Battle of the Planets Boxed Set

Deluxe Boxed Set

Has anyone picked up the Deluxe Boxed Set? It was released in the United States on Tuesday. I pre-ordered mine, so it's in the mail. I can wait to see those extra features!

Mark

 

battle of the planets box set

finally our greatest icon tv show is out on its box set, but i wonder if these episodes have been digital restored. i am happy to hear that the original cast from the series will be doing the voices for the new series, but i wondered what changed sfe mind about no using them in them in the first place.

 

Yes, these episodes were digitally remastered in 5.1 Sound.

 

battle of the planets box set

does the animation of the series look better or is it about the same what is 5,1 sound

 

It's the same.

 

the box set

i am a huge fan of battle ut i do not understand why couldn't rhino or whatever company selling the dvd boxset try to the best of their ability to fix up these episodes with the techonolghy that we have been bless with today. i hope that when the new series comes out two years from now tha it will not be looking so old and distorted

 

New Series Notes

I don't like going off topic in a thread, but from what I understand, the new series in 2005 will all be fresh, newly-drawn animation. I just hope there is not a decline in the quality of the actually drawing. When World Events Productions decided to draw their own second season to the Lion Voltron series, the quality of the animation and colors went down the tubes. I really hope SFE spends these two years making the new Battle of the Planets series top notch.

I also noticed that the writing in the second Lion Voltron series declined. Jameson Brewer, who of course wrote Battle of the Planets, wrote the first season of Lion Voltron (and Vehicle Voltron), but Marc Handler wrote the second season of Lion Voltron. Brewer's work, like on Battle of the Planers, was supurb. Handler's strories were goofy and boring.

Unfortunately, Mr. Brewer passed away just a few weeks ago on September 11 (the same day John Ritter died), so it's a shame he won't be able to work on the new series.

Mark

P.S. Support future Battle of the Planets DVD releases! Buy the Boxed Set today!

 

I GOT THE BOXED SET!!!

Wow, this thing is sweet. Four discs with three episodes each on them. The wierd thing is they number the episodes from the Gatchaman numbers, and not the Battle of the Planets numbers. So the first episode is labeled Episode 14, even though it's the 13th Battle of the Planets episode, because the didn't use Gatchaman Episode #13 for Battle of the Planets. I think they should have used the Battle of the Planets numbers, 1-85, but who am I to complain?

Each disc has its own bonus features. Disc 1 has a TV trailer using some of the spots from the soundtrack, and an interview with Jameson Brewer (who sadly passed away last month). Disc 2 has a memorabilia slide show and an interview with Alan Young. Disc 3 has interviews with Casey Kasem and Janet Waldo. Disc 4 has an interview with Ronnie Schell; and Episode 27 with commentary from Young, Schell, and Waldo.

The most fascinating part is the commentary. I don't want to give anything away, so if you haven't seen it yet, you may not want to read the next three paragraphs. Amazingly, Alan Young and Ronnie Schell had never seen an episode of Battle of the Planets until this boxed set was put together. Both were absolutely amazed at the animation. All throughout the episode, they commented on how outstanding the show looked. By the end, both said they were fans of the show and were going to watch more episodes when they got home. Alan Young even said, "I'm going to send fan mail for this show!" and Ronnie Schell said, "that would be fan mail to ourselves!" It was so much fun listening to them enjoy this episode. You got a sense they would love to do this again, so hopefully they'll be part of the new show.

There is a scene where Jason is talking, but what you hear is Ronnie Schell commenting on the show. His voice has not changed a bit, and I thought it was Jason talking on the show and not Ronnie Schell. That was cool.

Janet Waldo is the guru of bunch. She knew everything inside and out...character names, who did what in production, and the storyline. Alan and Ronnie were asking questions and Janet kept popping the answers right out. She LOVES this show!

So seeing that commentary was worth the price of the whole DVD set. Now I have a bunch of episodes to go home and watch!

Mark

 

Hello,
I read the message forum a lot, but have never posted. I got my box set though and was very excited to see your post. I have only watched disc one so far, but "Race Against Disaster" is my favorite episode. I can't wait to here it with commentary. Also looking forward to the corresponding Gatchaman episode. Great news they are considering using the original actors for the new series.

 

Welcome Abbey!

"Race Against Disaster" is actually on Disc 4 twice, once with the other two episodes, and again in the Bonus Features section with the commentary. I meant to make that distinction in my note, because I didn't want people to think the episode was only on the disc with commentary, or going to the original episode and not hearing the commentary and thinking something was wrong.

 

That episode with commentary is great fun. I watched it last night and I couldn't get the grin off my face for ages afterwards Ronnie Schell was just so impressed with Jason's hair And that little bit where Alan Young dropped straight into the Keyop voice 30 years after he originally did it, and he sounded just the same.... And Janet Waldo explaining how she had to keep coming up with voices for every woman, girl and young boy on the show. Fantastic. What a wonderful extra feature.

I felt a little bit sad that they weren't going to include G-Force episodes any more, but this is so much better. And the interviews with Alan Young and Ronnie Schell were really interesting too. I'll have to have a look through the other 3 DVDs tonight and see what extras are on them.

 

battle of the planets

battle of the planets fans are my favorite people, so tell me, how is the dvd box set, and i am quite sure that picture quailty is more clear and sharp. speaking of the special footages, what did the characters of casey, janet, ronnie and alan young say about doing the series and are they considering on continuing the voice work on the knew series that is being worked later yall

 

It's really impossible to tell what the picture quality on the DVDs is compared to when it was on TV, because it hasn't been on TV in 20 years and my memory simply isn't that good. If I really thought about it, I think the quality is better than it was when it last aired on TV, but not as good as when it first aired in 1978.

In the interviews, they all talked about how they started in show business and what lead them to "Battle of the Planets." I think everyone said they had known Alan Dinehart beforehand, and that's how they came in. Casey Kasem said playing Mark was the first time he played a character where he used his own voice and talked normal, so that was special to him. When Alan Young started talking, I got a sense that he was a little stuck up. But, he was like a kid in a candy store when doing the commentary. He LOVED it and was looking forward to seeing more episodes. Amazingly, neither he nor Ronnie Schell had ever seen an episode until now, and both were looking forward to seeing more. Janet Waldo was an expert. She was very knowledgable about the show and truly loved it.

There was no mention at all about the new series. However, listening to the commentary and interviews, you can tell their voices have not changed at all. Now that the series will be produced by a big-time company with some bucks, they might be asked to do it. SFE has said that's a possibility.

Mark

NOTE: I combined the original note into this thread because it fit here nicely and there were too many generic thread titles.

 

THE BOXSET

wow after hearing all of the info i just might go out and get the dvd boxset. so what you are telling me is that the series looks much better then it was when it was shown many years ago, is the picture quailty unbelievable, more colorful and restored, thanks alot

 

This is just the thread I needed
to read. The box set sounds like
the kind of thing I'll want.
Now if only I can spend the money.