A nice man at Warner Bros. Online (click here for all the official promotional material) sent me the graphic you have just seen, asking me to promote the season 1 DVDs on my "cool" web site. Well, it's a nice set (apart from the wrinkle discussed in the next paragraph), so I'm happy to do that. However, I wasn't quite so impressed by the promotional hype he sent with it, or rather by the price information - apparently "the set will sell for $99.98 SRP/$79.95 MAP", which may make some sense to the Americans out there.
Note. There are some problems with this set, at least in the region 2 edition I have, which look like pure carelessness. The original material was filmed in widescreen, but the CGI special effects sections were done in 4:3. For the TV broadcasts, the widescreen sections had the sides trimmed off. For the DVD, the decision was taken to issue it in widescreen, and the top and bottom were therefore trimmed off the 4:3 sections. Mostly, this works fine. However, in two places the plan has gone wrong. In episode 8, And the Sky Full of Stars, the 4:3 elements have been distorted sideways instead of trimmed, which looks distinctly weird, especially as it involves some live-action sequences. The title credits also look very peculiar. The other problem involves the 4:3 parts of the DVDs, including the jump gate which is shown just before the main menu, and JMS's Introduction. There, instead of simply using the 4:3 material in its original form, they have taken material which has already been trimmed to widescreen, and distorted it vertically. Let's just hope they're a bit more careful with seasons 2 to 5.
March 2003. The problem with And the Sky Full of Stars described above has been fixed. The deal is that people with faulty sets should send disc 2 only to the address below (no packaging, and only that disc), and a replacement will be sent out. I've had my replacement, and although the 4:3 sections (jump gate and introduction) are unchanged, the main problem with episode 8 has been completely fixed. Many thanks to whoever it was with WAY too much time on their hands who has been badgering the PTB about this for the past five months.
Mr. Steven Hill,
Warner Home Video (UK) Ltd.,
Warner House,
98 St. Theobald's Road,
London, WC1X 8WB.The other point to note is that although "additional deleted scenes" are advertised on the graphic you just clicked to get to this page (which was supplied to me by Warner Bros. Online), so far as I can tell there isn't anything of that description in the set. It doesn't even include the season 1 blooper reel, which is a shame - Sinclair fouling up the line about "during the three years I spent being trained by Jesuits" about fourteen different ways is priceless. Maybe they'll put it in a later season set? (Um, I've recently heard a rumour that the bloopers and so on are there, but hidden from all but the most geeky fans. If anyone knows if this is true, and if it is, how to access the material, please let me know!)
The following information was checked and updated (so far as possible) on 11th December 2002, and price comparisons assume Euro / dollar parity and one Euro getting you 63p sterling. However, please follow the links and get the current prices before you make any definite purchase decisions - the prices do change, sometimes in the most unexpected directions. This information is based on Amazon's prices on its various sites - I think it is pretty competitive, though given the variation in prices even within that one company you might find something even better on a local site (or in a local store) in your own area.
Best price for the linguist is here. This is Amazon.de, and it is selling the set in an identical box to the standard edition, but with the cover text in German. I imagine the enclosed booklet will be in German also. However, the technical description of the discs is exactly the same as the UK set I have, and so far as I can tell the discs are the same (they are fully multi-lingual, with English, French and German soundtracks and further languages as subtitles). The price is 29.99 Euros (originally flagged as reduced from 34.99 Euros). Postage is free to Germany and some adjacent countries, 5.60 Euros to the rest of the EU and 15.50 Euros to the rest of the world. Thus by my calculations you can have this set in Britain for about £22.42, and in the USA for about $45.49. Sprechen Sie Deutch? However, note that the discs are region 2, so don't order from this site unless your player can cope with that. (Be careful - for reasons best known to themselves, Amazon.de are also selling the English-boxed set as a UK import, for 101.99 Euros! Be careful which version you order!)
Best price for the dedicated English speaker is here. This is Amazon.co.uk. This is also region 2, but at £35.99 (reduced from £44.99) it is still significantly cheaper than the prices available in North America (£35.99 is about $57.13). If you can get your total order above £39, postage is free within the UK. Amazon.co.uk's airmail delivery rates to North America look very cheap to me, and if this set counts as a single item, it seems you could have it posted to you there for about $62 and still get English-language packaging. I understand however that the set is available locally in Australia at $100AU, which I believe is pretty comparable to the sterling price, so Aussies should look locally rather than paying postage from Europe.
If you must have region 1 (and rumour says that the region 1 edition doesn't have the formatting foul-ups described above), here is Amazon.com. They seem to be undercutting the recommended US price a little, at $74.99, and free postage within the USA is available. Well, it's nice to see the Europeans come out on the winning side in a DVD price war just for once. Note, however, Amazon.com are also advertising a few second hand sets available through third parties at prices starting from $59.99, though I suspect you might have to pay postage on top of that.
If you're French, please take this up with Amazon.fr (or Warner Bros. or whoever) yourself. Why they have split the set into two boxes I have no idea. And why they have replaced the nice season 1 picture everyone else gets with the In the Beginning picture (including Sheridan!), I also have no idea. [Oh, they've re-done the picture - it's a lot better, but I still see Sheridan, and Delenn with hair!] And it costs 75.96 Euros. You don't want to know postage prices for this one, do you? Thought not. Vive the single market!
Morag (Scottish, and thrifty, and proud of it).