Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by Vaportrail

I find it agonizing that Samurai got a Blu & DVD release, but Megaforce is DVD only.

Do kids' shows just not do well on Blu?

Little kids don't care about DVD and Blu-ray, so usually the parent goes like ok then I will go with DVD since it's cheaper.

[Omiros]

Is Manga Entertainment releasing Alien Rangers as well? There's only pre-orders for the first three seasons and I will be so annoyed if they leave out the end of the series. They could've easily tucked it in the Season 3 release.

[DouglasRobert]

Back in April I was able to score a sealed copy of this for $34.99 from Half Priced Books.

The first season or so looks bad, video wise.
Just wondering if that's normal.

[Havok-San]

Originally Posted by DouglasRobert

Back in April I was able to score a sealed copy of this for $34.99 from Half Priced Books.

The first season or so looks bad, video wise.
Just wondering if that's normal.

The set I have looks absolutely horrible sometimes, so it seems to just be how it is. I wouldn't mind if someone could chime in with details on a better video quality release, but I think the re-releases are the same.

The super sentai stuff released is gorgeous, though.

[oddbox83]

Super Sentai was made entirely on 16mm film until Carranger. PR was shot on 16mm and edited on tape. It also seems a lot of the material has gone walkies in the rights switches between Disney and Saban and some episodes look at a lot worse than others. You can also tell the differences between the footage. Japanese shot bits tend to be soft, US footage tends to be very grainy. Things improve massively about halfway through Turbo, it looks like they survive on digital formats from there.

I don't think Shout's encoding helps either. I think they may also have zoomed in to get rid of analogue tape garbage around the edges but that just leaves the whole image degraded. Just blanking that off with black would have been better, you wouldn't even be able to tell if it was needed at the sides as it would blend with the 4:3 bars anyway there.

Some of the episodes also have different lines of dialogue and others changes (see YouTube), so they may be different edits that survive now compared to what was originally broadcast.

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for Shout releasing these and first having a go at reconstructing the PR archive with Saban but Saban really need to get some archival and Power Ranger experts in there to research exactly what does survive in various archives and rebuild those early years in best quality, closest to their original transmission cuts and sorting all the alternative footage before it's too late.

I'd love to know who is responsible for misplacing/junking many of the original master tapes, or if the original film still survives for the US footage to allow a HD rebuild some day.

[PR_Media_Info]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

I don't think Shout's encoding helps either. I think they may also have zoomed in to get rid of analogue tape garbage around the edges but that just leaves the whole image degraded. Just blanking that off with black would have been better, you wouldn't even be able to tell if it was needed at the sides as it would blend with the 4:3 bars anyway there.

Interestingly enough, there was no "analog tape garbage" around the edges - Shout! disastrously cropped off perfectly normal black framing bars. (This vertical cropping severely damaged the overall video quality.) MMPR was finished @ 480i, and cropping vertically is a *huge* no-no for interlaced material.

Here's a few screenshot comparisons from the first episode, using the Shout! DVDs and a promotional disc handed out at SDCC/Power Morphicon in 2010. (The promo DVD has a perfect transfer, unlike the entirety of Shout!'s MMPR.)

Saban Promo


Shout!


Saban Promo


Shout!


It doesn't help that the bitrates are really super low, either. They hover around 4.3 MB/s, iirc.

Originally Posted by oddbox83

I'd love to know who is responsible for misplacing/junking many of the original master tapes, or if the original film still survives for the US footage to allow a HD rebuild some day.

The film is (very, very, likely) sadly long gone by now. Disney is most likely to blame for any lost or destroyed materials. (There's something referred to as the "wood chipper incident" that occurred in 04/05 - Disney was tired of paying for warehouse space and destroyed years upon years of Power Rangers props, suits, and other materials in storage. Toei was not happy.) Also, Disney's vaults are a total mess.

I also did a blog post about this, seen here:
http://powerrangersmediainfo.blogspo...mmpr-dvds.html

(The screenshot comparison links are dead though, something is up with the site.)

[DouglasRobert]

Just bought a used copy of Power Ranger's Time Force: The Complete Series from Half Priced Books for just $3.

Complete blind buy, but for $3 and I get 40 episodes I figured why not.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Originally Posted by DouglasRobert

Just bought a used copy of Power Ranger's Time Force: The Complete Series from Half Priced Books for just $3.

