He-Man on DVD in July

[Romier S]

This deserves it's own thread. Check it out:

 

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3285

 

It's been just over a week since Navarre-owned BCI Eclipse announced the first DVD release of the most powerful man in the universe. The July 12th street date for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Best 10 Episode Collector's Edition is one of the most anticipated days on the calendar this year for fans of classic '80s cartoons, and last week's announcement had every detail you could ask for...except the price!

 

 

I would prefer Seasons, but I'll gladly pick up a "Best Of" collection just to let them know we want more He-Man!

[Angry the Clown]

Don't bother. Season sets are due to begin appearing this autumn;

 

Beginning this fall, BCI Eclipse will begin releasing the complete, 130 episode series in multi-disc "season" box sets, each including an abundance of extras that, altogether, will make up the most comprehensive collection of extras ever produced for a classic animation DVD series.

 

http://www.he-man.org/

 

The only reason one may want to get the two-disc 'best of? set is for the supplements which may not be repeated on the eventual season sets.

 

Daniel

[jhfagan]

I've recently aquired the entire series on DVD on eBay ( yes, you know what i mean...hehe ), and the quality is very good. So really the only thing that would make me buy the official sets is the supplements if they're good enough.

I mean come on, the entire series for $50, as opposed to season box sets for at least $30 a piece?

But it's cool that they're at least making them.

 

Alot of other seasons of other classic cartoons are on the way too....so it seems that the industry is finally getting their acts together and making the licensing happen, and getting us the classic cartoons that we should have had a long time ago.

Namely that little series about the cat people and a sword? LOL

[Romier S]

I mean come on, the entire series for $50, as opposed to season box sets for at least $30 a piece?

 

I'll take official releases any day of the week over TV broadcast bootlegs. Regardless of money.

[JoeyN]

Im all for official releases :tu

[Adam Tyner]

I would prefer Seasons, but I'll gladly pick up a "Best Of" collection just to let them know we want more He-Man!

The idea is that BCI is pretty confident they can get really wide distribution for a 2-disc 'best of', but there's such heated competition for shelf space in stores these days that they thought the bigger boxes would be a tough sell to mass merchants. This way everybody wins. Plus, this would obviously be more appealing to people with more of a casual interest.

 

There are going to be four releases after this, with each season released in two volumes.

 

I've actually done some consulting work on this set.

[JoeyN]

I've actually done some consulting work on this set.

 

Ok you just cant let a line like that slip without some info

[Adam Tyner]

I think my involvement is pretty much over by this point, but what little I know:

 

The main extras are two featurettes on the show, which are slated to include interviews with voice actors, artists, writers, producers, etc., although I believe only Lou Scheimer and JMS are the only ones confirmed. Some trivia and plugs for other BCI releases (not sure if this includes a promo for the 6-disc season 1, vol. 1 set) are also tossed on there. The packaging is slated to include a pair of 4x6" art cards by Bruce Timm (best known for animated incarnations of various DC shows, but he used to work on MOTU) and Adam Hughes.

 

The extras on the season-ish sets are supposed to be insane. I'm still trying to get confirmation if these episodes are going to be converted from PAL masters. The PAL masters are gorgeous, but...y'know, not NTSC.

[merlot]

I may have to purchase this. I was a big He-Man geek. I must have all the action figures and Castle Greyskull up in my parents attic.

[JoeyN]

I picked up this Best of Set today. Even though ill definatly buy the season sets , this one has some exclusive documentaries and a few other things. Ill watch it in the next few days and let you guys know how it is.

 

And tvshowsondvd.com has pictures of the Season 1 box set

 

capt

[GreenMonkey]

From JMSnews:

I've already been interviewed for the DVDs, on-camera. Didn't do a

commentary, but did do the interview...and for those who asked later,

yes, I did indeed do the Ram Man song...guaranteed to cause bleeding of

the ears to anyone who hears it, so consider yourselves warned.

 

I forgot JMS wrote on this sometimes.

 

 

You know, I loved He-man as a kid but I'll be damned if I can remember anything about it.

