LAND OF THE GIANTS! - Where Are You? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Willis]

You guys bring up the point that mystifies me. Why would Fox go through the effort to put together a first-class set like this and then put it on the Flippers? Anyone have a clue? Cost? But then, why spend the $$'s on what will certainly be a great set, xfrs, extras, etc, and then fumble the ball at the goal line? I only hope that this set is another "lucky" set like my Time Tunnel set. No problems with that set. I'm still viewing my Voyage set (started S1 V2), no problems yet.

 

[Bob Hug]

Even Universal has moved away from flippers after all the bad publicity that they had received for their TV-on-DVD product. You would think that the industry, as a whole, would have learned from Universal's mistakes.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Well I can Guess, Later on they'll release this in their Standard Split Volumns Like Voyage and they won't have to remaster them. This set for that price should be on DVD9's End of story. I'll Netflix them if Netflix carries them because they will be on DVD 9's. Have I told you guys my experiences. I always onvert my TV sets over to avi's to Play on my Various Players. I have way too much TV ON DVD and I will usually watch an episode at Lunch etc. For my Voyage sets which I bought I had to go to Netflix to get one disk because I could not rip 2 episodes due to errors on the disks. This should not be that I have to go to Netflix so I can get a reliable DVD9.

Fox is the Worst Studio out their for TV Releases, give me Paramount anyday.

 

[Doug^Ch]

I don't want to beat a dead horse, because I know that this flipper issue has been talked to death. There are people who will always come out and say that they have never had a problem with any of them. I used to be in that camp, but not any more. I've had serious playback problems with Big Valley, Leave It to Beaver, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Bones, and thats only the ones I can think of quickly. The fault lies not in cheap players as others have suggested. I have 10 DVD players connected in various ways to many TVs and when they don't play on one, sometimes I try it on every one with no luck. I sometimes wait a couple of years before watching a set and by then it is too late to send a defective disc back. I still occasionally will buy a "flipper" set, but not at LOTG prices. It is really too bad, because it looks like a great set, which I would scoop up otherwise.

 

[RickER]

Amen to that brother!

 

[Ethan Riley]

Nope--sorry. I am not buying this. It's too expensive. I don't care what excuses the studio is offering. I don't care about the reasoning. I wouldn't expect the 50 episodes to cost more than about $100. I also didn't buy Big Valley season two because it cost as much as the first season, and yet had half as many episodes. If the studios think they can yank the price up that high and expect me to buy it, they can think again. I can't afford this.

 

[michael_ks]

It's really very simple--full season set releases, a reasonable amount of extras, DVD-9s, priced no more than $1.50 per episode like the majority of my purchases for vintage tv shows. That's it.

I like the full series DVD release concept, but not at nearly $3.00 per episode, and certainly not on 2-sided discs. While I appreciate the wonderful remastering effort Fox did for VTTBOTS and TT and the addition of some nice special features, the fact of the matter is that the studio managed to not get even one of the 4 Irwin Allen shows released to full customer satisfaction:

LIS - substandard transfers, mix of full season releases and half season sets.

TT - half season sets (for a single season of 30 eps.!), 2-sided discs

VTTBOTS - ditto

LOTG - Nearly double the price of the other IA series releases, 2-sided discs

If sales of the LOTG release is to be heavily scrutinized for other potential full series releases, I'm afraid that this is going nowhere--if the responses on this thread so far are any guide. Had this been priced with an MSRP of around $90 with single sided picture discs, I'd say full series releases have a bright future ahead. But like this, never.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Just a question about the Flipper issue: Aren't there different types of Flippers and are some reliable and others prone to the well-known issues, pixtel'ing, freeze-ups, etc? The reason I wonder about it is that I've had no problems with the Time Tunnel or Dallas sets, both on Flippers. Come to think of it, the only Flipper problems that I've seen (on my Std Pioneer player) are the older Universal DVD-18's.

 

[michael_ks]

Jeff, I think that the DVD-14s are double sided with one side dual layered and the other single layered, whereas DVD-18s are double sided with both sides dual layered. In my mind, if this is correct, one side would be prone to freezing/pixellating and the other (the single layered side apparently) should not suffer from freezing. But it may be more complex than that. Since the LOTG release has 4 episodes on one side and 2 on the other, can we assume that they are then DVD-14s? Not sure.

 

[Bobby S]

Fox did the MASH box set for the same price they want for LOTG, $200. But the MASH set contained 36 one-sided discs with artwork. So how can they justify charging $200 for only 9 two-sided discs. It makes no sense at all. I predict this set will bomb big-time!

 

[Sam Favate]

My guess is that they are DVD-14s, because that's what Fox has been using for the last year or so, with the releases of Time Tunnel and even NYPD Blue Seasons 3 & 4. DVD-18s are horrible and should never be used. I can say that I have never had a problem with DVD-14s, which I cannot say about DVD-18s.

That said, the fact that these are flippers at all is a disappointment.

 

[michael_ks]

Yes, I'm fairly certain it will bomb too at sales time. There are at least three major flaws with the idea that alot of people in the industry will be watching this to see how the market stacks up for complete series releases.

The primary one is that the majority of DVD consumers do not like "flippers" and will be turned off just on this aspect alone. The other of course, is that the price is nowhere near being equitable with season by season releases. If LOTG came out as half season sets, then by VTTBOTS standards, one could expect to pay around $80 for all four sets. Adusting for special packaging, add 20 percent and call it $95.

The other flaw is in the belief that somehow LOTG is on equal footing with all 60s era shows. No disrepect to fans of the show, but this series is arguably the weakest of the 4 Irwin Allen shows to most and is almost certainly less coveted than "The Fugitive", "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", and "Sea Hunt". A complete series release of one of these shows, even "Route 66", priced under $2.00 per episode on DVD-9s would provide a much better barometer for gauging the validity of this type of release format. I don't understand how you can be a bean counter in the industry and not fathom this.

 

[Gord Lacey]

I don't think Fox is expecting this to sell tons of copies, which is why it's expensive. See the above information.

Gord

 

[RickER]

I guess they want to make sure they dont! DVD-14s are not as bad as DVD-18s, however, they are still prone to scratched and dings when they are put in boxes. I also wonder about the long term of these discs. I have had DVD-18s that worked when i got them only to suffer from DVD rot at another time. The only reason i cant speak the same for the DVD-14 is only because i have fewer. I treat my DVDs like gold. You wont find a hair or a finger print on my stuff.
Anyway, my point is i am a collector, and i would pay collector prices only for items that are worthy of the status. I had no problem with the X Files, and Trek sets, but i do with this!

 

[michael_ks]

Yes, but they are expecting a profit and if Paramount was disappointed by the sales of a higher profile show like "The Big Valley", (S1 at $19.99-24.99 on release) and considered abandoning it, one can see that this "experiment" is a marketing train wreck. I hope I'm wrong because I welcome complete series releases for "The Invaders" and "The Fugitive", but not with "flippers" and a season price of $75 per.

 

[Gary OS]

Yea, I'm with Michael on this one. It looks like a major marketing train wreck from where I'm sitting. Why can't the studios get off the flippers, Gord (or anyone else that has insight)? It seems like that particular issue is such a no-brainer at this point. The consumer just doesn't want to deal with them, and I can't believe the cost is that much greater for the studio to simply put these on one-sided discs. The pricing thing I can understand. It is a done in one shot deal, so that helps to justify a higher price tag.

For me, if this thing was done without the flippers I'd probably go for it even though the price is higher than normal for similar IA series (LIS, TT, Voyage). But the flippers are an absolute abomination and all the studios need to stop using them - now!

Gary "I'm thankful for FOX at least giving this a go - but they have to understand the flippers are garbage" O.

 

[Richard_Gregory]

and of course, if it's expensive, then they certainly *won't* be selling a ton of copies....

 

[Bob Hug]

Gary, I'm chuckling on this one given the 12 disc PD set of Ozzie & Harriet episodes we are discussing on the other thread. Eight bucks gets you 12 (count 'em) SINGLE SIDED discs! The so called budget company is making the major studio look like an ultra budget company with the "flipper" issue.

 

[Gary OS]

Good point, Bob. It's more than ironic.

Gary "of course the 'major' studio will come back and say they are supplying better video and audio - but they just don't get the flipper issue at all" O.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Gary, keep those patented sign-off's rolling

Back to business As Rick said earlier, I wonder about any "dvd-rot" issues with DVD-18's (and maybe all Flippers?). I remember the early Laserdisc days where there were some problems with that issue. I wonder if I'm seeing this with one of my Universal DVD-18 sets, "Earth 2". I just finished this set for the 2nd view with a friend watching it for the 1st time, and I could swear that I noticed some of the momentary freeze-ups and pixtel'ing in places where I didn't remember them at the same places during the 1st viewing. One of the problems with this collecting is that it may be 2-3 years before we revisit a series for a 2nd view.