Bewitched Season 5? (1 Viewer)

[Firebee]

Meh, it really doesn't matter to me what the color of the set is now that we're getting it! I'm just thrilled to be that much closer to having the whole series on DVD!

 

[Brandy681]

Yep.. I can't wait to get this set either, I plan on pre-ordering it when I see it on Amazon. I just saw this set for pre-order on a few websites but I think I will wait for it to be on Amazon or Deep Discount DVD because those are my two main sites that I trust and you can't beat their low prices and FREE shipping. This may be my final season that I am going to order since York is not going to be in the rest of the seasons but I have not decided yet. I may buy the rest after they have been out a while and the prices have gone down a lot but I have a while to think about that. I can't wait to get this set!!!

 

[Larry.P]

I managed to get an early look at season 5 and Sony has really topped themselves this time. Not only did they continue the tradition of a pitiful lack of extras, but they tried something new and different this time! No new transfers! That's right. After 4 seasons of glorious new transfers we get to enjoy Bewitched the way a TV audience saw it in 1998. While most of the transfers are certainly adequate, the difference in quality is immediately noticeable to anyone who has seen the earlier releases. And if you want to see what the Stephens' would look like if they fell asleep in the sun with no sunscreen, you will enjoy the hideous transfer of 'Cousin Serena Strikes Again Pt. 1'. By the way, the recap at the beginning of pt 2 is intact. Hurray for Sony. Ironically, the only positive thing I can say about this set was an error on Sony's part. One of the closing credits has the cartoon of Sam and Darrin riding the Chevy logo.

 

[jim_falconer]

wow...sounds pretty bad. glad this will be the last season I'll be getting of Bewitched.

 

[MatthewA]

And people wonder why I'm so hard on this studio! Their videotaped shows look like they were transferred from adequate quality (at best) 3/4" umatic tape, and they have decided to cut corners with filmed shows now, too.

I guess their motto is "if it's good enough for a Low-Power UHF station, it's good enough for DVD."

 

[Jeff Willis]

Not good to hear this about the xfrs. I wonder why Sony went this route with the xfrs vs the earlier sets? Is it because the original S5 elements were either damaged or otherwise unavailable?

 

[JohnMor]

Grrrrr. That REALLY burns me up.

 

[Michael Rogers]

It doesn't make sense. I have some uncut season 5's that someone recorded in Canada for me a couple years ago from the Canadian Deja View network and those appeared to be up to date transfers.

 

[cherisland]

I wonder if the season 5 transfer's used in the Region 2 release are of a better quality than this one is going to be? You would think Sony would use the same transfers for both regions, but ... I don't know. I have season's 7 & 8 region 2 sets and their quality seems outstanding to me (clarity, sharpness and color) granted I do not have a widescreen tv or HD. I'm just thinking if the region 1 releases transfers are inferior, I may end up getting a region 2 set as well if it is at all superior. I have still pre-ordered the set, so either way will stick with it for collection sake ... (the region 2 later season sets I have come in smaller packaging ) but I am just curious.

 

[Garysb]

Here is the DVD Talk review of season 5.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=28770

 

[Jeff Willis]

Gary, thanks for the review link. Todd brings up a point about going R2 for this one. I night decide to do that but I'll wait for some review comments here before getting the R2 set. Just a couple of weeks to wait (R1). I didn't see a pre-order page for BW S5 at Amazon U.K. or EZDVD (Australia).

 

[David*P]

That sucks about the transfers but I'm glad they kept the recap for the two-parter and I'm WAY excited about seeing the Chevy logo...too bad they couldn't have given us ALL the episodes with their sponsor openings and closings.

 

[Jeff Willis]

DavidP, any idea about the xfrs? Seems strange to us that S5's would have a drop-off from the previous sets.

 

[David*P]

Nope, cause I haven't seen them yet. Who knows what goes on in the minds of Sony...it's strange that S.3 had so many problems with missing footage even though that footage is found on previous video releases.

 

[MatthewA]

If you dislike PAL speedup and don't have the ability or interest to convert them to 24p, there are Japanese region 2 discs but they are expensive. I have seen no reviews of them but they have all 8 seasons available.

 

[David*P]

I just found another review of the set at http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/bewit...th-season/4830 and this reviewer doesn't mention much about the video quality, so maybe it's all in the eye of the beholder...

 

[cherisland]

Yes, these are the sets that I have seasons 7 and 8 of. Its true they are pricier and come in two volumes per season. Got mine thru Amazon.co.jp. Worked out to about $80 per season which is definitely more costly, but I was impatient in waiting for these final two seasons to be released here in R1 (still need to get season 6). It would be good if there were reviews somewhere for all of these seasons.

 

[JohnMor]

It's funny, they just started showing BW again here in LA on a local channel, and I caught a couple minutes of an episode: it was a S5 ep, "Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You?" and it was poor transfer of a poor print (IMHO, anyway) and I thought to myself, how great that I'll have this ep all remastered and looking great soon. Oh well. It'll probably be the same transfer of the same print. The logo in the corner said "Screen Gems Network" so if Sony felt it was good enough for broadcast in 2007, that's probably what they'll use on the dvds. I hope not, though.

 

[MatthewA]

They're probably picking up the same tapes they used for that syndicated package of Sony-owned shows called "Screen Gems Network."

I don't know why they stopped doing any clean-up work with this season. One would think it would be S6, the first Dick Sargent season, that bore the brunt of corner-cutting.

 

[Garysb]

Could be just the expectation of lower sales for later seasons. I think it has been mentioned that the first season of any show generally sells more than later seasons . The higher the season the fewer the sales.
However in this case the work has already been done for the Japan set.
So you are right this makes no sense.