baizel_bailey

Is the single season releases of 3rd rock completely uncut, or are they the same as the complete series on amazon?

jgorow

maybe I am mistaken, but I thought that while the original release of 3rd rock was syndicated cuts, that the re-releases that came out last year were the original broadcast cuts

baizel_bailey

i'm hoping the single season releases are the uncut version and not some false advertisement, it says uncut on the box, however the complete set was released and it seems noone found out till after there purchase that it was syndicated cuts they were getting.

pacaway

so what are the original release box sets with the "talking boxes"? are THOSE syndicated cuts???

jgorow

the talking boxes were the 1st releases, they were put out by anchor bay, they are definately the syndicated prints, but, the video quality was actually better because they put less episodes per disc. the re-releases were put out by millcreek, who put more episodes per disc, but from what I understand, the deal they made for the masters were for the original broadcast cuts. several seasons I have watched both releases and the video qualirt of the anchor bay releases really is slightly better, but, not enough to make that much of a difference, as part of the same deal, millcreek bout the rights to other series as well, such as 70's show which is from the same producers as as 3rd rock, the 70's show box is truly massive, all 8 seasons. in that deal they also got the rights to "roseanne" which for years fans were complaining that the original releases were all syndicated cuts

BobO'Link

Disclaimer: I own the Anchor Bay releases and have never viewed the Mill Creek ones. This information is based on my research when the MC sets were released to help me determine if I wanted to double-dip.

From my understanding of the distribution of this program on DVD *only* S1 & S2 were "syndicated" cuts on the Anchor Bay releases with S3-S6 being the broadcast versions. The cuts to S1 & S2 were *primarily* the James Earl Jones voice over intro/open sequences although there were minor cuts elsewhere.

The Mill Creek S1 episodes run 25 to 55 seconds longer than did those from Anchor Bay, the difference being mainly due to the restoration of the original title sequence featuring narration from James Earl Jones.

The Mill Creek S2 episodes are all uncut, but there are no James Earl Jones voiceovers. The episodes are ~20 seconds longer than what is on the Anchor Bay releases.

Supposedly S3-S6 are identical to those from Anchor Bay. I've read of people complaining S5 & S6 from *both* releases are edited (the "magic" syndication time from Carsey Werner is typically just under 22 minutes and these *all* are 22 minutes or shorter) but Carsey Werner tended to shorten episode length as a series progressed which *could* account for the shorter running times on those last couple of seasons.

Then there are issues with compression. Mill Creek loves to cram 4+ hours of content per disc which makes compression artifacts noticeable even on smaller screens. Again I've not seen these for myself so don't know just how "bad" it might be but based on other MC sets I own I'd expect episodes to be watchable. I'm one of those who doesn't quite understand why MC didn't just add a disc per season to these re-release sets to keep the quality higher and increase cost just a bit but then most people really don't notice such issues and I'm sure the "bargain" price is their main selling point. At least that's what it is on everything else they release but one more disc per season wouldn't have increased costs *that* much. I've also read complaints about the paper sleeves MC uses but I've never had a issue with these. As long as you're careful they're OK. I tend to prefer them over spindle packaging.

Due to the very low prices I've considered a double-dip on at least S1 just to check the differences but haven't yet pulled the trigger. With the full series set typically in the $22 (or lower) range at Amazon it's also tempting to just get the whole thing. What's stopped me is that I'm perfectly happy with the AB releases and, at least for now, would rather use that $$ for something I don't already own.

pacaway

Thanks for all the info, guys. I might try to just get S! from MC as well. Really bugs me to not have the whole episodes.

jgorow

why?? they released a box set of the full series pretty cheap ($22.99 from amazon, $18.49 from an amazon affiliate)

pacaway

I wonder if that's the box set I bought my son last year? I hope so. I just didn't want another entire set of discs, but I guess at that price I might as well.

jgorow

the price point was enough to make me do a double dip