Rhino Strikes Again! Too Close for Comfort - 22 minute cut episodes (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

Steve...O, I can say only that Rhino is pondering options; they have one particular one in mind that they KNOW would make fans happy. We'll see what happens with it, but I don't want everyone to get their hopes up just yet. I'm waiting to see what happens.

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks Dave for the update. Even though this is not a favorite show of mine, the reprecussions of allowing this kind of thing to go unchallenged will affect other shows that are important to me.

If Rhino does offer some sort of exchange program, I hope they get some financial assistance from the supplier. It would seem to be unfair to Rhino to absorb additional expense on a set that probably wasn't going to be a big money maker anyway due to faulty masters being supplied to them.

Steve

 

[Matt Butler]

Any word if theyre doing anything with Alf? Have they gone back to double-check the masters they used?

 

[David Lambert]

For ALF, "they" is Lions Gate, and it seems that nothing will be done...at lest as far as we know about.

 

[Kevin M]

Let alone the fact that Rhino could be rightfully accused of false advertising....or were the running time discrepancies corrected on the actual packaging themselves? If so then Rhino knew the total running time was not the same as they advertised prior to the set's release...that would mean that they knew the material was in fact the edited syndication versions.

 

[MatthewA]

As far as I'm concerned, if it's not uncut, ALF is not on DVD except in the single-disc VSC release. If only they had done the season set...

I've never seen an episode of "Too Close" in my life, but if they replace this travesty of a set with a corrected, uncut edition, that'll put them one better than Lion's Gate in my book. Heck, I may even BUY the bloody thing out of gratitude.

 

[SeanC]

So has there been any news on what Rhino is going to do (if anything) about the release? I love it, but I'd love even more to have the complete episodes. Also, do they have any plans for more seasons?

 

[Mark To]

So, how's it going with Rhino's plans to rectify this problem? Is anything happening or did they just throw out a herring bone until the furor died down and now they are doing nothing.

 

[Pavan_P]

Season 2 DVD is supposed to come out on May 10. Wonder if the episodes will be edited again?

 

[Malcolm R]

All the "furor" accomplished nothing for Season 2 of ALF (see separate thread). I have serious doubts anything will be different with TCFC either.

 

[Gord Lacey]

These two releases are completely different issues. TCFC was given to Rhino as "uncut" and they went ahead with that, not knowing they had the syndication prints. They went back to the company multiple times and were told that the material they had was uncut. The cast members, who had seen the DVDs, didn't even realize the episodes were the syndicated episodes. Finally, thanks to someone who emailed me an extensive and exact list of cuts made to the first few episodes, Rhino was able to get the company to admit that they had given them the syndicated episodes. It took them a good deal of time to locate the original materials, and I know Rhino was working on a way to "fix" the problem with the first set. The problem is that the person spearheading this has left Rhino, and I've lost my best contact there. I'm fairly certain that Rhino will receive the uncut episodes for season 2, since everyone at the company, and the company that licensed the show to Rhino, is aware that the syndicated episodes were used for season 1.

ALF was released with the knowledge that they were syndicated episodes, and they know they're releasing season 2 cut as well.

Gord

 

[BrianEX]

I have doubts that Rhino will actually fix anything. They never did fix the audio problem on their first three Transformers boxed sets. Heck, they knew about the issue after season 2, part one was released, said that it wouldn't happen with the next set, and ended up making things worse by putting the extra sound effects on the stereo track for every episode in season 2, part two.

 

[Pavan_P]

According to amazon, the season two set has been delayed a month to June 7: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS.../threescompany

 

[Joseph S]

http://tvshowsondvd.com/releaseinfo.cfm?ReleaseID=4082
http://tvshowsondvd.com/releaseinfo.cfm?ReleaseID=3711

Yet when this garbage is listed, the user sees nothing of the sort. This stuff should be flagged for what it is if you intend to serve users and purchasers from the site.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Joseph, do you get off on attacking me on HTF? You seem to do it enough. This is the only time you've participated in the thread, and it's an attack against me. Do you go from thread to thread looking for a fight? To my knowledge you've never emailed me directly, you just choose to vent in a public forum. Cut it out; I'm sick of it.

As I've mentioned before, I'm working on an alterations list which will cover things like this.

Gord

 

[Malcolm R]

Not to pile on Gord, but it does seem like the site is purposely and willfully "ignoring the pink elephant in the room" by not making a note of the edited nature of these sets in the item description. Why wait for an overall alterations list? Just put something like:

(edited/syndicated episodes)

at the end of the item description.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Because right now it would take too long to go through and make notes for every edited set out there. When the alterations list is done (in the next few weeks), the users can submit the alterations, and verify them, cutting Dave and I out of the mix.

We're not willfully omiting anything, there just isn't a good mechanism yet, which is why I'm working on the alterations list to fill the hole that's on the site right now. I expect to have it done in the next few weeks.

I guess I prefer to find a solution that covers everything rather than a solution that's half-assed. The list will cover missing episodes, altered episodes, altered music, and incorrect aspect ratio. Once a user submits an alteration it'll be flagged as "pending" until other users (5) can back it up, then it's accepted. The alterations will be listed for each title, and separately in their own list (pending alterations will be listed as well).

Gord

 

[Joseph S]

I hadn't read this. Looking forward to its implementation.

 

[Gord Lacey]

That last post in in reference to "Desperate Housewives." I was hounding Disney for a week to get a straight answer as to why they announced it in full frame, and because I didn't lash out at them immediately, I get labled as a "supporter" by you. How many other sites do you know of that contacted them and asked for an explanation?

If you don't believe what the studios are telling you regarding The OC and Everwood, do some investigating yourself. If you can get ahold of someone that worked on those productions who says the DVDs should have been widescreen then I'll gladly post the articles on TVShowsOnDVD.com. I could only find people who said Full Frame (and 2 widescreen episodes for Everwood) were correct.

I guess you've also missed my reviews of some shows like Mr. Bean (animated), Rex the Runt and the recent Law & Order releases where I complain that the shows aren't in widescreen (maybe you don't care about those shows). I've also called various people at A&E to convince them that widescreen is good, and should be supported on shows that aired that way.

Maybe you don't intend to act so hostile, but I feel as though you've attacked me personally here many times, and I'm fed up with it. I realize you're entitled to your own opinion, but I wish you would have the decency to approach me directly rather than flame me in public.

Gord

 

[Joseph S]

I don't know which other sites contacted them like myself and many others did over the past two weeks. I know in the past sites like Digital Bits and Ron have contacted on our behalf. What I object to is listing the titles without any real notice of what's wrong with the title. Instead of listing it with "buy at Amazon," Titles like Alf should have that review show up first or be the only link listed. If I pick up Las Vegas, I have no clue the music was changed on the original page. If I pick up others, I don't know they're cut. If you plan to implement a system like this I am pleased. It's not personal. The reason Mr. Lambert is mentioned is because in the past he would go out of his way to highlight that a release title was not OAR, was cut, etc. and wouldn't even list the prices associated with these sorts of titles.

The reviews are more or less hidden on the site to the viewer when searching for release information. If I'm not looking for Mr. Bean, Rex the Runt, or Law and Order I'm not likely to find out what the story is unless I search for it and then find maybe see an "in-depth review button". I appreciate your desire for them to do it right, it just doesn't come across that way when I browse the site. All we see is listed specs and buy at Amazon.

As for the other titles, if 4:3 was the OAR why do the reruns keep coming on in 16x9 HD? Why do they sell it as HD to the customer and syndicators? There are plenty of 4:3 shows airing in their OAR, if it isn't right then why are they producing it in the first place? It's not like Everwood would have been the only 4:3 show on the WB during its first season. Heck, they didn't even do WS anamorphic on the two episodes that aired WS in both ATSC and NTSC which clearly comes across as the people doing the DVDs had no connection with the show and its original materials. It came off as cheaping out on someone's mistake just like the CSI S1 UK release to US port many months later.