Official R1 Cover for Dark Angel Season 1 (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

[c] [/c]

I could have gone bigger, but I didn't think the mods would appreciate it too wide!


For reminders of the specs, you can check here.

 

[oscar_merkx]

thanks david for the cover. R2 in my case

 

[Eric F]

Full frame?:frowning:

Ok, so we get 24 in OAR and not here? I'll be keeping my money.

 

[Paul_Scott]

the artwork, apart from the charms of miss alba, isn't anything special. The R2 Japanese boxed sets, while wildy over-priced, at least had a unique to them. i also like the individual art on the cases- a good shot of albas character standing on top of the space needle.
while the quality of the discs were stellar, they only had 2 episodes for each disc. i wonder if there is going to be any noticeable quality dip with the R1s cramming 4 eps per disc.
the last Buffy looked decent, but its hard to gauge from that series, since only the last few seasons have had large budgets to work with


i didn't think this series was all that well recieved, even by its target audience, and being cancelled after only 2 seasons, i figured this wouldn't have been a high priority for Fox, and figuring i needed to justify my new all region player i dropped almost $200 on only 13 episodes.

this makes me gun-shy to spend any more money on imports.
and takes a bit of the luster off of being region free.

oh well.

 

[Adam_ME]

Has there been an official explanation yet regarding the 4:3 aspect ratio for R1? Is this a similar situation as Buffy Season 4 in which R2 gets 16:9, but every other region gets full frame?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I wouldn't worry about this one being framed 4x3. I've compared the framing on alot of shots, and the 4x3 didn't really come up short from the 16x9 from what I could see. Besides, I saw it 4x3 originally anyway. If I have the dough at release time, I'll be picking this up.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

P.S. after you remove the commercial breaks and the commercials, most hour long dramas clock in at around 37 minutes anymore. Four episodes on a disc would still be less than 4 hours worth of fullbitrate content.

 

[LennyP]

I wasted $500 on R2 Japan set and it wasn't in OAR as I found out later, so I sold it for $70... hehehe... right.
Anyway, that cover art looks beeeeautiful, I'm gona get it just for the extras, but will also buy either R4 or R2 UK set to watch as they're in widescreen.
Got S2 from Japan in WS and will only get another version if R1 again has lots of extras.
I do that because I feel I screwed up and lost a lot of money on it anyway so why not just get every season twice and have the best of everything.
It's like if you shoot a 7/11 clerk, you'll most likely serve a life sentence or get death penalty, so why not kill a dozen customers as well, same crap...:b

Japanese S1 volumes were very pretty indeed, nice different photos on each volume to the right of her standing above the city on the roof of that "needle".

But R4s are great too, don't know how each volume inside looks, but I think it's the best version to get as it is not a cardboard crap like all the R1 tv boxsets are and I prefer Australian way of packing every disc into its own keepcase:

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/221661

R2 UK boxset is like the first part of R4 only they packed all 6 discs into it.

R2 UK's Season 2 is coming out on May 19th.

 

[Joel C]

37 minutes? I think it is closer to 40 or 41. Still short, mind you. Unless you are talking PAL speedup. Episodes of Angel run with PAL are like 39 minutes long. 42 NTSC.

Pretty soon hour-long shows will be under 40 in the US, though.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I checked episodes from various hour series and found the following lengths:

24 "12:00 am - 1:00 am" 42:41
The Shield "Pilot" 46:14
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer "Dopplegangland" 44:09

In Buffy''s case, the previouslies are missing, so it would have been longer in broadcast. In my experience, hour shows are generally 44-45 min without commercials. So a disc would make for about 3 hours of material. As tv shows typically only have stereo sound, even with 3 languages, this isn't any worse than the theatrical version of Fellowship of the Ring.

 

[David Lambert]

Word I got on Dark Angel was that 4x3 is OAR, and it was merely protected for widescreen for overseas. Same as Buffy S4.

I really don't think Fox has let us down yet with stuff like this. In ambiguous areas, like dual-AR television shows, they seem to ask for the creation team's input on what the DVD's AR is, what it was composed primarily for.

While I would love to hear all this from somebody super-high-up, I also understand that the execs are busy and can't answer every question about every one of these. Especially when Peter Staddon comes around here every so often and reminds us that OAR is a prime consideration on every DVD release, and that their commitment hasn't wavered.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

A broadcast TV show runs 42 minutes and change right now, and that includes "previously on", down from the 44 they were running just 2 years ago

Hey, that's 4 more commercials!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

37 minutes? I think it is closer to 40 or 41. Still short, mind you. Unless you are talking PAL speedup. Episodes of Angel run with PAL are like 39 minutes long. 42 NTSC.

If you don't include previews, FOX shows atleast are between 37-39 minutes. I know, because I *ahem* obtained some Firefly and Dark Angel episodes online. Of course, it'll be a few minutes longer with the credits, but they're low bitrate usually on DVD anyway, so it's not a huge issue. And yes, I an talking NTSC.

