going to see a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea DVD Release?!!!!!

I think you would have to look at pre-release rankings as well as post release. If I remember correctly Voyage did better than TT did in early pre-orders.

Amazon may be a pretty good barometer. I noticed F-Troop did well on Amazon and sales were good enough to warrant
season sets. The bottom line is that sales are probably close enough to say if there is a 2nd volume of TT then there will be a second volume of Voyage.

Probably not with the over 40 crowd. Under 40? Most definitely. In James Gleick's book "Faster", I recall him mentioning something that really made me feel like a relic from a by-gone era--that the new generation almost wholesale will have nothing to do with B&W for film/tv since their perception is that the storyline and action will move at a snail's pace.

I sometimes think that the DVD format will be the last to showcase television pre-1966 to any appreciable extent. Three-fourths of my 22 series I have on DVD (spanning the years 1951-1974) are B&W. When a new format supersedes it, I'll likely have little to collect. Virtually all the shows on my want list are B&W: future sets of "Naked City", "The Rifleman" and "Have Gun--Will Travel", "The Loner", "The Rebel", "The Untouchables", "The Fugitive" (1 color season), "Route 66", "Sea Hunt", "Thriller"--the list goes on and on.

I respectfully disagree. I've been watching these numbers since both were put up on their site. From day one that VOYAGE was listed, TIME TUNNEL ranked substantially higher up until February 16th, five days before VOYAGE's release. (documented in my post from back then:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...31#post2936631 )

Another piece of corroborating evidence can be found on the "Video Universe" pages. They're the DVD/video arm of CD Universe and they maintain an "All Time Rank" for their titles. If you compare the two titles we're talking about, TIME TUNNEL (#7,953) is WAY ahead of VOYAGE (#29,816). And I certainly can respect the fact that TIME TUNNEL's been out longer, VOYAGE just came out, etc., and "CD/Video Universe" is not exactly in Amazon's league. But the numbers are what they are, and I think they're at least an indicator.

Believe me, I'm as surprised as anyone at this. I thought I was one of the few people who even remembered what TIME TUNNEL was.

Harry

Michael, bottom line for me is good writing/good story telling . . . everything else (acting, direction, production, etc.) is meaningless if you don't have a good story to tell. That's why the shows that you mention are all so great and it makes no difference to me that they were filmed in black and white. In fact, I'd go so far to say that a show like "Naked City" or the original "Dragnet" plays better in black & white rather than in color . . . they have a starker feel about them in b&w.

Speaking of pacing, I recently tried to watch an episode of NCIS. I don't think that there was a single scene that lasted over 4 or 5 seconds in length . . . just constant cutting, back & forth, different camera angles, etc. I suppose that the producers wanted to give the show (your basic CSI/whodunnit variation) a "modern" look, but all it succeeded in doing was to give me a headache . . . I turned it off after half an hour of "trendy" editing.

Agreed, Bob. When you have color and flash, high production values and high dollar special effects, storytelling so often takes a back seat. This has been demonstrated time and again. Irwin Allen, in a way was a progenitor of this line of producing tv drama. There is an incredible difference between VTTBOTS S1 and S3-4 in terms of raw human drama. The same holds for "Lost in Space" to a somewhat lesser extent. "Fugitive's" S4 falls short of the first three seasons because of color. The mood was softened and it lacked its former "edginess".

Alot of individuals look at OL-63 and say, "Gadzooks, what cheesy looking monsters and hardware--very dated indeed". And I say, "Praise the Lord Outer Limits was filmed in B&W on a tight budget! If it hadn't been so, such luminaries as Joseph Stefano, Gerd Oswald and Conrad Hall may not have tapped their brains nearly as hard and raised the bar on storytelling and mood that they achieved on this show." If someone criticizes OL for being an old B&W show with bare bones dime store effects, I just shake my head and realize they just don't get it.

I can't stomach 95 percent of the current tv drama these days, for the very reasons you mentioned.

Harry, I know that you are a bit more of a TT fan than a VTTBOTS fan, so I figured you would nicely remind us of the sales figures (and there's nothing wrong with that at all). I too have monitored the rankings via Amazon, and I must say I am surprised and somewhat disappointed that TT has ranked better. Not so much because I'm looking for competition between the two series, but more so because I sincerely believe "Voyage" represents the best of the Irwin Allen series.

