----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:07 am RoboCop: The Series on HD ----------------------------------- According to Video Age: https://www.videoageinternational.net/2021/08/09/watercooler/robocop-returns-worldwide-in-full-hd/ In its relaunch, Fox’s Tubi has already exclusively re-licensed the new digital original version of ROBOCOP: The Series’ 16 X 9 FF in the U.S. with both Sinclair Broadcasting licensing the new HD 16 X 9 FF version, and Liberation Hall relaunching the series in both versions in Blu-ray and DVD. ROBOCOP: The Series has already been picked up by Italy’s Sky Italia for its initial run in HD. The series is available in English, French, German, Italian and Lat Am Spanish languages. That´s cool. ----------------------------------- Archive Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:32 am ----------------------------------- Interesting for sure but i can't help wondering just what kind of Hi Def are we talking about here? Did they simply upscale the original SD episodes? I can't image they did a true remaster like with Star Trek TNG so how HD will this actually be? ROBOCOP: The Series is considered one of the greatest TV franchises of all time ...Hmmmm. Well. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:59 am ----------------------------------- Interesting for sure but i can't help wondering just what kind of Hi Def are we talking about here? Did they simply upscale the original SD episodes? I can't image they did a true remaster like with Star Trek TNG so how HD will this actually be? I´m not sure. They´re talking about 16:9, so it assume it´ll go in widescreen? I was thinking since it was filmed on a good condition a real remaster would be done using the original, but maybe I´m being too optimistic. I didn´t find any more info in the net (release date of the Blu Ray edition, etc). We´ll see if anyone here from Italy can watch it and tell us how it looks. For broadcasting I assume they´d end upscaling the whole thing, but without any release date for the home video editions there are hopes of a decent new transfer. Anyway, I think it can´t be worse than the German edition. Any upgrade on the quality would be good. ROBOCOP: The Series is considered one of the greatest TV franchises of all time ...Hmmmm. Well. :lol: PS: Now you know why they´re taking The Series clips online. ----------------------------------- Rick Tue Aug 10, 2021 8:47 am ----------------------------------- The series was recorded on film was it not? So perhaps they are actually giving it a 16:9 remaster with the original negatives? The special effects may be an issue though. Unless they also have access to the footage of Robovision shots without the video effects, these may prove problematic to restore. The footage may need to be cropped but in some scenes they will lose text etc. so they may just have to have those displayed in 4:3 pillarboxed. Will be very interesting to see how these look. If Sky Italia have already agreed to buy the rights to show then surely they were shown a preview of the restoration to let them know what it is they are buying and gauge interest? It may show up on TV screens sooner than we think... The article does say "...of the show in a brand-new, just-released 16 X 9 HD FF format". This would give the impression it's already done but then again with the other inaccuracies in the article who is to say if that is real or not? They seem to be hyping up the show in the hopes that some TV companies will buy it and show it. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:00 am ----------------------------------- The series was recorded on film was it not? So perhaps they are actually giving it a 16:9 remaster with the original negatives? Yes, that´s what I was thinking of. It´d be cool to have a real remaster and not an upscaled version. The special effects may be an issue though. Unless they also have access to the footage of Robovision shots without the video effects, these may prove problematic to restore. The footage may need to be cropped but in some scenes they will lose text etc. so they may just have to have those displayed in 4:3 pillarboxed. Will be very interesting to see how these look. I think a real remaster wouldn´t be too difficult to do, since a lot of work was done for real. I meant, explosions were real, captured on film, and the RoboPOV isn´t too difficult to recreate with todays technology. I think Diana would be the trickiest FX to remade, but most of the special effects were practical. Computer/Video stuff my brain is thinking of are the CGI enviroment on "Heartbreakers" (and some other backgrounds for cyberspace in other episodes), some flying ads on OCP´s skyline and perhaps some digital rays and sparks (yup, I´ve been editing The Series stuff for a while and they didn´t use 100% real sparks on Robo. It´s fun to spot these small things). I just found the guy behind Rallie LLC was behind Rigel and worked with Orion, so who knows if other Robostuff will come on Blu Ray (he mentions The Series and Prime Directives as some of his credits). If Sky Italia have already agreed to buy the rights to show then surely they were shown a preview of the restoration to let them know what it is they are buying and gauge interest? It may show up on TV screens sooner than we think... I hope we won´t have to wait. And I hope the new Blu Ray release will be worthwhile (make it Region Free!) ----------------------------------- Rick Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:32 pm ----------------------------------- OK, so it seems the series is already uploaded on to Tubi and it's just a crop to 16:9 of the 4:3 footage. Now, the article did say that there were HD restored and also the standard versions so perhaps this is the standard version and the HD is yet to be seen? There doesn't appear to be any image upgrade on the cropped SD versions, its the same sub-par SD video, now made worse by zooming in. I still hope they have done some form of restoration on the footage and we are yet to be surprised. However unlikely that may now seem. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:36 pm ----------------------------------- OK, so it seems the series is already uploaded on to Tubi and it's just a crop to 16:9 of the 4:3 footage. Now, the article did say that there were HD restored and also the standard versions so perhaps this is the standard version and the HD is yet to be seen? There doesn't appear to be any image upgrade on the cropped SD versions, its the same sub-par SD video, now made worse by zooming in. I still hope they have done some form of restoration on the footage and we are yet to be surprised. However unlikely that may now seem. Since they didn´t put a release date for the Blu Ray set and the Tubi versions were uploaded before the news, I assume they´re an old SD release (if I´m not mistaken, some regions already had The Series on Amazon Prime, with the same quality) and the HD ones will follow in the future. I really hope they´ll put some effort on the remaster instead of putting a cheap thing and pass it for High Definition. Fingers crossed. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Tue Aug 10, 2021 8:30 pm ----------------------------------- The version currently on Tubi is worse than what was taken down from YouTube. I guess it's nice that they are officially availible to watch for free, but the cropping is a noticeable flaw, on top of the already poor quality. Any kind of remastering or upgrading of The Series is of course highly welcome. I don't expect much from this article, though. The way it was worded, praising The Series as if it was one of the most successful TV shows of all time, made it seem like they were making a lot out of a little. But if they do actually remaster the series to some degree, and release it in a respectable quality, I will be first in line to buy the Blu-ray boxset! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Aug 11, 2021 4:52 pm ----------------------------------- I don't expect much from this article, though. The way it was worded, praising The Series as if it was one of the most successful TV shows of all time, made it seem like they were making a lot out of a little. But if they do actually remaster the series to some degree, and release it in a respectable quality, I will be first in line to buy the Blu-ray boxset! I think the "most sucessful TV shows of all time" could be a quote from Rallie. Since he was the guy behind Rigel (and produced the show) he´d like to hype this release. It had a decent distribution, and even came here back in 1995 (which I find amazing, considering PD never came to Spain). I hope they´ll do a decent work on Blu Ray, as I wouldn´t mind having it twice, as an upgrade for the one disc, SD German Blu Ray release. Plus, make it region free. I understand some legal copyright stuff always make it trickier, but can´t understand when the smaller labels make an amazing edition for only a part of the planet. Specially when you worked on a remaster and on bonus stuff that´d cost you more than a dollar. ----------------------------------- Rick Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:47 am ----------------------------------- I'm excited to see what a HD remaster will look like, but find it odd they are happy to put the SD version as a straight crop of the old 4:3 episodes and not hold off and make the SD version a downscale of the new remastered HD stuff, so at least it will look more naturally framed without peoples head and text being cut off and not as grainy. Or maybe that's the plan and the cropped SD stuff is a stop-gap for now? I dunno, it's weird! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Aug 12, 2021 9:25 am ----------------------------------- At least it will look more naturally framed without peoples head and text being cut off and not as grainy. Oh, yes. It´s a pain in the butt when you put The Series footage on widescreen, you have to move the image from shot to shot, trying to make it look decent (and it´s not possible in a bunch of scenes). I think the new widescreen edition would have the original filmed scenes instead of an upscaled, but it´d worried me if it ends being something like "Buffy", as it seems the HD edition changed the aspect ratio and you can find the cameras and crew on both sides :lol: I meant, it´d be weird to upscale the whole thing to pass it for widescreen. RoboCop´s POV would be impossible to get right: you´d cut text or the image and it´d look horrible. Imagine a shooting scene: If you want to show the "TARGETING_" display on screen, you´d end cutting someone´s head if you use the old fashioned TV ratio. ----------------------------------- Rick Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:04 pm ----------------------------------- That's what I was saying, for RoboVision, they would need to go back to the original footage and recreate the video overlay effects for 16:9 or simply upscale the existing footage but keep it as 4:3 in a 16:9 frame with black bars at the side or some form of border to make it look intentional. But that could get messy looking... ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Thu Aug 12, 2021 7:48 pm ----------------------------------- I'm excited to see what a HD remaster will look like, but find it odd they are happy to put the SD version as a straight crop of the old 4:3 episodes and not hold off and make the SD version a downscale of the new remastered HD stuff, so at least it will look more naturally framed without peoples head and text being cut off and not as grainy. Or maybe that's the plan and the cropped SD stuff is a stop-gap for now? I dunno, it's weird! Well, ya gotta remember this is Tubi we are talking about. They are the low budget steaming service, everything is free with commercials, and their library has an even higher percentage of pure garbage than Netflix. So quantity over quality is their credo, and I'm not surprised they crapped out a cropped edit with minimal effort. Let's just hope whoever is making the blu-ray remasters has a bit more care and attention to detail, but I still don't have too much faith. ----------------------------------- Archive Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:00 pm ----------------------------------- I have to think there is absolutely no way they are redoing all the FX and POV shots. Very time consuming and expensive. I can only guess that they will run the SD copy they have in some upscale program. Fix the contrast and make the colors pop a bit better. It's not gonna look fantastic but still way better than the bland recent German Bluray edition. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Fri Aug 13, 2021 8:55 am ----------------------------------- I can only guess that they will run the SD copy they have in some upscale program. Fix the contrast and make the colors pop a bit better. It's not gonna look fantastic but still way better than the bland recent German Bluray edition. Oh, yeah. Some episodes don´t look too bad, but others (like the pilot) looked like a VHS. No black areas but grey ones, and anything looks like a black and white film :lol: I have to think there is absolutely no way they are redoing all the FX and POV shots. Very time consuming and expensive. Yup, it´d cost a few bucks and time, but you can´t go widescreen if you do that, as it´d butcher the MediaBreaks and the POV shots. Plus, on closeups you´d end cutting half of the head of the people on shot. Anyway, why bother with a widescreen edition if you´d end taking the TV ratio and expand it to fill everything? I find it weird that they have plans to release TWO different versions of the show when they could do something like the German label did before. If they´re going to go widescreen I´d think they´d add something, if not it´d be pointless to do twice the job while you could focus on the original one. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:05 pm ----------------------------------- Don´t know if I should spill this, but anyway: The remaster is already done, and it was remastered from beta tapes instead of 35 mm film. I still can´t see how they´ll do the widescreen adaption, as it´d chop parts up and down. Unless they´d edit everything on widescreen and then adapted it to the TV aspect ratio, most of the RoboPOV would be cut (texts on top or bottom would be cut at some points). ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:58 pm ----------------------------------- Don´t know if I should spill this, but anyway: The remaster is already done, and it was remastered from beta tapes instead of 35 mm film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7So8Zur4eY ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Oct 04, 2021 8:53 am ----------------------------------- Tried to find some info about the people who´ll release it on Blu Ray, but no luck yet. I wonder where it´ll be available and how... ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:17 pm ----------------------------------- Tried to find some info about the people who´ll release it on Blu Ray, but no luck yet. I wonder where it´ll be available and how... As soon as you dropped the news, A Future to This Life started blasting in my head. I hope everyone has the same reaction. Eagerly awaiting more info, any attention given to the Series is a good thing in my book! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:31 pm ----------------------------------- As soon as you dropped the news, A Future to This Life started blasting in my head. I hope everyone has the same reaction. Eagerly awaiting more info, any attention given to the Series is a good thing in my book! It´d be cool to have a decent release on Blu Ray. But I´m still thinking about how they made it. As far as I know, they didn´t have the 35 mm (I assume it´s gone) and they used the so called beta tapes. No FX redo, so let´s see how it´ll look. ----------------------------------- Rick Wed Oct 06, 2021 8:32 am ----------------------------------- But beta tapes surely mean video? So the improvement in image quality will be minimal at best. If they aren't able to get access or are not going to use the 35mm film then there isn't much they can do for this. It isn't gonna look as great as we'd all like, sadly. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:09 am ----------------------------------- But beta tapes surely mean video? So the improvement in image quality will be minimal at best. If they aren't able to get access or are not going to use the 35mm film then there isn't much they can do for this. It isn't gonna look as great as we'd all like, sadly. Not sure. It seems the 35 mm wasn´t available (or was lost) and they worked from the "beta masters". Some tech guys here would know more about it. Anyway, I understand they took EVERYTHING (including FX, the whole finished episodes) and remastered them. It seems there are plans for two releases, one in 4:3 and other in 19:6, unless they´ll end making a big boxset with both versions. But I couldn´t find any info about the company behind the Blu Ray release. It seems it´s getting some attention worldwide to get it on streaming, but I´m afraid the new remaster isn´t available yet anywhere. ----------------------------------- Archive Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:47 am ----------------------------------- But beta tapes surely mean video? So the improvement in image quality will be minimal at best. Yeah, and something being "remastered" is a pretty fuzzy statement really. It can be an ambitious project or absolutely half assed and rushed. Here i assume they took the SD beta tape episodes and used some upscale program and fixed a bit with the colors. (Hopefully they don't add some smoothing HD filter.) It should look better than the previous releases but using a low res source to begin with there is only so much that can be done. I do hope they put the best of effort into it . ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:35 pm ----------------------------------- It should look better than the previous releases but using a low res source to begin with there is only so much that can be done. I do hope they put the best of effort into it . Funny thing, it seems there´s a SD remaster for the 4:3 version, and the HD remaster would be the widescreen one. Which is weird if they´re trying to release both on Blu Ray (unless the 4:3 version would be on DVD, which would be weird since there was another release on that format). The company name is Liberty Media (or Liberty Bell Media), but couldn´t find a thing on them. Here i assume they took the SD beta tape episodes and used some upscale program and fixed a bit with the colors. (Hopefully they don't add some smoothing HD filter.) I wonder how they´d handle the POV shots if it´s that way. I did some edits with The Series and you can´t do these shots without chopping the up and down text. Unless they distort the image to fit the widescreen format, there aren´t too many options to make it right. ----------------------------------- Archive Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:09 pm ----------------------------------- I mean there is no way the episodes were saved in different layers, and there is one version without the POV text that they can just make changes to. And even if there were i don't see them going in and making any more work than they have to with this. It wouldn't be cost effective. I honestly don't think they will pay much attention to that some POV text will be cut in a HD widescreen version. I remember the widescreen edition of Simpsons that cut out lots of visual jokes and recently they did the same with Seinfeld. They will probably just zoom in and call it a day. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Oct 07, 2021 9:30 am ----------------------------------- I remember the widescreen edition of Simpsons that cut out lots of visual jokes and recently they did the same with Seinfeld. They will probably just zoom in and call it a day. Yup, yesterday I took a look to some of the Seinfeld comparisons. And while they chopped some gags due to the change of the aspect ratio, it seems the scenes add more information in both sides, which is not just a cropped, zoomed shots. Don´t know, but it´d be way too lazy to have stuff cut out. I mean, if you just zoom it, if Robo´s watching a guy´s head and the "Use Of Force Alternatives_" text appears, you´ll end watching a nose and mouth if you don´t want to sacrifice the text. Funny stuff, with today´s technology, doing the Robovision digitally would be easy (most of the times is just green text over a POV), and luckily most of the FX, with the exception of Diana, were made practically (except a few sparks on Robo or an explosion or two). Plus, it´d be a great opportunity to have "A Future To This Life" and some featurettes as extras, but I´m afraid it´d end being a plain release. I wonder if they´re gonna release it as a boxset or if they´re trying to squeeze tons on episodes on a single disc. If it´s that way, I think it wouldn´t make a lot of sense to buy it again if it´ll look like the German edition. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:33 pm ----------------------------------- they worked from the "beta masters" Same, but the other way around... :lol: ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:28 am ----------------------------------- I sent a mail to the guys behind the Blu Ray release yesterday, but no reply. I asked for an estimated release date, and wish they won´t put Weller´s Robo2 pose on their releases. It´d be cool to live in a World where articles don´t use pictures of Robert Burke while talking about Robo1 and we have releases of The Series with Richard Eden on the cover :lol: ----------------------------------- RoboJOF Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:39 am ----------------------------------- Wow! Awesome! I haven't been able to watch this in a long time! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:09 pm ----------------------------------- New "trailer" for the new release: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHslH5KoseI&ab_channel=LiberationHall I know, it´s not anything near "new", plus the YouTube quality warns us it´s in 480p, so I assume the SD edition will be the TV-aspect ratio one on DVD, and the new "remaster" in widescreen and "HD" for Blu Ray. No news on their website, but I guess it´ll be released soon, since they uploaded this some days ago. I hope they´ll do Richard Eden justice and put him on the cover instead of Weller´s pose from Robo2. ----------------------------------- Mindchamber Tue Dec 21, 2021 1:51 am ----------------------------------- off that was corny as hell, I cant believe I watched it so religiously :3 ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:22 am ----------------------------------- off that was corny as hell, I cant believe I watched it so religiously :3 According to one of the producers, the main problem with The Series is that some writers didn´t follow the "Bible", so some episodes had changes in tone. It has it´s problems, but I´d like to get it on a decent release, if they end making the effort this time. I remember watching it on TV, back when I had hair and I was (mostly) happy. ----------------------------------- Mindchamber Tue Dec 21, 2021 4:09 pm ----------------------------------- off that was corny as hell, I cant believe I watched it so religiously :3 According to one of the producers, the main problem with The Series is that some writers didn´t follow the "Bible", so some episodes had changes in tone. It has it´s problems, but I´d like to get it on a decent release, if they end making the effort this time. I remember watching it on TV, back when I had hair and I was (mostly) happy. I was struggling financially quite a bit when this show aired, and it was my escape.. this and SOnic CD :-p hopefully they do the show visual justice. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Sat Jan 08, 2022 10:16 pm ----------------------------------- On Facebook, DVD News Flash is reporting: ROBOCOP: THE SERIES (blu) streets May 10 from Liberation Hall. https://i.imgur.com/Xm0mhof.jpg ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Sat Jan 08, 2022 11:04 pm ----------------------------------- If those bonus features are accurate it sounds like it will be an excellent package. I can't help but feel it almost seems too good to be true, though. For a popular movie or show those features are typical, but the Series has been so utterly forgotten for so long that a perfect blu-ray release seems hard to imagine. There is still the issue of the quality of the episodes, but either way I if this is true I am sold on the bonus features and will happily pick up this collection on May 10th. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Sun Jan 09, 2022 2:58 am ----------------------------------- DVD News Flash got their info from MVD's website: https://mvdb2b.com/s/RobocopTheSeries/LIB-4028 ----------------------------------- RoboWags Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:20 am ----------------------------------- lol...they couldn't even get Yvette Nipar on there - they had to list her character... ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Sun Jan 09, 2022 6:07 am ----------------------------------- Yeah, I'm concerned about the technical specs of the blu-rays that they don't even MENTION! ----------------------------------- Archive Sun Jan 09, 2022 8:52 am ----------------------------------- Pretty sure the first two ones, featurette and toy commercial are the ones on youtube. But hopefully in better quality and not just ripped from youtube like the previous german blu-ray. :) Either way, that the release gets any bonus stuff at all is definitely a happy surprise. Wish we could get the length of the bonus stuff though. Is it just a few minutes or a bit more lengthy? ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Jan 09, 2022 9:59 am ----------------------------------- Pretty sure the first two ones, featurette and toy commercial are the ones on youtube. But hopefully in better quality and not just ripped from youtube like the previous german blu-ray. :) Since one of the producers was behind of this release, I really hope it won´t be a VHS rip and they had some kind of "masters" for these extras. I wonder if the rest of them are done for this edition or where done back then as well. I´d found it interesting they´d bother to make new featurettes for the release. There is still the issue of the quality of the episodes, but either way I if this is true I am sold on the bonus features and will happily pick up this collection on May 10th. Having The Series on a decent package is great to me. I don´t expect to be blown away by the HD of the episodes, but I assume having them on 5 discs would improve the German quality. Plus, they really remastered this time (or that´s why the producer said). I hope it´ll be easy to order outside the US, and I hope it won´t be region locked (so I can watch this outside the computer). I´m still afraid about the cover art. Please put Eden this time :lol: ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:34 am ----------------------------------- As time goes on, I'm just happy to see anybody doing ANYTHING with ROBOCOP The Series at this point. I think the series is kind of a testing point for me. Whether you've seen it or not gauges how big of a Robocop fan you are. It kind of separates the casual fan versus the diehard Robocop fan (like myself). ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Jan 09, 2022 11:16 am ----------------------------------- As time goes on, I'm just happy to see anybody doing ANYTHING with ROBOCOP The Series at this point. I think the series is kind of a testing point for me. Whether you've seen it or not gauges how big of a Robocop fan you are. It kind of separates the casual fan versus the diehard Robocop fan (like myself). They can count on me if they release stuff from the lesser known entries on the franchise. I found "Alpha Commando" silly, but I´d happily buy it on Blu Ray if they wanted to release it. Plus, a bunch of animators and writers would love to talk about it (and give some juicy sheets and behind the scenes concepts). Same with "Prime Directives". RoboCop is a franchise which didn´t have too much luck. Batman can give the fans the Nolan and Burton movies over and over, but WB doesn´t forget about the sillier 70´s cartoon or even that Justice Leage special from the same period. We should be able to have official releases of the TV stuff as well. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Sun Jan 09, 2022 6:01 pm ----------------------------------- As time goes on, I'm just happy to see anybody doing ANYTHING with ROBOCOP The Series at this point. I think the series is kind of a testing point for me. Whether you've seen it or not gauges how big of a Robocop fan you are. It kind of separates the casual fan versus the diehard Robocop fan (like myself). I totally agree, it really helps separate the real fans from the "RoboCop should have ended with the first movie" crowd who probably have never even watched a single episode of the Series. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Jan 09, 2022 6:13 pm ----------------------------------- I had some doubts about the extras. Let´s read the list again: Behind The Scenes Featurette Toy Commercial Photo Gallery Cast Profiles (Richard Eden, Lisa Madigan, Andrea Roth, Sarah Campbell, & David Gardner) From Cinema to the Small Screen The Future of Law Enforcement: The History of RoboCop Fun Facts & Info Put Down Your Weapon: The Auto 9 Gun The Car The Suit Anyone had a copy of the original The Series DVD Boxset from the past? I´m afraid most of the extras will be lifted from there. I meant, if my memory isn´t wrong, I remember that boxset had plain text info pages as extras, as a bunch of films had back in the day. Anyone can agree that "Toy Commercial" and the "Behind The Scenes Featurette" are videos, but "Cast Profiles" and "Fun Facts & Info" sounded like these text extras I was talking about. "The Future of Law Enforcement: The History of RoboCop" sounds great as a video featurette, but could be text again. And "The Car" and "The suit" sounds like they were borrowed from this site. I hope these extras will be all video featurettes, but who knows. PD: A little off-topic, but I found it cute that anybody at IMBD found my custom "The Series" cover artwork and added it to the photo section of The Series as it´d be a real, official Blu Ray cover: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0108909/mediaviewer/rm865976833/?fbclid=IwAR00bWsGkF0V5N0-tEFF-WqZABHA5K6TuAlB6WU9pfAet-uE69gesRoONjk ----------------------------------- POCOBOR Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:02 am ----------------------------------- Copped this from a Blu-ray forum: “I am the publicist for this Blu-ray release. Here is the official info from the Liberation Hall press release. I also have the correct cover art and a product shot of the box set available. ROBOCOP: THE SERIES Release date: May 10 FORMATS: Blu-ray box set - 5 discs, $59.95 (LIB-4028 / 089353402822) TV series runtime: 10 hours 51 minutes DVD box set - 5 discs, $49.95 (LIB-4024 / 089353402426) TV series runtime: 10 hours 51 minutes SYNOPSIS: In 1994, after three films in the franchise, the popular sci-fi action character RoboCop debuted in his own television series. Produced by Canada's Skyvision Entertainment, RoboCop: The Series starred Richard Eden in the title role. An 89-minute pilot aired in two parts in March, followed by 21 one-hour episodes. Aimed at a younger audience, the series dialed back the graphic violence of the first two movies and displayed a tone similar in feel to RoboCop 3. Many of the events and plotlines seen in the films were discarded, with RoboCop: The Series acting as a reset for the once human, now cyborg police officer. The series' theme song, "A Future to This Life," was performed by rock legends Joe Walsh and Lita Ford. Additionally, the series included songs by the Band, Dave Edmunds, Nicky Hopkins, Iron Butterfly, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Todd Rundgren, among others. DETAILS: Both the Blu-ray and DVD box sets feature the pilot film, all 21 original episodes, and bonus features. Source material for the Blu-ray was taken from original vault elements and is now formatted for 16:9 screens. The DVD is presented in its original 4:3 size as a "pillar box" (black bars on the left and right) to fit 16:9 screens. | Dolby Digital for DVD and 2.0 Stereo LPCM for Blu-ray | Closed Captioned | Color | 1994 BONUS FEATURES: 'Behind the Scenes' featurette | Toy commercial | Photo gallery | Cast profiles for actors Richard Eden, Lisa Madigan, Andrea Roth, Sarah Campbell & David Gardner | 'From Cinema to the Small Screen' featurette | 'The Future of Law Enforcement: The History of RoboCop' featurette | 'Put Down Your Weapon: The Auto 9 Gun' featurette | 'The Car' featurette | 'The Suit' featurette“ They’ve yet to provide pics of cover art or box set. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Mon Jan 10, 2022 5:55 am ----------------------------------- Oh man. This is crap. When this thread started, you guys had mentioned that TUBI was streaming it and cropping it to 16:9 from the 4:3 footage. It's sad they're doing that to this blu-ray set. They did the same thing for The Remastered Collection Blu-Ray set of the original Battlestar Galactica. Luckily, for that show, you could get The Definitive Collection Blu-ray set which included the ORIGINAL 1.33:1 (4:3) aspect ratio as well. I wish they'd have done the same for this new Robo set. I guess I COULD buy the new DVD set. But I'm going to have to see some comparisons of the picture quality versus the single disc German Blu-Ray I have. And when they say "re-mastered" on these new sets, it makes me wonder EXACTLY what they mean. Computerized/automated up-scaling? Or maybe some DNR grain-scrubbing thrown in as well. ----------------------------------- RoboFan_93 Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:18 am ----------------------------------- BONUS FEATURES: 'Behind the Scenes' featurette | Toy commercial | Photo gallery | Cast profiles for actors Richard Eden, Lisa Madigan, Andrea Roth, Sarah Campbell & David Gardner | 'From Cinema to the Small Screen' featurette | 'The Future of Law Enforcement: The History of RoboCop' featurette | 'Put Down Your Weapon: The Auto 9 Gun' featurette | 'The Car' featurette | 'The Suit' featurette“ They’ve yet to provide pics of cover art or box set. The 16:9 cropped ratio for the Blu-Ray is disappointing (though I wasn't getting it anyway, as I'm happy with my UK DVDs), but it's nice to see some new bonus features. Also, I find it hilarious how they list the actors, but it says "Lisa Madigan" instead of "Yvette Nipar" :lol: ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Jan 10, 2022 12:04 pm ----------------------------------- The 16:9 cropped ratio for the Blu-Ray is disappointing (though I wasn't getting it anyway, as I'm happy with my UK DVDs), but it's nice to see some new bonus features. I´m afraid about how the widescreen will work on that. I´ll try to get the Blu Ray, since the episodes were remastered and there are bonus features, but I doubt how they´ll fix the Robovision scenes where the text takes a bunch of the screen without cutting anything important. Also, I find it hilarious how they list the actors, but it says "Lisa Madigan" instead of "Yvette Nipar" :lol: I´m afraid that´ll be included in the back cover of this edition. ----------------------------------- RoboFan_93 Mon Jan 10, 2022 1:30 pm ----------------------------------- Cover art from the Prime Mover Media FB page: https://scontent.fsof10-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/271741264_3090001861237511_6608015005334307211_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=8awbqNSbVsYAX92vtyN&tn=vRCem6zMYJAE9Gui&_nc_ht=scontent.fsof10-1.fna&oh=00_AT_trOaJIGOJBylVH1L-p9Icezg2g46PM9Zi0p3sXmT6zQ&oe=61E03C40 https://scontent.fsof10-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/271745521_3090001767904187_2636411562105742529_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=-pKwSMmucqQAX_qFgqb&tn=vRCem6zMYJAE9Gui&_nc_ht=scontent.fsof10-1.fna&oh=00_AT8id6z1ulZXhYzpayh0V5MV3w0sUO3a-bMJLLEYePTzhA&oe=61E1FE03 If these are real, the front cover is decent-ish, though the red logo feels a bit odd. The backcover is incredibly bland though. In terms of packaging, I definitely feel that the first UK release did it best, albeit with the R2 poster art (the re-colouring is fantastic though): https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51T0775HXDL.