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MikeToone
31-12-2001, 08:27
Apologies if this has already been posted, but as the search facility is disabled I could not be arsed to scroll through pages and pages.


WB feedback comment page. Let them know how you feel about the **** poor release of In the Beginning and Gathering and how we want the series on DVD now........


WB Feedback (http://www.warnerbros.com/pages/help/help_feedback.jsp)


And especially when this was posted on the Sci-Fi channel news page:-

"JMS Talks B5 DVD

Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski told SCI FI Wire that the new DVD edition of the landmark SF television series features the first B5 movies, "The Gathering" and "In the Beginning." But Straczynski said in an interview that the selection of which movies to bring out first "really wasn't my choice."

Straczynski added, "I think Warner [Brothers] to some degree wants to test the waters to determine if there was enough interest in the show to release it on DVD." Straczynski only approved the cover art. The rest was handled by Warner Home Video.

The irony, of course, is that Babylon 5 was tailor-made for DVD, Straczynski said. Well before the DVD revolution began, Straczynski and his production team anticipated a future where a 16:9 theatrical widescreen aspect ratio would be appreciated for television shows. "Except for the pilot," he said. "We always tried to be a forward-thinking show. We were the first show to be shooting in widescreen. When we did our post-production, we would do full-surround mixes with a very aggressive subwoofer."

Although nothing new was done to "In the Beginning," Straczynski was directly involved with producing the widescreen version. "In terms of the widescreen versions, I was involved in that by way of the SCI FI Channel. There was a version in widescreen that was released overseas in PAL format, and when they were going to do the laser disc, Warner said there are no versions in widescreen. The only reason they're putting it out in wide is that The SCI FI Channel wanted to broadcast it in wide. Warners didn't have to go through the process, with SCI FI underwriting it, of reassembling the masters in the original aspect ratio. The good part of that is that The SCI FI Channel was able to work through the bugs along the way."

HighlanderTM
31-12-2001, 13:38
You need to get more up to date, kid. Warner are preping the first 2 seasons for DVd with a third pencilled in based on the great sales of Volume 1.

Expect them March next year...

Ridcully
31-12-2001, 14:16
The first 2 films, The gathering and In the begining are released in R2 on 11 M2rch 2002. Looks like we got really stiffed on this one as they are separate discs unlike R1 and The gathering is still 4:3.

Not being bought by me until a better copy is out.

Ericf
31-12-2001, 21:14
Originally posted by Ridcully
The first 2 films, The gathering and In the begining are released in R2 on 11 M2rch 2002. Looks like we got really stiffed on this one as they are separate discs unlike R1 and The gathering is still 4:3.

Not being bought by me until a better copy is out.

The original aspect ratio of The Gathering is 1:33:1 which is the same as 4:3. The rest of the series and the movies were shot with 16x9 in mind. You will never see a widescreen version of The Gatering unless someone decides to butcher it to death.

I do think that the R2 release might be better than the R1 when it comes to the image. I have read that the PAL masters are better than the NTSC masters. Apparently some masters got lost in America but were still available in Europe. The Price I'm not sure about. I sure hope they don't try to stiff us with 2 £20 DVDs.

Ericf

Deaks
01-01-2002, 00:42
I hope they use better masters than the so-called widescreen releases of the follow-on movies on VHS. Some of those were 4:3 matted DOWN to 16:9!

Deaks.

Ericf
01-01-2002, 06:04
Originally posted by Deaks
I hope they use better masters than the so-called widescreen releases of the follow-on movies on VHS. Some of those were 4:3 matted DOWN to 16:9!

Deaks.

Yes, but I read that they were matted down only in the beginning. Sci-Fi Channel were in a hurry and didn't have the original widescreen material and so they went ahead and "letterboxed" it from their 4:3 print. After a while they were able to locate the proper prints.

Ericf

MikeToone
01-01-2002, 08:58
Originally posted by HighlanderTM
You need to get more up to date, kid. Warner are preping the first 2 seasons for DVd with a third pencilled in based on the great sales of Volume 1.

Expect them March next year...

Interesting, where did you get this information as it was my understanding Warner were not going to do anything with the series until they saw how the sales on "The Gathering" and "In the Beginning" went, and as they only released these in R1 and R4 in December, and they are not available in R2 until March it seems rather early to judge sales forcasting.

To answer your question Ericf they will be £19.99 each in R2 whereas they were on the same disc for R1 and R4. It will also be interesting to see if R2 is Pal because R4 was NTSC.

HighlanderTM
01-01-2002, 13:51
Check out JMSnews.com. That should answer your questions.

I'm looking forward to Legend of the Rangers, myself...

Deaks
01-01-2002, 21:06
Originally posted by HighlanderTM
I'm looking forward to Legend of the Rangers, myself...

Yep, me too! Should have the pilot by the end of the month!

;)

Deaks.

Ron Hill
02-01-2002, 14:47
Originally posted by HighlanderTM
Check out JMSnews.com. That should answer your questions.

I'm looking forward to Legend of the Rangers, myself...

Checked it and I see JMS appear to confirm that WB are readying seasons 1 and 2 but are we sure he isn't jumping the gun a little. I hope he's right however. If anyone knows, you'd think it would be him.

As for Legend Of The Rangers, anyone know if it's due for an appearance on the UK sci-fi channel?

Deaks
02-01-2002, 21:59
Originally posted by Ron Hill
As for Legend Of The Rangers, anyone know if it's due for an appearance on the UK sci-fi channel?

I doubt it. They only picked up B5 after C4 so I'd look for it there first.

Deaks.