I'd attribute TT's higher rankings to three things:

1) It's recently been on Encore and therefore has a leg up on Voyage when it comes to recognizability with the younger set. Even if this represents only a small percentage of increased sales, it's something that has to be factored in.

2) As much as I hate to say it (because it reflects poorly on today's tv viewers), I do believe the black & white versus color argument has some validity. It's crazy, but true none the less.

3) With newbies/youngsters controlling the dollar spending so much, it only makes sense that they'd be more attracted to a show about "time travel" than "sailing the 7 seas." That's just a function of the age in which we live. Kids desire more fantasy and science fiction than they do straight drama/action. And even though VTTBOTS gives us the best of both worlds, the younger generation doesn't know this and will naturally gravitate toward the show that has the "cooler" concept (if you get my meaning).

I've been thoroughly enjoying both sets this week, but have to admit that after about 3 episodes of TT I got bored. It seems to me the show immediately fell into a very predictable pattern. Voyage, on the other hand, has been a joy to watch and has much more variety.

Gary "bummed that the initial news about a 2nd VTTBOTS set coming in May/June was wrong" O.

The reason that I think Voyage will outsell TT in the end is Walmart. Voyage is at all of the 4 Walmarts in in my area. TT was not available at any of these Walmarts. Walmart can move product very fast. The fact that LIS S1 did so poorly at Walmart that Fox moved to 2 volumes per season is a testament to that power. My local Walmart started out with 14 copies and are down to 5. Another Walmart that I shop had 12 and are down to 4. Even my local BB had 12 copies and are down to 6. Neither LIS nor TT moved that many copies.

I certainly cannot deny you your choice for what was the best - and viewing these old black & white episodes, with the superior stories and direction, I might have to agree. So if it were just a comparison of TIME TUNNEL with VOYAGE's first season, I'd pick VOYAGE as the better TV series of the two, story-wise. With the later season silliness with the rubber-suitd monsters, VOYAGE took a turn for the worse, so overall, I'd probably pick TIME TUNNEL as the better of the two - just because it didn't have the chance to get "too silly".

My fascination with THE TIME TUNNEL comes from its premise, the idea of time travel, and the physical appearance of that fantastic set. The actual execution of the show left some things to be desired.


I can't imagine that the Encore Action Channel gets that many people watching it. The universe of subscribers that even get the channel has to be painfully small - and the number of THOSE people who actually watched or recorded TIME TUNNEL has to be considerably smaller than that. (I work in radio and know a bit about ratings and reaching audiences.)


I'd bet the house on that. But the weird thing there is: Have you ever had occasion to watch popular music videos, and nitice how many of them are deliberately filmed in black & white?


I'd tend to agree with that. The whole Cold War scenario is somewhat dated, though if you transpose the VOYAGE foreign despots with today's terrorists, some of those stories could be considered valid. Time travel is nearly always valid since history remains constant and the future is unknown.


Funny, I've had just the opposite experience. Watching my fave, THE TIME TUNNEL was a supreme joy while I've found myself dozing off during some of the slower moments aboard the Seaview. But the good thing about DVDs is, you just go back and play them again.

But the bottom line is, I realize how THE TIME TUNNEL has been frowned upon over the years, so it's a happy surprise to see it: a) respected enough to get a great DVD treatment, and b) apparently selling well in the process.

Harry "fill in a witty line here" N.

Harry, I hope you don't take offense at my comments. Hey, more power to you if TT floats your boat moreso than VTTBOTS (no pun intended). That's what makes the world go round.

Of course I don't believe Encore's airing of TT has made a huge difference in sales. That's why I carefully worded my comments by mentioning a "small percentage of sales." I just posited that it may have helped to some degree, and you can't deny that with those airings TT has had the chance to be in the public eye and gain some new fans moreso than VTTBOTS in recent years.

I definitely believe the difference in sales is all about the "under 30" buyers. It just seems obvious that the title and premise of the show would entice more blind buys from the younger crowd than VOYAGE would. And I believe that is the sole reason it has had a slight edge in the rankings.

Finally, I'd suggest that VTTBOTS had two stellar seasons as compared to just one decent season from TT and that's the reason I'd call it the best of the Allen series. LIS had one as well (the first) before it went totally camp. And of course LAND OF THE GIANTS just never had a whole lot of punch, IMHO. But anyhow, I'm basing my comments on the fact that VOYAGE had two really solid seasons before they went the way of the "rubber monster of the week" route.

