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New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases - Page 5

post #121 of 151
5/27/09 at 1:24pm

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Watched the first episode "The Thin Rope".It had Chuck Connors in it. As i'v stated before i have a very basic set up. 32" sony tv and a Panny dvd recorder that i watch most of my dvds on. So not a very fancy system to judge . With that said the transfer looked very good to me. Sound was strong and clear. The episode ran 25:55 and seemed to have complete credits and opening. I would rate it in the same league as the Wagon Train episodes they put out.
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post #122 of 151
5/28/09 at 12:14am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Well that sounds encouraging after the disappoinment of 'Laramie'.

I notice Timeless are also reissuing 'Guns of Will Sonnett' in July as a complete series. The previous issue of this, some years ago, used the heavily cut syndicated prints. Anyone know if this is the same ?
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post #123 of 151
5/28/09 at 7:50am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Quote:
Originally Posted by silverking
I notice Timeless are also reissuing 'Guns of Will Sonnett' in July as a complete series. The previous issue of this, some years ago, used the heavily cut syndicated prints. Anyone know if this is the same ?

Excellent question, Chris. I'd love to know as well because I'd double dip on this show if the Timeless sets have uncut prints.

Gary "picked up the 'Tales of Wells Fargo' set this morning from Sam's Club and will try to watch a few episodes soon" O.
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post #124 of 151
5/28/09 at 12:29pm

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

I would bet dollars to donuts that they are using the same prints. The extras are the same, and I don't see anyway they would go to the trouble of locating full length prints. It is too bad, because it is a great show, but the cuts are really, really bad. Makes it very hard to follow at times.
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post #125 of 151
5/29/09 at 6:51am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

I tend to agree with you, Doug. I'd be suprised if Timeless was able to surface full length prints of "Will Sonnett." It just appears to be a complete series repackaging. I wonder how long it will take them to get around doing the same thing for "Branded," another two season series that they have also released?
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post #126 of 151
5/29/09 at 9:30am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Quote:
Originally Posted by borisfw
Watched the first episode "The Thin Rope".It had Chuck Connors in it. As i'v stated before i have a very basic set up. 32" sony tv and a Panny dvd recorder that i watch most of my dvds on. So not a very fancy system to judge . With that said the transfer looked very good to me. Sound was strong and clear. The episode ran 25:55 and seemed to have complete credits and opening. I would rate it in the same league as the Wagon Train episodes they put out.

I can second this opinion. I have watched the entire first disc, and I think the quality is excellent on my HD 720p 32" TV.
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post #127 of 151
6/8/09 at 7:52am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

I picked up Tales of Wells Fargo at Sam's this weekend. (At $29.88 for a six disc set, I just couldn't resist it.) I gave all the discs a quick overview, and every episode times out from 25:31 to 25:51, which should mean they are effectively complete. All of the episodes looked quite good, given the sources that Timeless are using.

I also found an episode guide online for the series:

Tales of Wells Fargo (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)

which allowed me to put dates to the 46 episodes in the set

Season 1 (11 of 14)
The Thin Rope (18 Mar 1957)
The Hasty Gun (25 Mar 1957)
Alder Gulch (8 Apr 1957)
The Bounty (15 Apr 1957)
The Lynching (13 May 1957)
Renegade Raiders (20 May 1957)
Rio Grande (3 Jun 1957)
Sam Bass (10 Jun 1957)
The Hijackers (17 Jun 1957)
Jesse James (1 Jul 1957)
The Silver Bullets (8 Jul 1957)

Season 2 (29 of 38)
Belle Starr (9 Sep 1957)
Two Cartridges (16 Sep 1957)
Apache Gold (23 Sep 1957)
The Target (7 Oct 1957)
The Feud (14 Oct 1957)
Billy the Kid (21 Oct 1957)
The Auction (28 Oct 1957)
Chips (4 Nov 1957)
Man in the Box (11 Nov 1957)
The Kid (18 Nov 1957)
Barbary Coast (25 Nov 1957)
The Inscrutable Man (9 Dec 1957)
The General (16 Dec 1957)
Laredo (23 Dec 1957)
Doc Bell (6 Jan 1958)
Stage West (13 Jan 1958)
Hoss Tamer (20 Jan 1958)
Hide Jumpers (27 Jan 1958)
The Walking Mountain (3 Feb 1958)
Bill Longley (10 Feb 1958)
The Prisoner (17 Feb 1958)
Dr. Alice (23 Feb 1958)
The Sooners (3 Mar 1958)
Alias Jim Hardie (10 Mar 1958)
The Johnny Ringo Story (17 Mar 1958)
Deadwood (7 Apr 1958)
The Reward (21 Apr 1958)
The Pickpocket (28 Apr 1958)
The Renegade (12 May 1958)

Season 3 (5 of 38)
The Golden Owl (29 Sep 1958)
End Of the Trail (20 Oct 1958)
The Counterfeiters (8 Dec 1958)
The Happy Tree (22 Dec 1958)
Fort Massacre (2 Feb 1959)

Season 4 (1 of 37)
Dealer's Choice (2 May 1960)

So if the guide is correct, this set is effectively the first two seasons of the show, with only 12 episodes missing. And there are a couple of errors on the packaging. The show started in 1957, not 1956, and there are only four seasons represented, instead of five.

