Contacted BBCA, no Blake 7 or Tripods, but Dr Who The Lost In Time Col & Allo Allo 2 (1 Viewer)

[Tory]

I asked if Blake's 7, Tripods, more seasons of 'Allo 'Allo and the Dr. Who DVDs already out / coming soon in the UK, The Green Death, Ghost Light, The Visitation, and the Leisure Hive + the possiblility for Return of the Master Trilogy(+an Anthony Ainley tribute since he died recently), The E-Space Trilogy, War Games, Trial of a Time Lord, The Black Guardian trilogy, Survival, Black Orchid and Shada were going to be released within a year. They told me this:



I'm glad about that Allo Allo, but it should be moving faster,they get two seasons at one time in the UK.

I already knew about Earthshock and Pyramids of Mars, I was hoping for some extra info about the others as I am about to import a huge amount and I would wait if I had a future forecast. Those Dr. Who suggestions are personal favs but I think most would want them too, most of them anyway.

What is the Lost In Time Collection? Is it a new name for the Missing Adventures or something else?

 

[Mark Lx]

Yes, I assume the "Lost in Time Collection" is the orphan episodes set that's been discussed the last couple of months. It's the episodes from incomplete stories from the 60s. The major reason for it is to release the newly found "Dalek's MasterPlan" episode 2, never released in any form. I still think it's strange to release that set before "The Beginning" set (first 3 stories) which was previously discussed.

 

[Tory]

Maybe Lost in Time cold be all of the Tom Baker Doctor Who's when he had that random location switch? They never knew where they were going on purpose to run from the TimeLords, This led to E-Space....hopefully, but doubtfully.

 

[Scott Kriefall]

What ever happened to BFI's plans to release Blakes 7 in Canada?

I've considered importing a copy of the UK B7 box, but have held back because I'd only be able to play them on the cheap GE DVD player in my bedroom (it's identical to one of the older Apex models). Watching B7 on a 13-inch TV isn't my idea of a good viewing environment!

 

[Michael Sliger]

You won't see a Region 1 Tripods release for quite a while (if ever). The rights to the TV episodes went into limbo when Touchstone/Angry Films bought the film rights to the novels in 2000-2001 (movement has been snail paced on that front). Something happened as part of that deal which blocked video release of those episodes for a long time. They even stopped the UK DVD release of Series 2 about three weeks before the release date. If you have a DVD player that can convert PAL to NTSC on-the-fly, I can suggest ordering the UK Series 1 DVDs (which are Region 0 encoded). The quality is dodgy, but we won't see better disks for a while.

The Blake's 7 situation isn't much better. It is unclear who owns the US distribution rights as BFS Entertainment didn't respond back to me the last time I inquired. They may have reverted back to BBC Worldwide by now, but even so, the current owners of the characters (Blake's Seven Enterprises) will probably cause havoc on the negotiations. They blocked the Region 2 disks of Series 1 for over a year citing some rather silly demands (they didn't care for the production quality of a documentary).

As for Doctor Who, the news I have read states that Pyramids of Mars and Earthshock are due out on Sept. 7th. The most recent titles that I know for the orphaned episode sets are The Missing Adventures: The William Hartnell Years and The Missing Adventures: The Patrick Troughton Years. Those may be released here in Region 1 near Christmas if the Restoration Team can get their work done in time. Don't expect any Region 1 releases before the titles appear in Region 2 in the near future.

http://www.pressenter.com/~stevenma/Latest.html

 

[Tory]

My Panasonic-Q Game Cube plays all regions of DVDs and converts the signals from Pal to NTSC so I am OK there. I will be importing these, I just contacted BBCAmerica in a last ditch effort for info and since they say nothing of the Doctor Who's that are already out in the UK, I may get them but I am still iffy, they will come here sooner or later I think.

Thanks for the Tripods info Michael, I was wondering why amazon of the UK did not have any of the 2nd set in stock. I don't remember the show at all, I just know my PBS aired it when I was young and I think I would like it from what I read.

Now I regret not asking about Tomorrow People.

 

[Michael Sliger]

Series 1 of The Tripods is a little slow, but reasonably good. It is mostly a roadtrip story to set up the nature of that particular world. That led to about three episodes being complete filler as the book "The White Mountains" on its own was too short to support thirteen 50 minute episodes. Series 2 was significantly better IMHO, which makes it extra frustrating that those episodes have never been released in any format worldwide.

Now for The Tomorrow People. Someone in the US would need to negotiate a deal with FreemantleMedia Enterprises (the media conglomerate which owns the Thames Television catalog) to distribute the original 70's series episodes in this country. Freemantle didn't even think that the property was worth their time in the UK (selling the DVD rights to Revelation Films, who reportedly heavily overpaid for the series), so they aren't likely to use their USA arms to produce any disks. Unless someone like BFS, Acorn or A&E steps up to the plate, we are limited to the UK disks (which are Region 0 encoded and have some of the silliest commentary tracks I have ever heard). The 90's revival series is probably in contractual hell since they were co-produced by 2-3 companies.

Don't worry about the Doctor Who DVDs that have only been released in the UK and Australia. They are all on the docket for us in Region 1 (sans the TV Movie, which is confirmed to be in legal hell). BBC Worldwide Americas just wants to stay a little bit behind their UK counterparts for various reasons. Besides, some reports claim that the VidFire process is destroyed when PAL video is converted to NTSC.

