Pre-Order The Bionic Woman: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases

 

[MBrousseau]

This is a great news, even though Shout will certainly use Universal's 2010 HD masters that were downgraded for standard definition for the DVD releases.

 

[MattHR]

This is a great news, even though Shout will certainly use Universal's 2010 HD masters that were downgraded for standard definition for the DVD releases.

That is correct. My hope is that Universal and/or SF has corrected the many audio flaws that plagued those masters. The Bionic Woman isn't the only show to suffer from flawed audio (severely muffled dialog, and/or music and sound FX), as Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk, Airwolf, The Rockford Files, and Quincy also suffer from the same problem — even on their Blu-ray releases.

 

[MattHR]

That is correct. My hope is that Universal and/or SF has corrected the many audio flaws that plagued those masters. The Bionic Woman isn't the only show to suffer from flawed audio (severely muffled dialog, and/or music and sound FX), as Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk, Airwolf, The Rockford Files, and Quincy also suffer from the same problem — even on their Blu-ray releases.

Here is a link to a video posted on YouTube by a fan that offers a great comparison of the severely flawed audio on an episode of The Bionic Woman ("The Return of Bigfoot, Part II") from the 2010 master against a different print that can be streamed right now on nbc.com. This is proof that Universal has better elements, but for some insane reason refuses to repair the flawed audio on their otherwise beautiful HD masters. This muffled audio is present on almost all episodes — sometimes for just brief instances, but in the case of "Return of Bigfoot", the entire episode is affected.

 

[MattHR]

Here is a link to a video posted on YouTube by a fan that offers a great comparison of the severely flawed audio on an episode of The Bionic Woman ("The Return of Bigfoot, Part II") from the 2010 master against a different print that can be streamed right now on nbc.com. This is proof that Universal has better elements, but for some insane reason refuses to repair the flawed audio on their otherwise beautiful HD masters. This muffled audio is present on almost all episodes — sometimes for just brief instances, but in the case of "Return of Bigfoot", the entire episode is affected.

There is great reason to be concerned that these flaws will show up on the upcoming Blu-ray sets, since they are present on the "Return of Bigfoot, Part II" included on the 2018 German Six Million Dollar Man Blu-ray set. Also, every episode is likewise affected on the 2018 German SD-on-Blu-ray release of The Bionic Woman: The Complete Series. These flaws can be traced all the way back to the three BW crossover episodes that first appeared on the 2010 Time-Life SMDM DVD set, then again on the U.K. Fabulous Films SMDM and BW complete sets, and finally, the various season and complete sets issued in the U.S. by Universal on their own label.

Fabulous Films deserves credit for repairing a handful of episodes, once the problem was brought to their attention. Time restraints and access to elements prevented them from fixing all of them, but at least they were able to fix some of them.

Luckily, I have yet to come across the same muffled audio syndrome on any of the HD Six Million Dollar Man episodes on Turbine's 2018 German Blu-ray set, which look absolutely stunning. These are the same HD masters being used for Shout's release (albeit without the German edits and title credit alterations). How and why the audio has become so distorted on so many Universal releases since 2010 remains a mystery, since they have never responded with any sort of acknowledgement of the persistent problem. It's very unfortunate, since these Blu-ray releases will very likely be the "final word" for these shows on physical media. I seriously doubt the people who choose to stream them would even care about the audio problems, which is likely why Universal doesn't seem to care either.

 

[Hank E]

Regarding the audio issues: does anybody have contacts at Shout to see if they have addressed the issue? I have the region 2 DVD set from the UK that I would gladly loan to them if they can use it to fix everything.

 

[ScottRE]

I get that Shout is a niche label and their MSRPs are going to be a little higher, but this is really overpriced for a 3 season series. The Bionic Woman is a $70 set if ever there was one. I'll hang back until we get reports of sound and PQ but I may just sit tight with my DVDs, which are really not bad at all.

 

[KML10]

This was just posted on The Digital Bits website from Shout! Factory:


For this first ever Blu-ray release of The Bionic Woman, Shout! Factory has used the episode masters supplied to us by our licensor, which were transferred in 2010 from interpositive film elements struck from the original negatives. Due to forces outside of anyone’s control, the original broadcast versions of the series are no longer in existence, and these masters supplied to us are the best known masters available today. During the production process for this set, we were made aware that previous home entertainment editions of The Bionic Womanhad audio issues relating to these masters. While we did not use any unapproved or unverified sources, we have done some additional work to the most affected episodes to tweak the audio quality to best match what fans remember from the original run.”

 

[MattHR]

Adding my two cents...

