Never thought I’d see this but one show I loved as a kid will finally make it to DVD.
https://www.visualentertainment.tv/collections/new-release/products/the-powers-of-matthew-star-7071
I just wonder what the quality will be like.
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It might be a decent release by VEI standards. I don't recall if there was ever a syndication package for this show, as it only aired for one season. Could be original length network prints if that's all CBS Television has available.
That's what I'm thinking too. Since it was only one season doubt there were any syndication prints made. I just wonder what shape the original prints are in.
And I wonder if this release will have Paramount Television's normal and tall-peaked Blue Mountains, as were on the original NBC broadcasts in 1982-83 (given VEI's track record with Petrocelli and The Magician, among others, I would expect nothing less).
I, too, am excited about this one; never thought I'd ever see it again (on DVD, at least).
I have vivid memories from when I was 7 years old that fall of '82, watching Powers of Matthew Star & Knight Rider back-to-back – both brand new shows that fall.
Never thought it would get a release. I loved the show and often think of it when I see Peter Barton in Friday the 13th 4. Day one pick up for me.
I think it did run once or twice on SciFi. It might have run once on USA.
Cool! I've been waiting for this one, too!
Knowing VEI, I know the Blue Mountain logos at the end will be intact… both the normal peak used on the 1982-aired episodes and the taller one on the '83 episodes. It is the latter one that is quite rare on DVD as up until now, Webster was the only TV show on DVD to keep it (look for it on seasons 2 and 4).
Sometime in the future, they may work on The Renegades and Ryan's Four as well, two other Paramount TV shows from '83 to use the taller-peak Blue Mountain.
~Ben
That latter one (Ryan's), I'm definitely looking forward to– I've never seen it before; I've only read things about it!
It also had a run on TVLand, and those were chopped to 44 minutes
Ah yes… the thing I Am Number Four shamelessly ripped off.
In this year, any "classic" tv release is a good one. Thank goodness.
James
And unless that is TV Land Canada, the original Blue Mountain logos may have been replaced by the 1995 CGI Mountain (of Monotony).
~Ben
It definitely ran on Sci-Fi Channel in the '90s (probably as part of their "Series Collection" of short-run shows), but I definitely remember seeing reruns earlier than that, sometime around 1985-86, I think, on one of the basic cable stations (maybe USA, CBN or Nick).
USA Network, probably, as other lesser-known Paramount series like Petrocelli, The Associates and Bosom Buddies had been reran on that channel, too.
~Ben
Indeed– in fact, here are two Petrocelli promos on USA, one from 1985, the other from 1986:
I have them all from the original network run. Looks like VEI is still scouring the CBS vaults for shows that have been remastered to tape in a modern format. There's still a bunch that got sold to TV Land or SciFi, although I don't think they are going to be bothering with Me and the Chimp or Goodtime Girls, to name some of the really bad shows that CBS remastered.
Hopefully those that you mention will be released by CBS DVD itself through its MOD channel (Amazon CreateSpace), like they did with The Young Lawyers and Best of the West, even though the former did get re-ran on TV Land once. They did leave the original Paramount logos alone (except for the pilot movie on The Young Lawyers).
~Ben
I checked out VEI's front page recently and the status of this release now says "Available Now."
~Ben
I got an email from VEI saying the set is now available. Can anyone who picks this up post on the quality and runtimes of the set? Want to see if it's worth getting. Thanks!
I just picked up on that "Available Now" blurb regarding this series when I most recently visited the main page at VEI!
~Ben
I wonder how long it will take for it to be available on amazon.
Probably not too long now…
~Ben
I've read that, in 2002, this show was actually ranked number 22 on TV Guide's list of the 50 worst TV shows of all time!
~Ben
Was it any worse than any other 1980s sci-fi/fantasy/gimmick show that failed to catch on with the public? Quite frankly, Friends should be at the top of any such list, then they'd have two Matthews for the price of one. You can also take Hogan's Heroes off that stupid list and replace it with Full House. They were right about Barney the Dinosaur, though. Some things from the 1990s should have stayed there.
