A&E DVD Episode Info

All:

Was just checking the snazzy cover art for the A&E DVD set and saw
that they added the following info:

This set includes the following episodes:

Identified
Computer Affair
Flight Path
Survival
Exposed
Conflict
The Dalotek Affair
A Question of Priorities
Ordeal
The Responsibility Seat
The Square Triangle
Court
Close Up

DVD Features include: Remastered in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound;
Production Stills Photo Gallery; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection.

>>Surprisingly, it doesn't look like they bought the episode
commentary by Gerry. I didn't realize UFO had been remastered in
Dolby 5.1??

But, looks like it's uncut/unspeeded up -> 13 * 52 = 676 minutes!

Anthony

>Surprisingly, it doesn't look like they bought the episode
>commentary by Gerry. I didn't realize UFO had been remastered in
>Dolby 5.1??

Hmmmm.... I haven't heard anything about it being remastered
in 5.1. I'd suspect that this is some sort of mistake?

>But, looks like it's uncut/unspeeded up -> 13 * 52 = 676 minutes!

Or slowed down... IDENTIFIED is the only episode that comes
close to being 52 minutes. The others are at most 50 minutes.

Marc

>Identified
>Computer Affair
>Flight Path
>Survival
>Exposed

I wonder if this is really the episode order they're going to use?
SURVIVAL before EXPOSED? That's a real stupid thing to do!!!

Marc

> >Surprisingly, it doesn't look like they bought the episode
> >commentary by Gerry. I didn't realize UFO had been remastered in
> >Dolby 5.1??

I just heard from A&E's consultant on this... it sounds like
Carlton *did* send them a 5.1 surround mix for UFO. I just
don't understand why they would create such a mix and then
not use it on their own DVDs???

Myself, I would prefer to hear UFO in it's original mono
soundtrack. I've never liked these fake stereo mixes...

Marc

>Myself, I would prefer to hear UFO in it's original mono
>soundtrack. I've never liked these fake stereo mixes...

By the way, I just sent A&E some feedback about their
not mentioning the original mono soundtrack, because I for
one would prefer this to some cheesy, "new improved"
stereo soundtrack. If anyone else would like to give
them some feedback about this or the lack of extras
compared to the UK releases, you can use their
feedback form at:

http://www.aande.com/feedback/feedback.html

Probably should do it soon, because soon it's going
to be too late to change what's on these discs...

Marc

>Myself, I would prefer to hear UFO in it's original mono
>soundtrack. I've never liked these fake stereo mixes...
>
>Marc

I agree. The mix on THUNDERBIRDS was just bizarre.

Brian

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And Captain Scarlet is abysmal. The dum de dum, dum dum de dum flits around
from speaker to speaker without any sort of smooth panning, just hard edges.
Very badly done I reckon.
Grant.


-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Lindstrand [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: 16 May 2002 09:37
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [SHADO] Re: UFO in Surround Sound?


>Myself, I would prefer to hear UFO in it's original mono
>soundtrack. I've never liked these fake stereo mixes...
>
>Marc

I agree. The mix on THUNDERBIRDS was just bizarre.

Brian

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Is that the problem? I could never figure it out. I first had to
turn my volume up and down regularly since the flux volume did weird
stuff (on Thunderbirds) but I did find that setting my DVD
to "dialogue" helped tremendously. I hope they do better with the US
edition of Captain Scarlett and UFO.

>Is that the problem? I could never figure it out. I first had to
>turn my volume up and down regularly since the flux volume did weird
>stuff (on Thunderbirds) but I did find that setting my DVD
>to "dialogue" helped tremendously.  

I view these "Remastered in Dolby 5.1" as tampering with
the original, much like colorizing old black & white movies.
As if the original wasn't good enough.

For example, on Thunderbirds, I've compared the new mix
with the old one, and the explosions are all 10 times louder
than they were in the originals, they've gone in and added
sound effects which were never there in the first place,
and they artificially pan the sound from one speaker to
another. Also, the added sounds are crystal clear, while
the original sounds are a bit muffled, so it sounds
inconsistent. It's all really annoying, and there is
no way to hear the original soundtrack.

So far I've sent complaints about this UFO surround sound
to A&E's feedback page, New Video's feedback page, the
consultant for the UFO DVD's, and the head of marketing
at New Video. Perhaps if there are others who feel
strongly about this and complain, they might put
the original mono tracks on as an option.

Marc

Doubtful. I don't think they're going to add anything that costs. Also, you
have to assume that Carlton Video will send them the "original" soundtracks.
At this point, these babies are being pressed night and day ready to ship.
:)

It doesn't give you mono if you unclick Dobly 5.1?

Anthony
-------------------------
Come visit me at:

http://www.tony-island.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Martin" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 7:47 PM
Subject: RE: [SHADO] Re: UFO in Surround Sound?

<snip>

>Doubtful. I don't think they're going to add anything that costs.

I don't see the original soundtrack as "adding" anything. It's
part of the original series -- if anything, the new soundtrack
is an "addition". In fact, the master tapes that Carlton sent
to A&E featured the mono soundtrack, and they sent the surround
tapes separately, which means they aren't even synched with
the picture -- which means A&E has to make sure they match
themselves (a process which seems to be destined for error)

>At this point, these babies are being pressed night and day ready to ship.

