ISIS Coming!!!!! (2 Viewers)

[Paul_Scott]

sharing the experience with your own child on crappy 20" portable, easily trumps watching it alone on a super duper fancy, multi-thousand dollar a/v system. God bless ya.

 

[Pete Battista]

Thanks Paul... I really am having a ball sharing the show with her. Last night after I made the post above I went back out to see what she was up to... and she came out with "Dad... you used to have some good shows that you watched... first you show me Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew... now you show me Isis. What other shows from your childhood do you have?" Talk about being a proad parent!

Oh and David.. you will love this... last night my nephew and sis-in-law was over.. my nephew watched the last episode of the night with us... and he said "This is good! I will have to get mom to get it for me too!" LOL

 

[RickER]

My kids, 16 and 13, wont have anything to do with 90% of my stuff. I showed an Ark II to my son. He couldnt see what i like it for. But my kids also wont watch a GOOD movie if its black and white. Where did i go wrong?

 

[Pete Battista]

LOL... who knows why most kids are so against old (especially B&W) shows... but I can tell you what I did. See I am also a huge horror movie fan... My daughter, knowing this, wanted to see what they were like and asked me to show her some horror. Instead of saying no you are to young for horror (this is at like age 4) I said ok... but only certain titles... and started her out on the old classic Universal Monster Movies.. The Wolf Man... Frankenstein and such. and over the years not only did her appriciation for horror movies grow... but her appriciation of classics. She realized at a very young age that old don't mean bad.

That is what worked for me at least.

 

[CoreyII]

Ages 16 and 13, therein lies your problem Rick. Isis as a show is really intended for ages 10 and below. Actually, I'd go as far as to say even between ages 4 to 9. The show debuted in 1975 and I was 4 going 5 years old, and I loved the show.

But by the time I was 13, I had already been through three Star Wars films, one Conan movie, three Superman films, Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark, multiple horror movies, and a plethora of 007 films. The fantastical world of good vs. evil that I was now exposed to was far more complex, edgier, and wondrous than the sugar coated world of Isis or Ark II in which nary a villain ever carried a weapon.

Rick, I understand where you're coming from, but you did nothing wrong. Sometimes older people have to realize that the situation isn't always about younger people not realizing what a classic a certain film or t.v.show may be, but rather that there are things that just don't hold the same resonance for one generation as it did for another. It's a bitter pill for some older people to swallow, but such is life.

A perfect example is a recent situation I had with a co-worker who is 13 years younger than me. She had started the Halloween movies off with what is in some people's opinion the worst of the bunch: Halloween: Resurrection. Anyway to really appreciate why Halloween is so popular, I told her she had to watch the original directed by John Carpenter.

So, I loaned her the original, anxiously awaiting her opinion. Well she didn't like it at all, and to be honest, I wasn't surprised by her reaction. Although I was hoping she would get the same reaction as I did when I first saw Halloween, I always kept the notion in the back of my head that she probably wouldn't enjoy it.

After speaking with her about the film, I re-evaluated the movie and began to understand why she wasn't frightened by Halloween. This is a young woman who has been exposed to films like Saw, Hostel, the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the likes. And when you compare those films, I can see why Halloween comes off as not being scary to someone like her, which is probably why the film (for better or worse) has been re-made.

While I can certainly appreciate the old Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr. films my parents and grand parents watched, they never scared me the way Halloween did.

I love the Isis show because it is a sweet, innocent, and very fundamental look at good vs. evil or actually it would be more like good vs. bad, because there was never any truly evil people on Isis. I also love the show because it makes me remember a time that I can never get back and JoAnna Cameron is a hottie. But I also realize the show is what it is, a product of the 70's.

 

[Pete Battista]

Thanks Again David... I got an email reply last night saying they will be shipping the booklet to me.

