reservoirdog

I overheard a Best Buy employee telling a customer that there was a box set of all the Muppet Movies coming out later this year.

He also mentioned that box sets of "The Muppet Show" seasons would also be coming out.

I haven't heard anything about this. Has anyone? Best Buy doesn't strike me as a reliable source of information.

kunert

don't know about a box set of movies, but search for a timelife thread and you'll see you can get 15 3-episode DVDs for about $125 shipped. I wish they were available as seasons instead. I might hold off on buying those if anyone else has any info.

sfsdfd

I've not read any mention of complete seasons of the Muppet Show. I think the employee was probably confused, and was referring to the "Best Of" Time-Life boxed sets. Let's face it - this is an older show garnering a smaller following than X-Files or Simpsons; we're not likely to see a full-season compilation any time soon.

- David Stein

bayork

Speaking as one who would buy a full set....I can wait.

"Best Of" sets unavoidedly always leave out one or two of my favorite episodes, regardless of which show they are.

sfsdfd

Agreed, but be prepared to wait for probably 5-10 years. DVD is actually a really lousy format for collections of TV shows - one season of most current TV series takes between three and six discs. That's a lot of material and a lot of cost that drives away many consumers.

The goal is to be able to fit the whole run of shows and all supplements on a single medium. How many geeks would pay $100-$200 to have the whole Star Trek: TNG series at their fingertips? Very, very many. But many fewer are willing to shell out $800-$1,000 - the current cost of getting all episodes on like 40 discs.

So that's the goal. It's impossible on DVD - and on HD-DVD, too, which (IIRC) has only eight times the capacity of DVD. Whatever comes next should be handily capable of meeting this goal.

- David Stein

Movie_Man

Your first clue that whatever statement comes next is probably incorrect.

As others said, there are currently 15 discs (45 episodes) available from Time Life. They are actually pretty good, though I'm sure they could have easily doubled the number of episodes per disc if they wanted to, but I guess they can make more money this way.
Actually, with a RSDL disc, you could probably cram around 10 episodes (200 minutes) on 1 disc. That would be kewl.

bboisvert

Unless this Best Buy employee has information that several of the very informative Muppet sites out there lack (not bloody likely), there are no boxes being released -- movies or TV show.

smcguire

What bboisvert said - I frequent the Muppet fan sites and there's been no mention of this at all, and they'd be the first to know if new Muppet DVDs or sets were coming out.

--Scott McGuire

Josh Z

You obviously never tried to collect TV shows on VHS or laserdisc.

DVD is a wonderful format for collections of TV shows. The fact that almost every single major studio is currently cranking out TV show box sets as fast as they can speaks toward this.

Josh Z

Doubtful. About half of the Muppet movies are owned by Disney and the other half by Columbia TriStar.

imp66

I might beg to differ on this point. I think the Muppets have a huge following...maybe not a TRENDY as X-Files or Simpsons. My kids asked me why I hadn't shown this to them a long time ago when they first saw them, and now they watch them non-stop. My mom was estatic when I showed her the Muppets DVDs. EVERYBODY loves the Muppets.

darkflounder

Yes, some box sets are extremely overpriced ($100 for a season of Star Trek??) Granted, ST is an hour long show, so twice the storage needed. I'll pay $80 for a season of Babylon 5, and be very happy (1 season of Babylon 5 is worth 3 or 4 Star Trek:TNG seasons).

However, The Muppet Show is a half hour, so you can fit an entire season plus extras on 3-4 discs.

MASH , Cheers, The Simpsons and Futurama at $29.99-$39.99 per season is a good price point for me. That's 22-24 half-hour shows per set. That's alot of entertainment for the money. And as long as DVD-rot doesn't set in, my children will be able to enjoy them when they get old enough to appreciate them.

JiM T

I don't want to cave in and buy that Time-Life set, but if it's all we'll ever get, then I may eventually do it. But so far I've been holding out for season sets.

JiM T

jedidiah

Personally, I love the Muppets... It's a nice throwback to my childhood, and I still find them funny, but I'm just not willing to pay what they're asking for non-season sets. If they had season sets, I'd buy them immediately.

paulel

What I want is Fraggle Rock!

littlefuzzy

I just picked up Muppets From Space in Walmart's 5.88 bin... I have The Muppet Movie and Muppets in Manhattan, which others are in Widescreen??

Edit: I seem to recall that Muppet Treasure Island and Muppet Christmas Carol are both foolscreen only, what was The Great Muppet Caper, and is that the entire list of actual Muppet movies?

There was a trailer for The Dark Crystal and Labrynth on the Muppets From Space DVD, are both of those in Widescreen?

Also, there was a trailer for The Storyteller on *video*. I really wish they would put that on DVD, as well.

I would definitely buy The Muppet Show in season sets, as well as the other Muppet TV shows that they made.

smcguire

The Muppet Movie, Great Muppet Caper, and Muppets Take Manhattan, and Muppets From Space are all widescreen (with fullscreen as well on the same disk). Dark Crystal and Labyrinth are also widescreen. They're all released by Columbia TriStar.

Muppet Treasure Island and Muppet Christmas Carol, released by Disney, are only fullscreen.

And yes, that's all the Muppet movies so far, unless you count "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas" which was on TV last year, and which is going to be released to DVD later this year.

I've heard that the Region 2 release of Muppet Treasure Island is widescreen (but not the R2 MCC), but haven't had time to investigate that yet.

There are also Superbit versions of Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. The Superbit Dark Crystal isn't worth getting - the improvements if any are nearly impossible to detect, and you lose all the extras. The video and sound of the Superbit Labyrinth are slightly better than the regular release, but the regular release has an hour-long Making of documentary that's very worthwhile and still has pretty good video quality.

--Scott McGuire

reservoirdog

I am so with you. My pointer is hovering over the "pre-order" button in my mind.

TheV

Any word on any of the lousy Muppet full-screens being redone. Henson's 50th anniversary is coming up. Maybe we could get a special edition of Christmas Carol or Treasure Island? Actually I'd rebuy the rest if it was 2 discs.

Also anyone know how I can get the last 5 of the Muppet series? Buying them individually is almost as expensive as buying all 15. For that price I'd just go ahead and get the 15 and give 10 away as X-mas Presents.

Darryl

The Muppets Time Life box set was worth the $$$.

TheV

Is it worth buying again if you purchased it before? Many of us bought it when there were only 10 discs. Buying the last 5 individually is $25 each. Or you can buy the whole set for $150. Still I'd rather just get the last 5 for $50 or so.

Rogue588

If you do a 'lil hunting, there are codes to be found for TimeLife.com..

atari2600

i love the muppets too!

JuryDuty

I haven't seen anyone answer the original question yet. The answer is, yes, they are releasing box sets. On 9/30, they released a 4-pack box set of The Muppet Show DVDs 1-4. It's the same as the individual DVDs, but in a box. Price is $70.95.

There's also a Muppet Movies 4-Pack of The Muppet Movie, Great Muppet Caper, Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets from Space. It's the same as the individual DVDs, but in a box. Price is $70.95.

You can get both on ebay for $106.42 shipped.

JuryDuty

With a TimeLife coupon, I was able to get all 15 for $125 shipped. I sold my original 10 on ebay for $110. So I got the extra 5 for $15. Not bad!

Tip: Sell the 10 new ones you get so you can say they're sealed on ebay. The perceived value goes up.