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Merlin, Xena, Hercules to DVD next week (R1)

2

23skidoo

Admiral
Admiral
I was just browsing Amazon and I was reminded that April 20 is going to be one of those expensive days.

Not only is Season 1 of Merlin getting its belated North American DVD release, but apparently the first seasons of both Xena and Hercules are being reissued as well.

Those two shows have been released to DVD in the past but in rather clunky box sets that are fairly hard to find now (they were put out 5-6 years ago). No idea if they'll have any new extras or anything. I wonder if we have Lucy Lawless' current turn on Spartacus to thank for the reissues?

And of course they're only being issued on DVD, not Blu-Ray. That's to be expected for 1990s-era Xena and Hercules, but a little disappointing for Merlin. (Even if Merlin wasn't shot in HD, when BBC Video upconverted Doctor Who: The Next Doctor to HD for its Blu-Ray release in my opinion they set precedent and removed any excuses, at least for BBC shows made in the last few years).

http://www.amazon.com/Xena-Warrior-Princess-Season-One/dp/B00344EAQO - Xena (great cover image!)

http://www.amazon.com/Hercules-Legendary-Journeys-Season-One/dp/B00344EAKA - Hercules

http://www.amazon.com/Merlin-Complete-Season-Colin-Morgan/dp/B001LF347E - Merlin

Alex
 
Well, I got those Xena boxed sets for $30 per season in a clearance sale, so I'm a happy puppy.
 
I read on Amazon that some of the Hercules DVDs didn't contain some of the longer episodes and that these are shorter versions.
 
About time! I also noticed SyFy is shaving time of of Merlin during its broadcasts. A slice of a sword effect is supposed to be the break for commercial, but they are fading out early. Typical!

I've never gotten Quantum Leap on DVD because I hear the same things about different music and episode changes. Eh, what can you do?
 
Merlin is simuklcast on the BBC HD channel in the UK, so I presume it's been shot in HD.
 
There are HD versions out for some of the episodes of merlin so it should be.
 
I'm curious if these Hercules DVD's contain the original TV movies with Anthony Quinn as Zeus. I loved those and they made me stay onboard for the show.
 
23skidoo said:
Those two shows have been released to DVD in the past but in rather clunky box sets that are fairly hard to find now (they were put out 5-6 years ago). No idea if they'll have any new extras or anything. I wonder if we have Lucy Lawless' current turn on Spartacus to thank for the reissues?
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The original DVDs of Hercules and Xena aren't that hard to find online.

And they are a way better deal than the 'new' DVDs you are talking about, which are the same price, and it looks like for a product that none of the extras that were on the originals, worse sound, and also does not have the films that were on the first DVD releases of Hercules Season 1.

In other words, these new DVDs are a major ripoff and the customers who buy them are getting shafted, big-time.
 
Navaros said:
The original DVDs of Hercules and Xena aren't that hard to find online.

And they are a way better deal than the 'new' DVDs you are talking about, which are the same price, and it looks like for a product that none of the extras that were on the originals, worse sound, and also does not have the films that were on the first DVD releases of Hercules Season 1.

In other words, these new DVDs are a major ripoff and the customers who buy them are getting shafted, big-time.
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What's your source for there being no extras and worse sound? The Amazon listing gives no details, but they quite often don't bother listing extra features.

As for the online sources, that's great but I have Season 1 of Xena and I'm not very happy with the picture quality and the thing takes up a lot of space on my shelf. I won't be blind-buying the sets till I take a look, but I am assuming unless there is a pre-release review or other report that supports your criticism -- please post a link -- that the episodes will have been remastered, and if extras are missing or replaced, so be it. I've gotten used to extras being "one time deals" in many releases anyway. I bought the Blu-Ray for Resident Evil 2 and it had all the extras of the DVD -- except the blooper reel which was my favorite feature.

If you want "shafted" look at the BD release of the Lord of the Rings films. Yesterday, I was literally in the checkout line at Best Buy with my copy of the box until I noticed they weren't the extended editions of the films which have been on DVD for the better part of a decade. So I put the BD back on the shelf and left. That's shafting.

If the Xena and Hercules have improved sound and picture (and once again if there's a source saying otherwise, please provide it) then I'm willing to suffer if the gag reel is dropped.

As for Merlin, if it is shot in HD then it's pretty crappy of BBC Video not to issue it on BD (I checked and there doesn't seem to be a Region 2 BD), but assuming if such a release happens it won't for a few years (maybe with a full-series box set?) I'm willing to shell out $30 now to enjoy them.

Alex
 
23skidoo said:
What's your source for there being no extras and worse sound? The Amazon listing gives no details, but they quite often don't bother listing extra features.

As for the online sources, that's great but I have Season 1 of Xena and I'm not very happy with the picture quality and the thing takes up a lot of space on my shelf. I won't be blind-buying the sets, but I am assuming unless there is a pre-release review or other report that supports your criticism -- please post a link -- that the episodes will have been remastered, and if the extras are missing, so be it. I've gotten used to extras being "one time deals" in many releases anyway. I bought the Blu-Ray for Resident Evil 2 and it had all the extras of the DVD -- except the blooper reel which was my favorite feature.

If the Xena and Hercules have improved sound and picture (and once again if there's a source saying otherwise, please provide it) then I'm willing to suffer if the gag reel is dropped.
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No extras, are at least not the original extras and some paltry replacement extras, is a logical inference from the fact that the press release didn't mention them. If they had gotten the extras from the original release for the new release, they would have said so. Ditto for the Hercules movies. Granted, that is not confirmed yet, but it would be very surprising if it turned out to be wrong, because if they did have those things, they would have sold the sets with them in the press release.

The TV Shows on DVD website is my source, they say the sound is Dolby 2.0 instead of 5.1 like on the originals.

I would say that your assumption that these have been remastered is wrong. Where is your source to support that claim?:wtf:

I'd also say having a less clunky boxset is a very small benefit compared to the major drawback having a much worse product on the discs themselves.
 
Admiral_Young said:
I'm curious if these Hercules DVD's contain the original TV movies with Anthony Quinn as Zeus. I loved those and they made me stay onboard for the show.
Click to expand...

From my understanding of the reviews on Amazon the new released do not contain the TV movies as the other releases of these series did.
 
diankra said:
Merlin is simuklcast on the BBC HD channel in the UK, so I presume it's been shot in HD.
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No it isn't. It's filmed on 16mm and BBC don't consider that good enough for HD. I heard it was planned to be in HD for the second series but it wasn't.
NBC showed an upscaled version of the first series though.
 
The "video commentraies" on the existing Xena disc were awesome. Lucy, Renee and Rob just sitting and watching the episode, and reacting and remembering.
 
I don't understand the point of re-releasing a show on DVD with fewer extras, the same picture quality, and inferior sound quality compared to the previous ones. What's the point? I agree that the new Xena cover is spiffy, though. The video commentaries I saw were weird. Didn't really provide the kind of insight I hope to hear in commentaries. It was more just people hanging around watching with smiles and the occasional inane comment like, "Haha, that's not me having sex, it's my body double". :shrug:
 
Too Much Fun said:
I don't understand the point of re-releasing a show on DVD with fewer extras, the same picture quality, and inferior sound quality compared to the previous ones. What's the point?
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I think it's for people who didn't buy the original DVD release, don't really care for a lot of extras, and just want to pick up an entire season's worth of episodes of a show they liked awhile back for about 20 bucks.

IMO, this is the no-frills, economical "slim pack" DVD release and a much more expensive deluxe-deluxe version with all the bells and whistles will eventually come about later on blu-ray...
 
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