 

[Paul_Scott]

I finally got a shipping notice from DD yesterday...about 2 hours after the set showed up in my mailbox. I wonder if I'm getting another one?
Based on the wonderful job David and the others did with the set, if I do get sent that other one I just might keep it

Watched a couple eps last night and some of the interviews and still galleries.
Considering what you guys had to work with, you did a commendable job with the set. Certainly more than I ever expected. Graphic design is a beauty thru and thru- Thanks for putting so much TLC and craftsmanship into it David- Thats much appreciated!
I wish you still had the original elements to work from, but thats Hallmarks fault.. They even cut the morals at the ends of the shows off (dirty rotten no good mother $#@*!ing sons of %$@!*'s). I'll curse them as long as I live for butchering and destroying these.
Honestly, I'm never buying anything with an HM brand or setting foot in another Hallmark store as long as I live.
That these are watchable at all is a minor miracle I guess. And by going to the trouble of tracking down (from convention boots I would guess) the bumpers and morals, you get a good idea of what fans have had to make do with for the last few decades. So in that sense at least, the quality here is at least worth a banana dance or two.
I'm curious, did you guys attempt to correct for the pitch difference with the PAL material- the 4% speedup doesn't sound nearly as bad as I was expecting it too- even less so than with the Jason set I watched.

Biggest surprise for me is to see how well the show holds up. Given the Filmation budgets and the moral-lesson mandate, the plotting is still tight and efficent, and the material played straight- without resorting to too much sub juvenile nonsense or cheap laughs (like you get in the R2-D2, C-3PO era of Jason, etc). Easy for me to see why this show was so popular at the time...and why it held such a fascination for me thru the years.

Thanks again to everyone at BCI for seeing the value in the material- I hope your faith and efforts have been well rewarded, and I hope you sell a gazillion at San Diego next week!

 

[Bob Hug]

Very positive review of the set posted today over at DVD Talk: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=29334

 

[Pete Battista]

Congrats Paul! I am glad to hear it held up for you as well. BTW... did yours have the booklet in it?

 

[Paul_Scott]

Thanks Pete. Yeah mine was missing the booklet too- so I'll be emailing BCI later today.

That was a great review over on dvdtalk. Even though I grew up then, I love being reminded just how different things were back then. The saturday morning block was 'our' prime time, and that was pretty much the only place you found first run material. after school and before the news was the place for re-runs and older cartoon collections. That was one reason the first run Isis and Shazam were so big for us.
After thinking a little, I would agree across the board on the score card he gives the set too. I first thought he might be too hard on the sets vid quality, given the circumstances, but he's right that the compression isn't as fine as it could be. Not as stable as I would have liked to have seen- but then some of the moire and twitter I would still be ready to chalk up to the PAL-NTSC conversion and the age and condition of the videotape masters.

I pulled out the Shazam disc that Warner included as a freebie a couple years back to compare it with the way these shows look. Shazam looks pretty rough too- even compared to most 60s and 70s product out there- but there is no getting around its better contrast, colors, and general sense of solidity.
I look forward to seeing the Shazam set when it finally arrives (I give it a couple years to tie in with the upcoming theatrical feature) and it will at least be nice to see the couple of Isis appearences in those better cared for elements.
But Isis has always been my first love, and it's been a pleasure to see her again after all these years.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Let us hope that WB do let this one escape. Last word I heard was they were having "issues" with the quality of some of the masters. Considering what ER/BCI had to work with, though, I can see no reason for WB to not put this out. They really missed the boat, though: a release this summer would've been the perfect time to tie-into the Isis release, and no doubt would've gotten a lot of impulse buys and free publicity from people buying the Isis set.

 

[Jeff Willis]

I've never seen this show but it's from an era that I'm a fan of..."Hardy Boys", "Bionic Woman", etc. From reading this thread this one seems to be a sure thing as a blind-buy. I'm getting my DDD cart ready to click on the "buy" button and this one's cost seems reasonable.

 

[Pete Battista]

Jeff... just keep in mind that this series is made with children in mind. They even put the rating of TVY7 on the back of the case.

My daughter and I just finished Disc 2 which has the remainder of season 1 and the first episode of season 2. After seeing the first episode of season 2... the first thing I noticed is they replaced Cindy Lee. I didn't remember this from my childhood and I am not thrilled about this at this point... but to be fair this new character was barely in this first episode for me to get a decent feel for her.

Brittany is still watching every single episode with me... not letting me watch any myself till she is ready to watch again.... so she really seems to be loving the show. It really feels good to see my daughter enjoy a series I used to enjoy when I was even younger then her! It really is a pretty cool feeling.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Thanks, Pete You reminded me that I'm still a "big kid" I think I might like this one, since I have the following sets:

Animated:
Flintstones
Jetsons
Jonny Quest
Looney Tunes Collections
Space Ghost
Yogi Bear

Non-animated shows:
BIONIC WOMAN SEASON 1 & 2 PAL
FLIPPER SEASON 1
HARDY BOYS/NANCY DREW SEASON 1 & 2
SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON 2 PAL

Since the Isis price is reasonable, I might add that to the cart. Plus, I'm fond of the 60's-70's decades for series collectiing. What's your (and Isis fans) take? What's the odds on this blind-buy gamble for me?

