Rocky & Bullwinkle Seasons 4 & 5...Any Word???

Each season came out in September I believe, so if they stay on that schedule, probably won't hear anything until June or so.

That seems like a good bet. Seasons 1-3 were released on 8/12/03, 8/31/04, and 9/6/05, respectively. I'd expect season 4 to hit shelves in the same late fall time frame this year, and season 5 next year. It would be nice if we could get them faster but as long as they release every season, I'll be happy.

TVShowsOnDVD is reporting that Season 5 will be included on The Complete Series in January.

 

The article says they expect Season 5 to come out separately.

 

But it doesn't say so for sure.

 

I'm getting tired of this stunt being pulled where fans collect each season individually, then in order to get some "extras" -- or the final season! -- they have to buy the whole series all over again!

 

I'm jumping the gun, I know.  But if they don't release Season 5 by itself, let this be the first complaint registered.

now we'll have to wait to see if Classic Media ever gets Tennessee Tuxedo and Underdog right.

Count me among those not happy about this news. Let's assume for a minute that they do definitely release season five separately. Even then, we, the loyal customers who have gotten the series this far (i.e. if no one bought it, this release wouldn't be happening at all), are now being told we either need to repurchase 4/5 of the series, or wait who knows how many months until they release the fifth season separately.

 

And that's just with the assumption that they will release it separately. David just said that they "expect" it to be released separately, so that's hardly definitely. Even if he said it was in the works, plans do change. I was okay when WB switched to box sets for the DCAU, because even with the double-dipping I ended up paying less than if they hadn't switched. I felt the same way when they changed PPGs from season sets to a complete series. Doing it early on is okay in some cases, but it's not cool when it's this close to the end.

 

I hope that this is all just some mix up and the fifth season will launch with the complete series. Though, as long as I get the fifth season eventually (and I do mean separately; much as I love R&B, I'm not double-dipping at this point), I will be happy despite this...

 

And let's not forget the severely high MSRP for the complete set.

 

MSRP according to amazon/press release...

 

Full series: $149.95

 

S1 - $14.97

S2 - $14.97

S3 - $14.97

S4 - $19.98

S5 - ?

 

That's $64.89 MSRP for the first 4 seasons.  You can typically pick them up for $45 or less.

 

That would make S5 have a MSRP over $85 for the complete set to be any kind of "bargain"!

 

TVshowsonDVD is now reporting the pre-order page has been taken down.  Hopefully this means the reported MSRP is very incorrect!

 

I, too, will not double-dip for this even if it means I'll never own S5.

This seems to be SOP with *many* releases and is one major reason I feel TVonDVD releases have slowed.  Enough people have become mad due to bonus material on full series that they just stopped purchasing individual seasons.  This has driven down sales which has caused more hesitation from studios about releasing classic TVonDVD.  Basically, the studios killed TVonDVD enthusiam and purchases due to stupid marketing practices and greed.
 

Hopefully the press release is wrong or will be corrected and the fifth season will be released concurrently.

At the very least, they should release S5 -- concurrently with the mega-moose set! 

 

I have all the earlier sets -- and I guess the recent S4 must have sold well enough to warrant this "slap in the face" to all those who supported the earlier efforts as I did. 

Count me as a non double dipper here.

 

I thought this series was struggling sales wise. It appeared abondoned just a short time ago. Then we get Season 4 (good news), and now a Complete Series set with no individual Season 5 release. I am hoping there will be a further clarification or a rethinking of this that results in an individual release for Season 5. Otherwise, no sale.

 

It also sounds like there are some extras on the Complete Series set that are not available on the other individual sets. Since it has been a while since I watched Seasons 1-3, I don't remember.

 

And the price tag on this - $149.99 - is too high.

 

Way to finish off the the fans of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Classic Media.

If narrator William Conrad were still with us, he’d probably put it best…

 

“Tune in again next time for…

 

…The Fans Get Angry… or…

 

…The Inflaming of the Screwed!”

 

 

"This portion of the thread is sponsored by the BIG G! General Mills Cereals...."

 

I wish they were only "Cheerios Kid-ding" about this outrage! 
 

Update:

 

Our friends over at TVshowsonDVD are reporting the pre-order listing is back up and the MSRP shown by amazon is incorrect. It's actually $99.98.  That still seems a bit too high using amazon MSRP figures for the first 4 seasons ($64.89).  But... if the true MSRP is more in line with what is shown by DD then it's about right with S5 coming in at ~$20.  FWIW, this is also currently listed at best buy with the inflated MSRP.

 

Still no report of S5 by itself, but I'm hopeful!

I never bought seasons 3 or 4, so I'm less angry about this, even though this is a colossally tacky move from Classic Media. That stupid bug on the first 10 seconds of every single segment was bad enough, but this is just insulting. I'll buy it…used…when it comes under $50.

