John’s Newsround – 7/1/06 News Posted by John Hoare on 7th January 2006, 05:10 WHY AM I STILL UP? Two updates on TOS this week, then. Firstly, a reminder that VII comes out in Region 1 on Tuesday. GAH I WISH WE GOT TRADING CARDS. Still, at least we don’t have to put up with ridiculously over-sized character piccies on the cover – the US distributors seem to think that consumers will believe they’ll be watching four hours of space shots otherwise. The other update is confirmation of the extras list for VIII. Excellent. Nothing we didn’t know already, although I must admit I’d forgotten about the storyboard comparisons. We’re also getting our first broadcast-quality trailers since waaaaay back in Series 1 – if you don’t count the short clip on the Series 2 release from a larger trail. And: An hour of deleted and extended moments. Does anyone want to predict how many magazine reviews will ridiculously pass this over again? It is a shame the music cues section will be so short – opening and closing themes, the awful Blue Midget dance music, and that’s it. The rest of the music in VIII is library music; not on the DVD due to cost reasons. This is a great shame, but can’t be helped. It’s also a pity we’re not getting any of the other Blue Midget dance music – the VIII scriptbook says that “different pieces are commissioned and rejected”. Cost, again? You’d have to pay each composer, I suppose. Or perhaps they were never even recorded, of course. I am also greatly looking forward to the PBS idents, but then as I’ve just been watching Transdiffusion Startups Vol. 2 (a DVD containing accurate reconstructions of old ITV startups), maybe that’s not surprising. But then, who wouldn’t be interested in new Dwarf stuff…
Me completely forgetting that TOS updates on Fridays, there. PBS IDENTS. IN-CHARACTER RED DWARF MATERIAL NEVER BROADCAST IN THE UK. Although, why is the Children in Need sketch listed under trailers instead of being an extra in its own right?
>at least we don’t have to put up with ridiculously over-sized character piccies on the cover I like the larger pictures. Ahem.
> Nothing we didn’t know already As Ian mentions: PBS IDENTS! I know you guessed em on the board, John, but we’d not announced before this update. Um…probably. This was a highlight of VIII for me as soon as we found them. A stack of actual Dwarf sketches – far more than just a quick plug – and wait til you see the edit on the channel IDs themselves. Lovely stuff. > An hour of deleted and extended moments. Does anyone want to predict how many magazine reviews will ridiculously pass this over again? All but one? *sigh* > It’s also a pity we’re not getting any of the other Blue Midget dance music. I should mention that, no, we can’t make other tracks available (in fact tapes aren’t even in GNP posession!), but we do have an earlier, alternate version of the used track.
You know, I thought I’d mentioned the PBS stuff on G&T before – but doing a search reveals me to be talking NONSENSE. Still, the thought of more Dwarf material combined with channel IDs makes me, well, literally wet. Literally.
This is going to be a great set, despite the orange cover (wasn’t it going to be red at one point?). I think I’m most looking forward to the feature-length BITR. The music thing really is one of the more disappointing aspects of VIII for me. A real shift from VII where Howard’s music, especially on the first two eps, was a highlight. Hearing about the cast saying goodbye at the end of the commentary it kind of hits home that THIS IS IT…PROBABLY. Well actually there might be the re-bastered DVDs. One thing I would pray for if those sets happen is a re-re-mastering of The End, just to see what it would look like. Also, and I know it’s not gonna happen, but Universally Challenged would make a fine addition. I still don’t understand why it’s so difficult to get it. AND the complete American pilot episode (the first or second). Who am I kidding, it’s never happening.
One thing I would pray for if those sets happen is a re-re-mastering of The End, just to see what it would look like. This is a fantastic idea! Also, and I know it’s not gonna happen, but Universally Challenged would make a fine addition. I still don’t understand why it’s so difficult to get it. Basically – the College Bowl Company own the rights to the format. The BBC only has the right to broadcast University Challenge – not commercially release it. And, erm, according to some accounts, the BBC legally shouldn’t have done Universe Challenge in the first place – which would perhaps explain clearance problems… AND the complete American pilot episode (the first or second). The first pilot could be released by Universal, if they wanted to. It’s cost too much for 2entertain to clear. I don’t know why Universal haven’t bothered, actually – look at the sales for Dwarf DVDs, and look at the interest in the pilot. I’m sure they’d make money! The problem with the second is that nobody admits to owning the rights…
The problem with the second is that nobody admits to owning the rights… Surely it has to be some combination of GNP, whoever filmed it, whoever funded it, and/or whatever channel commissioned it? And GNP should have records of these and the relevant contracts.
Well. It’s more complex than that. It wasn’t a Grant Naylor Production, as far as I’m aware. Rob and Doug *wrote* it. That’s it. If it was as simple as being in GNP’s records, I would imagine we’d know by now.
I *believe* the situation, from GNP’s point of view is – NBC actually *do* own the rights to the second pilot. But NBC don’t actually acknowledge this. Which is why they didn’t use clips from the second pilot in the docco – they couldn’t pay the copyright holder for the clips, as the copyright holder doesn’t believe it has the rights – but you can’t just go ahead and use it, unless NBC suddenly realise “Oh yes! We *do* own that! Money please!”
So, the final DVD, eh? Would there be a chance of something like a limited edition collectors bonus disc, with stuff that didn’t quite make the original discs, or stuff they’ve found since completing the relevant DVD’s? There must have been some stuff they’ve found that was maybe misfiled or rediscovered that wouldn’t have suited being included on one of the subsequent DVD’s.
Everything like that will be spread across the remastered DVDs if they happen. Series 2 documentary etc. They’d only be single-disc sets anyway as the details on the remastering process are pretty much containable within telling us what they did for The End (unless they’re planning to repeat everything several times), so they’d need all the extras they can get to sell them, frankly.
“But then, who wouldn’t be interested in new Dwarf stuff…[link]” Kryten doing his Amelie face, there.
I wonder whether the Re-mastered stuff could be done as one release? Four discs – one for each series, and then one extras disc…
That Red Dwarf VIII logo is going to tip over at some point, for sure. How will the photos of Rimmer and Lister be separated on the America cover by the way? I can’t remember how they did it for the other occasions that they were in the same actual photograph.
The American release of III (the last DVD to have that problem) just used completely different photos of Rimmer and Lister.
Whatever anyone says about the American covers, I think the Red Dwarf logo is dealt with better over there. The numeral overlapping the ellipsis is preferable in my mind than having the silly lopsided chin job.