 

Much better MSRP than the Thundercats seasons ($50 vs $65) and since I am a JMS (Babylon 5) fanboy, that tips it over the edge. I will keep an eye out for this cheap.

[Romier S]

Much better MSRP than the Thundercats seasons ($50 vs $65)

True. Thankfully you can preorder Thundercats for around 40-45 at some online retailers. Though I'd buy both of them regardless just cause I used to love them as a kid (Thundercats moreso than He-Man).

[JoeyN]

Ill be getting both He-man and thundercats sets. There are a few others id pick up as well if they ever came out

 

capt

[GreenMonkey]

The extras on the season-ish sets are supposed to be insane. I'm still trying to get confirmation if these episodes are going to be converted from PAL masters. The PAL masters are gorgeous, but...y'know, not NTSC.

 

http://www.he-man.org/

 

See July 14th news.

 

While many fans probably don't even realize this, the new DVDs were converted from restored digital masters in PAL format, a format used commonly outside the US (click here to learn more about broadcast formats). The PAL format episodes are slightly faster than the NTSC format that was originally aired in the US, by about 2 to 3%.

BCI attempted, prior to release of the 10 Best, to slow the speed of master copies when converting to NTSC. But while the sound quality held up, the video quality did not. So the DVDs released will continue to have the speed of the PAL format, familiar to most fans outside of the US.

So some fans have wondered why the digital masters are in PAL format to begin with.

BCI licensed the rights to produce the DVD from Entertainment Rights, who provided BCI with the episode content they were to use. And previously, Entertainment Rights bought the Filmation library from Hallmark, complete with restored digital masters in PAL format.

Here is what Entertainment Rights has to say about the current PAL format of the digitally restored master copies:

"Our He-Man MOTU masters were digitized into PAL format, primarily, to take advantage of a number of material benefits, including a 625 line structure and that they lose any NTSC 2-3 'pull-down' issues. There is no loss of any program material, whatsoever, when using these PAL masters."

"There is a percentage decrease in running time, due to the difference in film transfers between PAL and NTSC, but this factor is very common and generally accepted within the industry as being so slight that it should not affect NTSC conversions at all."

"We would also like to assure you that when servicing NTSC customers, a Snell & Wilcox converter with PHC is used to produce industry standard transfers. The new Digital He-Man Masters are a huge improvement to the old broadcast master reels in every way."

 

[Adam Tyner]

Yeah, I got confirmation that they were PAL conversations a while ago and forgot to post an update. (I'm one of the guys who created he-man.org, by the way...the initial version I made is a few months away from its tenth birthday, frighteningly.)

[JoeyN]

Even though ill be doing a review on my site, here are my thoughts on this Best of Set.

 

I was a huge he-man fan. One of my favorite cartoons of all time. I still have some of the toys in our storage room, i remember all the charectors, and a few of my favorite episodes. However until yesterday I haven't seen a he-man episode in probably 10 years. I was excited to pick up this best of set. It has not dissapointed.

 

Since I have not seen the show in such a long time I can not notice the PAL speedup. The picture is excellent, and i really hope they all look this good when the season sets come out. They really have done a excellent job cleaning up these episodes. The sound is very clear with no breakups at all.

 

The box it comes inis very nice with the main charectors of the show on the front, as well as the back. Same with the foldout that holds the two DVD's (one for the top 5 of season 1, and one for the Top 5 of Season 2). Also included is a small booklet which tells a synopsis about the episodes and two collectors cards only available in this set.

 

The Menus on the dvd are excellent. Some toned down theme music plays over a background of greyskull. If you go to the episodes section you can play all, or select certain episodes. In the select specific episodes area you get a synopsis of each episode and some video. If you go into the chapters area for a specfic episode you can see Orkos Fun Facts. These include notes on removed scenes, early draft notes, errors in the story and so forth for each episode. Very intresting stuff.

 

Each Disc also has a mini documentary talking about the episodes on that specific disc. You hear from the writers, artists and so forth about the scripts, the charectors and the he-man cartoon overall.

 

Im very impressed with this Best of Set. Worth picking up at BB for $14.99. Bring on Season 1 of He-man. I just hope Thundercats has the same quality when its released.