The Invaders

Re: The Invaders

Given that Paramount has released its tv on dvd schedule up to Thanksgiving, it looks like the R2 dvd will be the only way to get it at least this year.

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The listing for "The Invaders" at Amazon UK continues to be frustratingly vague. No cover image for a release due next month, product details that state there is one disc with a run time of 169 min., only one customer review and a blanket review/synopsis which seems to point to the 1995 Scott Bakula series. I wish we could get more definitive information here.

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Mike, I agree....the Amazon UK listing is strange. Perhaps the Invaders have already landed in the UK? Sorry....I should have resisted that one I'm going to wait until we get some further info from someone here that buys it before I consider getting this one. It'll be hard waiting for it though. I haven't seen any of this series since a few of them back in the 70's sometime. I agree with FrancisP about any R1 for this one in '07.

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Paramount seems to be doing a great job of mining their vault for viable properties. I don't think it's a question of if this will come out, just a matter of when they get to it. My guess is that within the next 6-9 months we will see some movement on this (and I'm guessing Mannix soon as well).

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I can only repeat - that I called Paramount direct and they assured me that the release is the original 1960's series, not the remake (which they don't jave the rights to anyway).

The price point was confirmed at SRP £29.99 with four discs.

There's no way they'd charge that much or use four discs for the remake, which has a runtime of 165 minutes.

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In addition, I've ordered mine at PLAY.COM and the listing is definitely for the TV series.

I've also ordered "Fantastic Journey" which is due out too.

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Richard,

Thanks again for your info about the R2 set. I was curious about the other things regarding the release, artwork, are they the unedited versions of the shows. I'd also like a report from someone about the Xfr quality when/if they buy this one next month.

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Jeff, there's really not much information out there at the moment about The Invaders DVD release, and what little there is, is confusing, to say the least.

As to The Fantastic Journey, which is from DD Home Entertainment, this may not happen, because DDHE along with their parent company, have gone into administration (a polite phrase for "gone bust"!).

Hopefuly, they will be picked up as a going concern by someone else, who will acquire the rights to such things at the same time.

TRY NEXT YEAR!!!!!

I could be totally WRONG on this but I really don't think that there is an impending DVD release (Region 2) of THE INVADERS coming this September.

01) Why would it be released in the U.K. first?

02) Why hasn't there been any kind of online information made available outside of the initial announcement by the DVD TIMES some months ago now?

03) Where is the finalized packaging design?

This skepticism is justified and I wouldn't go rushing out and buying a muli-region DVD player just yet.

I really don't think that there will be an INVADERS DVD release until the first two volumes of THE FUGITIVE have securely been marketed...which will likely translate to sometime next year (Spring? Summer? Fall?).

Now on a more prosaic note Jeff has recently joined our (THE) INVADERS FAN FORUM discussion group and he has certainly been a forum member long enough to intelligently answer this question:

Which is the BEST Quinn Martin produced tv series...by far?

THE INVADER FAN FORUM (Click Here.)

Jeff T.

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Yes, I had forgotten about the leg work you did on this. Kudos to you!

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"Which is the BEST Quinn Martin produced series...by far?"

Easy: The Fugitive, though The Invaders is darn good.

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I Still do not trust Paramount to release split seasons and then not abandon the show. I guess Have gun will travel has left a bad taste in my Mouth.

ROY THINNES!!!!!

You're just caught up in the (seeming) euforia of the moment. It's unfortunate that Paramount-CBS Television Home Entertainment has elected to generically lump all the Quinn Martin Productions tv series into one homogenous mead for it will be primarily SF fans who will (ultimately) rally behind and support a DVD release of THE INVADERS.

I neglected to mention that it is difficult for me to accept that Roy Thinnes will not be approached to participate in such an undertaking in some manner...which at this time he hasn't! This more than anything else is what initially aroused my suspicions about just such an alleged DVD release.

Jeff T.

Re: TRY NEXT YEAR!!!!!

It's not unheard of for a US show to get a UK release before an US one. Heck, back in the VHS days, there were several US shows that got released in the UK that never got US releases (I know, I have the tapes).

As for The Invaders, perhaps there's more of a demand, or someone other than Paramount holds the UK video rights (or Paramount farmed them out).



Unlike US releases, UK releases often get out with little fanfare or online promotion. Studios apparently aren't as aggressive as US ones, and there's no real UK counterpart to TVShowsOnDVD to pester the studios for info.


As with #2 above, package art just isn't leaked to the media very far in advance oftentimes. In fact, there have been times where I haven't seen a DVD's box art on AmazonUK until release date!

This skepticism is justified and I wouldn't go rushing out and buying a muli-region DVD player just yet.


I suspect you're wrong, and I'm sure you'd probably be glad to be.

