I haven't seen enough serials to judge for myself, but recall a comment on another site that suggested by the late 1940's, Republic had stopped giving a damn. Nonetheless, I still want to add the three Rocketman titles to my collection. (Maybe I have a soft spot for jet packs? )

I assume new copies of Roan's "Radar Men" are DVD-R? I don't believe you said so explicitly, but that explains the trouble you went through getting your copy...

Due to my flaky memory, I can't answer for certain; but if i remember right I BELIEVE both Roan Radar Men & Flash Gordon have gone burned.

I picked up FG right after RM & was very happy to get a pressed one; though it seems even worse than Radar Men! I've only been able to make it about 3/4 of the way through chapter 1 of Flash Gordon so far. The picture quality on it is also quite good.

I'm a sucker for sci-fi themes serials and really like Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (the 3rd of the series) and highly recommend the Image box set release of the 3 Flash Gordon serials which contains Space Soldiers, Flash Gordon's Trip To Mars, and Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe. The quality is very good.

If you're not opposed to a Mill Creek set I also highly recommend the "Classic Sci-Fi TV" set. It has 3 serials along with a huge amount of 40s/50s sci-fi TV programs. The serials it contains are: Phantom Empire, Radar Men From the Moon, and Undersea Kingdom. The quality on all three is very good and they are on single-sided disks, but the package is the newer MC envelopes in a large plastic case.

I like those Rocketman titles myself, even Radar Men in spite of the large amount of recycled footage, and would be thrilled if someone would release a R1 set of Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe so I could complete the series.

I've never heard of Phantom Empire before. Is it kind of like Cowboys in Space? I do like Undersea Kingdom.

I love Phantom Empire. It's one of the first serials I ever saw (on Matinee at the Bijou). It's a singing cowboys vs. a subterranean civilization. Great stuff!

Beware tho - The VCI edition was the best version but now it's a DVD-R!

Amazon's currently running a sale on the Image Flash Gordon box BobO'Link mentioned:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004Y2QO/ref=pd_re_dt_td3

That IMAGE Flash Gordon set was OOP for awhile and going for big bucks. Nice to see it affordable again, but do we know if it's pressed?

You're sure? VCI's web site doesn't say, nor are there any such comments in the Amazon reviews. I'd originally planned to buy the Timeless Media version, but re-reading some of the reviews and your DVD-R comment makes me want to stop biding my time.

We don't, but last night I found a few more Image DVD-R's on Amazon and they were all single disks:

http://www.amazon.com/Robot-Monster-...=robot+monster
http://www.amazon.com/Spaceways-Howa...ords=spaceways

So personally, I am willing to trust the product descriptions. If a DVD-R still arrives, I've already returned one, citing that the description was incorrect. (There were no issues, but non-Amazon sellers may obviously have different policies.) I sent Image an email last night, asking them to explain if they have a packaging standard that differentiates between the two formats. Will post it here when I get a reply.

Thanks for the info, Tao. I look forward to your update.

As for PHANTOM EMPIRE, esteemed film critic Dave Kehr of the NY TIMES was the one who personally told me to get the VCI version. I did and while I did not find the serial as entertaining as he did, the quality is the best out there.

I bit on the 3 VCI's i mentioned above" 2 from DVD, 1 from the cheapest indie seller on ebay. As VCI says they're all fp, I bought all3 brand new, & I've seen all 3 & know the quality is good hopefully their shouldn't be any problems.

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I bought a copy of VCI's Tailspin Tommy and the Great Air Mystery and it turned out to be a DVD-R.

^^ Personally, I'd post a short review at Amazon, to get the word out.

I recently bought a new copy of Roan's "Radar Men", which was a double-sided DVD as expected. For the time being, there's only "Phantom Empire" to go.

At the same time, I'm starting to pick up Bela Lugosi's various poverty row (and related) films. Will post if I run into any problems.

