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I would love to see "Way Out" (1961 TV series) on DVD (1 Viewer)

Qui-Gon John

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Actually though, this thread should be in the "SD-DVD TV Shows & TV Movies" sub-forum. Hopefully a Moderator will move it. :D
 

thegalaxybeing

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Oh Gosh no. The series you ware referreng to is called "It's About Time" (a Gilligan's Island style sitcom).

Way Out was a very VERY creepy anthology series. more in the vain of Thriller, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents & the like but perhaps more macabre. There was really nothing quite like it.
 

thegalaxybeing

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OK. There are 5 episodes that have floated around the past several (or more) years:
William and Mary
I Heard You Calling Me
The Croaker
Dissolve to Black
Death Wish
Although there's no way to verify, I have heard through internet sites that within CBS there resides 3 more episodes:
False Face
Soft Focus
Side Show
It would seem then that the two Paley centers house the only "known" copies of the following episodes:
The Down Car
The Sisters
Button Button
The Overnight Case
Hush Hush
20/20
This raises a question. If a studio (say CBS or Paramount) decided to officially release the entire series on DVD, would they have to go crawling to The Paley Media Center and could The Media Center block the release and continue to hold the monopoly of part of the series? And would they?
Of course, there may be other sources which we don't know about.
I asked Paley media center (via E-mail) if there was (or would be) any way to view episodes on line even for a fee. They didn't answer my e-mail. Even a devoted fan is unlikely to make a special trip part way across the US to LA or NY for the purpose of seeing the episodes. So, for right now at least, most of us are stuck.
But several years ago the CBS anthology "Suspense" was thought to be a lost series. 90 episodes (actually 88 of the original run) turned up and that entire output was released on three separate volumes so, there is always hope.
[Edited by moderator to remove graphics and links to another forum. If you're going to copy your messages, please copy just the text. Thank you.]
 

Michael Reuben

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John /img/forum/go_quote.gif">
Actually though, this thread should be in the "SD-DVD TV Shows & TV Movies" sub-forum. Hopefully a Moderator will move it.
 

I remember this! It scared the pee out of me for years-- I was only nine. Didn't it have a hand coming up out of the sand as part of its intro? And theme music which I've blocked out. In fact it scared me so much that I even got conditioned to shudder at the theme song for "Route 66", which came immediately before or immediately after it. Anybody else out there with "Way Out" PTSD? :-D
 

JeffT.

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I was a vocal part of the previous WAY OUT (CBS 1961) discussion thread and I am more than willing to lend my support (for whatever it is worth) to this one.

It must be remembered (or at least understood) that the more "esoteric" classic tv series DVD releases like THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THE INVADERS, ONE STEP BEYOND and even the Irwin Allen 1960s SF tv series all consistently had someone of prominence (or influence) either fronting for or actually spearheading these ambitious undertakings.

With THE INVADERS it was CBS Home Entertainment executive Paul Brownstein. With the recent ONE STEP BEYOND DVD release it is John Kenneth Muir. With the Irwin Allen 1960s SF tv series it was Kevin Burns. Without these people there would be nothing.

If there is ever to be a DVD release of WAY OUT then (likely) it will have to come from a similar advocate of identical stature. Hopefully there is someone out there who is a champion of the actual series, or Roald Dahl, or even David Suskind.

I wish they would come forward...and soon!

Jeff T.
 

Neil Brock

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Originally Posted by chas speed /forum/thread/138394/i-would-love-to-see-way-out-1961-tv-series-on-dvd#post_3571960
I was wondering has anybody seen an episode from the museum? Are they kinescope or film?
The museum has kinescopes. I have found no evidence that the 2-inch tapes still exist.
 

thegalaxybeing

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Way out was never "filmed". It was "taped' the same way that 6 season two Twilight Zones were taped (Static, Lateness of the Hour, Night of the Meek, The Whole Truth, Twenty Two & Long Distance Call).

The original Way Out tapes were donated to the Museum of broadcasting (Now Paley Media Center) by David Susskind. That means their videos should look pretty clean, but they are tape and wont be quite as crisp as film. More like the soaps of the 50's and 60's might look. I have never seen them, but based on what I know, this would be the case.

