Magnum P.I. : The Complete Series (1980-1988) - March 22, 2022

[huskersports]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

They also often dump previously produced/released bonus features to keep their titles as cheap as possible.

This one baffles me. You're allegedly saving money by not keeping the bonus features (royalties/rights issues?). But then you have to SPEND money to press new discs, right? (I should note that the Accepted and 30 Rock titles I have contain all of their previously-released bonus features).

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by huskersports

This one baffles me. You're allegedly saving money by not keeping the bonus features (royalties/rights issues?). But then you have to SPEND money to press new discs, right? (I should note that the Accepted and 30 Rock titles I have contain all of their previously-released bonus features).

It does keep costs down by omitting supplementary materials. Many trailers have altered music and even some TV shows on DVD/BD have altered music due to cost issues. The amount spent on discs is not relevant in all cases.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by critterdvd

I actually got the Complete Series DVDs from Target a few months ago during one of the B2G1 sales and finished the first season last week. I'm enjoying it so far, and will probably go on a hiatus waiting for the Blu's. The DVDs are ancient and the transfers are pretty rough, and I can't imagine that even Mill Creek can't improved it significantly.

I preordered the Mill Creek set since the price has gone down to $119, which, sadly, also means that this set will be strictly barebones and (probably) contain ancient masters. Nonetheless, a sort-of good deal. Now, what to do with my DVD sets. I've actually contemplated giving them away but your post has me back-pedaling. Maybe I can get some decent coin if I tried to sell these on Ebay. Or at least make some of that money I spent on the Mill Creek set back.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by huskersports

This one baffles me. You're allegedly saving money by not keeping the bonus features (royalties/rights issues?). But then you have to SPEND money to press new discs, right?

Even if they didn't have to pay a dime extra for the bonus features (and it costs a lot more than a dime), they tend to cram as many episodes as possible onto as few discs as possible, and cutting bonus features can also make a difference as to how many discs they have to press. Spending money on pressing discs is an unavoidable cost of producing discs, but including bonus features is an avoidable one that they are often willing to avoid.

[mike962]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

A point other people haven't mentioned yet is that Mill Creek will simply take whatever they are given and put it on the disc with apparently no qc to make sure that what they've received is right. So if they did get "Columbo", they'd have the later episodes in the wrong aspect ratio, because that's what Universal has already prepared, they wouldn't push back on that. When they get "That '70's Show", they release it with the replacement music, and when they get "Quantum Leap", they can't even officially confirm that they have all of the music intact (which it apparently did, but it was through no effort by Mill Creek), they didn't even have a list of what music was licensed for the set. They also often dump previously produced/released bonus features to keep their titles as cheap as possible.

for all their faults at least MC actually bring out shows which for some reason are totally negelcted by the studios themselves or higher grade labels

[JPV123]

So I'm going to assume all those cross-over episodes available on the DVD releases will be omitted? Will be keeping those sets and donate any seasons that only have an episode from another season (usually the following one).

[Coligion]

Originally Posted by JPV123

So I'm going to assume all those cross-over episodes available on the DVD releases will be omitted? Will be keeping those sets and donate any seasons that only have an episode from another season (usually the following one).

The Simon & Simon crossover episode, Ki'i's Don't Lie / Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend (season 3), was included on the original DVD release of season 1 as a bonus episode (it plays as the full two-part broadcast version). When the complete series DVD set was released as all single-sided discs (seasons 1-4 were originally double-sided, flipper discs), this bonus episode was then sadly omitted in the set, meaning you were now only left with the shorter (one-part) stand-alone ending of Ki'i's Don't Lie from season 3.

The Murder She Wrote crossover episode, Novel Connection / Magnum on Ice (season 7), was included as the full two-part broadcast version on season 7 of the DVD (both the original season only release and the complete series release had this). The shorter stand-alone episode was not included.

From what I have read here, the existing two Magnum, p.i. Blu-ray releases from Fabulous Films and Elephant Films seem to handle these crossover episodes differently. Both the FF and EF set includes the shortened stand-alone version of the Simon & Simon crossover (i.e. no cliffhanger ending); for the Murder She Wrote crossover, it gets a little more complicated. In the FF set, Novel Connection is the shortened stand-alone version that wraps up the story in one episode. However, as an extra, FF includes Magnum on Ice but only in standard definition. This means Novel Connection ends as the stand-alone version, but then in Magnum on Ice it picks up as if it were the two-part cliffhanger, when in fact it's not. In the EF set, it appears to only have the full two-part broadcast version of Novel Connection / Magnum on Ice, with the latter being in high definition.

Given all these variances from the current DVDs and Blu-rays, it will be interesting to see how Mill Creek handles this aspect. Ideally, it would be best to include both crossovers in their original two-part cliffhanger episodes as well as the stand-alone versions (to have everything!) -- slim to none chance that'll happen. It's likely that MC will follow suit with the EF set: Simon & Simon being the stand-alone version, and Murder She Wrote being the two-part broadcast version.

[UnionJackMix]

After reading a bit about this and watching the comparison video on youtube I will be buying the French EF set however there are two versions, one with two "fat" blue cases and one with each individual season on its own, in its own case and slipcase, and then all into one bigger box. Currently the price is identical and both are available on the French 'zon. I just don't know which one to buy! I am out of space so should get the smaller version, but the collector in me wants the individual artworks etc grrrr
I find it weird that they call special edition the smaller version though.

[DawnShadow]

The Mill Creek has the same disc count as the French release and won’t have the need for French audio to be included, so it’s actually possible that it could end up being both better and cheaper.

Probably not likely though.

[greenguy]

Originally Posted by Coligion

The Murder She Wrote crossover episode, Novel Connection / Magnum on Ice (season 7), was included as the full two-part broadcast version on season 7 of the DVD (both the original season only release and the complete series release had this).

Is this the correct Season 7 that has the full two-part broadcast version? I see the listings (at least on Amazon) show the 2 part version on both season 7 releases. I know Amazon isn't the best in describing the DVD sets accurately. I can't find any other sites that actually list the details of what's on the discs.

https://www.target.com/p/magnum-p-i-...10#lnk=sametab

[Coligion]

Originally Posted by greenguy

Is this the correct Season 7 that has the full two-part broadcast version? I see the listings (at least on Amazon) show the 2 part version on both season 7 releases. I know Amazon isn't the best in describing the DVD sets accurately. I can't find any other sites that actually list the details of what's on the discs.

https://www.target.com/p/magnum-p-i-...10#lnk=sametab

This appears to be a re-release (with a different cover and DVD-style packaging) of the stand-alone release. The original stand-alone release came out in 2007 and the Complete Series release came out in 2013. It has the same disc count (5) as the other two releases so I would assume it would still contain the proper 2-part version of Novel Connection / Magnum on Ice.

[greenguy]

Originally Posted by Coligion

This appears to be a re-release (with a different cover and DVD-style packaging) of the stand-alone release. The original stand-alone release came out in 2007 and the Complete Series release came out in 2013. It has the same disc count (5) as the other two releases so I would assume it would still contain the proper 2-part version of Novel Connection / Magnum on Ice.

Thanks, much appreciated! If take a chance and grab this one I’ll confirm if it’s on there or not.

[Treadwell]

I forget which season (5 or 6, perhaps), but at one point, like many other shows at the time, Magnum switched over to mastering on video rather than film. They SHOT on film but transferred it to video and edited from there. To take proper advantage of BD Mill Creek or Universal would need to rebuild the shows from new HD transfers from the raw film footage (if it exists), as was done with Star Trek The Next Generation, Seinfeld and Friends.

I gather Mill Creek tend to take the cheap route, though? If so, then a good chunk of this release will be uprezzed from Standard Def.

[ElectricPeterTork]

Originally Posted by Treadwell

I forget which season (5 or 6, perhaps), but at one point, like many other shows at the time, Magnum switched over to mastering on video rather than film. They SHOT on film but transferred it to video and edited from there. To take proper advantage of BD Mill Creek or Universal would need to rebuild the shows from new HD transfers from the raw film footage (if it exists), as was done with Star Trek The Next Generation, Seinfeld and Friends.

