Universal Studios & Warner Brothers Reissued DVD Sets (3 Viewers)

[jcroy]

I looked further on barnesandnoble's web site for some more information about the recent Dukes of Hazzard and Kung-Fu re-released/repackaged season sets.

The scant information available which was useful, was only for a few of these sets:

Dukes of Hazzard - season 1 and season 4
Kung-Fu - season 3

In the two 2017 repackaged/re-released Dukes sets, the b&n listings mentioned they were reauthored into four or five episodes per disc. (Season 1 was a 3-disc set, while season 4 was a 6-disc set).

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-dukes-of-hazzard-the-complete-fourth-season/31724027
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-dukes-of-hazzard-the-complete-first-season/31724026

For the Kung-Fu season 3 set, the barnesandnoble listing asserts it is a 6-disc set which is reauthored with four episodes per disc. (The original 2005 version had four double-sided flipper discs, with three episodes per flipper face side).

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-kung-fu-the-complete-third-season/31724034

 

[jcroy]

On March 6, 2018, all the original Dallas season sets are being re-released. Though no word yet on whether they will be single-sided discs.

https://www.amazon.com/Dallas-Complete-First-Second-Seasons/dp/B07894H9R3

https://www.amazon.com/Dallas-Complete-Fourteenth-Cliff-Fenneman/dp/B0788XQ5SC

(Too many to list).

 

[jcroy]

Seasons 1 and 2 of the West Wing are being individually re-released as 7-disc sets on January 17, 2018.

https://www.amazon.com/West-Wing-Complete-First-Season/dp/B0788XQ1BV/
https://www.amazon.com/West-Wing-Complete-Second-Season/dp/B0789TKQNN/

7-discs would be consistent with replicating the old flipper disc faces into single-sided discs.

(No word yet on whether season 3 will also be re-released as single-sided discs. Probably likely).

 

[jcroy]

In the case of the recent single-sided discs re-released version of Kung-Fu season 1, a recent review on amazon asserts the episodes are in the original full-screen aspect ratio and the pilot movie in included.

Previous amazon reviews of the older double-sided flipper disc version of season 1, had some complaints about season 1 being done as cropped "fake widescreen".

 

[bmasters9]

On March 6, 2018, all the original Dallas season sets are being re-released. Though no word yet on whether they will be single-sided discs.

https://www.amazon.com/Dallas-Complete-First-Second-Seasons/dp/B07894H9R3

https://www.amazon.com/Dallas-Complete-Fourteenth-Cliff-Fenneman/dp/B0788XQ5SC

(Too many to list).

I hope they're not what Fox Home Entertainment did w/Remington Steele-- keepcases w/doubles.

 

[Mr. Handley]

On March 6, 2018, all the original Dallas season sets are being re-released. Though no word yet on whether they will be single-sided discs.

https://www.amazon.com/Dallas-Complete-First-Second-Seasons/dp/B07894H9R3

https://www.amazon.com/Dallas-Complete-Fourteenth-Cliff-Fenneman/dp/B0788XQ5SC

(Too many to list).

Oh PLEASE let these be single-sided discs!!!

 

[BobO'Link]

In the case of the recent single-sided discs re-released version of Kung-Fu season 1, a recent review on amazon asserts the episodes are in the original full-screen aspect ratio and the pilot movie in included.

Previous amazon reviews of the older double-sided flipper disc version of season 1, had some complaints about season 1 being done as cropped "fake widescreen".

That's good news! While the "fake widescreen" isn't quite as bad as I'd anticipated, it's not OAR, which is what I prefer. I'll definitely be looking at this upgrade.

 

[jcroy]

What's currently unknown is whether Warner will re-author all the Dallas discs, like what was done for The Waltons seasons 1 to 7.

My guess is for seasons 10 to 13, they will probably just replicate the flipper disc faces into six single-sided discs per set, since the original double-sided flipper disc versions were each 3-disc sets.

