LEXX Season 1 being re-released...in Canada June 8, 2010 (1 Viewer)

[AndyMcKinney]

According to Amazon.ca, the initial four LEXX telemovies (aka "Season 1") are getting a Canadian re-release this summer. It's available as a pre-order for less than $20 Canadian with a release date of June 8th.

Hopefully, it won't be a clone of the current Echo Bridge release, because I've heard that one has, at the very least, a slightly censored soundtrack on the first movie (I Worship His Shadow) and may or may not have a brief edit in the brain-removal scene from the same film. Also, someone on this forum said that the Echo Bridge release was anamorphic widescreen, which would also be a mistake, because the OAR for this is 4:3.

It would be nice if the upcoming Canadian release is, at the very least, as complete as the OOP (and expensive) Koch release, and at least having the same extras as the Koch ones would be nice (additional extras that were on the foreign releases--including the original presentation reel--would be gravy!). I'd be very disappointed if it's a re-press of the US Echo Bridge one, or contains different mistakes, like the censored Super Nova on the R4 release, or the dodgy mastering on some of the OOP R2s.

 

[Saied]

I'm keeping an eye on this too. I understand that in addition to censorship issues, there are different versions of Lexx where a special effect or voiceover has been done here or there.


As long as there are no censorship cuts, the big issue is purely picture quaility - I hope it's a good encoding. I watched the UK releases and they do contain artifacts which I found unacceptable.


Studios are too thick to see that shows like Lexx should be on Blu Ray. Their propoganda aimed at the consumer has created a breed of technical know-it-alls who will quickly say that Lexx wasn't shot on film and therefore would look no different to DVD. Completely untrue. Sure, Lexx may not have been shot on film, but DVD is mass produced to a cost, involving all sorts of shortcuts such as compression, etc. Consumer DVD comes nowhere near close to broadcast level analogue standards.


Lexx needs to be on Blu Ray !

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Saied

I'm keeping an eye on this too. I understand that in addition to censorship issues, there are different versions of Lexx where a special effect or voiceover has been done here or there.


As long as there are no censorship cuts, the big issue is purely picture quaility - I hope it's a good encoding. I watched the UK releases and they do contain artifacts which I found unacceptable.


Studios are too thick to see that shows like Lexx should be on Blu Ray. Their propoganda aimed at the consumer has created a breed of technical know-it-alls who will quickly say that Lexx wasn't shot on film and therefore would look no different to DVD. Completely untrue. Sure, Lexx may not have been shot on film, but DVD is mass produced to a cost, involving all sorts of shortcuts such as compression, etc. Consumer DVD comes nowhere near close to broadcast level analogue standards.


Lexx needs to be on Blu Ray !

Lexx is like a lot of 1980s and 90s TV in that the live-action elements were shot on film, but all the SFX were rendered on video and mixed in post production. The show, I've been told, was post produced on standard definition NTSC video which means, like Star Trek: The Next Generation, ALL of the visual effects would have to be re-done and re-combined with the live-action to give one a true high-definition picture.


There's a case to be made for a new encoding for DVD, as I'm sure the pictures could look better, but I don't think there's really a strong enough argument for a "standard definition BluRay" edition. I'm sure Alliance would never do it anyway, as Lexx, despite having a devoted following (in which I include myself), is, shall we say, very much a "minority" interest (compared to much more mainstream shows like Star Trek). And we certainly can't expect they'd go to the trouble to re-assemble the episodes (and re-do the visual FX) just to make a BluRay possible. Alliance have shown very little interest in the property since they acquired it, which why the DVDs have been OOP in Region 1 for so long.


Since this is a "budget" release, though, I kinds of suspect it'll just be straight re-issues using the Koch/Acorn masters (if Alliance have them). If we get a new/better encoding than before (I'm including Koch/Acorn/Contender and Force Video), I'll be pleasantly surprised, and if if it is a new encoding, then we'll all have to keep our eyes peeled for edits/changes (the recent R4 Australian releases of the four telemovies had some cuts, for instance).


With the release date fast approaching, you'd think we'd have at least seen box art somewhere by now...

 

[David Norman]

I'd love to have the capability to watch these in some reasonable order. The series was so butchered and strung out when it was finally broadcast I never could find it consistently enough to keep up. It seems like for every 2 episodes I found, I missed 3.


FWIW, this is one of the absolutely strangest/odd duck/addicting shows I've ever seen. The living ship with organic shapes that had to be at least part of the inspiration for Farscape (for that matter Farscape seemed to take a lot of cues from Lexx).

