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.