If Warner is too lazy and/or considers it too expensive to reauthor all the seasons 1/2 to 9 sets of Dallas, then these would be huge 8, 9, or 10 discs sets.

 

[jcroy]

If these Dallas re-releases pan out and are indeed single-sided discs, then the remaining Warner flipper sets (excluding Hanna-Barbera and other animated titles) not yet re-released as single sided discs are:

Without a Trace - season 1

MadTV - season 1

The Waltons - seasons 8 and 9

the original V - two movies + season 1

 

[jcroy]

Another re-release of Scooby Doo Where Are You complete series, being released on Feb 13, 2018 as a 7-disc set.

https://www.amazon.com/Scooby-Doo-Where-Are-You-Complete/dp/B0788YMYG3/

According to the mockup image of the back cover on amazon, it lists all the special features which are consistent with the previous older seasons 1+2 and 3 sets and the previous complete series (with the "mystery machine" box packaging).

Most likely these are the same discs from the older sets, and NOT the Diamond Collection versions released earlier this year. (From reading the mockup images of the back covers of the Diamond Collection versions, they don't mention any special features and the season 1+2 set is "disc reduced").

The original 2007 version of Scooby Doo Where Are You season 3 was a 2-disc set where the second disc was a double-sided flipper disc. The previous complete series sets just replicated the second flipper disc sides into two single-sided discs.

 

[jcroy]

Another re-release of The Flintstones complete series, being released on February 13, 2018 as a 20-disc set.

https://www.amazon.com/Flintstones-Complete-Joseph-Barbera/dp/B0788XWK24/

The 20-discs count would be consistent with a bundling of all the Diamond Collection reauthored disc-reduced versions released earlier this year which dropped all the special features from the original sets.

 

[jcroy]

Off the top of my head, a list of HB and other Warner cartoon sets which I'm aware of that had double-sided flipper discs (typically the second disc) which have not been re-released yet as single-sided discs.


- Powerpuff Girls: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Collection (six double-sided flipper discs)

https://www.amazon.com/Powerpuff-Girls-Complete-Anniversary-Collection/dp/B001GU04Y0/


- The New Adventures of Batman

https://www.amazon.com/New-Adventures-Batman-Adam-West/dp/B000OPODNG/

- Challenge of The Super Friends: season 1

https://www.amazon.com/Challenge-Super-Friends-Season-1/dp/B00023E88U/


Superman the animated series

volume 1 - https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Animated-Comics-Classic-Collection/dp/B0002ZMHX6/
volume 2 - https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Animated-Comics-Classic-Collection/dp/B000B7QCGS/
volume 3 - https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Animated-Comics-Classic-Collection/dp/B000F4RH8E/

complete series - https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Complete-Animated-Tim-Daly/dp/B002LWJ510/
(complete series set had three double-sided flipper discs and four single-sided discs)

 

[jcroy]

The Powerpuff Girls complete series set appears to be out of print. Perhaps it might be re-released as single-sided discs in the near future.

Lots of complaints in the amazon comments about the cantankerous behavior of the flipper discs from this Powerpuff flipper set.

 

[jcroy]

- The New Adventures of Batman

https://www.amazon.com/New-Adventures-Batman-Adam-West/dp/B000OPODNG/

Hmmm ..... There is an upcoming release of a "double feature" set of The New Adventures of Superman + The New Adventures of Batman, being released on February 13, 2018.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Adventures-Batman-Superman-DBFE/dp/B076W3LDV8/

The amazon listing ^ asserts it will be a 4-disc set, with 36 episodes of Superman and 16 episodes of Batman.

36 episodes would be consistent with season 1 of The New Adventures of Superman set, which had 2 single-sided discs. (The season 2+3 set of The New Adventures of Superman had 32 episodes on two single-sided discs).

16 episodes would be consistent with The New Adventures of Batman complete series set, which originally had 2 discs where the second disc was a double-sided flipper disc. IIRC, sideB of disc2 had no episodes and was just a special feature "retrospective featurette: the dark knight revisited" and some trailers of other then-current Warner animated dvd releases circa mid-2007.


