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Real Ghostbusters DVD Collection Hands-On
A surprise package was left on my porch today from TimeLife. I was expecting to get my copy of the set next week, but apparently some select people are getting copies of the set this week in advance of the shipment to the general public this Tuesday.
As promised, the promo pilot was the first thing I watched and it looked great. The first 54 seconds was used in its entirety in the Blockbuster and Syndication promos, so that first minute of the pilot didn't seem so fresh. The rest was incredible. It was also a hoot to see all of the known footage in its proper context. In my mind I kept saying, "So that's where that shot is from." Considering the original source is a 20 year old videocassette (you can tell the source was VHS), the quality is amazing. I have not even taken every disc out of the case, much less watch it all, but I did search out a few other things to check up on them. I was pleasantly surprised to find that "A Fright At The Opera" and "The Bird Of Kildarby" were the alternate Tahiti music versions and not the series music versions (as I was originally led to believe). This is great news for Kildarby because the series music version can be found on Sony's Creatures of the Night DVD, not so great for Opera because it means that I'm stuck keeping my Fox Family copy until I can find someone with a copy of the series music version from the original syndication run sans logo, on-screen text, and edits. (Thankfully I have someone in mind who can probably help.) Although I state this on my page for the set, no redubbed or alternate episodes are included except for the one-hour version of Deja Boo (and technically the retitled Slimer! "A Mouse In The House" that none of us knew about - or probably cared about). However, of the four alternate music episodes, two are series music and two are Tahiti music. However, all is not good. I've found at least two things content-wise that I don't like. The first one is minor, but the second one is major. At the end of every episode, the "Columbia Pictures Television" logo is replaced with the new "Sony Pictures Television" logo. I can sort of understand replacing the logo in the early episodes, due to the original bearing the Coca-Cola Company mark, but there was no reason to change it in the later episodes. In fact, on the 2005 Ghostbusters II DVD, they left the original logo intact on "Partners In Slime". Only on "Citizen Ghost" was it changed. The major issue is that something is really screwy with Season 4. Again, the "Partners In Slime" episode is played too slowly, and thus sounds bad, has defects in the audio, and runs unusually long. It was like this on the GB2 2005 DVD, but NOT in the original ABC broadcast. A few other Season 4 episodes I checked sound slow as well. When I finally get the chance to watch all of the episodes, I'll make notes about what doesn't sound or look right and compare them to the original ABC episodes. I have a feeling I may have to keep a few more of my old tapes than I originally planned to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UPDATE [12/10/2008] I wasn't the only one who noticed the slow episodes, as Zuul noticed it as well: Is it just my copy or are all the episodes on Volume 4 - Disc 2 kind of slow? All of the voices are really noticeably sluggish. Even the music and effects track is messed up. [This is the disc with "Partners In Slime" on it.] Matt aka clortho has shed some light on why certain episodes play slowly: As for those "slow" episodes Paul was talking about, I can almost guarantee they were PAL masters slowed down to match the NTSC framerate, which although the framerate is now matching our standard, it just doesn't look right. I have a few DVDs that are like that where PAL masters were used and it looks like shit. It's possible the original masters broadcast on ABC are no longer in existence or whatever. His sentiments were back up by Chris Stewart: A few of the tracks are apparently pulled from PAL sources - PAL (UK/Asia) runs at a different rate than NTSC (North America), hence the slow down. There's been no confirmation of this, though the effect is consistent. And there's no explanation as to why this is. Well that certainly would explain it, if that were the case, but according to Andy Mangels they are not from PAL masters: I can guarantee you that they are not, and I don't know why Paul thinks they are different.Well, I can assure Andy that the slowed-down episodes in Volume 4 are NOT as originally aired on ABC. You know, when "Partners In Slime" showed up on Sony's GB2 DVD in 2005, I thought they screwed up in the transfer. But now I'm starting to think the issue is with the master. So if all of the masters were NTSC, not PAL, then I can only think of two possible reasons for why the episodes on the DVD are messed up. 1. The masters have an incorrectly-set bit or flag. This is, assuming, that the masters use such a thing. 2. The masters that Andy was given were actually NTSC conversions from PAL masters, but were never labeled as such. It's quite possible that some time in the past 20 years they lost or misplaced the original NTSC masters that aired on ABC and figured that the PAL masters would be just as good, not realizing that the different video formats pose quite a problem. Based upon what Spengs said about the episodes originally airing this slow in Europe, which was not the case in the U.S., this seems to be the likely scenario. Odd enough, I checked out one of the two-story pair episodes - specifically "Venk-Man! / Slimer Streak" - and "Venk-man!" sounded incredibly sped-up. It was like I was watching Fox Family Channel! I'm going to have to check out the original ABC broadcast to see if that's simply how it is or if there's something strange going on in the neighborhood. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Other than that video quality is good. As good as the original television broadcasts, if not a bit better, though I'd hardly call the episodes "remastered" or "restored". You will see the occassional spec of dust and dirt that you'd expect to see from something of that vintage - nothing bad, though one of the Slimer! eps had some scratches at the very beginning, which although minor, proves that they weren't "restored" or "remastered" in any conventional sense of those words. Audio is a mixed bag, generally because it's like that way in the series. In some episodes Lorenzo and Maurice sound odd and in others they sound fine. That's not a fault of the DVD, though. You can read more of my thoughts on the audio, video, and select features in my review of the promo DVD from last month. Although I don't have the time right now to fully document the set in pictures and video, I did make some quick updates to the site based upon the set. The Slimer episode guide now has the synopsis and writers for Show Dog Showdown, Sticky Fingers, and Unidentified Sliming Object; also added a note about the two different title screens for "A Mouse In The House". On the RGB ep guide page for Knock Knock, I removed the trivia about it being the pilot episode since that has proven to be untrue. The 4-minute promo pilot IS the pilot episode. My biggest complaint about the set, and I know that I'm not alone in this sentiment, is the disc-over-disc storage inside the steelbook cases, and the disc locking mechanism which has absolutely no give and upon repeated use will cause the inner ring of the disc to crack. I've had this happen with my GB1 1999 DVD, and that case's disc locking mechanism is a bit better than this ones - but not by much. The steelbooks on the outside are nice, and the art inside is nice, but the actual storage of the discs leaves a lot to be desired. I would have expected better for a set that costs near $200. One of the things you will notice most when you first see the set is how small it is (it's the width of approximately 6 standard DVD cases). It simply looks too small to hold 25 discs. Heck, The Twilight Zone complete series set is 28 discs and is like three times as wide. That's because each is stored on it's own page in a book-style digipak. Although that's not ideal packaging either, I would have preferred something in between that and this. I would gladly give up some shelf space to have better storage of the discs. My personal ideal storage would have been 12 dual-disc plastic slim cases with the "four spade" disc locking mechanism. (These cases were used in the later Tales From The Crypt sets, the hub that holds the discs is comprised of four arrows or spades pointing inwards. If you've see these cases before, you probably know what I'm talking about.) The best disc locking mechanism I've ever seen is this M-Lock hub, which I've only seen in those bootleg Top Ten Media discs from Hong Kong that show up in clearance stores. Anyway, before I get completely off-topic, let me wrap this up by saying that if you'd like to read more about the set, go over to Proton Charging, GB Fans, TheRealGhostbusters.com, RGB Online, Cinema Blend, and be sure to check out Chris Stewart's new packaging pics. Oh, and if it seems like I'm being really negative and complaining about everything...well, it only seems that way. By and large, I *LOVE* the set and highly recommend it to everyone. It's just that I'd be doing a great disservice to the other fans if I didn't mention the things that just aren't kosher :-) Trackback address for this postTrackback URL (right click and copy shortcut/link location) 27 comments
Comment from: Troy [Visitor] · http://www.stillplayingwithtoys.com
"However, all is not good. I've found at least two things content-wise that I don't like. The first one is minor, but the second one is major. At the end of every episode, the "Columbia Pictures Television" logo is replaced with the new "Sony Pictures Television" logo. I can sort of understand replacing the logo in the early episodes, due to the original bearing the Coca-Cola Company mark, but there was no reason to change it in the later episodes. "
Afraid that you're not going to win on that one- mainly because Columbia Pictures Television no longer exists as a business entity. As much as we can be sticklers for keeping things in their original broadcast form, I'm pretty sure that Sony Pictures Television, technically the new copyright holder since the Columbia TV wing was renamed, wants to copyright the material that they're releasing. Point being, it was a legal decision to change those logos - not a creative one. :)
Nov. 23, 2008 @ 16:50
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
Well, I did say that was the minor issue :-)
Still, on the 2005 Ghostbusters II DVD, they left the original logo intact on "Partners In Slime". Only on "Citizen Ghost" was it changed. On top of that, all of the copyrights on the set for the RGB materials are for "CPT Holdings, Inc." So I don't see why it would have been a legal issue either. Anyway, my big issue is with the episode(s) that play at slow speed. "Partners In Slime" is one, and it seems like there might be a couple of others in Season 4.
