What has happened to the 'QUANTUM LEAP' release? (1 Viewer)

[James Costin]

As far as I can recall Universal planned to release Season 1 of the show sometime in 2003.
Does anyone know any more information on this title, and when we might expect it.

 

[Adam_ME]

They've probably realized how expensive it's gonna be to secure all the music rights for the series and had second thoughts.

 

[LisaDoris]

They were supposed to release QL and Sliders this year but I haven't heard a peep since the initial announcement way back in the day. Maybe they forgot and thought nobody would notice?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

No, every TV show they announced is backburnered until they're sold, except Galactica because of the new miniseries tie-in

 

[cafink]

Huh? "Backburnered until" what are sold?

 

[Scott_J]

Huh? "Backburnered until" what are sold?

Until Universal is sold.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

They've probably realized how expensive it's gonna be to secure all the music rights for the series and had second thoughts.

I don't seem to recall Quantum Leap having a lot of expensive music.

 

[Greg_S_H]

It did have some period music spread throughout. The only song I remember distinctly is Ray Charles's version of Georgia on My Mind. There might have been some Elvis songs on the Elvis episode. And, I'm sure that one episode had Peggy Sue. Remember that groaner of a "brush with history?" "Piggy sooey! Piggy sooey!" Or however you spell sooey. Either way . . . :rolleyes

 

[Brad M]

I have yet to buy a tv series on dvd. This would be my greatest temptation.

Anyone know how many seasons the show was on?

 

[Damian James]

It was on for 5 seasons... if these come out they'll be a definite purchase for me. I really enjoyed the series.

Episode guide here

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Greg, it was period music. So its popularity/price were well established when it was first aired. It wasn't a high budget show, so I doubt they used expensive music then and I doubt they used much music that's become a lot more expensive since.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't know how music rights work, so I was only stating that there were popular songs. I don't know the ramifications of their inclusion.

 

[Matt Pasant]

Speaking of Donald Bellisario... where is MAGNUM!

 

[Marty M]

I don't profess to know a lot about procuring music rights, but I assume that anytime copyrighted music is being used there is a legal process that the studios have to go through. As I understand the process, everytime a show is released to a new medium, there is a new negotiation process. I am guessing there is a premium to copyrighted music that appear in DVDs, now.

I have the pilot episode, but I know this is now OOP.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Basically no one cleared the music at the time for video, and they have to repay for it when they want to release. Some more recent shows, like Buffy have everything pre-cleared so DVD release is a snap. 70s/80s shows however, virtually none of them are cleared and they need to pay for them again.

 

[James Reader]

But most (if not all) of the episodes have been released on VHS in Europe. So we may get a DVD release over here at some point in the future.

You know, in the UK we've had lots TV releases on home video since the early days of VHS infact there's probably more TV releases than film releases in most video shops - so it's likely the international rights were negotiated as the episodes were filmed. I do find it strange that this whole "TV on DVD" thing seems to be so important now in America, and I also find it strange that nobody in television had the foresight to gain domestic music clearances at the time - knowing how popular TV releases were worldwide, why not try to open a similar market in America?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

do find it strange that this whole "TV on DVD" thing seems to be so important now in America, and I also find it strange that nobody in television had the foresight to gain domestic music clearances at the time - knowing how popular TV releases were worldwide, why not try to open a similar market in America?

I totally agree with you, I've been begging for proper releases for over a decade, and finally got them with DVD. Since foreign markets don't really have the syndication glut we do, or even show repeats during the season, video was more valuable overseas. Also, most of theose rights were obtained for VHS or maybe LD in the foreign markets, so they still need to be reacquired for DVD. It was also thought that no one is going to buy 11/12 VHS tapes a season here due to shelf space. It took Fox releasing X-Files for the rest of them to wake up to the fact that people DO want to own their favorite shows.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Jeff, surely some studios bought general home video rights.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Nope, remember the PRODUCTION is buying the rights. So if they wanted to buy home video it comes out of THEIR budget. And I'm sure some shows did buy general video rights, but evidently a ton of them did not.

Today they know to buy for DVD because of the potential extra revenue from the home video sales

 

[JohnAP]

As far as so many more tv releases being available in the UK than in the U.S. over the years, that is beacause of the lucrative syndication market in the U.S. that doesn't exist in other countries. Series were always worth more to syndication if they weren't available on home video. The market here has changed in the last couple years though and the flood gates have been opened.

A lot of us want Quantum Leap and though some period music was used, I don't think it's as problematic a situation as many other shows that used a lot of popular music.

Speaking of music clearances, remember the one where Sam played "Imagine" for his little sister?

Hopefully, once Universal is sold, this'll get back on track.