How has Universal treated Magnum, p.i.? (1 Viewer)

[LCD22]

For those who own "Magnum, p.i." on DVD, are the episodes as they original aired? No music substitution in these DVD releases (I know that Season 6 is coming and that they have two more seasons to release before they're done)? The end credit Universal logo hasn't been updated? I don't know if these are DVD-18s, but any problems I should know about with these? I would research this more on my own, but at the moment I don't have the time and wanted to get everyone's opinions on these sets.

I noticed yesterday that Sleuth was airing Part 1 of the pilot episode of "Magnum" (I haven't seen this series in awhile) and it has held up very well. I'm looking into the possibility of getting this series on DVD, but I wanted to check that Universal hasn't screwed this series up on DVD. The first four seasons of "Monk" and the first seasons of both "Quantum Leap" and "Northern Exposure" are the DVDs I own from Universal (so far),

 

[Lyle_JP]

Universal has offered nothing in the way of Magnum-specific extras (except the Simon & Simon episode on the first set), but the show has been handled well technically. The only iffy thing they do on a few episodes is slightly re-edit them so that you can't tell where the commercial breaks were. Seasons 1-5 have had no music substitutions, but the series never started using commercial music extensively until season seven, when the whole tone of the show changed (this is when Selleck began Executive Producing).

-Lyle J.P.

 

[JeffO]

I agree with Lyle. Basically the episodes are uncut, look and sound pretty good but don't have any extras. The acting is top notch, and the stories haven't become dated, even though everything obviously is in the 80s.

I'm hoping Universal will have a few extras with Season 8, which was only 13 episodes. It should not cost too much just to have a few interviews with the four principals and maybe have them do a commentary on two episodes.

 

[RogerH]

I only have season 1 so far but I agree the show is still great. I did have to exchange it though as 1 disc was the typical dvd-18 freeze Hopefully with seasons 2-4 I won't have that problem when I get around to getting them.

 

[Katherine_K]

Highlander, Hercules and Xena are all genre shows. It's comparing apples to oranges to suggest that just because they get lots of extras that a non-genre show should.

Now mind you I'm not a fan of having no extras, and I'm annoyed that we get next to nothing on the Law & Order sets but I'm not about to suggest that just because say Battlestar Galactica gets a lot of extras... they should as well. Scifi and Fantasy are a different ballgame.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Extras or No Extras the Magnum sets have been great, the episodes are all i really need anyway. I find that i watch extra's once tops and never look at them again. I would rather have shows released then it take longer to get something released with extras.

I have S6 pre-ordered and i can't wait to complete my Magnum Collection with S7 & S8 hopefully by years end!!

 

[LCD22]

Does anyone think Universal will be able (or willing) to keep the music in the final two seasons of "Magnum"? I might wait to see how they handle those two seasons, but I'd hate to start buying it now, only to have them replace music in the seventh and eighth season. I like the later seasons of "Magnum, p.i." the best from what I remember. I also think they should really consider adding bonus material for the final, 13-episode season. Which season was the "Magnum"/"Murder, She Wrote" crossover? If they haven't already, have they included the "Murder, She Wrote" episode as a bonus?

 

[Christian Preischl]

This was in season 7, and so far hasn't been included on any of the previous Magnum sets. It's been included on the corresponding "Murder She Wrote" set, though. (Unfortunately, they included the wrong version of the Magnum episode, i.e. not the open ended version).

 

[Mike Heenan]

The sets are great... if you are a fan pick them up. Music replacement (if it's an issue) for the last 2 seasons shouldn't deter you from picking up the first 6. Universal did the right thing for Miami Vice and cleared the music rights so I assume they'll do it right for Magnum as this show was as big as MV.

Also, I seem to recall Angela Lansbury being on an earlier season of Magnum too, or am I just confusing it from watching a rerun on TBS?

 

[JeffO]

Jessica Fletcher was not in the first 5 seasons at all. She was only in one episode (Novel Connection) in season 7. I verified this at tv.com.

Chris, I'd buy the first 6 seasons anyway, as they didn't have music replacement, even if you don't buy seasons with replacement. The show has held up very well over the years.

 

[Mike Heenan]

Ok thanks, I must be confusing it with a syndicated episode then, I sometimes watch those and the DVDs as well so everythings out of order for me, lol.

 

[Kevin EK]

It's worth noting that the both versions of the Simon & Simon crossover episode have been included for viewers. The First Season DVD release includes both sides of the crossover as a bonus feature. (So you get the Magnum episode ending with a cliffhanger, and the Simon & Simon episode to finish the story.) The Third Season DVD release includes the syndicated version of the crossover episode, in which the story is wrapped up within the Magnum episode. I would hope that they would do the same for the Murder She Wrote crossover, but you never know.

 

[Jay Pennington]

At some point during the series, the production, like everyone else did around that time, stopped editing and mastering on film in favor of videotape. (Still acquiring on film, of course). I don't remember what season that was--have they reached that point yet on the DVDs? The image quality is going to go down a notch at that point and I'm curious how much of a noticeable drop it is.

 

[Jeff*H]

I remember this being the case with a number of shows around 1987-88, or in the case of Magnum, the final season.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Not to forget, Selleck guest starred as Magnum in an episode (pilot?) of "The Fall Guy" (1981), would be nice to see that show on DVD soon.

 

[Rodrick]

I think Universal treated us quite well with foregoing the double sided discs, also crossovers. The Theme was different in a few sets but thats all. I didn't care much for it after season 2.

 

[Mike Heenan]

I asked about the video vs cutting on film in another thread, and someone posted that Magnum was cut on film all the way to the end, hopefully that is true.

 

[Blimpboy]

One item I have noticed about Magnum on DVD are the "day for night" scenes. I still have my off-air versions of most shows and noticed they "brightened up " these scenes to the point where it looks like daytime. Most notable is the beginning of the J. Digger Doyle episode from the first season. I have noticed a re-structure of the credits in places as well.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I've been very pleased with my Magnum PI sets so far --- with the exception of the seasons that were placed on DVD-18s. (Like one of the earlier posters, I had one disc that froze up during an episode.) Now that Universal has stopped using DVD-18's I have no complaints regarding the Magnum sets -- except that I wish they would re-release the first four seasons on DVD-9s!

 

[Jay Pennington]

Hmm, well I remember at some point noticing the episode title and other first act credits were done on video instead of as opticals, so if that's the case then they still did the final finishing work on video.