Gary "FWIW, my kids have loved all the TT episodes thus far" O.

Gary, none taken at all. Isn't it just great that Fox has given us the opportunity to debate which of our favorites are the better series?

Obviously the biggest argument in favor of VOYAGE has to be the fact that it lasted four seasons on a major network compared to TIME TUNNEL's one. And that was pretty impressive, given that it out-ran the highly vaunted and classic STAR TREK in terms of years and episodes.

And then (not previously mentioned) there's the sheer "gravitas" of the great Richard Basehart, who could make talking with a rubber-suited monster look like Shakespeare.

These are powerful points, and I concede them readily. Judging which series is the better really comes down to a matter of personal preference. TIME TUNNEL stirred my imagination as a fifteen year-old all those years ago, and I never forgot it. VOYAGE remained just a fondly, but barely-remembered old series.

In terms of my own personal preference, I'd rank the Allen series thusly:

THE TIME TUNNEL
LOST IN SPACE
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
LAND OF THE GIANTS

That's the way I remember them, too. TIME TUNNEL was a must-see show for me - a pit-in-the-stomach feeling if I missed it. I can recall the regret I was feeling at not being able to see them in color for the first dozen episodes. And the devastation I felt upon hearing of its cancellation...

LOST IN SPACE just seemed to always be there. Wednesday's must have been an easy day for me to watch TV, and even the campy episodes were fun for a teenager in a '60's "Bevis & Butthead" sort-of way. Me and my buddies would laugh at some of the stuff on that show the next day in school.

VOYAGE was usually reliable entertainment on a Sunday evening if nothing else was going on - but I never made it appointment television - for whatever reason. I admit that I probably hadn't seen many of the black & white episodes. They were probably on against some sitcoms on CBS that I watched.

LAND OF THE GIANTS seemed like just another rehash of LOST IN SPACE to me with the big/small gimmick. And I was still bitter about TIME TUNNEL's cancellation and probably took out my frustrations on not really wanting to like LAND OF THE GIANTS. Watching some of those episodes today, I still get the feeling that there's not much "there" there. Dr, Smith on LOST IN SPACE was annoying and funny at the same time. Fitzhugh was just annoying, IMHO.

So, there you have my feelings on the matter. I still maintain that the airings on the Starz/Encore Action Channel reach an infinitesmal audience in the grand scheme of things. The channel itself probably has a low audience figure, and TIME TUNNEL is scheduled of Friday and Saturday mornings - not exactly prime time. Without proof, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that point.

Harry "with his feelings that he's sticking with" N.

Gary, how old are your kids? I was curious since they like TT. I'm always interested in any of the "youngsters" (anyone older than 'Boomers) who actually like something that I watched when I was a youngster.



My thoughts exactly. I have LIS S1 and am nearly finished viewing it. It held up well for me but I won't get S2 & 3 for the same reason as yours.

Harry, I agree with your posts here, including the Irwin Allen series rankings. TT was always a must-see for me as well. It's one series that I never thought would get released on DVD, much less do that well in Amazon's sales ranking. I guess there's more TT fans out there than I'd have guessed

As for Voyage, based on the posts here, which really help me decide on this series (assuming it gets released entirely), I'll most likely finish with S2.

Since we're ranking the Irwin Allen series, I'll play:

1.) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: I like the cast and the variety of episodes. I like both the serious episodes and the Rubber monsters. The Rubber monster stories always seem to work better here and seem far less hokey than Lost in Space.
2.) Land of the Giants: I guess I'm in the minority here but I always like this show alot more than Lost in Space. I found the small/big aspect always interesting and it doesn't have so many Hokey rubber monsters like Lost in space.
3.) Time Tunnel: Very interesting use of Time Travel and the fact of going to so many different places in history and the future. But the format did become repetitive.
4.) Lost in Space: I have always found this show to be overrated. Actually find Season One a bit boring. Not strong enough characters to carry a more serious tone and they didn't get quite serious enough. The show worked better when it didn't take itself too seriously with the Rubber Monsters/Aliens. Show saved by Dr. Smith and the Robot.

