The One Step Beyond sets. (1 Viewer)

Are they public domain?

I don't see them on a regular basis, but I might pick one up if I see it.

They're apparently in the public domain. I have a couple DVDs from Delta, and the picture quality is generally ok, but there is some missing footage here and there. This review by Mark Welsh at Amazon.com says that the VCI compilation has the best picture quality:

A few thoughts on One Step Beyond . . .

Not all of the OSB episodes are in the public domain. There are at least a dozen and perhaps as many as 20 episodes that are still under copyright. However, there was a total series production of 96 episodes and the vast majority of the episodes are, indeed, in the public domain.

I have Delta's 12 DVD set, the VCI set, and a few other miscellaneous OSB DVDs (including a couple of "dollar DVDs"). While I can't say that any of the releases look great, the VCI set is the best looking of all the sets that I've seen. Alpha Video's first volume was decent but I haven't seen any of their subsequent volumes since Delta was able to release their set ahead of most of the Alpha volumes. VCI's set was originally listed at around $30 but was repriced at around $15 late last year and you might find it for less at some online stores. It has about a half dozen episodes that are not repeated on the Delta or Alpha releases.

Bob, thanks for the confirmation. I'm a budding fan of this show, and will definitely pick up the VCI set. Hopefully they will release more of them! I wish whoever has the original 35mm elements would put them out in season sets...

I believe that Worldvision had the copyrighted episodes but somebody (Paramount???) took over Worldvision. I hope that I'm proven wrong, but I don't think that this series is a priority for an authorized DVD release anytime soon. Many OSB fans have more or less resigned themselves to the PD releases (at least we're able to see more than half of the series' run, etc., etc.). I belong to a OSB Yahoo Group and someone there has a data base of OSB episodes that have been released on DVD and came up with 57 episodes. Also, at one point VCI was contemplating a second set of OSB episodes but, to date, that has not materialized. I like the VCI set OK but, as I like to say about many of the 1950s public domain television releases . . . "These are definitely not for the high definition crowd."