6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

But still no R1 edition? I wonder what the problem is?

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

It's the usual legal issues/clearances, etc. No prediction on when it will clear. It involves the rights to the novel "Cyborg" (which the 6M$M was based), & distribution rights changing hands a few years ago, also the original dist rights lapsed at Universal before they realized it and another entity grabbed the rights away from them. Then, there was the planned (and since cancelled) 6M$M movie with Jim Carrey in Col Austin's role......on and on....sounds like "Batman" (60's) or "WKRP", etc.

That signature fits me perfectly...TV/DVD's and not enough time.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Damn...this thread plays with my mind!
Who would think id see Ark II, and Jason of Star Command on DVD, yet 6M$M is still an unobtainable dream!

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

You and me both....this show is my holy grail as far as TV on DVD is concerned. Everytime I see this thread reappear, I must click it....knowing full well that it will be an exercise in frustration.

....and so the wait continues in R1.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Bah! Free yourself from the shackles of The Man and embrace your region freeness!

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

I think I'll wait. If this ever gets cleared up, maybe Universal US will do a better job about releasing unedited versions than Playback did, and no, they most likely will not be using the same masters: the Playback masters are PAL video masters from the films. Universal US would use NTSC masters. Who knows, maybe they'll go back to the original film elements.

I have all the prior PAL-VHS and single disc releases of the two bionic shows to tide me over until we know one way or the other about a US release.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Have to agree with Tony. In Australia we only get a very small proportion of the TV-DVD releases people in the States get. As a result I buy most of my TV-DVDs from Amazon. Sometimes I'll buy a R1 release for a show even though it has also been released in R4 simply because the R1 normally contains more extras (e.g. Third Rock from the Sun).

Occassionally however we are lucky enough to get a R4 release long before our American neighbours do, and this has been the case with S1 of 6M$M and BW. I initially held off buying the R4 releases because they were so expensive (at around $70 each) and because they had no extras. I was hoping that the R1 releases would eventuate with extras.

Last week however they dropped the price to $40 and repackaged both shows using the nice slim cases, and I could no longer resist - I purchased them both.

I am so glad I did. I have spent the last week watching the 6M$M episodes and am up to last disk of the 6 disk set. I had forgotten just how enjoyable and fun this show was. I especially enjoyed watching all three double-length pilots which were included in the R4 release. I don't remember seeing them before, so I found them quite facinating. Oscar's character in the first pilot in particular was so different to how he was to become. Much more colder - definately not Steve's "Pal" :-)

As soon as I finish 6M$M, I'll move straight on to the BW episodes, which I expect to enjoy just as much, if not more since BW was always my favourite of the two.

I highly recommend that if you are able to play R4 DVDs, go ahead and buy them from an online shop in Australia. The 6M$M episodes look and sound great - much clearer than the couple of episodes I had on VHS. Although I haven't seen the BW disks yet, I expect them to be just as good.

Like the UK guys - I can't wait for them to release S2 of each show!

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

good suggestion Helena.
I've been much more satisfied with purchases from Aus (thru ezydvd) than I have been from UK or Europe.- At least I've never gotten loose or scratched discs from Austrailia, and the prices are usually better.

I think I may just knock myself off the fence and order these this week.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Good points, Tony and Helena. I "freed" myself from region-coding last year with a great region-free player. PAL/NTSC conversion is flawless. I only have 2 PAL sets in my collection (BW is one) and they are studio-quality pictures. As for the "sped-up" sound thing, I can only speak for myself but it's very hard for me to tell any difference in PAL speed-up vs NTSC. Perhaps it's more evident for others than myself. The bionic series are my "Holy Grail" series as well as some that read this thread so that's the reason I have the region-free player. Andy's point about a possible R1 release is a good one (Uni U.S. using different masters). However, BW is the one series for me, that I couldn't wait for the R1 release. I hope for the sake of everyone that's waiting for R1's to see that happen soon. It's anyone's guess at this point. Others have been waiting for years on other series in litigation.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

just placed my order for both sets (in the slimline cases). prior to shipping they were under $33 each (US currency)- which I'm totally fine with.

If they ever get released in R1, I'll upgrade (as I do easily notice the PAL speed up on my UK BW discs)- but I get the feeling these will all get at least one watch before that will ever happen.

happily, Season 2 are set for Oct 25th, and I'll be pre ordering those as well.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Can anyone confirm these sets from other regions don't have English Subtitles?

