The Avengers TV Series

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John Johnson
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#16 Post by John Johnson »

More info on the UK release.

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StudioCanal has officially announced and detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of The Avengers: Series 4. The seven-disc Blu-ray box set will be available for purchase on February 23.

All 26 episodes from the fourth season of the cult 1960s action series starring Patrick MacNee as top-level secret agent John Steed and Diana Rigg as martial arts expert Mrs Emma Peel. Episodes are: 'The Town of No Return', 'The Murder Market', 'The Master Minds', 'Dial a Deadly Number', 'Death at Bargain Prices', 'Too Many Christmas Trees', 'The Cybernauts', 'The Gravediggers', 'Room Without a View', 'A Surfeit of H20', 'Two's a Crowd', 'Man-Eater of Surrey Green', 'Silent Dust', 'The Hour That Never Was', 'Castle De'ath', 'The Thirteenth Hole', 'Small Game for Big Hunters', 'The Girl from Auntie', 'Quick-Quick Slow Death', 'The Danger Makers', 'A Touch of Brimstone', 'What the Butler Saw', 'The House That Jack Built', 'A Sense of History', 'How to Succeed... at Murder' and 'Honey for the Prince'.

Special Features:
Exclusive audio commentaries with: director Roy Ward Baker and scriptwriter/producer Brian Clemens on The of No Return, scriptwriter Robert Banks Stewart on The Master Minds, scriptwriter Roger Marshall on Dial A Deadly Number, director Gerry O'Hara on The Hour That Never Was, and director Don Leaver on The House That Jack Built.
The Series of No Return - Exclusive audio interview with Elizabeth Shepherd
Armchair Theater - The Hothouse (starring Diana Rigg)
USA Chessboard opening sequence
Strange Case of the Missing Corpse promotional trailer
Alternative end tag from Death At Bargain Prices
Episode reconstructions for series I scripts Kill The King and Dead of Winter
Colorized test footage from Death At Bargain Prices and A Touch of Brimstone
Reconstructed "The Avengers are back" John Stamp trailer
Alternative UK opening and closing credits
Alternative UK animated bumpers
UK animated bumper
Variant opening credits for The Gravediggers
French opening credits
German opening credits
ITN Newsreel footage
Stills galleries

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15968
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John Johnson
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#17 Post by John Johnson »

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THE AVENGERS - THE COMPLETE SERIES 5
STARRING DIANA RIGG AND PATRICK MACNEE

RELEASED FOR THE FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY ON 22ND JUNE 2015


John Steed (Patrick Macnee and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) return as the incorrigible secret agents extraordinaire. Together they continue to defeat criminal masterminds and solve unfathomable mysteries in the original cult TV series The Avengers.

THE AVENGERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 5 was seen as a game changer for two key reasons; first and foremost the transition into colour, having previously been shot in black and white, and it was also the last series starring Diana Rigg.

Sure to prompt a wave of nostalgia, THE AVENGERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 5 seven disc box set includes the complete and uncut Series 5, on Blu-ray™ for the first time, jam packed with special features, including an interview with Diana Rigg, it is not to be missed when released this summer.

Extras:

• Exclusive audio commentaries with: scriptwriter/producer Brian Clemens on Murdersville, guest star Peter Wyngarde on Epic, scriptwriter Richard Harris on The Winged Avenger, Diana Rigg's stunt double, Cyd Child, on Return of the Cybernauts

• The Avengers – A Retrospective documentary

• Archive German TV interview with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg

• Filmed episode introductions by Brian Clemens

• Episode trims from The Fear Merchants, Escape in Time, From Venus with Love and The See-Through Man

• ATV newsreel footage (Diana Rigg receives TV Award)

• The Avengers – They're Back archive trailer

• Granada Plus Points for each episode

• Episode Reconstructions for lost Series 1 episodes One for the Mortuary, Death on the Slipway, Tunnel of Fear and Dragonsfield

• Interview with Diana Rigg (extract from British Legends Of Stage & Screen)

• 1960s German Titles

• Stills galleries

Blu-ray tech specs:
Cert: PG / Combined running Time: 1350 mins approx / Colour /
Feature Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 / 2.0 Mono CPCM / Region B /
English language / English HOH Subtitles

http://declassified.theavengers.tv/aven ... _bd_s5.htm
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John Johnson
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#18 Post by John Johnson »

Prices reduced.

Series 4.



Series 5.

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sprocket
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#19 Post by sprocket »

So are the UK releases the way to go?

(I've hear the American releases are not as well encoded, but not bad.)

John Johnson
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#20 Post by John Johnson »

sprocket wrote:So are the UK releases the way to go?

(I've hear the American releases are not as well encoded, but not bad.)
From what I've read over at Avengersfanforum, these releases are the ones to get. Sadly, these are Region B locked. The prices are lower enough to interest me, so I may fork out for them.
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Paul MacLean
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#21 Post by Paul MacLean »

I just ordered the Region A blu-ray of season 5. Any news of other seasons finding their way to BD in the US?

