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

Richiepiep

Administrator
Hi, everyone. I'm thinking about buying one of the earlier seasons (s1-4) on DVD (haven't decided which one, however). But I was wondering for those of you who own them, what is the quality like? Is it better than the torrents on the internet (which are really awful, especially the first few seasons)?
Well, I would get them, especially S1, because this one comes with loads of extras like commentaries and stuff behind the scenes.

All MITM episodes on the DVDs are in widescreen, and although they're not in high-def of course, their resolution is 720x480 pixels.

I checked my downloads, and even the better are only 480x272 (mp4) and 624x352 (avi), so you get much better quality from the DVDs.

Rich
 
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andbreatheme

New member
Thanks a lot for the quick reply! Much appreciated. I've made a couple of tributes to the show and I just wanted to try and get the best quality clips/episodes I could find or buy. This show means a lot to me.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Thanks a lot for the quick reply! Much appreciated. I've made a couple of tributes to the show and I just wanted to try and get the best quality clips/episodes I could find or buy. This show means a lot to me.
Yes, fine, the series means a lot to all of us, so we'd like to see the buzz continued in one way or another, and these DVDs are a good way to rekindle interest and keep the ball rolling.

If you want to know more about this release, just read up on the thread above, and you'll find most of the nitty-gritty, even more than you'd care to know perhaps! ;)

About the tributes you've made, that's nice to hear. What are they like? Would you like to share them with us?

Best,

Rich
 

andbreatheme

New member
Yes, fine, the series means a lot to all of us, so we'd like to see the buzz continued in one way or another, and these DVDs are a good way to rekindle interest and keep the ball rolling.

If you want to know more about this release, just read up on the thread above, and you'll find most of the nitty-gritty, even more than you'd care to know perhaps! ;)

Thanks! I will check out the rest of the thread for sure.

About the tributes you've made, that's nice to hear. What are they like? Would you like to share them with us?

Best,

Rich

You can check them out if you'd like. Here are the YT links for my two tributes thus far. Just promise to watch in HD! They're nothing special, but the fact that nobody has made any tributes to the show just made me a little sad, and I had to make some for that reason. I made the second just recently.




 
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toplol

New member
I received my season 1 DVDs and the quality is very good, was almost surprised :D And it also has some neat extras, haven't fund time to watch them all, but looks nice. Overall season 1 was very worth it.

Now maybe i'll buy season 2 as well :D
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
I received my season 1 DVDs and the quality is very good, was almost surprised :D And it also has some neat extras, haven't fund time to watch them all, but looks nice. Overall season 1 was very worth it.

Now maybe i'll buy season 2 as well :D
Fine, that's a great thing to hear! :cool:

Yes, Season 1 is a great release - we have to thank Fox for that back in 2002 I suppose, and Fabulous for re-releasing this one in widescreen with all the content intact, even the two versions of the pilot episode.

But you have to remember that from S2 onwards, there will be no extras whatsoever, not even subtitles.

Fabulous tried, but got no cooperation from Fox or casting agents, and there was no budget to clear additional copyright issues on dubbing and the like, or to add extras of their own making, alas.

Rich
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Hi Mandy (I guess, andbreatheme),

I applied a little edit to your post, to add the correct link to the second vid, and to enclose them in our special YouTube-tags, to make them appear embedded - you can check in your edit view.

They're really, really nice tributes, I enjoyed them - in high def ;)!

You caught so many great scenes, all across the Seasons, even with supporting actors like Christopher Lloyd, Cloris Leachman and Hayden Panettiere!

I also liked the, what is it, slightly alienating hightened contrast on the image with the colour reduction (I guess my editor calls this "Poster Colours"), and the black and white scenes.

Now you can make more ones without the logos ;).

Oh yes, and just a remark, I know people have made lots of tributes, but some keep getting removed from YouTube - copyright issues!

I also loved these ones - a mash-up and a quirky, creative tribute in reggae dub-style:





Rich
 
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andbreatheme

New member
Yeah, you can call me Mandy! And thanks a lot for your feedback! It means a lot. :) I'm starting another one soon. Unfortunately, I don't really have the money to get the DVDs ATM, but hopefully soon. And those other tributes are hilarious! Must have missed them on YT.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Returning to the original topic of this thread, I decided to put my money where my mouth was, and order all seasons of MITM on DVD from Fabulous Films!

Whatever its shortcomings - and I know lots of complaints are valid - it is at least my conviction that if we don't pay for official releases on DVD, or downloads or streaming through iTunes, Netflix and the like, we will never get any high-def releases, bonus features, interviews or looks behind the scenes, because the industry will consider spending any amount on re-releasing the series a bad deal.

Just saying.

Rich
 
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BBC2

New member
Returning to the original topic of this thread, I decided to put my money where my mouth was, and order all seasons of MITM on DVD from Fabulous Films!

