Land of the Giants - bare bones (1 Viewer)

[Greg_M]

Anyone know if FOX is releasing the "Land of the Giants" series in a bare bones package (at half the cost?)

My guess is many people haven't purchased the expensive wooden crate set. I've been waiting for a bare bones release of season one and two (maybe separately) but don't want all the extras that came with the original set.

 

[Charles Thaxton]

Ditto

 

[FrankPitt]

I haven't heard anything about a bare bones release, but I was able to get my set, wooden box and all, just after Christmas when Amazon had it on sale for half price (or close to it).

In fact, I just checked...they've got it on sale for $120.99, which is a pretty good deal.

I'd only seen a few episodes before taking the leap on the set. For me, it was worth it. I devoured the whole thing in a couple of months.

 

[Harry-N]

I have no quarrels with those waiting for a "bare bones" release. That's certainly everyone's right to do so.

But I have to point out a few facts about the full-series set that's out there. It has several times been put on sale by Amazon at what I'd consider very reasonable prices. It's currently sitting at a price point of $120.99 for the full set, both seasons plus all of the extras that came with it.

Now let's say that they released a bare-bones edition in half-season sets like all of the other Irwin Allen properties. They would be priced at around $30 per set. Multiply that by 4 and you get to $120!

I've seen (and ordered) the set from Amazon for $99, and considered that a great bargain. It worked out to $25 per half-season. The set is well-mastered, (looking way better than the prints over on hulu.com by the way), and the extras, while somewhat underwhelming for me, are still worth something. I could have done without the crate packaging, but it is "cute". It houses the individual discs in slim packs, so one could certainly do their own alternate packaging if they wanted.

So I'd recommend to watch for the sales and grab the set that's out there before IT disappears if you really want it.

Harry

 

[redbird]

I wouldn't mind getting this show except for an even worse problem than the cost-it's on those dreadful double sided discs! If they put it out on single sided discs (and lower the price) I'm picking it up in a hurry

 

[Harry-N]

For the record, I've not had a single problem with any of the Irwin Allen double-sided discs, including these. Unlike the OUTER LIMITS discs, where they crammed four episodes each on both sides, the Irwin Allen discs are done on a 4 and 2 basis, which seems to work better.

Harry

 

[Gord Lacey]

Harry, that's because the double-sided discs are different. Outer Limits uses DVD-18s, which is essentially two DVD-9s put together, which is why you're seeing 4 episodes on each side. Fox has never used DVD-18s, but uses DVD-14s on a number of their releases, like Land of the Giants. The DVD-14s have one DVD-9 (4 episodes), and one DVD-5 (2 episodes).

Universal had a TON of problems with their DVD-18s manufactured in Mexico, and consumers have painted the DVD-18s from Warner Bros, and the DVD-14s from Fox, with the same brush. I can understand people who want artwork on the discs, and just don't like double-sided discs, but these discs don't suffer from the same playback issues that plagued the DVD-18s coming out of Mexico. Sure, some people will have issues with a double-sided disc, but I don't think the rate is any higher than single-sided discs (with the exception of the Mexican DVD-18s).

Gord

 

[Sam Favate]

I've had problems with Warner's DVD-18s, Universal's DVD-18s, and, to a much lesser extent, Warner's DVD-14s. For me, double-sided signifies asking for trouble. I opened this thread in the hopes we were talking about single-sided discs for this release.

 

[Harry-N]

Thanks Gord. I knew there was a label for these kind of discs, but not being one who's concentrated much on the naming conventions of different types of DVDs, I described them the best way I could without looking this stuff up.

By the way, I've yet to have a problem with the OUTER LIMITS sets, and I bought the first ones that caused such outrage.

Harry

 

[Ockeghem]

I was going to purchase the set until I read this. That nixes it for me (at least in its current iteration).

 

[Greg_M]

One of the reasons I was waiting for a bare bones edition was space - the wooden box is so big and bulky that I've no where to store it. I was hoping a smaller box like FOX uses with "That 70's Show" would come out - even if it's two sets - I could easily place them with my other dvds

 

[Nebiroth]

Not quite the case, Gord. There were complaints on Amazon's Customer Reviews for the first couple of sets with customers highlighting the same sort of problems with the DVD-14 type discs that people had with the DVD-18's made in Mexico. In particular, Disc Two, Side A of the very first set of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea seemed to be a particular bugbear,

However, it is certainly true that the problem was not as great as those experienced with the horrors of the Bela Lugosi or Hammer sets from Universal.

And I didn't hear anything about the Giants set so they may have switched manufacturer or ironed out a particular problem.

Personally, I never had a problem with any of these sets from Fox - oh, except the lack of a Voyage Season Four...

 

[Carabimero]

I got this set a while back on Amazon for $99. I think it was an article on TVShowsOnDVD that gave me the head's up.

 

[Radioman970]

I'm dying to get this show but it MUST BE CHEAPER! It's 2 seasons of a show. I'll pay $35 for each, tops!

*waits*

 

[RickER]

Big time.

The price of the show, and the double sided discs (even if they are DVD-14s) keep me from buying it. Even at $99, its to much for me. They can keep the damn crate. I just want a show in slim line cases, and on single sided discs.
As a six year old, this was my favorite show. I still own my lunch pail!

 

[Randy Korstick]

Even at sale prices Voyage and Time Tunnel comes out to $60.00 a season. 39.95 half season add sale $29.95 x 2 = $59.90 a season so $99.00 is a discount from the normal price and you can take the discs out and put the crate in the closet if you don't want it on the shelf. It really is a great release I'm not sad that I paid $150 for a great release of one of my favorite shows.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Yes but after those 1st two sets (mainly the 1st set) there were no major complaints with all the Irwin Allen releases or Big Valley so whatever the problem was it must have been quickly fixed. So why the worries as Gord mentioned the big problem was with Universal DVD-18's from Mexico, which I still have not seen any problem from or heard of a problem from friends and coworkers only read about online. I even pulled out the Universal Hammer set again for the 1st time in 2 years which supposedly they go bad after sitting and watched 4 of the films on a DVD player I did not have at the time of the original release and they all still play without a glitch and out of curiosities sake I tried them on the old player and they also play fine there.

 

[Harry-N]

It seems that Fox can't win no matter what they do. They release LOST IN SPACE in a full Season One set, price at what they value it at around $70-$80 and they get reamed for overpricing it.

So they decide to split the second and third season into halves, making each around the manageable $30 price point. This leads to whining about gouging the public and only giving them half seasons.

Still, sales are better, so they continue with the half season strategy through TIME TUNNEL and VOYAGE.

When it came time to do LAND OF THE GIANTS, initially half-season sets were announced. Realizing that the fanbase for the show might want something more special, they decided to go all out and make the packaging for LAND OF THE GIANTS a bit more special. And they'd do both seasons - the full series, meaning that fans wouldn't be left stuck waiting for more (like the current VOYAGE fans are).

I'll admit that their list price of $235 is way over the top, but when I can get four half-seasons (=two full seasons) for $99 on an Amazon sale (even a current $120 isn't so bad), I consider myself ahead of the game.

It was probably not a good idea to wrap this particular series with such expensive packaging. I think the retailers are stuck with warehouses full of these little-people cages. That's why the sales are so frequent. They're trying to unload them - and the $100 price point seems quite a bargain to me.

I know that if it were my favorite series, one that I'd waited a lifetime for (in my case TIME TUNNEL), it wouldn't have mattered to me how it was packaged or priced. I'd find a way to get it at whatever price point was offered. Heck I almost forked over nearly $1000 for the Japanese LaserDiscs!

Knowing that the series was mastered properly with great picture and sound, is a good enough reason for me to splurge.

Harry

 

[Radioman970]

I'll snag that LotG at the last minute if it goes oop. But another option would sure be better for those of us who basically just want to watch the shows.

 

[Michael Rogers]

I was very lucky in that when the set first came out I was able to get a set of discs and cases only on EBAY from a person that only wanted the box set materials and already had the series. I tend to think he actually DVDshrank the series onto one sided discs for himself and wanted to get rid of the double sided discs but I wasn't going to pry. I only know that what I got was the legit release (double sided and all). Total price was $75. Theough if I didn;'t have the set already I might want to give it a shot at $100 or less.