The Invaders

Re: The Invaders

For some reason THE INVADERS seems to have taken on a higher importance in the UK than here at home in the US. For some reason, I've noticed that whenever I look for information on the Web about THE INVADERS, more often than not, the source seems to be the UK, so I'm not surprised that it's being released there.

I would opine that because the series got more runs over in the UK, and more recently, that they're a bit more familiar with the show than the generations of people in the US who've never had the chance.

Of course, I initially thought the same might happen with THE TIME TUNNEL and other Irwin Allen series, since TTT has gotten numerous runs in the UK and scant attention in the US - but as things stand now, THE TIME TUNNEL is happily residing on my DVD shelf, while our brothers and sisters in the UK have had to either import their copies from the US or continue to play the waiting game.

Anyway, hopefully the start of releases for THE FUGITIVE will get the Paramount execs thinking about giving a US release for THE INVADERS as well.

Harry

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Oh my goodness! Though for one moment I thought they were talking about the horrible "sequel" thing.

Crikey, we're actually getting things in r2 that you aren't in r1.

Multi-region players, its the only way!

After all, I have to import a ton of stuff - so now you will have to do the same!

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Hang on; why does it say *seventies* ?!

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That has to be a typo. The graph above says the show is from the 60s and stars Roy Thinnes.

Nice to see an official release making its way.

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At least it doesn't say "nineties" which would mean that absolutely dreadful mini-series emananting from Fox.

Curious, though, that everything else is listed as season or even part-season sets; surely they aren't going to release the whole 47 episodes in one go?

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I think our Yahoo Invaders Forum contacts to Paramount helped them decide to release this. I bet a US release happens in Serptember too.

Tom

SOME 'LIGHT' AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?!!!!!

First off, I would like to personally extend my thanks to Ben King for this all important intelligence which is the most encouraging news that has been made known so far pertaining to a bona fide DVD release of THE INVADERS (ABC 1967-68) at long last...at least from the perspective of the inveterate (and anxious) INVADERS fan!

It is a fact that Paramount Pictures-CBS Television Home Entertainment's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (CBS 1966-73) season one set was released first in the U.K. (Region 2) and Australia (Region 4) before it was made available in North America...and this is likely a similar circumstance!

Furthermore in North America specifically Paramount's current schedule is somewhat already committed to other Quinn Martin Productions tv series which is also a probable determining factor in the delay of the (eventual?) DVD release of THE INVADERS.

If one takes the time to examine this discussion thread (which I didn't start but have merely enthusiastically contributed to) some of the most ardent supporters have been U.K. forum members and so it is only just that these valued allies be handsomely rewarded for their selfless and dedicated efforts.

If it does indeed happen this is going to be the sleeper hit DVD release of the year.

All that really remains to be said is bring on THE INVADERS in a (Region 1) DVD release for 2007!

Jeff T.

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Indeed, I believe that Paramount holds the home video rights to all of the Quinn Martin produced series. Though I can't remember whether the Paramount or Fox logo were shown when it was broadcast here in the Uk a couple of years ago - although, of course, broadcast and home video rights can be held by different studios.

It is also possible that series can be released in one country, but held back in others, because rights differ from one to another. For example, both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman are well into release here in the UK but are held back in the US because of rights issues.

Of course one can avoid such problems by having a multi-region capable DVD player. There is no real reason why anyone would not want to do that, and it certainly opens up many possibilities for owning releases that are unavailable in one's home country.

I have a large number of US releases that will never be released here in the UK. Because of the huge US market, most people find themselves imporing from there since (in general) it has the largest number of DVD titles. Fewer people import IN to the US, since the other markets are smaller and often foreign language.

However, there are exceptions, (like the two series I mention above). It's just possible that The Invaders could be another series that is released here but not in the US. Being a US made series doesn't guarantee a US DVD release.

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Richard_Gregory wrote (post #128):


While that's certainly true, it's always encouraging to see a long held back series released officially somewhere in the (English-speaking) world, because that means that the film/video elements are available for mastering, which in turn means it can be released somewhere else, somewhere you might like to have it available.

I think there's little reason for doubt that the U.S. distributor of The Invaders will be Paramount/CBS Homevideo. As you rightly say, Paramount bought or inherited the entire Quinn Martin library (back in the late 1990s?).

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Wasn't the series rerun on one of British TV Channels sometime in the last couple - three years?

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I believe Channel 5 ran the show a year or two ago here in the UK, but treated it with utter contempt by showing it in the early hours - 2am, 3am - and often changing the time/cancelling the broadcast at the last minute if the previous programme - usually a live sports show - over-ran by a significant length. Thus it was near impossible to record the show without staying up to some ungodly hour!

Good news about this box set for us in R2 land.

