Questions About The Fugitive Most Wanted Edition DVD Set (1 Viewer)

[Tom Gordon]

T

Most of the errors on the MOST WANTED SET were technical. Audio sync problems on Bloodline and Taps For A Dead War, and skipping and freezing issues on 3 Cheers For Little Boy Blue, plus you couldn't fast-forward or rewind without errors. The same no FF or REW on Landscape.

That left "The Iron Maiden" with its accidental replaced music cues left in. If it happens more than once, I can't say, but it DOES occur at about 16:30 through about 18:00 - the end of Act One.

Thanks, Harry. I'll check that out. I also though I had read someplace that there may have been missing music from Ballad for a Ghost. I thought I had saved the pertinent web articles in my browser favorites, but this is the only one I could find. I should have done some copy/pasting into a word document so that I wouldn't be dependent on a web link that might disappear.

 

[Clugul]

There are late October 2018 Facebook (The Fugitive TV Series group) reports that some sets of The Fugitive: Most Wanted Edition don’t have the Wanted poster adhered to the inside cover of the box & a Special Feature disc might be missing or incomplete.
Have you gotten any similar reports?

 

[Bartman]

I have a couple of questions about The Fugitive TV series on DVD:

1. What is the difference between the "Complete Series" and "Most Wanted Series"? They are priced differently $45 and $65 typical respectively.

2. Does the "Complete Series" contain closed captions CC/SDH/subtitles? I've read in a couple of places they do, the original half season sets did not, the technical specs for either set makes no mention of this, that makes me a little suspicious.

 

[Harry-N]

Theoretically, there was one disc's difference between MOST WANTED and COMPLETE.

MOST WANTED came with a CD of the Pete Rugolo soundtrack music, a specially compiled disc for this release, different than the wide -release CD from Silva Screen.

COMPLETE omitted that soundtrack and the packaging. Other than that, I believe that the discs should be equal, certainly by now!

There could be leftover sets from the early days of both sets that have problematic discs. Read back through these pages for the sordid details.

 

[Flashgear]

2. Does the "Complete Series" contain closed captions CC/SDH/subtitles? I've read in a couple of places they do, the original half season sets did not, the technical specs for either set makes no mention of this, that makes me a little suspicious.

I have the "Most Wanted" 33 disc set, and these do indeed have SDH subtitles, English only.

Rest in Peace Jacqueline Scott, our beloved Donna Kimble, the stalwart and faithful sister to our Fugitive...and also the beautiful Abelia, sensitive pioneer mother and star-crossed lover of Festus on Gunsmoke...and so many more fondly remembered appearances in our classic TV memories of youth...

 

[Bartman]

Thanks, Harry-N & Flashgear. RIP Jacqueline Scott of Charley Varrick fame!

 

[michael_pe]

So in 2020, have they ended up shipping the Complete Series DVD set (the cheap on Amazon) with the mostly original music or do I have to find the Most Wanted Set on Amazon?

I understand that in 2015 when the cheaper set came out they again reverted back to the new music and haven't heard that there was a change to that.

 

[Bartman]

So in 2020, have they ended up shipping the Complete Series DVD set (the cheap on Amazon) with the mostly original music or do I have to find the Most Wanted Set on Amazon?

I understand that in 2015 when the cheaper set came out they again reverted back to the new music and haven't heard that there was a change to that.

It appears the price of the Complete Series has remained the same over the years. I believe your question is, has anyone bought the Complete Series recently and can confirm that it contains the most recent discs?

The price of the Most Wanted set varies considerably from supplier to supplier, not sure why that is.

The delivery time of the Complete Series from Amazon is "Usually ships in 1 to 2 months" does anyone know a low cost supplier that will pack this big/heavy series well?

 

[BobO'Link]

You'd really need to read all of this thread and the other Fugitive thread for full details. That said...

I purchased "The Complete Series" in 2015. That's the one in the Megapak style cases (there are 2 in a slipcase - it's a nice, compact, set). It had the wrong (i.e. Heyes) music queues. I contacted the distributor via the special number (in this or the other thread - don't know if it's still active) about a replacement (and I don't know if that replacement program is still in place either) or replacement discs (wasn't sure at the time what they'd send). I received a copy of "The Most Wanted" edition(!?!!) and tore it open to see if it had the corrected discs (supposedly some do). Nope... it's the older version with the Heyes queues as well! Back to the phone to make *another* request. This time I received a package of replacement discs for "The Most Wanted" edition (that's the one I called about) so *finally* had a corrected copy. I still have that "Complete Series" set and will not part with it. Partly because it's somewhat unique but also to keep it out of the supply chain.

FWIW, CBS supposedly issued corrected sets of "The Most Wanted" edition but I have no idea how to tell which has the incorrect music and which is correct. After all, I was sent an uncorrected set to "fix" my "Complete Series" set and had to go through the replacement program to get corrected discs for it.

