The Night Gallery
02-04-04, 07:54 PM
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nothing is planned and nothing will ever prob happen. No one wants to pay the money to get them restored and no one wants to put them out how they are. I have a set tho if you are intrested email me for more info.
05-17-04, 08:29 AM
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Night Gallery on DVD
Universal Studios recently announced an August DVD release for the first season of “Night Gallery.” Despite concerns from the DVD-preparation staff within the studio, who showed decision-makers a night-and-day comparison between an old print and a newly restored print, the marketing department decided to move ahead with the transfer to DVD using the old prints. Some episodes in the old mastering have music cue omissions and other errors that are now to be transferred permanently, for posterity, to silver disc, with substandard picture quality. With the new wave of high definition DVDs on the horizon, what does this executive decision say about this studio?
The icing on this rancid cake: no extras are being considered, even though they exist and could be easily added (this directly from Colleen Benn, executive in charge of DVD releases). No trailers, TV spots, commentary, interviews, paintings gallery, isolated scores, essays, nothing. The studio won’t even throw the fans a bone--another example of the careless attitude this studio has for the cultural legacy it stewards and for the customers who support it. And if they do it to “Night Gallery,” they’ll do it to their other classic properties, too.
If you want to gear up to activist mode, there’s a petition to sign directed at Universal to reconsider their plan for an unremastered, no-frills release of “Night Gallery”: www.petitiononline.com/ng1969/petition.html. For more detailed information, check the “Night Gallery” website, www.nightgallery.net, where you can find contact information to complain to Universal even more directly.
The icing on this rancid cake: no extras are being considered, even though they exist and could be easily added (this directly from Colleen Benn, executive in charge of DVD releases). No trailers, TV spots, commentary, interviews, paintings gallery, isolated scores, essays, nothing. The studio won’t even throw the fans a bone--another example of the careless attitude this studio has for the cultural legacy it stewards and for the customers who support it. And if they do it to “Night Gallery,” they’ll do it to their other classic properties, too.
If you want to gear up to activist mode, there’s a petition to sign directed at Universal to reconsider their plan for an unremastered, no-frills release of “Night Gallery”: www.petitiononline.com/ng1969/petition.html. For more detailed information, check the “Night Gallery” website, www.nightgallery.net, where you can find contact information to complain to Universal even more directly.
05-17-04, 09:32 AM
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Dammit, you'd think Universal just might get it together considering how many problem DVD's they have put out and number of complaints they have no doubt received in the past 2-3 years.
My prediction: They will release this set with the old masters, they will not sell well due to the word being out about the poor quality & no extras. They will blame the low numbers on lack of interest in the property and not even consider it's due to the crappy DVD quality.
My prediction: They will release this set with the old masters, they will not sell well due to the word being out about the poor quality & no extras. They will blame the low numbers on lack of interest in the property and not even consider it's due to the crappy DVD quality.
05-17-04, 10:00 AM
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The executive mind is a miasma of illogic. Colleen Benn at Universal tried to reassure me with the argument that if the first season set sold well (sans special features or a decent remaster), then they would consider a second season release with a more deluxe treatment. I guaranteed to her if they didn't make an effort on this first release to give fans and DVD collectors more for their money than what they likely already have with the Columbia House VHS release, sales would be minimal and there would be no second season release. It was like talking to a cat--nothing got through. Universal currently fixes its budgets for releases based on research culled by consulting firms they hire (at exorbitant fees, no doubt). They don't even do their own research at Universal--proof that they know next to nothing about the treasures in their vault--and they trust the opinion of some outside firm with no understanding of the difference between casual viewers and collectors or cult fan bases. It's moronic.
05-17-04, 12:03 PM
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Thanks for the information about the upcoming planned TNG series release, Scott. It's clear that you have a strong interest in seeing this series given a quality treatment by the studio. I, too, would prefer a premium release, all other things being equal. However, if the only way to get full season sets of The Night Gallery on DVD is through some budget release, I have to say I will still enthusiastically purchase whatever Universal releases, no matter how wrong headed Universal's DVD division may be.
As long as the content isn't edited from the original broadcast version, or it doesn't have a premium price point for a budget release, I will quite happily take whatever they put on the market, given that I thought TNG season sets would NEVER be released.
As long as the content isn't edited from the original broadcast version, or it doesn't have a premium price point for a budget release, I will quite happily take whatever they put on the market, given that I thought TNG season sets would NEVER be released.
05-17-04, 12:43 PM
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>
Not edited, but not complete, either. Some of the episodes are missing their original music cues through some screwup in the last remastering, and "The House" has an obtrusive crackling in the soundtrack for the first ten minutes. I understand your point, though. Something is better than nothing. But it irks me that Universal denied a Columbia House request for a NG DVD release two years ago on the grounds it needed a remastering for the new medium, then they turn around and change their policy this year, releasing it without remastering. The last mastering didn't magically become acceptable two years later. What did change is that someone at the top finally decided they have to rush out their classic TV titles ASAP, level-of-quality be damned and screw the customers. That's what provoked me to start this David vs. Goliath campaign. Whether I get anywhere or not isn't really the point anymore. If I did nothing about it, I'd regret it later.
Tilting at windmills,
Scott
Not edited, but not complete, either. Some of the episodes are missing their original music cues through some screwup in the last remastering, and "The House" has an obtrusive crackling in the soundtrack for the first ten minutes. I understand your point, though. Something is better than nothing. But it irks me that Universal denied a Columbia House request for a NG DVD release two years ago on the grounds it needed a remastering for the new medium, then they turn around and change their policy this year, releasing it without remastering. The last mastering didn't magically become acceptable two years later. What did change is that someone at the top finally decided they have to rush out their classic TV titles ASAP, level-of-quality be damned and screw the customers. That's what provoked me to start this David vs. Goliath campaign. Whether I get anywhere or not isn't really the point anymore. If I did nothing about it, I'd regret it later.
Tilting at windmills,
Scott
