Is Lancelot Link worth a blind buy? (1 Viewer)

[handley]

I bought that original DVD set that came out a few years back. The prints were pretty rough, but the show is awesome! Anyone else looking forward to the new complete series set in 2 weeks???

 

[Mark Y]

I bought that original DVD set that came out a few years back. The prints were pretty rough, but the show is awesome! Anyone else looking forward to the new complete series set in 2 weeks???

I saw some clips on the internet and they look great. Apparently this will be from the masters. I'll be getting it. It's not high art, but it's really fun. I found myelf laughing out loud at some moments in the shows the last time I watched them. What's great is it seems like the dialogue was mostly written (or improvised?) to match the movements of the chimps' mouths. I also love watching the band play. The keyboard player is just thrashing away banging his/her hands on the thing. Can only begin to imagine what that sounded like in person. One song ("Vibrations" IIRC) there is a part where they go "woooooo...hoooo!!!" and the Lancelot Link chimp's mouth is exactly in sync with the song. That was a real hoot. I also found it interesting that Lancelot himself is still alive and there will be footage of him today, and they said some of the money from the sales of this collection will go to the habitat where he lives. That was cool.

 

[handley]

I went to purchase the new release today on Amazon and it says "temporarily out of stock". Anybody know what the story is with this one? Did anybody pre-order it?

 

[ChrisALM]

I pre-ordered it from Amazon, but it hasn't shipped as yet. I haven't heard about any delay in the release date.

 

[handley]

Amazon now lists the title as "in stock". I did place my order yesterday and they sent me an e-mail saying that I can expect delivery early next week!

 

[handley]

My new Lancelot Link set is on the way and will be here tomorrow afternoon! I'm really excited about this one as it's one of the very first TV shows I remember watching as a child.

 

[handley]

I've been enjoying the new set for the past week. The prints look terrific! This is the real deal...all episodes look 100% intact. The show is just as funny as I remember as a kid.

 

[ChrisALM]

Originally Posted by handley /t/231684/is-lancelot-link-worth-a-blind-buy#post_3936361
I've been enjoying the new set for the past week. The prints look terrific! This is the real deal...all episodes look 100% intact. The show is just as funny as I remember as a kid.

I have, too. Although I haven't seen it since its original run, the voice characterizations, background music, all are as I remembered. The video is very nice, with a few exceptions, but certainly way better than viewing on my old 21 inch Zenith.

 

[Mark Y]

I just checked Amazon (I was gonna order this) and the listing has the "item under review" notice:
While this item is available from other marketplace sellers on this page, it is not currently offered by Amazon.com because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here. (Thanks for the tip!)
We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.
I did notice they appear to have separated the reviews of the new set from the old Image Entertainment version. I wonder if that was the issue. I was thinking about getting it from one of the marketplace sellers (it's really cheap) but I would want to know for sure that it's the new version.
To anyone who has the new set -- this is beyond minutae, but I seem to recall (when it aired on Nick At Nite and Comedy Central) there were a few episodes which still had reference to the Warner Bros. cartoons in the closing credits (though they were deleted from most of them). I think they just had copyright dates (and maybe the directors' names) but didn't mention which specific ones were included. I wonder if any of these are left in on the new set? A friend who watched the show in its original run once told me one of the cartoons was Chuck Jones' "High Note." I wonder if the chimps did any intros for these like they did for the Evolution Revolution songs.
Not that there was ever a chance for the show to be released or shown again with the cartoons intact. It just would be nice if there were a record of which ones they were.

 

[Radioman970]

Geez, something else I'll have to order this weekend. I've been wanting to revisit this for years. I just remember my little nephew (now almost 30!!) lovin this when Nick or some other channel was running it. Extremely glad to hear it is good shape on this new set.
IS THIS the correct one? ..well, scanning the above post I guess it is. I'll probably take a chance on it. The marketplace seller must send me the product pictured or they will refund my money.
I went on ahead and ordered this. I don't want to miss out. Hope it's the right one.

 

[dhammer]

Wow, I just watched my first episode.....wow. I love kids shows of the 60's and 70's but I don't know if I am going to be able to get into this. Personally, I was never into animal humor. I may after a few episodes, we'll see.

 

[Radioman970]

That message on amazon is now gone and it can be ordered direct again. Mine has already shipped so I can't cancel and reorder direct. I'm not terribly worried about getting the old set... they'll just get it back.
HERE is a pre-view/announcement of the set on youtube. They look great!
I like old kid shows too. I collect everything I can get my hands on whether I watched it originally or not. this is among my most want but I waited it out because of bad reviews of that unofficial set.

