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DVD Sets with Multi-Part Stories... (1 Viewer)

ClassicTVMan1981X

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What do you think regarding DVDs of season sets that have part one of a multi-part story arc ending one disc, and the second or third part starting another?

For example: Mission: Impossible - The Complete Third Season (1968-1969). Part 1 of the two-part story arc "The Bunker" is the last episode on disc 5, and part 2 starts disc 6.

Disc 1:
3.01 - "The Heir Apparent" (9/29/68)
3.02 - "The Contender: Part 1" (10/6/68)
3.03 - "The Contender: Part 2" (10/13/68)
3.04 - "The Mercenaries" (10/27/68)

Disc 2:
3.05 - "The Execution" (11/10/68)
3.06 - "The Cardinal" (11/17/68)
3.07 - "The Elixir" (11/24/68)
3.08 - "The Diplomat" (12/1/68)

Disc 3:
3.09 - "The Play" (12/8/68)
3.10 - "The Bargain" (12/15/68)
3.11 - "The Freeze" (12/22/68)
3.12 - "The Exchange" (1/5/69)

Disc 4:
3.13 - "The Mind of Stefan Miklos" (1/12/69)
3.14 - "The Test Case" (1/19/69)
3.15 - "The System" (1/26/69)
3.16 - "The Glass Cage" (2/2/69)

Disc 5:
3.17 - "Doomsday" (2/16/69)
3.18 - "Live Bait" (2/23/69)
3.19 - "The Bunker: Part 1" (3/2/69)

Disc 6:
3.20 - "The Bunker: Part 2" (3/9/69)
3.21 - "Nitro" (3/23/69)
3.22 - "Nicole" (3/30/69)

Disc 7:
3.23 - "The Vault" (4/6/69)
3.24 - "Illusion" (4/13/69)
3.25 - "The Interrogator" (4/20/69)

~Ben
 

bmasters9

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What do you think regarding DVDs of season sets that have part one of a multi-part story arc ending one disc, and the second or third part starting another?

For example: Mission: Impossible - The Complete Third Season (1968-1969). Part 1 of the two-part story arc "The Bunker" is the last episode on disc 5, and part 2 starts disc 6.

Disc 1:
3.01 - "The Heir Apparent" (9/29/68)
3.02 - "The Contender: Part 1" (10/6/68)
3.03 - "The Contender: Part 2" (10/13/68)
3.04 - "The Mercenaries" (10/27/68)

Disc 2:
3.05 - "The Execution" (11/10/68)
3.06 - "The Cardinal" (11/17/68)
3.07 - "The Elixir" (11/24/68)
3.08 - "The Diplomat" (12/1/68)

Disc 3:
3.09 - "The Play" (12/8/68)
3.10 - "The Bargain" (12/15/68)
3.11 - "The Freeze" (12/22/68)
3.12 - "The Exchange" (1/5/69)

Disc 4:
3.13 - "The Mind of Stefan Miklos" (1/12/69)
3.14 - "The Test Case" (1/19/69)
3.15 - "The System" (1/26/69)
3.16 - "The Glass Cage" (2/2/69)

Disc 5:
3.17 - "Doomsday" (2/16/69)
3.18 - "Live Bait" (2/23/69)
3.19 - "The Bunker: Part 1" (3/2/69)

Disc 6:
3.20 - "The Bunker: Part 2" (3/9/69)
3.21 - "Nitro" (3/23/69)
3.22 - "Nicole" (3/30/69)

Disc 7:
3.23 - "The Vault" (4/6/69)
3.24 - "Illusion" (4/13/69)
3.25 - "The Interrogator" (4/20/69)

That isn't the only thing on which that's happened-- the fourth-season release of O-R Jack Lord Five-O had that "90-Second War" two-parter (OADs Tues. Jan. 11, 1972 and Tues. Jan. 18, 1972 on CBS) split between Discs Four and Five (scanned from fourth-season slimcases in that release).

fiveofourthseason90secondwarfirstpartdisc4.jpg

fiveofourthseason90secondwarsecondpartdisc5.jpg
 

JohnHopper

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_______________________________
Same thing with the season 17 three-part episodes of Gunsmoke:
“The Bullet”, Part I in disc 3
“The Bullet”, Part II & III in disc 4

 
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bmasters9

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And here's a variation on that that has been done with the later Star Trek series, especially Voyager: the seasons on that one after the first one (outside of season 4 and season 7) have had two-parters that had their first parts to end one season, and the second parts to start the next; here are the episode indexes from the fifth- and sixth-season Voyager releases, where the first part of the "Equinox" two-parter (OAD Wed. May 26, 1999) ended the fifth go, and the other part (OAD Wed. Sept. 22, 1999) started the sixth go.

voyagerepisodeindexseason5.jpg

voyagerepisodeindexseason6.jpg
 

AndyMcKinney

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To be fair, the Voyager two parter (and to my mind, any two-parter that split across seasons) should be split, as that's how it originally aired.

