Have Gun Will Travel Question

Does anyone know how far Columbia House got on their VHS releases? Did they do the whole series or if not, how many volumes did they do?

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

I believe they did the entire show. I think it is 4 episodes running across around 50 VHS tapes.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

They did in fact release the entire series on VHS, across 56 tapes. I still have a complete set.

CBS/Columbia House used the video masters that they had from the VHS release when they put the show on DVD, resulting in less than optimal picture quality.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

Well I got s1 and s2 of HGWT , the video and sound on season one is watchable I'd give a B grade. Season 2 starts out well but half way though there a noticable drop off in capture quality(c- to d) in fact making allot of the night scenes almost unwatchable. This is really a massive bummer to me on two fronts one I'm reluctant to by season 3 because I know that cbs has abandoned HGWT with s3 and second I'm reluctant to spend money on s3 due to poor video quality and other posted complaints about defective sets. I bought s1 and s2 on a blind buy (well not really I loved the few oldtime radio plays of HGWT) . HGTW is great fun show and it amazing how much story telling could be pack into a 30 minute show its sad to see how poor the sets were produced and abandoned only after three seasons, (there was only 6 seasons) when you consider the garbage that have gotten full series releases yet cbs kills HGWT after three? Sad.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

It all has to do with sales, not the quality of the show. And unfortunately many times the sales are tied into familiarity of younger viewers. I know HGWT had run for awhile on Chopmark and earlier on TV Land when few people got the network. It's a great show but I guess it just didn't sell well enough. CBS doesn't usually abandon shows so I'm assuming by season 3 the sales must have been abysmal for the releases to be discontinued. Taxi is really the only other show I can think of that they stopped in the middle like that.

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yeah I know sales drive releases, but studios continue to make stealth releases which hurts sales . And I'm not talking about pricey tv aid campaigns, for example with HGWT if they ran some banner ads at ORCAT (makes mp3 cd's of classic radio dramas like HGWT) and websites that focus on classic tv and radio shows could have help sales, even if CBS got some of there ad people to sign up to forum's like this to make shill post for new dvd set would be helpful. Im just bummed that the consumer get blamed for poor sale but how the heck is the consumer going to buy something if we dont know its available?

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

Hiya, Bob.

With Season 3, again the video is up and down. And one must be careful to not get stuck with one of the defective sets released by CBS. (I think they've been pulled.)

However, the show quality of year 3 is through the roof. The top ten eps from this year can be matched with anything produced by American dramatic television. The great Ida Lupino directed many of them, and some were directed by Richard Boone himself. A must buy/

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Hmmm good to hear the story quality didnt fad maybe if I can find s3 HGWT at a decent price I might pick it up. But it still is a bummer CBS bailed after s3.

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Disappointing that CBS pulled the releases considering it was a big success for Columbia House who released the whole run on tape whilst some of their other VHS releases ,stuff like Route 66 , Dragnet, Wanted Dead or Alive never got beyond the initial batch.
Mind you HGWT came out before the penchant for split seasons. Maybe they could consider this route, don't like them myself but if it keeps the releases going !

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

The Have Gun-Will Travel sets were some of the first for CBS DVD. They're from a period before CBS DVD adopted their current high standards for picture and audio quality.

I wish they could redo seasons 1-3 and bring them up to the standards of their Perry Mason, Untouchables, and Fugitive releases. If they ever do continue with HGWT, we'll be left with seasons 4 and on sporting excellent picture quality, while seasons 1-3 will still look rather bad, especially in comparison.

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I totally agree with this and was about to say the exact same thing. I believe this series simply suffered from being released too early in the TV on DVD game, so to speak. At the time CBS/Paramount wasn't doing the restoration they are now and the show suffered the consequences. I truly believe that had "HGWT" been released, oh... let's say last year instead of 4 or so years ago, it would have succeeded. It's just a victim of poor timing as much as anything else, IMHO.

Gary "and it would be awkward to have seasons 4-6 look stellar while 2 and 3 looked poor" O.

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Well, that was kind of what happened with a few shows. Mad About You comes to mind, as does Mary Tyler Moore, both released early, stalled and then revisited a few years later.

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Gunsmoke: The 50th Anniversary Collection; Rawhide Season 1; and Wild, Wild West Season 1 are other sets that were released before CBS DVD adopted their current high standards for picture and audio quality. As a result, these sets are hard for me to watch; I wish they'd re-do them.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

Hi again, Bob.

Don't know if we're allowed to do this -- and I certainly don't want to upset Gary anymore than I already have -- but I took the bite on this and am very, very happy:

Link removed by moderator. Do not repost.

This guy shows ultimate respect for the show, a serious collector and the quality is great. (No, he's not my brother.)

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

I wish there were forums somewhere online that would actually discuss bootlegs and the various dealers. It's ironic that sites like HTF forbid it because they don't want to get shut down, yet the bootleggers themselves don't ever seem to get shut down. The time has come to start looking for alternative ways to find our favorite shows because it's obvious we can't rely on the studios anymore. It's a shame that it all has to be so underground, that one courageous web site couldn't at least attempt to shed some light on all the dark alleys out there. After all, trading is still legal, isn't it?