I gather Mill Creek tend to take the cheap route, though? If so, then a good chunk of this release will be uprezzed from Standard Def.

Mill Creek won't do anything. They take what they get.

The closest way to see how Universal handled shows like this is Quantum Leap, who also started editing on video later in its run, IIRC.

I don't recall too much complaining about the look of QL's last seasons, though I do remember it being mentioned you could see the effects shots had been uprezzed.

I don't think Magnum had effects like QL would've.

[RetroGuy]

Originally Posted by greenguy

Is this the correct Season 7 that has the full two-part broadcast version? I see the listings (at least on Amazon) show the 2 part version on both season 7 releases. I know Amazon isn't the best in describing the DVD sets accurately. I can't find any other sites that actually list the details of what's on the discs.

https://www.target.com/p/magnum-p-i-...10#lnk=sametab

I can confirm that this particular edition of Season 7 does include the full 2-part broadcast version of the episodes, and not the edited, stand-alone version of "Novel Connection" as I just received and watched it today. (I also happen to have the entire box set of "Murder She Wrote" where each season has its own case, but with that one - Season 3 - it only has the stand-alone version of "Novel Connection" as a bonus.)

[Coligion]

Originally Posted by Treadwell

I forget which season (5 or 6, perhaps), but at one point, like many other shows at the time, Magnum switched over to mastering on video rather than film. They SHOT on film but transferred it to video and edited from there. To take proper advantage of BD Mill Creek or Universal would need to rebuild the shows from new HD transfers from the raw film footage (if it exists), as was done with Star Trek The Next Generation, Seinfeld and Friends.

I gather Mill Creek tend to take the cheap route, though? If so, then a good chunk of this release will be uprezzed from Standard Def.

Is that evident on the Fabulous Films and Elephant Films Blu-ray set? Maybe someone that owns one of those can comment if certain episodes look like upscales, because I'm sure Mill Creek will be using the same exact masters that they were supplied. Best accounts on picture quality I could find in the U.K. Magnum, p.i. thread were here and here -- season 5 was mentioned by the user as being rather poor and of varying quality.

[eastx]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy

I can confirm that this particular edition of Season 7 does include the full 2-part broadcast version of the episodes, and not the edited, stand-alone version of "Novel Connection" as I just received and watched it today. (I also happen to have the entire box set of "Murder She Wrote" where each season has its own case, but with that one - Season 3 - it only has the stand-alone version of "Novel Connection" as a bonus.)

Cool! How about some photos?

[RetroGuy]

Originally Posted by eastx

Cool! How about some photos?

Here are photos of the case and disc:

[RetroGuy]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy

Here are photos of the case and disc:

And here are pics of the menus and the ending of "Novel Connection"

[RetroGuy]

Originally Posted by Coligion

The Simon & Simon crossover episode, Ki'i's Don't Lie / Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend (season 3), was included on the original DVD release of season 1 as a bonus episode (it plays as the full two-part broadcast version). When the complete series DVD set was released as all single-sided discs (seasons 1-4 were originally double-sided, flipper discs), this bonus episode was then sadly omitted in the set, meaning you were now only left with the shorter (one-part) stand-alone ending of Ki'i's Don't Lie from season 3.

I just received the Season 1 DVD set that was released in July 2012. This set has 6 single-sided dics, but there are absolutely NO bonus features, so the Simon & Simon episodes are nowhere to be found. Luckily, it was only $9.96 so no big loss. This is the one I purchased that you DON'T want to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Magnum-P-I-Se...=UTF8&qid=&sr=

It appears that the only way to get the Simon & Simon crossover episode is to buy the original flipper-disc set (on 4 discs) that was released in April 2005: https://www.amazon.com/Magnum-P-I-Se...=UTF8&qid=&sr=. You'll notice in the 3rd paragraph under "Product Description" that it does specifically mention the Simon & Simon crossover episodes as part of the bonus content.