As for the other examples (like Mission: Impossible) I'm sure the discs' episode counts could have easily been swapped to where discs 4 and 5 could've been two of the 3-episode ones, so that both parts of "The Bunker" could have been on disc 6. Maybe it was a desire to have all the 3-episode discs at the end of the disc count?
 

bmasters9

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To be fair, the Voyager two parter (and to my mind, any two-parter that split across seasons) should be split, as that's how it originally aired.

As for the other examples (like Mission: Impossible) I'm sure the discs' episode counts could have easily been swapped to where discs 4 and 5 could've been two of the 3-episode ones, so that both parts of "The Bunker" could have been on disc 6. Maybe it was a desire to have all the 3-episode discs at the end of the disc count?

Great point! Unfortunately, it's a stumper as to why, albeit that is a possibility.
 

BobO'Link

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To be fair, the Voyager two parter (and to my mind, any two-parter that split across seasons) should be split, as that's how it originally aired.

As for the other examples (like Mission: Impossible) I'm sure the discs' episode counts could have easily been swapped to where discs 4 and 5 could've been two of the 3-episode ones, so that both parts of "The Bunker" could have been on disc 6. Maybe it was a desire to have all the 3-episode discs at the end of the disc count?
I'd bet heavily that no one noticed the 2 parter "splitting discs" so never considered a simple change of the episode numbers on a couple of discs to make it easier for the consumer.

I'm usually more annoyed with poor episode distribution on the discs more than a 2 parter being split across discs. Part of that is that I have several series that end in cliff-hangers so there's no "fixing" it in a way that really works.

If I'm binging the show it's no problem. If I'm doing an episode a week it's no problem (because those would have been split that way during original airing). If I'm watching disc by disc (that is - watch all the episodes on a disc in a sitting but not watch more until a day or three later) then it gets annoying and I usually continue with the next disc to "fix" it.
 

bmasters9

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To be fair, the Voyager two parter (and to my mind, any two-parter that split across seasons) should be split, as that's how it originally aired.

More befitting the topic, Voyager did have a couple of two-parters that split discs: "Future's End" from season 3 (OADs Wed. Nov. 6, 1996 and Wed. Nov. 13, 1996), and "Year of Hell" from season 4 (OADs Wed. Nov. 5, 1997 and Wed. Nov. 12, 1997); both had the first parts to end Disc 2, and the second to start Disc 3, on the third- and fourth-season DVD releases.

voyagerepisodeindexseason3.jpg

voyagerepisodeindexseason4.jpg
 

Chip_HT

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More befitting the topic, Voyager did have a couple of two-parters that split discs: "Future's End" from season 3 (OADs Wed. Nov. 6, 1996 and Wed. Nov. 13, 1996), and "Year of Hell" from season 4 (OADs Wed. Nov. 5, 1997 and Wed. Nov. 12, 1997); both had the first parts to end Disc 2, and the second to start Disc 3, on the third- and fourth-season DVD releases.

And in both cases, pushing an episode off of disc 1 would have solved the issue. Then Discs 1 and 7 would have 3 eps while the rest have 4.
 

ClassicTVMan1981X

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And in both cases, pushing an episode off of disc 1 would have solved the issue. Then Discs 1 and 7 would have 3 eps while the rest have 4.
That would certainly have been the case with shows that have pilot episodes 30 minutes longer or more than the rest of the series.

This thinking would have applied to DVDs of short-lived shows like Dan August, The Immortal, The Young Lawyers, Longstreet, The Magician, and season 1 of Petrocelli.

~Ben
 

Harry-N

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I don't see any real issue with this. If a multi-part story is separated by a different disc, what's the harm? That you have to physically switch discs? What about when these originally aired? We had to wait a whole week to see the resolution of the story. Now you only have to wait less than two minutes.
 

ClassicTVMan1981X

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I don't see any real issue with this. If a multi-part story is separated by a different disc, what's the harm? That you have to physically switch discs? What about when these originally aired? We had to wait a whole week to see the resolution of the story. Now you only have to wait less than two minutes.
I do agree it seems to be everyone's individual preference. For some people not changing a disc just to see both parts is more convenient.

~Ben
 

Harry-N

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Yes it is. The STAR TREK: TNG Blu-ray discs are full of cliff-hanger season enders, and in many cases, CBS offered separate discs with both parts of those edited together, like "Best Of Both Worlds" and "Redemption", plus the Spock episodes "Unification" and the show-ender "All Good Things". I liked that they did those and supported them with purchases. Others will probably hate the fact that they had to spend more for stuff they already had. But they all include unique extras to go along with the edited episodes.
 

ClassicTVMan1981X

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Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series) also has a two-part episode during season 1 (1966-67), in which part 1 ends disc 1 and part 2 starts disc 2:

Disc 1:
1x01 - "Pilot" (9/17/66)
1x02 - "Memory" (9/24/66)
1x03 - "Operation Rogosh" (10/1/66)
1x04 - "Old Man Out: Part 1" (10/8/66)

Disc 2:
1x05 - "Old Man Out: Part 2" (10/15/66)
1x06 - "Odds on Evil" (10/22/66)
1x07 - "Wheels" (10/29/66)
1x08 - "The Ransom" (11/5/66)

~Ben
 

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