The Invaders

Re: The Invaders

I have just checked the website of the BBFC (that's the Uk censor board that awards viewing certificates).

Their website shows that all of the first season episodes have just received updated clearances for Paramount Home Entertainment (some entries only updated yesterday!). This indicates that the UK release is, indeed, the first season of the original series. Getting a clearance costs money so Paramount would not do it for no reason.

The entries still show the old clearance certs that were issued to Screen Entertainment back in the early nineties for their home video releases.

Each episode shows as being a little less than 50 minutes long. Most if not all of them have a PG (Parental Guidance) rating.

The episodes of the second series are either not listed, or the few that are still only have the old ones for Screen - as I recall they only released a few selected episodes rather than the whole run.

The remake also only has it's old certificate from 1994 and has not been updated.

You'll remember that I called Paramount and they indicated that they don;t actually hold the rights to the remake.

As to the cover, that is of course personal taste, but I think it's awful, mostly because aside from a *bad* picture of Roy Thinnes, it does not use anything from the series itself. It is "conceptual".

Only the French sets feature "forced" subtitles. This means they have subtitles in French that can't be switched off if you listen to the English soundtrack.

It is probably done for "license" purposes, it is deliberately intended to put off people buying it outside of France.

The five discs in the UK set are, most likely, made up of three discs of three and two discs of four.

And extras (and I have doubts there are any) will sit on the three episode discs.

Re: The Invaders

Richard,

Thanks for the update of information!

Will you be getting this set? I'm most likely going to get this one if the xfrs are good quality and they are the un-cut episode versions. The time for the episodes sounds about right for an un-edited show from that era's series.

Re: The Invaders

Thanks for the update, Richard. Run times below 50 minutes for a 60s era show? I'm wondering now if the episodes are either "time sped" or edited.

Addendum: Jeff, I didn't see your post as I wrote this. Shouldn't uncut episodes run around 51' 30"?

Re: The Invaders

Mike, I'm guessing that the reduced time is due to the PAL vs NTSC time difference. If I recall, it's somewhere around 2.5 - 3 minutes faster when comparing a standard 1-hr show (PAL) vs the NTSC version of the same show. When comparing the Bionic Woman episodes, it is about that time difference between my PAL sets and the original NTSC times per episode.

As long as the R2 eps are intact (not the syndicated/edited versions), then I'm "landing" with this one .....after Richard gives us the "scoop" on the xfrs from across the pond

Re: The Invaders

Thanks, Jeff. I can live with with the PAL to NTSC conversion and the slight 'speed up' as I have a couple of sets myself which feature this and I've never noticed any difference. It's still very hard for me to get past the horrible cover though and I'm about willing to wait out the R1 announcement just for this reason alone. But then again, this could turn out to one of those 6M$M type releases where you end waiting forever for the R1 version...

Re: The Invaders

I have not actually got the set on order right now, as my funds are a little tight this month. However, several folks over on Roobarbs do have them on pre-order (and are saying they have been despatched!) so I am sure that it won't be long now before we get the lowdown on this release.

The runtimes sound about right. In those days "hour long" shows were longer than they are now, because there were less adverts! That's why your episodes of Star Trek:TOS are longer than Star Trek:Enterprise! Indeed the recent broadcasts of the CGI'd Star Trek:TOS were actually *cut* so they'd fit into the hour plus the extra ad time...

A runtime of a little over 50 minutes is about right for a 1960's show. The runtime on transfers to video will be a little shorter in the UK because of the framerate difference. You lose about 4% runtime because of that.

Re: The Invaders

I can now confirm that this release is the first season of the original series. No extended Beachhead, no extras, but they are subtitled in English (which is optional, you can choose to view without subs)

THE INVADERS BEING RELEASED IN AUSTRALIA!!!!!

Well, the surge has now begun!!!!

First the U.K., then France...and now Australia!

THE INVADERS - FIRST SEASON 5-disc set is scheduled for release in Australia (Region 4) on November 08th, 2007.

Further proof of this magnificent 1960s SF tv series classic's tremendous worldwide popularity! And that says a lot. SF always is in high demand and sells big time!

Now, when is it going to be released in North America?! Dare we hope?

THE INVADERS - FIRST SEASON (Click Here).

There is a notation that the "artwork is subject to change" for those critics who were disastisfied with the current graphic design.