Uhhh, the consultant is just now going through the extra materials,
which haven't even been finalized at this point.

At this point, I think the only thing A&E has completed is what
the cover artwork is going to look like!

And no, you cannot switch off the surround soundtrack. If your
stereo has a mono switch, then this might help, but not if they've
added sound effects or pumped up the volume for the explosions...

Marc

--- In SHADO@y..., Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:
> By the way, I just sent A&E some ... at:
>
> http://www.aande.com/feedback/feedback.html
>
> Probably should do it soon, because soon it's going
> to be too late to change what's on these discs...
>
> Marc

Thanks for the URL Marc, I sent the following, which is the
third e-mail over the last 4 months from me!! :-)

I just was honest about how I feel about the US release. Now
that I see what they are including, or more so, not including,
I'm seriously considering a multi-region player and picking
up the discs from Blackstar.

--- Start of feedback ---

I see the UFO DVDs are on your site, however I'm
disappointed that I don't see some of the suggestions I
had, incorporated into the release of the DVDs.

I'm an avid fan of the series, and know that the UK
DVD release of the show includes Gerry Anderson
episode commentary, Ed Bishop commentary, alternate
opening sequence, deleted scenes gallery, mono
soundtrack in addition to the surround 5.1.

As these seem readily available, I expected to see
them in the US release. I'm disappointed to not see
them there. I took the time to send two e-mails a
couple months ago with my expectations for the
DVDs, but got the sense that they didn't go further
than the e-mail screener. Based on the features
included, it seems they didn't get to the decision-makers.

I'm also a careful buyer and knowing I can get a
multi-region DVD player inexpensively and the UK
release has features I am very interested in, I need
to consider where to pick up something I plan to
keep forever.

I write this hoping A&E has a better idea of what its
customers want and that it has some influence on the
decision-making process of what goes into a DVD.

I know I'm using words like 'expectations' and coming
across like the holier-than-thou, but with an income of
$20K/year, not too many DVDs in my library, this one
is important and I need to decide carefully how to spend
my money.

Thanks for your time,
Dan

-- End of feedback

--- In SHADO@y..., Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:
> >Doubtful. I don't think they're going to add anything that costs.
>
> I don't see the original soundtrack as "adding" anything. It's
> part of the original series -- if anything, the new soundtrack
> is an "addition".
>

>
> Uhhh, the consultant is just now going through the extra materials,
> which haven't even been finalized at this point.
>
> Marc

And who was selected as a consultant? Have they posted here? Have
they read the suggestions, wishlists and comments here? Is it
your alter-ego Marc? :-)

Dan

>And who was selected as a consultant? Have they posted here? Have
>they read the suggestions, wishlists and comments here? Is it
>your alter-ego Marc? :-)

The A&E consultant I've been exhanging e-mails with is named Scott
Bosco. I belive he's on the Space:1999 mailing list, but not here.
He's certainly read my suggested and wishlists, and the results
of the poll we did here a few months ago, but that doesn't necessarily
mean much, as it doesn't appear that the "powers that be" at A&E
listen to him either. He does say repeatedly that they've requested
all of the extras from Carlton, but Carlton just hasn't sent them.
Although more recently, it sounds like they finally received the
deleted scenes from IDENTIFIED and EXPOSED, so hopefully they
will be adding these. And I *think* they may be adding at least
one big extra feature that's not on the Carlton DVD's as a result of
my e-mails. Although I'm not going to mention it until I see it
listed on A&E's website (or I get confirmation from Scott that
it's actually going to be there and I can publicly announce it)

Marc

>I'm an avid fan of the series, and know that the UK
>DVD release of the show includes Gerry Anderson
>episode commentary, Ed Bishop commentary, alternate
>opening sequence, deleted scenes gallery, mono
>soundtrack in addition to the surround 5.1.

Just one correction there, Dan -- the UK DVD's
do NOT contain a surround 5.1 track. Just the
mono track.

Marc

>I took the time to send two e-mails a
>couple months ago with my expectations for the
>DVDs, but got the sense that they didn't go further
>than the e-mail screener.

Also, if you think your feedback to A&E is being
ignored, you might want to also try contacting
New Video (the company which is actually in charge
of making the DVDs). Their website is:

http://www.newvideo.com/

And you can give them feedback by telephone:

Customer support line: (800) 314-8822
Phone: (212) 206-8600

Or by e-mail: [hidden email]

Might be worth a try. I only e-mailed them... has
anyone tried calling them?

--
Marc Martin, [hidden email]

Is this Scott Michael Bosco? IF so, he has done some terrific work for
Anchor Bay Entertainment on their discs of SUPERGIRL, SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE
and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS. Okay, I know the films aren't that great, but
the DVDs are terrific!

Brian

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>Is this Scott Michael Bosco? IF so, he has done some terrific work for
>Anchor Bay Entertainment on their discs of SUPERGIRL, SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE
>and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS. Okay, I know the films aren't that great, but
>the DVDs are terrific!

Yep. Same guy. Although perhaps he was more influential on those
DVD's than he is with A&E's Gerry Anderson titles...

Marc