cooper2000

From thefutoncritic.com

I want Lost in Space!!




this day in television - 12/04/02
by brian ford sullivan
[email protected]



20th century fox sets massive dvd slate

Get ready for the television series on DVD market to explode in 2003. In a chat with the fine folks over at Home Theater Forum, Peter Staddon of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment revealed a startlingly large slate for the coming year from the studio with over a dozen planned season boxed sets in the works. 20th Century Fox has been one of the true pioneers in the TV on DVD market with its "The X-Files," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The Simpsons" releases. And with these new additions to its catalog next year, it certainly will live up to that name.

Staddon confirmed that in addition to the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3" (Jan. 7), "The Shield: Season 1" (Jan. 7), "Angel: Season 1" (Feb. 11) and "N.Y.P.D. Blue: Season 1" (Mar. 18) sets previously announced, fans can look forward to releases of the complete first seasons of "Dark Angel," "Family Guy," "Futurama," "King of the Hill," "Millennium" and "Son of the Beach" to reach the format next year, as well as subsequent seasons of "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files." The majority of them are planned for the second quarter of 2003, however no specific release dates were given.

Due to the chat format, Saddon also managed to answer specific questions about other series from the studio. He reported that while the studio does want to release full season sets of "Roswell" and "Ally McBeal," music rights issues have become a significant obstacle. As the DVD format is still relatively new, most contracts to use music on a TV series do not include the rights to release it in other formats, particularly DVD. While that is slowly being rectified with many current productions, sadly many older releases face multi-million dollar fees to ensure the original music used is what you see on DVD. It appears that now with the syndication hurdle slowly disappearing, this new obstacle will prevent many shows that use music from outside sources from a DVD release. Also facing legal issues are "The Ben Stiller Show" and the 1960s "Batman" series however no specific reasons were given.

Saddon mentioned that the studio is also looking into releasing season sets of "Alien Nation," "Hill Street Blues," "Lost In Space," "St. Elsewhere" and "The Time Tunnel." Sales figures for its current 2003 crop will likely decide if they are worthwhile investments. He also confirmed that while he personally would like to see them released, the studio is not currently looking into releases for "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.," "Firefly," "Greg the Bunny," "The Honeymooners," "Space: Above & Beyond," "The Tick" (live action or animated) or "Undeclared."

You can find the complete transcript of the chat here.

To review, here's what's in the works at 20th Century Fox:

already announced:
angel: season 1
buffy the vampire slayer: season 3
shield, the: season 1
n.y.p.d. blue: season 1

firm go for 2003:
dark angel: season 1
family guy: season 1
futurama: season 1
king of the hill: season 1
millennium: season 1
son of the beach: season 1
simspsons, the: season 3
x-files, the: season 7
x-files, the: season 8
x-files, the: season 9

legal rights hell:
batman (1960s)
ben stiller show, the

music rights hell:
ally mcbeal
roswell

under consideration:
alien nation
hill street blues
lost in space
st. elsewhere
time tunnel, the

not being worked on:
the adventures of brisco county jr.
firefly
greg the bunny
honeymooners, the
space: above & beyond
tick, the (live action)
tick, the (animated)
undeclared

I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say 20th Century Fox is giving TV fans a lot to cheer about next year.

HurricaneKicker

Id love to see "Lost In Space" released. id pick that up in a minute. I saw every episode when I was a boy and really have not seen much of it in the last 25 years! This would be sweet!!

das Monkey

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=255313

das

cooper2000

Youre always so helpful.

das Monkey

I'm glad you appreciate it.

das

bigjim25

already announced:
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3"
"The Shield: Season 1"
"Angel: Season 1"
"N.Y.P.D. Blue: Season 1"

firm go for 2003:
"Dark Angel: Season 1"
"Family Guy: Season 1"
"King of the Hill: Season 1"
"The Simpsons: Season 3"

maybe one of these days:
"Ally McBeal"
"Greg the Bunny"
"Undeclared"
Damn if I buy all these I'll probably go broke. Thanks for news.

cooper2000

I want Lost in Space more than anything and from what the article said in more detail that since Mary Tyler Moore didnt do that well, that the rest was up in the air.

tygloalex

Family Guy season 1 was like 6 episodes long.

But of course, I'd buy it. These VCDs suck.

Buck Turgidson

Some of these other studios need to get with the damned program. I loved the first season of Dark Angel, (don't ask about S2...), and would scarf up any set of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., but some of these shows (and Felicity also comes to mind...) were not very long-lived. There are other shows that have been successful for a longer period of time that are still seemingly not even being seriously considered.

mverleg1

So basically, shows like Family Guy and Dark Angel are good enough to create season boxed sets, but not good enough to actually be kept on the air? Is anyone else confused by this?

mverleg1

...and so help me if they only release 1 season of the Simpsons during all of 2003, there will be problems, angry fan problems!

calhoun07

Simpsons are taking longer so they can release the best sets possible. They could speed up the releases, but only at the sacrifice of quality. And now they will be working on special features for Futurama, I have the feeling that will only tie up the sets even more.

wildcatlh

But they already have the first two seasons in R2 with decent special features ... so there's not that much more to do with the Futurama sets.

elektra

I've already got 1-4 of Buffy, so I'm set there and 1 and 2 of Angel so that's covered. I'll get Dark Angel, Millenium, Futurama, and The Shield.

I'd also like to see Lost In Space, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere.

Static Cling

Closing duplicate.