Best of Route 66

Re: Best of Route 66

I really can't believe they didn't clean up the transfers from the Season 1, Volume 1 set. How clueless are these people? So now they release a set where the most of the first 15 episodes look terrible, while the last 15 look good? Are they nuts? Why was it postponed three months if not to fix the first half? They take the cake for how dumb can you be when trying to release a classic tv show.

Re: Best of Route 66

Complete season 2 is coming on October 21; details here:

Route 66 DVD news: Release Date for Route 66 - The Complete 2nd Season | TVShowsOnDVD.com

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So glad they've decided to forgo releasing half-season sets!

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I wish I could say I was thrilled about this announcement instead of dubious.

I tried calling Infinity again today and there's still no word about an upgrade path for consumers stuck with the cropped S1V2 sets. I doubt there will be anything offered since they obviously didn't consider the image issues for S1V1 a sin of equal caliber. And how can you ask to exchange a half season for a whole season set (the only way to get the corrected S1V2)?

But I also got the sense that a strong message was sent through this Forum (they were aware of it), and I would imagine that had a significant impact on making sure we have a decent shot at remastered image and properly cropped format for S2. We created a ... Buz and it was heard. That's cool.

Re: Best of Route 66

My copy of the complete first season arrived today and although I hadn't seen the program since it was originally broadcast and was prepared for the worst after reading the posts here - I was pleasantly surprised.

The quality of the first volume didn't look that bad to me (granted I'm watching these on a crt) and considering the price I paid (just over $20 shipped at the last DVDPlanet sale) it's brilliant to have the entire first season of this show.

Re: Best of Route 66

Are they offering any trades for those of us who bought the intentionally mutilated 2nd half of the first season? No sale of this or any future seasons otherwise...

Infinity web page contact link deleted - it sends email to someone who no longer works there..
(apparently they don't want to be contacted)

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There is still a contact page on the Roxbury site which can be accessed via Infinity's main page.

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This page?
Infinity Entertainment Group

It replies:

I no longer work for Infinity. For production issues please email Chris Clayton at [removed for posting], for sales issues please email Mike Pacuzzi at [removed for posting].

Thank you
-David Thornblad

The link from that page used to work..
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...2-post345.html

Re: Best of Route 66

Yes, that was the page I used earlier this week - but at that time I didn't receive any sort of reply from it.

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It's been implied a little tiny bit here that Mr. Thornblad moved on from Infinity possibly as a result of the entire "upgrade the bad S1 releases" thing. Nope; he used to be one of my contacts there. His departure was the first thing I found out when I first started looking into the possibility of an upgrade. The result of that research is what lead to the post I made about an upgrade. So, for the record, he was long gone before all of this upgrade stuff.

And the upshot of THAT seems to be that I was pretty much told that people who followed the directions I passed on, would get an upgrade. It appears that this hasn't been the case. I had concerns about this when I posted that, but was told to go ahead. It seems my fears were well-founded. Sorry.

Re: Best of Route 66

Is your answer in another thread? I can't find any other messages from you in this thread.

EVERYONE THAT GOT AN UPGRADE: PLEASE SHARE YOUR SUCCESS STORY.

Update: Are you referring to this? Route 66 DVD news: Upgrade Path for Route 66 Season 1 half-season set owners | TVShowsOnDVD.com

It sounds like people who called were referred to the website.. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...3-post396.html

(You would think that a company would change their contact page to send mail to a current employee).

Re: Best of Route 66

Classic Flix has posted the artwork for the complete second season here.

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I still can't believe they didn't fix the problems with the Season 1, Volume 1 release. Maybe they will take a page out of CBS/Paramount's playbook and fix it just in time for a complete series box set. But then again, this is Infinity...

Re: Best of Route 66

Small moral victory, but I found a way to upgrade to the full Season 1 set (with the corrected AR) without spending any money ... I traded the first two volume sets and some cds to Spun.com for it. And since I traded more than $30 worth, and the set was $30, shipping was free.