Here's a third and still different ranking:

1.) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: My favorite tv series of all--finally have the first installment of my 'holy grail'. Two great actors with exceptional chemistry. Superlative hardware and effects--I never tire of watching the Seaview and Flying Sub interact with the terrors of the deep. First season a firm favorite, followed closely by S2. S3 and 4 de-evolves but there are some shining moments--and you still get Basehart, Hedison, some great FS-1 scenes and "guilty pleasure" episodes, e.g. 'The Wax Men'.

2.) Lost in Space: Loved the cast, guest stars and again the hardware (Jupiter 2, pod, robot and the Chariot). First half of S3 have my favorite episodes: 'Condemned of Space', 'Visit to a Hostile Planet', 'The Space Creature', 'Hunter's Moon'. Also like 'Time Merchant', 'Anti-Matter Man' and 'Target Earth'. The music to four of the early episodes by John Williams is still immensely enjoyable to me and one of the key factors in the quality of the series.

3.) The Time Tunnel: Great TT set with some wonderful effects. Good cast and guest stars, but Tony (and Doug especially) are a bit too wooden in their roles. A bit too predicatable but fun to watch nonetheless. I wish a few episodes had focused on the time tunnel complex more than just trying to 'get a fix' on our protagonists.

4.) Land of the Giants: Didn't like the cast--especially disliked Kaszner and Arngrim (the boy). Conway was good but I got tired of the actor who played Mark--he always seemed pissed off. Too many scenes where cast is seen trying to get up on top of tables, chairs and the like, making the story drag. Only really liked Deanna Lund for obvious reasons.

Seriously, what in blue blazes happened to JeffT??

I just checked the TT Fan Forum and he had a post dated 02/23. Guess he took a "break" from the HTF I wanted to say "Thanks" to the guy for making my decision to buy Voyage S1 V1 an easy choice. Also, to all of you Voyage HTF'ers This (series) is so far back in my memory that it's a near blind-buy for me. For some reason, my shipment from Amazon has been delayed...unusual for them. Still waiting for Voyage to get here. Good thing that I have so many TV/DVD sets to watch

As for Land Of The Giants, I think I'll pass on that one if it gets released. Most of the same reasons as yours, Michael.

I think I can safely say that you are going to thoroughly enjoy this release. Just watched the third episode last night ("The Fear-Makers") and it held my rapt attention throughout. Gripping story, tight direction, wonderful cast performances.

I've got several sets besides VTTBOTS to keep me busy over the weekend (supposed to rain here in DFW, right?)--"Adv. of Superman" S2 and "Have Gun Will Travel" S3.




LOTG will be MIA indefinitely as far as my collection is concerned. That and S2 of "Lost in Space", mainly due to the poor transfer.

Here's a case where I would buy set 1 of season 1 only or, heaven forbid around here, a "best of" set. I liked the pilot episode of LOTG quite a bit . . . imaginative and well produced for the time, but the series got both cartoonish and repetitive pretty quickly. I particularly remember an episode where Jonathan Harris played a "Pied Piper" type of character that was very campy. Looking back at this series, I'm amazed that it lasted two full seasons, though the production values were very good for a weekly television series from the late Sixties. LOTG is easily my least favorite of the four Irwin Allen SciFi series of the Sixties.

I guess if I was forced to choose between the four IA shows, I'd put them in the following order of personal preference:

1) VOYAGE - During the first, and most of the second, season it took itself more seriously than the other series. It was well written and acted, and easily appeals to my tastes the most.

2) LIS - Although it dissolved into camp during it's first season (and became full blown camp by the second season) I still enjoyed the cast and found many of the first season episodes to my liking. Add to that the fact that both Marta and Angela were crushes of mine and you can see why I'd rank this show second.

3) TT - The premise is great, and the set was wonderful. I do think Darren and Colbert were a tad wooden at times, but the biggest downfall this show had, IMHO, was that it became very predictable very quickly. A few different spins on some of the historical narratives might have helped a little. I don't mean changing the outcomes, but just spinning them with some bizzare twists and turns. Maybe a little irony with Tony and Doug unintentionally creating situations that led to the historical facts, instead of just observing them.

4) LOTG - The big/small world was neat when I was watching as a youngster, but it's not as impressive any more. And the cast just never came together for me.

Gary "but much thanks must go to Irwin Allen for giving us these wonderful series" O.

