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The Oregon Trail - April 13th

post #1 of 22
3/12/10 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 
The Oregon Trail is coming to DVD:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Oregon-Trail-The-Complete-Series/13459 
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post #2 of 22
3/12/10 at 2:36pm
I've never heard of this. Is it any good?
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post #3 of 22
3/12/10 at 3:09pm
I guess what we're now learning is that *any* Universal western, Timeless will do, no matter how obscure.    

I just wish Timeless had a similar regard for some non-Western Universal titles.    I enjoyed seeing "Arrest And Trial" come from them and there are a lot of short-lived Universal cop/detective shows that would be nice to see on DVD.
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post #4 of 22
3/12/10 at 10:51pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirk76 View Post

I've never heard of this. Is it any good?

     Actually it is pretty good. It just came along at a time when Westerns ceased to be popular.
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post #5 of 22
3/13/10 at 5:27am
I also saw Frontier Circus listed at Amazon.  Is that also being put out by Timeless?  How many seasons did that last?
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post #6 of 22
3/13/10 at 7:54am
It's a one season show.
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post #7 of 22
3/13/10 at 8:36am
Don't remember this show really, but I'll give it a shot on account of its stars. 
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post #8 of 22
3/13/10 at 10:24am
I'm planning to get this one and Whispering Smith next month.

And they said most of the 'Smith Episodes were "Lost"!
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post #9 of 22
3/14/10 at 4:28pm
Might get this series as at the moment CBS Drama are showing the eighth season of Falcon Crest with Rod Taylor as a recurring cast member.

It's good to see a thread started for this show (and Whispering Smith), but something which annoys me is when they're started in a rush with the URL link posted and not renamed. Instead of "The Oregon Trail: Region 1 DVD release - TVShowsOnDVD.com news article" for example, just the link is posted with a brief note before the link.
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post #10 of 22
3/28/10 at 7:05am
It looks like there's a lost episode that may have not been filmed, so the total number of episodes is 25, not 26. NBC aired 20 of them from May to September 1961, but Whispering Smith was never a hit with viewers, even during the summer months!
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post #11 of 22
3/28/10 at 5:47pm
  Something seems off,the news say "20 one hour episodes running 750 minutes."Never
 heard of show but 37.5 minute episodes cant be right.
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post #12 of 22
3/28/10 at 7:24pm
I don't recall ever seeing The Oregon Trail, but two references are showing that it was cancelled after five weeks in the fall of 1977. IMDB says that a sixth episode was aired on November 23, and that six other episodes were never aired. TV.com lists 13 episodes. The MSRP seems pretty pricey for just 12 or 13 episodes of a show which few people have heard of.
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post #13 of 22
3/29/10 at 7:14am
I checked my Universal series catalogue and their are 13 1-hour episodes plus the 2-hour pilot movie.
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post #14 of 22
3/29/10 at 7:00pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Brock View Post

I checked my Universal series catalogue and their are 13 1-hour episodes plus the 2-hour pilot movie.

That makes sense given the announced running time of 750 minutes, figuring 50 minutes each for the 1-hour episodes and 100 minutes for the pilot.

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post #15 of 22
4/3/10 at 2:34am
Yes this will be the first time that people in the US will get the chance to see the entire series. The complete series was shown in the UK!
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post #16 of 22
4/20/10 at 8:07pm
 Has anyone bought this dvd,any reviews?
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post #17 of 22
4/22/10 at 10:48pm
Aw, damnit! I have died of dysentery!
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post #18 of 22
4/25/10 at 8:16am
I personally haven't seen it but I'm being told that they are transfers from 16mm. Draw whatever conclusions you like from that.
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post #19 of 22
4/25/10 at 12:13pm
     Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Brock View Post

I personally haven't seen it but I'm being told that they are transfers from 16mm. Draw whatever conclusions you like from that.


Thanks for that info, Neil.  I was going to purchase that set in the next week or so at whatever price I could get it for, but now I think I'm gonna wait until it's available at a super steep discount.

Gary "trying to support Timeless as much as I can - but I have to draw the line somewhere" O.

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post #20 of 22
5/1/10 at 4:37am
Although I'm really pleased that this has been released, having checked out the DVD's I can confirm that no restoration work appears to have been done on the prints used.
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post #21 of 22
5/1/10 at 9:57am
I don't think this is surprising, because the show is so obscure and never even had half its produced episodes broadcast, plus I don't think it *ever* had any kind of cable exposure in later years.    So Universal clearly never produced a set of tape masters, which I'm sure necessitated Timeless going the 16mm route.


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post #22 of 22
5/12/10 at 9:34am

I bought this at Sam's Club yesterday for $19.88 (their standard price for these Timeless releases.)

 

The bad news:  yes, these are 16mm transfers, and they are soft looking and rough in patches.  However, in general, the color is good.

 

The good news:  all the episodes appear to be uncut. The pilot movie is 95 minutes, and the remaining episodes run 48-49 minutes.

 

It's clearly a '70s western from the cinematography... and the hairstyles... and the theme song, which I found to be quite charming. 

 

I suspect the series was picked up by NBC to capitalize on the success of Little House on the Prairie, because it has the same feel, as if the Ingalls had joined Wagon Train. 

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