MacGyver - Complete Series - Koch Media

[shocker2]

Koch announced that they will release the complete series as a box set in 2020:
https://www.facebook.com/KochFilms/p...type=3&theater

[Jompa]

Let us know when it's added to the database here

[mep]

Three amazing announcements and day one purchases for me! If we only could get also Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Gillmore Girls and Buffy on BD, too! After those three announcements, these would be the last remaining serial releases I am still actually waiting for.

[jimidini]

Just an upscale? Or was this filmed using film cameras?

[janoroh]

I'll just quote myself from the North America MacGyver thread so that everyone is on the same level news-wise.

Originally Posted by janoroh

Darn! I had this prepared for tonight, but they seem to have decided to put up the post in the morning instead of in the evening. Anyway, here we go:

Mac friends! I'm VERY excited that today, I'm finally able to announce MacGyver: The Complete Series Blu-ray box set from us at Koch Films in Germany (well, actually, from *them* at Koch Films, I'm only helping as an external advisor and Mac expert).

I teased that we might be able to do something a couple of months ago back in this thread and it was a long way to go, but yes, MacGyver will finally be back on Blu-ray in late 2020.

A little backstory on this release: I first checked in with my friends at Koch Films about one and a half years ago when the Mac remaster was first announced because I saw no chance that there would be any CBS BDs. So they checked, but the license wasn't available at that time because CBS in fact wanted to do the BDs themselves. (Don't we know it now!) Fast forward to one year later when they did do them ... and ... uh ... "surprisingly" realized it's not worth it for them.

Anyway, when it became clear there would be no further seasons from CBS and they even started to send out official email replies they had no plans to continue the series, I talked to my friend at Koch again in late April of this year. So they checked again ... and yes, after a couple months of waiting it finally became clear that it will in fact work out. (When CBS license out a property externally, they first do some sort of "feedback round" with their official local branches all over the world to see if any of them might be interested in still doing the property... in which case it wouldn't be licensed. But no CBS/Universal branch wanted to do Mac, so it was finally available for Koch.)

This is very exciting for me as I never thought I'd one day be able to see an ultimate high-quality version of Mac... much less actually help making it the best possible version for the fans. I can't go into much details as of now since we haven't started preproduction yet (we're currently expecting the box to come out next fall or winter), but I'll be writing an extensive booklet on the show's production and background and we'll try to add some cool bonus features (in terms of potential behind the scenes stuff, bloopers, b-roll etc., this will all come down to what is available from CBS, so I can't make any promises regarding that) and also possibly shoot some new interviews etc.

Now, of course, this is an American forum and you're probably wondering: "Nice for the German folks, but why should I care?" I can answer that for you: CBS will have the right to use our Blu-ray masters for their own CBS US edition of the show, and from what I've heard so far, they are in fact planning to do it. I can't say anything definite about this yet, though, since what they will end up doing or not doing is fully up to them, and if they do it, I don't know if it'd be a Complete Series set or if they would continue with the individual seasons. But anyway, in case they don't end up doing it after all, I'm sure you guys know how to get your hands on a foreign release if need be ...

As for possible questions that might come up right away:
- Yes, we'll include season one again and will make sure that the "white flicker" compression problems won't make an appearance this time.
- We'll try to include the slightly extended version of the pilot with the deleted scene set in the Pentagon. Both tv movies will be included, but only in SD, I'm afraid. CBS haven't remastered them and have no plans to do so, so it's unfortunately impossible to add them in a better version.
- We will try to have the original Mac logo recreated, so that our release doesn't come with the horrible random standard font logo that has been used since the DVDs came out. That's not a promise yet as it will depend on whether we'll be able to get a designer who will make it look awesome, but I hope we'll be able to make it work.
- The box set will come with both English and German audio.

Originally Posted by jimidini

Just an upscale? Or was this filmed using film cameras?

Looks like you didn't come across the thread in the US part of the forum or the season 1 BD from CBS that was released in the US, France and Germany last year.

Yes, CBS have remastered the whole series from the original 35 mm film stock that it was filmed on (even though it was mastered on videotape afterwards).

I had uploaded an extensive screenshot comparison back then, but the website went down, so here's just one small sample of the remaster:
http://www.framecompare.com/image-co...rison/JE22CNNU
When you mouse-over the Blu-ray tab you'll see the difference to the SD Upscale on Nitro HD.

[Kinard717]

This is incredible news! Can't wait!

[Andrew354]

Wow. This is fantastic news.

I hope that Koch also include English subtitles as well.

I'll definitely be getting this.

[mfan1986]

Awesome!

[alobek]

Originally Posted by Andrew354

I hope that Koch also include English subtitles as well.

Seconding this. If Koch includes English subtitles this'll be an immediate preorder for me.

[fms]

Originally Posted by janoroh

I'll just quote myself from the North America MacGyver thread so that everyone is on the same level news-wise.

Looks like you didn't come across the thread in the US part of the forum or the season 1 BD from CBS that was released in the US, France and Germany last year.

Yes, CBS have remastered the whole series from the original 35 mm film stock that it was filmed on (even though it was mastered on videotape afterwards).

I had uploaded an extensive screenshot comparison back then, but the website went down, so here's just one small sample of the remaster:
http://www.framecompare.com/image-co...rison/JE22CNNU
When you mouse-over the Blu-ray tab you'll see the difference to the SD Upscale on Nitro HD.

