DVD Boxset

I've seen images on the internet of a dodgy-looking BLoSC boxset of both series. I can't find it on any legitimate online store, but does anyone know if one really exists?

If not, are there DVDs/VHSs of individual episodes? I know they do that with quite a few TV cartoons.

No, unfortunately. There are no traces of DVDs or VHS tapes of the series anywhere, as far as I know. Even if people claim to have the series on DVD/VHS, I wouldn't go asking for those, since they'll probably want to sell you them, and it's illegal to sell bootlegged DVDs/VHS tapes.

The best bet is to either get the episodes recorded from VHS tapes and put them onto your computer, or just view them online. You could download them, if you want. For me, I just couldn't download them because Jiminy Cricket (my conscience) is very...influential, and It's so strong that I couldn't do it.

But there is one way to get the series out on DVD: write to Disney and DVD companies saying you want to see BLoSC on DVD, and give your reasons for it. It worked well with the Danny Phantom series, so it could very well work with BLoSC. We need to get a lot of people to write letters, though...

BTW, Welcome to the board! Hope you enjoy your stay here!

Thanks, it's great to be here!

I have already downloaded the episodes, I was just wondering if there is a legally legitimate way of owning them.

Like you say, owning them illegally doesn't bring good health to the conscience. If they ever did bring out a boxset, I would definitely buy it in a heartbeat. It's a shame Disney just doesn't pay much attention to their older programs.

You would have thought that they would air the cartoon again during Toy Story 3's release? That really confused me. They could have made quite a bit of money from that.

If a petition were to be made, it would probably be wise to advertise it on Pixar fan sites, such as Pixar Planet. Then, all of the would-be fans and nostalgists, who liked the series but never got involved with the fanbase, would have a chance to sign. That would boost the number of signatures.

I don't think that the fanbase is particularly small, it's just that the series has been off the air for so long, meaning that a lot of original fans just aren't interested anymore.

Perhaps it's worth a try! There are a few petition sites on the internet, but I've never participated in one before.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Steel!

Well, as far as I know doing digital TV recordings is perfectly legal. Either with a Digital Receiver (My dad can do that - it's build in in the gadget - and the one of my friend is even able to burn things; I don't think they'd sell those in store when it's illegal) or digital recording services like "Online TV Recorder". There was never anything illegal in recording movies from TV via VHS too, since (from my last information) you paid for it via GEZ and the actual price of the VHS (nowadays the DVD Raw); AND you had to deal with the commercials inbetween (unavoidable when recording full movies) or stop your recording and time it right before the movie restarted.

I think if you can somehow record the series all by yourself, you're save. Of course there are hosts on the internet that offer them for download - and I do say, I do not trust THEM - because the sharing of your recordings is the only illegal part as to my information (whether or not you pay for the "sharing"). For private use you are free to record.
(I feel no guilt whatsoever about the TV recordings I did on my own of House of Mouse and American Dragon when they aired. They come with a big filesize and about half as much comercials pre and post the actual episode.)

When something airs on free-TV it's fair-game. (things might be different for Pay-TV)
Despite that all, I still support buying the DVD for a) no TV logo b) no commercials c) multiple languages (somtimes) d) uncut - if the TV censors/or in the case of series "banned" episodes e) spiffy extras f) CHAPTERS - that's right, scene selection makes it all a lot more comfortable and obviously g) better quality

PS:
Please bear in mind, that this is how it is here in Germany - I dunno how that fairs with the international regulations. While I tots do not support it, over here it's apparently legal to watch streams of movies/series online as long as you do not up or download them (We have seminars about that kind of stuff because of our own produced material; and I do guess those people know what they're talking about.)
And no, Germany is NOT awesome for that - we can't even use half of Youtube MUSIC wise, because our Gema has it all blocked xD

Here is how I think this should be interpreted: Some of our TV-channels offer streams, where you can watch what's currently airing on the internet real-time. It does NOT mean movies that have been uploaded on the internet - because see that's where it's illegal again. Plus, while watching a stream it 'downloads' temporary files. Loopholes yay.

So (at least over here) you're still best off in doing recordings on your own if no DVD is available.
As mentioned above - while the money does not go to the production company - you pay for the recordings when you buy the RAW DVDs - or if you do not decide to burn, the disk space.
And that can be even MORE expensive than if there actually were a DVD to buy xD

I suppose you're right in that it's technically not illegal - Disney aren't losing any money from people downloading a show that isn't aired anymore and hasn't been released on DVD.

