Q On Animated TV Shows That Are Not ON DVD (Yet)

[Megalodon]

OK does anyone know WHY these animated series (That are popular) are not on Region 1 DVD/Blu-Ray:

1.Spider-Man (1994)
2.Hulk (1980's)
3.Godzilla: The Series (1999)
4.Godzilla (Hanna Barbera) The REST Of The Series
5.Gargoyles (Duh!)
6.Sectaurs (Only 5 Episodes)
7.Spider-Man & Amazing Friends
8.Spider-Man (1980's)
9.Centurions
10.Inhumanoids
11.MASK
12.Transformers Animated (Season 3)
13.Star Wars Droids
14.Star Wars Ewoks
15.Superfriends (The Rest Of The Series)
16.Jayce & Wheeled Warriors
17.Dino Riders
18.Visionaries
19.Dino Saucers
20.King Kong

I know shows like Godzilla (Both) are on Netflix so how hard would it be to convert it to DVD/Blu-Ray??

I wish they would release these already because alot of these are popular or like the original G.I. Joe series they never finished until just recently I think we have waited long enough.....

[ICER]

I'm thinking they've already released Visionaries,Wheeled Warriors,Centurions and the Inhumanoids mini series or movie.I've also been waiting on some of those titles that you've listed.I'd also like to see Kidd Video released on dvd.

[TED675]

Disney owns all of the classic Marvel stuff right now and they honestly don't see the value in these series. I truly expected to see Spiderman and His Amazing Friends on DVD around the time the movie came out- but nothing. Godzilla 99 was released on DVD, as was Gargoyls (seasons 1 and 2 (prt 1) - again Disney and the "non value" of the series. Centurions, Inhumanoids, MASK are on DVD. Visionaries is coming. No clue who owns Dino Riders/Dino Saucers. and Sectaurs. I thought all of the Superfriends were actually on DVD, including "the Lost Episodes". Not sure about the Lucas library either, may be a case where Fox doesn't see the value in releasing them.

[Captain Marvel]

I can provide some information on part of the shows listed. A decent rule of thumb is that most older shows of all stripes just don't sell as well as current shows partly due to a combination of lower public awareness, and less if anything spent on advertising.

Classic Media has the rights/owns (not sure on the specifics) the H-B Godzilla cartoon, not sure why they stopped releasing the show on DVD -- probably a case of lower than wished for sales.

Sony owns the 1999 Godzilla cartoon, they've done a few DVDs of a few episodes each starting around 10 years ago. And I believe most of the released episodes were included as extras the last DVD release for GINO -- I don't recall if the episodes made it to the Blu-Ray or not.

Disney owns the 90s Spider-Man series has released multiple volume sets (4 or 5 episodes a piece) but no sign of season set type releases.

Gargoyles -- Disney only released the first season and a first volume of season 2. Supposedly low sales stalled the releases, same goes for Gummi Bears and Darkwing Duck.

The 1982 The Incredible Hulk cartoon (as well as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the 1982 Spider-Man and presumably Spider Woman) is owned by Disney. Sadly Disney's home video arm has not decided to release the shows - between the Raimi Spider-Man movies, the new Spider-Man movie, Iron-Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers there have been plenty of chances to take advantage of the Marvel connection. (Especially now that Disney owns Marvel) Although since someone has decided to use clips from these shows for the 'Marvel mash-ups' that run during Ultimate Spider-Man & Avengers on Disney XD perhaps we could see a proper home video release.

Warner Brothers Home Video is currently working on releasing Centurions in its entirety -- this will be a Warner Archive release (burn on demand). A release of the initial mini-series is already available through the Warner Archive.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is one of the shows Shout Factory started releasing to home video but found too costly to continue (IE not enough sales). The show has been sub-licensed to MillCreek Entertainment who have started releasing sets -- so far there's a 32 episode volume 1 release as well as a 10 episode best of. 10 episodes were also included on a 3 show set that also included 10 episodes each of Pole Position and C.O.P.S. -- which only leaves three episodes of Pole Position unaccounted for.

