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Universal Studios & Warner Brothers Reissued DVD Sets (1 Viewer)

UniversalPhan

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Has anyone noticed this lately? Recently, and I've glad that they are doing this, studios like Universal Studios and Warner Brothers have begun reissuing their TV Shows with a lower price as well as with single sided DVD's. I noticed this trend started with ALF, then we saw such shows as Magnum P.I., Gilligans Island, CHiPs, Dukes of Hazzard, Buck Rogers and so on. But, what I have noticed is that while these studios are ditching the double-sided DVD sets and reissuing their shows as single sided DVD sets, I have also noticed that they are only releasing the first season or the first two seasons and then ending right there.

At first, I thought this might be great news that these studios would be re-releasing the rest of the series via this new format but no news has emerged and even news sites like TV Shows on DVD won't acknowledge their upcoming releases because they have a policy against reporting on these reissues.

When the recent release of CHiPs Season 1 and 2 were released, I thought this might be signaling that the rest of the series would be coming down the pipeline ... but I'm starting to realize that this isn't likely. And even shows like Magnum P.I., which should see the reissue of Seasons 3-5, which were double sided (?), are starting to be left to doubt.

What do you think? Just the studios trying to draw more profit from re-issuing these disks or are they just using this to reintroduce the first few seasons of these shows to new consumers?
 

Jason_V

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Universal and Warner aren't the only studios doing this. Fox has done it for a long time; I remember Futurama going from the cardboard cases to the regular keepcases. They also reissued The X Files in keep cases. I'm not entirely sure who released Stargate (MGM, maybe?), but that entire series is in keepcases. Paramount is in the process of reissuing Star Trek: TNG in keepcases as well.
 

The Obsolete Man

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Jason_V said:
Universal and Warner aren't the only studios doing this. Fox has done it for a long time; I remember Futurama going from the cardboard cases to the regular keepcases. They also reissued The X Files in keep cases. I'm not entirely sure who released Stargate (MGM, maybe?), but that entire series is in keepcases. Paramount is in the process of reissuing Star Trek: TNG in keepcases as well.
Stargate was with MGM in the beginning, then Fox took over.

Also, I believe Futurama has went to a third variation of cases, with seasons 1-4 being rereleased again with packaging matching the current seasons in both artwork style and horrible "green" packaging thaqt scratches discs all to hell.
 

Jason_V

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The Obsolete Man said:
Also, I believe Futurama has went to a third variation of cases, with seasons 1-4 being rereleased again with packaging matching the current seasons in both artwork style and horrible "green" packaging thaqt scratches discs all to hell.
Wow...I had not seen these in the store. It's nice they're all matching now, but this is overkill...
 

The Obsolete Man

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Jason_V said:
Wow...I had not seen these in the store. It's nice they're all matching now, but this is overkill...
Yep, here's an example of the new packaging

200px-Futurama_Volume_2.png


Honestly, the one thing I'd probably upgrade on is a volume 4.5 containing all the movies in one set.
 

jcroy

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UniversalPhan said:
What do you think? Just the studios trying to draw more profit from re-issuing these disks or are they just using this to reintroduce the first few seasons of these shows to new consumers?
In the case of stuff that was originally released as single-sided dvd discs from the start, most likely such re-releases are either:

- A way of clearing out whatever old inventory is left in the warehouse.
- Repressing the same discs again, to keep a title on the market.


In the case of stuff that was originally released as double-sided flipper dvd discs, most likely such re-releases (in addition to the above two reasons) also include:

- Enticing customers to double dip on single-sided versions of previous flipper disc sets.


It seems like Warner and Universal have been doing this (semi) regularly for the flippers. Dunno about other companies like Fox, Anchor Bay, etc ...

Who else released tv season sets as flippers? (ie. Did Sony, Paramount, Buena Vista, MGM, Lions Gate, etc ... release any flipper tv seasons sets? )
 

UniversalPhan

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I know Paramount did, when they started releasing Star Trek TOS on HD-DVD, MGM did as well with The Outer LImits. If you actually search Google, you can find them on your own. BHut, I did send an email to Universal asking about the re-release of Magnum P.I. Season 3 as single sided DVDs. I'll post again when I get more information.