 

[Eric F]

Word I got on Dark Angel was that 4x3 is OAR, and it was merely protected for widescreen for overseas.

If you had a HDTV Dark Angel was indeed one of the first Fox widescreen shows. I saw it that way.

Regardless of whether or not the show was framed with 4:3 in mind, like CSI it was filmed and shown in widescreen. To release 24 correctly and then release Dark Angel 4:3 is confusing and arbitrary to say the least. Fox is pimping their "widescreen" SDTV broadcasts- it's not HD, so I figure the least they can do is release the shows the way they originally broadcast it. Especially on a show that has been cancelled and is being released for mostly archival purposes. I doubt there will ever be another release of Dark Angel in this format.

Someone over at Fox is not paying attention to their own releases.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

It's deathly obvious to anyone paying attention that 24 is intended for 16:9, protected 4:3. From what I saw of Dark Angel, it's very comfortable in its 4:3 frame

Given Fox's OAR attitude, I'm betting that the producers prefer 4:3 for season 1

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Regardless of whether or not the show was framed with 4:3 in mind, like CSI it was filmed and shown in widescreen. To release 24 correctly and then release Dark Angel 4:3 is confusing and arbitrary to say the least.

If the show was framed with 4x3 in mind, shouldn't that be the way it should be watched, regardless of whether it was protected for the opened 16x9 frame? One assumes that since 24 was released in 16x9 it was framed with 16x9 in mind and protected for the inner 4x3 frame. One assumes that since Dark Angel will be released in 4x3, it was shot with 4x3 in mind and protected for the greater 16x9 frame. It's not a matter of correct versus incorrect. I can sympathize with 16x9 TV owners wanting to fill their screens, but I want what was INTENDED to be seen, not greatest amount of picture possible.

 

[Paul_Scott]

-

 

[Eric F]

When I say it was framed with 4:3 in mind I meant that most of the important action takes place in the center of the screen.

OAR for me is 16:9. If you can show me where the director says he intended the show to be watched in a 4:3 format, then I would agree with you. I have yet to see that- neither have I seen that for 24, CSI, or any of the other TV shows broadcast in widescreen (HD or SD).

CSI is a good example- if you've had the chance to see it in HD you'ld know it's beautiful- yes, the action takes place [mostly]in the center of the screen, but the landscape shots make up a big part of the show, and you're missing a big part of it in 4:3- and yet that's how it's being released.

This seems more of a marketing decision to me than anything.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

OAR for me is 16:9. If you can show me where the director says he intended the show to be watched in a 4:3 format, then I would agree with you.

It's not needed with Fox. They release what the production wants in R1. Period. There is no precedent in R1. With Fox releases, you're getting what you were meant to see.

It's not really surprising that this would be made 4x3 anyway... It was one of the first shows that Fox broadcasted digitally widescreen. It makes sense that the primary focus when framing would be 4x3. Now that widescreen digital broadcasts have become more mainstream, it makes sense that the primary framing focus has shifted to 16x9. Wider isn't neccessarily better. See that Malcolm in the Middle Season 1 DVD to see what I'm talking about. It has a great feature on the problems of framing for both aspect ratios and guess which one ends up winning out more often?

IMO, this whole thing could be solved in the networks would just commit to a ratio for every show and broadcast it that way for both analog and HD. (Sidebar HD broadcasts for shows framed for 4x3, black bar analog broadcasts [ala ER and Angel] for 16x9 framed shows) As it is, it's a very grey issue.

 

[Michael Hall]

Most the "Buffy" and "Angel" episodes I've watched recently run around 42-44 minutes, with credits and without the "previously"s included. I was rather surprised the other day, however, when I noticed that the episode of "Angel" I was watching from Season 1 (whose title I can't remember offhand; it's the second episode on Disc 4) clocked in at under 40 minutes with credits. Odd.

I know that on "The Simpsons" commentary tracks, the writers will often note that sometimes episodes run long, which means they have to cut down the opening sequence to accomodate the longer run time of the episodes. Since BTVS and "Angel" both have their full title sequences on every episode I've ever seen on television during their initial run and on DVD, I have to figure that the producers are given a window, as in "you can have as much but not more than 44 minutes with credits" when it comes to shows on TV.

The only episode of BTVS I recall being longer than 45 minutes or so was "Once More with Feeling" which ran about 60 minutes total on its initial airing, after which it was chopped down to 45 for rerunning and syndication.

What were we talking about again? Oh, "Dark Angel." I went into the series with high hopes, as I've always enjoyed other things Jim Cameron has worked on (and let's face it, Jessica Alba's easy on the eyes), but I kind of gave up on it after about ten episodes. I found myself thinking of things I'd rather be doing than watching it. Just wasn't my cup of tea I guess.