Shout! Factory was eventually able to get the rights to the 65 episode 'first season' of MASK and have released those episodes as a set. Unfortunatelya different company (Cookie Jar in this case) owns the rights to the 10 episode 'second season' and Shout was unable to include those in their set.

[diosoth]

I also want to know why the 1995 series "The Mask" hasn't seen a release. All we got was the pilot on DVD back when that piece of crap Son Of The Mask came out.

It seems like some shows which 5 people remember can get deluxe DVD sets but stuff people want gets tied up for various reasons.

[Burtonnut]

Both Droids and Ewoks had a dvd release, but the episodes (for Droids, episodes 5-8 and also 10-13) were converted into movies with stuff taken out. It would be interesting if the complete series was on dvd (maybe an Anthony Daniels commentary for Droids). But I don't think George Lucas cares about his fans.

[Megalodon]

Yes people I do understand partial episodes from Droids etc. but that's NOT the point of this thread it's having the FULL COMPLETE series not 2-3 episodes here & there..

[He-Dad]

some of those are on Netflix instant streaming....do they stream things not released on DVD? (Godzilla and the 80's spiderman cartoons)

[Starshine]

I'm also curious why all the MOTU/POP DVDs we've gotten don't have subtitles, or are even closed-caption. I like to read while I watch LOL.
~RK

[Lord Anubis]

Yup Visionaries was released VERY limitedly I believe over sea's and discontinued quickly.

However Im still waiting on Bionic 6. That would be amazing.

[Firefly]

Centurions has the mini-series release from Warner Archive. Hopefully, Warner Archive releases the rest. They've been really slow with GoBots as well.

DisneyDVD has e-mailed people back including myself to say that the rest of Gargoyles is coming out this year, but there still has been no official press release on it.
http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...ight=Gargoyles

MASK's final 10 episodes are owned by another company. I asked if it was Cookie Jar and Shout told me it was somebody else (but wouldn't say who).

Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors Volume 2 with the remaining episodes is supposed to come out early next year from Mill Creek. Shout's license for DiC shows expired at the end of 2011.

[Megalodon]

Thanks Firefly I forgot about the Go-Bots!

Funny thing is that they take the time to stream it (which costs) but they won't make a cheap DVD set....

And the one's that REALLY are a head scratcher are the one's that got a DVD release and they never finish them...(Transformers Animated Season 3 etc.)

You make the two seasons but not the last??? Really!??

[Wonderboy_JMB]

Well, not to be too harsh, but we're nerds. Just because we love and remember these shows doesn't mean everyone does and wants them on dvd. DVD sales on cartoon boxed sets are pretty low across the board whether they are current or vintage. "Our" demographic isn't large enough to justify it. He-Man/She-Ra were phenomenons, but their dvds sold in such low numbers that BCI decided not to release ANY more cartoon series at all. It's the same all around and Jayce and the Wheel Warriors may have the most kickass theme song ever, but it's no He-Man and if He-Man couldn't sell well enough to justify it, then most of those other shows don't have a chance.

Another thing I've found is most people's sense of nostalgia is sated by watching a couple of clips on Youtube. They may remember and like certain shows, but after watching some episodes on there, they're good.

[gbagok]

Nerds, schmerds, the sooner they put some of these old shows out either as instant video or ondemand dvds, the better chance of actually getting money from customers who even remember these things.

Shows I'd still like to own:
Galtar and the Golden Lances
Space Stars

Both HB shows that I hope Warner Archives puts out eventually. Galtar particularly was a great sword and sorcery TV show in the model of He-Man and Pirates of Darkwater. I actually have a bootleg of it too and it holds up better than some other shows that did get rereleased, at least IMO.

Also the original Darkwater miniseries with Roddy McDowell as Niddler would be nice to get. I loved it's opening title sequence, much more epic than the final series got IMO.

[BCI Guy]

He-Man/She-Ra were phenomenons, but their dvds sold in such low numbers that BCI decided not to release ANY more cartoon series at all. It's the same all around and Jayce and the Wheel Warriors may have the most kickass theme song ever, but it's no He-Man and if He-Man couldn't sell well enough to justify it, then most of those other shows don't have a chance.

