TimT

I just opened my Flash Complete Series and watched the pilot episode. Everything was great until the last 60 seconds or so of the show. It started freezing up off and on. I have heard of others having problems with this, but have never really experienced it on a TV DVD set before (and yes I have a broad collection... just lucky so far). I have yet to get to the other episodes, but wondered if others have seen problems with this set yet?

GrouchoFan

I have the exact same problem in the exact same spot; I'm going to check the disc on other players, but this is what I was afraid of: It's probably not just my bad disc, it's probably a bad production run or an error in the master or something. I'll go to the bother of exchanging it at Best Buy, but I'll probably just get another defective one! And why did it have to be during the Pilot of all episodes?!? Guess I can't junk my off-air VHS tapes yet.

Iron_Giant

Bummer, I really wanted to buy the series.

mifuneral

I did not have this problem.

danyanez

Everything fine with my copy.

cisman

Hmm glad I waited then.

TimT

The owner of a TV on DVD site emailed me in response to a question on this and indicated that several others had emailed him with this problem too. Does anyone have a good Warner Brothers hotline for DVD problem resolution?

GrouchoFan

UPDATE: I've checked all the episodes on all the discs, by chapter skipping through them (thanks, Warner, for at least including chapters, even if they are not menu selectable!), and the only problem I've encountered is on the pilot, about 90-93 minutes into it, depending on the player. I bet it's probably near the disc layer change. I've checked four players, including my current primary Toshiba (about 14 months old), an Emerson DVD/TV combo (about 18 months old), a Panasonic Recorder (ES-10, 9 months old [off-topic: I LOVE THIS MACHINE!]), my computer's DVD-ROM, and a 6 or 7 year old Pioneer DV-525. To varying degrees, they ALL had problems. The Toshiba froze so badly I had to power it off just to remove the disc. The Emerson and the Panny at least went back to the menu. The DVD-ROM went black and had to be ejected. On the old Pioneer, it froze up with about 30 seconds of the end credits remaining, which is the furthest I've gotten. I was able to "coax" the player to make it all the way through using the time search feature, but this is unacceptable, don't you think? *sigh* Back to Best Buy and hope for a good copy.

Overall, I was pleased with the release; it's just too bad the picture quality suffers from late 80's/early 90's softness. I remember nearly every super-speed FX shot looking grainy on the original broadcasts, too, so I guess it's inherent in the source material. I also thought I saw a "video blip" in one shot; perhaps this was sourced from a tape master and not a film element (given the era, it's possible there is no final film master, the whole show may have been posted on video; but I'm beginning to talk over my head here, so I better shut up.)

One final comment on the pilot: I think this comes from the version that was released on VHS. The music cues/audio that end scenes which would have gone into commercial breaks now slightly overlap the scenes that would have returned from the commercials, so we're losing about 1-2 seconds of blackness at each "commercial break." Otherwise it seems to be the same as the broadcast version. Maybe not a big deal, but I'm the kind of guy who wishes they had included the halfway-point interstitials/stings, with JW Shipp's voiceover: "THE FLASH will return in a moment!" Ah, nostalgia.

Well, "Flashing" through the episodes (sorry, couldn't resist!) reminded me of how much I enjoyed this series, flaws and all. I still think it's the most faithful, non-campy adaptation of a costumed hero done for television.

One "flaw" in the DVD presentation: the episodes are indeed in broadcast order; unfortunately, the broadcast order was originally WRONG!! On Disc Four, Episode 12, THE TRICKSTER, must take place AFTER Episode 13, TINA IS THAT YOU? For one thing, events from TINA are clearly referenced in the dialog of TRICKSTER. According to the old notes on my original off-air VHS, the TINA episode was pre-empted by Gulf War coverage. THE TRICKSTER was then shown the following week as originally scheduled, and the TINA episode was bumped to the week after that. (I didn't bother to write down the actual broadcast dates.) Why they couldn't just push every episode back a week and keep them in order is one of those mysteries of television. And why Warner couldn't consult somebody, anybody, to make sure the episodes were in proper order is one of those mysteries of DVD (I'm tempted to suggest, maybe they outsourced the QC to Universal's TV-on-DVD department?).