Granted, you don't get much trade back for what you originally spent, but at least I can technically claim that I didn't double dip on this. And I wasn't holding my breath for Infinity to come through with this 'path to upgrade' that was teased. What could they do anyway, when they only changed the second 15 episodes from the series? Would you have had to send them BOTH volumes in exchange for the new full season set? Would you have had to send them just the V2 back and get a discount on the full set? And then you're stuck with 2 copies of the first 15 episodes.

It wasn't the perfect solution, but no money left my pocket for this upgrade.

Re: Best of Route 66

Route 66 DVD news: Release Date for Route 66 - Season 3 | TVShowsOnDVD.com

This is certainly good news. And we don't have to wait that long ... February 10, 2009.

I've just finally been going through the show on the first two sets because I wanted to have at least two seasons worth to get into a daily (1 a day) schedule for a while. With Season 3 just 60 days away, there won't have to be much of a withdrawal.

Going through the first season set, it's just such a ridiculous contrast when you get to the second half and the picture suddenly improves by 1,000 percent. It's like, wow, who turned on the lights?

There was never a better showcase on television for good character study writing with style and a poetic lyricism. There a lot of sad sack tragedies Buz and Tod meet along the way, and Silliphant doesn't pull any punches, though he does often offer redemption.

I just watched the Walter Matthau episode where he's staked to a craps game in Reno by a dying mining town to win them enough funds to build a highway off-ramp to turn their town into a tourist attraction ("Eleven the hard way"). What perfect casting. And this episode was written by George Clayton Johnson. And Buz and Tod are hardly in it. But that's often the case. They are merely the thread that leads us into these character's lives.

The Squaw Valley vistas in "Effigy in Snow" were fantastic (though the episode was anything but).

What a unique piece of television. I have to concede thanks to Infinity for keeping us on the road with Season 3. One more to go.

P.S. I posted on this thread because, like the road, it's got a history.

Re: Best of Route 66

That's great news, Wayne, and means that all of the George Maharis episodes will be released. I'm somewhat surprised by the MSRP of $29.98 indicated in the TVShowsonDVD.com article for a full season, as complete seasons 1 & 2 had a MSRP of $49.98 each, but I hope that's the case. With the release of season 3 in February, there's a reasonably good chance that we might see the final season before the end of 2009.

I'm about halfway through season 2 and the writing and acting are top notch, though there is the occasional clunker episode that's bound to happen with episodic television. While the season 2 release from Infinity isn't perfect, I have to believe that this is as good as it's going to get, at least on standard DVD. Incidentally, DeepDiscount currently is offering the reissued complete season 1 set for $14.99.

Re: Best of Route 66

Duplicate Post

Re: Best of Route 66

February 10! Yes!

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Sold! Thanks for that bit of news, Bob. Will now finally pick up S1 where at least half the episodes look respectable for picture quality. And that is great news about S3--I suspect the set will go off without a hitch as Roxbury/Infinity seems well in tuned to fan expectations at this juncture.

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For the most part, I've been really pleased with season 2 and I have no reason to believe that there will be a return to the mistakes of season 1 with the season 3 release . . . . fans of the series sent a very clear message to Roxbury/Infinity over the two original season 1 releases, and the two companies responded with a very solid season 2 release. My expectations for season 3 are that they'll deliver a product comparable to season 2, and I believe that they'll do it. It's just a shame that some better looking episodes couldn't have been used for at least some of those first 15 episodes of the series (especially those on disc 1) . . . . . personally, I find them watchable enough but you really can see a marked improvement in a/v quality when you get to episode #16.

Re: Best of Route 66

And it's probably already been mentioned in this thread somewhere, but what about that big chunk (probably 5 minutes) that seems to be missing out of the great first season episode, "a fury slinging flame," where Leslie Nielson (in probably the best dramatic performance I've ever seen him give) is a nuclear scientist who takes a group of followers into Carlsbad Caverns to escape annihilation from an H-bomb attack he thinks is imminent.