I understand CBS may also have 3 episodes, but I'm not positive on that. As I said before, I have to wonder that even if anyone influential DOES want to release Way Out, how much trouble would they have prying the tapes from Paley Media Center. I get the impression that once they have a copy of something, it is locked within their walls and only those visiting the center will ever see them. I hope my impression is wrong. I tried to make some inquiries with them but they never responded.
 

Neil Brock

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Originally Posted by thegalaxybeing /forum/thread/138394/i-would-love-to-see-way-out-1961-tv-series-on-dvd#post_3618234
Way out was never "filmed". It was "taped' the same way that 6 season two Twilight Zones were taped (Static, Lateness of the Hour, Night of the Meek, The Whole Truth, Twenty Two & Long Distance Call).
The original Way Out tapes were donated to the Museum of broadcasting (Now Paley Media Center) by David Susskind. That means their videos should look pretty clean, but they are tape and wont be quite as crisp as film. More like the soaps of the 50's and 60's might look. I have never seen them, but based on what I know, this would be the case.
I understand CBS may also have 3 episodes, but I'm not positive on that. As I said before, I have to wonder that even if anyone influential DOES want to release Way Out, how much trouble would they have prying the tapes from Paley Media Center. I get the impression that once they have a copy of something, it is locked within their walls and only those visiting the center will ever see them. I hope my impression is wrong. I tried to make some inquiries with them but they never responded.
There are no original master tapes existing anywhere. CBS has kinescopes of the 14 episodes. A fan named Gary Joseph paid thousands of dollars to "sponsor" the show for the Paley Center, to get transfers made of the kinescopes. Thanks to him, the Paley Center is the only place in the world where the complete run of the show can be viewed by the public. The original 2-inch tapes do not still exist. Tape transfers of the episodes from the kinescopes reside at the Paley Center while CBS retains the kinescopes. Susskind's archival prints, also kinescopes, of Way Out as well as much of his other television work, was donated to the University of Wisconsin.
 

Neil Brock

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Originally Posted by DeWilson /forum/thread/138394/i-would-love-to-see-way-out-1961-tv-series-on-dvd/30#post_3618353
Were the master kinescopes from WAY OUT done in 16mm or 35mm?
That's a good question. I don't really know but having looked at them I would say they aren't good enough quality to be 35mm. Besides, I don't know if there is such a thing as a 35mm kine. It would be nice if the 2-inch tapes did still exist somewhere. It's been a few years since I viewed these shows but I remember one of the kines being in pretty bad shape. And it was on one of the better episodes as I recall.
 

DeWilson

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Originally Posted by Neil Brock /forum/thread/138394/i-would-love-to-see-way-out-1961-tv-series-on-dvd/30#post_3618438
.....Besides, I don't know if there is such a thing as a 35mm kine....
Yes there is - "Space Patrol" and "Time Out for Beany" were both kined in 35mm :)
 

Jack Theakston

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35 mm was the NY network format of choice. If the WAY OUT episodes weren't videotaped, they were certainly Kined in 35mm.
 

Neil Brock

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None of the episodes I've ever seen, and I've seen all 14, look like anything but 16mm kines. And not that great either.
 

chas speed

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They recently had a screening of an episode of Way Out at a tribute to Dick Smith that was covered by Aint it Cool. I'm guessing if there is a decent print out there they would have dug it up for that, but I wasn't there and have no idea how the quality looked.
 

JeffT.

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Somehow I confidently feel that CBS Television has all the original WAT OUT! video transfers safely stored away in their cavernous film vaults in optimum condition.

It just remains for some television archivist to bring them out back into the public view once again.

Surely a show as distinctively unique and quality driven as WAY OUT! was will not disappear into a permanent limbo of inaccessibility.

Jeff T.
 

boinie

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I loved "Way Out." My favorite show at that time was "Twilight Zone," but "Way Out" grabbed me, too. The one episode I remember was about a portrait photographer who had a special touch-up fluid. He'd take a photo of a person with a facial scar; after developing the picture, he'd use the fluid to erase the person's scar from the picture -- and like magic, the person's scar would disappear in real life. Do you remember that episode and what the amazingly grotesque visual was at the end?
 

Jack Theakston

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16mm prints were reductions from 35mm that were usually made as either back-ups or for smaller markets.

The name of that most horrific episode was "Soft Focus" with Barry Morse.
 

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