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

mass5160

New member
Hey guys, long time reader but first time poster.

I've been in to my local hmv today (Worcester) and they have the DVD in stock...for £50.
Thankfully, I've had it pre-ordered from amazon for a while now haha.
Has any one else got a copy today?
 

Tyno

Malcolm-France
I was tempted to go to HMV today to get it but if you say they're selling it £50 I might wait a bit. Plus it's raining. :yawn:
 

Wezzo

New member
Season 2: 29 October 2012

I got the S1 set, it's very nice. Mostly a direct port of the R1 down to the menus. There are English subtitles (ported from the R1, not sure if there will subtitles on future sets too..) The episodes are indeed widescreen, too.

There's a promotional booklet that has cover art for all seven seasons too.
 

BBC2

New member
Season 2: 29 October 2012

I got the S1 set, it's very nice. Mostly a direct port of the R1 down to the menus. There are English subtitles (ported from the R1, not sure if there will subtitles on future sets too..) The episodes are indeed widescreen, too.

There's a promotional booklet that has cover art for all seven seasons too.

Excellent news. Is all the original music intact?
 

BBC2

New member
As far as I can tell! If there's any specific tracks you'd like checking I'll oblige.

Oh good! I can't remember most of the tracks used, but there's one inparticular that stands out, Fernando by Abba on the season finale, please tell me that's on there? :D
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Oh good! I can't remember most of the tracks used, but there's one inparticular that stands out, Fernando by Abba on the season finale, please tell me that's on there? :D
Oh yes, just watched Water Park, and it includes both Beck's Mixed Bizness and ABBA's Fernando in their original versions! So no hassle there whatsoever!

It's true that it's mostly a straight port of the American DVDs. The menus and title sequence (mostly - some adapted to widescreen) are in 4:3, and then the screen switches to 16:9 for the episodes.

I'm not too sure about the widescreen format though. To quote Beck, indeed mixed business. I mean, it really looks great, but it's also sometimes very revealing as far as black panels blocking or deflecting lights ('flag' or 'French flag' as they are called) are concerned. It looks like the disc editors sometimes rather haphazardly blotted out some parts left and right with black patches that would otherwise reveal light stands and the like. It would have taken an expensive Spielberg- or George Lucas-type approach with digitally created bits of sets and backdrops to get rid of these artefacts, and that's understandably beyond the manufacturer-distributors' means.

I watched the pilot again (by the way, Disc 1 includes both the extended pilot (in 4:3), and the 'normal' pilot, in 16:9!), and indeed, as Bryan Cranston shows in the special feature on Disc 3, you see director Todd Holland guiding Craig Lamar Traylor (Stevie) through his stop-start dialogues, you see the light stands and French flag in the Krelboyne class, and the crew member on the right in the final shot with Malcolm on the trash can. It sure is distracting!

So, it's a really great package, wonderful to have it, many thanks to Fabulous, but I don't know about the widescreen. A general rule of thumb for me is, don't mess with the original intentions of the filmmakers. Don't colorize what was black-and-white originally, don't turn 'flat' movies into 3D, don't add digital effects that weren't there (other than image restoration, getting rid of scratches and such), don't add new soundtracks to make old movies more 'trendy' etc.

As all the set-up, blocking (positioning of the actors), camera angles, editing and other postproduction for MITM were done for 4:3, it looks really amateurish when it turns into widescreen sometimes, which is a shame as MITM truly has excellent cinematography, brilliant angles, perspectives, lensing, you name it!

Rich

P.S. Great, as someone noted, to have the English subtititles for all foreign fans! (Officially, they are for the 'HOH - 'hard of hearing' as the back insert reads). I hope this will be continued for the other seasons!

Crew member's intrusive hands pushing Stevie's wheelchair in episode Rollerskates. OMG! Shots like these will lead to many undeserved goofs in the Internet Movie Database.
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
There's a promotional booklet that has cover art for all seven seasons too.

Thanks! Yes, I just checked, and Fabulous got it right. All covers are promotion stills from the right seasons, except for the 6th, which uses a S5 picture. But they couldn't help it, as, somehow, no promotion stills were made by Fox for S6 (see our Gallery), so you have to patch this up either way.
 
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lmddawson

New member
All very exciting now that Season one is out and we now have an official date for Season 2. We'll soon have all of the seasons on DVD, finally! :wub:

The complete boxset probably won't be out for Christmas, but I really don't mind. Getting Season one ASAP!
 

BBC2

New member
Great to hear all the original soundtracks are intact :2thumbsup:

Though a tad disappointing that they've opened it up to widescreen which reveals things that shouldn't be in the shot. They did this with the Friends blu-ray release aswell.

Edit: I have an idea how to get around this actually. What episodes don't have any revealing goofs (visible crew members/ lighting stands, ect)?

So the episodes that don't have unintended shots, i can watch on the DVD, and ones that do, i can watch on 5* as they broadcast them in 4:3 :D
 
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Malcolm191095

New member
Just added it as an attachment to previous mail.

Brilliant! Thanks for the covers! Looking good. It's more or less what I expected looking through the gallery. Still, a bit annoying for Season 6 though stupid FOX! :mad:

Saw the DVD in HMV today, £50, slightly shocking. Was just an amazing moment though to see it there right in front of me! I also must say I'm glad that the 'in' and 'the' on the cover match the colours on the spine which it didn't look like it would in the online cover! Sounds a bit OCD but yay!
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Edit: I have an idea how to get around this actually. What episodes don't have any revealing goofs (visible crew members/ lighting stands, ect)?

So the episodes that don't have unintended shots, i can watch on the DVD, and ones that do, i can watch on 5* as they broadcast them in 4:3 :D
Haha, I'll be keeping you posted about what episodes with annoying bits to avoid. ;)

Rich
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Brilliant! Thanks for the covers! Looking good. It's more or less what I expected looking through the gallery. Still, a bit annoying for Season 6 though stupid FOX! :mad:

Saw the DVD in HMV today, £50, slightly shocking. Was just an amazing moment though to see it there right in front of me! I also must say I'm glad that the 'in' and 'the' on the cover match the colours on the spine which it didn't look like it would in the online cover! Sounds a bit OCD but yay!
Geez, I got mine for 18 quid, it turns out there was even an Amazon preorder discount! 50 quid is extremely shocking.

I hadn't thought of the colours. They are kind of the reverse of the official logo for S1, and with subsequent seasons, the new releases all stick to the right font, though with different colours. A nice touch. I think Fabulous lavished a great deal of care on the S1 release, even if much of it is a port of the US version. I mean, we do have subtitles, extras, two versions of the Pilot and correct info as far as I can see. When I gripe about the widescreen, it's just the choice, not that I would have expected Fabulous to do digital restoration to blot out all obtrusive errors.

Now, I would hope that following seasons will at least have some extras like subtitles, promo clips, perhaps an interview or so, and not just the episodes. Fox should open its vaults and release what 'press kit'-type material they have. We've offered our help, so we can only wait how it will turn out.

Official Fox logo:

http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=5175
 

Magic-J

New member
I already posted this a while ago haha! :D So... are the episodes running at 24 fps which is the OG framerate or are they in 25 fps with the typical awful 4% PAL speed-up?
 

mass5160

New member
They'll run at 25fps, as that is the PAL standard.

I honestly don't know why people find the 4% speed up annoying, it's not even noticeable during playback unless being directly compared. I'd take it over jerky frame panning any day. ;)

I suppose there is a chance that the episodes MAY be pitch corrected, in which case people would be entirely oblivious to the PAL speed up, I don't know though because I don't have it yet. But really, sometimes its better to have something at all than to not, eh? :D
 
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