Roots: The Complete Original Series (1977)

[Akijama]

Roots: The Complete Original Series Blu-ray PRE-ORDER

MULTIPLE AWARD-WINNING EPIC MINISERIES

ROOTS: THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SERIES

BASED ON ALEX HALEY’S PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING NOVEL

WILL BE RELEASED ON BLU-RAY™

IN ITS ORIGINAL EIGHT PARTS FOR THE FIRST TIME BY

WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT

JUNE 7, 2016​


Original Eight-Part Miniseries is Digitally Remastered in

Visually Stunning 1080p High Definition


Release is Loaded with Bonus Content Including Two Never-Before-Seen,

All-New Featurettes Featuring Series’ Original Cast,

Notable Celebrities and Scholars



BURBANK, CA (March 1, 2016) -- The groundbreaking, acclaimed television miniseries that captivated the entire nation and won multiple awards, Roots, will be released on Blu-ray™ for the first time, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) on June 7, 2016. The legendary family saga, which follows the inspiring story of Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton, Transformers: Rescue Bots, Star Trek: The Next Generation) a West African teen who is captured and sold into slavery, has been beautifully remastered in eye-catching 1080p high definition from its original eight 1977 broadcast masters. Roots’original broadcast was watched by an estimated 140 million viewers total, more than half of the US population and was the largest viewership ever attracted by any television series at the time. This release marks the powerful, Emmy®, Golden Globe® and Peabody Award-winning series’ 40th anniversary. Titled Roots: The Complete Original Series, this release will retail for $44.98 SRP.


Roots: The Complete Original Series will also be available to own in Digital HD for the very first time via purchase from digital retailers on May 16th, 2016. Consumers can enjoy the classic original series and all new HD special features before the premiere broadcast of the remake of Roots airs on cable television.



Adapted from author, Alex Haley’s best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Roots: The Complete Original Serieschronicles the expansion of Haley’s own family across many generations. The eight-part series follows the legacy of Kunta Kinte, (portrayed by Burton, who earned a Primetime Emmy® Award nomination for his role), a young, 18th century African warrior who is brought to the United States and sold into slavery. The saga follows the generations of his descendants in the United States through the Civil War and beyond, and shows the heartbreaking struggles they face trying to survive slavery and attain their freedom.



Roots: The Complete Original Series features an all-star cast that includes John Amos, Maya Angelou, Edward Asner, Lloyd Bridges, Georg Stanford Brown, LeVar Burton, Macdonald Carey, Olivia Cole, Gary Collins, Chuck Connors, Scatman Crothers, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Brad Davis, Sandy Duncan, Lynda Day George, Louis Gossett Jr., Lorne Greene, Moses Gunn, George Hamilton, Hilly Hicks, Burl Ives, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, Carolyn Jones, Doug McClure, Ian McShane, Lynne Moody, Vic Morrow, Thalmus Rasulala, Robert Reed, Harry Rhodes, Richard Roundtree, Raymond St. Jacques, John Schuck, Paul Shenar, O.J. Simpson, Madge Sinclair, Beverly Todd, Cicely Tyson, Leslie Uggams, Ben Vereen, Ralph Waite, William Watson and Ren Woods.



Originally premiering in 1977, Roots earned an impressive 37 Emmy® Award nominations, which resulted in nine Emmy® wins. The series also won a Golden Globe® Award for Best Television Series – Drama. Roots was additionally honored with a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 1978.



“Roots had a profound impact on television audiences when it first aired forty years ago. Today, Alex Haley’s inspiring and important story continues to touch and affect viewers deeply. It’s one of the most powerful miniseries in TV history,” said Rosemary Markson, WBHE Senior Vice President, TV Marketing. She added, “We are pleased to release this exceptional program on Blu-ray and Digital HD. In this new, digitally remastered format, Roots will continue to appeal to new generations for years to come.”



Bonus Material:


· Roots: The American Story Continues (New Featurette) – Whoopi Goldberg, James Earl Jones, Blair Underwood, Debbie Allen, Tavis Smiley, Shonda Rhimes and Reverend Al Sharpton reveal how Roots impacted their lives and the thinking of the world. Dr. Rex Ellis of the Smithsonian Institution shares with us how the story chronicled by Alex Haley in Roots lives on in Washington’s new Museum of African American History and Culture; and Christopher Haley recalls his uncle Alex, whose legacy he continues as a slavery historian.

