The Fugitive: Season 3 Vol.2 (1 Viewer)

[Harry-N]

OK. Just for the heck of it, I've gathered together my old FUGITIVE VHS tapes for Season 4 and edited them down, inserted chapters where needed, and made myself a nice set of Season 4 DVDs of my own.

Now, for the most part these have fairly crappy color levels, contrast, etc., and generally require a lot of futzing with the monitor or software to get them to look halfway decent, but it was a project I just wanted to do. Of course I realize that five minutes from now, an email will come through from Davey and Gord that Season 4 Volume 1 is being announced - that's just the way the world works.

My source VHS tapes come from the 20 volumes that NuVentures Video released, along with a cable showing on WWOR's EMI Service that ran on our cable back in the '90s. One of the newscasts that followed had a 1994 date on it, and Bill Clinton keeps popping up in PSA's.

It was a fun project - and now I have something to easily compare with whatever comes out from CBS/Paramount.

Harry

 

[Jeff Willis]

Originally Posted by Harry-N

OK. Just for the heck of it, I've gathered together my old FUGITIVE VHS tapes for Season 4 and edited them down, inserted chapters where needed, and made myself a nice set of Season 4 DVDs of my own.

Now, for the most part these have fairly crappy color levels, contrast, etc., and generally require a lot of futzing with the monitor or software to get them to look halfway decent, but it was a project I just wanted to do. Of course I realize that five minutes from now, an email will come through from Davey and Gord that Season 4 Volume 1 is being announced - that's just the way the world works.

My source VHS tapes come from the 20 volumes that NuVentures Video released, along with a cable showing on WWOR's EMI Service that ran on our cable back in the '90s. One of the newscasts that followed had a 1994 date on it, and Bill Clinton keeps popping up in PSA's.

It was a fun project - and now I have something to easily compare with whatever comes out from CBS/Paramount.

Harry

Sounds like you've been busy

I remember WWOR well as an NHL fan down here in Dallas. I used to watch the Islanders on that channel since I had one of the few local cable svc's that carried WWOR in my area.

Enjoy the show!

 

[Harry-N]

Originally Posted by Jeff Willis

Enjoy the show!

You know, somehow I don't think I'm even going to watch most of these. I did it just to feel somewhat secure that I at least have them and they are easily available. I suspect I'll hold out for the real thing release whenever it does happen. And if it doesn't, well then I'm mostly OK.

There are two episodes that I missed from the fourth season, "There Goes The Ball Game" and "The Shattered Silence", so it's not quite complete, but I've also preserved the 11 Barry Morse intros that were on the NuVentures tapes. For some reason he (or they) skipped one episode.

Harry

 

[Sam Favate]

At the very least you will have an easy resource with which to compare the Season 4 releases for music substitutions!

 

[Harry-N]

Originally Posted by Sam Favate

At the very least you will have an easy resource with which to compare the Season 4 releases for music substitutions!

Egg-zactly! And that was one of my reasons for doing it. I'm really curious how CBS/P will handle season 4's music. Certainly, I suspect that their video, color balances and levels will all be top notch, as always. But I think we're all waiting somewhat breathlessly to see how the music is handled.

Harry

 

[disctrip]

Anybody have the street date for Season 4 Vol. 1 yet?

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Can't wait myself even though I'm only somewhere in S2 still, but it's one of those series that just gets better and better and S1 was pretty damn fine already.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Just FInished Season 3 I'm Ready Although I expect the change to Color will be Jarring.

 

[smithb]

Originally Posted by Dave Scarpa

Just FInished Season 3 I'm Ready Although I expect the change to Color will be Jarring.

So I take it you've managed to watch the first three seasons on DVD with minimal negative impact due to the music replacements?

 

[Harry-N]

Originally Posted by Dave Scarpa

Just FInished Season 3 I'm Ready Although I expect the change to Color will be Jarring.

The biggest effect of the color is that all of a sudden, some of the sets look less convincingly real. A number of episodes take place on urban streets, and you can just tell they're fake. The same sets looked a lot more convincing in black & white.

There are also scenes that have "distracting color" - things in the background that set designers loved to put things like flower arrangements, just because the show was being shot in color.

But still, THE FUGITIVE is THE FUGITIVE, and even the less-than-superb episodes are far and away better than most other shows on television.

I've watched some of these wash-out color prints that I have from VHS, and I suspect that when the real thing appears, the colors will be eye-popping.

Harry

 

[stevelecher]

The change to color isn't as jarring as the change in music, the sub-par scripts, and acting that is less persuasive than previous seasons. So many escapes are ludicrous in these episodes with Kimble needing only to cross the street to get away. He often times is not concerned that the police are right behind him and has time to perform operations while the cops are enroute to capture him. Gerard goes to a city looking for Kimble because a woman is murdered by someone with dyed hair. "It's Kimble's M.O.," he says. That's not like Gerard to think Kimble would do another murder. Then, even though it's confirmed that Kimble was the super there, he feels the police will stop looking for him if the real killer is apprehended AND, he's right. Ridiculous!

I'll probably be able to watch this season with altered music more than the other seasons simply because this season already feels so much less like The Fugitive. It will be interesting to see how much altering they do and despite my review here, I hope it's none.

Thanks...

Steve Lecher

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Originally Posted by stevelecher


I'll probably be able to watch this season with altered music more than the other seasons simply because this season already feels so much less like The Fugitive. It will be interesting to see how much altering they do and despite my review here, I hope it's none.

I would be able to tolerate the music changes a little more for this season as well ... *except* for "The Judgment" -- Parts One and Two. The underscore for that final episode was just *perfect*; and is actually a great part of the excitement in the final hour. If CBS/P alters just *one note* of that underscore it will be criminal to the extreme!!

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I thought this music replacement thing was a thing of the past with this show after the S2 restored audio, sad to hear they're still doing it...

 

[TheGreatOz]

Luckily, "The Judgment" is available on both Laserdisc and VHS, if S4 V2 has messed-up music. Ironically, more people have seen the final two episodes than any others in the series.


I remember in school, we wildly theorized that Gerard was the one who murdered Kimble's wife...and Gerard was going to shoot Kimble in Judgment Part Two to cover the crime. Unless you lived through the TV years, you have missed the nationwide suspense of watching each week from season to season. There's something to be said about viewer "innocence."

 

[Jack P]

Yes, I have a DVD-R from the VHS release of "The Judgment" (the original release, not the sped-up one) so I have my backup copy ready in case that episode gets botched. I still think we will see S4 because the remastering was in progress before the Syndication Bible was pulled.

 

[Sam Favate]

Originally Posted by TheGreatOz

At this point, my best guess would be Vol. 1 in August, Vol. 2 in December.

 

[TheGreatOz]

I'm encouraged by your forecast Sam.

 

[Charles H]

What about THE UNTOUCHABLES? They are at a parallel point (missing the final season) with THE FUGITIVE.

 

[Guy Foulard]

I'm pretty confident that CBS/Paramount is committed to finishing the last season of The Fugitive. It's got one of the most famous final episodes of TV history, so I'm sure they plan get a lot of mileage out of that. And despite the way we might feel, I'm sure they see a color season as being more marketable than black and white.

 

I'd like to know whats taking so long for season 4 of the fugitive to get released