Nov. 24, 2008 @ 06:02
Comment from: Scott R. Lacey [Visitor]
Paul,
First, I want to express how overjoyed I am with this collection. I have been watching through my copy of the set (still can't believe I am finally holding one after all of these years), and I have noticed some things about which I was hoping to get confirmation. Watching the first disc, I notice that the dialogue isn't always in sync with the movement of their mouths. It isn't always terrible, and I though maybe I am simply overanalyzing the set, but I went back to some of my tapes. There is definitely a difference, and I think the one place to clearly see what I am talking about is in "Mrs. Roger's Neighborhood." Just after they destroy her dress the dialogue matches the picture, but it slowly changes and by the time Ray says "Oh.... OH!", his mouth clearly moves in a delay. Perhaps this is an issue with my collection alone, but if you could confirm or deny that you see the same thing, I will know for sure. I also couldn't help but notice the absence of a title card for "Killerwatt" when watching the episode. It seems that the bumpers aren't in place for 100% of the episodes either. Finally, another thing I noticed was in the credits for "Troll Bridge," the song "The Boogieman" by Tahiti is listed. Perhaps the master for this episode didn't have the credits attached, so they cropped it from the other episode. These are all minor nitpicks compared to the dialogue. Oh, and I definitely agree with your assessment of the season four episodes. I can notice the slow played audio as soon as the opening sequence begins. I watched "Elementary, My Dear Winston" to discover this occurrence. I would love to compare notes for additional discrepincies I may notice, so if you don't mind, I will post here again in the future. P.S. It must be satisfying seeing your name listed in the set!
Nov. 28, 2008 @ 11:39
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
Got my set on the 25th. Overall, it's great. The Firehouse design and steelbooks are both nice touches and you can tell a lot of work into those.
The extras are also superb. The extended interviews portion of the bonus disk is close to the amount of content I expected in the way of extras when the set was first announced, but we ended up with a ton of stuff. I appreciate that Andy really went the extra mile to make this a crowd pleaser. Another thing I liked is all the seasons got at least some extra material. They didn't just focus solely on the first few seasons like I've saw other supplements do. After years of low quality video tapes and Youtube uploads, I finally get to enjoy this series with good sound quality and most of the episodes look great. Though nothing is perfect, and I do have a few complaints. Given as I said that most of these look really good, I was pretty surprised by how rough "A FRIGHT AT THE OPERA" looked. Some of the other episodes had the occasional scratch, but there were so many in that show that it was distracting. Several of the Slimer! episodes on the first disk have more scratches than usual also. Not as bad as "A FRIGHT AT THE OPERA" but still more than the normal episodes. I'm not too worried about Slimer! though, but I'm just pointing it out. The slow episodes are the main thing, as many have already pointed out. I don't know when those came to be, but after watching the others at normal speed, they certainly are a bother. I first noticed them when the show aired on Fox Family. I definitely think it's a master problem. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt we would have gotten these three times now (Fox Family, GB2 DVD, and this set) if the normal versions from ABC were still around. Paul mentioned that "Venk-Man!" sounded sped up, and I think he is right. There is a version of that episode on Youtube that runs just over 14 minutes (no commercials) and the one on the DVD runs over 12 minutes. All the other shorts do as well. I think those could possibly be syndicated versions of those episodes. The opening theme has certainly been sped up on all of them, as it runs several seconds shorter than normal. I hope I didn't sound too negative because I really do love the set. I would give it a 9 out of 10 and say that it is no doubt worth the price for RGB fans who have been waiting for years to own the show on DVD.
Nov. 30, 2008 @ 18:00
Comment from: Scott R. Lacey [Visitor]
In addition to the items I previously listed, I was also surprised by a defect in the episode "the Old College Spirit." When we first see "the West Side Women's Club" presenting to Peter at the start of the episode, a "static" effect rolls across the top of the screen (reminiscent of old VHS tapes correcting for tracking issues.) This defect was surprising mostly because it is not present in the Jetix aired copy floating around online.
Nov. 30, 2008 @ 22:32
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
The last thing I will mention is in the episode "THE RANSOM OF GREENSPUD" when Egon and the guys are talking about letting Spider Legs out of the containment unit - Egon says "We may not need to get her out at all".
During that line there is a skip, and part of his line is then repeated. I don't have this one on tape, so I don't know if it's an error in the show or on the disk. Could just be my copy, I'm not sure.
Dec. 1, 2008 @ 02:08
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
Hi Everyone
Thanks for posting your defect finds, though it saddens me to learn there are so many. I haven't had a chance to do much with my set due to the holidays and other things that have kept me busy. I'm going to try to find some time this week to gather up the runtimes for all video content and put together a list of all of the bumpers, but that's probably all I'll be able to do until the new year. So I'm relying on all of you who are actually watching the episodes completely to note anything that's just not right. If you find any defects noted on the major GB forums, please note them here and give a credit/link to the source. Having them all in one place makes it so much easier on me :-) And be sure to note the time codes for anything you find - but please use the time codes for the "episode only" versions, not the ones with the introductions on them. And just go by the solo episode runtimes, not the "Play All" runtimes. Once I have a list of the defects, I'll check them with the original ABC and syndication recordings I have, and put up some brief image and/or video files to illustrate the defects. Then I'll present them to Andy Mangels and Jeff Peisch (fromTimeLife) to see if they can confirm the defects on their end; and what, if anything, they plan on doing about them. The slow-playing episodes are a MAJOR defect, which hopefully can be fixed. What I noticed briefly with the fast-playing "Venk-Man!", if indeed an error (as I suspect it is), is something that I'd consider to be major - even if no other episodes are affected. Anything that dampers the viewing experience for the entire duration of the program is something that I'd definitely consider to be major. Some of what you guys have mentioned, although bad, might be considered minor. Still, I'll present everything you guys find, and we'll see if TimeLife would be willing to fix them, and issue replacement discs for the discs that contain the affected episodes. Scott, I found a screen shot on a forum which I added to your comment about the static effect in "The Old College Spirit". I hope that's what you were talking about. This static defect really goes against the claim that the episodes were remastered or cleaned up in any way.