Also, the cave is dark enough, but the print gives new meaning to the term "noir" cinema.

Re: Best of Route 66

They did do a solid job on the Season 2 release. However, in some episodes I do notice that motion is a little choppy; that movement in the episode looks slightly unnatural; again, choppy. Perhaps the frames per second rate is a little off. Anyone else notice that?

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I have gone through half of Season two and am very pleased. With all the mistakes they've made they seem to be on the right track. It's too bad that I can't say the same thing about The Fugitive.

Re: Best of Route 66

Well now, this is strange. Amazon has amended their listing for season 3 of "Route 66" to indicate that it is Season 3, Volume 1 rather than the complete season that is to be released in February. I hope this is incorrect information at this early stage as Roxbury/Infinity seemed to have fixed most of the issues associated with the season 1 releases (at least the second half of season 1). One would think that season 3 would be released in a complete set, rather than in split volumes, especially after a good effort with the complete season 2 release. But the change in Amazon's listing is a little worrisome in that the suggested retail price is the same as each of the separate season 1, volume 1 and 2 sets. It also suggests that Roxbury/Infinity may be concerned about releasing the Glen Corbett episodes . . . . I hope this isn't the case, as I really want to see the entire series, regardless of whether George Maharis appears in it or not; the final episode of the series does provide closure.

The Infinity Entertainment Group web site does not show anything yet for season 3 under the Roxbury banner and none of Infinity's three DVD online stores (Deep Discount, Critics Choice Video, and DVD Planet) are showing the set for pre-order yet, so maybe this concern is for naught. For those interested, here's the Amazon link:

Amazon.com: Route 66: Season 3, Vol. 1: Route 66: Movies & TV

Re: Best of Route 66

I had a bad feeling about that yesterday when I visited Amazon via TVShowsonDVD.com and noticed the wording seemed off a bit. The pricing also just didn't ring true for a full season set so I didn't pre-order because I feared this very thing would happen. I hope they don't revert back to the half-season stuff. But it doesn't look good thus far.

Gary "sometimes things appear too good to be true because they aren't true - this might be one of those times" O.

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Gary, I've dashed off an E-mail to Infinity about the Amazon listing and I'll post a response if they reply. Just seems silly to me to go back to the split season format after reissuing season 1 in a complete set and subsequently issuing season 2 in a complete season set. I really hope they're not taking a page from CBS/Paramount ala "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide."

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tvshowsondvd.com confirms what is shown on Amazon, but the total amount of minutes for the set do not appear--so who knows? If the replacement of Maharis by Corbett is a concern I would sooner think that S4 might be split. In S3, Corbett doesn't appear until episode 23 of 31.

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Though I haven't yet seen any listing on any of Infinity's retail sites, "Route 66" season 3, volume 1 is now showing at DVD Pacific . . . . .

DVD Pacific - Buy New DVD Movies, HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs

While I'll pick up as much of "Route 66" as I can get, I really do not understand why Infinity would go back to the split season releases after releasing two complete seasons . . . . the logic completely escapes me. Good pre-release price from DVDPacific, though.

Re: Best of Route 66

If you noticed the packaging for Route 66: Season 2, the discs are split into two different sleeves, one labeled Season 2, Volume 1, the other Season 2, Volume 2. From this, I think it's pretty clear that they originally intended to release Season 2 in split volumes. Not surprising that they're going back to that for Season 3.

Re: Best of Route 66

John, season 2 indeed was originally conceived as separate volumes . . . .

Route 66 DVD news: Changes to the Route 66 DVD release schedule | TVShowsOnDVD.com

What's surprising to me is that the split season concept was scrapped for complete season releases, only to have the complete season releases apparently scrapped for a return to split season releases. Now that Roxbury/Infinity are using solid masters, I'll take "Route 66" in whatever form they dish it out; I just find this flip-flopping of volume sets to seasons sets back to volume sets strange.