The Image Entertainment DVD-R issue mentioned above got really messy. Image no longer has a customer service department. Yes, they have an email address listed prominently on their "Contact Us" web page, but when no one replied and I phoned their office, that's what the receptionist said. So the emails apparently go...nowhere? I don't want to start rumors, but that move doesn't inspire confidence. The "DVD-R" links we know from Amazon.com listings exist because these titles come from Amazon's MOD CreateSpace division. CreateSpace has been around for a couple years, but they're new to me. DVD-R titles from companies like Roan and VCI don't typically say so in the listings because these are made by outside companies. Anyway, Image was completely befuddled by my packaging question. They kept wanting to refer me to Amazon, and I kept repeating that Amazon doesn't design their artwork. They never explained that Amazon was their manufacturer, and I had to connect the dots myself. Then for the very first time, Amazon (actually CreateSpace) customer service stonewalled me! They keep saying an answer was coming "soon", but that was roughly a month ago. I kept up the pressure for 2 weeks, then waited another 2 weeks before posting this.

Simultaneously, I'd emailed Deep Discount's customer service about some of their Image titles, and was assured they were DVD. Wrong. I can safely say now there is no obvious way to distinguish Image DVD-R's from the original releases, unless you can find a snap case version from 10 years ago. I already own a number of their "Wade Williams" titles (which tend to share similar back panel artwork), and the best I can say is the black backgrounds look less saturated and the fine text printing less crisp...presumably because these inserts are made on a laser printer. A high end laser printer, but a laser printer nonetheless. Of course, they went back at DD's expense.

Sigh.................

Before I forget again, CreateSpace DID finally reply to my inquiry, less than 24 hours after posting the above (on the 16th). And telling me exactly what I already knew. I try to live according to Occam's Razor, but the timing still felt...unusual.

My used, DVD copy of "Robot Monster" arrived today, so that's another one down.

This thread makes me glad I purchased a lot of those Wade Williams Image B-Movie 2 packs all those years ago at Borders.

Well I guess I'm glad they cancelled my Amazon MP order as "OOS" (although they *still* list the item!). It was going to be just over $13 shipped so I felt it was worth the risk. My thinking was "if it's a $20 release and they are selling it for ~$10 it's probably *not* the new DVD-R edition".

IMHO the UPC needs to be changed if the product changes from pressed to burned! To do otherwise almost feels like fraud.

Very good point.

So really what we are concluding here is to buy used whenever possible and hope it will be in decent shape and not a DVD-R.

^^ Basically, yes. Although I always contact the seller ahead of time to try to verify condition. But additionally:

Image: Amazon makes the DVD-R's themselves, so their listings are accurate.

VCI: Does not label their products or provide accurate details on their web site, but if you email [email protected] and ask nicely, they will tell you the format of any item.

Roan: Their DVD-R's appear to always be labeled with a white sticker, but which assumes you have the item in hand. Their customer service will tell you what's available in the Troma Store, but seems oblivious of the open market, saying "their distributor makes DVD-R's when a certain item runs out". Anybody know who they use as a distributor, so I can get a straight answer from them?

Alpha: Should I bother to ask?

Not so fast there, Prof. A friend of mine just got in, in his words, a "big order" of stuff from Oldies.com, and he reports that their newest Alpha discs are DVD-Rs.

Just when you thought things couldn't POSSIBLY get any shittier....

Ouch. IMO, a burned Alpha is worth about the 25 cents a blank disc costs.......

Did your friend mention any titles - I'd be interested to know after when to be aware of possible burned discs.

I recall reading some reviews of the Timeless version, based on Gene Autry's unrestored 16mm print, that said that Timeless was marginally better than VCI in picture quality, but that VCI had good extras.

Actually, he didn't mention any specific titles. So I just called him and asked him about them, and here are the titles that he bought that are DVD-Rs:

Nightmare in Red
Fighting Rookie
Terror Island (Silent Houdini film)
Dawn Express
Passport to Danger, Volume 3
Speed Madness / The Night Patrol
Shark Woman
War--WWII: Attack & Defense
Detective Sagas (4 TV shows)
Sixteen Fathoms Deep
Close-Up
Miraculous Journey

He was none too happy at this turn of events. He suggests (and I concur) that everyone send emails/write letters/make phonecalls to Oldies.com/Alpha and make sure that they know that we're unhappy with this turn of events. For the titles that Alpha has, I'm perfectly fine never buying another title from them if they're going to go the burned-disc route.

I agree; unlike VCI & Roan I have no intention of filling in holes from Alpha!