Blu-ray Review I Love Lucy: Ultimate Season 1 Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Moe Dickstein]

I think that the comparisons to other shows are mostly not apt. I don't think LHOTP is getting any where near the amount of bonus material this set is, I mean multiple versions of every episode, sometimes 3, and everything else. This is a huge thing to put together, it's not just slapping the episodes on discs. I'd bet anything that they are probably only working on season 2 now. To release a complete series set with this level of features would be years of work so it only makes sense to put it out a season at a time as you complete the work.For me, the price is higher than I'm willing to pay, but I'm now glad I've held off on the DVDs When it gets to a place I feel I can justify, $40-50 range I would probably get this.

 

[Mark Collins]

Rob thanks for the heads up. Just shows that season 1 was not one of my favorite seasons. The amount of extras is a very nice plus to the set. I have a feeling they will do the entire series.

I too have been angry when CBS gave me the shaft on The Wild Wild West which I bought season after season and then they put out a box set with the two movies.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Rob thanks for the heads up. Just shows that season 1 was not one of my favorite seasons. The amount of extras is a very nice plus to the set. I have a feeling they will do the entire series.

I too have been angry when CBS gave me the shaft on The Wild Wild West which I bought season after season and then they put out a box set with the two movies.

I'm with you on The Wild Wild West. What a dirty trick that was! I can live without the two movies.

 

[Mark-P]

...This is a black and white sitcom.....not an action movie where Blu-ray shines....

Come now, are you all just going to let this comment pass?

 

[TravisR]

I think that the comparisons to other shows are mostly not apt. I don't think LHOTP is getting any where near the amount of bonus material this set is, I mean multiple versions of every episode, sometimes 3, and everything else.

The bonus material was my initial thought too but the vast majority of it was already on the DVDs (though some of it is upgraded to HD). I'll give you that multiple episodes might boost the cost but how could basically adding commercials and the original intros and outros cause that kind of price increase?



Matt Hough, do you have The Honeymooners or The Andy Griffitth Show Blu-rays too? Do they have the original commercials, etc like I Love Lucy has?

 

[mrz7]

...This is a black and white sitcom.....not an action movie where Blu-ray shines....

Come now, are you all just going to let this comment pass?

I love how you left out the part where I was explaining what the average consumer would think of buying a t.v. show like "I Love Lucy" on blu-ray.....I wasn't talking about how a collector would think.......no stirring the pot please!!!

 

[Matt Hough]

Matt Hough, do you have The Honeymooners or The Andy Griffitth Show Blu-rays too? Do they have the original commercials, etc like I Love Lucy has?

I am working on The Honeymooners now. The package is in no way an equivalent of the I Love Lucy package. For the episodes where there are sponsor tags, it's just basically the original credits showing it was sponsored by Buick and Jackie's little curtain speech encouraging viewers to buy Buick. The comprehensiveness of the episodes with commercials in the Lucy set is not present in The Honeymooners. Nor are the bonus features and amount of detail a match for what Lucy offers.

I haven't touched The Andy Griffith Show yet. I'm on disc four (of five) for The Honeymooners, so I hope to have that review up tomorrow night.

 

[JohnMor]

Is it plausible Dick van Dyke was mastered in HD for the earlier DVD run and that, combined with a lack of reissues, allowed a more cost-effective approach than Lucy?

No, the dvds were mastered (in some cases twice, as they were unhappy with the original results) from archived prints. After the success of the dvds, they went back and mastered the blu-rays from the original negatives, which also gave them high quality hd product that can take them into the future for broadcast/streaming purposes as well. Money VERY well spent, imo.

 

[Mark-P]

...This is a black and white sitcom.....not an action movie where Blu-ray shines....



I love how you left out the part where I was explaining what the average consumer would think of buying a t.v. show like "I Love Lucy" on blu-ray.....I wasn't talking about how a collector would think.......no stirring the pot please!!!

I see now that you were playing devil's advocate. However the wording of your original post did not attribute that comment to the average consumer, but was written as a statement by you.

 

[TravisR]

I am working on The Honeymooners now. The package is in no way an equivalent of the I Love Lucy package. For the episodes where there are sponsor tags, it's just basically the original credits showing it was sponsored by Buick and Jackie's little curtain speech encouraging viewers to buy Buick. The comprehensiveness of the episodes with commercials in the Lucy set is not present in The Honeymooners. Nor are the bonus features and amount of detail a match for what Lucy offers.

I haven't touched The Andy Griffith Show yet. I'm on disc four (of five) for The Honeymooners, so I hope to have that review up tomorrow night.

Thanks for the info, Matt. Since the price is the same on both I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners, the cost doesn't seem related to the multiple versions of ILL episodes.