Your history is off (but your point is sound). He-Man and She-Ra sold great. Other than the 5 Godzilla movies we put out in the 90s (edit..oh man, that was Simitar Entertainment...), they were the best selling licensed product in the company's history. He-Man more than paid for itself. The problem was all the other cartoons we put out. Ghostbusters, Defenders of The Earth, Prince Valiant, Groovie Goolies, etc. None of those sold well. At all. If all those other ones sold 20% of what He-Man did, BCI would still be in business.

And its the same thing for the majors. Take WB for example, Thundercats sold GREAT, Silverhawks tanked.

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Funny thing is that they take the time to stream it (which costs) but they won't make a cheap DVD set....

And the one's that REALLY are a head scratcher are the one's that got a DVD release and they never finish them...(Transformers Animated Season 3 etc.)

You make the two seasons but not the last??? Really!??

These both make perfect sense.

1. Physical media costs MUCH more than streaming. You have to pay to create the media, you have to pay to store the media, you have to pay to ship the media, and if it doesn't sell, you have to take it back and either store it forever, destroy it, or sell it off at a loss. Now if you are talking strictly MOD sets, then its much less risky, but it still takes set-up money and manpower, so if a studio doesn't think they'll sell enough to make it worth their while, they'll allocate those resources to something that will.

As far as starting, but not finishing, are you familiar with the term "throwing good money after bad"? Because its not uncommon for DVD sets to not make back the money they cost to produce (unrecouped is the term). And subsequent seasons/volumes always sell less than the previous ones. So if you made a little money on S1, broke even on S2, you are likely to lose money on S3.

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I'm also curious why all the MOTU/POP DVDs we've gotten don't have subtitles, or are even closed-caption. I like to read while I watch LOL.
~RK

Here is a good post by Brian Ward of Shout! Factory on the costs of subtitling:

http://www.rangerboard.com/showpost....postcount=3929

[Megalodon]

As far as starting, but not finishing, are you familiar with the term "throwing good money after bad"? Because its not uncommon for DVD sets to not make back the money they cost to produce (unrecouped is the term). And subsequent seasons/volumes always sell less than the previous ones. So if you made a little money on S1, broke even on S2, you are likely to lose money on S3.

Yes but doesn't Paramount own the cartoon rights or is Hasbro still the owner? It was a popular series and the DVD's didn't last long around me so it wonders if Hasbro owns those rights and they seem to be tying up loose ends when it comes to G1 Transformers,G.I. Joe,Jem Etc. why not finish this series I think to date Animated is the only American TF series that is not complete on DVD...

And as stated before the 1999 Godzilla The Series was WAY better than the movie it came from why only release 2 or 3 DVD's that get made into "movies" from the episodes??? That is utter crap! with those 3 lame releases you probably could have put the whole series on those same 3 discs....

I don't get it when VHS/Beta were around they have EVERY type of movie,tv show,etc. out no matter how bad it was and now with better technology they can't get things released like they should I was happy as hell to finally get Thundarr on DVD it could have been a better released DVD but at least I have it now...Someday

[BCI Guy]

Hasbro owns those rights and they seem to be tying up loose ends when it comes to G1 Transformers,G.I. Joe,Jem Etc. why not finish this series I think to date Animated is the only American TF series that is not complete on DVD.

Hasbro licensed those shows out to Shout! Factory. As a smaller studio, Shout doesn't need to sell as many copies to make an acceptable profit.

[Darkspecter]

I want the following series on DVD (I think Mill Creek has the rights to all of them):

- Double Dragon
- BattleToads
- Action Man
- Knights of the Zodiac
- Mummies Alive
- Street Sharks

I know there have been volume sets with a handful of episodes on them for some of these series, but I want the FULL series!

[He-Dad]

I want the following series on DVD (I think Mill Creek has the rights to all of them):

- Double Dragon
- BattleToads
- Action Man
- Knights of the Zodiac
- Mummies Alive
- Street Sharks

I know there have been volume sets with a handful of episodes on them for some of these series, but I want the FULL series!