 

[Saied]

I'm kinda humbled by the lucidity of response - I guess I was guilty of being one of the "know-it-alls" that I complained about in my first post (!).


It's amazing if Lexx was shot on film. Wouldn't it be completely superb if the negatives still existed. Since Salter Street Films sold to Alliance, the reels are probably sitting somewhere being quietly ignored - I can't bring myself to consider they've been destroyed. It would be completely superb if a total remaster in 1080p (in sympathy with the original art design) could happen. I looked at the other gentleman who posted here, David Norman, who did a superb appraisal of the remastered Spartacus in another post - David do you see that Lexx could go all the way one day?


Agreed about the artwork - at this time of posting the new Lexx DVD Season 1 hits Amazon.ca tomorrow, but still no specs. Hopefully, this is good news in disguise......


By the way, its amazing how much money the OOP Region 1 Lexx dvds are going for at the moment on Ebay or Amazon. I bit my lip with a last minute bid of $200 for a complete set and was blown out of the water.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Amazon.ca have put up boxart now and... what they've put up is the same exact thing as the Echo Bridge release (Xenia Seeberg image instead of Eva Habermann and all!).


I hope that this is just a mistake and not the actual package art? Why? If they reused the package art, they might have also reused Echo Bridge's edited masters. I don't have the set myself, but someone on a Lexx chat billboard said that the first movie in the Echo Bridge set (I Worship His Shadow) contains some altered/censored dialogue in places.


I have my doubts about seeing any online reviews, either. Will likely take one of us Lexx fans to break down and buy, then review/compare to see whether they're complete (and whether they're any better than what's been available previously).

 

[David Norman]

Originally Posted by Saied

I'm kinda humbled by the lucidity of response - I guess I was guilty of being one of the "know-it-alls" that I complained about in my first post (!).


It's amazing if Lexx was shot on film. Wouldn't it be completely superb if the negatives still existed. Since Salter Street Films sold to Alliance, the reels are probably sitting somewhere being quietly ignored - I can't bring myself to consider they've been destroyed. It would be completely superb if a total remaster in 1080p (in sympathy with the original art design) could happen. I looked at the other gentleman who posted here, David Norman, who did a superb appraisal of the remastered Spartacus in another post - David do you see that Lexx could go all the way one day?


Agreed about the artwork - at this time of posting the new Lexx DVD Season 1 hits Amazon.ca tomorrow, but still no specs. Hopefully, this is good news in disguise......


By the way, its amazing how much money the OOP Region 1 Lexx dvds are going for at the moment on Ebay or Amazon. I bit my lip with a last minute bid of $200 for a complete set and was blown out of the water.

I will gladly accept compliments that were earned, but I think I'm being given credit for someone else's thoughts.

As far as Lexx being given the full restore/remaster treatment I guess I would shocked if any business would put that much money into such a project -- a moderate DVD level restoration back to the episodes as they originally aired would be a nice surprise, anything that would be true Bluray equivalent would be shocking.

Lexx is a niche product with an almost cult following and not something I'd expect a huge return on investment. Alliance certainly has never shown a tendency at going beyond a basic minimum level. If some very rich fan (Todd McFarlane type) bought the rights and made it a labor of love with $$$ not being an important consideration then it might happen someday.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

So, was anyone brave enought to buy this to see if it's any different than the Echo Bridge one? Noticed on TVShowsOnDVD that Series 3 has been pencilled into the release schedule up north.

 

[sullum]

Has anyone made the move and picked up this new release of Lexx Season one? I already own the original Koch release and I did buy the Echo Bridge release for a gift (and was bummed about that one). So before I make the jump to recommend or gift this set it would be great to know if it's anything more than the Echo Bridge version.


Also, what's happened to the Season two listing on Amazon.ca? TV Shows On DVD.com still thinks it's listed, I emailed them sometime back that their Season Two link comes up with the old "Error 404: page not found" page.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by sullum


Also, what's happened to the Season two listing on Amazon.ca? TV Shows On DVD.com still thinks it's listed, I emailed them sometime back that their Season Two link comes up with the old "Error 404: page not found" page.

Can't speak for Amazon, but it is still listed at other places, such as HMV.ca and CDPlus.com as July 20 and is available to pre-order.


Like you, I was hoping to wait for some reviews before deciding to purchase the reissue (I have two of the four Koch singles and just unloaded my old R2-PAL set), or just look for the other two Koch discs.


