DVD release
does anyone know if the up coming DVD release will contain the piolt episode?
Today -- November 16, 2004
MovieChat Forums > Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) Discussion > DVD release
The DVD set includes the theatrical version of the pilot, not the tv version. If you remember, the tv version featured some different takes, slightly differnt sequencing, and an epilogue in Buck's new quarters. It also is completely devoid of extras, except for trailers for Universal features, which I could care less about. No theatrical trailer, no cast inteviews, no rerospective, no commentaries, nothing! With an $89.99 list price, you'd expect something, hell, even production notes would have been nice. Still, at least it has the series uncut.
Yes, I found this a VERY disappointing DVD release. And I'm glad that someone else pointed out the absence of the epilogue in the original pilot. I almost thought I'd imagined it.
shareLet us not forget that they further cheaped out by using double sided dvds.
shareI bought the Region 2 version. It contains the television version. This release is series 1 only, so no Dr. Goodfellow or Chrichton...
Technical details: 6 discs with 4 episodes each,no extra's, subtitled (including English).
So if you feel like going European...
If the first episodes of the US DVD release are the theatrical film, shouldn't they be letterboxed? I can't imagine a movie being 3:4 in 1979, especially with Star Wars et al being Panavision...
...or would any letterboxed version be cropped top and bottom from a TV ratio original such as in the case of Gone with the Wind? (When GWTW was made it wasn't shot in widescreen, so any later WS releases were cropped on the top and/or bottom)
I was curious about this myself. If the first two episodes are the "theatrical pilot" as the box says, why isn't it in widescreen?
share
I believe you are incorrect - the Region 2 version is the theatrical version as per the R1 release (sexier titles cut for the TV and the final 'join the Defence Force please, Buck' scene is excised are the give-aways; the un-cut 'hell's and 'damn's I wouldn't notice).
It would have been nice to have both versions on there for comparison but since they didn't spend any money on extras of any description it did seem unlikely that they would think to make the set complete in this way for the fans.
WRT the fact it's Series 1 only - sadly, yes (but at least the discs are single sided) ... OTOH Series 2 is apparently being released for R2 in April 2005; my guess would be sans extras again!
HMV have it for around 20 quid in their sale as it stands now....get it while it's cheap?
Have to say lack of extras smacks of a rush job. No commentary, no nowt.
It can be bought for $17 now at Deepdiscount. Far cry from the $90 paid 3 years ago. Its worth it for $17.
shareI thought I read somewhere that the movie was shot as a tv pilot, but released in theaters first. I remember it being at the movies in spring/summer, and on tv in fall...with changes. They probably didn't want a repeat of Battlestar: Galactica (1979), showing tv episodes in theaters, so they did the reverse, run the pilot at the movies first to gain an audience (and $) for the series. In view of this, I would say the full screen would be correct. A widescreen could only show less than was intended.
"We have a powerful enemy somewhere within our planetary system." -Commando Cody
Buck also says S**t in the tigerman fight scene at the end so the region 2 release is certainly not the US tv one as the word would be censored or redubbed.
shareThere no single disc DVD like that film version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?
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