Pokémon on DVD

[The Great Mido]

Hi! I live in the UK and am looking into buying the season 1, 5 and 6 Pokémon box sets (I'll hold off on season 2 'til the re-release). I can get them all, including postage costs, for around £110 off the good old 'net. I'm looking for anyone who already has the sets to comment on stuff like whether they're good value for money, what the visual/audio quality is like or anything else worth knowing.

I'd also like to know whether there's any word at all on seasons 3, 4, 7 and 8 being released in box sets, as it's a little awkward to buy individual DVDs.

Thanks in advance for any help on these matters!

 

[Dogasu]

Seasons 1, 5, and 6...I assume you're talking about Indigo, Master Quest, and Advanced?

My opinions of the first set are kind of mixed. On the one hand, the sets are really, really bad. The video looks like absolute shit (cramming nine episodes per disc without knowing what the hell you're doing will do that), the extras are non-existent despite the insane number of possibilities that exist, and the sets only contain the edited TV dub.

On the other hand...they're incredibly cheap. For many Americans, they're only paying about $1 or $2 per episode; it's hard to find a better deal than that. So while the sets may be terrible from a collector's point of view, they're perfect for someone who just wants to sit back one afternoon and watch some episodes they haven't seen in years and years. They're great if you see yourself as a more "casual" fan.

The Master Quest set has the same problems that the Indigo set has, but the fact that the last few episodes are digitally painted makes the video problems not seem so bad.

Advanced definitely has the best video of the three sets, but they still have the no extras problem.

 

[The Great Mido]

Thanks for the response - I'm glad I came here before going any further...

I'm not really bothered about a lack of extras, but the visual quality is important to me. Just how bad are we talking? How well would you say the DVDs would stand up to episodes recorded on to video tape, for example? And how large is the difference in quality between these DVDs and the movies/Chronicles ones?

By the way, sorry for all the questions; I just want to be clear on what would undoubtedly be a large investment. Perhaps I should just buy one box for the moment so I can assess the quality myself...

 

[Dogasu]

Start here and work your way through the first nine comparisons. You'll see a picture of the Japanese version of the episode on the left (taken from an .avi file) while a screencap from the DVD box set is on the right. IIRC, I tried to do some color correction to the DVD caps in the first comparison or two, but after that I just said "screw it" and left them as is for the rest of the comparisons.

As you can see, the colors are way oversaturated and are way too bright. This is even easier to see when you click on each image and view the full-size version. I guess it looks alright when you're watching it on a TV from across the room, but when you take screencaps and analyze it, it really looks quite terrible.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Yeah, the "no extras" thing leaves me quite baffled....

Especially when I think about all the nice extras they've added to the Pokemon movie DVDs.


I mean, I don't understand why they couldn't have added something like, "Interviews with the Voice Actors" or "The Cast's Favorite Episodes" or something. Really, anything extra would've been a great addition for these box sets.

But anyway, speaking as someone who really enjoys watching old Pokemon episodes, things like the video quality aren't gonna bother me much.

 

[Dogasu]

Waitaminute...because you enjoy watching old episodes, you don't care about the video quality? That makes no sense whatsoever.


The no extras thing is really baffling since there's so much they could have done. I'm sure PUSA wouldn't really want to get the old VAs or any of the 4Kids people together to do commentaries or interviews (assuming there's bad blood between the two), but they still could have included production sketches (which wouldn't be too difficult for them to get a hold of), interviews with the writer of the first theme song, a simple little video about the franchise's popularity, a look at the games that the show's based on, interviews with the Japanese staff, an episode of the show in Japanese with subtitles (similar to the Astro Boy sets), a look at the skipped episodes, "Beauty and the Beach"...the possibilities are endless. Shoot, they could have even included some of the old TV commercials on the DVD...anyone remember that hilarious Kids' WB! ad where Kevin Conroy (as Batman) sang the Jigglypuff song? Why isn't that on DVD somewhere?