Dec. 2, 2008 @ 00:51
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
This GBFans forum thread (where I found the screen shot) has the info listed below, which I copy and pasted here for the sake of keeping it together with everything you guys already noted.
# Comment by egon92 Something I found more of a distraction was that during NIGHT GAME there are several frames where the bottom of the screen jumps. It seems to happen with scene changes. Imagine a black line jumping up from the bottom of the screen to maybe 1/8 of the screen height.
Dec. 2, 2008 @ 01:07
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
That bit of dialog I mentioned from "IT'S ABOUT TIME" / "THE RANSOM OF GREENSPUD" takes place at 19:13 .
Dec. 2, 2008 @ 03:31
Comment from: Scott R. Lacey [Visitor]
Concerning "the Old College Spirit," that defect is the one. Thank you for adding that shot. I am hoping to have some time this weekend to post time codes for the items I have noticed.
Dec. 2, 2008 @ 07:11
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
I just noticed that the set corrected a previous error.
On both the Fox Family and Sony's 2006 DVD presentations of "THEY CALL ME MISTER SLIMER", Winston's opening line at the beginning of Act II had been incomplete. But since they added the bumper to the episode, the line is now intact.
Dec. 4, 2008 @ 00:39
The episodes on Volume 4, Disc 2 are definitely cranked to slow, as if they were unnecessarily corrected for the PAL speed-up effect. Since there's no visual commentary on the disc, I can't figure out if it's a DVD mastering error, or a problem with the tapes themselves (as a similar anomaly appears in the second act of the Transformers episode "War Dawn", and the Canadian VHS release of another TF episode has constant problems with the playback speed).
Regardless, there's no way any half-hour TV show from the '80s would have had only 4 minutes for commercials.
Dec. 8, 2008 @ 01:07
Comment from: Garrett [Visitor] · http://www.cartoonreviewsite.com
I've noticed that ALL of the two-story episodes are sped-up. Like the slowed-down episodes, it's very obvious that something is wrong just by hearing the opening theme.
Dec. 9, 2008 @ 22:15
Comment from: Snatcher42 [Visitor] · http://ltny.hitart.com
Here's a interesting anomaly between the first full acts of Night Game:
A couple frames of a vintage Burger King advertisement! :) 
Dec. 10, 2008 @ 19:54
Comment from: Spengs [Visitor]
Hey Paul...
Got the whole series on videotapes. They're from the first time RGB aired here (I'm European), and all of the season four episodes are this slow / fast - Never saw another "normal" speeded version in 20 years! Point is, it cannot be this PAL/NTSC-thing, since all my eps are PAL, but only season four is this strange.
Dec. 10, 2008 @ 21:22
Comment from: SonofSamhain [Visitor]
I was impressed with the overall look of this collection. It's one thing to see it online, but to actually see & feel it in person was a dream come true. Again, a HUGE "thanks" to all who were involved.
However, one thing that irritates me is constant pulling or tugging you have to do to get the discs out of their holdings in the Steelbook casings. I believe Paul commented on this when he received his advanced copy. I can't shake this nagging feeling (whenever I hear that awful "pop" sound upon removing the discs) that it's just a matter of time before the discs crack or snap in half, no matter how EXTREMELY careful I've tried to be. I still admire the beauty of the collection; the artwork, the casings, the firehouse box, but who's idea was it to make the discs so difficult to remove? I've seen really cheap bootleg DVDs that come with better TLC (e.g. the plastic mechanisms you push down in the center & the disc EASILY pops up). Why wasn't that implemented to a collection that a true fan is going to be repeatedly watching/therefore repeatedly removing the discs from their confines? Another issue that sort of ties in with the difficult removal aspect is the layering of the discs & having to remove one disc to get to the other. This only further compounds the first issue I expressed. For a collection to be so aesthetically pleasing, I thought that there should've been more attention paid to the two issues that could greatly affect the performance of the contents inside; the main reason we bought it in the first place! P.S. ~ Just outta curiosity, why wasn't the Tahiti "Boogeyman" version of Knock, Knock included? Didn't the episode originally air that way?