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

I don't remember this being asked before, but I know the transfer quality on the R2 6M$M set wasn't that great. Has anyone been able to compare the R2 with the R4? Is it possible that the R4 version is better?

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Hey now! Whoa! I just looked up the listing for the R4 set on EZ and they have 2 additional episodes listed for the Bionic Woman season 2 set. They include The Return of Bigfoot parts 1 & 2, where as the listing on Play.com doesn't have those. Think that's a typo or will the R2 and R4 sets be different?

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

I can confirm that the R4 sets do not have any subtitles at all.

Haven't watched the BW episodes yet, but the 6M$M episodes do have a "play all" function as well as the ability to play individual episodes. There are chapter stops, including one straight after the music intro on each episode. That is as far as the "special features" go :-)

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

just got an e-mail that my order shipped.

total invoice was $96.xx (which I hope is Au currency)and the conversion should come out to about $72.xx (plus whatever my cc company charges for the conversion)

not too bad. Much easier to swallow than the previous $50 per series I was looking at a few months ago (from Xploited). Hopefully there won't be any loose disc or QC issues.

looks like I'll finally be in for plenty of bionic goodness this fall.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Thanks, Helena. My wait for R1 continues.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Amazon.fr has posted cover art for the R2 Season 2 sets. As expected, they're almost as crappy as the Season 1 sets. In fact, the inset photos are exactly the same as the ones used for the S1 sets. For SMDM, only two of the photos are from S2. For BW, not a single photo on the cover is from S2. BW also indicates 4 discs, while SMDM says 6. They both contain 22 episodes, so unless BW is using a few DVD-18s, it must be another mistake. How lazy can they be to continue churning out crap like this? Geez!!

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Ohh id love to see the one, again, where he kicks John Saxon's ass. Always loved the music in that show too. 30 years later and i still hum the fight music. I love my inner geek.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Well the R4 S2 BW art http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/788803 clearly shows that it will be a 6 disk set, although the item description claims there are only 4 disks. I am hoping it is just a copy/paste typo since S1 was 4 disks. According to www.ezydvd.com.au there will be 24 episodes on the BW set and 22 episodes on the 6M$M set. Can't wait for Oct 25!

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

When ezydvd first posted their art for BW:S2, they showed it as 4 discs. They've recently updated it to show 6 discs. I had contacted them about it, and they said it was "temp" art supplied by Playback. It still appears to be "temp" art, as it remains the same art as S1. The French R2 sets at least have new art, although their BW set also shows 4 discs.

As far as the BW Australian R4 set containing an additional two episodes ("The Return of Bigfoot" Parts 1 & 2), I'm still waiting for confirmation on that. Those two episodes have always been part of the SMDM package in syndication, but I'm hoping some anomaly in distribution will actually allow them to appear in this set. Otherwise, we'd have to wait for the SMDM S4 set to see them...and that could probably be quite a a while.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Play.com has posted the cover art for the UK releases. They're different than the Australian versions, and possibly even uglier.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Problem is, they don't have Matt on the payroll for DVD cover designs

I'm going to hold off on getting the Australian R4 BW set until I get the word that this set does or doesn't contain the 2 extra eps as posted at the Au site.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Helena, can you or anyone else with the R4 sets confirm whether all three of the $6M Man pilots are the original "movie" versions or not? I know on the R2 sets, syndicated "2-part episode" versions (with the same opening title sequence used on the regular episodes) were mistakenly used for at least one or two of them.

Your talking about good picture quality made me wonder if the Australian release used different masters. I'd just naturally assumed that it was a straight port of the R2 version. Now, I'm not so sure.

If all three of the $6M Man pilots are the original movie versions, I might have to reverse my decision about holding off...

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

well, as per previous experience EZY comes thru in blazing fashion.
Order was placed late on the 26th and on the 2nd I get a somewhat shopworn, dripping package (lots of rain today) containing both sets- even though the box wasn't in the best of shape, the actual sets appear to have suffered no ill effects. I thought I heard something loose in the BW set, but everything was still intact and on-hubs.
The slim-line sets actually are not in slimline cases rather The Bionic Woman set uses an open book style digipack with 2 sets of overlapping trays. On the plus side the boxes have an extremly thin profile. In fact the 6M$M set fits 6 discs compactly inside a single keepcase (with 2 leafs to hold 2 discs each- front and back as well as disc hubs on each inside front and back - pretty cool.

The pilots are the syndicated 2 part epsiodes.