· The Cast Looks Back (New Featurette) – Original cast members LeVar Burton, John Amos, Louis Gossett Jr., Ben Vereen, Cicely Tyson, Ed Asner, Sandy Duncan, Georg Stanford Brown and Lynne Moody share emotional stories about the 1976 filming of Roots. They also discuss how making the miniseries changed their lives, why it endures, and why for some it remains their greatest artistic experience.

· Crossing Over: How Roots Captivated an Entire Nation (Featurette)

· Connecting With the Past (Featurette)

· The Struggle to Make Roots (Featurette)

· LeVar Burton: Original Screen Test (Screen Test)

· Alex Haley Interview by David Frost (Featurette)

· Roots: One Year Later (Featurette)

[Ray Jackson]

Don't believe what Ren say.

...cause he's goin out like Kunta Kinte.

[MovieDood]

Thank You, Akijama

[filmmusic]

I haven't ever seen this but I think it deserves a purchase!

[McCrutchy]

Please be in OAR, please. Hopefully, this one is too important to crop, and you certainly cannot make that "protected for widescreen" claim here.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Please be in OAR, please. Hopefully, this one is too important to crop, and you certainly cannot make that "protected for widescreen" claim here.

Oh, I forgot about this!
At least include both versions if they want definitely to please the fill-my-screen viewers.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Oh, I forgot about this!
At least include both versions if they want definitely to please the fill-my-screen viewers.

I would hope the absence of the word "widescreen" from the press release, along with how WB respected OAR for Batman and their pre-widescreen animation, would be a clue, but I really don't know, especially on the heels of Fox's release of The X-Files, and Universal's release of Battlestar Galactica. It seems to me that most distributors have decided that pre-1970s TV should remain OAR on BD, but things obviously get f***ed with from the late 1970s onwards, and the miniseries nature may create a false impression that 1.78:1 is "okay". Personally, I wish WB would have simply listed the aspect ratio in the press release, and not sent me into a state of nausea.

[Starchild]

Day one for me!!

I would love to see Roots: The next Generation and Roots:The Gift also released on Blu ray.

Even Queen would be nice. (Queen is the miniseries based on Alex Haley's maternal bloodline.)

[Andrew354]

Great news. Been waiting for this for a long time.
I do hope they will follow this release with "The Next Generations" and "The Gift" in OAR on Blu-Ray.
For some reason the DVD release of "The Gift" was savagely cropped to 16:9.
I hope they have the good sense to restore it to it's original 4:3 format if it gets a BD release.

[MifuneFan]

Great news,and quite unexpected.

[BarnDoor]

Great news. Hopefully The Next Generation isn't too far away; then Warner should put out North and South (the first two 'books' is all I need).

[HonestJohn]

Originally Posted by Akijama

Great news! I almost broke down and re-bought this on DVD just recently but something stopped me. I'm surprised they didn't package this with The Next Generations.

[Rizor]

Cool news!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Great news. Hopefully The Next Generation isn't too far away; then Warner should put out North and South (the first two 'books' is all I need).

This is being released to coincide with the remake:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_..._miniseries%29

which will be airing on A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime simultaneously the week before the BD comes out.

I don't think it's any sign that the other titles have a chance of making it to BD, sadly.

[BarnDoor]

This is true of course, but I suppose if sales are strong Warner might consider it.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I don't think it's any sign that the other titles have a chance of making it to BD, sadly.

we could only hope for a remake of North and South then!

[Walts Ghost]

Now if only we'll get the sequel series and special as well...

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

This is being released to coincide with the remake:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_..._miniseries%29

which will be airing on A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime simultaneously the week before the BD comes out.

I don't think it's any sign that the other titles have a chance of making it to BD, sadly.

That may be true, but if this ultimately sells well, we could see The Next Generation get a release as well...

[floridaswamprat]

I remember when Roots originally aired. I was in high school and much discussion went on in the classroom. My school was about 70 % African-American and some of those discussions got pretty heated.

A few years ago I purchased the DVD with great expectation, but I found it to be really, REALLY dated. The script and the acting really had a lot to be desired (IMO) I did not even finish watching it.

[Impossible]

Originally Posted by floridaswamprat

I remember when Roots originally aired. I was in high school and much discussion went on in the classroom. My school was about 70 % African-American and some of those discussions got pretty heated.

A few years ago I purchased the DVD with great expectation, but I found it to be really, REALLY dated. The script and the acting really had a lot to be desired (IMO) I did not even finish watching it.

Agreed. Time has not been at all kind to those performances.....