 

[Steve...O]

I don't know about that, but the MSRP for the entire series of The Dick Van Dyke show is $349.98. I was waiting for it to come back down to the $100 range, and today I got it for $62.98 at Amazon.

A HUGE thank you to Rich for alerting me to this deal. I just ordered the BD complete Van Dyke for $58.xx on Amazon (price must have come down a few dollars today). That's $11 and change per season. No brainer.

 

[Mark Collins]

Why oh why do I want to get this. I know I should wait. The movie comparison made sense to me. I still have those VHS tapes in my basement. I guess I want to support the effort to get certain seasons that I do love. I do not want to be screwed in the end though.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

A HUGE thank you to Rich for alerting me to this deal. I just ordered the BD complete Van Dyke for $58.xx on Amazon (price must have come down a few dollars today). That's $11 and change per season. No brainer.

It's look like you got the last one that seller had. My set arrived yesterday.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Off-topic, but I got a great deal on the Van Dyke set at the end of last year and have just gotten around to watching a few episodes (starting with one of my favorites "Where Did I Come From?").

They look incredible.

Between what I've seen on the Little House on the Prairie, Twilight Zone and Van Dyke sets, it is amazing how great vintage TV series can look in high-definition. I bet the same is true for I Love Lucy.

 

[JohnMor]

Off-topic, but I got a great deal on the Van Dyke set at the end of last year and have just gotten around to watching a few episodes (starting with one of my favorites "Where Did I Come From?"). They look incredible. Between what I've seen on the Little House on the Prairie, Twilight Zone and Van Dyke sets, it is amazing how great vintage TV series can look in high-definition. I bet the same is true for I Love Lucy.

It's a shame that all filmed TV series can't get that treatment. I would LOVE to see BEWITCHED on Blu-ray, but I'm sure it will never happen.Over the weekend I saw this great compilation video on youtube called "5 Reasons We Love Lucy" and it made me absolutely certain that I will be buying this 1st season Blu-ray (and sooner rather than later).

 

[Thomas Newton]

I didn't follow the Lucy sets on DVD,

The Lucy sets now regularly sell for $10 to $15 per season on DVD. The "Complete Series" DVD box set goes for anywhere from $87 (the price on Amazon) to $170 or so (at big-box retail stores, when it's not on sale).

 

[Larry.P]

Hello, Larry:

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your clarifications. For my own education, are you saying that there are no 35mm film elements on ILL, just 16mm? Or do you mean that a subset of footage (things aired on night of broadcast but removed from syndication) only exist in 16mm with the episodes proper existing in 35mm? Also, do you know if the original camera negatives exist on ILL or just prints?

Thanks.

The original 35mm camera negatives exist. The problem is that when the "heart-on-satin" generic versions were created years ago, the edits were done to the original negatives. (The same negatives had previously been edited for the repeat versions!!) It is presumed that trims consisting of the sponsor footage and the minor internal edits were tossed. What you see on the "as broadcast" blu ray version is an HD transfer from 35mm neg with the "missing" footage edited back in from an HD transfer from 16mm film. Interesting to note that the mysterious music changes from original version to heart version make sense when you see they were first done for the re-broadcast versions. When the heart versions were created, they just chopped off the flashback scene (except for the baby episodes which originally aired with flashbacks). Funny enough, 2 flasback scenes were overlooked and made it into the heart versions in syndication - The flashback for "Lucy Fakes Illness" and for "The Camping Trip" exist as 35mm because of this. As a kid I always wondered why they were talking about Hollywood when "The Camping Trip" aired.

 

[Steve...O]

Great info, Larry! Fascinating look into the history of the prints. Thank you and much appreciated.

 

[A. Pismo Clam]

The prospect of seeing the complete half-hour episodes of I Love Lucy with commercials and everything is a dream come true for me. I've only seen complete copies of a few 1st season episodes where the action segues directly into the cigarette commercials. Does anybody know if this practice continued throughout the remainder of the series? Or do the actual commercials (apart from the sponsor openings/bumpers) eventually become separated from the episode by full fades?

I bring this up because the reviews of the Honeymooners and Andy Griffith Show sets suggest that only the commercials/sponsor materials integrated into the show or including members of the cast are included. I hope the future I Love Lucy season sets continue to include the entire half-hour broadcast regardless.

 

[JohnMor]

For what it's worth. Target.com right now has a temp price cut on this down to $59.99, with free shipping since it's over $50. If you have their Red Card, you can save an additional 5% off that. The website says not available in stores, but I don't know if that's because it's still in "pre-order" status, or if it won't be carried in store at all. For me, $56.99 was worth paying and mine should be delivered by the end of the week.

http://www.target.com/p/i-love-lucy-the-complete-first-season-6-discs-blu-ray/-/A-15108703#prodSlot=medium_1_19&term=i+love+lucy