The Fugitive on blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[ljgranberry]

With the release of I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show on blu-ray, I was curious - does anyone know if there are any plans to release The Fugitive on blu-ray? And if so, hopefully in its original form, with the original music, as CBS finally got right on the complete series box set?

 

[Sam Favate]

Would love to see it. Unfortunately, the Fugitive seems to have been a headache for CBS, and I'd venture a guess they're happy to have releases of the show behind them. That said, if they could turn a profit with a blu-ray release, it could happen. There's only a window of a few years for this, though, as I doubt any studio will be putting out blu-rays of old TV shows in 5 or 10 years time.

 

[dana martin]

from the latest CBS Syndication BibleThe information in this package is subject to change and was last updated 03/09/10. This series is not closed-captioned for the syndication version and is mono. Network version cc exists for Seasons 1, 2 & 3 only.This series has Latin American Spanish tracks for network.This series has been transferred into HD and has the following masters: Network 4x3 HDso the possibility exist guess we just have to wait and see

 

[jimmyjet]

There's only a window of a few years for this, though, as I doubt any studio will be putting out blu-rays of old TV shows in 5 or 10 years time.

why do you think this ? my first thought is that we would see a blu-ray of the fugitive, unless there is some technical difficulty.

 

[Carabimero]

This would make a great Blu-Ray release.

 

[smithbrad]

To me it seems like a "no-brainer" to come out on blu-ray at some point. The fact that they put so much effort in it to finally get it right is a plus for a blu-ray release not a minus, especially since the majority of the work has already been done. With TAGS and ILL CBS went to the trouble to work in new extras for a blu-ray release to help convince many to double dip. Maybe they are trying to work that angle again with The Fugitive, and it has delayed any plans for a release in the immediate future.

 

[LeoA]

I agree with Brad, I think this one is all but a guarantee if CBS continues with vintage tv on Blu-Ray releases.

 

[JeffT.]

I would like to see the epilogue narrative for THE FUGITIVE (ABC 1963-67) episode "The Judgement," Part Two (28/09/1967) restored to its original "Tuesday, August 28th, the day the running stopped."

If you read THE AVENGERS (ABC 1966-69) discussion thread there is the possibility of remastering in bluray a widescreen image from the original 35mm print negatives (at least for this 1960s classic television show) so an upgrading into this higher medium can pose its problems and challenges.

Right now the older tv series releases in bluray tend to be somewhat letterboxed on the left and right sides and if somewhere down the line that this can be improved upon with a more exacting and all-inclusive widescreen image then it could become necessary for yet another issue (or release).

How many more times are loyal fans expected to shell out for their favourite classic tv series?! Perhaps it is (still) too premature to anticipate a bluray release.

I wish I had waited for the complete (and corrected) most wanted edition magaset of THE FUGITIVE! And that's pretty much the point that I am attempting to address. One never knows what they will come up next.

 

[Ian K McLachlan]

Unfortunately here in the UK only the first season of The Fugitive was released on DVD. It would be great to see a bluray release here.

 

[Carabimero]

There are some posts on YouTube that claim to be 720p. They don't look it to me. Maybe someone else can confirm or deny.

 

[LeoA]

Hard to tell with YouTube compression, but that doesn't look like it started out at HD to me. My money is on the YouTube user that uploaded it having upscaled what he took off DVD before submitting it.

 

[Carabimero]

Exactly what I thought. Sometimes a good black and white transfer in SD can almost look HD. One of the great things about black and white.

 

[Craig Beam]

If you read THE AVENGERS (ABC 1966-69) discussion thread there is the possibility of remastering in bluray a widescreen image from the original 35mm print negatives (at least for this 1960s classic television show) so an upgrading into this higher medium can pose its problems and challenges.

Right now the older tv series releases in bluray tend to be somewhat letterboxed on the left and right sides and if somewhere down the line that this can be improved upon with a more exacting and all-inclusive widescreen image then it could become necessary for yet another issue (or release).

Who the hell would want The Fugitive in widescreen? It's 1.33:1. Period.

 

[Brian Himes]

I would like to see the epilogue narrative for THE FUGITIVE (ABC 1963-67) episode "The Judgement," Part Two (28/09/1967) restored to its original "Tuesday, August 28th, the day the running stopped."

I thought that this was the ending narration that appears on the Most Wanted Edition version of the last episode. I read somewhere that it was decided by the fans that this was the ending that they wanted in order to preserve the original broadcast aspect of the series. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll have to double check my set.

 

[TravisR]

Who the hell would want The Fugitive in widescreen? It's 1.33:1. Period.

If you go into the "TV shows Gone Wide" and an Avengers thread, there's someone spreading the idea that 4x3 shows are really meant to be seen at 16x9 because there's some empty space on the sides of the frame. After months of back and forth debate, I've basically given up and just hope that no one believes it.

 

[LeoA]

Judging by everyone's reaction here, nobody believes what he's trying to spread. So I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Ron1973]

Judging by everyone's reaction here, nobody believes what he's trying to spread. So I wouldn't worry too much.

My understanding is there are 16x9 masters for Hogan's Heroes that are cropped severely and wound up on Universal HD a few years ago. I've never saw them but a former coworker said it's awful. I do NOT get the point.

 

[LeoA]

Some people have a black bar fetish. They spend all that money on a tv and think they're not getting their money's worth if every inch of real estate isn't used.

It originally manifested itself in pan & scan butchering of widescreen movies and now we're getting the opposite where 4:3 or Academy ratio content are cropped to fill 16:9 screens or 16:9 material has the edges lopped off for SD channels. ABC for instance does this with their IndyCar broadcasts as does NBC with their F1 broadcasts (where as F1 or IndyCar on NBC Sports is correctly letterboxed 16:9 if you're watching the SD channel).

Sometimes, they don't even crop but instead stretch which is even worse. I notice that with archival footage on the PBS show 'The Aviators' from time to time. Nice little show about aviation, but the distortion on the historical footage stinks. For instance, they had a shot of the turret of a battleship a year or so and the openings of the 16" barrels were ovals instead of circular because of this.

Sad...

 

[JeffT.]

If this widescreen business pertaining to the older tv series is a myth (and I am not saying that it is) then it should be dispelled. I not saying that these things should be artificially adapted to widescreen but that's not what is being proposed in THE AVENGERS discussion thread. We are being told that the full image has not been made available and a widescreen presentation will (positively) facilitate this deficiency.

There was a discussion forum member here who was opposed to The Bowery Boys films being made available in their original widescreen theatrical format which is the other extreme.

Jeff T.

 

[Sam Favate]

Some people have a black bar fetish. They spend all that money on a tv and think they're not getting their money's worth if every inch of real estate isn't used.

I have a friend who bought an HD TV shortly after they first came out, had a DVD player hooked up. His wife bought lots of movies for them and their kids. Looking through their collection one day, I asked "Why is everything you've bought full screen?!?" His wife looked at me curiously and said "Duh! Because I want it to FILL the SCREEN!"