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Andy,

Your're right about R2 vs no_R1 releases. It's happened several times, sometimes due to legal issues that prevent an R1 release but allow overseas releases of the same series. Everyone here knows what's next from me Take the Bionic series, for example (I warned you all ) But seriously, that's exactly what happened with the 6M$M & BW releases. S1's have been out in R2/4 since '05 and here we are 2 yrs later and the legal logjam is ongoing preventing R1's of those series. I don't know of any such issues regarding the Invaders but that may explain the overseas release ahead of an R1 release. It could be due to some marketing #'s that may point to better sales abroad for an initial Invaders release and pending sales #'s an R1. Who knows.....but I feel fairly confident that the S1 page at Amazon UK is legit and it's coming on Sept 17. I agree, JeffT...there needs to be an interview or at least commentary from Roy Thinnes for this set. That's a poor marketing decision if it's not included in this set. The tough decision for me will be "to wait or not to wait" for a possible R1. If I'd taken that stance with my Bionic shows, I'd still be waiting 2 yrs later. We all see this thing (R-free or R1 only) differently and I understand that either way's right for said individuals. All I can say is that I wouldn't trade the hours of enjoyment I've shared with someone watching those R2/4 Bionic Woman sets with anything. The important issues to me are that those R2/4's are legal Universal releases with outstanding xfrs (as was the case for the BW series. The 6M$M xfrs weren't near as good; not sure of the reason[s]). If the R2 Invaders set is 1) complete unedited eps, and 2) A- to A+ xfrs, then all that will remain for me is to wait a little while to see if we hear of an R1 release. I'm not missing out on viewing this series due to some legal R1 problem. Man, I'm dying for the Invaders to land I haven't seen this series since the 70's. If they land overseas, then...I'm there I know that our friends across the pond will welcome that landing.

Re: TRY NEXT YEAR!!!!!

Well this sometimes does happen. It may be that a show is perceived to be more popular here in the UK, or it may be simply a matter of rights. Good examples of this are The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman which are well into release here. They are held up in r1 because of a rights issue.


..because any publicity costs the studio money. Free publicity usually comes via specialised websites, and sadly, there are no UK equivalents of TVShowsOnDVD - which is big enough and popular enough to have established a relationship with the studios, and is thus often given "privileged" information.


No idea. It would either have to be made available via advance information sent out to stores by the studio, or alternatively, it will have to wait until they actually have stock, at which point the stores will scan the covers.


It's fine to be sceptical, I am too. You're probably right about not rushing out to buy a multi-region player just for this. Wait until the set is actually out. We'll know in a month or so anyway. I myself am not pre-ordering because of all the confusion over this.

As I'm region-2 anyway, I can buy as soon as I know for sure.

Re: ROY THINNES!!!!!

This is very much a "budget" release, as are many TV shows. It would cost a fair amount to contract Roy Thinnes to do extensive commentaries, etc. Paramount don't see this as a premium release, they aren't out to please the fans (who would likely be the only ones interested in a relatively obscure actor's memories of a TV show made forty years ago).

Many TV show releases do very little in the way of such things; the SMDM/BW releases don;t have commentaries by Lee Majors of Lindsey Wagner.

Likewise, things like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea just have old interview footage and stuff.

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Jeff (Willis): please, for the love of (insert deity of choice here), use paragraphs. I gave up on your "wall of text" as my eyes started bleeding.

Re: TRY NEXT YEAR!!!!!

Andy, I did wonder about that. I just checked to see what information Paramounttv had but it is not listed:-

http://www.paramounttv.com/series/series_contents.htm

Could be due to the site needing updating but the other recent 60s DVD releases - Hawaii Five-O, Mission Impossible, Streets Of San Francisco etc. - are all there and thought The Invaders would have been as well.

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As I understand it, overseas and US companies are completely autonomous.
It could be that Paramount's overseas company could be releasing The Invaders and Paramount's US operations may not have even considered it.

The Uncle movies are another example of something being released in other regions but not released in R1. As far as I know, there are no legal entanglements. Warner's overseas branch chose to release it and Warner's US operations have chosen not to release them so far.

DAVID HEDISON!!!!!

Pertaining to the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA multi-volume DVD sets I believe that 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment had contracted David Hedison to do some sort of promotion for this tv premium.

Mr. Hedison has also personally participated in recent interviews and audio commentaries for the forthcoming THE FLY (CLASSIC) COLLECTION box set and THE LOST WORLD 'SPECIAL EDITION' single disc set so I wouldn't (entirely) discount Roy Thinnes' similiar participation in a forthcoming INVADERS DVD release (at least in North America).

Jeff T.

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So THE INVADERS is not coming out this year, is that correct? There's no official announcement anywhere, no official cover art on amazon or anywhere else. The U.K. is getting the mini-series reworking, but not the original series, right?

