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Wild Palms...Finally on 10/05 (MERGED) (1 Viewer)

Jon Martin

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Sep 19, 2002
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I'll have to get this one.

I loved it when it aired, but bought the LD set and never watched it!! Had it sitting on the shelf for years.

What I remember most about it was how they had several different directors and each one had their own style to their episode. I loved Keith Gordon's work in it (he did the episode with the House of the Rising Sun I believe).
 

Michael Reuben

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Feb 12, 1998
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Michael Reuben
I can never remember who directed which episode, but I do remember that Keith Gordon does a cameo in one of his. :)

While not without its flaws, the image on these discs is superior to the LD. You didn't miss out by waiting!

M.
 

John Watson

Screenwriter
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Jul 14, 2002
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Just back from a vacation, plugged WILD PALMS into the Search bar, and bingo!

Great news for me.

My 'would like to eventually get' list is getting very short :)
 

Michael Reuben

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Feb 12, 1998
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Michael Reuben
Having completed the set, I didn't notice any music replacements. Everything I remember is still there on the soundtrack.

Thirteen years later, for all its flaws, this series still stands as one of the most distinctive efforts to do something different with the miniseries format. Its chief weakness is Bruce Wagner's script; about half way through, he starts to lose his grasp on the narrative. Having created a whole world peopled with outsized characters, he has to slam through a series of story points in order to get to the end. It reminds me of the last hour of Lynch's Dune, but in this case I'm not sure a longer running time would have made a difference.

M.
 

Aaron Cooke

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 1, 2002
Messages
320
do any best buy stores have this? i haven't been able to find it at any. about ready to order it from amazon instead just didn't want to wait for shipping.
 

John Watson

Screenwriter
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Jul 14, 2002
Messages
1,936
I enjoyed watching and seeing this, tho I found the colour almost fluoresent in some cases, eg., when the Senator and Paige Katz were dancing. Paige's red dress seems much more glowing than I remember from the video.

But I had a real problem - the last episode was marked by some stuttering in the image, quite a few times from the 22 minute point onward. The picture never actually stopped, but it was disappointing. :frowning:
 

Michael Sliger

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 10, 2000
Messages
274
Sorry for the very late post, but I decided to let this DVD set be on my Christmas list. Overall, the episodes look and sound reasonably good. The picture seems rather soft for something labeled as "Mastered in High Definition", but there are very few film flaws. On the surface, these seem to be original broadcast versions. Even the opening theme to Episode 3 has a slightly different mix as it did in the initial ABC broadcast (the synthetic harp played over the final shot of the palms is much louder than in the other episodes).

I do have to wonder what is the source for the "Previously..." segments. On the ABC broadcasts, they were much longer, had significant narration, and even had quite a few clips for the upcoming episode (still have my off-air VHS copy). On the DVDs, they are much shorter, seem very slapped together, and the voiceover says "Last week on Wild Palms" (shown over one week on ABC, AFAIK usually the same way on SciFi). Are these international recaps or did someone at MGM create some for this set?

I could not help but to beg for a producer/director/writer commentary track while watching certain moments. Some of the locations are so strange and beautiful (the outside of the Channel 3 facility, the pool where Eli is drown, some of the cathedrals, etc.).
I kept wanting someone to tell me where they are located and how they were found. Guess we are getting too spoiled by current trends.
 

GregoryP

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 2, 1998
Messages
590
I just have to say that I'm overjoyed that Kino Lorber is releasing Wild Palms on Blu-Ray with a new 2k transfer and audio commentaries! I've loved this show ever since it first aired and I'd always assumed that the DVD, which seemed to share the same video transfer as the laserdisc, was the best it was ever going to get.

6/30 can't get here soon enough! Just 1 more month.
 

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