Complete blind buy, but for $3 and I get 40 episodes I figured why not.

It’s one of the better seasons. Judd Lynn’s last go-round.

[oddbox83]

I've been trying to find examples of what I mean.

DVD and Netflix has an added line of voiceover that wasn't on broadcast - fine by me.

MMPR S1 #11 'For Whom the Bell Trolls' - DVD & Netflix differences - YouTube

This one is rather more problematic - missing Red Ranger lines, you can tell he's supposed to be saying something.

MMPR S2 #10 'Welcome to Venus Island' - DVD & Netflix missing lines - YouTube

Missing effects on the DVD.

145 Days of PR missing effects - MMPR S3 #17 'A Ranger Catastrophe, Part II' - YouTube

There's loads more, just check on that users channel. This is why I think it's so important to restore the original show before all the bits and pieces get lost forever.

[FightingMan]

It's cool they've kept the set in print at least; I have the 5 seasons individually, don't know if the bonus disc is worth it.

[Me-Hostage]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

I've been trying to find examples of what I mean.

DVD and Netflix has an added line of voiceover that wasn't on broadcast - fine by me. MMPR S1 #11 'For Whom the Bell Trolls' - DVD & Netflix differences - YouTube

This one is rather more problematic - missing Red Ranger lines, you can tell he's supposed to be saying something.
MMPR S2 #10 'Welcome to Venus Island' - DVD & Netflix missing lines - YouTube

Missing effects on the DVD.
145 Days of PR missing effects - MMPR S3 #17 'A Ranger Catastrophe, Part II' - YouTube

There's loads more, just check on that users channel. This is why I think it's so important to restore the original show before all the bits and pieces get lost forever.

Wait, these are all missing from the Shout DVDs?? I've noticed where you'd know there should be voice overs, but nothing is there... I didn't know that much was missing? Has Shout said anything about this? I purchased the boxsets, then ended up buying the Legacy set just to have the later seasons that were exclusive to that.

[Alfred E. Neumann]

A restoration of at least the first 3 or 7 seasons would be awesome.

[TravisTylerBlack]

For some reason the first several episodes of season 1 leading up through the Green With Evil 5-parter look sharper and more stable than the rest of that season all the way up through Turbo.

I partly suspect this may be because those episodes received restoration work in 2010 for the godawful "remaster" that aired on the now defunct ABC Kids lineup.

All in all, while these DVDs are watchable from a distance, this show is still exceedingly soft even for being mastered on tape. I used to have the 2007/08 German DVD sets but sold them in anticipation of the Shout! box. Has anyone been able to compare?

I'm also very curious about Zeo vs the German DVDs, as it looks a tad worse than MMPR!

[Dragon Ranger]

On Amazon Germany if anyone is interested; not sure if it is region locked

[renegadeviking]

I have seasons 1 - 17 from Shout Factory. The first three are my favorite. Next, I like Power Rangers in Space.

[JFS]

Originally Posted by renegadeviking

I have seasons 1 - 17 from Shout Factory. The first three are my favorite. Next, I like Power Rangers in Space.

So the first four lol

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by JFS

So the first four lol

No, I'm sure he means MMPR1-3 and In Space.

Zeo and Turbo are inbetween.

[oddbox83]

They did zero restoration for the re-version, it was all comic effects and some really bad CGI changes.

The archive is in a mess apparently for the earlier seasons, a lot of them seem to come from poor analogue tapes. As I also share above, there are different copies floating around that differ from the original versions. You can so tell when digital masters survive from partway into Turbo, the quality difference is huge.

[zeze]

Noticed my first disc for MMPR Season 1 Vol 1 now has a cloudy like appearance on the disc surface. I watched the first 4 episodes so far and no playback issues yet, so hopefully it isn't anything major.

[Me-Hostage]

Originally Posted by zeze

Noticed my first disc for MMPR Season 1 Vol 1 now has a cloudy like appearance on the disc surface. I watched the first 4 episodes so far and no playback issues yet, so hopefully it isn't anything major.

This happens to lot of my DVDs, even when not watching them after months. I think it's just how DVDs are. I never had it happen to any of my Blu-rays though, when I collected them.