HERES an oddity:

On the COLOR version of "Eleven Days to Zero" at the end of the opening credits sequence, we are looking up from below at a shot of the SEAVIEW as it sits on the surface-its outline has a rather interesting 'sea-serpenty' look to me-this is where it it says "Created and Produced by Irwin Allen"

Now in ALL of the BW episodes, you can look up and see on the underbelly of the sub, a 'spine' running up the center to the front searchlight;

On the Color EDTZ, there are, at the front.....the bay doors/hatch for the Flying sub!

Now this was made as a pilot, probably in early 1964, when the FS wasnt even concieved-it almost looks as if it were airbrushed in...ODD....

>>Because of those "outlandish storylines", I very much doubt that I'll buy those Season sets.
--

the first half of season 2 was OK, but I think the budget was cut-the Seaview looked like a smaller model, and it always looked to be filmed in a plain old swimming pool...None of the background detail (undersea mountains, etc) as was in the first season.
Also, the first season has more complex camera set-ups, and we see rooms and areas of the ship that are never seen again in S2-it became as time went on -a 3 camera static set-up-mostly in the control room or missle room...with recycled set-pieces, and monsters.

Same with Time Tunnel, after the first 4-5 episodes, it sank into a formula-stock footage, fake sets for Tony and Doug, and a 2 camera set-up for the Tunnel controls-again there were areas of the complex that area never seen again (such as the 'infinity side-view' of the tunnel and other shots)
They did, however recycle the "Red alert" scenes alot-the guards charging down the various ramps from the 200- story perspective at the top of the complex.

Mark_TS wrote:

I think this is a case of the DVD not providing quite an original production. The title sequence for that color unaired pilot looks like it was lifted from Season Two. I have some crappy old VHS tapes from the SciFi Channel, and when I look at this new color opening, it looks just like the opening of the early second season.

From what I've learned at the http://www.vttbots.com site, the black and white opening was the same all through season one.

Then a new theme (Jerry Goldsmith) appeared for "Jonah And The Whale", the second season opener in color. The opening title sequence was almost a repeat of the black and white one, with the underbelly shot you mentioned (with the FS-1 bay) appearing instead of the first season shot of the Seaview.

After the Goldsmith theme was rejected and replaced, the next few episodes had the same footage with the old Sawtell theme.

Nine episodes in, the opening titles were stylized a bit to show the sonar circles, and I believe, the Fying Sub was added with "Created And Produced by Irwin Allen" in its wake.

That opening served throughout the rest of season two, all of season three, and then again, nine episodes into season four, a new opening appeared. It featured a moving sonar grid with small action shots in each quadrant, changing as the sonar swept around. That opening remained for the balance of the series.

So it looks as though someone, somewhere "fudged" this opening on the DVD set. The color pilot that ran on SciFi had a different opening with mostly underwater shots of the Seaview, some rather quick titles, no pictures of the stars, and different Sawtell music.

Another version of the pilot is rumored for a future DVD set. Perhaps that will have some answers.

Harry

I wasn't paying attention closely enough to notice that difference on the pilot opening credits. I will definitely be watching it again soon, so I'll look for it.

I've been trying to take my time watching through the Voyage set. I could really marathon them right now, but I want to savor each one. So I've been mixing them in with all the other DVDs I tend to carry with me on the road when I travel (usually 2-3 different series and a batch of movies). It's been a real joy to watch through the show again. I still have about half of Time Tunnel to go through as well.

I cant remember which episode, it may have been the one where there is a possible start to WW lll-and the episode begins-after the credits, I beleive- with a beautiful shot from below the Seaview-obviously the full size model, as it comes towards, then passes over the camera, all the way to the end-the vantage point gives it such scale that it looks like it could be a 500-foot long sub... it is one of those shots, like the credit shot of the Seaview sittting on the surface, that we never see again in the series...as far as I can recall...

I'm doing much the same, waiting for just the right moment to view these. Here are some impressions on the first five episodes:

"Eleven Days to Zero" (2 stars) Has its moments (helicopter chase for one), but mostly dull, plodding, implausible story with flat direction and dialogue. Hampered by very dated B-movie type music score. No doubt nobody had the gumption to tell Allen that his effort was rather hackneyed. Saved somewhat by superb color.

"City Beneath the Sea" (3 stars) Interesting story and visuals, solid direction, and with a nice performance by Linda Cristal ("High Chapparal" matriarch). Destruction of underwater city effectively staged.

