EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm in the Middle Seasons 1-7 Coming to DVD Starting 2012!

Richiepiep

Administrator
This is great news, at long last! :2thumbsup:

It's good to hear that Richard Walker of Fabulous took part in the negotiations, and apparently got things rolling with Showshank - nice name by the way. Don't we all feel redeemed?

It's really nice that the French fans were so insistent ("hyper demandeurs"); I wish we'd had similar support elsewhere, and I do hope that Showshank will come up with something special for the fans.

I was wondering though, this packaging spécial would this mean just a special fold-out sleeve with a booklet or the like, or actually special features on the disks?

I think it's a shame that Fabulous never got permission or cooperation to release extras on the post-S1 disks like bloopers, deleted scenes and promos. I really doubt now they will ever see the light of day again, except spotty bits on video sites and torrents in bad quality.

It's also still quite a shock to read that DVD sales went down 20% last year, making it hard to put out anything up-market now and make a profit.

Anyway, you can be proud of your sustained efforts!

Soyez fiers de vos succès comme Artaban! :euro:

Richard
 
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Magic-J

New member
Hey everybody and Happy New Year!

More infos about the French DVDs:

The French season 1 box set will be released on March 4.

First, a 3000 copies limited edition will be available as a "collector edition" cardboard pop up style. Then a standard plastic set will follow.

You can see some pics and a video who shows the DVD menu here: http://www.malcolm-france.com/news.php?id=372

This box set contains:
The complete 16 episodes from the first season presented in 16:9. Yay! :D
French/English audio tracks.
French subtitles.
The extended version of the pilot episode.
"Malcolm vision": Hal explains the differences between the TV format and Cinema format.
"Malcolm: Un coup de génie": A Linwood Boomer interview.
Original TV commercials.

The set is already available for pre-order on Amazon for 29.99€

Can't wait :2thumbsup:
 

corre

New member
so, does anyone have the possibility to do dvdrips from the complete series?

so the people outside uk or australia, and other countries that the dvds were released, could rewatch again?

thanks.
 

mass5160

New member
French DVDs

Hey guys, it's been a while since I last visited here.

Myself and Magic-J have done direct comparisons between the UK and French DVD releases, and we have both concluded that the French version is visually superior to the UK release. The set is presented in NTSC like the UK discs, but the 'pinkish tint' and the frame juddering are absent for the French release. The contrast and black levels are also vastly superior. The original English audio track is present, albeit at 192kbps, which is only a very minor issue. I don't have any screen caps to post at this moment as I'm not on my PC, but screenies will come soon!
 
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Karin

Staff - The One Who Mods
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to see the screencap comparisons.
 

BBC2

New member
Great to hear the French release has superior picture quality, and will look forward to those screen caps! Does the English audio have forced French subtitles over them, or can this be turned off?

And also is anything edited, or is it all uncut like the UK release?
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
That's very good news, Magic-J and Mass - though it's kind of a pity for those like me who already have the full UK set and have to do with the interlacing and the lack of contrast.

Yes, I do look forward to those screen caps! Pinkish tint? I don't remember that, but I'll just have to wait and see.

The Malcolm-France site writes:

L'image quant à elle est de bonne facture, avec quelques grains mais dont la définition et le piqué sont de bien meilleure qualité que ce qu'on l'a connu à la télévision. L'étalonnage des couleurs est là aussi très satisfaisant, et même plus réussi que l'édition britannique qui avait des teintes plus rougeâtres.

As far as the image is concerned, it is well presented, with some grain, but the definition and image detail are of better quality than what we've been familiar with on TV. The representation of colours is also very satisfactory, and turned out even better than the British edition which had more reddish tints.

And an Amazon.fr customer:

Comparé aux DVD US et UK, les couleurs/contrastes sont bien meilleurs ici. L'encodage est également supérieur.

Compared to the US and UK DVDs, the colours and contrasts are much better. The encoding is superior as well.

I wonder what masters they had to achieve this?

The cardboard pop-up of the whole family in the first limited run of the DVD set sure is a nice touch!

Great to see the manufacturers and the French fans have organized such a special DVD launch party at the MITM-based bistro Chez Dewey :)w00t:) in Paris.

Wish we had things like that! :cool:

Rich

P.S. Added various relevant items to our Gallery:

http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1208
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
I see a French user on the Malcolm France forum complain of 'striures', which I take to mean interlacing (horizontal stripes).

Apparently, when you watch the French DVDs on a desktop or laptop PC, you do get interlacing effects if you don't adjust the software settings.

Rich
 
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Magic-J

New member
Hey guys,

Richiepiep: The Amazon review is the one I actually wrote :p

I've made a 10 screenshots comparison based on the ep.8 between the US and the FR DVDs.
Mass5160 kindly added the same screenshots from his UK DVD!

Here's the gallery link: http://someimage.com/JNPg

To me the French set is a true improvement over the UK and US ones in term of picture quality. The colors are also more natural.

@BBC2: In the menu you can only choose between French, French with subtitles for the hearing impaired and English with subtitles but you can disable them while watching the episode ;)
 

Karin

Staff - The One Who Mods
Wow! That's quite a difference between the picture quality. The UK version is definitely more reddish. The black tints in the French version are also deeper.

I still haven't gotten around to get the set :blushing: and now I'm definitely thinking of getting the French version.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
@Magic-J @mass Thanks a lot for the great image comparisons!

The differences are indeed striking. I had a look at the images with an online colour analysis tool (http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/color_summarizer/), and it turns out the average and median values of red, green and blue are almost the same for the original US and UK releases.