 

[Ron Lee Green]

Hey Jeff,

Where is Wonder Woman on your list?

Isis is like a combination of Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman and then throw in The ABC Afterschool Special. Isis/Andrea is a school teacher like Jaime Summers, but she transforms into Isis kinda like Wonder Woman.

Surprisingly, I heard that Isis debuted on TV first before them!

I watched the show as a kid, and the review at DVD Talk is right on! I love seeing the different sunny Southern California locales (one of the reasons why I always wanted to move to LA when I was a kid in cold Michigan, and eventually did). I watched one episode last night (Seeing Eye Horse) that looks like it could've been filmed at a ranch like Jaime Summer's ranch house.

And is it just me or does Joanna look into the camera a lot when she is Andrea? There will be scenes when they're in a two shot or long shot and a character will make an important statement, and Joanna as Andrea turns her head and faces the camera like she's trying to emphasize the importance of the statement?

 

[Pete Battista]

This is a good description in my opinion. It is right on!

The biggest thing about this from what I see in your list... is this series is more Kid-Centric then any of the live action series in your list. But I think you will enjoy it... and for the price... you really can't go wrong in my opinion.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Jeff,
The DVDTalk review lays out the appeal of the show really well. If that piques your interest, then it is definately worth the $16 gamble.
the show worked really well with an under 10 audience back in the mid 70's. Today, with kids being even more sophisticated (and demanding)- I think you would have to lower that by a few years. Pete's daughter is probably a real exception to the rule I would guess.
Like Rob said, it's like a combination superhero show + afterschool special streamlined into 20 minutes. Not a lot of room for sublety or sophistication in the narrative there.
I do think a show like this works a lot better than something like Jason Of Star Command now. I recently rented the first disc of that, and it was a bit of chore to get through...and I had some nostalgic attachment to the material. If I didn't, I would be hard pressed to find the entertainment value in it, beyond the camp aspect which wears out quick.
Isis (and Shazam) were played much straighter- but in comparision to prime time hour long material- a lot simpler (minded) as well.

I watched "Spots of the Leopard" last night and really enjoyed it. It had some eye-rolling, logic defying character motivation in the climax- but when trying to view it though a kids POV, I could easily appreciate the attempt at drama with the parent/child conflict, and the way the fathers guilt is kept in doubt. I don't remember most of the eps being like that. That one actually had a 'evil villan' too and not just a misguided or irresponsible teen who needed to be shown the error of their ways.

On second thought- Wonder Woman had a much bigger budget and the advantage of production gloss, but it really wasn't that much more sophisticated than these Isis shows. With the breezy run times, I think I'm enjoying them much more than WW, too.

 

[Pete Battista]

My daughter and I finished the boxset last night. We both really enjoyed all the episodes... and the extras on the set was very extensive. Though some of the stuff's quality was sub-par to say the least... it was good to see it all included. It was fun seeing the interviews of the stars that was included and what they look like now.

I am sure this is a set that my daughter will be watching often. My daughter is 11 years old... but as Paul said... I believe she is an exception to the rule... as I think she is a lot like me when it comes to the love of movies/shows and that she already knows and can accept shows for what they are and enjoy them.

My nephew is supposed to be around some time today so he will probably want to watch some more too... He liked Funnygirl when we watched that one... where it had Shazam! in it... so I may also show him that free warner disc of Shazam! too.

 

[Bob_S.]

Pete, my household situation is identical to yours. I rented the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew series for my 11 year old daughter and she loved them! So after reading your post I rented the Isis series and my daughter thought they were excellent! She also has grown up on my old b/w classic movies (including the old monster movies). She's a big fan of The Rifleman, Big Valley, Chyenne, and of course Little House On The Prairie. Maybe the key is bringing them up on the classics at an early age.

 

[Pete Battista]

That's awesome Bob... my daughter, Brittany also checked out... and enjoyed my copy of Spider-Man (60's cartoon). I think it is so cool when kids are open to checking out these older series.