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Tell me about it, I spent nearly a year staying awake all Saturday night because you just couldn't trust Channel Five to show it at the advertised time - if at all!

And just to add to the torture, the tape broke when I was recording "The Saucer". Agh! Luckily I had a copy of that left over from the BBC repeats.

I have since invested in a DVD recorder :-D

Thankfuly, Channel Five regarded it as such time-filler stuff they didn't even bother to put adverts in!

As to the DVD release, I wouldn't put too much faith into Paramount doing much of a remastering job; they sure didn't bother doing a decent restoration job on their Star Trek releases, and if they were too cheap to do it for a money-making machine like that show....

THNK POSITIVE!!!!!

Well this is all speculation (which is natural) but it is still way too early to intelligently (and accurately) access (with any reliability) just what will come to pass.

If anyone purchased the recently released THE UNTOUCHABLES - SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE 4-disc set then you are well aware that the video transfers were taken from pristine digitally restored and fully remastered source elements and there is no reason to believe that the same will not be done for THE INVADERS as well...especially considering that it was produced in the highly perishable colour film stock format!

Pertaining to a North American release THE INVADERS pilot episode "Beachhead" (10/01/1967) in addition to the 1995 made-for-television miniseries THE INVADERS starring Scott Bakula were both previously issued on VHS licensed through Republic Pictures Home Entertainment in 1996.

There was no problem with any video rights issues then so why should there be any now? Just because one tv property has legal rights issue problems it doesn't necessarily follow that all of these shows do.

The rights to THE INVADERS 1960s SF tv series were acquired by Paramount Pictures Television in the late 1990s and it is owned outright by this entertainment corporate company free-and-clear.

However the literary rights to the original show (which have absolutely no bearing on the actual tv syndication and home video legal issues) are now jointly coowned by Warner Brothers Pictures and the series creator Larry Cohen which means if a revival feature film or television series were to be attempted it would done by Warners Brothers (in much the same way that the 1993 THE FUGITIVE feature film starring Harrison Ford was).

Dominic Frontiere maintains ownership of his original music (done for the first season) albeit he does not have the actual studio recording masters of his INVADERS compositions which are now held by Paramount Pictures Television through its acquisition of the (former) Aaron Spelling Productions television film and series libraries.

Skepticism (of a cautionary nature) is fine (and can be proven valid) but right now everything looks quite positive (at least by my thinking) on the possibility of an imminent(?) DVD release of THE INVADERS (in Region 1) so let's just give it some time and see what Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment has to (officially) say on the subject...if anything! It is really up to them now.

Jeff T.

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In actuality, the original series was once owned by ABC. And yes, the Quinn Martin library (except for "The FBI") was once a WorldVision property. Of course, with the corporate changes within the Spelling organization, and the subsequent 2006 split between Viacom and CBS, the series is now under ownership of...drum roll please....ta-da! CBS! CBS Paramount Television (under CBS Studios) took over distribution and ownership from predecessor Paramount Television in 2006, so technically it would be Paramount Home Entertainment, under CBS DVD, that would handle any future release of this series on DVD, since Paramount is still under contract to release CBS shows for DVD. Of course, the show has not been seen in the U.S. in many years, so only time will tell when we'll see this cult show once again.

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By my estimation, the last time it was on American television was over 10 years ago on the Sci-Fi Channel.

If Paramount/CBS/whoever release this, I hope they take the time to use the extended, unaired, longer version of "Beach Head". also, they might want to check their masters for episode 3. The one I saw in syndication had the regular ending theme music, but the version released on the Goodtimes VHS had an alternate "melodramatic love theme" instead (probably on the original broadcast, to underscore David Vincent's "loss" at the end of the episode).

It would also be nice if all the episodes retained their original opening bumper ("and now, The Invaders, in color").

Depending on what's in the archives, maybe some of the original ABC promotional trailers, etc. still exist? I know I've certainly seen one in "collector's" circles. Also, I do have an "extended" Beach Head in my collection, but it's not the fabled 75-minute version. Mine only has a brief scene extension at the end, with the ending credits super-imposed on Vincent leaving town, rather than the "usual" ending over the FX still of the saucer, so I guess there are at least three versions of the pilot out there!

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Don;t get worried by the listings at various places like amazon that are showing this to be the horrid remake with Scott Bakula.

I've contacted Paramount Uk direct and they've confirmed that the release is the first season of the original series.

They think that another studio may be releasing the remake around the same time (apparently they themselves don't have the rights to it) and that stores are mixing information between the two.

This would explain why the release is so much cheaper at some stores (as low as £7.50) and higher at others (£23). They're getting some of the details right, like the price and number of discs, but the runtimes and cast are from the remake.

