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Tales of the Gold Monkey in the works ? (1 Viewer)

TV_Fan

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Wow, I didn't even know Jeff MacKay died until I read it here. That's a shame. I just really hope Universal or someone released TOTGM. Whoever does it needs to include a tribute to him & Roddy McDowall.
I want this show on DVD so badly (it's my 2nd most wanted) I'd buy it barebones. I want this to see an official release! I'm still holding out hope that someday it will be released. Universal has a good track record with one and two season shows-Earth 2, Jack Of All Trades, Voyagers, Battlestar Galaactica (original), Buck Rogers, Cleopatra 2525, etc.
 

RickER

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I didnt know he died either. He seemed like a fun everyman kind of guy. He was in a ton of Glen Larson, and later Bellasaius stuff.

IMDB doesnt have anything on his death.
 

todd s

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DVDiva,

While not as good as fresh new commentary. Did you happen to get any interviews with Jeff? Maybe, they could use that in an eventual release. And count me in as someone who didn't hear that he passed. I enjoyed him on Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Also, IMDB.com does have his passing listed as last Friday Aug.22nd. :frowning:
 

David Lambert

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Well, since I'm the one who started the rumors, I figured I ought to follow up and find out why. I've actually had this info for a while now, but I wasn't sure if I should post it for reasons explained at the end of the story I just put up. This thread convinced me to move forward with it, but only with the unanimous agreement of all of my anonymous informants.

Pat/DVDiva, I also working in a mention of your site, too. Sorry to hear about Jeff MacKay. :frowning:

Tales of the Gold Monkey DVD news: DVD Release on Hold | TVShowsOnDVD.com
 

Aryn Leroux

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Dave: thanks for the update, i will keep my fingers crossed that something will develop in the future to get this show out there. They really let a golden chance slip through there fingers here.
 

Jeff Willis

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Dave,

Thanks for the "Gold Monkey" update. This one's been on my list for a long time. Interesting info about "Shogun". That's one of my all-time miniseries from that "super-mini-series" era. I'm glad that the exec was wrong (ain't never gonna happen") :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Jeff*H

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Very unfortunate news (both about Jeff MacKay AND the stalled DVD release), as I love this show.

Once again, the real winners here as far as the DVDs are concerned: the bootleggers.
 

TV_Fan

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I really want this set badly and it's a shame the masters are in such apprently bad shape. I wonder why? I guess Voyagers from the same era was in better shape since they released that.

I really think one day they will release TOTGM (hoping at least). Maybe it's a good sign that they won't license it out. I have a feeling though that if/when they do release it there will be no extras. They'll probably think the cost to restore it will be too high to also include extras.

RIP Jeff MacKay
 

Alex cosmo

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Hmm, why would the episodes be in worse shape than something like Buck Rogers, which is older and from the same studio? I hope they work it out, if they have to split it into 2 volumes, so be it.
 

DVDiva

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I had the same thoughts that you guys had when I read Dave's article (Thanks for the mention). How could Tales of the Gold Monkey be in far worse shape than other Uni shows of the era like Voyagers and Buck Rogers? Plus, the show has aired in the US as recently as 2000 and still pops up in foreign syndication. I wonder if this has something to do with the rumors I've heard about GE slashing USHE's budget. Perhaps they had the money back then to remaster Voyagers and Buck Rogers, but they don't have the money now. This could explain why Universal still hasn't released the first two seasons of Earth: Final Conflict. I know they were working on that project at the same time as the aborted Gold Monkey set, and Earth: Final Conflict must be in better shape since it's only about 10 years old. Hey, Dave, had you heard anything more on the Earth: Final Conflict saga?
 

Aryn Leroux

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Just bug the studio on a daily basis for this title and never let up... Scrap the extras, it would have been great, but i just want this show.
 

Jack Cleveland

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I too think this is a shame. I never saw the show, but love Indy, action adventure stories and pulp fiction, so I'm sure I would enjoy this program.

And, with it only being one season, it's complete and a good blind buy!

Reconsider this one Universal!

Jack
 

Alex cosmo

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Did any more info come out about the restoration problems for this show? (was it in particularly worse shape than other shows, or is it that they just don't want to spend the money that is normally needed?)
 

Aryn Leroux

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it would be nice to see, i managed to find some old copies of about a dozen episodes on betamax. But they are in poor shape. Shout Factory! perhaps can come to the rescue here ?
 

Timothy E

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This is one set that I would purchase day and date upon release. Are you listening, Universal? ;)
 

DVDiva

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Finally some good news regarding Tales of the Gold Monkey on DVD. I spoke to Richard Walker of Fabulous Films today. His company has purchased the DVD rights for the UK and Australia. He hopes to have a 6 disc set (the complete series and to be determined extras) available before Christmas 2009.

Regarding the rumors about problems with the masters and Universal refusing to sell the rights to any company that would not pay for remastering, he knew nothing about that. He hasn't seen the masters and hopes to receive them next week, but he assumes they are fine as no one at Universal has told him otherwise. The major issue seems to be music clearances. About 2/3 of the episodes still need clearances for the incidental background music playing in the Monkey Bar and other places. The rights have been secured from the music publishers, but the performers, whose clearance is also needed, aren't listed anywhere. Mr. Walker will be doing some research into this matter, but if all else fails, he plans to have the music rerecorded. If Universal wanted to go ahead with a US DVD release, they could get the music clearances through Fabulous Films.

I hope to hear back from Mr. Walker once he receives the masters and any other material from Universal. If the masters are in decent shape and since the music issue would have been a relatively easy fix for Universal, then what's their problem with producing or selling the license for a Region 1 set? Brian Ward from Shout! Factory posted an interesting comment about 6 months ago in reply to a request that Shout! put out a Tales of the Gold Monkey DVD set, "Believe me, we've tried and tried again. There is no real likelihood of Tales of the Gold Monkey hitting DVD for reasons I'm not really at liberty to go into." I may be reading more into it than was intended, but that sounds like it's more of a legal issue than a technical one.

Oh well, I've been thinking about buying a multiregion DVD player anyway.
 

Jeff Willis

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Pat,

Thanks for the update on this one. I'd probably get the R2/4 set if there's not much music editing but I haven't seen this show since it originally aired so any music subs wouldn't impact me as much as a diehard fan of the show.

Speaking for myself, you can't go wrong with getting a Region-free player. I bought my 1st one about 3 years ago and it's paid for itself many times with TV/DVD's (and movies) not available in R1.
 

Gary OS

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Originally Posted by Jeff Willis

Pat,

Thanks for the update on this one. I'd probably get the R2/4 set if there's not much music editing but I haven't seen this show since it originally aired so any music subs wouldn't impact me as much as a diehard fan of the show.

Speaking for myself, you can't go wrong with getting a Region-free player. I bought my 1st one about 3 years ago and it's paid for itself many times with TV/DVD's (and movies) not available in R1.

Ditto to everything Jeff said. While I'm generally a purist about music clearance issues, I can't remember much about this show since it's been... what?... 25+ years since I've seen this show. I'd quickly jump on a R2/R4 release just to revisit the series.

Gary "about the only thing I remember about this one is that I definitely enjoyed it while in high school" O.
 

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