Here is SF's official statement as posted today at thedigitalbits.com. I can virtually guarantee this carefully-worded claptrap was crafted by Universal and SF had no choice but to go with it.

"For this first ever Blu-ray release of The Bionic Woman, Shout! Factory has used the episode masters supplied to us by our licensor, which were transferred in 2010 from interpositive film elements struck from the original negatives. Due to forces outside of anyone’s control, the original broadcast versions of the series are no longer in existence, and these masters supplied to us are the best known masters available today. During the production process for this set, we were made aware that previous home entertainment editions of The Bionic Woman had audio issues relating to these masters. While we did not use any unapproved or unverified sources, we have done some additional work to the most affected episodes to tweak the audio quality to best match what fans remember from the original run.”

 

[John*Wells]

Are all episodes Cleared? No Music rights issues or any other legal roadblocks?

 

[MattHR]

Are all episodes Cleared? No Music rights issues or any other legal roadblocks?

There have never been any music clearance issues with either show. The only problem with music has been in the episodes where it has been "muffled" and not clearly audible, most notably in "Road to Nashville" and "The Return of Bigfoot: Part II." Fabulous Films restored RTN for their U.K. DVD release, so at least it exists somewhere in good condition.

 

[mark27b]

.

 

[ScottRE]

Due to forces outside of anyone’s control, the original broadcast versions of the series are no longer in existence,

So where did the DVD prints come from. They aren't the syndicated cuts. All of the credits are in the right place for all of the crossovers. This hits me as strange. Or bullshit.

 

[moviebuff75]

Unless you can check from a film print, you can never be sure if the finished episode was broadcast without any changes. Or if any changes happened for the first repeat on the network. Maybe they mean no original broadcast prints of the show exist. I know a lot of prints were lost in the Universal fire.

 

[DeWilson]

Unless you can check from a film print, you can never be sure if the finished episode was broadcast without any changes. Or if any changes happened for the first repeat on the network. Maybe they mean no original broadcast prints of the show exist. I know a lot of prints were lost in the Universal fire.

There is that myth about the Universal Fire AGAIN - Universal DID NOT lose any master prints of shows shot on 35mm - the "vault" that went up was a working vault, not the master vault. The tape transfers for syndication, and 35mm theatrical prints used for the revival circuit.

The reason certain shows haven't been seen since the fire, is the studio doesn't want to spend the funds to make transfers unless they can make a profit. Look how long it took before new transfers of LARAMIE and THE MEN FROM SHILO were made available. They had cable deals for both shows.

Again, no master elements of shows, or films, shot in 35mm were lost in the 2008 fire. Those were all safe and sound elsewhere.

 

[moviebuff75]

I didn't say they lost masters. I said broadcast prints.

 

[brynmill]

Anyone bought/seen this yet. Not seen any reviews of this new release yet

 

[KML10]

I have it. The video looks very good, if not as crisp and vibrant as the SMDM set. The audio is fine, for the most part, except for those few episodes that have plagued us for years now. The new extras are pretty good, the audio commentaries from director Alan J. Levi are interesting and insightful. Overall I recommend it.

 

[bmasters9]

There is that myth about the Universal Fire AGAIN - Universal DID NOT lose any master prints of shows shot on 35mm - the "vault" that went up was a working vault, not the master vault. The tape transfers for syndication, and 35mm theatrical prints used for the revival circuit.

The reason certain shows haven't been seen since the fire, is the studio doesn't want to spend the funds to make transfers unless they can make a profit. Look how long it took before new transfers of LARAMIE and THE MEN FROM SHILO were made available. They had cable deals for both shows.

Again, no master elements of shows, or films, shot in 35mm were lost in the 2008 fire. Those were all safe and sound elsewhere.

So basically, when it came to the poor-quality prints of Emergency! (which did not affect my enjoyment of that hit NBC medical/action series; still worth the money on DVD), it was not because any originals were destroyed? That's how I'm understanding this.

 

[Jeff*H]

My Blu-ray set arrived today and I glanced at a few of the Season 1 episodes. They definitely are a nice upgrade from the DVD set, and to me seem comparable in quality to the recent SMDM Blu-ray release, although the title sequences seem a bit rough visually starting around the “Starring Lindsey Wagner” mark, image seems a bit washed out. It was like this on the DVDs, too, as I recall.

I also recall someone on HTF mentioning that the BW HD transfers were done a few years before the SMDM transfers, but I didn’t seem to notice much difference in quality. I didn’t notice the muffled audio in the episodes I looked at, either.
My only complaint at this point, not having reviewed more of the episodes, is the price, which likely will drop a bit by the holidays.