I'm not happy of how R&B has been released. After the first season came out the next seasons onward had the same opening and closings. Season 3 should of of had Bullwinkle dancing in the opening credits and the neon lights flashing/blowing out at the end. Season 3 of R&B&F switched networks from ABC to NBC, when R&B came to NBC the show was retitled The Bullwinkle Show and had the short lived Bullwinkle puppet introduce the openings. Another thing about how R&B has been released is that I'm not 100% sure about this, but I have a good feeling that all these releases are Syndicated and not the originals at all. So if they're planing on releasing the "Complete Series" they better fix all these problems.

I don't think they will. That would probably require making new masters, and since Jay Ward's daughter approved the changes on behalf of her late father, I doubt it. I also heard about legal issues involving original openings (something with General Mills), but the details are vague.

Figures as such, If I want the series as I remembered it I'll have to go on ebay or half.com and see if I can find the VHS collection from the 90's.

 

I don't think the changes were Classic Media's call.  Notice that all of the seasons have all of the titles changed to "Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends"; this is also the title of the pinball machine based on the show from, if I remember correctly, the early 1990s, so the title may be a requirement (which would mean the whole "The Bullwinkle Show" opening and closing credits would be out of place).  Also, isn't the music in the credits from the earliest seasons (the ones where the credits are on Bullwinkle's "little card" that folds out) different from the original?

 

-- Don
 

 My understanding is that these are recent (relatively recent, late 1990s) TV versions -- not the US versions (which are controlled by General Mills) but for foreign distribution. I remember reading something when they began these releases that the changes had been made for legal reasons, i.e. General Mills owned the rights to Rocky And His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show in perpetuity -- which is why they came up with Rocky And Bullwinkle And Friends. The music on the DVDs was produced for the show, but used in later seasons -- again, different entities own the ABC and NBC-era music. And no, the running order of the various segments does not match up with the original run. However, I am thrilled to have "Stokey The Bear" and the Bullwinkle puppet segments -- even though I am 110% convinced that the puppet segments are actually colorized versions of B/W prints of segments that were originally produced in color anyway. (Watch a few of them back to back some time and you'll see what I mean.) There have been other excellent extras too, including commercials and even pencil tests of commercials. I'd rather have these than not have them, even if they are not all that could be desired.

Don't forget that when we started purchasing the season sets in the early to mid-Naughts, they weren't selling for chicken feed - the avg cost of a set was $40 - $50. So for the Moose sets, I already paid $110 for Seasons 1 - 3 up here in Canada. Season 4 was only $14.99 (a steal). And you'll find that everytime they issue a complete series set, eventually they are marked down to nothing. The studios that release the DVD sets are shooting themselves and us in the foot.
 

Our friends over on TVshowsonDVD.com have posted excellent news:

 

Classic Media and distributor Vivendi Entertainment informed retailers that "Complete Season 5" IS coming to DVD as an individual 4-disk package on March 29th!!!

 

WOO-HOO!!

How bad are the logo marks on the sets? Really noticable? Too bad they couldn't get the proper Intros. Also the complete series packaging damages the discs. Kind of like the Flintstones and old Fraggle Rock complete series box.

Am I the only one who hates the cover art design of the complete series box ? Nearly all of one side is taken up with that stupid 100% Complete Bull**** title. Is that supposed to be clever ? Now there's growing concern over the safety of the discs with the way they're being packaged.

IMHO they're not *too* bad.  They're rather smallish - much smaller than the current trend of "bugs" on live TV and I also recall them being translucent.  After a while I'd not really notice them too much - but then I'd think about it again and *WHAM* in your face...  It *has* been a while (over a year) since I've watched any of these so I should probably get one out for a refresher.

They come on for a few seconds at the beginning of each cartoon -- after the intro, just after the "cartoon proper" begins. But the segments thrown in as previews for the next season set (as part of the extras) are completely logo-free. (Pretty sure of that, anyway.)

 

I'd rather not have the logo bugs, but at least they are there and gone, translucent, and it just says "R&B" for a few seconds -- it's not like it's some cable network's name accompanied by animated spinning and flipping plugs for that week's reality show, accompanied with obnoxious cable guide-type listings of what's "coming up next" and scrolling news headlines...

 

Well I guess that's not too bad. I  wish the complete series packaging was safer. I really like the packaging of season 4. It was like a hard cover book. All they had to do was put five of those in an outer case. That could have been the complete series box. Easy.

^I agree, but then you'd have people complaining that all they did was put a box around the seasons!  I, for one, do not like gimicky packaging and will avoid it if at all possible.  While I'm not crazy about the S1-S3 packaging it's better than the box.

At least it wasn't packaged in a giant moose head with antlers that poke out.

^ ROTFL - Actually, *that* package might have been cool in a very kitschy sort of way...