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

[Tyno]

Seasons 1 & 2 will be edited in France in 2014!

Other seasons may follows if sales are good. [Link]

[Richiepiep]

This is great news, at long last!

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!

Richard

[ShaunDunn]

Seasons 1 & 2 will be edited in France in 2014!

Other seasons may follows if sales are good. [Link]

Cool News Tyno!!

[Magic-J]

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!
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

[Karin]

Great news!

[corre]

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]

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!

[Karin]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to see the screencap comparisons.

[BBC2]

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]

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 () in Paris.

Wish we had things like that!

Rich

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

http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/...y.php?cat=1208