Dec. 11, 2008 @ 12:00
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
First, I want to again thank everyone who's submitted errors. I have been reading them all, and saving them to a text file on my computer for safe keeping. I promise that as soon as I can, I *WILL* organize this into a concise list with multimedia proof of the errors (and correct versions, where applicable and available), and then submit that list/link to Andy & Jeff to see if they'd correct the errors (which I hope they will do) and issue replacement discs (it seems that Discs 2 & 3 of Volume 4 definitely need to be replaced). I *REALLY* would have liked to have had that all done already, but between the holidays and personal matters, I'm lucky if I can find the time to eat and sleep. So I also want to thank you all for your patience.
I'd like to make some brief comments on the latest finds. # Comment from: Garrett [Dec. 9, 2008 @ 22:15] I've noticed that ALL of the two-story episodes are sped-up. Like the slowed-down episodes, it's very obvious that something is wrong just by hearing the opening theme. So it seems that *ANYTHING* that runs 26 minutes is being played incorrectly - either too slow or too fast. What makes the two-story episodes interesting is that if they're slowed down to normal speed, they're going to be LONGER than 26 minutes! Of course, from what I've been told by James Eatock (who helped Andy go through the masters), there were no "definitive" hour-long blocks of stories. ABC (or whomever) just pieced together the "Slimer & The RGB" hour-long blocks using whatever new and/or old stories they had. Which means that it would not be odd for these two-story episodes to run longer than the standard half-hour-sans-commercials length since they weren't originally compiled into two-story pairs anyway. (I hope that makes sense.) # Comment from: Snatcher42 [Dec. 10, 2008 @ 19:54] Here's a interesting anomaly between the first full acts of Night Game: A couple frames of a vintage Burger King advertisement! :) OH MY GOD! Andy DID say that "some of the ABC shows even had the original commercials in place." Although "Night Game" is a syndicated ep, not from ABC, this does prove him right. I can only imagine what it was like to find all of the commercials in the master. I would have had a huge "flashback" smile on my face from seeing them! # Comment from: Spengs [Dec. 10, 2008 @ 21:22] Got the whole series on videotapes. They're from the first time RGB aired here (I'm European), and all of the season four episodes are this slow / fast - Never saw another "normal" speeded version in 20 years! Point is, it cannot be this PAL/NTSC-thing, since all my eps are PAL, but only season four is this strange. That's odd because I can definitely tell you that here in the U.S. they were not originally shown that slow. I have the proof on videotape as well. So these particular episodes were normal-playing in the U.S., slow-playing in Europe, and slow-playing on an NTSC master - but all of the other episodes are normal-playing for all three realms. That does eliminate it being a PAL/NTSC issue. I don't know anything about the format masters are stored in, but maybe there's a flag or a bit that's set incorrectly which causes the master to play at a slower speed. Or maybe the masters they found were converted from PAL to NTSC a long time ago (with no indication on the label about it), and the original NTSC masters used for the U.S. ABC airings are either missing or lost forever. Anyone have any ideas? # Comment from: SonofSamhain [Dec. 11, 2008 @ 12:00] However, one thing that irritates me is constant pulling or tugging you have to do to get the discs out of their holdings in the Steelbook casings. I believe Paul commented on this when he received his advanced copy. I can't shake this nagging feeling (whenever I hear that awful "pop" sound upon removing the discs) that it's just a matter of time before the discs crack or snap in half, no matter how EXTREMELY careful I've tried to be. [...] Another issue that sort of ties in with the difficult removal aspect is the layering of the discs & having to remove one disc to get to the other. This only further compounds the first issue I expressed. Yes, I commented on both of those issues in the post at the top of this page. I'm happy to know that I'm not alone in the opinion that the disc locking mechanism and disc storage is user-UNfriendly and potentially hazardous to the discs. I've said it in the original post, but it's worth repeating: my GB1 1999 DVD has cracks on the inner ring of the disc due to the disc locking mechanism used by the standard Amaray keepcase. It clips the disc whenever you remove the disc, and I think when you insert it as well. I have just recently put both 1999 movie DVDs into better cases, but the damage is already done to the GB1 disc. I realize that the Steelbook packaging presents a lot of limitations on how the discs can be secured and stored. So I can't fully fault TimeLife for the problems, though I was told by Andy many months ago that TimeLife prefers disc-over-disc storage, so I have to put some blame on them for being in that mindset. Obviously we could have had a better disc locking mechanism if they went with other packaging instead of the Steelbooks. I don't know how people feel about the Steelbooks, and I will admit that they look nice, but I don't think that they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. I could have easily done without them if it meant getting better storage of the discs. I just recently bought MPI's two volumes of Beverly Hillbillies episodes. Each is in a one-inch thick black plastic case with pages inside for the four discs and room for a booklet. One case uses the "four spade" disc locking mechanism, with the discs stored on two double-sided pages, the four-page booklet under clips on the inside front, and nothing on the inside back. (I really wish that I knew who made this locking mechanism or could find a picture online to better explain it. With this locking mechanism, which