I hope seasons 2-4 are going to at least be the unedited versions (even if there are no extras). I took a chance and sold my old Acorn sets of S3 and S4 in anticipation of much-slimmer packaging from Alliance.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I treid registering at HMV.com but can't since I do not live in Canada.


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I registered at cdplus.com Thay have FREE shipping on everything to the US like Deep discount. I think I may no longer use amazon.ca. They charge $9 US to ship to the US.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by cajunhillbilly

I treid registering at HMV.com but can't since I do not live in Canada.


---------

I registered at cdplus.com Thay have FREE shipping on everything to the US like Deep discount. I think I may no longer use amazon.ca. They charge $9 US to ship to the US.

I have no idea if they will ship to the US, only that they have the listing on their site. I've had stuff shipped to the US from HMV.co.uk in the past, though I'll admit it's been years since I ordered from there (back in my VHS days).


Yeah, the price for Lexx looks deceptively cheap on Amazon.ca, until you go to checkout and notice the high shipping cost. CDPlus' price ($24.95) actually works out a little cheaper as they don't charge for shipping, and they are quite reliable: I've used them many times in the past for Canadian releases.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney





I have no idea if they will ship to the US, only that they have the listing on their site. I've had stuff shipped to the US from HMV.co.uk in the past, though I'll admit it's been years since I ordered from there (back in my VHS days).


Yeah, the price for Lexx looks deceptively cheap on Amazon.ca, until you go to checkout and notice the high shipping cost. CDPlus' price ($24.95) actually works out a little cheaper as they don't charge for shipping, and they are quite reliable: I've used them many times in the past for Canadian releases.

I checked their FAQs and they do ship to the USA and it is free shipping. They only charge for shipping if overseas, ie Europe etc. That is a great deal compared to the high shipping costs at amazon.ca

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by cajunhillbilly






I checked their FAQs and they do ship to the USA and it is free shipping. They only charge for shipping if overseas, ie Europe etc. That is a great deal compared to the high shipping costs at amazon.ca

Who, HMV.ca? I just tried registering as a new customer on their site and they won't let you specify any country besides Canada. If you're talking of CDPlus, I already knew about their free shipping, and indeed, had already mentioned it in one of my above posts.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

No CDPlus. Oh missed the reference But I plan to use them for Canadian purchases from now on. No more amazon.ca

 

[umdesch4]

So? What's the verdict? Worth buying? Totally a repackaging of the Echo Bridge release? Newly censored or messed up in even worse ways? Can't seem to find any useful info on this anywhere.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Since no-one else seemed willing to bite the bullet, I ordered it. Looks to be exactly the same duplication masters as Echo Bridge (after the Interpol and Alliance logos, there's an Echo Bridge logo before the menu screen).

 

As per the Amazon.com review of the EB set, there are 10 chapter stops (instead of the 9 that were in the Koch one).

 

I don't know if the back side of the box is the same as the EB set, but it does at least have a photo of Eva Haberman there. Bizarrely, the text on the back reads like a description of season

, as it mentions the crew being exhausted after the events on Fire and Water!

 

Unlike the Amazon review of the EB set, there is not a big strip of clear tape over the box itself. The copy I got from CD Plus was simply shrink-wrapped. Once I took off the plastic, the digipack slid out easily with no tape to cut or remove.

 

I have no idea what the audio censorship is supposed to be on I Worship His Shadow, just remember reading it on a web forum last year (probably the defunct Lexx BillBored). Unfortunately, the person who mentioned this "slight" censorship didn't go into any further detail, so what this censorship is (if it is indeed even there) is unknown to me. Only way I'd be able to find out for sure would be to watch my PAL VHS and this DVD back-to-back and try to remember any differences.

 

Hopefully, someone else can clue us in on what the censorship issue is supposed to be.

 

By the way, I have a copy of Season two on its way to me (presently backordered).

 

[umdesch4]

Well ok then. From what I gather, any editing is so minor that people can't even identify it (not like some previous releases where whole scenes went missing), and I'd never be able to spot the differences since I haven't watched this in years. I think I'll pick this up. Can't really argue with the price, and I'm really itching to rewatch it again.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Oh, and it is in the original 4:3 ratio, so it has not been cropped to widescreen as has been erroneously reported elsewhere!

 

[Saied]

Hi, did your Season 2 arrive at all. Are the transfers OK ? The entire Season 4 appears to be listed quite cheap compared to the original releases so I wonder if some shortcuts were taken such as less discs and more compressions. Any insight would be much appreciated, thanks.