So if Warner does things the lazy way, then they would probably just repress the old sideA of disc2 of The New Adventures of Batman into a single-sided disc, and drop the disc2 sideB featurette altogether.

 

[Mr. Handley]

If Dallas does indeed happen, that will leave just a handful of flippers in my current collection. The biggest ones will still be The Addams Family (S 1-3), Time Tunnel (S 1-2) and The Waltons (S 8-9). Some of the more minor ones, I doubt will ever see a single-sided re-release.

 

[jcroy]

If Dallas does indeed happen, that will leave just a handful of flippers in my current collection. The biggest ones will still be The Addams Family (S 1-3), Time Tunnel (S 1-2) and The Waltons (S 8-9). Some of the more minor ones, I doubt will ever see a single-sided re-release.

The Waltons seasons 8 and 9 would probably be simple enough for Warner to be lazy and just replicate the flipper disc faces into 5 or 6 single-sided discs sets. (IIRC, seasons 8 and 9 were 3-disc sets which had five episodes per flipper disc side).

For Addams Family and Time Tunnel (and also Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of Giants, etc ...), most likely they would be reauthored to reduce the disc count. As to who will do it, is a entirely different question. If Fox was really lazy and just replicated the flipper disc faces into single-sided discs, these half-sets would be huge 6 or 8 disc sets where most of the discs would be single-layer discs with less than 4.5 gigabytes of data.

(More generally).

The only scenario I can see where Fox might be lazy and just replicate the flipper disc faces into single-sided discs (in principle), would be for one-season wonders where the disc count isn't too high. For example, one-season wonders like The Lone Gunmen, or maybe Christy. (Christy appears to be out of print already).

The only known case of something similar happening was season 1 of Louie, which was originally released in 2011 as two BD59 double-sided flipper discs where the bluray version was on one side and the dvd version was on the other side of the same respective flipper disc. (There were two different 2011 versions, where one had bluray style packaging and another had "dvd style" packaging. Both versions had the same BD59 discs).

A few years later in late-2013, Fox re-released the Louie season 1 set where the 2013 dvd version just replicated the dvd faces into two single-sided dvd discs, while the 2013 bluray version replicated the bluray faces into two single-sided bluray discs.

 

[jcroy]

For Addams Family and Time Tunnel (and also Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of Giants, etc ...), most likely they would be reauthored to reduce the disc count. As to who will do it, is a entirely different question. If Fox was really lazy and just replicated the flipper disc faces into single-sided discs, these sets would be huge 6 or 8 disc sets where most of the discs would be single-layer discs with less than 4.5 gigabytes of data.

At this point, what will happen is probably dependent on whether or not Disney buys up Fox.

Though regardless of what happens with this merger, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox (or MGM) is looking for somebody to outsource these old flipper sets to.

If MGM has some decent enough looking hd transfers, in principle they could try outsourcing The Addams Family to somebody else such as Olive or Kino Lorber for a possible bluray version. (Kino is doing the original Outer Limits and Olive did Flipper, both MGM shows on bluray).

For the Irwin Allen properties originally released by Fox as double-sided DVD14 flipper discs, at this point I suspect Fox is looking to somebody to outsource them to. If Fox has any decent hd quality transfers for Voyage, Giants, and Time Tunnel, I suppose somebody like Kino or Olive could do bluray versions. If Fox doesn't have any decent hd transfers and is not willing to make new ones, then I have no idea who would be interested in re-releasing these old flipper sets as reauthored single-sided discs (other than maybe Mill Creek).

 

[Rick Thompson]

The flippers I want gone, both Fox, are Remington Steele and The White Shadow. Plus St. Elsewhere, but as a complete series set. Those, plus a couple of random Universals, are the only flippers I have.

 

[jcroy]

The flippers I want gone, both Fox, are Remington Steele and The White Shadow. Plus St. Elsewhere, but as a complete series set.