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The HTF doesn't prohibit discussion of bootleg sites because they're afraid of getting shut down -- they do it because they court the participation and approval of the copyright holders and fear that bootleg chatter would scare them off (but oh well, still no Warners HTF chat this year anyway ... whoops).

Limiting as that position is in threads like this one, I think it's still probably a good thing, because there are so many unscrupulous jerks out there that any forum which doesn't have that kind of ban seems to descend into a morass of swapping bit torrent files and blatant pro-piracy screeds. I agree that a resource along the lines of what Professor Echo suggests is needed, not just to help people sort out the provenance & quality of the bootlegs out there but to to provide info for those of us who try to navigate that world with some sense of ethics (I, for instance, would never buy a pirated copy of something I could purchase legally, but have purchased fan-subtitled DVDs of foreign films if I was convinced they were titles no legit label was likely to release in the near future).

It's not something I'd be afraid to do myself (despite what certain trade organizations would have you believe, it'd fall under the auspices of free speech), but I'm not sure I'd want to devote the time to it either. My pledge to myself on writing for the internet has been to focus on the content, not on inside-baseball DVD wonkery, and so far I've only broken it once, even though like the rest of you I spend way too much time educating myself on this stuff in order to enhance my viewing pleasure.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

You're not. It says so in the HTF Rules and in an announcement at the top of this forum. Zero tolerance.

It may be ironic, but we can't police the world, just our little corner of it.

M.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

Our policy against bootlegs is because of one reason. They are selling a copyrighted program for a profit. By allowing posts to provide members with external links where they can go to pick up these products comes off as an endorsement of such sites by HTF. It is illegal and as with anything illegal is nothing that we want to have a part of.

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Whatever. So's driving over the speed limit and how many people have never done that? I don't condone bootleggers either and obviously the powers that be here can choose to censor what they wish. However, considering the level of knowledge about these matters that the majority of the posters here possess, which is about a 3 on a 1-10 scale, not allowing discussions probably leads more people to getting ripped off than would happen if it was discussed. I've seen what these people have the nerve to sell and 95% of it is unwatchable crap. So maybe the feeling is - you get what you deserve if you deal with these cretins - but it usually works better to shine a light on a problem rather than close your eyes and hope it goes away. It's like how adults think keeping things from kids makes them disinterested but instead it has the opposite effect and makes them more curious. Exposing this problem would be more beneficial than ignoring it, IMO.

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Mr. Dearborn, when you set up your own site, you can adopt whatever policies you see fit. In the meantime, please remember HTF Rule 20:

Since you've already violated this rule once, let me recommend that you resist the temptation to have the last word.

M.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

Michael,

What are you referring to here? I ask, because it was deleted before I had a chance to see it. I collect bootleg material of Beatles music, some television shows and films, etc., and would be interested knowing the violation so I do not commit it myself. I'd also like to discuss the topic, but I don't really know to what extent it is able to be discussed. Thanks.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

From the HTF Rules (which ever member is responsible for knowing):


See also NO MORE THREADS ABOUT BOOTLEG SITES!

M.

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

What does the law say about someone who records a series off the air and then sells it for only the cost of the blank discs or tapes to copy it? Or they are willing to trade it to someone?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic or break anyone's rice bowl, I really want to know, if someone here has the legal expertise to answer that. If it's going to lead to an endless discussion about copyright laws, then forget it. I'm just curious about the situation, not looking to be suspended from HTF. If this prolongs the discussion in a way that could violate policy, then skip it and move on. Maybe someone could PM me with the answer if they know it.

I wasn't disputing HTF's policy nor necessarily disagreeing with it; I understand why it's in place and I respect it for all the reasons they provide. However, I stand by my original post in wishing there was SOMEWHERE online where people could indeed get more information about this area of collecting, with all due props to Hank's reasoning that perhaps any effort to illuminate all the illegal activity might serve to curtail it. I understand this is not a part of HTF's mission, but I don't see the harm in wishing someone online would make it theirs. Would that I had the resources, I would start a site myself.

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I honest I have to disagree about the quality of all bootleg dvd sets, Im sorry but especially with HGWT, I saw a boot leg dvd set at gun show awhile back and the video and sound capture were way better than cbs's second half of S2 (boot leg b+ to a- range). This guy was a huge fan of old classic tv westerns and selling to a crowd who might track him down and gun him if he sold the usual boot leg crap. The only catch was he was only sell full series sets (six seasons) and wanted 200.00, honestly I now regret my decision not to buy. And I'm sorry but half arsed releases like cbs has done with HGWT only helps the Bootleg market, because people are tried of getting rip by numerous legal dvd series releases of so so quality, adandoned half way though the series (ie NYPD blue and HGWT) why wait for the studios to release series then have no guarantee if there going to finnish series or not? Most fans want their favorite series on dvds of decent quality and the complete series that they can watch again at there convince, in any order they like, when they like. Buying boot leg whole series sets fills that legitimate consumer wish. With short sited studios wetting the publics appetite for tv series and cutting off mid way only helps incite people to look for " extra legal" ways of completing there collection of there favorite series. That my two cents

Re: Have Gun Will Travel Question

Since people seem unwilling to drop the subject of bootlegs, despite being quoted the rules that explicitly prohibit such discussion, this thread is now closed.

M.