And, Gary, there is another of your coveted Christmas episodes included. Have you found it yet?
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post #128 of 151
6/8/09 at 9:11am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Man, that's an awesome website for episode guides! Certainly makes life easier when trying to get things organized. Only regret are no notations to indicate what episodes of what is listed are available on DVD.

Off topic for a brief moment, anyone ever thought of trying to put together a website that would reconstruct the original TV schedules from regional TV guides and trying to figure out what aired where and when? Would take a lot of work, but given how many TV Guide collectors there are out there, if people put their heads together, who knows?

Back on topic, is it me, or is there a concentrated effort to try and get more TV westerns out on DVD these days? With Wells Fargo coming up and Laramie and Bonanza on the way, it's a great time to be a Western fan.
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post #129 of 151
6/8/09 at 9:17am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker
And, Gary, there is another of your coveted Christmas episodes included. Have you found it yet?


Yes I have, Tim! I meant to post about it last week. I found the Christmas episode the moment I bought the set and saw the episodes it contained. I had a suspicion the episode in question might be a Christmas one, due to the date it was shown and the title. So glad I turned out to be right about that one. I've guessed before going just on air dates and titles and been wrong.

The episode in question is:

THE HAPPY TREE

Makes sense that it would be a Christmas episode, right?


Gary "thanks for remembering me, Tim" O.
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post #130 of 151
6/8/09 at 10:35am

Re: New Timeless Media & Millcreek Releases

Well, I'm still waiting for The Virginian and The High Chaparral, myself. Both shows were filmed in color from the start and were very popular- so, what's the holdup? One wishes for at least one good Western on primetime instead of so many bad 'reality' shows......
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post #131 of 151
9/11/09 at 2:39pm

For those of you who are waiting for the next volume of Tales of Wells Fargo on October 20, Sam's Club already has it out on the shelves this week for $29.88 (the same price as the first set).  Timeless and Wal-Mart must have a very good working relationship, because this isn't the first time this has happened.

 

From a cursory glance at the set, the color episodes look fine -- a little soft perhaps, some fading, but more than acceptable.  The episodes are timing out at a little over 49 minutes, which may be a bit short for 1961-62.

 

Plus, there is a substantial, previously unmentioned, extra -- an unsold Dale Robertson pilot from 1965, Diamond Jim, about the railroad tycoon "Diamond Jim" Brady, produced by Selmur Productions, home of Combat!  It runs about 33 minutes, and has started to turn pink.  Dale seems to be imitating Clark Gable, and has aged noticeably since the end of Wells Fargo. 

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post #132 of 151
9/11/09 at 3:01pm
Tim, can you check and see if the episode "New Orleans Trackdown" happens to be a Christmas episode of any kind.  It originally aired on December 23rd but any info I can find on it doesn't say one way or the other about whether or not the story revolves around Christmas or if there are any allusions to Christmas in the episode.

Gary "thanks for the info, Tim" O.
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post #133 of 151
9/11/09 at 3:19pm

Unfortunately, "New Orleans Trackdown" is the first episode missing from the set.  Here are the 22 episodes included: 

 

Casket 7.3 (30 Sep 1961)
The Dodger (7 Oct 1961)
Treasure Coach (14 Oct 1961)
Death Raffle (21 Oct 1961)
Tanoa (28 Oct 1961)
Mr. Mute (4 Nov 1961)
Jeremiah (11 Nov 1961)
A Fistful of Pride (18 Nov 1961)
Defiant at the Gate (25 Nov 1961)
Man of Another Breed (2 Dec 1961)
Kelly's Clover Girls (9 Dec 1961)
A Killing in Calico (16 Dec 1961)
Trackback (30 Dec 1961)
Moneyrun (6 Jan 1962)
Return to Yesterday (13 Jan 1962)
Reward for Gaine (20 Jan 1962)
Assignment in Gloribee (27 Jan 1962)
Incident at Crossbow (3 Feb 1962)
Portrait of Teresa (10 Feb 1962)
Hometown Doctor (17 Feb 1962)
Winter Storm (3 Mar 1962)
The Gold Witch (5 May 1962)

So the set is missing the following 12 episodes:
 

New Orleans Trackdown (23 Dec 1961)
The Traveler (24 Feb 1962)
Chauncey (17 Mar 1962)
Who Lives by the Gun (24 Mar 1962)
To Kill a Town (31 Mar 1962)
End of a Minor God (7 Apr 1962)
Remember the Yazoo (14 Apr 1962)
The Angry Sky (21 Apr 1962)
Royal Maroon (28 Apr 1962)
Don't Wake a Tiger (12 May 1962)
The Wayfarers (19 May 1962)
Vignette of a Sinner (2 Jun 1962)

Since most of seasons 3 and 4 and all of season 5 have also not been released on DVD yet, I hope that Timeless can track down additional episodes for a third release. 
 

