Network [Blu-ray]

Product Information

Now then, I mentioned that this is a true Ultimate Edition release with substantial extras carried over from both the Network UK BD sets and also the more recent Shout! Factory BD set. So let’s break down the contents of Imprint’s new box set disc by disc (note that some of the special features listed in HD have been upsampled from SD)… To speak Chayefsky's Oscar-winning dialogue, Lumet enlisted a powerhouse cast list, including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch (as 'the mad prophet of the airwaves' Howard Beale), Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight. Five of them would be nominated for Academy Awards, three would win. Notable guest stars over the series’ run included Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ian McShane ( Deadwood, American Gods), Sarah Douglas ( Superman II), David Prowse ( Star Wars), Brian Blessed ( Flash Gordon), Angus MacInnes ( Star Wars, Rogue One), and many others.

As a piece, The Owl Service maintains a sense of tragic inevitability and largely maintained ambiguity throughout its eight episodes. It somewhat botches these aspects with an abrupt and overly convenient finale, but there is enough unsettling atmosphere, interpersonal and social tensions and echoes of folklore to let this time capsule resonate for a time in the memory.

Conclusion

In any case, despite the fact that there are still a few special features missing, it should be clear now that Via Vision Entertainment/Imprint Television’s new Space: 1999 – The Complete Series Ultimate Edition box set truly is the most comprehensive Blu-ray release of this series to date. Yes, it’s more expensive than the previous Blu-ray editions. But if you’re looking for a single REGION FREE Blu-ray set that contains the largest number (and overwhelming majority) of special features, along with beautifully-remastered HD video, and the correct 5.1 and mono audio mixes too, this is box set is absolutely unmatched. You’d be hard pushed to tell this was an up-scale, with staples like skin texture and clothing weaves being very prevalent. Paperwork, computer consoles and screen text, notepad drawings, litigation papers: all are clean, clear, and precise. Space: 1999 was originally released on DVD in 2001 by Carlton Media in the UK and A&E in the US. In 2004, Carlton was absorbed in a corporate takeover that resulted in the creation of a new company, ITV Network, who then reissued Season One on DVD in the UK in 2005. The company eventually restored and remastered the series with new HD scans of the original camera negatives and extensive digital clean-up. Network released Season One on Blu-ray in the UK in 2010 and licensed the US rights to A&E/New Video, who released Season One on BD here in the States that same year ( see our review of that set here on The Bits). Unfortunately, it look longer for Network to restore Season Two, a process that began in 2007. It was also more costly because the audio for Season Two needed additional remastering (this work had already been done for Season One). Network wanted to share those costs with New Video, but the US distributor balked. So Network released Season Two on Blu-ray in the UK in 2015 ( see our review here), but no US release was forthcoming until Shout! Factory finally licensed the US rights in 2019, at which point they released Space: 1999 – The Complete Series as a Blu-ray box set ( you can read our review of that set here as well).

For for US fans of Space: 1999, none of these Blu-ray releases has been ideal. For one thing, the UK sets are Region B only. Yet they included significant bonus material not found in the Shout! Factory set. Meanwhile, that US set is Region A and it includes some new extras, but Shout! unfortunately created their own 5.1 mixes for all the episodes—rather than simply utilizing the 5.1 mixes from the UK sets—and they’re not particularly good. (Specifically, the audio in the surround channels is very low. And for some reason the Shout! BDs don’t let you switch from 5.1 to mono with your remote.) So what’s a self-respecting US Space: 1999 fan to do? Well, I’m very pleased to say that I’ve finally got a good answer to that question… Despite these aspects, which ultimately highlight the production context, The Owl Service is impressively rich in its themes and visual composition. As mentioned, there are clashes of class and culture, as well as generations and gender. Though often referenced, Alison’s mother Margaret never appears on screen, her significant absence is felt through artefacts that she leaves indicating her influence and everyone’s concern about her getting upset. Gwyn at one point corners Alison in a summer house in a frankly creepy and unsettling sequence. Roger and Gwyn are both seen weeping but in different situations – Roger alone in a corner but surrounded by images of his father; Gwyn on the stairs of the house which prompts Roger’s contempt. Even flower power gets a reference, indicating the cultural upheavals that might seem distant but are nonetheless felt. Tune in Next Tuesday – a visual essay by Dave Itzkoff, the author of Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies Obviously, Message from Moonbase Alpha (SD – 6:58) is also missing due to complicated licensing issues. However, you can find it in the A&E/New Video DVD Megaset. Better still, it’s also currently available on DVD (NTSC/Region 0) directly from Fanderson in the UK as part of their Space:1999 and UFO – The Documentaries DVD release ( see this link to their online store). That DVD is actually well worth having, because it also includes Kindred’s 2-part Space: 1999 Documentary (SD – 102:37), along with the Space: 1899 short (SD – 3:37), The UFO Documentary (SD – 59:19), and Derek Meddings: The Anderson Years (SD – 13:36). There are many big-time actors in the film, but it never looks or feels like they are competing with each other. Their characters become real people with unique identities and legit dilemmas. Obviously, the script from Paddy Chayefsky is outstanding, but the terrific chemistry between the actors is crucial for the film's brilliance.Description: Original Goon Michael Bentine co-writes and gives a memorable performance as an amiable 'Sandwich Man' in this gentle, whimsical comedy that features a Who's Who? of British talent, including Norman Wisdom, Diana Dors, Harry H. Corbett, Dora Bryan, Bernard Cribbins and Terry-Thomas. The Sandwich Man is featured here as a brand-new High Definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. It's all the more remarkable, then, that Paddy Chayefsky's marvelous script for Network is so frighteningly prescient. After all, in 1976, when the film was released, the evening news was still a nightly tradition for most adult Americans, and the three broadcast networks ruled the airwaves with iconic anchors like Cronkite, Smith, Chancellor and Brinkley. It would be four to five more years until shows like Entertainment Tonight started cropping up in syndication, slowly blurring the line between news and entertainment, and 24 hour news networks like CNN appeared on the horizon, needing, well, 24 hours of content to fill their broadcasting day, thereby creating a whole new market for shows which blended elements of news and entertainment. It seemed to happen almost overnight, seen now from the distance of that quarter century, but Chayefsky obviously saw it coming well before it dawned on the rest of us, and Network was his brilliantly acerbic warning shot across the bow. Unfortunately, too few of us heard, refusing to believe that things could get as bad as Network portrayed them, however satirically. How terribly, terribly wrong we were. As well as its four Oscars, Network was also garlanded with a quartet of Golden Globes, a BAFTA and numerous other awards. In the years since its release, its reputation has only grown: the Library of Congress granted it a place on their prestigious National Film Registry; the American Film Institute named it as one of the greatest American films of all time; and the Writers Guild of America declared its screenplay one of the ten best of all time. It remains a true classic. Comprises of 20 short/animated films from the Columbia Pictures library, presented in high definition: