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Six Millian Dollar Man ? (1 Viewer)

MattHR

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Yeah, it's too bad about the Universal/Dimension mess. It's the same reason the shows haven't been shown on cable for years. We're already into a new generation of consumers who haven't been exposed to the shows on cable or dvd. What a shame.

I've confirmed through a few sources that the Mexican DVDs of SMDM do, in fact, contain the three pilots in their proper 75-minute versions, rather than the two-part syndicated ones. Also, the episodes are all in proper NTSC, rather than converted from the PAL masters, so there is no time-compression issues.
 

DeWilson

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Anyone know of a place in mexico where one can legally by via mail order the DVDs?
 

AndyMcKinney

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Can you confirm something else?

1. Are the Spanish subtitles "forced", or can they be removed, so that, hopefully, one can watch the show in its original English without any pesky foreign subtitles?

2. Have any of the title cards, on-screen credits, etc. been changed, or are they all still in their original English-language versions as originally shown?

I noticed on Amazon Marketplace a couple of "enterprising" sellers are flogging these at about $100 each. Wonder how much they really sell for?
 

Joseph Burns

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The subtitles on El Hombre Nuclear are optional, so viewing in english is simple. Menus are en espanol, of course.

I'm in the process of writing a review, but in short, it is NTSC 29.97 interlaced (takes a quality hit on the "C" frames in compression and some players may deinterlace or scale poorly). Not being a TV on DVD expert, I'm unaware if TV releases (for shows shot on film) have followed the move to 24p encoding that is standard for feature films on DVD, after some early contention at format launch. On the upside, the set is color corrected from a good transfer, unlike the region 2 set, so if you love the color casts and mismatched blacks of the original, this isn't for you ;). I saw a couple "data hits", that were not disk damage but seemingly authoring problems, very brief, and one tiny audio gap (about a quarter second) in the english track for The Solid Gold Kidnapping (the spanish track is unaffected).

Telefilms are indeed the original edits (a couple minor changes to the original telefilm, if you aren't a total Six geek you'll miss them). :cool:

I had completely forgotten Gil Mellé's replaced score for The Solid Gold Kidnapping, not having seen it in over 30 years- yet the memories slowly came back. The fact that they have good transfers of these heartens me greatly. Hopefully these minor glitches can be ironed out for the Region 1 release…

htf_images_smilies_drum.gif
 

Joseph Burns

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Region 1 is my preference as well. We're chasing our tails on that for now. :thumbsdown:

The Mexican info I mentioned did relate insofar as my preference for the original pilot telefilm edits (a common fan view) is concerned, as that release confirmed that the studio still possesses good elements and has color corrected them.

This means that getting the originals released in R1 is possible, as the elements are not lost. There may be other holdups, the different music may have licensing issues. The re-edits seem to have a few content changes that may have "reasons," particularly Wine, Women and War. The UK release contained those later edits, so what may happen in a US release is up in the air IMHO.

In short, the other releases are tea leaves we can use to determine some things. Or not. :laugh:
 

Radioman970

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Sorry I missed this post. I was about to start my movie horrorthon back in Oct. :D

Those are in boxes right where I can get at them. I"ll take a look. Hopefully it's still in there. If I don't post here within a week or so give me a bump reminder (lots going on right now).
 

Radioman970

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I pulled out my Six Million dollar man stuff. Oscar is in great shape! He looks brand new. Unfortunately the briefcase wasn't in there. I know it's in the house somewhere. I have several boxes of old childhood toys and it somehow got put in one of those. Once I find it I'll post some pictures.
 

Jack Gilvey

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This is one TV show I'd buy on DVD...loved it as a kid. Had my mom make me that red jumpsuit he wears in the opening for Halloween one year, and I had the action figure with the fibre-optic thingie that ran from the top of his head to his eye. Probably some other stuff, too, like an HL-10. Even dragged my parents to Toys R' Us once to meet him at an appearance.
I still have this I found in a box of junk.
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Radioman970

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^^^
Awesome!


