12.17.07
Posted in "The Invisible Man", I-Man DVDs at 9:58 pm by Amanda Rogers
I-Man fans in the U.S. and Canada have waited for years for the release of The Invisible Man on DVD. Now, finally, our wait is coming to an end. I am extremely excited (tickled pink, in fact!) to tell you that Universal Studios has announced the release of season one of I-Man as a five-DVD set! Mark your calendars for March 25, 2008! That’s the date when the set will go on sale. The suggested retail price for the set is $59.98 and it includes some really nice extras:
This news comes from TVShowsOnDVD.com and can be found at http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Invisible-Man-Season-1/8634. I also want to thank CoolB and Krys for making sure that I saw this very important news item.
Impacts and Action
I want to take off my fan hat for a moment here and put on my business hat because I think it’s important to discuss how this could impact the future of our show. Some of you may be thinking that if the DVDs sell well, Universal might think about bringing back the show. It’s rare for that to happen, but it’s not unheard of. Another possibility, that is also slim but maybe a bit more probable, is that they might give us an I-Man movie. Yet another possibility, that is more likely, is for the show to be put back into reruns. Any of the above could happen if the DVD sales are really strong.
So here’s where I encourage you to buy, buy, buy the DVDs. I know that they are rather pricey and I know that many of you already have copies of season one, whether it may be taped from your VCR, bootlegged, or a foreign copy. But please buy a set or two or three anyway. The way you show Universal that you support this show and want to see more of it is by voting with your dollars. That’s the only language they understand.
There’s yet another reason why it is very important that DVD sales need to be strong: because we want season two I-Man DVDs. We’ve never had season two DVDs released anywhere in the world and this is our golden opportunity to get them here.
Please let’s learn a lesson from the U.K. DVD experience. To refresh your memory, Contender had released season one with the full intention of releasing season two if season one sold well. Unfortunately, season one didn’t sell well in the U.K. and season two was never released. It was a risky business move to begin with since the I-Man audience in the U.K. is quite small, but it was wonderful that they gave it a go. However, the U.S. probably has one of the largest, if not the largest, audience for the show and we are the ones who really need to make a difference if we want to ever see season two on DVD. And Canada, we need your help too.
So in light of that, here are a few things you can do:
- Buy a copy for yourself.
- Buy a copy for other people. They make great gifts.
- Email as many people as you know and tell them about the I-Man DVDs. Ask them to email as many people as they know and forward your letter to them and so on and so on.
- Announce the DVDs on, not just I-Man forums, but entertainment, sci-fi, and other applicable forums. Please be respectful of any forum rules.
- Talk about the DVDs to everyone you meet. The online fandom is just a very minuscule part of the total I-Man audience and many of those people might not have online access. Case in point, one of my neighbors flipped when I told her what project I am working on. She absolutely loves I-Man, but because she doesn’t have online access, she was totally unaware of any movie news or fan club activities. I can’t wait till the next time I see her and tell her about the DVDs. She is going to be so excited.
So there are a few ideas off the top of my head. If you have any ideas for how to promote the DVDs, feel free to share. And if you have any cool experiences promoting the DVDs, please feel free to share those too.
And now please excuse me as I take off my business hat, put my fan hat back on and let out a big WOOHOO!!!
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01.15.07
Posted in I-Man DVDs at 4:07 pm by Amanda Rogers
Of all the I-Man DVDs available for purchase, the U.K. version is the best one out there, in my opinion. Not only do you get the episodes, but you also get some really great special features:
- Interview with Vincent Ventresca, Paul Ben-Victor, and Mike McCafferty, with their commentaries on the episodes
- Notes from Mike McCafferty
- Episode trivia
- Scripts for each episode as DVD-ROM content
- Make-up gallery
- Alternate opening to “Money for Nothing” (Part 2)
- Interview with Eddie Jones and Mike McCafferty
Some pretty cool features, eh? Well, we have Ian Atkins to thank for these beauties and, of course, let’s not forget our cast who willingly gave of their time to do those great interviews.
Now if you’re looking at the pictures of the two boxed sets (above) and thinking one set is season one and one set is season two, stop right there. Unfortunately, they are not two seasons. Both sets are of season one, which was divided into two sets. It’s a rather common misconception and I want to thank Rebecca who reminded me to make that clear.
The first box set contains the following episodes:
- Feature-length Pilot
- The Catevari
- Ralph
- Tiresias
- Impetus
- The Devil You Know
- Liberty and Larceny
- The Value of Secrets
- Separation Anxiety
- It Hurts When You Do This
- The Other Invisible Man
The second box set contains the rest of the season one episodes:
- Reunion
- Cat and Mouse
- Beholder
- Ghost of a Chance
- Flowers for Hobbes
- Perchance to Dream
- Frozen in Time
- Diseased
- The Lesser Evil
- Money for Nothing - Part 1
- Money for Nothing - Part 2
- It’s a Small World
A few video and audio clips from the DVDs are available at the Gold Street Entertainment website. Just scroll down to around the middle of the page to download them.