I too want Battle Toads and Mummies Alive!!!

[Megalodon]

Hasbro licensed those shows out to Shout! Factory. As a smaller studio, Shout doesn't need to sell as many copies to make an acceptable profit.

So I take it Hasbro owns the rights to distribute Animated as well or are the rights with Paramount??

[Nemisythe]

SERIOUSLY????

No one has mentioned.... BIONIC SIX!!!

I also would've preferred...

1.Visionaries
2.Centurions (have those on VHS)
3.The Rest of the Silverhawks, Gargoyles and Exo-Squad (since I have the first sets)
4.The Spiral Zone
5.The Mighty Orbots

Just to name a few of mine!

[diosoth]

Mill Creek released Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd Century, they'll release practically anything they can get the rights to, and don't take a real loss because they sell their stuff dirt cheap. Cheap packaging(paper sleeves rather than proper cases to hold discs), and cramming lots of episodes onto a disc help out their budget. Plus they often get the rights for dirt cheap. I think the only "expensive" set Mill Creek makes is Howdy Doody, and that's a guaranteed sell because it's Americana.

Shout's problem is, they release stuff with little fanfare, the sets are expensive, and they sell poor because no one really knows they exist, leaving the rest of the series in limbo. And they had the problem Rhino had- licensing up whatever they could get their hands on regardless of how many fans are around to buy it, and making big deluxe sets that sell poorly. Rhino pretty much shut down because of this, releasing too many expensive high-end DVD sets of shows no one wanted. Shout's a discount, sure, but they're still doing the same thing. Just because they can release it doesn't mean they should. I don't know of anyone who'd buy a Beverly Hills Teens box set, beyond a few hardcore 80s nostalgia types which might mean a couple hundred sales, but most anyone else will just look at it and think, "that show exists? Wow..." and then pass it by because it's just not got enough people interested. I mean, that's one of those things I wouldn't take as a gift. I know it's almost blasphemy to say but not every 80s cartoon was golden. A lot of them would linger on store shelves, and if I were running my own business selling DVDs I'd probably decline a lot of stuff for fear of it not moving copies. Back when Suncoast/Media Play was still going I saw a lot of those types of TV shows sit on shelves for months, eventually put on clearance.

Then there's stuff tied up for various reasons. Some of it is music rights, and paying $50,000 to license a song isn't worth it for something that might be a budget title. Married With Children got the lame remake theme because licensing Sinatra would have cost more than the sets would have made. But people are real picky now and don't like buying DVD sets with missing music. Plus sometimes it's just tied up because the owner doesn't want it out. Earthworm Jim will never see DVD release because one person who owns the franchise rights hates the cartoon.

You might think they could cut the cost of making DVDs by streaming but that honestly is not cheaper to do. Bandwidth costs a lot of money. If you've ever seen those Xbox Live Arcade retail discs with 3 or 4 games on them, they cost as much as downloading 1 game via Live does. DVDs are actually far cheaper.

And I hate to say it, but while piracy isn't the massive threat that the companies like to claim(they assume that every downloader would have purchased, which isn't the case), it's still going to cut into sales. Piracy has gotten much easier over the years. They're competing with whether or not the thing will sell to start with, and now have to worry about people who'd prefer it for free.

[Dragon78]

Kim Possible(seasons 3 & 4)
W.i.t.c.h.
Ducktales(the rest)
Gummi Bears(the rest)
Gargoyles(the rest)
Kidd Video
Talespin(the rest)
Chip N Dale's Rescue Rangers(the rest)
Pole Position
Darkwing Duck(the rest)
Jackie Chan Adventures
Dexter's Lab season 2
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends(season3+)
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy(the rest)
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Smurfs(season2+)
Jana of the Jungle
Snorks
The Tick(season 3)
Inspector Gadget(the rest)
Dinosaucers
Galtar and the Golden Lance
Yogi's Treasure Hunt
Count Duckula(the rest)
Paw Paw Bears

[Megalodon]

God I almost forgot Tranzor Z!

WAY overdue....