All of those advantages of DVD you listed just make me want a boxset even more...

They could get mega stroppy at people for downloading Planet of the Lost when that ultra-rare VHS is out there somewhere!

Steel wrote:

Well, Danny Phantom had a huge fanbase. I don't think our fanbase is that big. But then again... do you think some sort of petition might help? I'll admit lately I've been feeling like everyone who worked on the series didn't care for it as much as they should have, which might also be one of the reasons BLoSC isn't talked about much. Bah, money. Why does it always have to be about money?

I guess if gathering signatures would work, we should go ahead and do it! I wouldn't know how to set something like that up, though. Any ideas?

Hmm...well, if I recall right from my experience in the Danny Phantom fanbase, the moderators there came up with a HUGE list of people to write to when it was found out the show was going to stop airing new episodes after a certain number of episodes went on the air. Let me see if I can trace back a few sources and ideas...

Well, one way I remember is that whenever a DP fan would write to Nickelodean and Viacom, they would not only give off their reasons why the show should continue on, they would also write up a list of information about the show-Internet fame, any awards it won, articles it was featured in, merchandise, you name it. There were also a bunch of addresses to DVD companies, asking the companies to release them onto DVD, giving their reasons, and again, giving them information as to why it should be on DVD. If we could find some addresses to write to, like to Disney or the DVD companies, we could probably do the same thing.

Think of it like a win-win scenario: we tell them what we want, and in return, they will get some money from people who grew up with the show, or want to see good entertainment! It may not be easy, since it will take time before they consider the decision, but if we continually write to various people like the wind, nagging-er, I mean, asking for the series to be put on DVD, anything can happen. I mean, it was quite a long time before Darkwing Duck got put onto DVD, so what's not to say BLoSC can't be put onto DVD?

I suppose a lot of reasoning would be required for Disney and a DVD company to put a 10-year-old cartoon, with a relatively small fanbase, onto DVD. I wonder if Disney would even consider it - The Adventure Begins is still warming shelves in HMV stores near me.

I guess the first thing to do would be to put together these reasons, which could be used in messages to the companies. I'll start it off:

- The series is recognised for winning the 2001 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Special Class, and for being nominated for the 2001 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program and the 2001 Motion Pictures Sound Editors, USA Golden Reel Awards for Best Sound Editing - Television Animated Series - Sound and Best Sound Editing - Television Animation - Music.

- A DVD release could attract newer Toy Story fans towards the series, increasing the fanbase, and making a greater profit.

- The recent release of Toy Story 3, as well as the recent Toy Story Toons, could boost interest in the boxset.

I recieved a box set of 13 dvd's of the series for christmas two years ago, but it came from Amazon. Someone really talented made it, becase it pretty much could be a legite box set. box with logo/ warning labels and everything, specially printed disks, cool looking menus and blah, but you can tell the disks were taped because in the middle of episodes it will stop for commercial breaks and then pop back up or shout something about whats coming up next. that aside, its pretty amazing.

Wowee, does it have a reasonable screen resolution? The only things holding me back from putting my own collection of the series on DVD are the crappy resolutions of the videos and the chance that Disney may actually release it someday.

Any chance you could show some pics?

Why of course! but i'll have to wait till i get home, where the set is. And the resolutions are pretty reasonable, except for one episode (inside job) the wallpapers and posters ive made use screenshots from the disks

Steel wrote:
I'll admit lately I've been feeling like everyone who worked on the series didn't care for it as much as they should have, which might also be one of the reasons BLoSC isn't talked about much

Personally, I think BLoSC was just an accident (a very good one for us tho! ) I think Disney/Pixar made TAB just trying to make more money out of Toy Story 1 before actually MAKING TT2 then they saw how big a one hit wonder it was and said 'Hey! Another franchise!' (thus our fandom was born! ) and when the hub-bub died down so did the writers payroll. lol, I could be totally off base, this is just what I think happend!

My thought on making your own, is that as long as you don't try to make money off of it, it would be ok. I mean it's not like it's any different from using a VHS tape to record it off the air, right?