A Little History and What About Season Two?
As I’ve already mentioned, we owe a lot to Ian Atkins for putting together such great sets. Ian is a self-proclaimed “huge fan” of The Invisible Man. As the former Product Manager of Contender Entertainment, the company that released the U.K. DVDs, it was his job to oversee the release of the DVDs. He has even stated that he took the job “primarily to be involved in the I-Man DVD releases.”
Now if you’re wondering why Contender never released season two on DVD, it’s because they had to see how season one sales went before they could make a decision about going ahead with season two…a logical business decision. And even though Ian had said that he would “be fighting like crazy to get season two underway” as soon as possible, the season two DVDs never happened. Since Ian no longer works for Contender and they never released season two, I can only surmise that sales of season one just weren’t strong enough.
I can’t say that surprises me. The Invisible Man wasn’t well known in the U.K. It aired on lesser-watched networks and didn’t get much publicity, so it’s fan base is relatively small in comparison to other countries.
What does surprise me is that Contender was willing to take the gamble and commit to the season one DVDs in the first place. It’s a gamble that I wish had paid off better for them. Regardless, I’ll always be thankful for what we did get, because no other I-Man DVD releases have the kind of extras that Ian put together for this version.
Where You Can Purchase the U.K. DVDs
Following is a list of some of the online sites where you can purchase the U.K. I-Man DVDs. I, again, want to thank Rebecca who gave me a hand with finding some of these sites. This list is by no means complete, but it’s a start.
Please note that as of this date, Amazon and HMV appear to be out of box set one. You may wish to inquire about availability before placing your order.
Benson’s World
U.K. Amazon.com
German Amazon.com
French Amazon.com
HMV
IMPORTANT NOTE: The U.K. DVDs are made for region two and are produced in the PAL format. If you are ordering these from the U.S. and Canada (region one) or any other region, check to make sure your TV/DVD is compatable with this format. I’ll be explaining the ins and outs of regions and formats in a future post.
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12.05.06
Posted in "The Invisible Man", I-Man DVDs, Trailers at 9:22 pm by Amanda Rogers
Credit for this topic goes to Laura, who made the suggestion that I talk about I-Man DVDs. Thanks, Laura!
The subject of I-Man DVDs has been a source of frustration to I-Man fans for a long time, especially if you live in the U.S. or Canada, because, as you most likely already know, as of this date, no DVDs have been made for Region 1 (U.S. and Canada). And since it isn’t currently airing in the U.S. or Canada that makes it tough for people who have never seen the show to get familiar with it. Just the other day I had a meeting with a local director at a coffee shop. He knows what project I’m working on, was curious about The Invisible Man, and wanted to check the show out. I had to explain to him, just as I explain to everyone else who asks, that not only is the show not currently airing, but, also, no DVDs exist for it in this country. You can bet that I would have loved to tell him that he could run down to the local Suncoast or Wal-Mart and pick up season one and two of this cool little show, but, alas, I couldn’t. Frustrating indeed.
Will we ever get I-Man DVDs here in the U.S. and Canada? Well, that’s anybody’s guess. As of this date, I haven’t heard any news that suggests that we will see them any time in the near future.
Back when Ian Atkins was working on the U.K. DVDs, the foreign video distribution rights were owned by a South American company called America Video Films. While I haven’t looked into it, it’s possible that the company still owns those rights. The fact that they advertise I-Man on their site leads me to think that is a strong possibility. If you go to their website (http://americavideofilms.com/) and do a search for “invisible man” by title, you’ll find a blurb written about the show as well as a trailer that you can watch. The trailer emphasizes the drama and angst, but leaves out the humor, giving viewers a rather lopsided impression of the tone of the show, but it’s still fun to watch.
I gotta tell you that if I wasn’t tied up with this movie project right now, I’d love to take on trying to get I-Man DVDs produced in this country. But maybe some other enterprising fan will take on the project the way Ian Atkins did in the U.K.
There is so much more to cover on this subject, but I’m going to save that for future posts. Stay tuned because I’ll be talking about which countries have DVDs and where they can be ordered, after all, this site is visited by readers from around the world. I’ll, also, explain regions for those of you not familiar with them, and identify some region-free DVD players.
If anybody has any info on I-Man DVDs that they want to share with everyone else, please drop me a line so that I can include it in future posts.
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