As I mentioned before in this thread, the only likely way we'll ever see a region1 single-sided discs re-release of Remington Steele and The Pretender, would be Fox re-releasing them most likely as re-authored 4-episodes per single-sided disc. (ie. Similar to what was done for the single-sided discs re-release of Bones season 1). Other than Mill Creek, I don't know if anybody else is willing to re-release complete series sets of stuff where Fox has already released all the seasons previously and is still in-print.

The White Shadow would probably also require an extensive re-authoring to significantly reduce the disc count in a single-sided discs re-release. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox is waiting for somebody like Shout Factory or Olive to outsource this flipper mess to, and also releasing season 3.

Up until this point, Fox only seems to be willing to outsource their tv shows to Shout Factory or Olive.

Though a potential wild card is whether Disney ends up buying up Fox. If this merger ends up happening, then another possibility is Disney/Fox owned shows being outsourced to VEI. Recently some less popular Disney/ABC owned shows were outsourced and released by VEI, such as: Galavant, The Whispers, and Grandfathered.

Since VEI has a consistent pattern of authoring their own discs, then a hypothetical Disney/Fox outsourcing of something like St Elsewhere or The White Shadow would be definitely be done as complete series sets of single-sided discs by VEI. Though the unknown variable in this, is whether VEI will author these sets as 4-episodes or 6-episodes per single-sided disc.

For example, this 6-episodes per disc layout was done for VEI's release of the 1990s version of The Untouchables. (Allegedly there were no 4-episodes per disc versions ever done). Possibly also done this way for Jake and The Fatman.

Some of the older VEI sets were originally done as 4-episodes per disc in the more expensive versions of the complete series sets, while the later low-budget/disc-reduced versions of the same sets were done as 6-episodes or more per disc (such as Cannon, Diagnosis Murder, The Mod Squad, The Equalizer, etc ...).

 

[Rick Thompson]

As I mentioned before in this thread, the only likely way we'll ever see a region1 single-sided discs re-release of Remington Steele and The Pretender, would be Fox re-releasing them most likely as re-authored 4-episodes per single-sided disc. (ie. Similar to what was done for the single-sided discs re-release of Bones season 1). Other than Mill Creek, I don't know if anybody else is willing to re-release complete series sets of stuff where Fox has already released all the seasons previously and is still in-print.

The White Shadow would probably also require an extensive re-authoring to significantly reduce the disc count in a single-sided discs re-release. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Fox is waiting for somebody like Shout Factory or Olive to outsource this flipper mess to, and also releasing season 3.

Up until this point, Fox only seems to be willing to outsource their tv shows to Shout Factory or Olive.

Though a potential wild card is whether Disney ends up buying up Fox. If this merger ends up happening, then another possibility is Disney/Fox owned shows being outsourced to VEI. Recently some less popular Disney/ABC owned shows were outsourced and released by VEI, such as: Galavant, The Whispers, and Grandfathered.

Since VEI has a consistent pattern of authoring their own discs, then a hypothetical Disney/Fox outsourcing of something like St Elsewhere or The White Shadow would be definitely be done as complete series sets of single-sided discs by VEI. Though the unknown variable in this, is whether VEI will author these sets as 4-episodes or 6-episodes per single-sided disc.

For example, this 6-episodes per disc layout was done for VEI's release of the 1990s version of The Untouchables. (Allegedly there were no 4-episodes per disc versions ever done). Possibly also done this way for Jake and The Fatman.

Some of the older VEI sets were originally done as 4-episodes per disc in the more expensive versions of the complete series sets, while the later low-budget/disc-reduced versions of the same sets were done as 6-episodes or more per disc (such as Cannon, Diagnosis Murder, The Mod Squad, The Equalizer, etc ...).

The 1990s Untouchables was a quick flop, so no "complete collection" set was ever done, as was for Cagney & Lacey, Cannon and The Equalizer. By the same token, pretty much all the MTM issues/reissues have come out via Shout Factory. I'm surprised they haven't done St. Elsewhere already.