bluetoast

Just saw this over at tvshowsondvd:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Soa...s-Box-Art/9286


Hopefully this will include the re-cap episodes, and I also heard that some of the episodes included on the season sets were chopped. If so, I hope the original ones are restored.

And as a side note, would this benefit from HD treatment? Or was it converted to video when aired?

domino harvey

Holy smokes, I'm glad I held off on picking up the season sets

obscurelabel

This was shot on standard-def video, not film, so it wouldn't benefit to the extent that shot-on-film shows would with HD. I don't know if there's anything that can be done to up-convert standard def video or not.

rfduncan

Too bad this series ends on such a cliffhanger. They should make it a completist set if they could include Jessica Tate's Benson episodes (especially when she returns as a ghost). Doubt that'll happen though.

bigjim25

Just sold my 4 old sets on AMAZON for $60 after fees. Looking forward to having them all in one spot for under $40. Damn from the pics, those sets are alot smaller.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Is this the show that had the UFO episode or was that Benson?

boc4ever

Yes, it was SOAP...a main character gets abducted.

Albert71292

I noticed on the rear box shot (recently posted on TV Shows on DVD), towards the bottom, the words, "Remastered in High Definition", which doesn't appear on the backs of the individual sets (although they were originally shot on 1970's vintage broadcast quality videotape). I noticed a few episodes actually looked a bit better on the old Columbia House VHS tapes I have of the series than on the DVDs currently out (believe it or not). Also, I noticed a few syndicated versions on the DVD sets, while the Columbia House releases I ordered back in the mid 1990's are complete episodes.

Might re-purchase the series a THIRD time if the episodes look better than the previous releases, and are uncut. The FIRST time I purchased the series, the Columbia House version mentioned above, cost me a small fortune over time. They were shipped monthly, total of 23 VHS tapes (four episodes per tape... give or take an episode or two for the one hour episodes... all about the same running time though), at a cost of $19.95 per tape, not including the shipping and handling charges!

In case ya'll are curious (yes, I'm in the south, thus the "ya'll"), here is the amount of space the complete series on 23 VHS tapes takes up...

Zen Peckinpah

My stepdad had those tapes! They're still in a spare room downstairs too.

His birthday is in late June so I might have to get this or Zapped! for him.

Surfinhank

I have a bad feeling these are just repackaged discs from the original releases. I hope I'm wrong and they've been remastered as well because season 4 was a real mess. I have the Columbia tapes also and when comparing the DVDs with the tapes.... scenes were cut, a lot of scenes were out of sequence , no recaps...

bigjim25

Damn, that's what I call alot of bars of soap. I really don't think they went back and redone these. This are most likely the same ones, just at a lower price.

Buy him Soap for his birthday and Zapped! for Father's Day or vice versa.

bluetoast

Thanks for that picture, pretty cool to see the whole VHS collection.

Yeah I have a bad feeling that these are repackaged, judging from the press release where it doesn't mention any changes. That's too bad considering, as people mentioned, that some of the DVD episodes are syndicated, and that the recap episodes aren't included.

story

I wonder if this might be just in time for the Sale That Shall Not Be Named...

Living Dead

I'll be picking this one up.

Wolf359

I haven't seen an episode of this since its original run. I remember it being very funny but I'm wondering if it holds up.

rfduncan

When Comedy Central re-aired the whole show and was running the entire series in marathon back in the 90's, I watched the whole thing start to finish. It definitely holds up mostly because some of the topics were ahead of its time!

nateman

I watched all 4 seasons in December on DVD and it holds up very well.

The first season is the best of the show. Although seasons two and three were very good; they just couldn't top the first season. The fourth season is the weakest in the shows run. Problems with fresh ideas, ABC and everything else just knocked down the quality of the final season. Still some funny episodes in that final season, but it's noticeably weaker.

If you're looking for a brilliant, smart comedy; "Soap" is highly recommended on my part.

Richard Mulligan is the reason why "Soap" was the comedy it was...

bluetoast

I just got into the show during Fall 06, Finished S1 in Spring 07. Late last year I netflixed S2. As a relative newcomer, I really like this show.

However when I began S3 I didn't get too far into it...I was disappointed that Benson had left the show. Also, I was really hoping that Burt could find happiness for a while after all he'd been through. And maybe that Chuck himself would get some alone time without Bob. Anyway, I'm sure the season picks up, those are just my thoughts on the very beginning of S3.

boc4ever

I have VHS copies of this entire marathon. I set the alarm for the middle of the night to switch tapes. I always wondered, were this uncut episodes, or syndicated versions?

Matthew Chmiel

When they were on Comedy Central, they were syndicated versions.

It wasn't until the DVD release when I first saw the unabridged opening sequence (which is trimmed from about a minute and a half to about 30 seconds in the syndicated versions).

I actually remember many of the Soap marathons on Comedy Central. I remember the first one in I want to say 1993 when I was young and sick and my mom was watching it as she was keeping me company -- as well as the one towards 1997/1998 in which I was finally able to see the last few episodes.

bookcase3

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the packaging of this complete sereies:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Sit...ging-Ever/9813

domino harvey

At least there can no longer be any debate over what release has the worst packaging of all time. Shameful corner-cutting on Sony's part.

Walter Neff

Wow, that is unbelievably awful packaging. I was considering getting this set, but now I definitely won't. Terrible.

A-aron

There are always custom covers, and cases can be purchased cheaply on eBay.

bookcase3

You shouldn't have to. I just don't understand the thought process behind this packaging.