And, why the heck does Barry Allen's fiancee from the pilot get her picture on a disc?!? Where's the love for Julio? Or even Murphy and Bellows? And why that lame-o villain on Disc 4? Should've used Pike! And how come the Trickster's picture is on Disc 2, when his episodes are on Discs 4 and 6?

I hope I'm not sounding too negative; it's these minor things that prevent an enjoyable release from being a perfect release. I'm actually quite pleased with the set; if anyone had told me 15 years ago that I'd be able to get the complete series on an "optical-disc" set that takes up no more space on my shelf than a single VHS, I'd have said they were crazy!

dvd-4-life

Those of you without problems-what brand of dvd player do you have?

Surfinhank

I have a Toshiba SD 2200 and it plays fine on my player.

dx23

Gord Lacey posted about the problem on tvshowsondvd.com:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4877

Mr.Briggs

I have a Panasonic PV-D4744S & it starts skipping at 1:32:33 (Just as the Flash symbol appears to start the credits). I'm not returning it to CC as I'm sure from the widespread complaints that it'll just happen again. I hope WB offers a replacement disc. Does anyone have an email address or toll free phone number for Warner Brothers DVD. I've got a pay number & might just call them on that to complain. The more they hear the more likely they are to offer a first disc replacement.

Gregg Araki Fan

I have a Philips DVP642 Player and my Flash DVD starts freezing up where others do and won't move. This is the first DVD that I've ever had problems playing on the player and I've had the player for over 8 months.

mifuneral

My player is a Sony (no problems with the pilot).

I have to disagree with GrouchoFan's comment that The Flash is non campy. It definitely has some camp, but that's what makes it awesome. So far the only complaint I have about this set is the pilot itself- man was there some horrible acting/writing in there (but that was fixed in the series itself).

David Lambert

I played it with no problems on my crappy (but multi-region-able) Cyberhome 300 that sits next to my trusty computer. Pilot episode was perfect all the way through. During the 3rd episode the player made a "quiet grinding" noise for a couple of minutes not too far into the episode, but it quickly got better and no freezing ever occurred. So I can't complain. I have yet to try it on any of my other players, including the big Panasonic 5-disc changer...but at least I know I have one machine it works just fine on!

RockyMtnBri

No problems on my Panasonic RP82 player. I have to chime in on the pilot as well - yikes, was it really that bad way back when? I mean, overall it was decent but the bad acting knocks it down a notch.

David Lambert

(sniff) I still enjoyed the pilot...

RockyMtnBri

David...

Don't cry! My favorite part in the pilot is when Barry runs to Crystal Beach - that is still a phenomenal sequence!

bobpierce

Argh! Since I needed a break here in the home office, I decided to crack open the Flash set and pop Disc 1 into my PC to watch a bit of the pilot. The disc wouldn't even load!! So, I tried it in my laptop. At least I got the menu, but I couldn't get past that. Lots of clicking on the drive when I try to play the pilot, but it never loads, and both DVD player software programs locked up. I had to eject the disc manually....

Sigh! FYI, both machines are Dells. I'm going to take it down stairs and try it on the Cyberhome and Denon units later, but it looks like there's a trip back to Best Buy in my future!

Bob

MigusMaximus

Played the pilot last nite on my dad's Sony (sorry, dont know model #). Played perfect all the way through the credits and back to the menu (although I will admit that I found the picture kinda fuzzy as mentioned above, probably due to the time period and the master tapes they were working off of).

MigusMaximus

Ps.....am I the only one who found Tina at least kinda attractive????

reverie

I have an RCA DVD player at home, and it worked fine on there. We have another upstairs, maybe I'll try it there and see what happens.

David Lambert

Back in the day, I'da done her. If I coulda gotten past Corbin Bernson.

Jabba_RT

The pilot played fine on my Toshiba 3109 (an oldie but still a goodie). It started to break down at the beginning of the credits on my newer Memorex Progressive Scan Player. I always seem to have better luck with these issues with my older player. Oh, and, by the way, Tina was pretty hot...

David Lambert

Anyone who experienced this "skipping in the pilot" defect, please read our post at the link below and help us gather info for Warner about the problem, so they can get it fixed:


http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4951