I have Oscar, Steve Austin, this robot thing that had various face plates so he could disguise himself, a rocket playset and an inflatable lab set. Most of that I should still have somewhere. The lab looked to be in amazingly good shape.
 

AndyMcKinney

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The robot guy is Maskatron, a character created specifically for the toy line (but partially-based on the robot guy from the first season Day of the Robot episode).

The inflatable lab: I had that one as a kid, too, and was amazed when I was at University finding 3-4 of them still in their original packaging (at their original 1970s price) for sale in the "toy basement" of a Western Auto store, along with other older toys. Needless to say, I snapped them up! Even took one out of the box to display with my loose $6m Man collection.
 

Radioman970

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Now that was a find! I just remember that I saw the motor prop for the Steve doll in the box with the lab.

Maskatron! I think I played with that one the most. Its piece are scattered everywhere. I know I have Steve Austin somewhere but I can't find him.

It will be a happy day when they finally make this show available to buy. My dollars are sitting in a bank somewhere waiting to buy the whole damn thing! I remember very little from the show except the awesome opening titles.
 

Joseph Burns

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Giving this a bump since the Region 2 thread is getting hijacked with Region 1 support. This is the Region 1 thread. Support US releases here! Read upthread to learn about the licensing impasse.

On a related note, is anyone aware of any damage to The Six Million Dollar Man or The Bionic Woman during the Universal fire last year?

I'm given to understand there's a claim that everything lost was redundant, with safety copies kept offsite, yet these shows have alternate versions that may not be considered "official."

I also worry about music tapes from Oliver Nelson's fantastic scores for the show. There has never been a release of those either (Universal apparently has a reputation of not putting out TV scores).

Hope all the Bionic stuff is safe during the long delay.
 

younger1968

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Studios have been very good with storing and recovering their files. I believe they may have multiple sites for storage and i would not be surprise some of the info has been burn to servers and is back up.
I am not sure what the reasons are for this show not being released in Region 1. My suspicions are that they were looking at how poorly the new bionic women series went and maybe hesitant to release the old series.

If it comes out,then that is fine with me, if it does not then i have many other series that i am collecting that will fill my void. I only watch about 2-3 hrs of tv a night and it is all my dvds. I can not remember the last time i turn on the tv to watch a show.
 

DeWilson

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The reason why we don't have Region 1 DVDs on SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN is due to the rights issues with regards to the original book CYBORG, as well as the related movie rights.

In other words, Universal screwed up back in the 1970's and it's now bitting them in the domestic-arse :)
 

Joseph Burns

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It's a little more recent of a problem than that. Uni failed to renew the license sometime around the NBC merger, or so rumor has it. Dave Lambert did a great rundown at TV Guide's website, a while back, but they took it down the vandals!

IIRC, Dimension has the rights now, and when last I heard they still had a Cyborg adaptation on the project list. There is a movie on IMDb in development for 2012 release, don't know if this is theirs.

Really starting to regret that anti-Jim Carrey satire petition I signed years back. We'd have the DVDs now if they had gone and made the stupid comedy.
 

Jeff*H

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I think the fact that not only is THE BIONIC WOMAN showing on Hulu a sign that perhaps Universal has settled their Region 1 legal dilemma, but perhaps they've worked things out with THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN too, since there are season 1 episodes of BW on Hulu that feature Steve Austin/Lee Majors (the footage has not been cut out or anything). If they didn't have the rights to this character any more, then there is no way they could legally be displaying these episodes unless they found a loophole perhaps.
I'm wondering if this is a sign that R1 DVDs of both shows are coming soon? (Fingers crossed).
 

younger1968

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i guess the proof will be in the pudding. I like to see this show released. I always like Lee Majors in this role along with Richard Anderson as Oscar. This show was very good especially the bigfoot episodes. My dvd collection would not be complete unless i had 6 Million dollar man.

I do hope for the fans sake this show is going to come out. I believe it is up there with Batman 1966 series as one that fans would like see released. So, i just hope the studios figure how to make this happen.
 

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