What's new

Universal Studios Is The Pits (1 Viewer)

FrancisP

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
1,120
I have to say that Universal is currently the worst company in the home video market. The things I would like to do to the so-called brain trust and none of them are legal. Their products are overpriced and shoddy.

First exhibit is Night Gallery. First of all there are only
7 episodes maybe 8 if they throw in the movie. The list price is $59.98(I know it can be had for less). What do you get for that? Shows whose picture quality is questionable and several episodes that have mismatched elements like music cues. And then you get no extras even though there are items out there that could be added without being done from scratch. Some of those items include documentaries and scene specific recordings commentaries of edisodes from Rod Serling's college tours.

On the Munsters, for the same list price at least you get
38 episodes. Other than that there are no guarantees on the quality of the pictures. There are also no extras and apparently Universal even objects to customers going out and purchasing extras.

Columbo has the same problem. High list price, no extras,
and a limited number of episodes(I believe 10 with the movies).

Then of course of upcoming Buck Rogers set. They added the
awful second season which means we are going to pay through the nose for something a lot of us don't want. I
hate to see the list price on that. Bottom line is there
doesn't look to be any extras there.

I know a lot of tv product aren't remastered or have extras, but a lot of them list for less than $30. Even the Star Trek sets which cost more have some extras and at least 22 episodes.

What is Universal's respone to all of this? Maybe they'll do something later if these sets sell. Talk about legalized blackmail.

Boy how I hate Universal. I give them a Golden Rasberry as
the hands down winner.
 

Eric Paddon

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Messages
1,166
I don't care for the lack of extras on Columbo Season 1 either, but since those are 8 90 minute movies and 2 two hour movies, the price is still no more than $5 per hour of programming all told if I get a deal at Best Buy.

And for outrageous prices, nothing will top A+E Video because those prices are why I will never get the Honor Blackman/Linda Thorson Avengers episodes, or ever take a chance on "The Prisoner."
 

Travis W.

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
305
Universal and Columbia just suck. Period. Nothing we can do about it (boycotting their titles won't do a thing since there's always someone out there who will buy it anyway).
 

Greg_S_H

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 9, 2001
Messages
15,846
Location
North Texas
Real Name
Greg
The Quantum Leap and A-Team sets are both excellent. I can't wait for future seasons of those shows, along with the Munsters and Magnum.
 

Malcolm R

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2002
Messages
25,140
Real Name
Malcolm

According to the discussion in the Munsters thread, this set has been cancelled by Universal.
 

Rob T

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 26, 2001
Messages
1,987
and both Universal and Columbia won't talk to the fans which sucks even more. :frowning:
 

Paul_Scott

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
6,545
i'll waiti until i have the Night gallery set in hand before i complain.
and if it is the complete first season it has a lot more than just 7 or 8 episodes.
think it is more like 16 plus the pilot.

that would be close to 17 hours of content.
and i paid $55 thru Columbia House (including shipping and NYS tax) which fulfilled my agreement all by itself- so if i figured out a per movie average of about $7 for the other discs i picked up, it would mean that i paid less than $35 for this set.
i could easily live with that.

as for Buck Rogers, i enjoy the second season more than the first for the most part, so i'm really happy i will be getting that right off the bat (unless they change their mind).

there are definitely dvd release worthy of bitching about, but i'm not sure these are.
extras are nice, but they are not entitlements and the show itself is what i am buying this for.
After Mary Tyler Moore, i take nothing for granted anymore.

i'm just happy to have the show, as complete as possible, in (much) better than VHS quality.

everything else after that is gravy as far as i'm concerned
 

Travis W.

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
305
Universal just announced Northern Exposure Season 2 on 11/2 for $59.98! It's only two discs but I guess that hokey parka packaaging makes up for it:angry: .
 

Craig S

Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2000
Messages
5,884
Location
League City, Texas
Real Name
Craig Seanor

There's a secret to buying A&E DVDs - Deep Discount DVD. They usually give 40-45% off or so on A&E product. They have the complete "Prisoner" set for $89.97 shipped. Wait for one of their 20% off sales, and get it for $72!!
 

Randy A Salas

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 25, 2002
Messages
1,348


The parka has surprisingly little to do with setting the price. Music-clearance costs do. So fans who complain about the price should keep that in mind. The alternative is a lower-priced set without original music--and then fans would complain that it's missing and that they'd gladly pay more to have the music intact.

The parka packaging is just something to give buyers a little something more for their $60.
 

ScottRichard

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Messages
254
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Scott
I completely agree with Randy regarding Northern Exposure, and I know there would be many fans complaining if the music was replaced, as the series used a lot of music that specifically made a huge impact on many scenes throughout the series. Yes, the mixup with the episodes on Season 1, lack of booklet, forced trailers, etc. was annoying, but for a series that used as much music as NX did to have it all there is really great. Also, although there is a big difference between Seasons 1 and 2 only having 8 and then 7 episodes as compared to 20+ episodes for the later seasons, Univeral seems to have just set an across the board price for their sets. Everything I've seen as coming from them is priced at $59.99, and Quantum Leap only had about 8 episodes in Season 1 and the second season is the same price for 20+ episodes. I also still say that even 7 hours of a TV series at $40 (the price at many place online)is less than you could pay for three movies, which would be roughly equivalent to the running time. All in all, I don't have a problem with it.
 

Mark Lx

Second Unit
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
328
Actually Columbo is 725 minutes at $42, which translates to under $3.50 and hour (before tax). That isn't one I'd really complain too much about, unless the quality is bad.
 

Amy Mormino

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
537
The worst thing about Universal's TV policy is that they are so inconsistent about the price regarding the number of episodes. Apparently, Quantum Leap's second full season will costs the same as the short first, which doesn't make much sense.

That said, Universal has been really good about releasing their most loved titles, including Miami Vice (which many thought would never be released). The reviews of their titles are usually decent and many include some good extras. So, its a mixed bag. I'm not sure its fair to call them the worst.
 

Greg_S_H

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 9, 2001
Messages
15,846
Location
North Texas
Real Name
Greg
It's not fair. The A-Team and Quantum sets are great. Not only does Quantum have all of its original music intact (not an inconsiderable feat, since there are some major tunes in there), but it has the original intros that haven't been seen in years. Ditto A-Team, with the pre-show trailers. These are never shown in syndication. And, I don't have a TV worthy of judging picture quality, but they look great on my set. Better than broadcast. They don't have a lot in the way of extras and Universal is famously dropping extras on upcoming sets, but that doesn't bother me personally. I'm not that concerned about extras. One extra they do include on their sets that is nice is a full episode list on every disc. So, any time you want, you can see how many episodes you have left to view, and exactly on which disc you can find a specific episode. As for price, the suggested price is high, but retail hasn't been terrible. Universal offers their titles for about $20 off on their website, and you can usually find them even cheaper than that. In just the two releases I own, Universal has become one of my favorite TV-on-DVD companies. I hope they keep up the good work.
 

Gord Lacey

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2001
Messages
2,449


Actually, I think they are TOO consistent - a season set is $60, regardless of the number of episodes.

Gord
 

Tony J Case

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
2,736


Piffle! Knight Rider rocks! The A-Team, although bare bones, looks great and Quantum Leap was a blast.

So, no - you are wrong with your assessment. Universal is Da Bomb, yo.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,660
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top