Even US$500 is a bit egregious considering I can buy Star Trek at £10-11 per season. US$300-400 seems more like it.
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Law & Order: Complete Series DVD set announced!
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
- Start date
The price itself doesn't bother me, I think it is a good value. I just literally can't afford it either way.
But let's put things on an equal footing, shall we?
The Next Generation has been out on DVD for years now, but Amazon lists the two complete sets at a MSRP of $488.99 and $520.98. And that's just for 7 seasons.
Let's look up the cheapest brand new sale prices of the complete series sets of TNG, DS9, and Voy on Amazon. At 21 seasons that's close to what's offered in the Law and Order set: $199.99 for TNG, $199.99 for DS9, and $199.99 for Voyager. That'a $600 for sets that have been out for years, and the MSRP is $1469.97.
The Law and Order set may be expensive to the point of pricing a lot of people out of it, but comparing it to Star Trek doesn't make it look worse.
Now I'm reminded why I don't own any Trek DVD sets. 
Given how TBS and other cable channels have rerun this (and the spinoffs) into the ground, coupled with the various cast changes, I'm a little surprised that anyone would even consider getting it at this point. Maybe in ten years after the show isn't around as much, but by then it would be a different format to purchase.
But to each his own I guess.
But to each his own I guess.
I had zero problem paying ~$595 for all of Deep Space Nine when it was first released so this is a bargain in comparison (7 seasons x ~$85 per season).
Compared to Star Trek fans, I very much doubt the average L&O fan is going to fork up the money for this set, regardless of how much of a deal it may be or how much they enjoy the show.
Compared to Star Trek fans, I very much doubt the average L&O fan is going to fork up the money for this set, regardless of how much of a deal it may be or how much they enjoy the show.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
This is why Paramount will keep hosing us on prices. Because people *will* pay such exorbitant prices for DVDs and Blu-Rays. More power to you if you can afford it, but at that price-range, there are better things my money can pay for right now.
Exactly. And, as has been mentioned a couple of times already, the original L&O reruns like, a million times a week. I could understand if this set had been released right after the show ended, but it's been a whole year. They kind of missed the boat on it, I think. Kind of like the Beatles and iTunes.
I have the first season on DVD (the episode with the IRA is one of my favorites). You don't need all the seasons for that, though.
I hardly see this as a valid argument when it comes to TV series being on home media.
First of all, that the show is re-ran so much is irrelevant since to watch those you have to be home at your TV at those times to watch it or use up space on your DVR/tapes to record it. (Some people still record with a VCR, right?)
Secondly: What episodes are in syndication varies a lot, will be shown out of order and even some episodes (especially older ones) will not be ran as much as newer or more popular episodes.
Thirdly: Commercials. Even if you've got it recorded they're still periods where you have to stop and fast-forward for a time to watch the episode.
Fourthly, and this is the big one, they're usually syndication edits which cut out aspects of the show to make room for more commercials. The cuts on the DVDs likely haven't been seen since the episodes first ran.
I think being able to pop in a DVD and watch whatever episode whenever you want is a lot better than waiting for a favorite episode to come around on syndication again at sometime... maybe. And then you deal with commercials and syndication cuts. It's also much more satisfying to sit down and watch through a series on DVD over the course of days or weeks than it is to watch it over the cases of months or more on syndication.
Really, it's not fair to compare watching a show on DVD to watching it on frequent syndication. Many popular movies are shown all of the time on TV yet there's little argument to buying the movie on DVD.
^ And since I dropped cable, there are no reruns for me to see.
Do you have Netflix? There's a TON of 'Law and Order' available on the streaming service.
Okay, but my point was that I can (and will) buy voyager for £11/series which is £77 all-in or around US$120. Now granted that's not in one giant box, but I have to say that's a helluva mark-up at Amazon considering (either that or a rare instance where the UK isn't getting jacked on the price). Law & Order has always been one of the most expensive per-season shows on DVD, but that doesn't mean it's justified.
Actually it is fair because these shows have paid for themselves many times over so the money for these DVDs - even considering the mastering work - is largely profit for Universal. The price is unjustifiably high. It's like paying $15.99 for a Beatles CD.
That people are willing to pay to own a series rather than the problems that come with watching it on TV (my argument) has nothing to do with the price of the set.
The set seems to me to be fairly reasonably priced for a 20-season series, but if people think it's too high that's fine and good. Still doesn't mean that buying a series on DVD is pointless because it's on TV all of the time.
I gladly paid $100 for each of the Trek DVD sets, all five series. And I'm not a huge fan of Voyager or DS9. However, I am a collector.
I didn't think $100 is was to expensive given everything the DVDs were, nor am I one to rate the expense of a DVD on the types of or how many extras it has. Looking back, yeah, $100 was certainly steep considering most TV sets -now- go for around $30 - $40; 20 seasons (456 episodes) for $700 MSRP comes down to just that. $35 for a season of TV is pretty much par on this particular course.
Some may think that's too high, but I don't think it's unreasonable when you break it down to what all you are getting.
