New Soundtrack to Tour of Duty Season Two!! (1 Viewer)

[Adam T]

According to TVShowsonDVD.com Columbia not only dropped the price of the second season but it now says on the cover art "TOUR OF DUTY features a new music soundtrack including popular songs from the Vietnam era!" Does this mean some of the music will find its way to the DVD and does it include the opening title song "Paint it Black"? (Not holding my breath)

 

[Yee-Ming]

Sounds like the exact opposite to me, i.e. the original songs will be dropped, and replaced by other songs "from the Vietnam era". Sigh.

Don't you "love" marketing? Making it sound like having a "new soundtrack" is a good thing, when it's nothing but.

 

[Steven_Kale]

Well, this is Columbia after all, the same compay that won't fork over the money for the damned theme song to Dawson's Creek! How expensive is ONE song?

 

[David Lambert]

My proposed wording for MwC-S3 is scarily close to what is actually on the back of the ToD-S2 box!

Worse, Adam T's reaction represents what I meant in that many consumers won't understand that this is NOT a good thing. On the other hand, what's Columbia supposed to do? Put wording on the box that discourages buyers from getting the set? Nah, their stockholders might have a problem with that.


Adam T, if I recall correctly, Paint It Black wasn't on the first season of ToD, so expect it to be a victim of changes on S2 as well.

 

[Steven_Kale]

I didn't realize the same thing was being done with the "Married with Children" theme.

Talk about ridiculous. Even if it is expensive, I think studios should at least purchase the theme songs of these shows. If it means cranking up the price a bit, it would be worth it, and I'm sure most consumers wouldn't mind

 

[Dan*T]

I agree that the whole music rights thing really sucks. Especially for us enthusiasts. However, with T.O.D. being one of my favorite shows, I am very happy that it has been released on DVD and will continue to collect it even if the music is screwed up.
I checked my tapes from the original broadcasts, and Paint it Black was used on the second season, and I believe even the third.

 

[Adam T]

Dave when I read the news that there would be a "new music soundtrack" released with TOD season two, I was suspicious and confused.

How could a company that has already released a product that did not have to what some consider an “important part of the show”, all of a sudden add a "new music soundtrack "?

When I first saw the news I had, for a brief second, the thought of maybe the theme song. But it can't because it was never released with the first. I still bought the first season knowing "paint it black" would not be there and was fine with it. I also knew along with many others who bought the set that there was little chance of it ever being put on.

Your 100% right Dave, when you say Columbia is misleading their costumers when they put something like "New Music" on the packaging so they could sell sets.

My question, when I created this thread was, what the hell is going on and what are they doing?

 

[Brandon Conway]

I'm making a total guess here, but from what Dave has hinted at I would venture to say that the Love & Marriage song would have cost Columbia somewhere between $250,000-$750,000 - and that's a minimum. I wouldn't be surprised if it was even in the several millions.

 

[LorenzoL]

The worst part was that recently I saw a commercial of a videogame (a first person shooter based on the Vietnam War) using the song "Paint it Black".

At first I thought it was a commercial for Tour of Duty but then I realized it was a videogame.

 

[Steven_Kale]

Here's a question-The first 2 seasons of Dawson's Creek on DVD included the original theme song, but for Seasons 3 and 4, the song wasn't used.

Do you think this is a case of the company just being cheap?

It seems like they're being cheap to me because the song was used in the first two seasons.

Hell, ALL of the original songs were used in Season 1, then with season 2 they kept the theme but changed over half of the music, and with Season 3 they dropped the theme song and changed even MORE of the music.

The impression I get is that many of these studios are just greedy, and want to put as little effort into these releases as possible.

 

[Christian Preischl]

As has been said before, music rights are a tricky thing. No two TV releases are alike.

I know that Dawson had the same problem as Married with Children. The price for the theme song went up considerably for seasons 3 and beyond.

I do however also have a sneaking suspicion that the budgets over at Columbia are set a lot lower than at other studios. Probably in the hopes of selling more copies they seem to be trying to keep the SRP as low as possible, and quality suffers as a result (lower disc count etc.)

Also, I find it strange that Columbia shows seem to be marred by necessary music replacements more often than shows from the other big studios (exceptions, such as Roswell, apply).
I still wonder how much of the Dawson music could have been saved had they set the SRP at the same level as comparable shows from others, i.e. 60 bucks instead of 50.

But I'm just guessing here. I can't really know what's going on behind the scenes (although I would love to). And I'm pretty sure not being able to give us "the perfect product" must be very frustrating for the people working on the DVDs. However, they're not the ones who set the budgets.

Chris