"The Fear-Makers" (4 stars) First 'Voyage' classic with solid plotting. Riveting performance by Lloyd Bochner, excellent directing effort by Leonard Horn. Has a subtle and effective Hugo Friedhofer score.

"The Mist of Silence" (4 stars) Another classic, again directed by Horn. Solid performances by regular crew members in the prison cell; well paced highly serious drama. Great casting (Alejandro Rey, Rita Gam), nice latin flavored score.

"The Price of Doom" (3 1/2 stars) Episode saved by the fact that the plankton is de-emphasized in favor of human conflicts aboard the sub. Well written Harlan Ellison episode (though certainly not his best effort). Always a delight to see the beguiling Jill Ireland on camera.

Since I know that the whole world was concerned about me and my errant extra Disc Three and no Disc Two of the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE set, let me put your minds to rest. My online supplier has sent me the proper Disc Two in today's mail.

I've alerted CNN, so be on the lookout for this late-breaking story...

Harry

Good news--at least now you can watch Nick Adams get chased by dinos in "Turn Back the Clock". I'll be there tonight, myself, having just finished disc 1.

Watched Hot Line and Submarine Sunk Here last night. Two very excellent episodes.

Was very interesting to see James Doohan and John Banner in the Hot Line episode. Very different to hear Doohan speak without the scottish accent and interesting to see John Banner as a very un-Schultz like russian premier.

I am really enjoying these "spy" type episodes. Gonna finish the second side tonight and move on to the final disc of The Time Tunnel.

Boy, nothing like being 8 - 10 years old again.

michael_ks wrote:

I did, in fact, put on "Turn Back The Clock" this morning. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn back the real clock and I had to abandon it about two-thirds of the way through. I'll complete it next time.

It was interesting seeing the same "dinosaur" battle that I'm familiar with from the TIME TUNNEL episode, "Chase Through Time" (that'll be on the second volume).

It was also fun seeing Yvonne Craig turn magically into Jill St. John when they inserted the LOST WORLD footage!

Harry

They are indeed quite good. My wife appreciates them too and I think I have her convinced that she can sit through "Hot Line" and "No Way Out" without running the risk of seeing something like all-devouring plankton. Last night I really enjoyed "The Sky is Falling" for it's humane treatment of benevolent aliens, a la "Day the Earth Stood Still"--a worthy theme that sadly disappears as the series wears on.



Something I also miss as the series wears on--no more women! The first two seasons we are graced with the presence of Jill Ireland, Gia Scala, Yvonne Craig, Barbara Bouchet, June Lockhart and others. By S3, this changes per Irwin Allen's cost cutting measures--women required too much time for make-up and hairdressing.

Another observation: VTTBOTS had a potentially very winning combination of talent in Woodfield-Horn-Hoch Jr. that was unfortunately never completely fleshed out. This writer-director-cinematographer combo got together for the episode "The Condemned" only. Had they utilized the talents of these three more fully throughout the series run and maintained a serious tone, VTTBOTS would be one of the most acclaimed sci-fi/adventure series of all. This team, IMO is comparable to the "Outer Limits" triumvirate that, working together gave this show several signature episodes: Joseph Stefano, Gerd Oswald and Conrad Hall.

Just finished up No Way Out. Very good episode.

I wonder if this was the first episode to feature an enemy climbing into the air ventilation system to "escape" from our heroes? How many more times was this "device" used?

All in all, another solid ep. I did have the two enemy plot twist already spotted.

Gosh, this thread's up to 11 pages now, and somehow I've neglected to express my enthusiasm for the set. I have indeed enjoyed these episodes immensely. Just watched "Submarine Sunk Here" last night, and it was top-notch; one of my favorites (no, Goober, don't!!). Also loved the plankton episode. For a 'monster' episode, it had a lot of substance and good suspense. All these are so nicely filmed. My only qualms have been with the two episodes that heavily used stock footage (the pilot and the dinosaur episodes). Sometimes they seemed too contrived in order to utilize the movie footage. Were I a kid, I'd probably be blissfully oblivious to all that, but as a seasoned film buff, I'm probably 'overly' sensitive nowadays. But, anyway, what an enjoyable set. I'm already in deep lament over having just four episodes left. Darn, but I wish Fox put the whole season out!