My set is something similar to Pythonmelon's (except not as fancy unfotunatly). I spent the better part of a month searching for it on DVD, with no luck (don't know how I managed to miss it on Amazon ) so I put together my own using Windows DVD Maker, it ended up looking pretty good, the resolution is decent and I even made a main menu and a scene selection menu with clips from the episodes. All in all the episodes took up seven (150min. a disc) blank discs. The most frustrating part was the waiting, took the better part of an hour to burn one disc! I'm with you guys tho, Disney was NUTS to not put it out, especially when Toy Story 3 came out. I think they're just being stubborn now! Even tho I have the movie and my homemade set, I would STILL buy it in a heartbeat if Disney put it out. If someone deciedes to start a petition I will sign it faster than you can say infinity.

Deleted Scenes are always badass, though with a Series it might be going a tad too far...
Other than that I am not too picky on DVD extras really xD

One thing I LOVE to see is the background stuff. EG:

- The Voice actors, Storyboard and completed animation for one of the episodes. (They did this in one of the early American Dad DVDs and it was interesting to see the whole episode read out in script form, and how the voice actors looked when they were reading their lines - plus it added in deleted scenes and it was amusing to see how the episode had changed from it's first reading)
- How the show was made. (Going from the first idea to the finished episode)
- Interviews with either the characters or the cast.
- I forget what the last one is but it's where people talk over an episode (especially if they add in the characters every now and again like Meet the Robinsons did) I love hearing people remembering things they were going to leave in/cut out and it also gives you an insight to things you'd never know otherwise (eg whether or not they were ever going to draw Buzz without a headpiece)

Maybe they should make a whole box set with an entire disk for extras. Can you imagine how much stuff you could have on that disk alone? -looks up, imagining- (why do people look up when they think? Do they think the ceiling is a giant ipad with all their thoughts on it?)

An entire disc for the special features? that would be great! and the commentary idea is great ^^ hearing what people remember about the pilot and making of the show would be very interesting, and I can only imagine the facial expressions some people make when they were reading the lines. Some deleted scenes or incompleted episodes would also be fantastic. Bios and character sheet could also be very useful, and maybe even an improved version of the villains game of the dvd release of the pilot?

I like the idea of sending letters with reasons why they should release a dvd set.

We just need to find the right email address. I'm not sure who you're supposed to send this type inquiry to. hmm.

If we look at Disney compared to other companies as far as shows put on DVD and the overall quality, I think we would be lucky to get anything to turn in favor of BLoSC. And we should complain because with as much money as Disney has they could afford to put together something nice for all the cartoons they had on in the 90s and early 2000s. There really isn't a reason why they can't. They're just not that bright.

But I will let the good fellow from Nothing But Cartoons explain a similar point with humorous accuracy:
http://cartoon-watching.blogspot.com/2012/05/animated-shows-on-dvd-how-some.html

P.S. he's also got a review of the episode Wirewolf, if no one's seen it yet.

Wow, Rook. I didn't think the Darkwing Duck DVDs would be that bad. I was thinking about buying those too.

You (and the blogger) made a great point. With all the money Disney makes, there is no excuse not to have DVD sets for all their animated shows. Good quality DVD sets that is.

Heck, BLoSC fans would volunteer to help make it.

Sorry to sort of raise this topic from the dead, but I recently made an Amaray case-scale boxset cover (i.e. a cover that fits any regular DVD case), which I plan on using for my own boxset. If anyone else wants to use it, feel free:



The only problem is, obviously the whole series doesn't fit onto one or two discs in one case, but I just thought I'd upload it for those interested.

EDIT: The cover went bonkers with colours and resolutions when I uploaded it, so it's probably best to PM me for it.

The problem is, I don't know who we'd write to besides Walt Disney Home Entertainment. Many other cartoons are produced by independent companies who don't have their own publishing division - hence the need for separate companies who publish the series. However, Disney rely upon the above division to publish just about all of their productions (including stuff related to Buena Vista and Touchstone), and even if we were to request a separate company to produce the series, they would need permission from Disney first, though permission from Disney would probably be easier for them to achieve than for us, since they're professionals.

I can snoop around for a few companies to contact (there are a few that I vaguely know of who publish quite obscure cartoons with small fanbases), but I don't know if contacting them would help. Still, keep trying!