was used in the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 slim cases in the 2005 "gift set" and in the dual-disc slim cases in the later Tales From The Crypt sets, the hub that holds the discs is comprised of four arrows or spades pointing inwards. If you've see these cases before, you probably know what I'm talking about.) The other case uses the "Locking Mechanism" M-Lock hub locking mechanism, with the discs stored on the inside front, the inside back, and on one double-sided page in the middle, with room for a booklet under raised clips above the disc on the inside front. Although these cases are thicker than the RGB cases (double thick, I think), I would have preferred these cases to the Steelbooks for three simple reasons: (1) better disc locking mechanism - either the "four spade" or "M-Lock", (2) better disc storage - using the first cases' design there's easily room for five discs in the case with no overlap, (3) they can be replaced since they're not designer cases. Also, if these cases come in Clear, "background art" (the images under the discs) could be printed on the reverse of the outside liner and shown through the case. So nothing would be lost, except for the steel exterior and a few inches of shelf space. Maybe all of you feel differently, but I would gladly have had the set take up 6-7 inches of shelf space for better secured and stored discs, then to have the ultra-compacted set we got. (Just to make it clear, I'm complaining about the inside of the Steelbook packaging, not all of the pretty pictures or the firehouse box.) Oh, and here's a little tip that make help make the discs easier to remove and lessen the amount of damage done to them in the process. Be forewarned: What I'm about to say, if done incorrectly, could ruin the locking mechanism making it impossible for the discs to stay in the case. If you look at the hub you can see which tines hold the disc in place and which don't. With the disc(s) removed, push those tines inwards a bit. This will make the plastic tines provide a little "give" for when you remove the discs. If you push the tines too far in, the disc won't stay in the case, so just push a little bit. Experiment for the best results. (I hope that makes sense because I don't know how to better explain it.) P.S. ~ Just outta curiosity, why wasn't the Tahiti "Boogeyman" version of Knock, Knock included? Didn't the episode originally air that way? I don't know. I made Andy aware of ALL of the alternate episodes many times, and he told me that he looked for them amongst the masters, but didn't find any (other than the hour-long "Deja Boo"). Of course, he had lead me to believe that the series music versions of all four alt. music episodes were being included, and it turns out that only two were. So maybe he didn't check them all like he said he did, or maybe they didn't have the master for the Tahiti music version of "Knock Knock". For what it's worth, the Tahiti music versions of "Knock Knock" and "Venkman's Ghost Repellers" can be found on the UK DVDs from 2004, which were converted to NTSC on the bootleg Manhattan Madness DVD (both are also available on individual VHS: Knock Knock, Venkman's Ghost Repellers). The series music version of "Bird Of Kildarby" can be found on Sony's Creatures Of The Night DVD (the box set has the Tahiti music version). The only alternate music episode that isn't available on VHS or DVD is the series music version of "A Fright At The Opera".
Dec. 11, 2008 @ 17:32
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
It seems the jumping picture problem isn't exclusive to "NIGHT GAME". I saw it a few times in both "BUSTER THE GHOST" and "TRADING FACES". I'll try to post time codes for those later.
Dec. 14, 2008 @ 14:33
Comment from: AJ Quick [Visitor] · http://www.gbfans.com/
The episode with the "Mean Green Teen Machine" (or whatever) has a timecode appear for a split second.
Dec. 14, 2008 @ 23:46
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
Strike what I said about "BUSTER THE GHOST". I think was being overly critical of that one. After watching it again last night, I don't think what I saw is significant. However the frame in "TRADING FACES" looks like it's being pulled from side to side several times. Also along those same lines, if you watch "STICKY BUSINESS", "HALLOWEEN II 1/2", "CAMPING IT UP", and "POULTRYGEIST" closely enough when there isn't much movement in the picture you can tell that the frame ticks up and down slightly for the entire episode.
A few more things I've noticed is that "THEY CALL ME MISTER SLIMER" has a line that travels from the middle of the frame to the top of the screen like on an old video tape, several times in the first few minutes of the episode. I point this out, because I didn't notice on the 2006 DVD that Sony put out. Something similar also appears in the episode "THE DEVIL TO PAY", when the illusion of Samhain is attacking Ray and Winston. The only difference is this one is at the bottom of the screen and only lasts for about a second. Also in the episodes "SPACEBUSTERS" and "GUESS WHAT'S COMING TO DINNER", there is this weird flashing halo that appears around the characters in closeup that I haven't noticed before. It happens maybe twice in the former episode, but at least five or six times in the latter right after the guys duck into the alley to discuss changing their clothes, and through to when Ray and Egon are approaching the Firehouse in an attempt to get inside. I've gone through all of the episodes at this point, and that's everything I saw that didn't look right and was worth pointing out. I'd like to say that even though I contributed everything I could to help compile potential errors, the only things that really bothered me that much in the set was the muddy transfer of "A FRIGHT AT THE OPERA" in Volume One and the speed problems in Volume Four. I think most of the other stuff I posted can be overlooked, but if it's possible that they could or would be willing to fix them on the later individual volumes, that they should be.