Which makes me wonder: while the French release looks more natural (but of course a bit pale and greenish and bluish when you switch between the caps and concentrate on the US and UK versions), isn't the US 'look' the colour scheme that was intended by the MITM creators?

Did the UK release use the same stock as the original US release, or at least use this as its point of reference? If they did, I suppose you could say they got it right from their point of view.

Did the French release deliberately adapt the colour scheme to make it look more 'natural', especially because of the skin tones?

This may look like geekish nitpicking, but I'm just asking! ;)

Rich
 

mass5160

New member
Did the French release deliberately adapt the colour scheme to make it look more 'natural', especially because of the skin tones?

This may look like geekish nitpicking, but I'm just asking! ;)

Rich

Not at all, Richiepiep! I'd be happy to share my theories.

Malcolm was shot on film, and edited on videotape. In my experience, when film elements are transferred to magnetic tape, the colours tend to come out 'warmer' depending on what bulb is used, no doubt they'd have just used something pretty standard for Malcolm. It's probable that Showshank attempted to remove this for a more natural colour pallet. I seem to remember episodes broadcast on 5* (UK digital channel) having a much 'cooler' colour scheme compared to the DVDs from Fabfilms. I think I still have some season 2 & 3 recordings somewhere, so perhaps I could post some comparisons between these versions too, if people are interested.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
I think I still have some season 2 & 3 recordings somewhere, so perhaps I could post some comparisons between these versions too, if people are interested.

Hi Mass,

If you like, and can find the time, yes please!

I just ordered the French release from Amazon.fr

I thought it would be nice to have the pop-up box, a good image quality, to improve my French (sous-titres!), and to stimulate sales, as I understand that the following seasons will only be released if sales for S1 meet the distributor's expectations, and that's not a given, as we know from the disappointing sales by Fabulous in the UK.

I was thinking of registering with French Amazon anyway, because I now have American, British, German and French Amazon accounts, all with the same account and log-in, which means I can easily choose from various DVD regions and find the best or cheapest deal.

It's really amazing how sometimes media can differ between accounts, and a book, CD or DVD which is an expensive collector's item in one territory, can be a bargain in another! Or an item can be readily available in one, but out of stock elsewhere.

Eagerly looking forward to my third :w00t: version of S1! (*)

Rich

(*) not counting VHS copies and P2P downloads :blushing:
 

Magic-J

New member
and to stimulate sales, as I understand that the following seasons will only be released if sales for S1 meet the distributor's expectations, and that's not a given, as we know from the disappointing sales by Fabulous in the UK.

Apparently, Showshank told me that the sales seem to be pretty good for the moment :cool:
And the season 2 is already packed and ready to go. The release date is April 4th (Exclusivité Fnac) so we'll be able to buy it in Fnac stores only (in France of course.) It will also be available on Amazon and in other stores but we don't know exactly when yet.
The "Exclusivité Fnac" set is going to be a Digipak (like the S1 without the Pop-Up effect) and the "Standard" will be a typical plastic case set.
I also know that the S2 set will includes some special features! :w00t:
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Apparently, Showshank told me that the sales seem to be pretty good for the moment. And the season 2 is already packed and ready to go. (...) I also know that the S2 set will includes some special features!

That's great news! I'm just reading up about it on the Malcolm-France site.

At least I know that I'm one of the first 3,000 customers to order the DVD combo, otherwise I couldn't have gotten hold of the special pop-up version!

The bonus features on S2 sound great too (eager to learn what they are!), but poses a kind of dilemma to me. I'm certainly not going to buy all French seasons as well, because I can't afford another full set.

Yet of course nothing but praise to Showshank and The Corporation for creating an original, creatively designed set with fitting menus and those extras!

Rich
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
French S2 DVD release will include 4 bonus features!

I just read on the Malcolm France site, that the upcoming French S2 DVD release will include no fewer than 4 bonus features!

They are:

- Tour of the house (2'08'')
- Original promo clip for the series (0'21'')
- Interview with series creator Linwood Boomer (11'45'')
- Making-of (13'04'')

If I understand the French text correctly, these were all part of the original promotional package released by Fox at the time, except for the interview with Linwood Boomer, which was conducted some time ago by French TV reporter Alain Carrazé, who with his colleague Romain Nigita were also instrumental in obtaining permission for releasing the other features.

All will be presented in the original English, with French dubbing, and optional French 'ordinary' subtitles and ones for the hearing-impaired.

The producers are really going out of their way to make this something memorable, and more than just a string of episodes!

Similar effort will be devoted to obtaining extras for subsequent seasons. In fact, Showshank Films welcome suggestions from fans for including features.

Now, the only quibble I have is why we have had to do without all this great stuff on the English-language releases!

Life is unfair - yes, no, maybe - in a way! :s

Rich

Malcolm_French_S2_DVD_sleeve_front_MITMVC.jpg
 
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Tyno

Malcolm-France
My season 3 set arrived today (...) the 'Company Picnic' episode is the two-part syndicated version, as opposed to the one-hour original. This means that a few lines are omitted here and there, as well as the entire "Locker Room" scene at the ice rink being left out. I do have the original hour long company picnic episode, but it's not exactly good quality. Would've been nice for them to include it on this set, but I guess they've done the best they can, it's just another unfortunate case surrounding the release of this show I suppose.

Can anyone tell me exactly which lines are missing in the UK DVD edition for the 'Company Picnic' episode? I've found the scene which is missing, but I'd like to know about the lines of dialogue, too.
We're trying to get the right, full version for the French edition. ;)
 
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