But as for this show, it was supposed to air a year earlier. The pilot was shot in 1981, and the lead character was supposed to be named Daniel (originally it was David), but a serious accident put Peter Barton in the hospital; when they came back, they had The Dukes of Hazzard (the season without its two stars), Benson, and The New Odd Couple as competition. The other shows that premiered that season Fridays on NBC, Knight Rider and Remington Steele, were hits despite having Dallas and Falcon Crest to contend with. Louis Gossett, Jr. still won the Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman nonetheless.
As for the episode running times? I'm not terribly optimistic. The one thing I thought VEI could be counted on to get right, and they haven't. After the Angie set that called it "the complete collection" despite being anything but, notice they changed the wording to "All the episodes on DVD." They're not even trying to pass them off as complete here.
IMO, that's a lot better than saying "complete" when it obviously wouldn't be. After all, if you say "complete," and the purchaser of your release discovers that one or more of the episodes are edited/otherwise adulterated, would that not be somewhat of a half-truth?
Well, I guess they could say "depends on what you mean by complete. They could say complete means every episode, even if some are edited."
I'm wary of such notations, unless they say "complete and unedited" or something like that.
That's definitely where I remember it running, then, as I also remember the rerun cycle of Bosom Buddies from that same year (I do remember on-air promos for Petrocelli, but it wasn't something I would have watched).
My set arrived today. Just had time to pop in the first disc to see how it looks. The picture is pretty sharp and the colors are vivid (aside from some minor "scratches" in the opening credits in the second episode). Episodes 1 and 2 run about 48 minutes apiece, so I don't think they're syndication edits.
I'm not crazy about the packaging – it was difficult for me to get the first disc out (it's on the inside front cover), and there's no episode guide on the flip side of the discs artwork, which is disappointing. I might repackage the whole thing. But each disc does include a list of episode titles, so that's something.
Frank thanks for sharing that. That's certainly good news. I hope the other runtimes are similar. Please let us know. Does the pilot "Star Knight" appear at the beginning or end of the set as it should?
The two episodes' worth you've seen so far– do they have Paramount Television's normal-peaked Blue Mtn. of that time?
What to look for…
1982 version:
(on the Harve Bennett co-produced episodes)
1982 (alternate):
(on the Bruce Lansbury co-produced episodes)
1981 version:
(possibly on the pilot?)
~Ben
When and if I get that release, that's what I'll be looking for!
Me, too!
~Ben
"Starr Knight" is the final episode in the set (at the end of disc 4).
The pilot has the "short-peaked" blue mountain logo, with the word "television" sliding in from the right. I think it's the last one in your post. I haven't watched any of the episodes all the way through yet, so I don't know if it's a consistent feature from episode to episode.
Just popped in the first disc to see how the show looks and flipped through the first two episodes. I'm not sure if they're all the same quality. We shall see…
Also, the edges of the discs are strangely sticky. I'm unsure why. Maybe it's the imprinting of the disc art, but it's quite noticeable.
Just what I wanted to know!
Here’s something that may not make it onto the DVDs. According to Nat Segaloff’s biography of Harlan Ellison, this show ripped off a treatment and show Bible Ellison had written for Paramount, titled _The Other Place_. According to Ellison, he didn’t even have to bring a lawsuit: he sent the relevant materials to Paramount’s lawyer, who settled in the six figures.
I wonder which of the 1983 episodes (the Bruce Lansbury co-produced period) have this version of the tall-peaked logo, with the 1979 theme?
~Ben
Harlan Ellison also sued Paramount over Future Cop shortly after its 1977 broadcast run; in that case, he and Ben Bova sued not only Paramount, but also former Paramount exec Terry Keegan and ABC claiming that that series ripped off their own pitch for a TV series that was based on the 1970 short-story Brillo.
~Ben
That's a good question! Best way to find out the answer is to get the release (I'd like for it to be on Amazon ASAP so I can get it for my top-of-August mini-shop [I do that at the top of every month]).
TRIVIA: Episode 10, "Mother" (November 19, 1982), was written by Walter Koenig of Star Trek (TOS) fame! Not only that, but another TOS alumnus, Leonard Nimoy, was the director for the episode before that, "The Triangle" (November 12, 1982).
~Ben