Dec. 18, 2008 @ 17:25
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
I'd like to again ask everyone...PLEASE PUT UP THE EPISODE-ONLY TIMECODES FOR THE DEFECTS YOU FIND! When the holidays pass and I finally have the time to go through all of the defects everyone mentioned and try to find them in my set, it would help tremendously if I could zap right to the defect spots without having to watch each entire episode and find them myself.
# Comment from: Uncle Horace I'd like to say that even though I contributed everything I could to help compile potential errors, the only things that really bothered me that much in the set was the muddy transfer of "A FRIGHT AT THE OPERA" in Volume One and the speed problems in Volume Four. I think most of the other stuff I posted can be overlooked, but if it's possible that they could or would be willing to fix them on the later individual volumes, that they should be. I agree with that sentiment. That's why when I organize all of the defects into a definitive list, they'll be separated into three categories: Major, Moderate, and Minor. Major defects NEED to be fixed, Moderate defects SHOULD be fixed, and Minor defects don't necessarily have to be fixed. There might be a fourth category called Anomalies, which are things that aren't really defects, but should be noted anyway. The Burger King ad that Snatcher42 mentioned would fit into this category.
Dec. 18, 2008 @ 17:51
Comment from: Uncle Horace [Visitor]
Sorry that it took longer than I thought, but here are the remaining time codes for the errors I posted.
"TRADING FACES / TRANSCENDENTAL TOURISTS" - Picture shifts from side to side several times between 4:25 and 7:05 "THEY CALL ME MISTER SLIMER" - Rising lines appear several times between 2:10 to 4:36 "THE DEVIL TO PAY" - Group of lines near the bottom of the frame at 16:43 "SPACEBUSTERS" - Flashing halo appears around the characters in some shots between 16:40 and 18:50 "GUESS WHAT'S COMING TO DINNER" - That same flashing halo appears again at several points between 10:45 and 12:05 I think all the others I posted applied to the entire episodes.
Dec. 23, 2008 @ 19:19
Comment from: Johnny Splitz [Visitor]
Another very small thing I noticed was with the episode "Play Them
Ragtime Boos". After the theme song & commercial bumper, the commercial bumper that happens right before the title card is completly cut except for the last 1/2 second. You can barely see it unless you're looking for it.
Dec. 25, 2008 @ 00:53
Comment from: Johnny Splitz [Visitor]
I forgot a whole chunk of what I wanted to say in my last message.
I noticed that a few episodes from the 1st season (ABC)are missing commercial bumpers: "Ghosts R Us" (Too bad they left this one out, from my tape this is the only one with a commercial bumper with the voice over and no score.) "Killerwatt" (Also has no title card which I believe was stated by another user.) "Slimer, Come Home" It seems this is all contained to disc #1, volume #1. The next disc all the episodes seem to be in tact. If I notice any others with this error I'll report them at another time.
Dec. 25, 2008 @ 01:07
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
What's interesting about the Killerwatt title card issue is that it's missing in the episode, but it's there in the gallery on the bonus disc!
Dec. 25, 2008 @ 15:40
Comment from: spookcentral [Member]
In an effort to keep related comments from other sites in one place, below are all of the relevant and useful comments from the two posts about the slowed-down episodes from over at Proton Charging.