I don't think I can give a good indication as to quality. The eps I've watched look good- however I'm seeing a lot of shimmering on horizontal edges. I'm pretty sure this will end up being just the effects of the PAL-NTSC conversion, but until I can view these on the projector which takes a PAL progressive signal, I can't give anything more definite. Transfers do look bright, colorful, and clean though.

I also got in two orders from DDD as well today (probably placed a few days earlier than the bionic one). I was expecting to wait a few more days for those too so I was impressed all around today.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

I'll let you know about the 2 extra eps when I get my set next month.


Sorry about the mis-information about the BW packaging. Because it was the same size as the 6M$M set which I had opened, I assumed it was the same type of packaging. We rarely get digipak style packaging for R4 releases.

I love the new packaging type used by the R4 6M$M release and hope the Australian shops keep on using it. My X-Files sets, the 3rd season of Knight Rider and some of my Dukes of Hazzard sets use this type of case. It looks like a normal movie DVD case except that it fits up to 6 single sided disks inside. The disks are easy to remove because, unlike the digipaks which have overlapping trays, these new-type cases do not. Instead they contain two inserts which contain a disk on each side, plus one disk in the front cover and one in the back. You "flip" the inserts sort of like you would with a photo album :-) They really help address the issue of shelf space!

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

you're right about the plastic inserts- they aren't overlapping (I must have jumbled it in my head because of the way they're molded...(they look like they are trays for overlapping discs, just with the overlapped disc missing).
I agree, I like em too better than the overlapping style of digipacks out there.

when I saw the phrase slimline, I thought they would be using the thin-paks keepcases that Universal has used over here for some of its sets. That has been my favorite style of packaging for multi-disc sets prior, but I think the case used for the 6M$M trumps that now. If all my multi-discs set could only use these...I'd save about 3' of shelf space (or a meter for the more advanced civilizations out there)

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Paul, it could be the conversion. Just to let you all know, I've had the BW S1 R2 UK set for about a year and I don't see any conversion issues when I'm watching them on my Pioneer DV-578 player. It has a 16 MB PAL/NTSC built-in converter. Picture is flawless on my Sony 36" WEGA NTSC set. Maybe it's more easily noticed on a big-screen set? I agree, the Xfers are a good as any from the same era in the mid-70's. As for the PAL "speed-up" difference, I can't detect it when I watch these eps. Maybe it's my bionic ear that's out of calibration I also have another R2 miniseries TV/DVD set. That one seems to sound the same as NTSC to me as well. I guess some are more able to hear the speed difference than others. It's also hard for me to detect "Time-Compression" effects on a couple of other R1 TV/DVD sets that I know are time-compressed.

Paul, What is the rating of your PAL/NTSC Converter? Just curious.


Thanks, Helena. I'm guessing that you're in Australia.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Paul,
Try checking the video mode settings on your player. I occasionally have the same problem with certain disc and player combinations. Most players have video settings for "film/frame", "video", and "automatic" modes. When I play PAL material, I make sure it's set to "film/frame" mode. It takes care of the "jitter" and "jaggies".

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

not a clue Jeff. Its a Malata player that I bought new about 4 yrs ago.
I usually have it set to output PAL prog stright to my projector, but in this case I've got it set up to a 10 year old Sony TV via the rca jacks and using NTSC interlaced. The artifacts I see will either end up being compression related or the conversion process- Not too worried or even annoyed about it under the circumstances I'm watching them now.
I will try checking the film frame mode to see if that helps.

I keep forgetting to give a big shout out and thank you to Helena- If she hadn't mentioned the price drop, I would have let these slide a lot longer- but its great to finally have them. And again, I lOVE the slim profile. I want to pre-order the next ones, bigfoot inclusive or not, but I would hold off it the sets aren't in the slim packaging..yet.

Like I said I do notice the speed-up- though I notice it less with the BW eps as I've been watching them like that for 3 or 4 years now. But Lee Majors and Farah Fawcett-M's voices really stuck out when I watched their episode (I'm skipping around).
about the worst case of this I've ever heard still has to be Lyle Waggoner and Lynda Carter. Lyle especially, for a male, has a higher pitched voice naturally and the PAL eps I saw were just embarassing/cringe inducing to listen too.

Re: 6M$M and Bionic Woman Region 2 release 09/26/05?

Hey Paul,
Do you have a means to post pics of the outside and inside of these new sets? I'm curious to see what they look like.