Whatever its shortcomings - and I know lots of complaints are valid - it is at least my conviction that if we don't pay for official releases on DVD, or downloads or streaming through iTunes, Netflix and the like, we will never get any high-def releases, bonus features, interviews or looks behind the scenes, because the industry will consider spending any amount on re-releasing the series a bad deal.

Just saying.

Rich

I guess that's a good way to ensure there's a possibility of a Blu-ray release in future, to support the current release and show there is demand for Malcolm. I've been thinking of buying season 1, but the issues with that is being opened up to widescreen, revealing crew members, ect. I'd have bought it in a shot if it was in 4:3. Having said that, i'm sure there's ways round it (covering parts of the television with cardboard)

Does any scenes on the season 1 release have the picture zoomed in to hide goofs? (such as the later season episode with Lois and Malcolm in the car, where Malcolm can be heard talking, but his mouth isn't moving when he's seen in the back) so Fabulous zoomed in to hide this, but it wouldn't have been present if they just stuck to the original aspect ratio.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
That's a very good question, BBC2, but it's a tricky one I'll have to look into. There's also the matter of 'overscan': edges of the image that will show up or not depending on the monitor size (computer or TV screen) you're using.

For instance, crew members' hands or visible sides of walls that annoyed me on my PC screen were not visible on my TV screen.

I think that S1 sometimes uses blacked-out patches to obscure light stands, 'French flags' or 'scrims' (screens to block or scatter incoming light). I don't know about zooms.

See attachments from "Home Alone 4".

Rich
 

BBC2

New member
That's a very good question, BBC2, but it's a tricky one I'll have to look into. There's also the matter of 'overscan': edges of the image that will show up or not depending on the monitor size (computer or TV screen) you're using.

For instance, crew members' hands or visible sides of walls that annoyed me on my PC screen were not visible on my TV screen.

I think that S1 sometimes uses blacked-out patches to obscure light stands, 'French flags' or 'scrims' (screens to block or scatter incoming light). I don't know about zooms.

See attachments from "Home Alone 4".

Rich

The random black bars popping up is bad enough, and from the screenshots, it doesn't look like they always attempted to hide the goofs, the whole thing is a bit of a mess. Seeing them really takes you out of the moment. The crew member pushing Stevie's wheelchair is the worst i've seen!

At least when it's shown on Channel 5's digital channel, they show it in 4:3. Though the advantage of the DVD there is no commercials and no announcers talking over/ squeezing credits.

I wonder how many copies they have to sell before they think is enough to warrant a high definition release. Season 7 is the last one still to be announced, then probably a complete boxset, perhaps that'll sell well towards the festive period?
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
I wonder how many copies they have to sell before they think is enough to warrant a high definition release. Season 7 is the last one still to be announced, then probably a complete boxset, perhaps that'll sell well towards the festive period?

That's anyone's guess, alas! The few thousand copies per season they've been selling so far sure is disappointing for such a long-awaited release, at least as it was considered to be. But then again everything is in turmoil right now due to all the possible options of downloads, streaming, on demand channels, multiplatform releases etc., so I wonder who's got any idea in the industry right now what might be a profitable course for the future and what not.

Yes, my guess is the boxset will be coming out around Christmas, and you can see right now already that prices are coming down for individual seasons, around 15 quid for each (I've been ordering nearly all of them from Fantastic Films, which appears to be Fabulous' outlet, via Amazon, by the way), so it may be worth waiting.

Rich
 

davidecit

New member
Someone who has a big heart, could upload dvdrip episodes (at good res, 700x400) so I can muxit with my native language audio (italian). I don't have enough money to buy the dvdset just to get the video, because the audio will be form my broadcasted episodes. Thanks :wub:
 

Wezzo

New member
I emailed Richard at Fabulous Films asking when S7 was expected to be released, and he said hopefully in September. Not too long until our collections will be complete :)
 

Cotillard

New member
Need help for language plz

Hello everybody, I am French and I would like to buy the seasons of Malcom in the middle. The problem it is because I find no information if there is a VF (french version) or not on DVD uk. I thank you for your help(assistant). Cordially
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Hi Cotillard,

Bienvenu sur notre forum!

(Nice screenname by the way, reminds me of Marion, the actress!)

Dommage pour toi, but the recent DVD releases in the UK have no subtitles or dubbed language tracks whatsoever, except for Season 1, which has English subtitles.

On the French Malcolm site www.malcolm-france.com, Alexandre Gennevois has written an excellent article why DVD releases, especially in other languages, are so hard to put out these days:

http://www.malcolm-france.com/news.php?id=355

If you can play Region 1 DVDs on your TV set or on your PC, so discs produced in the US, perhaps it's a good idea to buy at least the old US DVD release of Season 1 from 2002 (which is the only one released in this format), which does have a French dubbed track.

This would be the version to get:

Malcolm US DVD Region 1 on Amazon

Rich
 
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