Darren,

I talked to my sister, for the first time since I posted way back a month or so ago, over last weekend.  We got to talking about the DS films and I told her the problems that were being had about trying to restore NODS and find the longer version of HODS.  I said something about you approaching Warner Home Video division and they weren't interested.  I mentioned something about licensing the film rights from Warner, and she that the Video division does not have the right to refuse such a request, though they do it all the time and make it sound final.  She said she knew that people are being told that Warner doesn't license, but she said they do and she knows that for certain.  She said for some reason the people in the Home Video Division are not smart and cost the company money which if higher ups knew, they would not be happy.  

I know you mentioned talking to Warner's Video Division about NODS.  It might pay to going higher up.  If something was to released on home video, it would have to be done through Warner's Home Video Division, but the final word about what is or is not released, who can get access and rights to license the film is not suppose to be the Home Video Division's decision.  Just though you might want to know this.

Richard Holt

I can see the point of those who are reviewing the DVD's, like E W and how they can question the show's popularity.  Based on just these episodes, if one was not already a diehard fan  they might understand what all the interest is all about.  Even at this point in time episode 210, the show is not yet in its stride.  This part of the show is the tail end of the transition phase that DS went through between being a gothic romance soap and being a gothic horror soap.  We are going from strange noises and imagined horrors to real horrors, but not yet like it will eventually become.  Imagine what a reviewer might have said, if they had started the DVD releases with episode 1.  It is nothing like what DS became.  The show evolved over time before finding what worked and what made the audience come back again and again, even now 35, years later.  The episodes in this DVD release, are the beginning of a turning point with the series.  We still have not totally left our gothic romance roots, with the body in the basement storyline being to wind down and vampire storyline just beginning, the show is far from what it will be just a few month from that point.  If I had never seen the show before and I saw just those episodes, I too might question what all the fuss was about.  

As to the person who had the question the video tape and the condition of their fape.  I will tell you, speaking as somoene who purchased every volume of the videos, I came across more than I can count that were defective in one way or another, including what you mentioned about the brightness.  I had one that would go from bright to normal and back again, tapes that had the picture curl at the top because it wasn't tracking right and no adjustment on the VCR would help and finally, my favorite, volumes with short black spots in them, which were not a problem with the master they were created on.  It is true that some of the master tapes are not in the best conditions and that some of the later volumes will have such a disclaimer, while some of the earlier releases do not, but still have problems.  One of the reasons that I am interested in getting the DVD's, which my first set arrived today, is because of the fact that some of my videos do have problems, and with age, there will be more.  

Richard Holt  

Darrin,

I hate to sound like a wet blanket, but my sister works as Vice President of Operations for TCM.  When TCM was owned by Turner Broadcasting, it is true they were very active in film preservation and restoration.  However, since Turner was merged with AOL Time Warner, all such activities have stopped.  All proposed projects as well as those in the works were stopped and abandoned almost immediately after Warner took control.  When it was Turner, they were at the forefront in film preservation and restoration, but as soon as Warner came into the picture all that stopped and they became like AMC, where the company donates money to film restoration and then claims they are truely concerned with and involved in  film restoration and preservation but really they just give money.  The rest of the former committment that Turner had to these things are now gone.  If Ted Turner was still in control and it was the old Turner Broadcasting, I would say go for it and that your requests would be listened to, but now Warner has a closed mind to such things.

When Warner took over not only did they abandon all film preservation projects but also halted release of a good portion of the movie library that Turner had.  Part of that collection was the old RKO studio movies, which Turner had pulled from release, to remaster and rerelease under the TCM Video logo.  This was to be done in stages, but when Warner took over, the project was scrapped and the previous releases stopped from production.  Warner has very little interest in the films that were originally part of MGM's or RKO's film library, which the DS films are a part of.  They just wanted to get ahold of part of their own film libary which had been split in half many years earlier.  Therefore, alot of MGM movies were pulled from the market and others, some major classics, have not been rereleased, with no future plans to do so.  This is because Warner says there is no market for older films, which is a crock.  They believe that only new releases sell and that the money and the market is there, but the success of TCM and AMC prove otherwise.  With regard to TCM, Warner went as far as to consider adding commericals to the station but that was protested and for now that idea has been abandoned.  

If you have dealt with Warner video regarding NODS restoration then going to TCM for either of the DS movies is really a futile attempt because they are both controled by AOL Time Warner and both have the same policies and constriction, placed on them by their parent company, who seems to not understand the marketplace and how much people truely enjoy older films and want them saved, restored and preserved for generations to come.

As I said in the beginning of this message, I don't want to throw a wet blanket on the idea of restoring either of these films, but I felt that you should know this so that you would not waste your time and efforts trying to seek help from the same source under a different name...Warner.

Richard Holt  

Originally posted by Richard Holt on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 26, 2002 at 14:18:17:

Well, from what it looks like on the various bookstore sites, including Amazon and Barnes and Nobel, the video release of Dark Shadows Memories didn't happen. I could be wrong, but on Amazon it went from release date today to 1 - 3 delivery time and it not listed under their new releases for this week. The other sites have the video listed as back ordered and the DVD on Amazon changed about a week or so ago from today's date for release to saying no date finalized for release. I wish MPI could get one DS video out on time. They seemed to do well when releasing the series, but other videos have seemed to be plagued with sometimes long delays in finally getting released. I remember a few years back when I was still working at the video store that one video scheduled for release wasn't released for nearly a year after the announced date and then there was no announcement of it being released finally. It just popped up. It seems to me that with the upcoming release of the series on DVD that they would want to get this one out to wet people's appetite for more. I will never understand MPI's marketing of DS.

Raholt

Posted by Richard Holt on January 25, 2002 at 22:09:32:
In Reply to: HODS on DVD posted by Brian on January 22, 2002 at 21:03:16:

My Sister works for Turner Classic Movies, which occasionally broadcasts both DS films. I asked about why alot of the MGM movie library had been pulled from video and why so little had been rereleased on DVD. The answer is Warner which now owns the MGM library, including the DS films says there is no market for older movie material and that they have no plans to release or rerelease alot of the previously pulled films on VHS or DVD. As you may know both DS films have been pulled from video release, though I understand Amazon struck a deal to continue selling the videos of the films. I used to work in a retail video store and I can tell you that Warner is clueless about what sales. The majority of the sells are not recent releases but older, less seen films and classics. The store I worked in made an effort to stock such films, where other dept type stores did not and customers were thrilled they could get those films they loved. In film nostalgia sells, but Warner doesn't seem to see that.