Honey West - Page 2

Michael Alden · 11-27-2006, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael_ks

My guess is they don't expect anyone from the U.S. to purchase a dvd set intended for the R2 market. But if you go to amazon.co.uk it is listed as being available from them and that it "Ships from U.S.A., to anywhere in the United Kingdom". I sent them an email yesterday regarding the Region 0 thing--waiting to hear back from them.

Current sales rank at Amazon U.K.--#12,498. Yes, I'd say the average bloke hasn't a bleedin' clue about this series...

It actually has a decent cult following in the US and it was one of the shows TV Land ran when it first premiered, before the channel gave up on anything out of the ordinary and started showing the usual common crap. Unfortunately I don't think that the audience that would buy this show has a clue about it being available and even if they did know they wouldn't know how to get it to play on US DVD players. And I am quite sure that the great Fox won't release it in this country. Interesting though that Fox in the UK was willing to license out this and Burke's Law. I wonder what other shows Fox will license out overseas. And really it is the only chance we'll have of seeing most of the Fox catalogue from the 50s and 60s because I doubt they would ever release these things.

michael_ks · 11-27-2006, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Unfortunately I don't think that the audience that would buy this show has a clue about it being available and even if they did know they wouldn't know how to get it to play on US DVD players.

A current listing of this set on Ebay confirms that it will play on all US dvd players, so I'm placing my order straight away.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HONEY-WEST-THE-C...QQcmdZViewItem

Quote:

And I am quite sure that the great Fox won't release it in this country. Interesting though that Fox in the UK was willing to license out this and Burke's Law. I wonder what other shows Fox will license out overseas. And really it is the only chance we'll have of seeing most of the Fox catalogue from the 50s and 60s because I doubt they would ever release these things.

Agreed. And if I have to purchase another player, use a hack code, so be it. Just put "Route 66" on dvd and I'll figure out the rest.

Doug^Ch · 11-27-2006, 12:32 PM

I just ordered both Honey West and Burke's Law. I have no doubt about being able to play it on my system, because I've bought a number of region 2 releases in the past and they have played well. All you need is a region free player with a Pal to NTSC converter built in. In the case of these shows all you need is the converter as the discs are already region free. There are a few TVs I think that may already have this ability built in, but the easiest way to ensure they will play is to just buy a region free player with built in converter. I recommend the Oppo; it does a beautiful job and is virtually region free out of the box and upconverts the picture quite nicely.

It does seem ludicrous to have to go to Europe to buy a uniquely American product, but it is likely that if we want to continue to collect many of these vintage TV shows in the future that is exactly what we will have to do.

Doug^Ch · 12-07-2006, 02:07 PM

I just received my copies of Honey West and Burke's Law from Amazon.Co.UK. I have not had a chance to play them yet but I think the packaging indicates it is a pretty nice release. Burke's Law is especially nice with 8 discs held in four double sided plastic thin paks all held in a cardboard slipcase. I noticed that the company that put these releases out (DeltaMusic.CO.UK) also offers Season 1 of Bonanza in the same format (Pal region 0). Has anyone had a look at the video quality of this set? If it is good, I may order this set as well.

michael_ks · 12-07-2006, 02:27 PM

My copy should be arriving soon. I also ordered off of Amazon UK using Caiman USA as the actual vendor on 11/27, same day as you did I believe. Did you also purchase through them?

silverking · 12-08-2006, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug^Ch

I just received my copies of Honey West and Burke's Law from Amazon.Co.UK. I have not had a chance to play them yet but I think the packaging indicates it is a pretty nice release. Burke's Law is especially nice with 8 discs held in four double sided plastic thin paks all held in a cardboard slipcase. I noticed that the company that put these releases out (DeltaMusic.CO.UK) also offers Season 1 of Bonanza in the same format (Pal region 0). Has anyone had a look at the video quality of this set? If it is good, I may order this set as well.

I think you will be happy with Honey West.Here in the UK most players are either multi-standard or easily chipped to play Region 1.
A word of warning about the Bonanza set though, it is not S1 but the 31 public domain episodes released time & again worldwide.

Bonanza S1 , 2 3 & 4 have been released in Region 2 in Germany, uncut, remastered & with option of English soundtrack, no subtitles.I have them all & would recommend.

Doug^Ch · 12-08-2006, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael_ks

My copy should be arriving soon. I also ordered off of Amazon UK using Caiman USA as the actual vendor on 11/27, same day as you did I believe. Did you also purchase through them?

I used Amazon itself and not Caiman USA; primarily because I could not see a large savings to be had, and I have used Amazon.CO.UK successfully in the past.

Doug^Ch · 12-08-2006, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverking

I think you will be happy with Honey West.Here in the UK most players are either multi-standard or easily chipped to play Region 1.
A word of warning about the Bonanza set though, it is not S1 but the 31 public domain episodes released time & again worldwide.

Bonanza S1 , 2 3 & 4 have been released in Region 2 in Germany, uncut, remastered & with option of English soundtrack, no subtitles.I have them all & would recommend.

Chris, Thanks for the information on Bonanza; That saved me from making a mistake. Where is the best place to buy the German releases. I want a place to shop online where I can negotiate the site in English.

silverking · 12-08-2006, 10:12 AM

Doug

I ordered mine as they came out from Amazon in Germany (Amazon De).

Site is in German but the procedure is the same as Amazon US or Amazon UK.If you have an account with Amazon in the US you do not need to set up one with Germany as your account covers any Amazon site worldwide. Just click on the buttons as you would do with Amazon.com.

It's really easy to order. Bear in mind though that they discs are Region 2 not Region 0 so you will ned to ensure your DVD player can handle them.

Doug^Ch · 12-08-2006, 12:19 PM

After the holiday I will try to order one German Bonanza set to see how I will like them. They definitely are not inexpensive. At roughly $55.00 US plus shipping, it is a little rich for my blood at the moment.

michael_ks · 12-11-2006, 01:07 PM

I received my "Honey West" set this weekend and have already watched seven episodes and the "Burke's Law" series tie-in episode. Regretably the show does not have the remastered look of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" S1 or the "Naked City" sets but it is at least nearly free of dirt, scratches, etc. Just a hair soft and lacking somewhat in contrast and detail. The night scenes looked better than expected considering the less than perfect day time scenes which is odd when one compares this to the "Burke's Law" eps. which overall is slightly better than HW for picture quality but has a couple of poorly contrasted night scenes in it.

I'd forgotten just how much Mullendore's music adds to the show--love those quintessentially mid-60s jazz arrangements for the title music and action scenes. The audio is excellent for a show of this age, by the way. One episode I watched looked horribly dated only because of a "go-go" club scene ("The Princess and the Paupers"). Bobby Sherman plays a band member in that one, along with that weird looking, perrenially baby-faced Michael J. Pollard (the leader of the gang of kids who don't age in Star Trek's "Miri").

I thought the packaging was just fine, myself. After a comment posted earlier, I was expecting something "bootleg" like in appearance, but it's much better than some other packages I have--"Wanted: Dead or Alive" for one.

I think I could almost become a cat lover if I had an ocelot like Bruce. And hey! Scratched one title from my want list in one fell swoop!

Steve Phillips · 12-11-2006, 07:17 PM

I've been enjoying both the Honey and "Burke's Law" sets. I'd never seen either before, though I do remember the CBS revival of "Burke's Law" from about a decade ago. One of those episodes had Anne Francis reprising her Honey West role 30 years later! Hopefully that series will surface on DVD at some point also.