Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Just for the record I want to make it clear that I am reviewing the DVD box set of the TV series 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' unlike at least half of the other reviewers on these pages who have reviewed the original Telemovie. As for my review, let me add my voice to the chorus in saying how wonderful it is to finally have all 20 episodes of the series on DVD. The show has been a favourite of mine since it's initial run in Australia, and has never lost its sparkle, largely due to excellent performances by the cast. I'm not going to cover the actual content here, other reviews that were on the right subject have done that well enough. I am VERY disappointed in the manner the series has been released. Universal needs to understand that double sided DVDs are a thing of the past. I hate them; they are difficult to look after, and due to the 4-pass process, more prone to failure. Surely with the cost of media today, it would not have made a noticeable difference in cost to release these as single sided/dual layer discs. I know MGM released the Telemovies as a Flipper as well, but at least they cleaned up the source material and added some extras. A little effort was shown, unlike Universal's continuing stream of bare bones and 'near enough' attempts. Picture quality is also of a dubious nature. OK, so the show is called 'The NIGHT Stalker', that doesn't mean you're not supposed see anything!!! The Ripper in the first episode virtually vanishes in his black suit in the dark, to the point where you don't know what's happening at times. Brightness and contrast have been adjusted so that information contained in these dark areas has 'blended together'. No amount of adjustment on your TV will let you see any more. Universal have done little or nothing to improve the picture quality of these episodes. I have VHS tapes of the show, and while they are of course, lower in resolution, there is virtually NO difference in image clarity. Aside from the hopefully more permanent nature of DVD media, there is little to no reason to spend your money chasing a better image. You won't find it here. I read in a newsgroup recently that Universal executives have passed an order allowing no more than 2 hours restoration to be done on a single episode from any of their catalogue being released to DVD. That would barely be enough time to identify problems, let alone put them right. For a startling comparison, check out the work that the BBC restoration team are putting into restoring Doctor Who and other titles from their archives ([...] It puts most other studios to shame. In closing, if you buy this box set, you'll have the series, just not in a condition that it deserves, given the popularity and fan base it has inspired in it's lifetime. 1 star for Universal's handling of the set, 5 stars for the episodes themselves. Caveat Emptor!