 

[Jay Pennington]

True...any PAL source has a compromised frame rate when converted to NTSC.

But VidFire material should still be quite an improvement even in NTSC...while NTSC is a conversion, at least it's just one, rather than one or two more layered upon each other.

 

[MaraKM]

While Tomorrow People isn't named in this press release about the deal between FremantleMedia & A&E for the Benny Hill show, I'm pretty sure it is one of the 23 shows in the package.

 

[Michael Sliger]

Thanks for that link Mara. A confirmation of possible Danger Mouse DVDs from A&E is very welcome. Hopefully they won't be in "best-of" packages and all of the title sequences and episode recaps from the early serialized episodes will be intact. It looks like I may want to hold off on my future Tomorrow People purchases (only have four UK disks so far) until I can find out about the full A&E package from the Thames library.

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

Not so much "doubtfully" as "absolutely no way". The stories you're thinking of comprise the entire season 17, and for all the reasons discussed elsewhere recently there are no seasons sets in the pipeline.

 

[david_slater]

i hate waiting so i just buy the u.k. releases.
most of the tomorrow people disks have been released already. im going to start buying the blakes 7 dvds soon.
just got the first two vols of the Dungeons And Dragons cartoons and have the 3rd preorder.

 

[andrew markworthy]

This is probably telling everyone the obvious, but be wary about getting The Tripods. It was intended as a trilogy, but only the first two parts were made, and you are left with an unresolved cliffhanger at the end of Series 2.

I loved the tripods books when I was a kid, and I must say I was disappointed in the TV adaptation. Series 1 was okay, but series 2 veered from the book to no good effect.
The books (written by John Christopher) are still available, and for those that don't know, John Christopher later wrote a single book prequel explaining how the tripods first arrived and took over the world. Perversely enough, it's best to read the prequel after you've read the trilogy.

 

[Tory]

Gee, Jonathan, It has been a while since I last saw these episodes so I do not remember things quite right like the Randomiser's name but thanks for the info. I seem to remember that they were also trying to hide Romana from the Time Lords, rather they held back from getting rid of the Randomizer because she did not want to go back. Also, I know the Randomiser was gone by the time they hit E-Space, but if ever they were to release a set of this proportions of not a season set but rather a more than season set to follow up a season set, the Key To Time Set, the next logical step for a Tom Baker release after this would be the E-Space Trilogy, knowingly skipping one but, oh well. Also, I know season sets are out of the picture, I was just blindly wishing is all, but if I remember right, like you said, the randomizer ending with the out on DVD in the UK right now Leisure Hive and Shada (both of which I asked about) being the last episode of the preceding season,in my fancy seems possible, but I know that it can not be true. In my fancy, they got Tom Baker and Lalla Ward in the same room to do commentary on each of them, but I know that ain't happening.

Interesting Link Mara, I will have to look into it. From what I see of Tomorrow People I think A&E would release it if they have the rights to it.




A four disc box set is coming out on September 13th in the UK, I saw it at play,volume 4 is too. That is all episodes on DVD, impressive. I always thought the Dungeon Master was the real villain though.

Thanks for the mini Tripods review Michael. While I don't remember it, I know I liked stuff of its nature and peers so I must give it a go.

 

[David Lambert]

What's funny about this thread is that I was watching my R2 copy of The Tripods (a series which I love the hell out of) when I discovered the thread.


Tory, I saw this thread about 5 minutes after you posted it. I made 4 phone calls to various BBCA offices. Nobody, but NOBODY seems to know what a "Lost In Time Collection" is. I'm still working on it. I'm sending you an e-mail directly; hopefully you can help me so I can dig up more about it.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

It is a pretty good way to describe a Missing Episodes release.

 

[Jonathan White]

Here are a few websites for people who wish to learn more with regards The Tripods.

Link Removed

Tripods

The following website has been set up by Jim Baker who played Henry in The Tripods, he is trying to get the second series released.

Bring back the Tripods

 

[Tory]

By the way, I forgot that I also asked about the possibility of the Doctor Who Web Cartoons making it to DVD, but they still said nothing. Has anyone seen these? My compter is just too slow for it to work right.

 

[david_slater]

David,
he is talking about...
WILLIAM HARTNELL: The Missing Years
PATRICK TROUGHTON: The Missing Years
being released in November.
in the u.k. its called The Missing Years in just one box set.

 

[Michael Sliger]

Scream of the Shalka was reportedly intended for an eventual DVD release, but AFAIK there has been virtually no news on that front for months. The DVD quality animation material was supposedly delivered to BBC Worldwide early this year, so some news may come in the near future. My guess is that they just don't know how to handle the cartoon at this point. With publicity for Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston building, does it make sense to release a Ninth Doctor Richard E. Grant animated story? I have to think that the bean counters will say "no" to that question. We shall see.

http://p077.ezboard.com/fthedoctorwh...ID=318.to pic

As for the other stories, don't count on it. They were, for the most part, glorified slideshows which may be difficult to sell as DVDs to the casual fan. Death Comes to Time was released in animated form on CD-ROM for those that want it. My guess is that Big Finish's contract with BBCi for the other two stories will make it hard to release DVD versions in a timely fashion (since that would hurt sales for the Big Finish audio CDs of those tales).