Has anyone heard about when Universal plans on releasing the next collection of Columbo Mystery Movies? So far, there hasn't been any sort of official announcement.
It should be noted that Universal France has by now released a substantial number of additional episodes of COLUMBO.
I just received the French "Complete Season 8 and 9" set which contains all the episodes of the U.S. "Mystery Movies 1989" set plus all the following episodes up to and including "Murder in Malibu". That is a total of 10 episodes. English audio is included, of course.
There are also "S10", "S11" and "S12" sets available but I don't know how far they reach, since Amazon France's product descriptions are quite vague. But I will definitely order all of them in the coming months. I just don't want to wait any longer.
I got all of the French sets which does in fact complete the entire Columbo series on DVD. I've only watched 2 episodes but I didn't notice any burned-in subtitles on those. I'd still probably get the R1 releases, but it's really time for Universal to include meaningful extras on these sets, not more episodes of Mrs Columbo, a series most Columbo fans dislike.
I bought the first two seaons of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. However, I abandoned future releases of both for different reasons. With Columbo, the flippers for one of the seasons were a downer. For Murder, She Wrote, discs continued to freeze on more than one set, so I gave up on it. It's a shame too, since my wife and I each love both series.
It looks like the remaining Columbo TV movies will be released on R2 in the coming months. Last week several Columbo TV movies were added to the BBFC classification decisions section for DVD. I thought this because the (to date) final Columbo TV movie "Columbo Loves the Nightlife" was passed.
I read on or off the web a few months ago that one more Columbo TV movie is planned.
BUT, what about Region 1? Who cares about Region 2? Everyone knows that television shows get released outside of the United States because of different copyrights and license fees that are involved and some shows get released outside the United States without ever being released in the U.S. for Region 1 fans.
Believe it or not there are some people who care about region 2 so a little less ignorance please... I would prefer to have it on R1 but I am quite happy having it on R2.
I too care about (and purchase) Region 2 DVDs. For example, DS9 and VOY. As I've mentioned in other threads, the special features are not necessarily identical on the Region 1 (North American) and Region 2 (U.K.) releases. With some series, you get more for your money with one region (2) over another (1). There are other benefits as well.
I could be wrong, but maybe what Mark was trying to say, and i could be over classing his words. How about a little love for these shows, in the country of origin? Of course, like i say, i could be wrong. But the rest of us love our R2, 3 and 4 friends, and are glad they enjoy the same shows we do!
Oh, and Scott, your post from 8 or 9 months ago, your good with Colombo on R1 DVD. Other than season 3 (stay away from it), the other seasons have been on single sided discs. They play fine.
It wasn't my intent to slam Region 2 releases but I'm so sick and tired of studios releasing television shows on DVD over in other countries and take forever to release them here in the United States.
Paramount had always done this. I know that every Star Trek series had seen their release on DVD in Region 2 and other nations after its broadcast release while fans here in the UNited States had to suffer through years of waiting.
It's the same with most shows, or at least it was the standard practice. Just look at shows such as Baywatch, Six Million Dollar Man, and many other shows that have yet to see a release ... I think it's a slap in the face of North American consumers who love these shows ...
Hate to say it, but I've gotta remind you guys that this is why there is region coding in the first place.
For Ironside, the home video rights are held by a different company in Australia than they are in America. Each company made different decisions about how they want to prep the episodes for DVD release, and how much time to take, and how to prioritize the project among their studio resources.
For Six Million Dollar Man, it's not about which studio has the home video rights in which country (it's the same in the US and UK), but about how the law works in each country regarding the ownership of the characters and premises from the original novel "Cyborg", and how they are applied to the use of those characters and premises in the TV show.
Baywatch sold poorly in the USA, but sold better overseas...not hard to figure out what's going on there. I'm shocked by just how badly I've heard Baywatch did! The folks putting it out were all hyped up and ready to rock and roll with every season. And they pretty much lost their shirt on the deal, I'm told, because no one bought the sets (well, I did).
I'm right with you there, David. I bought all three season sets as well. I actually enjoy those Baywatch DVD sets but I'm thinking of buying the German sets.
Awesome, it's about time. I figure it'll be another several years before the next set is released ... I wish Universal would just say forget it and release the last three sets over the next year and get it over with.
There are still three more sets after the Feb release:
The 91-92 set The 93-94 set The TV Specials Set 1995-2003
I estimate that it will take Universal Studios approximately 18 years to release the last few sets.