I'm also expecting Universal to re-release the following shows:

seaQuest DSV
Invisible Man (2000 Series)
Sliders (Seasons 3-5)
 

jcroy

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UniversalPhan said:
MGM did as well with The Outer LImits.
IIRC, MGM is being distributed by Fox these days.

It would be great if Fox ever re-releases the original Outer Limits as single-sided discs.

If Universal is successful (relatively) with all those single-sided discs re-releases, perhaps it can entice Fox to start re-releasing old flipper sets as single-sided disc sets.
 

jcroy

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This may just be an anecdotal observation on my part.

Over the last two years or so, I've noticed quite a few older Universal tv season sets being massively dumped at Costco and various discount stores. Stuff like Magnum PI, The Incredible Hulk, Quantum Leap, Miami Vice, Emergency, Rockford Files, Columbo, Monk, the revived Battlestar Galactica, etc ... A year or two later, some of these sets eventually were re-released.

I get the impression Costo is one of the last places dvds end up passing through, before they end up in the bargain bins at various discount stores, or they disappear from the market. (IIRC, the Fox versions of the original Outer Limits dvds also passed through the local Costco stores a few years ago, and eventually disappeared from the market).

I usually keep an eye out for what pops up at Costco, largely to see whether it may be a signal for possible re-releases.
 

jcroy

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(More recent local observations).

Just remembered from shopping at a nearby Best Buy last week, there was a bunch of MGM and Fox season sets being massively dumped at $6 to $10 a pop, such as:

- The Addams Family
- Lost In Space
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
- Flipper
- etc ...

of which quite a few were double-sided flipper disc sets.

Sounds like MGM/Fox may be liquidating a bunch of old tv season sets.

It would be great if Fox is planning to re-release the flipper sets as single-sided dvds in the near future. (Though I'm not holding my breath on this).
 

jcroy

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UniversalPhan said:
seaQuest DSV
....

Sliders (Seasons 3-5)
I too would like to see seaQuest DSV season 1 and Sliders season 3 re-released as single-sided dvd discs. So far I have held back on buying either flipper set. (Also they're not exactly high on my priority list either).

On a tangent, I get the impression the season 2 set of SeaQuest DSV was possibly originally planned as a flipper set, but was changed to all single-sided discs at the last minute. (ie. Eight single-sided discs, of which some are 5 gigs and the others are 8.5 gigs. A bit like the scrambled sizes of the recently re-released single-sided ten discs of the original Battlestar Galactica season 1 season set).


Other Universal flipper sets that would be great to see re-released as single-sided discs, but which I'm not holding my breath on:

- Earth 2
- Cleopatra 2525
- American Gothic
- The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries season 1
- etc ...
 

jcroy

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Jason_V said:
Universal and Warner aren't the only studios doing this. Fox has done it for a long time; I remember Futurama going from the cardboard cases to the regular keepcases. They also reissued The X Files in keep cases. I'm not entirely sure who released Stargate (MGM, maybe?), but that entire series is in keepcases. Paramount is in the process of reissuing Star Trek: TNG in keepcases as well.
If I had to guess as to why numerous tv season set re-releases are being packaged in generic keepcases, most likely it is easier for the movie studios to just bulk order a large number of generic 5 or 6 disc keepcases, than manufacturing custom digipack fold-out cases individualized to each particular dvd season set. (I don't know whether this would be less expensive, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is also the case).


