With "Head" on Blu-Ray, it would be great if the original series were remastered and sold on the higher definition medium...
shareAlong with song choices for the certain episides they updated the music to fit their latest album.
That would be nice, and not hard to do.
I totally agree!! Although I heard an interview with a guy named Andrew Sandoval earlier today and he was responsible for remixing and remastering most of the Monkees albums that have been re-released over the last 25 years or so. He mentioned the thought of remastering the TV shows for release and said it would be very time consuming and expensive and that there just isn't enough interest in doing it (i.e. financing such a project!) from the powers that be to make it happen. He did mention that there is "something" in the works to commemorate the 50th anniversary next year, though he didn't specify whether it would be music or TV show related, and that Rhino (the record company) wanted to get started on it now so they could make it great. I, for one, hope they bring the show back, even if just for a one-off run. I also hope the three remaining guys get together just one last time for a tour. I know they did tour the last two summers but you can't just let 50 years of music go un-toured!
shareYes. I'd rather see the Monkees remasterd in HD on blu ray than have yet another special edition repackaging of their albums by Rhino.
My wish list for an HD blu ray release would be:
Remaster all shows in HD from the master negatives, like was done for the recent BATMAN TV series blu ray. This would also restore any missing scenes, like the missing tag from "A Nice Place to Visit", and Fern modeling in her bikini (and unblurred cleavage) from "Too Many Girls". One of the bad things about the older DVD set was several episodes were taken from pale 16mm prints, and "Too Many Girls" was taken from the Saturday morning edit, which cut out Fern modeling, and blurred her cleavage (ironically, FamilyNet, which currently airs the Monkees on Saturday mornings, has the original prime time edit of "Too Many Girls", with the modeling and unblocked cleavage intact, and brighter colors than the DVD version!).
Keep the audio commentaries from the older DVD set, but also add new commentaries by Micky, Mike and Peter. Have the three of them do commentaries together rather than seperately.
There also should be multiple soundtracks, where you can choose either the original NBC broadcast, the 1967 Summer reruns, or the Saturday Morning reruns. A foreign DVD bootleg did this, plus added a feature where you could choose either the orignal TV mono mix, or the stereo album mix.
Include the unaired pilot, 33 1/3, the 1997 ABC TV special, the HD version of "Head", the Monkees' original screentests in HD, all the Kelloggs, Yardley, Kool Aid, and Nerf commericals, and the 1969 TV musical performances from Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell, and if at all possible, the 1976 Dolenz Jones Boyce and Hart TV special directed by Micky and the complete 1996 Billboard concert.
It certainly wouldn't hurt to email Rhino, letting them know there is an audience for such a blu ray set: [email protected]
OriginalLee, I wish you were in charge of this! I couldn't agree more with everything you wrote. In a perfect world, your dream set would be coming out for the 50th anniversary. I know I'd be buying it.
It would be worth it for Fern alone!
I just found this interview from Andrew Sandoval from March 2014, and he says a blu-ray release is tentatively in the works, and drops the bombshell that the screen tests that were included on the Head Criterion blu-ray was just the tip of the iceberg... a box full of outtakes (and presumably bloopers) from the series have been found, and all that will be included on the blu-ray release.
http://youtu.be/lYeE36ocJrY?t=13m10s
My guess is, it will probably be released after they finsish the box set reissues of the albums... so maybe in two to three years from now, seeing as they have only three more albums to go.
An encouraging tweet by Andrew Sandoval!
https://twitter.com/cometothesun/status/637633374220382208
And now it's official: a January 2016 release date. Hopefully, a retail version will be made available to stores and Amazon at a lower price than the numbered collector's edition.
http://www.monkees.com/article/the-monkees-the-complete-series-on-blu-ray-at-last
People who've spent all that money on the DVD's would purcahse this just because it is on Blu Ray? it is the same stuff. You'd likely have to spend over $100 to get the bluray. The show was filmed in the mid 60's. I just don't see a Blu Ray being something I would buy.
...............ZING!
This is cool it is coming out on Blu-Ray
shareThe audio wasn't the best on the DVDs, that's the only reason I'd like to buy it but Rhino isn't getting anymore money from me. I hate them so much because they jack up the prices on the stuff they own because they know if you want it you have to pay the higher prices. They don't care about the consumer. If Shout Factory were to get the rights to this show and release it, it wouldn't be anywhere near as much as Rhino wants for it.
Dragonzord! Mastodon! Pterodactyl! Triceratops! Saber Toothed Tiger! Tyrannosaurus!
The show was filmed in the mid 60's. I just don't see a Blu Ray being something I would buy.