But I will agree that the series sets usually tend to be pretty crappy in how the discs are stuffed into the packaging.
Had a very terrible experience with a MASH series set on that front.
Well it is Star Trek! I bought TNG and DS9 upon release in the UK at £24.95-27.95 a pop in the big plastic cargo container cases and it was worth it to me because it was Trek, but the fact is that this was also when TV on DVD was a pretty new thing and the pricing was all high.
Today most shows don't cost that much in season sets. The only ones I see trying to command that kind of price are The Simpsons and Law & Order. It's telling that if you wait a year after release the price drops by £10 or more on those sets. At a stretch I might go £15 for a season of L&O, but £20 is well out-of-order.
One word: residuals.
Yeah, I could see buying particular seasons where a particular cast was on but a whole series that lasted twenty years (and, IMO, varied in quality depending on the season and the cast) seems like an odd choice to me.
Understand, I'm not criticizing anyone who chooses to buy it, I'm just a little surprised that there would be much interest at this time.
Despite my avatar, I won't be buying this set for a few reasons:
1. I don't like complete series sets for long running series. The packaging usually isn't very good.
2. I rarely have that much money to spend all at once.
3. I already own Seasons 5, 6, 7, & 14 and have no interest in Seasons 1-4. (IMO, the show didn't really start to get interesting until Jack McCoy replaced Ben Stone in Season 5.) So I have no interest in buying 8 of the 20 seasons included in this set.
However, I am hoping that this means that, now that they've actually produced the DVDs, that they'll also release individual season sets of the remaining seasons, even if its only on a manufacture-on-demand basis.
As for the inclusion of the crossover episodes, I suspect they may still be included. After all, it seems that the content of these discs will be identical to that of the previous individual season releases (including only showing Season 14 in the 4:3 aspect ratio). Season 8 included the Homicide episode "Baby It's You, Part 2" despite that episode not being listed on the Season 8 bonus features. We already know that they'll be including the Season 6 Homicide crossover "For God & Country." Now we're just waiting for word of the other crossover episodes:
Season 9 had the final Homicide crossover, "Sideshow, Part 2."
Season 10 had a crossover on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit entitled "Entitled, Part 1."
Season 15 resolved the Who shot Ed Green? plotline with a crossover on Law & Order: Trial by Jury called "Skeleton." Fontana, Green, & Van Buren all make major appearances in that episode, plus a brief cameo by Jack McCoy, plus Arthur Branch was a regular on both shows at the time, plus a brief crossover with SVU when John Munch shows up.
Am I missing any other big crossover stories?
BTW, random trivia: At least 2 of Law & Order's regulars have played Abraham Lincoln. Dan Florek (Captain Cragen) played Lincoln on the short lived UPN sitcom The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Sam Waterston (Jack McCoy) does the voice of Lincoln in all the audio exhibits at the Gettysburg museum.
1. I don't like complete series sets for long running series. The packaging usually isn't very good.
2. I rarely have that much money to spend all at once.
3. I already own Seasons 5, 6, 7, & 14 and have no interest in Seasons 1-4. (IMO, the show didn't really start to get interesting until Jack McCoy replaced Ben Stone in Season 5.) So I have no interest in buying 8 of the 20 seasons included in this set.
However, I am hoping that this means that, now that they've actually produced the DVDs, that they'll also release individual season sets of the remaining seasons, even if its only on a manufacture-on-demand basis.
As for the inclusion of the crossover episodes, I suspect they may still be included. After all, it seems that the content of these discs will be identical to that of the previous individual season releases (including only showing Season 14 in the 4:3 aspect ratio). Season 8 included the Homicide episode "Baby It's You, Part 2" despite that episode not being listed on the Season 8 bonus features. We already know that they'll be including the Season 6 Homicide crossover "For God & Country." Now we're just waiting for word of the other crossover episodes:
Season 9 had the final Homicide crossover, "Sideshow, Part 2."
Season 10 had a crossover on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit entitled "Entitled, Part 1."
Season 15 resolved the Who shot Ed Green? plotline with a crossover on Law & Order: Trial by Jury called "Skeleton." Fontana, Green, & Van Buren all make major appearances in that episode, plus a brief cameo by Jack McCoy, plus Arthur Branch was a regular on both shows at the time, plus a brief crossover with SVU when John Munch shows up.
Am I missing any other big crossover stories?
BTW, random trivia: At least 2 of Law & Order's regulars have played Abraham Lincoln. Dan Florek (Captain Cragen) played Lincoln on the short lived UPN sitcom The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Sam Waterston (Jack McCoy) does the voice of Lincoln in all the audio exhibits at the Gettysburg museum.
I figure the complete L&O will have better packaging. Can't get much worse than the ridiculous fold-out cases the first two seasons had...
Side note: Linus Roache will return - he's set to play Michael Cutter in the SVU 13th season premiere.
Don't know if it's just a one-time thing or if he will recur.
^Sweet! Thanks for telling me! Cutter was always my favorite, or at least tied with Jack McCoy for my favorite. (And really, aren't they just the same person? 
)
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