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| 4/24/2008 3:49 PM |
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dancin'manjeff
Member since: 4/24/2007 | | RE: How about redoing the WKRP in cincinnati releases? | I'm sorry there are so many repeat posts..
But I read that after season 1 the remaining seasons may not have so many music cuts based I believe on the syndicated airings!
Is it the original film negatives, that can be transfered, and make completely restored, prints and go from there?
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| 8/21/2008 1:30 PM |
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B Ward
Member since: 1/12/2007 | | RE: How about redoing the WKRP in cincinnati releases? | I'm not entirely sure I understand your question. I'll try to answer as best I can with the information I have, which isn't much.
The syndicated masters probably don't use as many master music tracks, so there wouldn't be as much to replace/clear. But you wouldn't really want to use syndicated masters, because they're shorter than the original episodes, due to the number of commercials needed.
And processing from the original film is far too costly. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to create new masters from the original film.
So between the visual re-mastering and the music clearances... There's no way that DVD release would make money. Ever.
Not looking so hot for WKRP in Cincinnati. Good thing it isn't one of ours.
Brian
"Know Thyself"
--Thales |
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| 8/22/2008 5:15 PM |
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jweinman
Member since: 8/22/2008 | | RE: How about redoing the WKRP in cincinnati releases? | Just to clarify about WKRP (which was taped, not filmed), there are several different versions that have circulated:
1. The old syndication masters from the '80s, that were cut for time but retained nearly all of the real music. These are the versions that are on the bootleg versions that are sold.
2. The version prepared by MTM productions in the mid-'90s (just before they sold everything to Fox). This package had a ton of music replacements, redubbings, and some episodes were in cut syndicated versions, but most were the full 24-25 minute versions with music changes. These are the versions Fox distributes to WGN and American Life. This package has fewer and fewer music substitutions as the series goes on, so the fourth season has most (though not all) of the music.
3. The version of the first season released by Fox on the commercial DVD, which used version 2 as the base (with all the same music changes and cuts) but cut some additional scenes to save even more money on music.
4. There was also a version shown by a Fox station in New Zealand a few years ago (don't ask me how I know that, OK?) which had the same music changes as version 2 but where all the episodes were the full 25-minute versions. I wish I knew where those tapes were from; apparently Fox International branch has better master tapes of the show than Fox's domestic branch.
Since the show was taped rather than filmed, I don't think it would be as difficult as a filmed show to create DVD versions of the originals; mostly one could use the aforementioned master tapes as a base and then dub in any missing music from the existing soundtracks. It all exists in one form or another. The problem is that Fox has no definite knowledge of what is in the master tapes and where they are (because they inherited the MTM properties and MTM left its holdings in a mess) -- they used two syndicated versions on the season 1 DVD because they didn't realize that the original uncut versions existed -- and doesn't want to pay for any music at all. But the actual remastering process is not one of the more nightmarish ones; it's just the cost of the music that's nightmarish -- the show used as much music as Freaks and Geeks and from the same era, but with four seasons instead of one. I'd love to see Shout! do it, but I understand that this is a tough one. |
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