Quantum Leap Season Two - Music Replaced! (1 Viewer)

[Christian Preischl]

I've sort of made my peace with music changes on DVD and accepted them as a (sad and annoying) given. However, I have to admit that this is the first time in a long while that it actually hurts.

With all the bitching and whining about the changes on MWC, Roswell and Dawson (and I've cartainly contributed my share), at least those studios were open enough about what they did and why they had to do it, whereas Universal just replaced the music and gives no indication of it anywhere on the packaging (unless it has failed to be mentioned here).

But what angers me the most is that from what I've read at Al's Place Message Board the replacements seem to be rather shoddy, consisting primarily of "generic sounding" instrumental music. Very disappointing.

Chris

 

[David Lambert]

Chris, Gord is already covering this issue in his review of the set.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

But until he posts that review people are still buying the set.

And even then - not everybody reads reviews and this, at least IMHO, is something that deserves to be a news item (in bold and with at least five exclamation marks).

 

[David Lambert]

Chris, unfortunately if we posted news about every music substitution situation, we'd be there doing it all day.

And our main beef isn't with the substitution itself; as we've said in other threads here at HTF it is a very unfortunate fact of life in the DVD world (and not just limited to TV-DVDs; ask fans of Happy Birthday To Me!).

No, our main cry of "shame shame shame!" is when studios fail to clearly mark the box that the music has been altered in some way. Fans shouldn't have to read reviews to find this out. Fans shouldn't have to have the internet and go looking for DVD news sites to post articles to find this out. It's up to Universal to come clean on the package about it.

I haven't held this in my hands yet, so I'll leave it up to those who have to answer this question: HAS there been a notice of some sort on the box? It should be big enough to easily see, but at this point I'd be impressed if they even bothered to mention it in the "fine print" (tiny tiny words at the bottom of the back that they hope noone notices).

 

[Scott Hamilton]

I agree Dave when you say "Fans shouldn't have to have the internet and go looking for DVD news sites to post articles to find this out."

I did that with Alf season one and got burned so I wait weeks if not months before I buy a TV season.

Since TV on DVD was the fastest sales growing on DVD you think the studios would learn by now that fans will know the changes but it seems they don't they only care about the bottem line.

 

[Randy Gray]

I know of a few shows where they've released half seasons to cut down on the cost and consumers didn't seem to mind. Why couldn't they have done this with this show? Surely they could have secured the music rights for a half season and put them out at a decent price and made a profit. That would've been possible wouldn't it? Season one is all I'll own. I really loved this show too.

Randy

 

[Scott Hamilton]

I work in the grocery store business to me it's like telling the customers.

You have bought Sugar Crisp cereal for years but now sugar is too much for us to buy for us to make a profit on. So now will just sell you Sugar Crisp without the sugar you are use to, you should understand the cost for sugar make it to much for us to make money on it so we are cutting out the sugar. Of course we will not tell you this and don't complain or you will not see Sugar Crisp ever again.

 

[Scott Hamilton]

Can someone please post an e-mail or s-mail address for Universal?

To complain about this.

 

[Andreas_K]

Notes on the box are one thing - for me as an international customer who imports stuff from the US or Canada via online stores it still wouldn't be enough. I never see the box (except the coverart) before I have it in my hands at home.
I think it would only be fair if they published news like that when they announce the season to various websites.

I have had both Quantum Leap and Northern exposure on an order at Amazon.ca. I have already canceled the latter and will cancel QL right away because of this. I would gladly like to pay a few $ more if the music were there.

What I find really disturbing in this is the trend to release the first season of both NE and QL intact and then do stuff like this to the 2nd seasons. Repeat customers might feel obliged somehow to get the other sets as well. I fear Miami Vice may be the same - make original music a main selling point for the first season and then cop out and put out cheapened (not cheaper ) versions of the following sets.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

Exactly. That's why it's so important for a website like TVShowsOnDVD.com to report these things.

That's why I'm so disappointed with the site - if this isn't newsworthy then what is?

The first look at some coverart of a release that's months away is more important than another studio screwing it's customers big time?