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AndyDursin
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#22 Post by AndyDursin »

Regrettably it's Lionsgate in the US and sales were probably low, so I wouldn't expect to see any more.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#23 Post by Paul MacLean »

AndyDursin wrote:Regrettably it's Lionsgate in the US and sales were probably low, so I wouldn't expect to see any more.
Looks like I'll be spending a lot of $ (or rather £) at Amazon.co.uk fairly soon. :roll:

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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#24 Post by John Johnson »

Paul MacLean wrote:
AndyDursin wrote:Regrettably it's Lionsgate in the US and sales were probably low, so I wouldn't expect to see any more.
Looks like I'll be spending a lot of $ (or rather £) at Amazon.co.uk fairly soon. :roll:
The US wasn't that well received in some circles, mostly from die-hard Avengers fans. Luckily, I held out for the UK releases, even though I don't like the packaging.

http://spyvibe.blogspot.com/2014/11/ave ... bacle.html
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AndyDursin
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#25 Post by AndyDursin »

Lionsgate is the worst US label for catalog releases -- as in, they don't release them anymore, and haven't for years. They even went to manufactured-on-demand to complete the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE sets. My guess is with the UK releases being available on THE AVENGERS, LG is unlikely to even go the MOD route for them here.

Eric Paddon
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#26 Post by Eric Paddon »

That sample comparison really shows how dreadful PAL can be. It's the reason I always refused to go to foreign region releases unless I felt it was absolutely necessary (R4 for S1 of McCloud).

John Johnson
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#27 Post by John Johnson »

Eric Paddon wrote:That sample comparison really shows how dreadful PAL can be. It's the reason I always refused to go to foreign region releases unless I felt it was absolutely necessary (R4 for S1 of McCloud).
My releases tend to be R2. I tend not to buy R1 myself. Sometimes, I venture into R4. Recently, I received copies of Backyard Ashes, Strange Bedfellows and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun/Doppleganger (Special Edition).

Once I have the final season of The Professionals, then I will concentrate on The Avengers.
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Paul MacLean
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#28 Post by Paul MacLean »

Eric Paddon wrote:That sample comparison really shows how dreadful PAL can be. It's the reason I always refused to go to foreign region releases unless I felt it was absolutely necessary (R4 for S1 of McCloud).
Some Region 2 transfers have been lacking, but PAL is technically the better video standard, as it has 100 more lines of resolution than NTSC. PAL DVDs have the potential to be superior (unfortunately they don't always live up to that potential -- but often do). I have the R2 DVDs of Sense and Sensibility and Remains of the Day, and they look gorgeous.

I also bought the R2 DVD of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- which is titled "and the Philosophers Stone" (and has alternate dialog in the scenes where the stone is discussed), just for the sake of completion. I don't see any difference in quality (other than the PAL time compression).

John Johnson wrote:My releases tend to be R2. I tend not to buy R1 myself. Sometimes, I venture into R4. Recently, I received copies of Backyard Ashes, Strange Bedfellows and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun/Doppleganger (Special Edition).
I prefer the R2 releases of British TV shows, as the PAL masters have to be downgraded for release in NTSC/Region 1. I have the British releases of I Claudius, Blackadder, Jeeves & Wooster, Top Gear and Doctor Who.

Sometimes the R2 releases are markedly superior -- The BBC release of Charles II: The Power and the Passion runs an hour longer than the A&E DVD (which was retitled "The Last King" :roll: ). The R1 release of Elizabeth (with Helen Mirren) has more special features not included on the R1 disc.

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AndyDursin
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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#29 Post by AndyDursin »

I'm glad we're done with NTSC/PAL issues myself.

For movies, PAL speed-up was always an issue for me, and many transfers overseas were mere NTSC converts and looked that much worse. Once in a while you would see something natively PAL and it would look great -- or something anamorphic widescreen that we didn't have available here -- but even then, I never liked the inherent speed up issue. I ended up disposing of my entire Region 2 DVD library aside from a couple of discs I still have, mainly because the titles I wanted ended up on comparable Blu-Rays and PAL speed up was, thankfully, now a thing of the past (save some 1080i50 Blu-Rays like a few of Umbrella's Aussie releases, i.e. BLACK ROBE and RAZORBACK. But those discs must comprise 1% of the entire Blu-Rays in the world or less).

TV series that were native to PAL were often better like Paul says -- especially in the early days, when DVD standards were lower -- but I've seen a host of shows (like ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD lol) that look superior in NTSC. The transfer on the US disc is much more stable than the Region 4 PAL DVD I owned.

Really depends on the specific program and when the disc was made.

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Re: The Avengers - 'The Complete Emma Peel Megaset'

#30 Post by Paul MacLean »

AndyDursin wrote:I'm glad we're done with NTSC/PAL issues myself.

For movies, PAL speed-up was always an issue for me, and many transfers overseas were mere NTSC converts and looked that much worse.
Yeah, PAL movie transfers were always a hit and miss affair. I can't say I saw any difference -- image-wise -- on the Harry Potter disc (other than speed-up), but my R2 DVD of Doctor Zhivago has noticeable "jaggies". My R2 DVD of Angela's Ashes looks very good, and although it has PAL speed-up, it was at least pitch-corrected to compensate (I don't know why they didn't do this with more discs).

I was livid when I bought the Australian Mad Max 2 DVD -- as I only bought it to have the alternate title sequence -- only to find it was just a PAL transfer of the American disc (and opened with same "The Road Warrior" title)! On the other hand, the R1 Criterion disc of Kwaidan contains a shortened version of the film, while the R2 and R4 DVDs contain the full cut! (The R2 was even NTSC!)

When it comes to DVDs of British-produced TV shows, I'll always go for the R2 though, as they are nearly always mastered from the unconverted original elements. US releases are nearly always NTSC transfers (and are frequently truncated versions as well).

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