bigjim25

That '70s Show - We've Got the Scoop on 'Season 1' Blu-ray Box Art, New Extras and Finalized Street Date!

Flash back to a time when platform shoes and puka shells were all the rage in this hilarious retro-sitcom. For Eric, Kelso, Jackie, Hyde, Donna and Fez; a group of high school teens who spend most of their time hanging out in Eric's basement; life in the '70s isn't always so groovy. Featuring all new, high definition transfers of all 25 Season One episodes for retro comedy in stunning HD!

Dig These Stars: Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men), Topher Grace (Predators), Mila Kunis (Black Swan), Wilmer Valderrama (From Prada to Nada), Debra Jo Rupp (She's Outta My League), Laura Prepon (Are You There, Chelsea?), Don Stark (upcoming John Carter), Tanya Roberts (A View To a Kill), Kurtwood Smith (RoboCop) and Danny Masterson (upcoming The Chicago 8).

Back in early December we updated you about Mill Creek Entertainment's plans for a high-def Blu-ray Disc release That '70s Show - Season 1. Originally planned to hit stores last week, the title had been pushed back to March because the home video studio at Mill Creek had an opportunity to work with the show's production studio, Carsey Werner, to include new uniqute-to-Blu bonus material. A couple of weeks ago, Amazon updated their pre-order listing (see button link below) to show a March 6th release date, but our contacts at the studio quickly told us that this info was not correct, and requested that we wait on posting news until everything was completely decided.

Just a short time ago today, Mill Creek sent us the finalized street date of March 20th for the Blu-ray release of That '70s Show - Season 1. As previously reported, the 4-disc set will be priced at $24.98 SRP. You'll get all 25 uncut episodes presented in widescreen aspect ratio (note that the DVD sets from both Fox and Mill Creek were in full frame), with English 5.1 audio. Bonus material consists of the same extras from the previous DVDs of this season: a "Hello Wisconsin!" Featurette, Promo-Palooza, and "That '70s Trivia Show." Also included is the new unique-to-Blu special feature, the never-before-seen "Groovy Green Screen Video" Featurette. To cap it off, there's also a Season 2 Sneak Preview with segments like "Kelso's Serenade," "Jackie Moves On," & "Moon over Point Place." Here's your very first look at the package art, which is also brand-new for Mill Creek's Blu-ray Release of Season 1:

bigjim25

$12.99 + s/h at FamilyVideo.com

stingermck

Needs a complete series, and i'm on board.

Matthew Chmiel

1. I'm glad to see the set being four-discs rather than two-discs as originally reported. However, why do I feel safe to assume Mill Creek will probably use single-layered discs with 6-7 episodes a disc?

2. I'm glad to see Mill Creek port over all of the original Fox DVD bonus material which didn't make its way to Mill Creek's DVD set.

3. I'm curious if the bonus "segments" will actually be the full episodes from season two or just snippets?

Either way, studios take note. THAT IS HOW YOU PRICE A TELEVISION SERIES FOR RELEASE ON BLU-RAY.

TheDuke

Was That 70's Show even shot in HD?

clckworang

Agreed. I wasn't a fan of the show (not intending to threadcrap), but I think it's great to see some more TV getting released on Blu-ray and even better that it's reasonably priced.

popegregFKAgoblin23

I'm pretty sure it was shot ON FILM, therefore an HD transfer is certainly possible.

Personally I've got no interest in seeing this show again, but I would be all over a BD release of Seinfeld in HD.

Mazje

Original broadcast music intact?

Matthew Chmiel

The show was shot on film. However, the show had to be reformatted to fit in a 16x9 frame. Some comparisons show more space on the left and right areas in the 16x9 version and more space on the top and bottom in the 4x3.

IIRC, even the Fox DVDs had music missing. If that's the case, I might assume no.

davidh777

I agree the pricing is good, but let's not lose sight of the fact that the owning studio already released it on DVD while it was on the air. Catalog releases are always priced cheaper than new releases.

Ringmaster

Any reviews for this yet?

B5Erik

I haven't seen any, but here's mine...

I ran across this set at Frys a couple weeks ago, and as the price was right I immediately bought it. The original Fox DVDs for this show look pretty crappy on an HDTV (interlaced), so I figured at the very least that problem would be solved.

The first thing I checked out was the cropping. I wanted to see if this was legit widescreen or faux, top and bottom of the image chopped off, widescreen. It's totally legit. More info on the left and right, and only a tiny amount lost on the bottom. It's basically what you'd see with a 1950's movie that was released in both formats (many theaters in the 50's didn't convert to widescreens until very late in the decade). The amount of image lost on the bottom is negligable. The new composition of the shots gives a very different feeling to the show. It's more open, more natural. It looks right.

But what about the picture quality? Damned good. Light years ahead of the DVD release. Sharper, clearer, and much more detailed, this release looks great for a sitcom. Better than it looked in it's original run on TV.

Now you may notice that a few of the between scene graphics are stretched on a few of the episodes. Apparently a few of them were originally formatted for 4X3 and had to be stretched, but that's a minor quibble with a set that looks this good (compared to the original DVD versions).

Mill Creek's quality has been getting better in releasing licensed titles, and this may be their best job to date.

That '70s Show was a great sitcom, and on blu ray it gets even better. I am absolutely stoked that Mill Creek and Carsey/Werner put this out on blu, and even happier that they did such a good job with it.

Bring on the rest of the series on blu!

If you like this show at all, buy this set. The HD picture and new framing/composition makes it totally worth it. It's almost like watching the show for the first time.

Buy it.

manicsounds

blu-ray.com review
Rock Shock Pop review
DVDizzy review

Mazje

Any word on the music?

B5Erik

I'm halfway through the set and so far it is exactly as it was on the Fox DVD release. Some name songs are on there, some generic stuff, too (I'm assuming that was the case on the original broadcasts, but I don't know since I didn't watch the show at that point).

The blu ray set is a huge upgrade from the DVD's, though, on all counts.

CapRockBrewingCo.

I posted it over in Blu-ray Bargains but thought I'd add it here: $11.99 at Fry's.

dolphinboy

Bring on season 2!

B5Erik

'
No kidding. Based on the quality of the Season 1 set, and just how great the series was, I really want the rest of the series on blu ray!

Bring the rest of the series on asap!

Fok

Damn the DVDs cost me so much back in the day For cost purposes, I'll wait and hopefully they release a complete set later

Matthew Chmiel

Season 2 will be released on October 16th. Again, the SRP will be $24.98.

B5Erik

Hangin' out, baby! I'll meet all of you in Forman's basement...

starseed1981

Are they planning to release the whole series to Blu? Or are they just releasing them one by one based on sales?

I ask cause I'm wondering whether its worth it to gamble on the blu's or if I should just pick up the entire series.

JayDerek

that's the Catch 22 with any series like this...if everyone has that mentality and holds off buying, it'll be seen as a lack of interest - then the releases stop happening.

I'll be getting Season 2 because a) I'm a fan of the show and b) it's a GREAT price point

starseed1981

Hrmmm. Good point. I actually went to a tape of the 5th episode of season two (and season premiere of season three) so I have fond memories of that. Me thinks I'll just pick up both the Blu's.