In 2017, CBS reissued "The Complete Series" set (red case w/2 Megapak cases) with the corrected discs. So... to be 100% certain, that's the set you want to order. I don't know that I'd trust a 3rd party to send a corrected edition and would likely go through a major vendor to make a return easier should the replacement disc program no longer be active.

(Sigh... where's Alan when you need him!?!? I really miss his presence here.)

 

[Harry-N]

The real problem here is that all of us FUGITIVE-obsessives went through the Hell that CBS put us through, and most of us have come out of the experience with some semblance of a totally corrected set. I don't think very many of us are out there buying up COMPLETE sets, so the knowledgeable among us don't have any answers as to what's out there today in the marketplace.

My story is similar to BobO'Link's, but I started with the half-season sets. I still have all of those, including the totally-errant all-Heyes S2V1 set, and it's supposedly fixed replacement. These are still useful when watching a S1 or S4 episode, as those all have correct music.

I finally broke down and bought a MOST WANTED set and went through the replacement-disc routine, and I still own all of the errant discs that were replaced. The replacement discs all have a figure of the running Dr. Kimble on the face of the disc, where the original discs (some errant) have just the title in block letters.

We've heard...just heard...that the COMPLETE set was supposed to be a full and complete original music set and it was initially botched. Many who tried it and were upset got replacements of a new MOST WANTED set instead. And then a lot of us just sit back and enjoy the correct DVDs that we have. It would be nice if someone who knows what the correct music is would be able to review a current-marketplace COMPLETE set, just to update this thread with final and correct information.

I'll be watching a Jacqueline Scott episode soon, probably today.

 

[Harry-N]

RIP, Jacqueline Scott

 

[Bartman]

You're all Fugitive heroes! I rented Fugitive DVDs from Netflix about three years ago. I had a sudden hearing loss event two years, I have a new TV and it doesn't look like the series will be available streaming anytime soon, so now's a good to buy before the sets go OOP.

Has anyone bought the Complete Series recently? And can recommend a supplier that will pack the set well before mailing?

 

[Harry-N]

There were five episodes with Jacqueline Scott in THE FUGITIVE. The first was S1's "Home Is The Hunted". Then it wasn't until S3 that she returned in "Trial By Fire". The second half of S3 saw her return in "Running Scared", and of course she was in both halves of "The Judgment" final two-parter.

Here are her credit screens from all of those. I post these because it appears that they spelled her name wrong in "Running Scared".

Oops!

 

[ChrisALM]

I really liked Jacqueline Scott in The Fugitive. For me, another excellent casting decision.

 

[Bartman]

The Fugitive: Complete Series DVD boxset arrived. Disc 1 with three episodes played fine. Discs 2 & 3 with four episodes shows aliasing due to Janssen's sportcoat check/plaid moving pattern. This is a temporary artifact, in all other respects the discs are superb.

Is the aliasing unavoidable? Could the disc author have briefly allocated higher bit rate to overcome aliasing?

Do some Blu-ray/DVD players fare better than others when it comes to aliasing, if so, which ones?

 

[Harry-N]

The aliasing is normal for DVDs on high definition TVs. Back in the days when these shows were made, they were filmed for NTSC TVs with relatively low resolution, broadcast in analog signals, and seen on mostly 19" CRT tubes.

The higher resolution scans that CBS did for THE FUGITIVE will bring out the sharpness in stripes and herringbone patterns. It's normal. If it bothers you, you could try turning down the sharpness control on your TV, but really, it's normal.

 

[BobO'Link]

That effect was actually worse on CRT TVs. When I took directing/producing in college one of the topics was avoiding certain patterns so as to not see these effects on screen.

 

[ScottRE]

I am sure I said this before long ago, but the restoration work CBS did on the series was incredible. If we never get a Blu Ray release in our lifetime, I'm perfectly happy with the DVDs. The blacks are lush and deep and the detail is all around amazing. This series looks incredibly crisp in b&w.

 

[Bartman]

I am sure I said this before long ago, but the restoration work CBS did on the series was incredible. If we never get a Blu Ray release in our lifetime, I'm perfectly happy with the DVDs. The blacks are lush and deep and the detail is all around amazing. This series looks incredibly crisp in b&w.

I'm perfectly happy with my Fugitive DVDs too, I was just wondering about aliasing in general and, my Sony Blu-ray player is due for replacement (perhaps an upgrade to UHD?) so I was wondering if my AV system could be improved to better handle aliasing?

Can the aliased artifacts be unfolded (as is done in MQA audio) resulting in a cleaner looking image?

How about upscaling? At the moment the player outputs 1080p that is upscaled to 2160p in my LG OLED TV. Will a UHD player generating 2160p directly improve the picture quality?