__AC_SY300_SX300_QL70_ML2_.jpg ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Jan 10, 2022 2:34 pm ----------------------------------- Cover art from the Prime Mover Media FB page I´m in. Watching Eden on the cover brings me tears of hapiness. Finally a release with him and not Weller on R2! Not a big fan of the spine or the back cover, I´d add more stuff on the back instead of black background and giant fonts. Discs could had different images to know which disc you´re getting (the German release did that, so they could try something. Remember PD´s UK boxset? That was a fun way to put artwork on each disc). But hey, again, they finally put the right Robo on this release. ----------------------------------- RoboFan_93 Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:14 pm ----------------------------------- Cover art from the Prime Mover Media FB page I´m in. Watching Eden on the cover brings me tears of hapiness. Finally a release with him and not Weller on R2! Not a big fan of the spine or the back cover, I´d add more stuff on the back instead of black background and giant fonts. Discs could had different images to know which disc you´re getting (the German release did that, so they could try something. Remember PD´s UK boxset? That was a fun way to put artwork on each disc). But hey, again, they finally put the right Robo on this release. The second UK release also had Eden on the front: https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/124760354256_/Robocop-tv-series-Dvd.jpg As for PD - the UK got multiple versions of that as well, I guess you're referring to the one that had the neat metal plate behind the logo? I went cheapo for PD and got the "RoboCop Collection" 4 in 1 set that came on two double-sided DVDs. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:28 pm ----------------------------------- As for PD - the UK got multiple versions of that as well, I guess you're referring to the one that had the neat metal plate behind the logo? I went cheapo for PD and got the "RoboCop Collection" 4 in 1 set that came on two double-sided DVDs. The first UK release had a fancy Robo (Eden) in each disc, forming an iconic pose: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/e91c3a_bd4c3c9b09304429ba3d82ccdc0f0a53.jpg/v1/fill/w_456,h_632,al_c,lg_1,q_80/e91c3a_bd4c3c9b09304429ba3d82ccdc0f0a53.webp They could go on a similar route with this release, since Eden is in the suit. And yup, there are a few (british?) editions with Eden on the cover, but some of them added the red visor for some weird reason, and the German releases (three, if I´m not mistaken) uses the RoboWall pic from R2. It´s good to see a "new" pic of Eden for this release. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Mon Jan 10, 2022 7:48 pm ----------------------------------- This package is coming together nicely. Sure, that is not the best cover art I've ever seen, but far from the worst for Robo. Some of the official DVD releases for the first movie looked a lot worse. The red logo does seem off but also makes the cover pop so I don't hate it. My favorite thing about all this news is that we are getting any news at all. We mostly only get small crumbs of info about new Robo projects with years of waiting in between so it is really nice to see the company being forthcoming with info and pics for this product. ----------------------------------- Archive Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:20 pm ----------------------------------- http://robocoparchive.com/forum/series-bluray1.jpg http://robocoparchive.com/forum/series-bluray2.jpg ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:45 am ----------------------------------- Fellow member ant found this on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/664033494 And I like the quality of it. It looks it improves the German quality (which is not a big surprise) and looks crisp for being the supposed DVD (since it was in 4:3). ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Tue Jan 11, 2022 9:04 am ----------------------------------- Fellow member ant found this on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/664033494 And I like the quality of it. It looks it improves the German quality (which is not a big surprise) and looks crisp for being the supposed DVD (since it was in 4:3). That DOES looks pretty good. I love it when a plan comes together. ----------------------------------- Rick Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:55 am ----------------------------------- So they say they got the source material for the BluRay from valut elements but then butcher those by cropping it? Why can't they leave the BluRays as 4:3 pillarboxed as well? If they are cropping the BluRay then I won't be buying it. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Jan 11, 2022 11:31 am ----------------------------------- Why can't they leave the BluRays as 4:3 pillarboxed as well? I don´t really understand the reasoning behind it. To make it more cinematic? We´ll have to see how they handled this. The best scenario would be they had a widescreen version of the whole series made back then, but it looks unlikely. I´ve seen some screencaps from the Tubi streaming, which is also in 16:9, and little efford was made to make it work. They didn´t re-composite the shots, so at some points the widescreen edition chops chins on closeups or important information. If I remember that well, the Tubi edition was done before this remaster was available to stream all over the world, so there´s hope they fixed some shots while adapting it to 16:9. ----------------------------------- Archive Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:49 pm ----------------------------------- Someone pointed out that the city in the background is not actually Detroit but something like Los Angeles? Not an expert on the matter but if true it's odd. :| ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:55 pm ----------------------------------- Someone pointed out that the city in the background is not actually Detroit but something like Los Angeles? Not an expert on the matter but if true it's odd. :| I prefer to call the city in the background "Stock Image". :lol: As an European doesn´t bother me. I´d prefer them to fix the back cover, as it make the whole packaging look like a bootleg. And The Series plot on it wasn´t too good either... ----------------------------------- Spectrum Scarlet Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:29 am ----------------------------------- Artwork’s great, but this smacks of a cheap re-issue of the DVD set. The extras, unless they’ve really turned them into video segments (with cast & crew interviews), are probably just the same text ones as before (as Chanood has pointed out). The “source material from original vault elements” line could mean the same broadcast masters being pulled from the library of whoever owns them now. It’s been done before...just sales talk. A little printed lie to push the same thing, without anyone suspecting different. Those people won’t have seen the poor trailer, so won’t know any better. I don’t think any of the producers from the show have been involved in this. The gentleman who was featured in the early press release (with a poster for the new overseas TV airings) was an executive at Rigel. He’s trying to make a quick buck out of this and flog the old SD’s. He’d be able to do that if the show had begun filming in ‘95 for a premiere that year. Film stocks changed that summer before television dramas returning for shooting, lending them a much more clearer, vibrant look. You only have to watch clips from the 1st Season of “DUE SOUTH” (shot in Toronto at the same time as “Robo”), then watch a few from the 2nd and it’s like night-and-day. Had Kevin Gillis, Brian Ross and Miles Dale been part of the project, they would’ve ensured this to be an actual HD restoration from the true 35mm negative film reels. Reconstructing each episode or at least a selection, which has been done before. Maybe have a VFX artist or two recreate the RoboVision shots at least or just leave them and all the other CG-heavy setups in SD. Eastwood Allen, the editor of “RoboDoc”, could’ve done the HUD’s. Wonder if they were approached to sell some of their footage to Liberation Hall. ----------------------------------- RoboWags Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:54 am ----------------------------------- I'm still concerned about the 16:9 ratio... It wasn't filmed for it - leave it alone... Unless they took the time to make the necessary corrections then I'm out. And the DVD won't be remastered versions from the masters? Damn it... ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:21 am ----------------------------------- The extras, unless they’ve really turned them into video segments (with cast & crew interviews), are probably just the same text ones as before (as Chanood has pointed out). They´re listed as "featurettes" so we should asume they´re video, right? Anyway, it seems nobody from the cast knew about this edition (Eden seemed surprised when it found that) so I doubt they came back to film some behind the scenes stuff. Plus, that´d cost money. I really want to know what we´ll get, if they had vintage behind the scenes stuff done back in the 90´s or if they put someone to read trivia over The Series footage. I remember one of the behind the scenes videos the Archive owned and uploaded had the video split on different segments, and maybe a few of them were "The Suit" or "The Gun", but I remember these parts being way too short. It´d be weird to have listed a featurette about the RoboCop suit to have a clip of someone from the cast or crew talking for 15 or 30 seconds. Had Kevin Gillis, Brian Ross and Miles Dale been part of the project, they would’ve ensured this to be an actual HD restoration from the true 35mm negative film reels. Reconstructing each episode or at least a selection, which has been done before. Maybe have a VFX artist or two recreate the RoboVision shots at least or just leave them and all the other CG-heavy setups in SD. Eastwood Allen, the editor of “RoboDoc”, could’ve done the HUD’s. Wonder if they were approached to sell some of their footage to Liberation Hall We talked about that in the past, and I agree. A complete HD restoration could be made, since a big bunch of the FX were practical back then. Anyone with a crappy PC can recreate Robo´s POV on a decent level. I´ve been editing that PD "remix" with The Series stuff for years and I´m surprised there was little compositions here and there, like a few digital ricochets on Robo, but these could be recreated without a big deal. The biggest problem would be Diana and some of the cyberspace elements in some of the episodes (or these Flying publicty banners satellites around the OCP Tower). It could be done. But someone had to spend some bucks on it. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Fri Jan 14, 2022 1:06 am ----------------------------------- I'm a big fan of the FULL MOON line of movies. The Puppet Master, Trancers and Subspecies series are some of my favorites. I was recently listening to an interview with Subspecies director Ted Nicolaou talk about why we had only seen Suspecies 1-3 on Blu-Ray and why we hadn't seen a blu for Subspecies 4. He said they had shot and edited 1-3 on film. But with Subspecies 4, they shot it on film and then they did the editing on computer. So the master made back then was Standard Definition. Which was all they really needed for stuff like VHS, Laserdisc and TV. He said that to make a new HD master of Subspecies 4 would require going back to the original film and then finding the edit list and having to do an all-new edit. Interesting. I never realized how all that was done. I think that's what is going to prevent SO much stuff from getting brand-new, TRUE HD transfers. Most likely, Robocop was edited on computer as well. Not to mention video titles and effects. Another TV show that comes to mind is the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I remember seeing some behind-the-scenes stuff on how they made that show back then. They shot a ton of it using 16mm cameras as they were so light and portable. Good for all the exterior/location filming. Then they showed them transferring that straight to computer and adding special effects to it. Once again, seeing how it was a TV show, they only needed current TV picture standards back then. So there's another show probably in the same type of boat. I know they spent a TON of time and money to make Star Trek The Next Generation blu-rays. Big pockets there. And in the end, I don't think even they were satisfied with the money made on those blu-ray seasons. Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents here. If you want to listen to Ted's interview, he talks about that Subspecies issue at about 46:02 EP#97: Behold the Bloodstone - An Interview with Ted Nicolaou https://www.monstersmadnessandmagic.com/portalofthepodcast/ep97-behold-the-bloodstone-an-interview-with-ted-nicolaou?fbclid=IwAR2XQoD_p3n5zc5lZtD4bQSiT7IXCfGs2LwDJFGxGDmjbE8sm2h4wGuGx8E ----------------------------------- JimWantsAliens Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:43 am ----------------------------------- Oh wow. I was not expecting this. ORIGINAL VAULT ELEMENTS. That trailer looks so crisp. As for the cropping - it's frustrating but a lot of TV shows like The Wire have gone with this approach. I think even R1 and R3 are cropped in their widely seen 16:9 formats. (I'm sure R1 Criterion edition DVD has more in frame. When I bought the Widescreen VHS of RoboCop 3, I realised I could see more in the Fullscreen 4:3 release.) I'd have preferred original aspect ratio but actually I'm stoked about the remaster, I'm more focussed on that. I might even pick up the DVD as well 4:3 even in SD, the rescan is going to be an upgrade on the existing DVD AND Blu-Ray sets (as the German BR I have is SD footage anyway). Also in terms of box art, at least they actually used Series promo shots. I have the UK box and never got why there's an R2 photo on the cover. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:14 am ----------------------------------- I'd have preferred original aspect ratio but actually I'm stoked about the remaster, I'm more focussed on that. I might even pick up the DVD as well 4:3 even in SD, the rescan is going to be an upgrade on the existing DVD AND Blu-Ray sets (as the German BR I have is SD footage anyway). The Opening they´re using to promote this edition looks way better than the previous release, and I assume it´s taken from the DVD edition. But I´m curious about the widescreen edition. I´m sure it could look more "modern", but I don´t know how they solved some framing problems. If they´ll do anything different for the DVD edition (different box art, etc) I could consider buying both sets at some point. Well, if you can get these outside the US without paying twice their price due to shipping, customs and such. ----------------------------------- JimWantsAliens Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:05 pm ----------------------------------- I couldn't see it on Amazon US yet. I wonder if other territories will get it this year. If a UK edition doesn't pop up by April, I will preorder US versions. That's a good point I'm assuming the DVD will be from the new master, the press release sort of indicates it is and the Title Sequence (which is now on YouTube as well as Vimeo). But I notice with 4K & Blu-Ray sets they often include the old BR master. (Probably getting rid of a stockpile of old unsold discs rather than sending them to landfill.) They often refer to these remastered 16:9 reframes as future proofing. I'd love it if the POVs were kept at 4:3 but I doubt it. I notice on some YouTube music video remasters of 90s videos that people would make their 4:3 videos look 16:9 with black bars back in the day and some remasters keep that within a 4:3 frame so you end up with a border effectively. That seems an insane decision. I wish the pan-and-scanners would be more flexible with this. If I watch something in 16:9 and there's a jump to 4:3, it's never jarring. Wes Anderson films do it. I'm looking forward to rewatching the series again actually. After Roddy Piper died, I revisited his ep and a few others but I haven't watched it through in years. I think a lot of that is due to how poor the quality started to look on bigger TVs. But I'm gonna revisit the whole series in HD on my new TV too. I assume this was scanned in 4K at original resolution as is standard now so hopefully if it exists it may appear again on that format in the future on BR in 4:3. Blimey even R2&3 were only scanned in 2K for Shout Factory. So The Series must have been shot on film. Anyone know if PD was shot on film? Not that I'm dying for that in better resolution. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:17 pm ----------------------------------- I'm looking forward to rewatching the series again actually. I actually spend a bunch of time watching clips from The Series while working on these fan edits and such, but I´ll like to sit down and watch this new edition, since they bother to do something with it, instead of the other releases. Anyone know if PD was shot on film? Not that I'm dying for that in better resolution. I assume it was shot on film as well. Sadly, other people owns the rights, so I doubt we´ll end having a chance to get a higher resolution release of it soon (or ever). I wonder who´d own the cartoon rights at the moment... ----------------------------------- Sean_001 Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:16 pm ----------------------------------- So, while scrolling the Instagram account, I came across an old post about the Series' Show Bible. It seems that some fans are clamoring for a full pdf file. Gotta say, with this Review that's currently in the works, I'd like to have that .pdf. Any ideas on where it is or if someone can scan them in? This would be an immensely useful tool to have for the review. I've search the forum, and can't seem to find it, if it's here. ---Sean ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:52 pm ----------------------------------- So, while scrolling the Instagram account, I came across an old post about the Series' Show Bible. It seems that some fans are clamoring for a full pdf file. Gotta say, with this Review that's currently in the works, I'd like to have that .pdf. Any ideas on where it is or if someone can scan them in? This would be an immensely useful tool to have for the review. I've search the forum, and can't seem to find it, if it's here. ---Sean It´d be great to take a look to it. Have you tried Brad (Terral)? I think I´ve seen some pages of that bible from him in the past, and he has a bunch of stuff from The Series, so he could help. By the way, I already told you on Instagram, but good work recreating that stuff. Looks amazing to see these logos so crisp and new! ----------------------------------- Archive Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:03 pm ----------------------------------- Sean, I've sent you a message on FB. I have the series bible as well as the episode 1 script, but I haven't uploaded them for the public yet. Reasons is that these pages has been sent to the RoboDoc team for use in their series documentary. The Series Bible will be mostly exclusive to that until the doc is released. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:33 pm ----------------------------------- Sean, I've sent you a message on FB. I have the series bible as well as the episode 1 script, but I haven't uploaded them for the public yet. Is there anything different from the finished episode? I´ve been doing some "Corporate Wars" edits for fun, but it´s difficult to make something coherent with that draft :lol: Can´t wait to get this release in Blu Ray to see what could do without having a big pixel when changing the aspect ratio. ----------------------------------- Archive Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:00 pm ----------------------------------- Is there anything different from the finished episode? It follows the main story pretty much. Some different dialogue here and there but mostly the same. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Wed Jan 26, 2022 10:00 pm ----------------------------------- I have the series bible as well as the episode 1 script, but I haven't uploaded them for the public yet. Reasons is that these pages has been sent to the RoboDoc team for use in their series documentary. The Series Bible will be mostly exclusive to that until the doc is released. Damn, you really got your hands on the bible and now you're gonna hold out on us like that? Imagine if Moses had come down from the mountain empty handed. People would still be sacrificing their kids to Molech today! Joking aside, it is a shame that you have access to such an elusive document but it is being tied up by obligations to another project. Especially since it is the RoboDoc and some of us were probably hoping to take a peek at that Series bible within our lifetimes. There still isn't even a release date for the main Documentary, let alone the bonus project that is supposedly coming later down the pipeline. I will be honest, I do not expect that we will ever see that team's documentary about the series. I don't imagine the main RoboDoc will make as significant an impact as they like at this point, and would be surprised if they even got out the sequels. They already started working on other unrelated projects before finishing this one and it seems they are already ready to move on So to hear some cool new piece of Robo history popped up but us hardcore fans can't see it because it is tied to another project being that will at best not be out for several years made by a team with a notoriously poor track record definitely feels like a letdown. I honestly can't say I was chomping at the bit to see this Series bible, but I would have liked to take a look and it does feel a bit disappointing to hear some cool new piece of RoboCop history was discovered, only to then learn that it is being purposefully withheld from the community who would appreciate it most. ----------------------------------- Sean_001 Thu Jan 27, 2022 12:33 am ----------------------------------- Sean, I've sent you a message on FB. I have the series bible as well as the episode 1 script, but I haven't uploaded them for the public yet. Reasons is that these pages has been sent to the RoboDoc team for use in their series documentary. The Series Bible will be mostly exclusive to that until the doc is released. Thanks very much. I'll take careful consideration in which items "I'd Like to Know More" about after this weekend's Meeting. By the way, I already told you on Instagram, but good work recreating that stuff. Looks amazing to see these logos so crisp and new! Thanks again. I appreciate all the kind words from everyone with my art. You guys see something I don't, but all artists are overly critical of their work. I honestly can't say I was chomping at the bit to see this Series bible, but I would have liked to take a look and it does feel a bit disappointing to hear some cool new piece of RoboCop history was discovered, only to then learn that it is being purposefully withheld from the community who would appreciate it most. I can understand the reasons for secrecy, don't want to give too many spoilers away. If you don't mind my saying, for a guy who didn't like the series, you're sure feeling left out is a sign you are more than you let on. ----Sean ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:11 am ----------------------------------- I honestly can't say I was chomping at the bit to see this Series bible, but I would have liked to take a look and it does feel a bit disappointing to hear some cool new piece of RoboCop history was discovered, only to then learn that it is being purposefully withheld from the community who would appreciate it most. I can understand the reasons for secrecy, don't want to give too many spoilers away. If you don't mind my saying, for a guy who didn't like the series, you're sure feeling left out is a sign you are more than you let on. I don't mind you saying that at all and I'm happy to clear up your confusion. Obviously you have me mistaken for someone else, I'm RoboPimp, a diehard fan of RoboCop: the Series. I've been watching the show since it was on the air. Years later I found a VHS tape of "Officer Down" on sale for $3 which resparked my interest in RoboCop, leading me directly to the Archive many years ago. I still have that tape today as part of my shrine to RoboCop, and while I don't have them anymore, as a kid I had every figure from the Series, and most of the vehicles too. I've watched all the episodes on YouTube many times, and checked out the cropped "HD" remake on Tubi. I have commented on this very thread since the start, sharing my enthusiasm for the Series and my desire to see a nice DVD or Bluray package, and have stated my desire to buy the box set the day it comes out. Heck, whenever I talk to someone and Joe Walsh comes up I tell them about A Future to This Life. I'm not sure how much more a fan of the Series I can be. So clearly you were thinking of someone else who "didn't like the series" or maybe you were confused with my opinion of PD, which I did not like and have said many negative things about. Sorry to get so far off topic, but I just want to make one thing clear: If you think I don't like RoboCop: The Series you must be Cray Z. ----------------------------------- Archive Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:23 am ----------------------------------- Believe me, I would have rather posted it on the site right away but the way the interwebs are, the content would get a life of its own and would quickly get posted in other places without any ties to RoboDoc or the archive. The idea is to bring as much new and cool stuff to RoboDoc as possible and showing everything now before release wouldn't be smart. I know they have a rough cut of the series doc which clocks in at an hour so it's something to look forward to. I will post the table of content pages here later so you can at least see what the bible contains. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:12 am ----------------------------------- Years later I found a VHS tape of "Officer Down" on sale for $3 which resparked my interest in RoboCop Ah, nostalgia... I owned "RoboCop 6" on VHS, which had "Officer Down" as well, with "What Money Can´t Buy". Last year I got "RoboCop 5", and I still trying to get "RoboCop 4" (the pilot) to get the "whole collection". They released "RoboCop 4" in 1994, before the TV show aired here, and us, as kids, would speculate about what we would expect from that one. After the series aired I found these actors familiar, and later made the connection. I had every figure from the Series, and most of the vehicles too. Tried to find the RoboCruiser, as it was some of the toys I always run into in the mall here, but it gets way too expensive. Back on topic, I see there´s a lot of controversy about the aspect ratio changes on forums and such, but according to some HD/Blu Ray websites, pre-orders for this new edition are going strong. Which it´s cool, I guess. As far as I know, Amazon has it only available on the US. Can´t track it here. I hope with all the Customs troubles we have in Europe we won´t have to pay more than 100 bucks to get this release. ----------------------------------- Zentron Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:59 pm ----------------------------------- It'd be great if they could AI enhance the series to give us a truer HD experience! ----------------------------------- Slash Man Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:49 am ----------------------------------- On paper it seemed like a must-buy, but their announcement of changing the aspect ratio made me second guess that rather than rest assured. Just a little rant here, but this trend of modernizing classic media is really just an attempt to appeal to modern sensibilities at the risk of insulting hardcore fans. Some cases I've seen are colorizing black and white, redoing effects, redoing soundtracks, changing the color timing, and even remixing/remastering music. For something as niche as RoboCop: The Series, I don't think its wise to upset the fans. Everyone jumped to the conclusion of the aspect ratio being cropped, so I believe an explanation is in order. I heard a possible explanation is that the film was actually shot in 16:9 originally, which would indeed be worthy of preserving. But without knowing which version has the most information preserved, I can't make a purchase. Going with Blu-ray is a little perplexing. In theory they could fit a considerable amount more per disc than DVD... but it's the same number of discs as the DVD set. As it stands, I'm probably going to go with the DVD set that hasn't made any detrimental edits. Cheaper price point and no loss of quality. Plus, who knows when this'll get released again? On the plus side, the cover art actually looks nice and era appropriate. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:11 am ----------------------------------- For something as niche as RoboCop: The Series, I don't think its wise to upset the fans. I really want to get this one, but I´m afraid how it would look in widescreen. So far, all the videos they released are in the original aspect ratio. It seems some people complained about the change to widescreen, and they replied: The series was originally produced in SD and we now have created a hi-rez version in 16x9 1.78 aspect ratio. We are aware that fans want the series in the original 4x3 aspect ratio for the BluRay release but the cost of creating another second hi-rez version in that ratio is cost prohibitive. Hope this clears up any concerns and we appreciate the feedback They´d need to show something from the Blu Ray edition. Everyone jumped to the conclusion of the aspect ratio being cropped, so I believe an explanation is in order. I heard a possible explanation is that the film was actually shot in 16:9 originally, which would indeed be worthy of preserving. They keep answering some questions: For the DVD, audio is Dolby Digital stereo, the aspect ratio is 16:9 pillar boxed 4:3 (1.33:1) which matches the original broadcast aspect ratio. For the Blu-ray, audio is LPCM stereo, the aspect ratio is 16:9 (1.77:1). The picture has been modified from its original broadcast aspect ratio to fill a 16:9 aspect ratio. Hope that answers your questions. Thank you for your interest. And they even claim that the image "won't be cropped". So I don´t know how they handled the conversion. The best scenario would be having the whole series filmed (and edited!!) on widescreen, but I´m not sure that´d be the case. If not, it´d be impossible to change it without eating the top and bottom of the frame, unless, as people on the net said, the image would be "stretched". Which would look weird. As it stands, I'm probably going to go with the DVD set that hasn't made any detrimental edits. Cheaper price point and no loss of quality. I have to think about it. I´d love to have a crisp edition of The Series on HD, but only if the widescreen edition doesn´t cut vital information in the process (texts, etc). Plus, taking this edition to Europe would cost around 100 bucks due to customs and these kind of things, so it´d be a little pricey to my tastes. ----------------------------------- Slash Man Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:15 pm ----------------------------------- They were nice enough to respond to my inquiries as well, but I pretty much got the same response (emphasizing that it's not cropped). Judging by the wording, the aspect ratio had to be altered to become 16:9. The only explanation I can think of is that it's been stretched (awaiting confirmation on that). I don't think they're being dishonest, but I think they lack some of the technical knowledge to really explain exactly what's going on here. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat Jan 29, 2022 6:58 pm ----------------------------------- I´ve seen some videos about aspect conversion on popular shows, and can´t wait to know how they did this one. The best example is Star Trek: The Next Generation. They spend around 5 million doing the remaster, where they recreated FX and such. And while they didn´t want to change the aspect ratio to widescreen you can notice the new compositions have a little bit more of info in both sides. There´s the Seinfeld one, which we already discussed here, where they cropped the image, yet they used a little bit of info on both sides as well, and then there´s Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which had fans annoyed since they released it on HD. You can see crew members, cameras and lights on both sides, plus a pretty bad and generic restoration which destroys the mood and lightning of the original, changing filters and even changing lightning to the point some night scenes appeared as day ones due to that. I heard The X-Files had some changes as well, but couldn´t find anything about it. I don't think they're being dishonest, but I think they lack some of the technical knowledge to really explain exactly what's going on here. That´s why I think they´d need to release something with the new aspect ratio. The DVD intro they put in Vimeo looked nice for a SD video (it doesn´t look the same in Youtube, not sure if it compress them way too much), and if they did a decent HD translation a video would help them. Unless the cropping is too bad to make people complain again. There are a bunch of people demanding a 4:3 HD version, but it seems it won´t happen. Which made me think: Wouldn´t they have a 4:3 HD version in the first place? I don´t know how these remasters work, but if the original is in 4:3, shouldn´t they have a remaster done in that format, then put it on widescreen? ----------------------------------- Stan The Man Sun Jan 30, 2022 2:50 am ----------------------------------- I´ve seen some videos about aspect conversion on popular shows, and can´t wait to know how they did this one. The best example is Star Trek: The Next Generation. They spend around 5 million doing the remaster, where they recreated FX and such. And while they didn´t want to change the aspect ratio to widescreen you can notice the new compositions have a little bit more of info in both sides. Indeed there's a bit more, but it's still mainly a 4;3 ratio, which I found odd given their remaster since they shot the show on 35mm and with the work already putting in and its prevalence as a still-popular streaming show on current widescreen TVs/monitors it was a prime candidate to do widescreen, or so I would think. Which leads us to.. I heard The X-Files had some changes as well, but couldn´t find anything about it. They did a wholesale remaster of it too, and I would believe going back to the originally-shot footage because all of it was also shot on film I believe. They had actually originally aired about the last third of the show in 16:9 anyway (well for stations and TVs that could do it), just extended it to the rest of it. That said they did do some up-scaling on it and a bit of a cleanup, certainly looks a bit sharper than it did. I know this because I screencapped all the featured firearms for the whole OG series for the IMFDB a few years back, both in SD and again when they upgraded the show to HD. Check it - http://www.imfdb.org/images/archive/4/4f/20140817043453%21Vlcsnap-206608.jpg http://www.imfdb.org/images/4/4f/Vlcsnap-206608.jpg Note these are not completely 'raw' shots - I did do some extra sharpening via the screencapping image program I use for detail on the guns, customary for our site. But the level of sharpening should be the same or damn close between the two caps. All the other stuff should be unaltered though. Anyway as you can see - and as practically equivalent to nearly all of 4:3 to 16:9 (and vice versa) versions of the same footage there is a bit of loss top/down - Always seems to be. BUT its not not much, and more added on sides. In some other shots/scenes/episodes I believe there's less top/bottom cropping still. You'll notice the shot is also not 'stretched'. Bottom-line IMO they did that job pretty much right. Having said that the concern here is what they have done on other shows -Just doing a very quick-and-dirty crude chopping of the existing 4:3 transfer off top and/or bottom for 16:9 and calling it a day - no actual extra to the frame and no real enhancements. IIRC that's what they did for one of the Prime Directives releases. And THAT is what I believe is the fear for this Series release. And frankly all this continuing vague talk about it doesn't really alleviate this concern much if at all. Now yes seems its being enhanced visually but are we gonna get an actual 16:9 framing or just a hard chop of the existing 4:3 footage is whats up in the air right now. I don't think they're being dishonest, but I think they lack some of the technical knowledge to really explain exactly what's going on here. That´s why I think they´d need to release something with the new aspect ratio. The DVD intro they put in Vimeo looked nice for a SD video (it doesn´t look the same in Youtube, not sure if it compress them way too much), and if they did a decent HD translation a video would help them. Unless the cropping is too bad to make people complain again. There are a bunch of people demanding a 4:3 HD version, but it seems it won´t happen. Which made me think: Wouldn´t they have a 4:3 HD version in the first place? I don´t know how these remasters work, but if the original is in 4:3, shouldn´t they have a remaster done in that format, then put it on widescreen? Exactly. A showing of some of this footage - How the product will actually look - would answer this question. As for doing a HD 4:3 job I would say possible. But for going back to the originally-shot footage - If it was shot on film or otherwise in a wide format already having to start from there to re-work it and then again cut it sideways for a 4:3 aspect might seem a bit 'going backwards' perhaps, because they're already starting with a wide frame anyway and well, 4:3 is not looked on much in the viewing landscape today with nearly every TV and monitor being a widescreen one. Even so I too would prefer just a restoration and sharpening of the 4:3 footage if the alternative is they're gonna hard chop it just to have a widescreen ratio. End of the day all just speculation until we finally get a look at the damn thing. ----------------------------------- RoboFan_93 Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:31 am ----------------------------------- Years later I found a VHS tape of "Officer Down" on sale for $3 which resparked my interest in RoboCop Ah, nostalgia... I owned "RoboCop 6" on VHS, which had "Officer Down" as well, with "What Money Can´t Buy". Last year I got "RoboCop 5", and I still trying to get "RoboCop 4" (the pilot) to get the "whole collection". They released "RoboCop 4" in 1994, before the TV show aired here, and us, as kids, would speculate about what we would expect from that one. After the series aired I found these actors familiar, and later made the connection. My brother telling me he'd watched "RoboCop 4" and "RoboCop 5" (which was "Prime Suspect" and one more episode) is the first time I guessed there MUST be a "RoboCop 3" as well (it wasn't until years later that I saw it on TV and taped it). I do have the Bulgarian edition of the "RoboCop 4" and am always on the lookout for "RoboCop 5" as well. I don't think we ever got "6". ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:50 am ----------------------------------- Exactly. A showing of some of this footage - How the product will actually look - would answer this question. Maybe they´re afraid to show anything in 16:9, but do they expect people will blind buy it when there are a bunch of speculations about it? I´ve read online people getting ready for this one and weeks later regretting that because they watched some episodes on Tubi. It seems it´s NOT the same thing, but people associate that to the new Blu Ray. They´d only need to release the opening, like they already did, on 16:9, so we could see if there´s a chance it´s not cropped, or if they tried to adapt it the best way possible (Tubi didn´t do that). I´ve been editing stuff from The Series and making it in Widescreen needs some people paying attention, or the new shots would cut info, words, or the shots would look weird (way too much space above, cutting part of the heads, etc). Someone had to adapt each shot to make it watchable in this remaster. My brother telling me he'd watched "RoboCop 4" and "RoboCop 5" (which was "Prime Suspect" and one more episode) is the first time I guessed there MUST be a "RoboCop 3" as well (it wasn't until years later that I saw it on TV and taped it). I do have the Bulgarian edition of the "RoboCop 4" and am always on the lookout for "RoboCop 5" as well. I don't think we ever got "6". "Trouble In Delta City" is the second episode of "RoboCop 5" here. "Prime Suspect" is the first. It´s funny there are more releases. I even would ask you for a pic of that "RoboCop 4" at some moment, I started a small video about the Spanish releases of The Series and it´d be fun to add the other releases as well. I remember Germany has "RoboCop 4: Law & Order", and some Mexican releases called the pilot something like "RoboCop 4: The Last (or New) Battle". ----------------------------------- RoboFan_93 Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:21 pm ----------------------------------- "Trouble In Delta City" is the second episode of "RoboCop 5" here. "Prime Suspect" is the first. It´s funny there are more releases. I even would ask you for a pic of that "RoboCop 4" at some moment, I started a small video about the Spanish releases of The Series and it´d be fun to add the other releases as well. I remember Germany has "RoboCop 4: Law & Order", and some Mexican releases called the pilot something like "RoboCop 4: The Last (or New) Battle". Here's a scan of the cover I have. As you can see, the back features stills from "RoboCop 3". https://ibb.co/KWLGQ6q There's also another release of it (which I don't own however) with a completely different (and much worse) cover - that one has an image from R3 on the front and stills from The Series on the back - the reverse of what's on my tape: https://vhsvideoclub.com/images/movies/RoboCop_4.jpg ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Feb 02, 2022 2:40 pm ----------------------------------- Here's a scan of the cover I have. As you can see, the back features stills from "RoboCop 3". Oh, I remember that. Saw it years ago. The second one is horrible! Here RoboCop 4 & 5 had the same pose, but with different backgrounds. No new info about Liberation Hall´s release yet. Plus, some forums slowed down in the last days. I wonder if they lost interest on this. ----------------------------------- Rick Thu Apr 07, 2022 12:05 pm ----------------------------------- So when are we getting this review? I'm sure whatever hopes I have for the Series remastered in HD will be dashed anyway, but I'm curious to see it nonetheless. ----------------------------------- Slash Man Wed May 18, 2022 10:35 pm ----------------------------------- I've seen some advanced copies ship out, so I'm really looking forward to a review. Again, that whole aspect ratio controversy is the only thing preventing me from preordering. As far as I've seen, no one's given a definitive answer yet. EDIT: One of the reviewers said it's cropped. Kind of upset I had to wait this long to get that answer (from a third party no less). ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Thu May 19, 2022 4:05 am ----------------------------------- I've seen some advanced copies ship out, so I'm really looking forward to a review. Again, that whole aspect ratio controversy is the only thing preventing me from preordering. As far as I've seen, no one's given a definitive answer yet. EDIT: One of the reviewers said it's cropped. Kind of upset I had to wait this long to get that answer (from a third party no less). :cry: sad ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu May 19, 2022 11:33 am ----------------------------------- I've seen some advanced copies ship out, so I'm really looking forward to a review. Again, that whole aspect ratio controversy is the only thing preventing me from preordering. As far as I've seen, no one's given a definitive answer yet. EDIT: One of the reviewers said it's cropped. Kind of upset I had to wait this long to get that answer (from a third party no less). Something I read on some forums: Second episode (Prime Suspect). The news anchor's heads are cut off. Same with Robocop later in the EP. Picture kinda looks HD. Thought it was SD initially. Plus, other claims the image is streched to fill the Widescreen aspect. I´d love to have it on Blu Ray, but maybe I´d end getting it on DVD. Don´t know. I´ll have to see some screencaps from the HD remaster to make my mind. ----------------------------------- Archive Thu May 19, 2022 1:09 pm ----------------------------------- They've been pretty consistent in including "Lisa Madigan" in most of the press release texts so i'm actually not surprised they kept it up on the packaging. :| http://robocoparchive.com/forum/series-bluray3.jpg ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu May 19, 2022 1:22 pm ----------------------------------- They've been pretty consistent in including "Lisa Madigan" in most of the press release texts so i'm actually not surprised they kept it up on the packaging. :| Plus, "Midnight Minus" listed as the last episode, adding the "One" to the previous one. That said, I dig the back cover re-design. The mock-up one, with Robo on one side and the episode listing over a black background was pretty lazy. This one, even with the Lisa Madigan listing (she also appears between Richard Eden and Yvette Nipar in the credits) looked miles better. ----------------------------------- Slash Man Fri May 20, 2022 2:23 am ----------------------------------- Something I read on some forums: Second episode (Prime Suspect). The news anchor's heads are cut off. Same with Robocop later in the EP. Picture kinda looks HD. Thought it was SD initially. Plus, other claims the image is streched to fill the Widescreen aspect. I´d love to have it on Blu Ray, but maybe I´d end getting it on DVD. Don´t know. I´ll have to see some screencaps from the HD remaster to make my mind.I think it's accurate to call this pan and scan. While it may have been done deliberately with optimal framing in mind, there's no way to have it perfect 100% of the time. I'm also just not sure what an upscale would really add to the picture. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Sat May 21, 2022 10:15 am ----------------------------------- There is a review by James on his YouTube Channel, In Search of Physical Media. He only gives the blu-ray set a 3.5 out of 10. He liked the packaging, but was disappointed by pretty much everything else. https://youtu.be/R6tW4NfY5I0 ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat May 21, 2022 10:35 am ----------------------------------- There is a review by James on his YouTube Channel, In Search of Physical Media. He only gives the blu-ray set a 3.5 out of 10. He liked the packaging, but was disappointed by pretty much everything else. I just found it and I was going to post it here! :lol: Man, that´s a brutal review. The screencaps he put in his review looked really bad for the so-called HD Remastered from the original vault material blablabla. I really want to get it, to add more RoboStuff to my collection and suport good old Robo, but I guess I´ll try to get the DVD set instead. I already own the German Blu Ray and it seems it looks almost the same. ----------------------------------- Sean_001 Sat May 21, 2022 11:18 am ----------------------------------- I appreciate honest reviews. And envy Jame's movie collection. Have to say, I had a bad feeling about the aspect ratio stuff. For our review, we asked for both Blu-Ray and DVD releases, but only sent us the Blu-Ray. I think they must've figured we wanted the Steven Seagal movie with it, because they sent that instead of the DVD. But from what I've heard, the DVD has the original 4:3 aspect ratio. I would probably suggest that one if I knew 100% that it was. However, all that said, It is nice to be able to have available for all regions. I can't wait to take a look at it myself. So when are we getting this review? I'm sure whatever hopes I have for the Series remastered in HD will be dashed anyway, but I'm curious to see it nonetheless. I know everyone has been waiting. Let me assure you, the review is coming. VERY soon. We have to research this Blu-Ray, and get that part of the review shot and edited into the already long-running review. This will be a 3-part review, serialized. Reason being, most people only watch about 10 minutes. Most people watch that kind of stuff on lunch break and short intervels. And later, maybe an extended video with all 3 parts sown together. And a lot of it has already been shot and edited. Not to worry, the wait will be worth it. Should be up in about a week or so. I want to stress "or so" as Youtube algerythms will delay uploading. And possible last minute edits. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat May 21, 2022 11:33 am ----------------------------------- For our review, we asked for both Blu-Ray and DVD releases, but only sent us the Blu-Ray. I think they must've figured we wanted the Steven Seagal movie with it, because they sent that instead of the DVD. In my case they asked for an address, but I doubt they´ll want to send this one outside the US. I doubt they´d even send the Seagal one :lol: But from what I've heard, the DVD has the original 4:3 aspect ratio. I would probably suggest that one if I knew 100% that it was. I´ll have to wait for a confirmation as well. There are different informations on forums. I think I read somewhere the DVD edition has a 16:9 aspect with the 4:3 image and added black bars on both sides. It´d be weird to do that instead of rendering the whole thing on the original aspect in the first place, but who knows... I know everyone has been waiting. Let me assure you, the review is coming. VERY soon. We have to research this Blu-Ray, and get that part of the review shot and edited into the already long-running review. Great news. The stuff you showed on social media looked pretty good. Spot on graphics as well! By the way, there´s another review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7UkUstdYz8&ab_channel=CerealAtMidnight And it seems there´s only 2 videos on the featurettes, the electronic press kit (the one the Archive had on Youtube) and the toy spots (which is on Youtube as well). The rest are TEXT ones and a picture gallery. Too bad :( ----------------------------------- Archive Sat May 21, 2022 5:23 pm ----------------------------------- And it seems there´s only 2 videos on the featurettes, the electronic press kit (the one the Archive had on Youtube) and the toy spots (which is on Youtube as well). The rest are TEXT ones and a picture gallery. Too bad :( Yeah, and it is apparently the actual archive videos that they simply ripped from youtube. The archive logo is there and everything. (which is nice i suppose..) Much like the German release it's too bad they didn't contact me so they could have gotten better resolution copies instead of using the youtube versions. Overall this release seems rushed and poorly done in every aspect. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat May 21, 2022 6:43 pm ----------------------------------- Overall this release seems rushed and poorly done in every aspect. Yup. Too bad they "stole" the press kit/ad. Plus, as more reviews appears, it seems the whole thing was a lie. I mean, since they had access to the "vault elements" as they claimed, I would assume they had some behind the scenes featurettes to be included in the set. Other reviews said there isn´t a 1080 resolution, which debunks the "for the first time in HD". I understand they couldn´t do a proper conversion since they didn´t have access to the 35 mm film (and they´d have to re-do the FX) but when someone in his house can upgrade the quality of a SD product to make it "crispy" and more lively, you´d expect something else. It´s a shame this set looks worse. Then, the back cover claimed there are several "featurettes", which is not true (the videos last for 6 or 7 minutes in total), and then plain text. Which is unacceptable in the HD, Blu Ray world we´re living. I think they should have released it only in DVD, which I understand would take off some people, but we´re not talking about something every people in this planet would buy. They´re releasing something for us, RoboNerds. I wonder if this release was only done to try to stop the thousands of editions made in Germany. Something more to capitalize The Series or if has to do with some legal stuff. If they wanted to do it just to preserve the TV show they should have spent more bucks and time to get it right. Sadly, I assume this release means no one would like to do a proper job with it, so that´d be it. I´ll have to see more reviews to make my mind. It´s a nice looking package, but I already own another release with a subpar video quality. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Sun May 22, 2022 1:28 am ----------------------------------- And it seems there´s only 2 videos on the featurettes, the electronic press kit (the one the Archive had on Youtube) and the toy spots (which is on Youtube as well). The rest are TEXT ones and a picture gallery. Too bad :( Yeah, and it is apparently the actual archive videos that they simply ripped from youtube. The archive logo is there and everything. (which is nice i suppose..) Much like the German release it's too bad they didn't contact me so they could have gotten better resolution copies instead of using the youtube versions. Overall this release seems rushed and poorly done in every aspect. That's a real shady move to slap our beloved Archive originals on their retail release. I'm not surprised about the cropped HD versions, and if I wanted to watch those they are free on Tubi and also on Peacock and probably elsewhere. I was thinking of grabbing the regular DVD version just to have the Series in a nice package, but after hearing how low they've stooped for this collection I'm not sure I want to support that kind product. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun May 22, 2022 8:24 am ----------------------------------- I was thinking of grabbing the regular DVD version just to have the Series in a nice package, but after hearing how low they've stooped for this collection I'm not sure I want to support that kind product. I feel the same. I guess RoboDoc is our only hope to see something new about The Series. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun May 22, 2022 6:15 pm ----------------------------------- I just saw this on another forum, from one of the reviewers (Cereal At Midnight): I believe the source files are PAL, interlaced, and tape-sourced. I believe the Blu-rays have a more proper scan and conversion than the DVDs, hence all the noise on the DVDs and what appear to be either dropped frames or evidence of an improper PAL to NTSC conversion. The more episodes I watch, I can say that some episodes on DVD look better than others, so there may be more than one source, or some episodes may have been converted at a higher quality than others, but to go further would be to speculate, which isn't really a good idea in a review. tl;dr: neither transfer looks good, but the DVDs bear multiple signs of tinkering in the frame rate and interlacing. The Blu-rays are smooth, but don't look HD and are compromised by the zooming issue. Someone in my comments suggested the Blu-ray source was a 576i PAL master from Germany, and I suspect that's very likely. Reading "that some episodes on DVD look better than others" and "the Blu-ray source was a 576i PAL master from Germany" make me feel it´s the same thing from the DigiDreams release in Germany. Which adds more insults (and lies) to the whole thing. If there´s exactly the same thing I think I don´t need it, unless I can find it really cheap (because I dig the package). ----------------------------------- Archive Wed May 25, 2022 10:53 am ----------------------------------- It's back to the DVD days of special features. Just page after page of text taken from wikipedia and the archive. Fair game though as most of the info is taken from movie magazines anyway. I take no ownership of it. The tone of the text is sometimes official sounding, while in others its a wiki/fan site wording, like the old man part in the image. Sentences like that should not be on a official product. The image gallery is probably the only nice thing. Some good images. But a lot of them are mirrored. (Text is wrong and Robos vent is on the wrong side.) Lots of hair and dust on the images. They mostly likely just scanned the slides and were done with it. http://robocoparchive.com/forum/series-extras3.jpg ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed May 25, 2022 11:16 am ----------------------------------- It's back to the DVD days of special features. Just page of page of text taken from wikipedia and the archive. The tone of the text is sometimes official sounding, while in others its a wiki/fan site wording, like the old man part in the image. Sentences like that should not be on a official product. It´s funny, because I think they could translate the text into videos without any big trouble. I meant, I could understand having the crew and cast back for new interviews would be tricky (because money, logistics and legal stuff), but they could hire a voice over guy and read the texts while using The Series footage over it. Add a few fancy compositions and images and done. Shouldn´t be too expensive to make. The image gallery is probably the only nice thing. Some good images. But a lot of them are mirrored. Sadly it happens over and over. Little effort to do a proper job. It happened on DVD covers and such as well. I wonder if John Laing had the chance to access to some master tapes as he claimed in the past. It seems Kevin Gillis had some stuff from The Series, and it´s a crime they didn´t include something new in this release. If fans had access to the videoclip to "A Future To This Life" (or even a clip of Eden goofing around while signing it), they should have something somewhere. Couldn´t they get an agreement to include the videoclip rights to put in there? I don´t know. The package looks fancy, even with mistakes, but I´m not sure if I wanna get it if the new stuff would be a few pictures and new menus. Makes me think about transfering the episodes I already own and a few stuff found on the net and make my own edition :cry: ----------------------------------- Archive Wed May 25, 2022 11:28 am ----------------------------------- Listing a page of text as a featurette is pretty bold i'll give them that. Hard to tell if it's a lie or if they just don't understand the concept. This would have been a great opportunity to collaborate with the RoboDoc team and get, if not the full Series doc, then some interviews or something. But from what i understand no contact was made. The whole thing is just incredibly lame as an official product. I can only shake my head at how this was done and the thought process around it. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed May 25, 2022 11:48 am ----------------------------------- Listing a page of text as a featurette is pretty bold i'll give them that. Hard to tell if it's a lie or if they just don't understand the concept. Well, according to some reviews, almost everything is a lie. No HD (even an enhance, but I read a review or two in which they claimed it looked pretty good :opps:), no real featurettes except two short vids, and even the "vault elements" aspect doesn´t sound legit. And it seems the DVD edition is in widescreen with the image on the center (and black bars on each side)! Plus, they borrowed the extras from YouTube... The whole thing is just incredibly lame as an official product. I can only shake my head at how this was done and the thought process around it. I´ve been thinking about this for a while, and I think the RoboFandom is one of the most beaten fandoms alive. We´ve been treated to subpar releases for a long time, then other stuff will be lost forever (no official release of Alpha Commando, for example) and when they announce something, the end result isn´t that great in most cases. I read that with the HD restoration of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" the studio lost money, which it´s kind of brave. Hell, I think I wouldn´t have a big trouble with a HD/SD hybrid on The Series. Have access to the 35 mm, upgrade it to HD, and leave the Visual FX as they´re (or try to tweak them to look pseudo-HD). We had "extended cuts" where you can spot the added scenes in the past, I think we could pass the Robovision and such in a lesser HD quality if the rest was done properly. But they had to care for the product. This feels like a cash-grab, and kinda hurts, as a big bunch of RoboNerds here (and out there) really were interested on having the 94 show on a good release. This would have been a great opportunity to collaborate with the RoboDoc team and get, if not the full Series doc, then some interviews or something. But from what i understand no contact was made. I hope RoboDoc had some juicy behind the scenes footage from the show. If that happens, there´s no excuse to avoid these in this release. ----------------------------------- Archive Wed May 25, 2022 12:41 pm ----------------------------------- I hope RoboDoc had some juicy behind the scenes footage from the show. If that happens, there´s no excuse to avoid these in this release. Sadly, from what i understand most/all behind the scenes footage or images are from me. I sent them everything i had from the series, slides, scripts etc and that is basically what they are working with. It's the same youtube content but in better quality and edited/mixed expertly by the Robodoc team. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed May 25, 2022 12:53 pm ----------------------------------- It's the same youtube content but in better quality and edited/mixed expertly by the Robodoc team. So, they did something, unlike the official release... :lol: ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Thu May 26, 2022 3:35 am ----------------------------------- I´ve been thinking about this for a while, and I think the RoboFandom is one of the most beaten fandoms alive. We´ve been treated to subpar releases for a long time, then other stuff will be lost forever (no official release of Alpha Commando, for example) and when they announce something, the end result isn´t that great in most cases. I feel where you are coming from on this, and mostly agree. RoboCop is in a weird place where he is fairly well known but not known well. Most people have heard of RoboCop, even the younger people I speak to recognize the name. But hardly any of them have even seen one of the movies. They just put RoboCop in Fortnite... but he's just kind of there, not something to promote a new movie or anything. RoboCop has just barely snuck into pop culture, but is stuck at the bottom of the barrel. But the question then is if that is fair or not. And as much as I love RoboCop, I kind of think it is. You mentioned the Star Trek HD remasters, but RoboCop isn't anywhere near the level of Star Trek. If the Next Generation lost money there was no way RoboCop: The Series was never gonna get the same treatment. I love the Series for what it is, and would pay good money to see it remastered. But from an objective point of view it's a goofy spinoff with off brand characters that never quite captures everything that made the original RoboCop so great. I also love Deep Space 9 and Voyager, and I think they are much more deserving of remasters even if I'd personally prefer the Series. So the way this Bluray and "HD" version has played out really comes as no surprise. This product could have been handled better, they could have given more effort, or at least more honesty. But it was never going to be much more than this. I hope we do get to see that Series documentary, but even then I'm not expecting anything too mindblowing. The door has been closed on the Series for a while, we have the episodes, there's not a whole lot more to get out of the Series at this point. RoboCop could have been just a single movie, and would be a respected cult classic to this day. But RoboCop grew into a a bigger franchise that earned a foothold in a more mainstream sense. While not every spinoff along the way has gotten the treatment we feel they might deserve, the important thing to me is that RoboCop is not just a cult classic, and the door is still open. Appearances in Mortal Kombat and Fortnite might not be what we dream of as fans, but it does keep Robo's face in the public's eye. I still have faith that RoboCop as a character and a franchise still has bigger things to come in the future, but until that time we are still "the most beaten fandom" for better or worse. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu May 26, 2022 7:17 am ----------------------------------- You mentioned the Star Trek HD remasters, but RoboCop isn't anywhere near the level of Star Trek. I know, and specially after the first film no distributor cares, but why bothering then? Why promote The Series as "well regarded", "really popular" and such stuff we read on articles while praising this "new HD remaster" when you throw a few text articles, borrowed YouTube stuff and butchering the transfers both in DVD and Blu Ray? The worst part is that there are people outside here interested on it. Now I´m searching on the net and most of them are cancelling the preorders. That won´t sell pretty well. Reviews aren´t too kind. And that means we´d have less chances to get other RoboProducts outside the first one in the future. This product could have been handled better, they could have given more effort, or at least more honesty. While I understand a decent restoration would need a bunch of money, I think everything looks strange. If feels like they had the rights back, and tries to take a profit with it. Which is legit. But then you approach a music label to release it, and little effort was done to make it (except the package itself. It´s cute). I think a indie movie label would try something more (there are a bunch in the market), and if restoration would be really expensive, they would try a crowdfunding to test if there´s an interest. If I´m not mistaken, a French Darkman release on HD was made this way back then, and got enough bucks to get old featurettes and generate some new. When you make an official, and sell it as the "good one" or "definitive", you should give something more. If they didn´t have a way to make it pass like HD, they should have put it on DVD only. And not like they did this time: Encoding 4:3 material on a DVD with a 16:9 flag means that the image has less horizontal resolution than if it had been encoded using the whole image. The black bars on the sides are being unnecessarily squeezed into those 720 pixels. ----------------------------------- Archive Thu May 26, 2022 6:23 pm ----------------------------------- Most people have heard of RoboCop, even the younger people I speak to recognize the name. But hardly any of them have even seen one of the movies. Spot on. Which could explain the excessive use of THAT Robo3 image. It's just RoboCop and there is no knowledge of any movie or actors. Check out any youtube movie react video (i absolutely hate them) and seemingly nobody has ever seen RoboCop. EVERY react channel has a react to RoboCop. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Thu May 26, 2022 7:10 pm ----------------------------------- Most people have heard of RoboCop, even the younger people I speak to recognize the name. But hardly any of them have even seen one of the movies. Spot on. Which could explain the excessive use of THAT Robo3 image. It's just RoboCop and there is no knowledge of any movie or actors. I just saw a video the other day for a signing service that has teamed up with Peter Weller, and in the video he says "I'l sign anything!" and shows a spread of images from movies he's worked on. And also an image of Robo with the gunarm from RoboCop 3. There are some hardcore fans amongst us who say only Weller can portray Robo, meanwhile Weller himself doesn't care if he's the one wearing the suit or not, as long as he gets paid to sign the picture! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu May 26, 2022 7:34 pm ----------------------------------- I just saw a video the other day for a signing service that has teamed up with Peter Weller, and in the video he says "I'l sign anything!" and shows a spread of images from movies he's worked on. And also an image of Robo with the gunarm from RoboCop 3. There are some hardcore fans amongst us who say only Weller can portray Robo, meanwhile Weller himself doesn't care if he's the one wearing the suit or not, as long as he gets paid to sign the picture! It really represents how the RoboCop license works for fans. Do you love Weller in the role? Here, here´s a pictured of Robert Burke signed by him! :lol: I watched that promo (and a few convention pics) and he has that picture to sign. Really weird. Anyway, I find out the 1978´s Battlestar Galactica had an HD conversion as well, and even catched a brief "making of" of that set. It seems they really remastered it, and included two different versions, in 4:3 and 16:9. I´m not too familiar with Galactica´s popularity in the States (the reboot was wide popular and well regarded all over the globe), but the 70´s one seems like a cult product for a small audience. Yet they made the effort. Check out any youtube movie react video (i absolutely hate them) and seemingly nobody has ever seen RoboCop. EVERY react channel has a react to RoboCop. I admit I watched a few of these. What I found interesting about some of them is to find some older people (I´m talking someone above his 20s) didn´t watch it in the past. Hell, I even found shocking when some guy who became a good pal didn´t watch it, and he´s closer to my age! ----------------------------------- Archive Thu May 26, 2022 8:30 pm ----------------------------------- I admit I watched a few of these. What I found interesting about some of them is to find some older people (I´m talking someone above his 20s) didn´t watch it in the past. Hell, I even found shocking when some guy who became a good pal didn´t watch it, and he´s closer to my age! My main issue is that because it is a reaction video the people in the video naturally have to react and they certainly do. They gasp and fall off their chair if someone as much as open a door in a movie. They get overly emotional and shocked about anything and it's just ridiculous. They must get a heart-attack just riding the bus. ----------------------------------- Slash Man Fri May 27, 2022 3:18 am ----------------------------------- On one hand, I feel bad for them because they're new to video releases; and getting this kind of publicity was a real make or break moment. But on the other, these flaws were completely avoidable, even self-inflicted. Early on, it was easy to dismiss a lot issues due to naiveté. But the more evidence comes out, the more it begins to look like they were intentionally misleading. As for the bonus features, I'm not one to be swayed by them. But it becomes a selling point when re-releases become closer together; the type of thing that could convince a fan to double dip on a new release. But with pitiful bonus features like this, it's almost worse off now. It really cheapens the set. It was doomed the moment it got too ambitious. This set had been out of print for years and has a built-in cult following. It was not competing with anything else. I don't know how much the "restoration" cost, but that money could have been better spent elsewhere. The tape sources were being stretched way past their limits. The reviews stating the the DVD release has dropped frames is just the cherry on top; I was banking on getting that release, but now I don't even know. The treatment of customers and the quality control makes the original asking price seem unreasonable. MAYBE if it drops to $20 ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Fri May 27, 2022 8:40 am ----------------------------------- This set had been out of print for years and has a built-in cult following. I still see some boxsets on eBay, not too expensive. And in Germany they did 4 or 5 editions of The Series. On one hand, I feel bad for them because they're new to video releases; and getting this kind of publicity was a real make or break moment. Exactly. If they didn´t claim it was remastered, from the vault elements, and such praise, people wouldn´t be that mad. If you hype a product and this happens: The reviews stating the the DVD release has dropped frames is just the cherry on top; I was banking on getting that release, but now I don't even know It feels like a joke. As for the bonus features, I'm not one to be swayed by them. But it becomes a selling point when re-releases become closer together; the type of thing that could convince a fan to double dip on a new release. But with pitiful bonus features like this, it's almost worse off now. It really cheapens the set. The problem with this release is it´s aimed to us, RoboNerds. And some already own some releases of the show. So you need to add something else to the mix to make it attractive to us. When you claim you have your stuff from the vault elements and borrow a video or two from this site, it feels fishy. What kind of sources they got? The master tapes of the episodes? That´s all? The treatment of customers and the quality control makes the original asking price seem unreasonable. MAYBE if it drops to $20. I´d like to get it, but it´s too expensive for what it really is. Sadly, I´m seeing a lot of people crapping on that edition, other people cancelling this and such. So I don´t think they´ll get too much money for it. Again, if they didn´t hyped the whole thing, and answered some of the questions on social media they could had more luck. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Fri Jun 10, 2022 8:59 pm ----------------------------------- It looks like Liberation Hall is releasing just the pilot episode alone on 10/11/22. Blu-Ray: https://mvdb2b.com/s/RobocopTheSeriesPilot/LIB-4027 DVD: https://mvdb2b.com/s/RobocopTheSeriesPilot/LIB-4023 ----------------------------------- vegasrobo Fri Jun 10, 2022 10:01 pm ----------------------------------- This set had been out of print for years and has a built-in cult following. I still see some boxsets on eBay, not too expensive. And in Germany they did 4 or 5 editions of The Series. On one hand, I feel bad for them because they're new to video releases; and getting this kind of publicity was a real make or break moment. Exactly. If they didn´t claim it was remastered, from the vault elements, and such praise, people wouldn´t be that mad. If you hype a product and this happens: The reviews stating the the DVD release has dropped frames is just the cherry on top; I was banking on getting that release, but now I don't even know It feels like a joke. As for the bonus features, I'm not one to be swayed by them. But it becomes a selling point when re-releases become closer together; the type of thing that could convince a fan to double dip on a new release. But with pitiful bonus features like this, it's almost worse off now. It really cheapens the set. The problem with this release is it´s aimed to us, RoboNerds. And some already own some releases of the show. So you need to add something else to the mix to make it attractive to us. When you claim you have your stuff from the vault elements and borrow a video or two from this site, it feels fishy. What kind of sources they got? The master tapes of the episodes? That´s all? The treatment of customers and the quality control makes the original asking price seem unreasonable. MAYBE if it drops to $20. I´d like to get it, but it´s too expensive for what it really is. Sadly, I´m seeing a lot of people crapping on that edition, other people cancelling this and such. So I don´t think they´ll get too much money for it. Again, if they didn´t hyped the whole thing, and answered some of the questions on social media they could had more luck. It's Native video is only gonna get so sharp,A remaster won't save an image that is not there to begin with.Honestly it even with its issues is the best version of this I think we will ever get. ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Fri Jun 10, 2022 10:36 pm ----------------------------------- It looks like Liberation Hall is releasing just the pilot episode alone on 10/11/22. Blu-Ray: That's an odd choice but really just goes to show what a cash grab this whole thing has been. I had a good laugh reading the "press quotes" for the Series that are posted on these product pages, 3 of which are from IMDB with a 4th one from the Archive itself, and all of the quotes cut off mid-sentence. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat Jun 11, 2022 1:41 pm ----------------------------------- That's an odd choice but really just goes to show what a cash grab this whole thing has been. It is... strange. It´s a strange move to release the pilot as a single thing at this point. As I´m still thinking what to do with this release, I thought I´d be cute to try to get this one to make my mind. Then I found that it costs $24.95. Really? For 10 bucks more you can have the whole thing. As for anything new, the bonus features are: Behind the scene featurette / Trailer And I assume the featurette will be the exact same thing lifted from the Archive, while the trailer could be the opening Liberation Hall released as a trailer (where they put a few text over it to promote the release). The only way I could understood a newer release of a single episode would be having both the DVD and Blu Ray on the original aspect ratio. And, by the way, that cover is ugly. A promo shot of Eden, with some small town houses and thunder in the background? A remaster won't save an image that is not there to begin with. So, it makes little sense to get a video rip into a single release. It won´t make any difference between the pack and the single pilot episode in terms of quality. :? ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Fri Jul 15, 2022 9:28 pm ----------------------------------- I asked Liberation Hall about any chance to release a "The Series" CD since, well, they have access to the so called vault elements and well, they specialize on music. Their reply was: Good suggestion. We will look into it! Which doesn´t mean much, but well, it´d be cute to have a release of the orchestral cues (I let them know I was talking about that and not the pop/rock tunes, since these were released on the 90´s CD). I think it´d be something more "special" than release single episodes in Blu Ray/DVD. I hope they´ll have a chance to consider a release! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Fri Oct 14, 2022 4:59 pm ----------------------------------- Anyone took a look to the Pilot release? I wonder if having the first two episodes on a single DVD/Blu Ray would imply a better video quality if you compare it with the pack. I´m fascinated by these releases. ----------------------------------- Zentron Sun Oct 16, 2022 2:18 am ----------------------------------- Less episodes on a disc can lead to better compression and better video quality, if done right! The more eps on a disc, the less space there is, the more the episodes need to be compressed and the video quality goes down significantly, again, if done right! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Oct 16, 2022 3:07 pm ----------------------------------- Less episodes on a disc can lead to better compression and better video quality, if done right! The more eps on a disc, the less space there is, the more the episodes need to be compressed and the video quality goes down significantly, again, if done right! That´s why I´m asking. There would be "hope" to have a better looking DVD/Blu Ray if they only put in the disc the 90 min pilot (I doubt the "making of" and so called "trailer" would steal too much data), but I could see them taking the compressed pilot from the set and put it on a disc :lol: I can´t find too much info about this release. For a second I thought they scrapped it, but it seems it´s for sale online (and their website listed it as well). There was some buzz for the release of The Series before we knew how it´d be transfered into Blu Ray. After that, everything vanished. Two or three YouTube reviews, and that´s all. It´s hard to see a decent comparison between the set and the one disc German edition (or a decent video where they could put a short clip to see). In the case of The Pilot, just an announcement on social media about it´s for sale. I wonder how good deal they made with this. It doesn´t seem they sold a lot of these releases. If so, I think it´d be more stuff online about these. I hope they´ll take a look to make the Orchestral Soundtrack CD. After that, they specialized in music... ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Jan 05, 2023 12:16 pm ----------------------------------- Happy New Year, everyone. It seems "RoboCop: The Series" will have a new, 2 disc (?) release in the UK by Screenbound Pictures. According to several webs, including Amazon, it´ll be available in March. So far they´re using the same picture from the Liberation Hall release, plus the same list of "featurettes" from the previous release. Not sure if they´ll cram everything on two discs as they listed it, if they´ll release the episodes with the correct TV aspect or if the info and pic is temporary from the sellers and they´ll do anything different. I asked them on Twitter but no reply yet. I just found it´s listed on their website. The cover is a big turn off; hope they´ll do something better: https://screenbounddirect.co.uk/product/robocop/ ----------------------------------- Archive Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:51 pm ----------------------------------- That cover has got to be a temp one right? It's absolutely terrible. Mixing a photo of a city, with artwork and a cutout Robo. Awful. If released it could take the top spot of worst cover for a Robo release ever. https://screenbounddirect.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Poster-Murph-450x638.jpg ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Jan 05, 2023 6:00 pm ----------------------------------- That cover has got to be a temp one right? It's absolutely terrible. Mixing a photo of a city, with artwork and a cutout Robo. Awful. If released it could take the top spot of worst cover for a Robo release ever. Oh, yeah. I send them a mail asking for details of the release (if they´ll be in widescreen or with the original aspect ratio) and even offered myself to work in the cover design, refering to that one a "temp cover", in case they were going for that as the official one. That´s a lazy one (and they´re even using a background image from an illustrator to get this one, which isn´t too fair as I suspect they didn´t reach that dude to put it there), so I´d find it hard to believe they´d thought these artwork would make someone buy it. I even told them that, since the US lifted the behind the scenes featurette from here, they could even reach this site if needed. It seems they forgot to include the photo gallery on the extras for this release. I doubt I´ll have any kind of reply, but I´d love to have a fancy edition of a RoboProduct for once instead of lazy artwork and lazy content one more time. I found out in other forums they replied to somebody else, claiming they´re going for a two discs (most likely BD50), keeping the 4:3 aspect ratio. Plus "we are restoring the picture, meaning we will achieve a better HD picture, compared to the US and German release." So let´s see if it´ll turn well. ----------------------------------- Sean_001 Mon Jan 09, 2023 1:52 pm ----------------------------------- That is a horrendous cover. This looks like a cheap $5 Bootleg you find on the streets. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Jan 09, 2023 5:45 pm ----------------------------------- That is a horrendous cover. This looks like a cheap $5 Bootleg you find on the streets. I agree. It´s pretty bad. They didn´t reply (I guess offering a hand over design duties doesn´t help) but I´ll keep an eye or two about what they´re going to do. I´d love to be optimistic about the image "restoration", but it seems Liberation Hall claimed the image was restored for their release and quality wasn´t the best. I didn´t pick the USA version, and I´ll wait for this one in case. As I already said on this topic, it´d be cool to add more stuff to the RoboCollection, but I always hope for a decent product. What I find odd is that they´re aiming for a March release, yet they didn´t know for sure if they´ll go for a two disc edition or anything else. It seems they´d have things more prepared when it´ll be out in two months... As for the extras, knowing 95% are plain text, I´d take it off from the discs and make a little, cute booklet with all these info. I think it´d look cool and better than plain text on a screen. The good aspect of the "Behind The Scenes" featurette would make some people check this website, since I assume they´ll lift the same one posted here, used in the Liberation Hall´s edition. :b ----------------------------------- Rick Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:08 pm ----------------------------------- The page says 4 disc set... We'll. have to wait and see how that turns out. Plus, I doubt any picture restoration is going to be any good if all they are doing is up-ressing the video footage and not the original 35mm film (if it is even available). They have even copied the text from the Liberation Hall site it seems, they list 'Lisa Madigan' as one of the actresses in the show... :puzzled: ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:40 pm ----------------------------------- The page says 4 disc set... We'll. have to wait and see how that turns out. Yes, they updated the page. Originally they replied to one guy they were aiming for a two disc edition. Plus, they added the "Fact Sheet" info on the Bonus Features list. I doubt any picture restoration is going to be any good if all they are doing is up-ressing the video footage and not the original 35mm film (if it is even available). Well, it seems they´re working with Liberation Hall´s stuff, so I doubt they´d have access to film in the first place. They´re probably going to use these "master tapes" the producer told on media about the so called "restoration". I´m not a tech dude, and I doubt we´d have a "definitive edition" of The Series, but I guess they could (kinda) upgrade the quality on a digital level to some extent. It seems the Liberation Hall had better colors than the previous one disc German edition, so there´s room to tweak and improve things. But sadly I doubt we´ll have something good there. They have even copied the text from the Liberation Hall site it seems, they list 'Lisa Madigan' as one of the actresses in the show... :puzzled: Yup... ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:46 pm ----------------------------------- Apparently it'll be in 4:3 aspect ratio according to somebody who commented on DVDNews' Facebook post: https://i.imgur.com/4sZhxr4.jpg I really like the part "restoring the film". Uh... YEAH! ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:51 am ----------------------------------- Apparently it'll be in 4:3 aspect ratio according to somebody who commented on DVDNews' Facebook post Yup. The company behind this release told some people that via mail. I really like the part "restoring the film". Uh... YEAH! Let´s wait to see if they did something or not. You know, Liberation Hall said the same and little restoration was done. I guess they transfer the VHS into digital and that´s all. If Screenbound did some restoration, I guess they´d take the digital transfers (remember, the bonus content is the exact same of the US release, minus the photo gallery) and put a few "sharpen" filters. I don´t know how much they could do with the image when the source are VHS master tapes. ----------------------------------- Rick Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:07 pm ----------------------------------- Is it worth someone telling them that 'Lisa Madigan' isn't a real person, and Yvette Nipar would probably appreciate being credited correctly for her role?! ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Mon Feb 06, 2023 8:52 pm ----------------------------------- Is it worth someone telling them that 'Lisa Madigan' isn't a real person, and Yvette Nipar would probably appreciate being credited correctly for her role?! No. You'd probably only annoy some woman in an office answering phones and e-mails named Megan. A message like that would get an eyeroll at best. She and most others at that company know nothing nor care about Robocop whatsoever. It's just another commodity or "content" passing through the doors of the UK version of Liberation Hall. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:52 am ----------------------------------- Is it worth someone telling them that 'Lisa Madigan' isn't a real person, and Yvette Nipar would probably appreciate being credited correctly for her role?! I did! :lol: I warned them about Liberation Hall´s release. It had a bunch of errors, and I named "Lisa Madigan", as it appears on the "features" section in their webpage. It seems they didn´t care, as they didn´t change it there. You'd probably only annoy some woman in an office answering phones and e-mails named Megan. A message like that would get an eyeroll at best. Yup. She and most others at that company know nothing nor care about Robocop whatsoever. It's just another commodity or "content" passing through the doors of the UK version of Liberation Hall. And yup again. But it´s a shame they don´t try to release a decent edition. I mean, when you´re working on a project, you have to pay attention to details. You can´t list characters as actors, alter the episode´s titles and such and be ok with that. Because a bunch of buyers will spot these and think your company doesn´t care about that product. And worst of all, first Liberation Hall promised a real, HD conversion in 16:9 without cutting the image, and now this release promises an upgrade in quality compared to the US and German releases. If I were the people behind these companies I´d try to shut my mouth instead of making promises they can´t deliver, release it as it is. "Prime Directives" had a bunch of UK DVD releases and I didn´t find any which promised "THE BEST ROBOCOP EVER", promising ultraquality and a bunch of featurettes in the mix. Hell, a lot of them had the whole miniseries on a disc. They release as it was: a cheap release of a famous property´s spinoff most of people didn´t know. I prefer having B-Movie stuff on a not expensive edition than trying to pass it for a definitive edition with better resolution and a bunch of bonus features on it. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:50 pm ----------------------------------- Ok. I´m quite impressed. They actually did something: https://www.facebook.com/ScreenboundPic/posts/pfbid0nZ7SBAF5anMxRfCTZTiXxEYQj5j9py3sdRoYXL4ifHtGnpYmHNjiZ991fxhxqUcVl I assume it was made by AI like other upscales we see on YouTube and other sites, but it´s something. Now they have to fix the cover and the bonus contents. Plus, they upgraded the number of discs to 5. ----------------------------------- Rick Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:15 pm ----------------------------------- Some of those shots do look a lot better but it is clearly just an AI upscale and not the 'rescanning of the original negatives' type of HD restoration we'd like. I see on the website they do refer to the actress name correctly as Yvette Nipar now, but the 'extra features' section still has Lisa Madigan. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:39 am ----------------------------------- Some of those shots do look a lot better but it is clearly just an AI upscale and not the 'rescanning of the original negatives' type of HD restoration we'd like. Well, a real restoration would cost a bunch of money AND I really doubt they have the original 35 mm or whatever film format they filmed it before post-production. If big studios even destroyed film negatives for big movies in the past, I can´t imagine what could happen with the series. Plus, I´m not sure with all the legal stuff behind the 94 production where they could search for these. Anyway, even with an artificial upgrade I´m kinda pleased. Because at least they tried. Liberation Hall claimed they took the negatives, did a restoration and such, and that was no the case. No (real or fake) HD; I think the only difference between the one disc German release had to do with the colors (and I´m not even sure of that). I don´t know how the AI upscale would affect the FX compositions, but for the screencaps showed there it looks colorful and kind of crispy, which it´s cute. The Series was a well filmed show, and previous released make it look ugly due to color desaturation from the sources. I´m not a tech/film nerd, but it´s cool to have series from the past on HD and watch these with a sharper image. As for the Lisa Madigan thing, I really hope they´d change that at some moment. I think we should told them on social media, but not sure if they´ll read that. I sent them a mail about that, but it seems they didn´t change it. And I hope they´ll end using a great cover to sell this. If you put time and work trying to "remaster" the show and then you´re trying to sell it with a bootleg collage and errors in the features, bad. (And I still think a booklet with the plain text featurettes extracted from the US release would make it more attractive than just port these to the UK edition, but...) I think I wrote way too much. But I´m kinda happy right now, as this release could turn out decent. I´m glad I waited and didn´t get the chopped widescreen one. ----------------------------------- Slash Man Mon Feb 20, 2023 8:44 pm ----------------------------------- Ok. I´m quite impressed. They actually did something: https://www.facebook.com/ScreenboundPic/posts/pfbid0nZ7SBAF5anMxRfCTZTiXxEYQj5j9py3sdRoYXL4ifHtGnpYmHNjiZ991fxhxqUcVl I assume it was made by AI like other upscales we see on YouTube and other sites, but it´s something. Now they have to fix the cover and the bonus contents. Plus, they upgraded the number of discs to 5. I can see the waxiness of the upscaling, but the color grading has been a dramatic improvement. Content shot on tape tends to look old and desaturated, so it's nice that they got some life back into it. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Mon Feb 27, 2023 9:55 pm ----------------------------------- Over on their Facebook page, DVD News Flash posted: I asked Screenbound about the region coding of their upcoming ROBOCOP: THE SERIES and they finally replied: "PAL region free Blu-Ray release. 4 discs in total." Jeff Waltrowski Does the PAL mean that it won’t play in US even if it’s region free? DVD News Flash Jeff Waltrowski I've asked them about that. Waiting for reply. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Mar 02, 2023 12:01 pm ----------------------------------- "PAL region free Blu-Ray release. 4 discs in total." They´re still listing 5 disc on their website: https://screenbounddirect.co.uk/product/robocop/ By the way, they changed the cover. Nothing too fancy (I´d do something more elaborate) but it kinda reminds me of the "RoboCop 5" VHS we had there (which has Eden´s RoboCop posing and flames behind him). They didn´t change the "Lisa Madigan" bit, so I guess it´ll be in the final product. According to their website, it´ll be available in May instead of March, so we´ll have to wait a little bit more for it. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sat Mar 04, 2023 6:52 pm ----------------------------------- Now there´s a "trailer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=962L4xPlBfI&ab_channel=ScreenboundPictures It is me or the audio track sounds lower? Not sure if it has to do with speed or tone, but it doesn´t sound "right" (or maybe in Europe we´re used to PAL and this is the correct pitch). Madigan sounds too low if you compare to the German Blu Ray I already own... As for the images, some look better than others, and there´s a "waxy" feel in some parts. It´d be cool to have a real trailer instead of the opening to see how the color correction worked. ----------------------------------- Spectrum Scarlet Wed May 10, 2023 4:49 pm ----------------------------------- Now pushed back to June. Wonder why. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Wed May 10, 2023 6:01 pm ----------------------------------- Now pushed back to June. Wonder why. Yup. I was wondering why some pages listed on June. It was briefly "ready to buy" a few days ago on their website, on May 8th, but it was updated soon. I guess that was programmed. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Tue Jun 06, 2023 3:39 pm ----------------------------------- Here´s a look at the "extras": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LxAgADNNCQ&ab_channel=It%27sVince It seems the uploader is the guy who worked on these. I found it odd that they put a voice over on a text screen. Since you have a voice over I´d put a quick montage of Robo using the gun instead, but oh well. That guy put EVERY text based extra of the new edition, but no footage of menus or episodes. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Jun 08, 2023 10:22 am ----------------------------------- I found a review on another forum, and it doesn´t look too promising: It's spread across just 2 discs (which rang alarm bells before I even put the disc in my player). It sounds good (Stereo audio only) but the picture is all over the place. Some shots look good, some look like vaseline has been smeared across the screen and others look worse than the dvd. Details of people's faces in the background tend to be unintelligible at times. In one particular shot in the second episode, Madigan and Robo are in the foreground with the guy who designed Robocop and the doc that looks after him, in the background. They're talking but it is very hard to make out the details of their faces. I'm not talking wrinkles here, I'm talking that you can barely work out they have a jaw that functions. It's 1080p, 24hz with stereo audio. 2 discs? Their website says 5 discs. Weird. As for quality, it´s a shame. I´d expect a waxy look, but not to the point to have abstract figures for background characters. ----------------------------------- drsyn71 Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:40 am ----------------------------------- Any news/updates? Anyone have it? ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Fri Jul 28, 2023 7:38 am ----------------------------------- Any news/updates? Anyone have it? Nopes. No real reviews of this (or even the Liberation Hall ones), no screen captures or videos to compare the quality... Nothing. I´ve read some comments saying the Upscale is really crappy after the Pilot episode. It seems they tried with "The Future Of Law Enforcement" and then just applied the same thing for the rest, and the quality became "unwatchable". I asked a Youtuber who did an "unboxing" of the release about video quality and he didn´t say anything bad about it. I want to get a newer set of RoboCop: The Series but I can´t decide where to go. It seems the UK one tweaked the colors a little, but the US one has 5 discs; the Liberation Hall was reformatted into widescreen while the Screenbound one was upscaled by AI... ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Aug 17, 2023 5:05 pm ----------------------------------- Any news/updates? Anyone have it? A quote from a Blu Ray review: This is not a properly "restored" version of RoboCop: The Series. I don't know which digital restoration tools Screenbound Pictures employed to try to clean up the image but this is a botched effort by the UK label. The episodes may be "DIGITALLY ENHANCED" as the banner proclaims on the front cover but film grain has been zapped from the image. Really the only thing SP got right is preserving the original aspect ratio. The German-based VZ Handels GmbH set of this series remains the best on the market. So, it seems both the US and UK releases aren´t that good, and the one disc German edition, which is in a crappy SD definition, is the best way to get it :cry: ----------------------------------- RoboPimp Fri Oct 13, 2023 1:08 am ----------------------------------- I work at a deli and recently we got a big HD TV for the seating area, and we watch stuff on Tubi so lately I have been putting The Series on nonstop. These are the cropped HD versions but I have been really impressed with how good it looks. I may have to reconsider giving a serious rewatch to these HD versions which I initially wrote off because they are cropped. We've run through the full series like four times so far and it all looked pretty good to me. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Sun Oct 15, 2023 10:58 am ----------------------------------- I´m considering getting the US Blu Ray pack. The UK one, while they had the episodes tweaked, it´s on 2 discs, so I assume they´ll be compressed as hell. At least Liberation Hall put these in 5 discs. I ended getting the Liberation Hall one. Price dropped so I got it. Haven´t took a real look to it. I put "Prime Suspect" on, and while detail isn´t sharp in some points, at others the overall look feels kinda ok. I didn´t notice these bleached VHS colors, but there were a few shots at the end that felt squeezed. Maybe it has to do with the reframing into 16:9, but it feels that they compressed the imagen on top and bottom to fit in there. Weird. Plus, the fade in/outs weren´t trimmed like in the German edition, so it takes forever to get back to the episode. Tried to get a look to the disc files, and it seems the size of the pilot is 20 GB, while Prime Suspect is 10. I can´t convert these files into another format, so I´m not sure if the image could be manipulated to get some editing as sharpening the image or change the colors,contrast, etc. ----------------------------------- ChAnOoD Thu Jun 05, 2025 9:20 am ----------------------------------- If anyone is interested, it seems we´ll have another release of The Series on Blu Ray, this time in Germany. Fellow Robo Archive dude Brad Terral found out a new release will hit the streets at the fall of 2025. https://bluray-disc.de/blu-ray-filme/197916-robocop_die_komplette_serie_remastered?fbclid=IwY2xjawKuP-dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmbpfP74QDbKC-lSiaEUXN2-5pRrIa3jJpNwEUIdNb7adKdZ3I692loO3Jm3_aem_X_elUlzT5XvYmed-S1oqvg According to the site, the exact same extras from Liberation Hall/Screenbound are featured (without any signs of the gallery and adding a digital booklet), so I assume it´d be the same source from US (they stated it´s in Widescreen) with an added German audio track on it. At one hand, it´s cute to see newer releases of a lesser known entry of the franchise. At the other hand, it seems every single release has the same mistakes from the previous ones.