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Speaking of serials...
Topic Started: Mar 24 2014, 08:10 PM (2,123 Views)
The Batman
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Todd 3D
Mar 30 2014, 05:29 PM
I have heard the VCI version is substantially better. Point in fact, most of VCI's versions are substantially better.

Please back these statements with actual facts. I know serial lovers would like to know the best versions available.


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panzer the great & terrible
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If you really want to stick it to Grood, Todd, that is the way (as I suspect you know).
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Todd 3D
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For the most part, the VCI serial DVDs seem to come from 35mm film prints. I believe the Dick Tracy serials and Jungle Queen are the main exceptions. You can tell they're 35mm by sharpness and contrast of the image. The only serial taken from 35mm that Grood has released over the years is Daredevils of the West, and that's because he made a copy of the disc Jim D'Arc loaned him for SerialFest 2008, no matter what he claims. Well, that and The Masked Rider, which still isn't completely out after over a decade.

If you want a good comparison, check the Johnny Mack Brown serials, in particular Rustlers of Red Dog and Flaming Frontiers. The jump in quality of both is quite the thing to see.

I will give Grood this: his Gang Busters and pirated version of Captain America are the best I've seen of those two titles. Sad that he had to put his finger prints all over them, adding in chapter title cards where they weren't there for Gang Busters and re-editing the credits of Captain America. Based on the youtube clips, his version of Drums of Fu Manchu may be better than VCI's, too, but due to his unethical business practices and general treatment of others, I'll never know as I'll never buy it.

I'm rather surprised that as much of a cheerleader for VCI as Gravy has been over the years, he hasn't weighed in on this.
Edited by Todd 3D, Mar 31 2014, 01:56 AM.
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Laughing Gravy
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What's there to weigh in on? VCI's prints? Generally good, sometimes excellent. I have no complaints about any of the titles we've watched. It's not like there's a lot of companies out there putting out serials on DVD for us to compare with. I have the Roan serials, a bunch of Cheezy and AC Comics offerings, and a few Alphas, which aren't of good enough quality to show on a big screen TV to my crowd.
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Don Diego
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Somewhere her is a post of Gravy's where he rated the quality of both the serial and the print thereof - perhaps an update???
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Don Diego
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With respect Blu ray serial - it seems VCI has released a blu ray Captain America

dvd universe
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The Batman
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Don Diego
Apr 2 2014, 05:12 PM
With respect Blu ray serial - it seems VCI has released a blu ray Captain America

dvd universe

Yet, there is nothing about it on VCI's own website. Strange.

Wonder how they are even able to release it? I have to think Marvel Studios wouldn't want this being released just as the big budget Captain America sequel is opening in theatres this week.




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JazzGuyy
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Actually, they might not object to the release on the "any publicity is good publicity" theory. I remember that VCI released their Green Hornet serial DVDs around the same time the Green Hornet movie was released. I think it's interesting at least that the big studios have pretty much let serial releases fly under the radar and have never really attempted to suppress any. My guess is that this is because the audience for these is so small as to not be worth bothering themselves about.
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Laughing Gravy
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And my guess is that this is an obvious April Fool's joke.

The Green Hornet serials were licensed.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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JazzGuyy
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I assume you mean the release of a Captain America Blu-Ray was an April Fool's joke.

And whether or not a serial release has a studio's blessing or licensing is irrelevant to the fact that the studios have never bothered with going after serial releases.
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rodney
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I think Green Hornet Inc (Classic Media at this point?) okayed the serials. They're still very aggressive about the rights to the character, even going after OTR dealers.
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The Batman
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Along with the recent GREEN HORNET film, there have been several ongoing and limited series comic books released over the last 5+ years, from Dynamite Entertainment.

These are fully licensed, too. Obviously, the copyright owners are doing the right thing and keeping the character out there.

(Well, maybe not the right thing, when it came to making that movie).


EDIT: Just checked and the link no longer has Captain America in Blu, now it says product image not found.



Edited by The Batman, Apr 3 2014, 07:16 AM.
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Don Diego
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The image may have gone but the disc is still for sale????


blu ray Cap
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The Batman
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You're right. And it's still saying only 2 available, like it has from the start. Not a big seller? ^o)


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Don Diego
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How many people here (a hotbed of serial fans) own a blu ray copy of a serial ^o)
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