Both THE INVADERS (ABC 1967-68) tv series starring Roy Thinnes and the 1995 television mini-series revival attempt with Scott Bakula were properties of the former Aaron Spelling Television Productions whose entire film and television library was sold to Paramount Pictures Television.

Jeff T.

Re: THE INVADERS BEING RELEASED IN AUSTRALIA!!!!!

Jeff, I´m a little confused. Isn´t THE INVADERS (ABC 1967-68) a Quinn Martin production ?

Also, thanks for all the very informative postings. I ordered my INVADERS-Box Set in the U.K. and yesterday I got an E-Mail that they sent it. I´ll expect it here in Germany sometimes next week.
Best wishes,
Chris

OWNERSHIP OF THE INVADERS!!!!!

THE INVADERS was originally owned and distributed by ABC Television Films which later sold the property to World Vision Enterprises.

World Vision was eventually bought out by Aaron Spelling Productions which itself was later acquired by Paramount Pictures Television in the late 1990s.

Right now Paramount has HAPPY DAYS, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY and THE MOD SQUAD scheduled for release in the upcoming months ahead and it is precisely this glut of (potential) tv properties that is holding back a DVD release of THE INVADERS in North America. Just how does one fit THE INVADERS into their busy schedule?!

It is hard for me accept that at least to a certain generation 1970s could still be so popular since practically all of it was so reprehensibly awful...the forerunner of today's abysmal television programming!

There are no such problems abroad.

Jeff T.

Re: OWNERSHIP OF THE INVADERS!!!!!

The best thing that can be said about the 1970s is that it was at least better than the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. People only know what they are exposed to. If they are only exposed to garbage, they have no way of knowing it's garbage. As evidenced by the "music" and I use that term loosely, that is popular today.

Re: The Invaders

Being a Fugitive fan, I'm very keen on seeing how Quinn Martin produced a sci-fi series (I've only seen the mediocre 1995 mini-series). The Invaders has a lot of acclaim and a cult following, so I hope it arrives on R1 in 2008.

I think Paramount is doing a good job of juggling a lot of popular and cult TV shows on their DVD release schedule.
I'm happy they're releasing The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, Wild Wild West, Twin Peaks and the Upright Citizens Brigade, but there are others who are equally happy that Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, etc. are getting released too. Diverse releases for diverse tastes is a good thing, isn't it (or maybe it's my Canadian-bred pluralism at work)?

Re: OWNERSHIP OF THE INVADERS!!!!!

I'd expect we'll see INVADERS when THE UNTOUCHABLES or THE WILD WILD WEST DVD runs are completed. I'd also expect them to split THE INVADERS into 3 boxes like the French releases.

Re: OWNERSHIP OF THE INVADERS!!!!!

I hope not. With 43 episodes they can do 2 releases, one for each season. Or they could go the Land Of The Giants route and put the whole thing in one big box. I want this show as much as the next person, but if they split up season sets, I'll end not not buying it, much like I've boycotted The Streets Of San Francisco, The Untouchables, and The Big Valley Season 2.

Re: The Invaders

No you really don't want them as much as the next person. Why not take it a step further and just hold out for the entire series in one box set...why should you have to be inconvienenced by buying all of the seasons individually?
Either someone is a fan and wants these eps as quickly as possible, or else he couldn't really care less and will just make excuses (it's too expensive, it's only half a season at a time, the artwork on the box sucks, there is no super duper deluxe full series set with special packaging) Choosing nothing rather than having to wait 6 months for the 'full season' just tells me you just aren't that enthused to begin with.

Re: The Invaders

I'm taking the position that I'm not interested in any set with PAL speed-up. As things stand, I can't play anything but region 1 DVDs anyway, and can't stomach the idea of PAL speedup, so am not interested in buying any multi-region players.

So I'm in a situation where if THE INVADERS doesn't come out in region 1, then it will remain a series on my wish list.

Meanwhile, keep those FUGITIVE episodes coming! Where's volume 2?

Harry

Re: The Invaders

You don't have a PAL TV or -monitor, haven't you? How could you get to see a PAL speed-up then?


Cees

Re: The Invaders

Seeing it isn't the problem, it's hearing it. And I've heard the results. A number of years ago, a company in Britain released a series of three CDs using music and dialog from THE PRISONER. It was quite obvious to me upon hearing it that the reason why everything was so fast and high pitched was the result of PAL speedup.

