The Invaders on Bu ray...When?!!! (1 Viewer)

[Harry-N]

I had an ancient VHS of that INVADERS sequel movie with Scott Bakula and later found it on a LaserDisc.

I saved the FOX-TV wrap-around promos and stuck them up on YouTube:

Part 1


Part 2


The CBS DVDs of THE INVADERS need a bit of tender loving care in remastering. The first "aired" episode is a time-sped version. The unaired pilot is at the correct speed. Other episodes in that first season have way too much color saturation, and one has insert footage from a lesser source.

 

[Capt D McMars]

There are a lot of streaming networks where it could have a home. It doesn't have to be expensive to work.

Agreed, and with the advanced tech that they didn't have then, and again some decent writers...

 

[ScottRE]

I had an ancient VHS of that INVADERS sequel movie with Scott Bakula and later found it on a LaserDisc.

I saved the FOX-TV wrap-around promos and stuck them up on YouTube:

Part 1


Part 2


The CBS DVDs of THE INVADERS need a bit of tender loving care in remastering. The first "aired" episode is a time-sped version. The unaired pilot is at the correct speed. Other episodes in that first season have way too much color saturation, and one has insert footage from a lesser source.

They probably worked with what they had. Even Star Trek's current Blu Rays are sourced from a variety of masters. If you know where to look, you can see the color and detail shifts. They did a great job for the most part, but the seams do show. Okay fine, I'll ruin one episode: The Omega Glory. The teaser scene on the bridge.

If this was a VEI release or some other outsource, then I would say CBS held back good prints, but they probably got out the best copies without going back to do a major cleanup. Still better than a Mill Creek Cram-O-Thon, but not nearly the quality of The Fugitive.

 

[jcroy]

There are a lot of streaming networks where it could have a home. It doesn't have to be expensive to work.

A recent precedent of a "paranoia" style show which is a remake, is Condor on little known cable/streaming channels Audience (2018 season 1) and Epix (2020 season 2). It is loosely based on Three Days of the Condor book and 1975 movie.

Condor (TV series) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Audience ceased operations in 2020, while Epix was bought out and rebranded as MGM+.

 

[jcroy]

Unfortunatly McGuyver, Magnum P.I. and Hawaii Five-O where all axed from the Paramount+ lineup....made no sense to me but!!!

(As an aside).

Interesting.

Wonder if Viacom/Universal has found somebody to buy an exclusive off-network syndication rights contract to these shows. A non-exclusive contract likely wouldn't have led to these three shows being taken off Paramount+

 

[Capt D McMars]

(As an aside).

Interesting.

Wonder if Viacom/Universal has found somebody to buy an exclusive off-network syndication rights contract to these shows. A non-exclusive contract likely wouldn't have led to these three shows being taken off Paramount+

These were all shows that I regularly watched, along with NCIS New Orleans was given the "U Gone!!" treatment by Paramount+...something happened???

 

[ScottRE]

Even the Star Trek movies all moved off Paramount+ and onto HBO Max and Prime. Which is really kinda odd.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Even the Star Trek movies all moved off Paramount+ and onto HBO Max and Prime. Which is really kinda odd.

it feels like...

 

[Harry-N]

The story is the HBO Max had arranged to license the Trek films on an exclusive basis, so Paramount took them off of their own service for the time that HBO has them for. I'm sure they'll be back some day. But that's the way this streaming stuff goes. You cannot rely on any one subscription service to always have what you want and when you want it. And that's why most of us here on the HTF so value our hard copies on Blu-ray, etc.

 

[Harry-N]

And though I somewhat value the sequel miniseries for THE INVADERS, largely it was a failure. It strayed WAY too much from the original premise, and frankly, it was a bit strange. The attempted modernization of it didn't work.

And that's what I fear from any attempted reboot of the series. It won't be the same, as whoever attempts it tries to put their own stamp on it, so I am not eager for anyone to try.

 

[albert_m2]

The streaming services seem to licence from other companies which is somewhat ironic. More so as the big ones seem to have over extended their budgets and pairing things down.

I wondered a couple years ago how Sony would survive not joining the streaming channel wars and now in some ways, it looks wise, as they simply profit from licensing out their titles without having to deal with subscribers and channel overheard etc.

 

[Harry-N]

I always found it interesting that Diane Baker and J.D. Cannon were cast in both THE FUGITIVE finale and THE INVADERS pilot.

 

[ScottRE]

QM front loaded his show with the best of his stock company and did the same with the high profile Fugitive finale.

 

[jcroy]

The streaming services seem to licence from other companies which is somewhat ironic. More so as the big ones seem to have over extended their budgets and pairing things down.