================================================== Zuul Says: November 26th, 2008 at 11:28 am Now that I've looked at Partners In Slime on the GBII DVD, I think that it could be a PAL conversion. That one is kind of slowed down too. Although, it was a bit less noticeable since we didn't have any other episodes to compare it to. I think that it just effects this disc, which still seems odd to me. Oh well, it's still kind of watchable. It just feels like your brain has been fried while watching it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Garrett Says: December 9th, 2008 at 9:23 pm The episodes on Volume 4 Disc 2 are slowed down, and all of the two-story episodes on Volume 4 Disc 3 are sped up, but neither seems to be a conversion from a PAL source. If the episodes were corrected PAL conversions, the audio would be normal, and the picture a bit blurry (though not necessarily). I could probably make sound files and play with them to figure out the percentage difference for the eps, but that would interfere with my watching the last few discs. ;) What's odd, though, is that the episodes that have been sped-up and slowed-down are all about 26:15 in length-some 3-4 minutes *longer* than was normal for a network cartoon at that time. ("If I Were A Witch Man" is an exception at 23:32, but it also seems a bit sluggish to my ears.) Since they come from the same season, the slow episodes should be longer, the fast episodes shorter, and the bootlegs from the ABC broadcasts should be right in the middle. So, it's thoroughly possible ABC fiddled with the episode lengths, especially if Season 4 was when the show got shrunk back down to a half an hour (I was committing self-torture by watching NBC's Saturday line-up at the time, except when Garfield & Friends was on, sorry.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tyler Says: November 26th, 2008 at 2:30 pm It's a bummer for the people who bought these, but seriously - when there's a problem with DVDs out of the box (especially one widespread) the company putting them out usually replaces them for free. It just sucks right now trying to go through in chronological order and watch them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zuul Says: November 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm I skimmed through at least 3 episodes or more from each disc and found nothing similar to this. All of the bad ones that I've found are on volume 4 - disc 2. There might be a few more, but I'm guessing that it could be something with the disc? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zuul Says: November 26th, 2008 at 3:24 pm I've found something else out. On volume 4 - disc 1 the episode lengths are 22-23 minutes and on volume 4 - disc 2 they're up to 26 minutes. "If I Were a Witch Man" is the only episode that runs close to normal at 23 minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brad Says: November 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm The one thing I have noticed is on Vol.4 Disc 2 is the music for the intro drags quite a bit on mine! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AJ Quick Says: November 28th, 2008 at 11:37 am Yep.. That's what I see. Vol 4, Disc 2.. all of the episodes are pretty slow. You can tell in the theme song, and any places that use music with a regular beat.. you can tell it is off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Knight Says: November 28th, 2008 at 2:25 pm I sure hope Time life will let us send back any lagging or skipping discs separately instead of the Entire set, then I would be worried about the new discs having problems on different discs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ whataboutbob1784 Says: November 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm After reading these comments I checked mine out. I have only gone through the first 6 episodes so far and it is awesome but I noticed a problem with the music in the intro for all episodes on Volume 4 Disc 2. I didnt check the episodes b/c I want to watch them in order, but does anyone know if it lags during the shows too? Other than this problem I have been very happy. Hopefully if the problem is big enough they may fix it and let us trade the disc in. Sounds like the problems are isolated with this one disc so should be an easy fix. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AJ Quick Says: November 29th, 2008 at 1:16 am Disc 2 (Vol 4) appears to be the only one with trouble. (And EVERY episode on it.. has the problem). Beezer, your problem is definitely related to your DVD player and not the disc. Granted the DVD drives in computers are much better at reading the data. Perhaps you need to clean your laser on the DVD player. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ whataboutbob1784 Says: November 29th, 2008 at 7:41 am I am glad that it is an isolated incident. Do you think we will be able to contact someone (TimeLife) about it and see if it is something they might look into replacing? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Knight Says: December 1st, 2008 at 4:19 pm I think the episode "you cant take it with you" on vol 2 disc 1 After Egon throws the trap under the electricity in the pyramid device his speech is very fast & a little garbled anyone else notice this I think he says something about "I never thought it would work" but the audio is all scrambled but only his voice not the music or effects. also in "No One comes to Lupusville" when Winston asks the little girl Lita if she can find the spare proton pack she seems to mouth the word "yes" but theres no voice, just wondering if anyone has had these & whether it may just be the way they were broadcast originally. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Justin Says: December 2nd, 2008 at 12:05 am I too have seen this issue with Volume 4 Disc 2. It really sticks out during the intro. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zack Says: December 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm You Can't Take it With You, Egon was always just mumbling to himself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zack Says: December 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 pm I watched Venk-Man and it was VERY fast. It was over before I knew it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Stantz Says: December 4th, 2008 at 5:39 pm Is it me or do some of the Volume 4 disc 3 episodes seem just slightly to fast? (like "Surely you joust" or half of the opening and closing sequences being off as well) No problems with disc 3 of vol 1. I checked my old tape for "No One comes to Lupusville" and it did the same thing, but it was from a teletoon broadcast a few years ago, not the 80's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Knight Says: December 16th, 2008 at 8:52 am Thanks to those who cleared up the audio question I had earlier, I suspected as much but I just wanted to see if everyone had the same. I watch Vol 4 disc 1 & theyre all slower not just intro but the eps as well. but I suppose its not as bad as it could be but then again for $170.00 I think I should be allowed to be picky. Future Tense is probably the most sluggish after egon xrays the TV. but out of all "if I were a witch man" seems faster than the rest ending at 23mins where the rest end at 26mins On Vol 4 Disc 2 The Halloween Door Special seems to be at the perfect speed But I'm on "Surely you joust/Kitty cornered" and it seems all the eps & Intros after Halloween door are sped up. I'm wondering if there was a timing adjustments or something on these & They got switched when they burned the DVDs for shipping who know just a speculation. ==================================================
Dec. 25, 2008 @ 15:47
Comment from: Brent [Visitor]
I absolutely LOVE THIS BOX SET! I got it for Christmas yet after examing the dvd's I noticed that on volume 4 3 out of the 5 were severly scratched, I think it is due to how they are packages laying on top of each other. Oh well, I am sending it back for another copy of the box set...but I dont want to WAIT!! haha
Dec. 28, 2008 @ 12:39
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