Plus, with all of the time-sped syndication prints of TV shows and movies I've witnessed on US TV over the years, I know how much any deviation from normal bothers me.

I love THE INVADERS, and I admire Roy Thinnes in the lead role. But I also know that Mr. Thinnes' normal speaking voice is already up in the, shall we say, "tenor" range. Any speedup will, to me, sound like he's inhaled helium for the entire episode.

So, I'll patiently await a proper region 1 release. Those of you who both have the ability to play foreign DVDs and can tolerate PAL speedup, more power to you, and please enjoy the episodes. I'll wait, watching these pages for news of a region 1 release.

Harry

Re: The Invaders

Yes, but if the video isn't accelerated, the audio isn't either.

Those TV shows were recorded in PAL, so they cannot be sped up to release them on a PAL disc: they go straight to the PAL media. PAL speed-up is the result of a movie (24 fps) played at 25 fps on a European PAL TV (via VHS or DVD). That is apparently not the case here.

If these 25fps TV shows were adapted to an NTSC 24fps 3:2 scheme, it would run slower and the voices would get lower, not higher. The R1 release would have to do something like that too, of course. (But perhaps it can be done more neatly in a studio than in a consumer "all-region" player.)


Cees

Re: The Invaders

Cees, trust me, I hear the slightest speedup and it really bothers me. I envy those of you for whom it's not a problem, but alas, for me it is.

THE PRISONER, by the way was a film-based show and suffered from the PAL speed-up, so I'm told. We in the US heard it at the correct speed. Other than the CD I mentioned above, I've not witnessed it personally, but from what others have told me, the UK telecasts of THE PRISONER were sped up.

Trust me when I say that I wouldn't be happy with a PAL version of THE INVADERS.

Harry

Re: The Invaders

Cees,

Harry and I agree on almost everything but I guess we're on the other sides of the fence on the PAL issue. Harry mentioned the thing that matters and that it's an individual choice about the PAL speed-up thing. I honestly can't hear the audio part of the speed-up when I watch (on an R-Free Pioneer Std Player with an NTSC TV set) the several PAL TV/DVD sets that I have, including the 6M$M S2, Bionic Woman S1 & 2, Saint Complete B/W Set, the Honey West set, and the Rich Man Poor Man miniseries. I have only 1 PAL movie DVD in my collection and have sampled that one and can't hear the speed-up difference between PAL and NTSC. That said, I readily admit that it's an individual choice and should be approached that way.

There's an interesting Wiki online Encylopedia read at the Wiki site that talks about the PAL/NTSC differences. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL

As for the "Time-Compression" issue, I can hear the difference there but I was only able to detect it after comparing some of the TC episodes in the Combat! series set with the non-TC'ed episodes from some of the S3-4 episodes of the set. Since the episodes in the Combat! sets are the complete (no scenes/footage missing) episodes, the T/C issue regarding that set is one that I can live with. Where I draw the line with TV/DVD sets is the "cut ep/syndicated" (missing scenes) episode versions. Those sets = no sale for me.

As for the Invaders R2/4 set, I haven't decided on getting that one or waiting for the R1 set that hopefully will be released soon. The issue, to me, comes down to whether or not one wants to wait for an R1 release of a series or believes that the R1 version will be released. Now, don't "shoot the messenger", Invaders fans I'm on your side. But, after seeing what's happened with the other PAL sets that I own, we're still waiting for R1's of the Bionic shows and the Rich Man Poor Man miniseries, among some others. RMPM was released R2 in '03. The Bionic series R2/4 releases started in '05. Still waiting for R1's for those sets.

I believe that the Invaders R1's are coming (no joke ) provided that there are no legal issues that we may not know about here. As has been mentioned here at HTF previously, in some cases a series' release has been cleared for R2/4 release but not for R1. I guess we all wish there were never any legal/clearance problems with TV/DVD sets but unfortunately that's not the reality of it.

"Let 'em Land in R1!"

Re: The Invaders

I exclude objections with A/V presentation in the previous post of mine.
If content is affected by pitch issues, aspect ratio modifications, etc- that is a much different concern than simply getting the first 15 eps in order in one shot vs getting the first 30 eps in order in another.

On the subject of music substitutions and other editing damage...while I might be extreemly annoyed and disapointed and angry, I also probably wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. I would have to weigh on a case by case basis how much of the content were left intact, vs the damage done, and the price of ownership.