 

[Radioman970]

Amazon seller "blowitoutahere" didn't use a padded envelope. Thanks for the semi-squashed, dinged up packaging "blowitoutahere". At least the discs look fine. I probably won't use that seller again.
Not too happy with the postcard. It's just a reproduction of the cover. Would have loved a small stack of postcards with actual images from the show. Otherwise this set looks spectacular!
Just editing in, watched the first episode, and this show is wonderful! Worth the little bit of trouble I had. Thumbs WAY up to Film chest and ABC. Thanks for getting this show to us. The chimps are seriously amazing. I was afraid it had lost something over time... Hell, there's a chimp eating with chopsticks which I can't do without dropping everything from the poopoo platter to the floor! lol I get the feeling that these chimps were treated kindly. Frank Inn's name on it is a good thing. Well worth the money I paid. I really hope more of this kind of thing comes out. :tu: :tu:

 

[Mark Y]

Haven't watched everything yet, but a few comments...
These are Worldvision syndication versions. Last time I saw them would have been on Comedy Central IIRC. The majority of the shows are clipped at the beginning with just a hair (sometimes even the first note) chopped off the opening song. A few are complete all the way from the beginning. (Maybe it's just me, but stuff like this really ticks me off. It seems like it should be so easy NOT to screw this up, but somehow they find a way.) Otherwise the quality is excellent. I probably don't even need to say this, but this set renders the old Image Entertainment set obsolete. Most of the shows have a very late Worldvision end logo with reference to Spelling Entertainment. One or two have the old "red" Worldvision logo (but with no reference to Taft).
The closing credits of one episode (#10) have references to the Warner Bros. cartoons left in. (I am guessing this is the unaltered original closing from the one-hour version of the show.) All the rest have a long stretch where these credits would be, with nothing superimposed over the visuals. It's more detailed than I recall, but I still don't think I can tell from this which specific cartoons were shown that week -- though it could possibly be specific to that episode and not a "blanket" credit for the whole season. (The cartoons are not included for obvious and understandable reasons.) (I wonder if contemporary TV Guide descriptions mentioned the titles shown. Seems like there would have been three in each show.)
c1961 c1962 c1968 Warner Bros., Inc.
Directed by Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bob McKimson
Story: Michael Maltese, Warren Foster, John Dunn, Tedd Pierce
Animation: Warren Batchelder, Gerry Chiniquy, George Grandpre, Abe Levitow, Phil Monroe, Virgil Ross
Layout: Maurice Noble, Hawley Pratt
Backgrounds: Tom O'Laughlin, Philip DeGuard
Film Editor: Treg Brown
Musical Director: Milt Franklin
Voice Characterizations: Mel Blanc, Daws Butler
It is interesting to note that while this show was running on ABC, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour was playing on CBS. Presumably their cartoons did not overlap each other.
I skimmed through some of the extras. Interesting discussion of how the show was produced and the techniques used to get the mouth movements and dialogue synced up, etc. It's still a very funny show.

 

[Radioman970]

I was wondering about the lip-syncing. I'm sure they weren't beating these creatures with sticks or anything. looking forward to the extras. didn't get a chance to view any more episode, but next Saturday... yeah...

 

[Mark Y]

Some more notes on the new DVD set:
Shows #5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 have the full, clean, complete show opening. All the rest have the very beginning clipped, sometimes just by a hair, sometimes the whole first note of the theme song is missing. Poor quality control in the mastering or authoring stages. Other than that the quality seems fine.
The third disc includes the "Chimpies" and "Evolution Revolution" song segments separately, which is somewhat redundant since they appear in the shows themselves, and these are just the same segments again.
Also on the third disc is a "slide show" of still photos -- some behind the scenes production stills and others from a 1970 Life magazine shoot, set to the theme song and a couple other songs from the show.
"The Making Of Lancelot Link" is about 53 minutes worth of interviews and stuff, bookended by apparently recent comments by Allan Sandler (one of the three producers) wrapped around the 1999 documentary "I Created Lancelot Link" featuring the other two members of the team, Stan Burns and Mike Marmer (both of whom have since passed away). Lots of interesting tidbits about the production of the shows, music, etc.
There also is a new segment produced for this set with Sandler reunited with Tongo, the chimp who played Lancelot Link. That was cool to see.

 

I would'nt waste my money on it

 

[Mark Y]

Saw this at Half Price Books the other night. THAT was quick!

 

To be honest, I couldn't stand this show back in the day. I may like it better now, but there are too many other classics I have yet to complete.