I wondered a couple years ago how Sony would survive not joining the streaming channel wars and now in some ways, it looks wise, as they simply profit from licensing out their titles without having to deal with subscribers and channel overheard etc.

More than a decade ago, it was very much like this with services like Netflix. They didn't have much of a deep catalog which they owned outright. Hence they had to license from the movie companies which owned the actual content.

In the case of HBO licensing Star Trek movies, that seems to be a headscratcher. Does Warner not have enough of their own content to attract enough subscribers?

 

[JoshuaB.]

I revisit The Invaders from time to time and enjoy its paranoid feel. Paramount’s home video department seems very scatterbrained in its recent approach to Blu-ray releases of its classic TV shows: A complete release of The Andy Griffith Show (years after the the first season had been released with a ridiculously high MSRP, but no complete release of I Love Lucy, which had the first two seasons released at the time of Andy Griffith S1), Mission: Impossible, Hogan’s Heroes, and Frasier are mostly head scratching. Mission: Impossible makes sense to ride the coat tails of the Tom Cruise movies, but the others are a bit mystifying, other than they had HD prints ready for release. I’m not criticizing those shows, but they aren’t exactly the types of shows that are successful on Blu-ray. Genre shows tend to sell better on Blu-ray, so The Invaders would be a no-brainer for release (I also don’t understand how Halo gets a 4K release, but none of the new Star Trek shows get 4K releases). Since Kino Lorber has a licensing deal with Paramount, I’d love to see them acquire some TV shows like The Invaders or The Fugitive , as they’ve done a great job with Outer Limits, Buck Rogers, Night Gallery, and Kolchak. I don’t know if there are any TV shows in the deal, but we know Paramount has licensed shows (albeit with shoddy prints) to VEI.

 

[Capt D McMars]

View attachment 162735

I always found it interesting that Diane Baker and J.D. Cannon were cast in both THE FUGITIVE finale and THE INVADERS pilot.

One of the nice bonus tracks in Season 2 boxset was this added episode "Beachead" broadcasted on 1/10/67. in the Box set they added the extended pilot version. And promos for the never completed Invaders Season 3.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I revisit The Invaders from time to time and enjoy its paranoid feel. Paramount’s home video department seems very scatterbrained in its recent approach to Blu-ray releases of its classic TV shows: A complete release of The Andy Griffith Show (years after the the first season had been released with a ridiculously high MSRP, but no complete release of I Love Lucy, which had the first two seasons released at the time of Andy Griffith S1), Mission: Impossible, Hogan’s Heroes, and Frasier are mostly head scratching. Mission: Impossible makes sense to ride the coat tails of the Tom Cruise movies, but the others are a bit mystifying, other than they had HD prints ready for release. I’m not criticizing those shows, but they aren’t exactly the types of shows that are successful on Blu-ray. Genre shows tend to sell better on Blu-ray, so The Invaders would be a no-brainer for release (I also don’t understand how Halo gets a 4K release, but none of the new Star Trek shows get 4K releases). Since Kino Lorber has a licensing deal with Paramount, I’d love to see them acquire some TV shows like The Invaders or The Fugitive , as they’ve done a great job with Outer Limits, Buck Rogers, Night Gallery, and Kolchak. I don’t know if there are any TV shows in the deal, but we know Paramount has licensed shows (albeit with shoddy prints) to VEI.

I'd love to see that, but I'm getting the feeling that Kino is moving away from the TV shows and veering into a more eccletic, more international BD releases. Looking back to the earlier Kino days they were pretty exstensive with their releases of TV shows, but not so much today. Many are now oop.

It seems this genre has been taken on by the questionable crew at Mill Creek. Their inconsistencies and habit of cost cutting to save them$$, offers a sliding scale of PQ and presentaion...

 

[Capt D McMars]

More than a decade ago, it was very much like this with services like Netflix. They didn't have much of a deep catalog which they owned outright. Hence they had to license from the movie companies which owned the actual content.

In the case of HBO licensing Star Trek movies, that seems to be a headscratcher. Does Warner not have enough of their own content to attract enough subscribers?

Well Netflix has seen a definate downturn in their subscribers, me among them....that might be the reason, or at least one reason why...?

 

[Harry-N]

Another case of two actors being paired in both THE FUGITIVE and THE INVADERS are Anne Francis and Charles Drake.

In THE FUGITIVE, you can find them in "The Man That Got Away"

In THE INVADERS, these two show up in "The Saucer" episode.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Another case of two actors being paired in both THE FUGITIVE and THE INVADERS are Anne Francis and Charles Drake.

In THE FUGITIVE, you can find them in "The Man That Got Away"
View attachment 162740

In THE INVADERS, these two show up in "The Saucer" episode.
View attachment 162742

One of my favorite episodes is wirg guset star Susanne Pleshette in the episode "the Mutation"