From my memory of past shopping trips, here's a partial list of straight re-packaged dvd season sets in generic keepcases, which quite a number are also now bargain bin fodder at Best Buy, Walmart, etc ...:

Fox
- 24
- Angel
- Buffy
- Dark Angel
- Bones
- Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Millenium
- Boston Legal
- MASH
- Burn Notice
- X-Files
- King of the Hill
- Stargate SG-1
- Stargate Atlantis
- Remington Steele
- The Pretender

Warner
- Babylon 5
- Friends
- The O.C.
- La Femme Nikita
- Veronica Mars

Paramount/CBS
- Star Trek: The Next Generation

Lionsgate
- Mad Men

Universal
- Caprica
- Eureka
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
- Xena: Warrior Princess
- the revived Battlestar Galactica
- Heroes
- Psych

Of the above listed titles, the only straight "repackaged" double-sided flipper disk sets I can recall offhand are: Remington Steele and The Pretender (both from Fox). (ie. They were not reissued as single-sided dvd discs).
 

jcroy

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jcroy said:
the only straight "repackaged" double-sided flipper disk sets I can recall offhand are: Remington Steele and The Pretender (both from Fox). (ie. They were not reissued as single-sided dvd discs).
I suspect and wouldn't be surprised if these two shows (Remington Steele and The Pretender) were re-released in generic keepcases, largely as an easy way of clearing out old inventory from Fox's warehouse.

I picked up the Remington Steele repackaged dvd sets, but not The Pretender ones.

(The Remington Steele ones were less than $10 a pop). After I picked these up and found out they were flipper discs, I became more skeptical about Fox re-released repackaged dvd season sets. With some more research I did at the time, I found out quite a few other Fox tv season sets were also done as flipper discs, such as (from memory):

- Hill Street Blues (seasons 1 and 2)
- St. Elsewhere (season 1)
- Alien Nation (season 1 and the tv movies)
- The White Shadow (seasons 1 and 2)
- NYPD Blue (seasons 3 and 4)
- Dharma & Greg (season 1)
- Bob Newhart Show (seasons 1 to 4)
- The Big Valley (seasons 1 and season 2 vol 1)
- Dynasty (season 1)

For some of these flipper disc shows, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox is waiting for somebody else to contract out and do a "complete series" set as single-sided dvd discs, such as a company like Shout! Factory. For example, Shout! Factory has taken up the slack and are doing "complete series" single-sided disc sets for:

- Hill Street Blues

http://www.amazon.com/Hill-Street-Blues-Daniel-Travanti/dp/B00GSTHCHQ

- The Bob Newhart Show

http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Newhart-Show-Complete/dp/B00HRUQB5O


Shout! Factory is also releasing further seasons for previously "stalled" shows like:

NYPD Blue
- season 5 http://www.amazon.com/NYPD-Blue-Season-Dennis-Franz/dp/B00FM4S8H6
- season 6 http://www.amazon.com/NYPD-Blue-Season-Dennis-Franz/dp/B00ITAQ2T6

The Big Valley
- season 2 http://www.amazon.com/Big-Valley-Season-2/dp/B00HQLZCIQ

(Perhaps possible complete series sets eventually).
 

TravisR

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jcroy said:
If I had to guess as to why numerous tv season set re-releases are being packaged in generic keepcases, most likely it is easier for the movie studios to just bulk order a large number of generic 5 or 6 disc keepcases, than manufacturing custom digipack fold-out cases individualized to each particular dvd season set. (I don't know whether this would be less expensive, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is also the case).
It's probably that and also an issue of shelf & warehouse space. One of the old 24 or The X-Files sets are as thick as three of the re-release cases. That's a lot of real estate to 'waste' when you could be using a smaller package.
 

UniversalPhan

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Not only that but Universal re-releasing these TV shows via single sided DVD sets and the single DVD cases gives them a chance to soak TV fans for DVD sales. If you've noticed, many of these re-issued sets are averaging between $25-30. It's offensive. One would think that Universal would lower those price points down to around $15-20. I was lucky enough to get that Columbo complete series set for about $70 and it was an awesome find/purchase for me.

Currently, I have Columbo, Six Million Dollar Man (1-3), Murder She Wrote (1-2), Magnum P.I. (1-2), Buck Rogers (1-2), A-Team (1-4).
 

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