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Richard W:

We're 99% certain that the original Invaders TV show Season 1 is being released in R2. Amazon UK has the page up but no cover art. That's not unusual to see that occur. Check this thread for an earlier post from Richard G (resides in the U.K.) about this release. He contacted the studio and they comfirmed that the release on Sept 17 is the original series Season 1. The info that I'm interested in before I decide to get the R2 set is: Are they the complete uncut shows in this set, and how to the xfrs look?

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Apparently, region-1 is not getting The Invaders this year, unless it's slated for say November or December and hasn't been announced or leaked yet.

The UK is supposedly getting the first season of the original series this September, at least, that's what Paramount told me when I asked them.

There's a lot of confusion about it in the stores, Paramount said they believed another studio is releasing the remake at some point near to their release of the original, and what should be two separate listings are in most stores are just one, with information about two separate items mixed up into the single listing (I have seen that happen before). Would explain the wild differences in price too.

The Paramount set has an SRP of £29.99. A lot of stores have this down to about £8, and that sounds about right for a single disc release which the remake would be.

THE 'ORIGINAL' 35mm PRINT NEGATIVES!!!!

Not wanting to draw any attention to the "rival camp" but yesterday I saw THE FUGITIVE - SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE 4-disc set (with all four DVDs crammed into the most ridiculously crampt container imaginable) and the print information promised that the video transfers were taken from the original 35mm print negatives with newly restored sound (albeit at least one online DVD information source reports that there are some negligible lines present in the pilot episode "Fear in a Desert City").

However, this bodes very well for a (potential) DVD release of THE INVADERS considering that this exemplary 1960s SF tv series was produced exclusively in colour and assures the likeliness of the complete episodes being provided.

I further hope that THE INVADERS will not similarly be minted in such a non-committal "bare bones" edition as it so richly deserves much better to be sure.

Jeff T.

Re: THE 'ORIGINAL' 35mm PRINT NEGATIVES!!!!

I'm eagerly anticipating picking up my copy of "The Fugitive" on Tuesday. While the issue of disc packaging is secondary to me, I'm sorry that you weren't happy with the way this dvd was enclosed. By the way, the pilot episode in the series was entitled:"Fear in a Desert City" not "Search in a Windy City"...

THE INCLUSION OF EXTRA BONUS MATERIALS!!!!!!

It is generally overlooked that the SF-Horror film and television series DVD releases originated the (innovative) concept in the inclusion of oncamera interviews and audio commentaries provided as (informative) extras...a fact that should be understood and respected!

In my viewpoint all the other non-genre DVD releases just immitatively "jumped-on-the-bandwagon" so to speak. Refer to some (absurdly quaint) comments made by one (obviously) uniformed individual early on in this discussion thread on the topic. Let's give credit where it is rightly deserved!

And I see no reason why a (prospective) DVD release of THE INVADERS shouldn't maintain this honoured tradition. Paramount Pictures Television of all the major distribution companies should be keenly aware of this fact more than anyone with the success of their STAR TREK franchise.

The creative talents and craftsman involved with the production of SF films and tv series in particular have always made themselves accessible to this (specific) genre fan group (in the form of convention appearances and coverage in widely distributed publications like STARLOG, TV ZONE MAGAZINE, FANGORIA, CINEMAFANTASIQUE and lets not forget specialty television services like the U.S.-based SCI-FI CHANNEL).

This has encompased (legendary) creative talents the likes of Roger Corman, Ray Harryhausen, Richard Matheson and the myriad of celebrites who appeared in these (now classic) SF-Horror-Fantasy films and tv shows.

THE INVADERS is most fortunate in that Roy Thinnes (who maintains a profound regard and loyalty to his former Quinn Martin-produced tv series) is still very much alive and I am sure more than willing to participate in some sort of homage-documentation of this great (and enduring) 1960s SF television classic.

Jeff T.

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I do appreciate your good replies.

Apparently the U.K. amazon is confused too, because they have the series listed but with Scott Bakula named as star.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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Don't go by Amazon's listing. They still had "David Conrad" listed as the main star of TIME TUNNEL for ages. He is the star - but only of the extra pilot episode from 2002.

Harry

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Sacre Bleu! Looks like it's coming out in France, too! The entire series, in three boxed sets, listed as Les Envahisseurs.

I just read this on Roobarb's DVD Forum (their focus is British TV shows, mainly):

Quoting from that post:
This is being released by TF1. The good news is that it will feature the original soundtrack, as well as a French dub, and that subtitles are optional on ALL language tracks...no forced French subs!

or at least that's what French Inavders fans have been told.

Cover art is up on Amazon.fr

Looks like it will be three sets, total 12 discs which is enough to hold all the episodes all releasing on September 20th. Price 35 euros per set. All up for pre-order on Amazon.fr