Personally I'm not going to pre-order this - I'll wait until the stores have corrected their listings.

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Richard,

On behalf of the Invaders fanatics across the pond in the states, Thanks for checking into this one. I was one that started to wonder about the R2 release of one of my all-time series. I'll have to decide on getting the R2 or playing the waiting game for R1. This one will be hard to wait for the R1 since there's no telling when we'll get it over here.

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I was really unhappy when I saw the amazon listing show it as the 1995 remake. So I contacted Paramount directly - not easy, you have to know their number which they never advertise. ;-)

I did mention that there was a lot of interest in the release and that there'd have been just as much disappointment if it had turned out to be the remake series.

As I said it looks like there is only one release listed at the stores, but these listings show a mixture of information from the two different series. And different stores are showing different mixtures of prices, casts, number of discs and runtimes.

There's no way that Paramount would charge RRP £29-99 and use four discs for a 169 minute mini-series! I was told that their release is the original 1967 series, it is the first season, and is the four discs for £30.

You could wait, but there might well be rights issues blocking things up in r1. Horribly complicated things, rights. Something small can block everything.

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Richard,

"Truer words were never spoken" We "Bionic" fans over here know all about the rights/legal issues with R1 vs R2/4 (6M$M & Bionic Woman). That's why I have that R-free player and the R2/4 sets. If the Invaders doesn't get an R1 release within ~3-4 months after you guys get it over there, it's "R2/4" time for me. That PAL "speed-up" thing doesn't bother me at all.

Thanks again for the "detective" work over there with Paramount/Invaders. "Are you a Danger Man/Saint" fan?

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My pleasure.

Unfortunately, the two shows you mention aren't particularly to my taste so I tend to ignore them. Sorry :-)

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Has anyone heard anything about an R1 release for this one? The R2 date is still up at Amazon UK for Sept 17.

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Jeff, I was about to resurrect this thread myself with the same question. I'm prepared to wait awhile longer for the R1 announcement--but not too long!

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If it does make a region 1 release, I just hope Paramount doesn't do to it like they did with the other QM shows, split the season sets up. Because of that I passed on buying The Streets Of San Francisco & The Untouchables.

THE INVADERS DVD RELEASE...STILL AN ENIGMA!!!!

Not surprising, I would buy THE INVADERS under any circumstances!

However, considering that THE INVADERS is due to be released in just a month and a half isn't it strange that the packaging design hasn't (apparently) been finalized and already previewed online at this late date?!

Isn't it also odd that the online DVD information news services haven't seized upon this signficant event with any kind of advance announcements pertaining to this (alleged) DVD release or specifics as to the content not to mention broaching the question as to just why THE INVADERS is being released abroad but not in North American at this time?

This has got to be one of the best kept (private) secrets that has ever been conceived to be sure!

Jeff T.

THE INVADERS FAN FORUM (Click Here).

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Mike, "10-4" on that one The best home unit that I've bought in years has been that Pioneer R-Free Player. I'm also going to try to wait it out for an R1 but as we all know here...."who knows"....

JeffT, I agree! They're going to "land" in my DVD Player regardless of the region I am also waiting for some cover art at Amazon UK and a review or two before I'd buy the R2 set. Let's hope that we'll hear something (R1) at TSoD or the Digital Bits about this one soon. "OT", but did you guys see that the '64 film "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" is coming 09/18 via Criterian? Finally on DVD....yesssss

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I may have to buy a region free player yet. I've held off for some time, but maybe I need to rethink it.

Gary "I'd love to see this series released - soon!" O.

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Most likely you don't need to do it but just do a search on the internet and you can probably find a code to hack the region code on the player you already have.

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Just remember to make sure your player, if it can be made Region-Free, can also translate PAL to NTSC without a problem.

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I have a Koss unit I picked up a few years ago for under $50. Once I hacked the region code, it plays everything from the UK and Australia (i.e., Bionic Woman, $6 Million Man) fine.

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Nick, that's true. Some, if not most Sony's don't come with an internal PAL/NTSC Converter. I used to own one before getting a Pioneer player.


Hank, I like your examples (Bionics) Yeaaahhh I have those sets as well.

Hank, does your Koss play R2/4 movie DVD's ok? Some hacked players won't play "RCE" encoded movie DVD's. Those are some of the Columbia TriStar and a few MGM movies. There are workarounds for the RCE issue though.

Back to the Invaders: Is anyone here planning on getting the R2 S1 set? Richard G? If you get that one, could you post a review, mainly the Xfr's and verifying that the eps are uncut (no missing scenes). I'm going to (try) to wait until I can verify that this set won't be the "syndicated"/edited version. Was the Invaders ever edited for syndication after its initial airing? Or are all TV series "cut up" for syndication airings?