Thanks for the information! Looking very much forward to this.

Is there any way you could enquire to add a music extra to the release as well? Of course isolated scores would be great but unrealistic I presume. Any kind of score-only feature (of Ken Harrison's music) would be terrific.

[jimidini]

Originally Posted by janoroh

from the original 35 mm film stock that it was filmed on

Mind blown / Mind explosion - YouTube

Damnit, I bought it on DVD just 1 or 2 years ago.
Never thought that it was filmed on actual film stock, wow just wow.
Is it a similar situation like X Files, where some of the film footage shows too much, because it was never meant to be shown at such an aspect ratio?
Or was it filmed "properly"?

[janoroh]

Originally Posted by fms

Is there any way you could enquire to add a music extra to the release as well? Of course isolated scores would be great but unrealistic I presume. Any kind of score-only feature (of Ken Harrison's music) would be terrific.

I'll note it down as a suggestion, but wouldn't get my hopes up too high, I'm afraid. Features like this aren't too much sought after, so we'll keep focusing on trying to get something along the lines of deleted scenes, bloopers, new interviews etc. first.

But yes, a montage of some highlight scenes with score only could be fun.

Originally Posted by jimidini

Is it a similar situation like X Files, where some of the film footage shows too much, because it was never meant to be shown at such an aspect ratio?
Or was it filmed "properly"?

No, what was previously seen was pretty much identical to what was filmed. It wasn't reformatted to 16:9 for the HD transfer, so it'll be a pillarbox image of the original frame. The HD version has slightly more image information on all four sides, so the visible area is a tiny bit extended compared to the old video master, but there are no areas visible that weren't meant to be seen or anything. It's still pretty much the identical framing to before, just with lots and lots more details and way superior colors.

It's hard to describe, but when you're like me a fan who's grown up with the horribly blurry video master version, seeing the show like this is like watching it for the first time again. It's just amazing. Especially since the new transfer is really well done and among the best that I've seen for any show of the 70-90s.

[fms]

Originally Posted by janoroh

I'll note it down as a suggestion, but wouldn't get my hopes up too high, I'm afraid. Features like this aren't too much sought after, so we'll keep focusing on trying to get something along the lines of deleted scenes, bloopers, new interviews etc. first.

But yes, a montage of some highlight scenes with score only could be fun.

Thanks for taking it down as suggestion! In TV score circles the music for MacGyver has a great reputation, but I know chances of it having anything score-related are very slim. Caprica had isolated scores for all episodes I believe, but that's a huge exception.

Still, if too difficult for the TV series itself, perhaps isolated scores for the two TV movies are an option? Thanks again.

Very excited with the news, can't wait to have this in quality as good as the season 1 blu-ray, which was already fantastic.

[jimidini]

Originally Posted by janoroh

I'll note it down as a suggestion, but wouldn't get my hopes up too high, I'm afraid. Features like this aren't too much sought after, so we'll keep focusing on trying to get something along the lines of deleted scenes, bloopers, new interviews etc. first.

Please make sure all the music is intact (when possible).
I can't stand it when music gets replaced.
Extremely annoying case: the Stingray TV series.

No, what was previously seen was pretty much identical to what was filmed. It wasn't reformatted to 16:9 for the HD transfer, so it'll be a pillarbox image of the original frame.

Very good.
It would be quite interesting to see a bit of the full original footage though, just maybe as an extra.

[janoroh]

There are no problems with the music. MacGyver doesn't include any actual licensed songs from other publishers, so everything will be presented as it has always been seen. Also for Charmed, no info was sent that the music might need to be replaced, so opposed to the tv and streaming versions (but like the US BDs), Charmed will also come with the music intact.

As for the image: Since the original 35 mm film stock ratio is 1,375:1, I don't think much has been cropped down to get the original tv framing of 1,33:1. The unmasked negative image might have been slightly wider, but since widescreen tv didn't exist back then, it wasn't filmed with the intention of being masked for different purposes later on. So what we see is most likely pretty identical to what was shot.

In any case, the possibility of showing completely unedited footage will fully depend on whether or not CBS will make anything like this available or has even saved it during the remastering process.

[McCrutchy]

So wonderful that Koch is releasing this, especially as a complete series box set. I will be pre-ordering ASAP.

Let me also join those who wish for lossless English mono / stereo audio tracks, as well.

[Jompa]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Let me also join those who wish for lossless English mono / stereo audio tracks, as well.

Yes

[mfan1986]

Audio commentary with RDA on the Bigfoot episode and the Cliff climbing episode with Murdoch that was clearly used as the basis of the story in Cliffhanger with Sly Stallone!

You could easily record this on Skype!

(Ghost Ship - Season 3 Episode 4, The Widowmaker - Season 3 Episode 8)

[shocker2]

@ janoroh

Sorry if I "got in your way" but I wanted to spread the news ASAP, since a lot of fans have waited for this.

[CrockettTubbs]

Originally Posted by mep

Three amazing announcements and day one purchases for me! If we only could get also Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Gillmore Girls and Buffy on BD, too! After those three announcements, these would be the last remaining serial releases I am still actually waiting for.

Murder She Wrote is currently being released season by season in France. The first 6 seasons will also be released in a box form soon.

If you don't mind the lack of German dubs you could give this a try.

https://www.amazon.fr/Arabesque-Inté...dp/B07XQRHGX9/