I would buy a Death Valley Days, DVD. (1 Viewer)

[Tom_mkfty]

And I hope it includes Borax commercials that offer that
model 20 mule team.

Maybe some DVD sets could actually include that 20 mule team.


How much are those sets worth now? (Mule team sets)

 

[Bob Hug]

There are a few episodes (maybe 3 or 4) that have fallen into the public domain that are available on some TV Western compilations from the likes of Diamond Entertainment, Platinum Disc Corporation and, possibly, others. All of these episodes are early in the series when Stanley Andrews (as "The Old Ranger") was the host.

 

[Jeff#]

Stanley Andrews was host for the first 12 or 13 years.

I'm pretty sure some of the first color season with Ronald Reagan as host is on VHS. More than 20 years ago, reruns from the later years hosted by western actors Robert Taylor and Dale Robertson aired on the long dead CBN cable network.

 

[JeffWld]

At present, initial attempts to interest Borax (the rights holder) in bringing this series to DVD has been met with total apathy. Discussion attempts are ongoing.

 

[Tom_mkfty]

Death Valley Days is the reason why Borax is famous in the first place.

If Borax does bring the series back, I hope they offer the twenty mule team too. Remember the commercial?

A neighbour of mine had the set.

 

[dana martin]

picked up season 2 for $12, kind of hard to pass up, looks great so far!

 

[Regulus]

I read somewhere where the founding of the Borax company was a case of "Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat", catching a case of "Gold Fever" a man headed west in hopes of striking it rich. Unfortunately his efforts to find gold didn't work out. Penniless, he turned around and headed home. Camping with a group of men who were also heading home, he noted an outcropping with veins of a bright white crystal. He dug out a sample and showed it to his newfound friends. One of them said the crystals may be borax, and he also said there was a plant in his hometown that payed top dollar for the stuff. He also said the way to find out if it was borax was to toss a few crystals into the fire and if the fire burned green, it was borax. Tossing the crystals in their fire, the men said "We never saw a prettier shade of green in their lives". All of them struck it rich, It wasn't exactly what they'd originally sought after, but none the less they all became "One Parcenters" and the Borax Company was born.

 

[BobO'Link]

I can't find the article but I read, when looking up Borax after my wife wanted some to get rid of ants, that at one point they had built a special "truck" to haul the borax out of the mines, replacing the mules. After a few weeks the truck broke down due to the harsh conditions and the mule teams they'd "retired" came out of retirement to haul the truck out and go back to work hauling borax again.

Linked here is a very good article about the mines and the mule trains. And another which says the lead "mules" were actually horses. It has some duplicated information.

One of the WMs here shows to have S2 in stock. I'll be running by on the way home from work hoping it's $12 here as well. I'll update later. Funny part is none of the stores here have S1 and I'd ordered a copy about 20 minutes before reading the updates about S2 here. The best part about that is S1 is currently eligible for free shipping to your house so no store pickup needed!

**UPDATE**
I just returned from the smaller WM where I purchased S1 for $12.96 + tax, a just under $14 total. They had 3 left. Normally the larger store gets these but online showed them to not have any copies.

**UPDATE 2**
I checked WM.com to see what their price for S2 is to find the store I purchased my copy at has sold out since I was there at around 11:45am! Since it's also sold out online that makes me super glad I went when I did!

 

[Regulus]

I plan to purchase the two series they released next month as a "Birthday Present from me to myself". Hopefully all 16 seasons will be released, and I can deep-six the 100 episodes I have on "Homemade DVDs" (Some of them are BARELY watchable!). The one thing I like best about this series is that all the episodes are true stories, tidbits of American history.

 

[dana martin]

18 season not 16, been doing a lot of research on this trying to get my dvd profiler profile right. first 3 are really solid episodes, and like you said based on actual events, just makes it to me a better story. Wife even likes this, she likes anthologies. so in my research, apparently one of the episodes THE BIG TEAM ROLLS (filmed in color), so I am waiting to find out if they restored the original color negative and if it is presented that way?

 

[BobO'Link]

My WM order of Death Valley Days S1 *has already shipped*! I ordered it this morning at 8:30 or so and got a shipment notification email at 2:30pm! I've *never* had a order from WM ship that fast!

 

[Bryan^H]

I bought season 2 at Wal-Mart yesterday. It looks fantastic, and a fun show too.

 

[dana martin]

THE BIG TEAM ROLLS
there is a disclaimer just prior to the episode playing that it was originally filmed in color, but have been unable to locate the original color negative. right off the bat you can tell that this one was different, different opening shots, even the Old Rangers costume appears more of a gray than the khaki that seems to be some of the differences, but as that title rolls and you see the word color by Technicolor, i bet this would have juts popped. the mule teem are the focus of this episode, as is the story of the Borax Company.

how soon till season three will be ready for purchase?

i went in and ordered season one as well, looks like i might get it sometime next week.


anyone picked up any of the Rifleman sets? how is the picture and audio?

 

[Regulus]

All of the "Uncle Wally's" in my area are sold out of S2, but it will be available from "The Big River" (That's amazon.com for those of you in Rio Linda! ) in October, so don't despair. The fact these sets are selling well gives further hope more seasons will be released "down The Road".

 

[dana martin]

finishing up disc three, this is a solid set, only thing that could have made it better, a few extras, but the films are no longer part if the US Borax company. Rio Tinto, sold the company to Dial (yes the soap company). Now on to the complaint, it isn't only directed to Shout, but all the distributors, either add subtitles to every release or at least make it CC, hell I had VCR tapes that were CC. this really should be a standard from all companies on all releases.

bring on season 3

 

[B-ROLL]

All of the "Uncle Wally's" in my area are sold out of S2, but it will be available from "The Big River" (That's amazon.com for those of you in Rio Linda! ) in October, so don't despair. The fact these sets are selling well gives further hope more seasons will be released "down The Road".

It appears the Wal*Mart Exclusivity on DVD S2 ends around October 12 as is up for pre-order on the Target website : http://www.target.com/p/death-valley-days-the-complete-second-season/-/A-51143184