More of the Re-re-re-re-release of THE OUTER LIMITS.

image does not contain M80 tracking codes. So there!




This is a follow-up post.
Outer Limits season one part one.
The DVD's arrived from Internet viral marketing house M80. Nikki Pierce did not supply anything other than the DVDs. No note. No thank you. Nothing. Odd dontcha think?


If you want a review of the series check out IMDB. I'll just be ranting with little raving about technical side of the two crappy DVD's they just sent me.

The DVDs are distributed from FOX but the content is the same as the DVDs released in 2004. There is no indication that this was remastered for the FOX release. In fact there only mention of FOX is on the case and cardboard sleeve. The disc is pure MGM at its uncaring best. Don't get me wrong I love MGM its just that... They don't have the wherewithal to restore projects correctly.

So... lets talk about these DVDs. They are (get this) DVD18. Dual sided DVDs Basically Two DVD9 glued back to back. I'm unsure who did the replication but I can tell you they did a piss poor job. The disc edges are ragged and each half is misaligned. I can actually slip my fingernail in between the two halves of the disc. Each side looks uniformly birefringent however the misalignment of the discs halves could throw the spin off a bit. The DVD18 format stability has been in question since its creation. The format has a reputation for skipping.
It's not the best way to release a series but it does save on packaging. Two slimline cases in a cardboard sleeve instead of a fold out of four discs.

The packaging is crap. No booklet. Nothing. No added material to make you feel like you just made a great purchase. Nothing. I have buyers remorse and I just got these things for free. The box these two slimline cases came in has minimal information about the show. Basically the episode names and the air dates and no additional info on the series.
The slimline cases contain the same info as the back of the box. That means that case "1" has the episodes for case "2" included on it and visa versa.
Way to go lazy asses!
MGM/FOX generously included an advert for their other releases slipped inside the cardboard box along with a DVD drop-in electronic tag. The same type of tag that would set off the alarm at Virgin Mega-store if you tried to walk out with this box set shoved in your pants.
I'll treasure this tag always. It is the only special thing about this set.

There has been nothing done to these episodes since the original video transfers back in the 1980s. Episodes are spotted with gluemarks, waterstains, neg dust, you name it.
THERE HAS BEEN NO RESTORATION OF THIS SERIES. It is sorely needed.

Why they released this set is beyond me. I don't know why MGM (now FOX) does not do a restoration project with this series? Damn I'd buy this series on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (whichever way we go) if a proper restore can be done.
Hell if the series was restored that alone would force me into upgrading my AV system.

This disc set makes me not want to buy a dvd ever again.

This is just a repackage of the old set and there are no special features.

The menu is actually insulting to fans and I found myself embarrassed to have it on. The simple loop menu is a really supercheesey female/male computerized voice doing an updated version of the" Control Voice" . "...There is nothing wrong with your DVD...We control your DVD... " You get the idea. The whole idea of getting this series on DVD is to enjoy it in the best possible form it can be. If I wanted an updated version I would have purchased the updated remade series not the original.

MGM clearly has no clue who the audience is for this show and to make matters worse, it's as if they contracted an elementary school student to create the menu for this DVD. It would be difficult for me to create such uninteresting menus on my laptop. I am simply forced to create better menus by default. Honestly iDVD can do a better job at automatically creating menus.

Back in 2004 MGM released this same set. The entire first season was included in the set. For some reason this new release has split the first season into two boxed sets. If you own the previous release there is no reason to buy this. No one has cared about the show but you. Certainly no one at MGM or FOX cares.

The audio is the one good thing about these discs. 2.0 Dolby mono. There is nothing worse than an over zealous fan involved on a project who needs to mix mono audio into 5.1 By remixing they usually screw it up. It takes skill and not very many places can do it correctly. If they do create a 5.1 mix they tend not to include the original audio. If this series does eventually get remastered be sure to keep these things handy as they are likely to screw the audio up during the remastering. Minimal hiss. Low end and high end are crappy but the audio is clean for the most part.

Video is God awful. Possibly sourced from a D1 or even D2 master. Banding (or as some like to call it "ringing") galore with poor contrast. Blacks are never rich and whites never pop. blocking is a big problem. For a black and white DVD this sure sucks.Well... here is part of the problem. Instead of going to a real DVD authoring house MGM decided to cut corners and use Sunset Post. In my opinion they don't have the equipment or trained personnel to create a quality DVD. Certainly not in 2003-2004. Why didn't they do this at deluxe, Technicolor or Ascent Media? Oh yeah... Money. Sunset must have outbid them. Well... ya get what you pay for. The bad thing for MGM is their need to tighten their belt has carried on down the line and now FOX is releasing an inferior product.


Oh, one final nail in the coffin of this DVD set:
MGM and FOX and M80 claim this set is in color. Everything put out by MGM/FOX and the fine viral marketing company M80 claim the series is in color. The box says otherwise thank God but the online release says its color. What does that tell you about the communication within these companies? I let them know last week that the website is wrong and it has not been changed. So much for consumer feedback being vital. They don't listen!

That means M80 sucks too for not listening to me. It is their job to listen.
You can come and pick up these DVDs at my convenience.

So that's my review. I could add more hateful barbs but why waste my time?