 

[Terry H]

Good point. It is also important to be informed of such information in a timely manner for those of us in the US who pre-order via online merchants. I can't stop the pre-order, it has shipped but the damn thing is going back unopened.
I've learned my lesson. This music issue has turned me off TV seasons on DVD.
On the plus side, I'll save a ton of cash.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

$35.99 is a good price for a 22ep season, but when a series hinges on music especially classic music it's hard to not emotionally connect that. I'm glad a show like smallville is using newer music and getting clearances for it before as they do the shows.

 

[cole_b]

I'm obviously in the minority here, but it doesn't bother me that much. it sucks, yes, but if the sets cost much more, I wouldn't be interested in getting them. I don't have a lot of money and must gauge my DVD purchases carefully. I'd rather the set be $34.99 without the original music than a lot more with it. I imagine most of the non-HTF proletariat feel the same way I do, which is probably one of the reasons why they decided not to bother licensing the likely prohibitively expensive music.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

Me too.

Edited episodes, syndicated versions, replaced music...

You basically have to wait until a set has been reviewed by several different people until you're 100% safe to order it.

I guess I can forget about further seasons of Magnum, p.i. too - it's also from Universal and it also has a ton of well known music.

Hopefully with the removal of "Georgia On My Mind" they've gone one step too far and will REALLY feel the backlash.

But then, how many casual fans will even notice? :frowning:

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Doubtful. There was no indication music had been changed on the Northern Exposure set.

It seems as if TV on DVD is a compromise no matter what. We either get full length episodes with music missing, edited episodes, or transfers from less than ideal sources. In some ways this makes sense given the runtimes and potential costs to the studios, versus the street prices people are willing to pay. However, without some kind of explanation as to why things aren't as expected, he consumer can only assume they are being hoodwinked. On the other hand, if they watch the show and don't miss the music, then having no notice wouldn't lessen their enjoyment.

 

[Julian Reville]

Well, it's a darn shame that the original music isn't on the DVDs; sounds like someone has been a little greedy. I don't understand the legal ins & outs of music use; it seems to me that if the music was paid for when the show was broadcast, and it can be used when the show was rerun, it ought to be able to be used on a DVD, with the same percentage cost as before. But Hollywood is all about greed anyway.

Pass.

 

[Tony J Case]

What I dont get are the "fans" rising up in protest and burning their season 1 DVDs on a huge bonfire. Um, theres nothing wrong with S1, folks. And Universal already has your money, so they wont care if you wipe your ass with it or put it in your player. So why deprive yourself of some Leap that's untainted?

Me - while this does indeed suck, I think I can put up with 30 seconds of editing over not having the rest of the season. Enjoy what you have instead of crying over what you have not.

'Sides - this may not be Universal's fault. With Ray's death, the rights to his music may be in limbo and NOBODY can get them. That or with the recient movie - doing well, if I recall - the rights to Ray's music may have been priced out of the market for universal.

 

[Randy Gray]

I hadn't heard about replaced music on this set. It wasn't mentioned in TV On DVD's review. How much was replaced? Man I'm getting so sick of this damn music rights issue. I may just drop out of TV On DVD buying. There might be a few shows that I'll continue with where I know music won't be much of an issue but this is just stupid.

Randy

 

[Chris Bergmann]

What would I want with Season One only?

Watch those eight episodes once a year and then shake my fist at the sky screaming "Damn you, Universal"?

I'd rather take what I can get for it on eBay.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

It's true; you don't really realize the frustration of replaced music until it hits a series that you want to buy. This is indeed unfortunate, but I'm not sure how to proceed. Should we not buy the season, in order to send the message that we won't buy altered episodes? Or...should we go ahead and buy it so Universal will be able to tell the music licensers that people will buy the series anyway, so all they've accomplished is cheating themselves out of easy promotion for their songs?

I dunno. One little thing...Certain series had episodes released on VHS and LD in the days before DVD. If rights to whatever music was included was cleared for video, would that extend to any video format? I guess it would depend on the language in the contract. For example, I think some music was changed on the Season 2 set of Star Trek: Voyager, which would have aired in 1995-96. Of course, DVD had not yet been introduced, but since previous Star Trek series had been released on VHS and LD, surely they would have anticipated the release of Voyager on any future video format.

Did any of that make any sense?