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post #134 of 151
9/11/09 at 7:09pm
After spot checking the rest of the set, I'd have to up my opinion of the transfers.  They are on par with the color Wagon Train, and I suspect they come from tape transfers of the same vintage.  I hope that the remaining twelve episodes survived the vault fire last year. 

All episodes time out just over 49 minutes.  One minor problem with each episode is that the closing theme is cut off mid note, as if some logo had been crudely chopped off the end. 

Otherwise, I don't think anyone will be disappointed with this release. 
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post #135 of 151
9/11/09 at 7:40pm
Appreciate the info on this latest "Wells Fargo" set.  I've long been curious to see some of these last-season color episodes.  I just finished off the first dvd-set, which I found pretty enjoyable.  It's a very breezy, unpretentious series, seemingly derived more from the spirit of modest-budgeted theatrical westerns of the post-war years, as opposed to the character-driven directions that most of the concurrent tv-westerns were taking.  A few lapses into hokeyness every now and then (like the "Sam Bass" episode, featuring Chuck Connors and Michael Landon, which was for the birds), but good fun overall.  Oddest bit of casting was Hugh Beaumont as Jesse James!  Best episode was probably the "Belle Starr" one, with Jeanne Cooper guesting in the title role.  Anyway, it's good to finally catch up with the series.  I met Dale Robertson a couple of times over the years, and was always a tad embarrassed by my lack of familiarity with his signature series, veering the conversations more in the direction of "The Iron Horse" by necessity.  Speaking of which, I'd like to see that series make it to dvd.   
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post #136 of 151
9/11/09 at 9:18pm
The IRON HORSE had a peppy theme song as I recall.

That "Diamond Jim Brady" pilot must have  morphed into the Iron Horse. That's interesting that the "Brady" pilot was from Selmur Productions. I thought they had only produced COMBAT! and GARRISON's GORILLAS, and  another WWII show pilot with Gary Conway.

My only previous encounter with the color TALES OF WELLS FARGO was the feature version of two color episodes called GUNFIGHT AT BLACK HORSE CANYON, which was shown on TV a lot years ago. That would have made an interesting extra, for the color set.

I just started watching the B&W set tonight. 
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post #137 of 151
9/14/09 at 12:45am

Just received my 'Wells Fargo' set (I was waiting for Amazon's price reduction).

Generally pleased with the quality. These seem to be episodes which have been floating around 'unofficially' for some years though these are nice copies.

However, I have one gripe. The opening theme music is a different arrangement of the theme.I noticed it immediately on playing the first episode & have spot checked a few others.The original is much more dynamic whilst the version used here sounds like it comes from a 'TV themes album'. I pulled out some whiskery old tapes to double check & I am correct.

It looks like TMG have dubbed one opening on all the episodes, further evidence of this is the inclusion of the 5th season episode. By this stage the series had a different opening showing Robertson throwing a mail-bag on a passing train. The episode on the Timeless set still has the original opening.

Quite why TMG have done this I can't say. Hardly likely to cause a 'Fugitive' type furore but annoying nevertheless.  

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post #138 of 151
9/14/09 at 1:07am
I should get my WELLS FARGO set today. I've never seen it before so the theme music arrangement changes won't be an issue for me. Though, I wonder if it is still a music rights issue of another kind. Maybe the actual music is PD but that particular arrangement is copyrighted, so they went with a new arrangement of the same piece. Just a thought,
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post #139 of 151
9/14/09 at 7:44am
Chris,I thought the opening music on the TALES OF WELLS FARGO shows used on this DVD collection sounded unremarkable, and wondered why it didn't seem familiar to me.

Chris, is the end theme used on the DVDs supposed to the on the opening? I like the end theme alot and it does seem familiar. I think another arrangement of the end theme  is used in some of the later Hopalong Cassidy movies.

Here's a video link for the Tales Of Wells Fargo Season 6 opening:www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/westerns/index.htm

A big NO SALE for me would be if THE REBEL ever shows up on DVD without the Johnny Yuma theme song, sung by Johnny Cash. I would be OK with it if they used a different singer though, or even just an instrumental version of the Johnny Yuma song.