I'm not crazy about waiting 6 long months to get a measly 15 eps of Streets and The Fugitive, but then, how does not buying them get me any closer to full season sets?
Just the opposite. I'm hoping that demand from others and myself is high enough already that it will spur CBS to reasses its strategy with subsequent seasons.
Opting out altogether, just sends the message you don't want or value the material at all.

Re: The Invaders

Paul,

I agree with you on this one (the 1/2 vs 1 S releases). It's a decision we all have to make depending on the series' we want to collect/add to our libraries. I guess all of us here aren't in favor of the 1/2-season release strategy that we've seen with some of the studios and series'. But I'll be buying any and all "Fugitive" & "Big Valley" sets that are released since those series are among my "must-have's" for my collection. Now, if they started 1/4-season releases..... (let's not go there). I'd hate to think of that happening!

The Invaders is also on my "must-have" list. I'll get that one sooner or later. I see the R2/4 release issues this way: At least I have the chance to own the studio-quality set of these series regardles of that happens in R1. The Invaders is definitely on this list for me.

Our posts about the A/V thing crossed paths, so I'll refer any to my previous post about that one.

Re: The Invaders

The half-season thing doesn't bother me much at all, as long as they eventually all get released. It's just being able to get all of a show in as close to perfect quality that matters for me, and the speedup thing is a dealbreaker for me. Hearing Roy Thinnes speaking in a higher pitch would bother the heck out of me, so if it isn't an R1 release, then I'm afraid I'll have to do without it.

Harry

Re: The Invaders

You don't know me. When shows I want are released in full season sets, I've always been right there on Tuesday to pick them up. With my new job, I'm out on the road and am rarely home so I get to a store whenever I can. I've bought shows with horrible box art, that doesn't matter. The only thing I can't stand is the current wave of only releasing a half season at a time. I have a shelf with limited space. If a show lasted 5 seasons, I'd rather make room for the 5 sets then have to try to make space for 10 sets. Nothing has to be the entire series, but if they can't at least release a full season, I won't waste my time buying it.

Re: The Invaders

The CBS/Paramount sets I've bought couldn't be more compact space-wise.
Either they use dual disc thin packs (as is the case with Streets, or else they fit 4 discs into a single amray-sized keepcase. I have many other season sets from other studios for hour long shows that are space hoggers compared to these sets.

Re: The Invaders

Wow, so you'd actually not buy a series you really enjoy because of the way it's packaged?

In that case, why not just buy the discs and put them into some different cases?

There are some very compact multiple-disc cases you can get cheaply now, and many shows have downloadable covers - often better than the original. Which is certainly the case with the r2 "Invaders" which I think is awful!

sorry to hear that someone has such a big issue with a 4% difference. I must be tone deaf because I have discs from all over the world and never had a problem with any of them.

I never play the "maybe, maybe" game with releases; if it comes out in the world, it;s on my shelf. The only exception are things that are dead certs to appear in the UK.

Re: The Invaders

Harry, Jeff,

Really, I believe you when you say that you hear and/or are (n't) bothered by pitch issues. Of course it would be presumptuous of me to wave them away.

I think the problem must be generated during a certain phase of the conversion of PAL material to NTSC play back.

However, I also think now there's a matter of terminology. What you must be hearing cannot be the PAL speed-up, which is the speed-up of 24fps film to 25fps PAL, occurring on VHS and DVD.

Of course you probably couldn't care less: whatever it is called!

But for me (as a European) it can be important because the discussions about the 'dreaded' PAL speed-up (most people in Europe not hearing them at all, some bothered by it) take a different level if we actually appear to be talking about a different phenomenon.

I now start to believe that the conversion from PAL recordings to NTSC versions is such a different phenomenon, and thus could explain some of the disbelief PAL people exhibit when NTSC people voice their dismay: you NTSC people may be hearing (and thus complaining about) quite something different than we do, when we both say "PAL speed-up"!

(The good news is that we finally get rid of it when switching to HD media!)


Cees

Re: The Invaders

Believe me, I never intended this thread to divert its way to a PAL vs. NTSC thread, but merely wanted to let fellow forum members know my reasons for not intending to buy a series that I really want. It pains me that the speedup does bother me and so eliminates a potential route to getting a series that I might want.

Harry

Re: The Invaders

Early review of the UK release here:-

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=65953