Spielberg's Taken - Specs, Cover & Disc Art (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Mirza]

DreamWorks Home Entertainment has just announced Steven Spielberg Presents Taken. This mammoth alien abduction mini-series, which originally aired last year on the Sci FI Channel, will land in stores on October 21st.

The six-disc set will feature anamorphic widescreen transfers, English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, and a slew of subtitles options. Episodes include (DISC 1) Volume One - Roswell: The Landing, (DISC 2) Volume Two - A New Generation, (DISC 3) Volume Three - Abductions & Government Conspiracies, (DISC 4) Volume Four - Alien Contact, and (DISC 5) Volume Five - The Gift. The sixth disc will be reserved for bonus features to be announced shortly.

Retail is $119.99, with a minimum advertised price of $89.99.

(sorry about the largeness of this scan... it's going to throw the width of this post way off)

 

[David Lambert]

Yep...also available for preorder at DVDPlanet for $83.99 (MAP be damned, I guess! ).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

You've just made my day. One of the great television events period. Even at that price tag, it's mine no questions asked.

 

[Joshua_Y]

Never watched it...but its Speilberg and I will buy it!

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

Hmm, surprised the price tag is so high beit a Sci-Fi series rather than an HBO series. But being that it's a Spielberg production I guess that's expected. Band of Brothers both an HBO and a Spielberg production was quite expensive as well. I paid $90 for mine for an Amazon pre-order while Amazon quickly dropped their price to like $68 IIRC, but now it's back up to $90 I see.

I don't know if I'll buy this set or not. My 63-year old father watched it, but I didn't. Although he's a big classic sci-fi fan from way back in his life (Asimov fan), he wasn't really blown away by this series.

 

[Dharmesh C]

More extras than the R2?

 

[James Reader]

More extras than the R2?

I would imagine so (note the UK 6th disc is labeled "Bonus Feature" not "Features"), but I would suspect nothing of any concequence. I was hoping the US release would have commentary tracks (especially Tobe Hooper on the first episode) but it looks like that's not going to happen. I don't expect the 6th disc to hold anything dramatic.

Personally I prefer the UK disc naming:

1) Roswell 1940's - 50's
2) The JFK Years 1960's
3) 1970's - 1990's
4) The Present part 1
5) The Present part 2
6) Bonus Feature (Inside Taken documentary)

 

[Dan Rudolph]

The price is a bit of a disappointment. Based on recent TV-on-DVD releases, I was hoping for an MSRP of $80 or so. Guess i'll be getting this one used.

 

[PaulP]

Nice. But I might have to get it from Canada. Do DreamWorks do bilingual covers?

 

[John Berggren]

You didn't think a Spielberg project would carry the same price tag as a standard TV on DVD release did you?

What's the release date on this one?

 

[David Lambert]

10/21

 

[Dan Rudolph]

A standard release would have a $60 MSRP. I knew it would be more, but hoping it wouldn't be that much more.

 

[johnbr]

Bummer on the no DTS do's this mean that he is moving a way from it.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

As there are about 3 hours of material on each disc, DTS probably just didn't fit.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

In NZ, we are up to episode six, and I've enjoyed it so far. Don't know whether it would be a must-buy, but I would definitely consider it. The frustrating this is, with the constant replacement of actors as they grow older, whenever a new actor turns up, it takes a minute for me to realise who the new actor is supposed to be.

One question - the titles for each disc may me wonder whether the two episodes on each disc have been re-edited into one 3-hour show. Does anyone know whether this has happened, or whether each disc title is a covering title for the two episodes in that disc.

 

[Jack_TN]

Sign me up! I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Another addition to my extensive collection:

LOTR

Hey, I just got a DVD player last week!

Jack

 

[James Reader]

Supplements for Taken revealed in DVD Exclusive Magazine

The 10-episode series is on five discs, with a sixth disc filled with bonus materials. It's the first TV series from DreamWorks to reach DVD.

Spielberg will talk about his inspirations for the project in the featurette The Cast of Taken, and the special effects will be explored in A New Reality: The Visual Effects Team.

The 10 directors—a different one for each episode—discuss their individual approaches in A Singular Vision: The Directors, while Time Warp documents how the production team captured the changing decade. More behind-the-scenes info can be found in Inside Taken.

The currently released R2 set only includes the documentary Inside Taken on the 6th disc. So once again the rule seems to be early UK release - less extras. The same rule which seems to apply to late UK releases too. Can we ever win?

 

[John DrakeLaw]

The currently released R2 set only includes the documentary Inside Taken on the 6th disc. So once again the rule seems to be early UK release - less extras. The same rule which seems to apply to late UK releases too. Can we ever win?

Also I've seen the R2 one quoted as DD 2.0, don't know if this is correct? Better price though, seems to be about $65 inc online. Loved the series but waiting for more R1/R2 comparisions before purchasing.

 

[James Reader]

Its DD 2.0 or DD 5.1 Ex English language soundtracks only (and only English subtitles too). Unusual for a UK release.

Perhaps this mean's our European neighbours may receive their own versions with the US supplements as well?

 

[DeborahK]

Yikes -- that is one expensive little number!!

I was very disappointed to see the cost, but I will probably look around for the best on-line price I can find, swallow hard, and order it. I only got to see a few of the episodes when they aired on SCiFi but what I saw I really loved. I thought I had heard that it was going to be released in April, and when it wasn't I was hoping we wouldn't have to wait too long to see it. But I never expected it to be so expesive! Better start saving those pennies -- at least I am now all done buying The X-Files sets so I have a little more DVD money.

Deborah