The syndicated versions of the Rebel now have a instrumental opening of a completely different tune composed by the same man who composed the Johnny Yuma song. The words to Johnny Yuma were composed by the show's producer.

 
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post #140 of 151
9/19/09 at 10:24am
Just a heads up. We've all heard about the relationship Sam's Club and TMG have established.  Well, they have restocked a lot of the western sets. Great selection.  Amazon right now still beats most of the prices, but if you have a membership you might want to stop by. 

I picked up The Classic TV Western Collection 6-disc tin todayfor $14.88.  This price does beat Amazon. I know that Garyprovided us an episode list when this was announced, but no one has been discussing it.  There is only1 review at Amazon and he trashes the set.  Has anyone picked this up?  Can anyone provide a brief review.  I wanted to research whether to keep it before I open it.  There does seem to be some overlap with myMill Creek collections, and there might be more next month when the Western TV Treasures - 150 Episodes collection is releaed. But, it still lookslike it's worth keeping for the price.  Please someone talk me into keeping it.
Edited by BrianHass - 9/23/09 at 4:48pm
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post #141 of 151
9/23/09 at 2:38pm
Timeless also stuck the same opening title on each episode of M Squad.  It might've seemed like a good idea at the time, but it's a minor annoyance because it means I can't tell how good or bad the image quality of the rest of the episode will be until after the theme.
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post #142 of 151
9/23/09 at 4:19pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Bowie View Post

Timeless also stuck the same opening title on each episode of M Squad.  It might've seemed like a good idea at the time, but it's a minor annoyance because it means I can't tell how good or bad the image quality of the rest of the episode will be until after the theme.

....also,did the show have a couple of slighty different opening titles?
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post #143 of 151
9/24/09 at 8:23am
Yes, but the set has different titles for each season.
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post #144 of 151
10/23/09 at 8:55am

I see that Timeless is releasing the Chuck Connor's series Branded as a complete series.  I think I read somewhere that the versions they used in their previous releases were badly cut syndicated prints; what are the chances that they would use some uncut prints this go around?

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post #145 of 151
10/23/09 at 1:19pm
No chance, if the run-time listed at Tvshowsondvd.com for the complete set, 1144 minutes, is correct.  With 48 episodes and roughly two hours of extras the episodes would come in at  22 minutes. 

BRANDED was originally produced by Goodson-Toddman and was sold at some point to King World syndication, which in turn is now part of CBS Paramount.  King World, I think, supplied the prints to Timeless for Branded. If, uncut prints exist they should be with Paramount now. Maybe? 
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post #146 of 151
10/24/09 at 11:33am
Thanks for figuring that out Bob; I guess I will stay clear of that title.  I know with the Guns of Will Sonnet, it was so badly cut, it was hard to figure out what was even going on half of the time.
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post #147 of 151
10/24/09 at 4:58pm
Doug, if you can find a good deal for the season sets of Branded, they would still be worth buying.  The extra on the Season 2 set, Branded's creator Larry Cohen talking about his career,  is very entertaining and interesting. Cohen also created, The Invaders and Coronet Blue.

Some of the cuts on Branded are pretty bad. The worst was an episode where two famous (to me anyway) western badguy actors are watching Jason McCord, obviously up to no good.  The scene changes  and they are nowhere to be seen and don't show up later in the episode.  McCord must have dispatched them in the cut scene.  It's pretty lame when they edit out action scenes on an action show!
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post #148 of 151
1/25/12 at 3:17am
Thread Starter 
Just a quick note. Sam's Club has two great deals right now:

M Squad 117 episode set 19.98!!!!!
The Texan 70 Episode set 15.98

Above are new shipments, not old stock.

Other deals in the new stock:

Wide Country 19.98
State Trooper 2&3 15.98
Tall Man Complete series 19.98
Gene Autry Season 1 & 2 !5.98 each
Overland Trail 15.98
Desty 15.98

Brian
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post #149 of 151
2/15/12 at 1:20pm
Riverboat fans, rejoice! The complete series is now slated for a May 22 release in a 6-DVD set containing 44 episodes. I know there'll be some bitching about packing so many episodes into so few discs when I think 10 or 11 would be more appropriate. I figure The Restless gun will be given a complete set treatment later this year.
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post #150 of 151
2/15/12 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtvshowbuff View Post

Riverboat fans, rejoice! The complete series is now slated for a May 22 release in a 6-DVD set containing 44 episodes. I know there'll be some bitching about packing so many episodes into so few discs when I think 10 or 11 would be more appropriate. I figure The Restless gun will be given a complete set treatment later this year.

Is it actually possible to fit that many episodes on single-sided discs? It averages out to 7.33 per disc, and 6 hours of material. Are they going to go double-sided for this one?
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