Then again, I see these sets being more of a budget release than anything else. Viz and PUSA are just slapping a bunch of episodes together to appease the nostalgia hungry casual fans, so they probably didn't see the need to go the extra mile to provide any sort of extras. It's a shame, really.

 

[Rhyperior]

extras will only make sets more expensive

 

[The Great Mido]

Wow, nice website!

But anyway, I can see exactly what you mean in those pictures. I suppose some altering of colour settings on my TV could help a tiny bit, but that really is a shoddy effort. Where did you get the Japanese shots from? If there are Japanese box sets then I might be interested in those instead.

extras will only make sets more expensive

I'd pay more just for enhanced quality, let alone extras.

 

[Dogasu]

The Japanese screenshots are from downloaded .avi files.


Which makes it even more sad. DVDs are supposed to look better than illegally downloaded files, not worse.

Unfortunately, there aren't any Japanese DVD box sets of the TV series at this time.

extras will only make sets more expensive

Honestly...I wouldn't care. The sets are cheap enough as it was. Adding an extra $5 or $10 to them wouldn't make or break a sale for me in the least.

 

[Sunain]

You could always import the Region 3 Taiwan box set from a Yahoo Japan Auction. A bit costly though, about 8,900yen for the box set. You can import it through a service like 'Shopping Mall Japan' but you'll be paying a premium.

You could also try getting them from a site like:
http://shopping.my-cartoon.com.tw/twecommerce/product_info.php?products_id=1486

I have the Raikou disk from that site. The quality is VERY good, probably the best quality Pokemon disk there is. I don't know about the AG/DP disks though, but I plan to get a set when I can afford it.

 

[The Great Mido]

Yeah, that is a steep price; I'll have to think about this carefully. Thanks for all the help everyone.

I do find it a bit odd that the show's country of origin doesn't have the episodes available. A bit of a missed opportunity really, as I'm sure loads of people from other countries would be interested in the original, unaltered episodes. Oh, well.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

anyone remember that hilarious Kids' WB! ad where Kevin Conroy (as Batman) sang the Jigglypuff song? Why isn't that on DVD somewhere?

If it was just WB doing the distributing, I don't think that'd be much of a problem, but it isn't, so there'd be tons of hurdles to leap through to get all the necessary copyrights. And for a 30-second ad, it wouldn't be worth it.

Which is a shame because it's a hilarious promo, but...

 

[AtoMan]

Which makes it even more sad. DVDs are supposed to look better than illegally downloaded files, not worse.

Depends. Fans care more about quality.

 

[XD375]

anyone remember that hilarious Kids' WB! ad where Kevin Conroy (as Batman) sang the Jigglypuff song? Why isn't that on DVD somewhere?

Yes, I remember that and more. I loved some of the old WB Pokémon-related commercials, and I'm currently wondering where they can be found online.

 

[Tim]

Say, please don't tell me that the J-OP's and J-ED's aren't included as easter eggs, which I have been expecting all along on the western DVD release.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Waitaminute...because you enjoy watching old episodes, you don't care about the video quality? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Ack.... >_<

Er, scratch that last comment. I really don't know what I was trying to say there. And for the record, I know I'm not the only one who loves watching old episodes, I'm just....more obsessed over them than most fans, so that's why I keep mentioning my love of the old episodes. ^_^

Anyway, I know this is the exact opposite of what I said earlier, but it's what I meant to say. Yes, I DO care about the video quality - because if for some reason, the DVDs were to have the same quality of say, VHS (or worse), then it would be a very annoying problem. And this would also have a negative effect on my enjoyment of the episodes, by making the DVDs difficult to watch.

Obviously, I exaggerated in my last post, when I said the video quality doesn't matter to me when I'm watching Pokemon. It does matter, but usually this isn't a big problem for me, because I'm satisfied with the DVD quality as it is.


So, was I making any sense this time, or was I flying off the handle again? Heh, you'll have to forgive my inability to say exactly what's on my mind, Dogasu.

I'm sorry, sometimes I just have problems explaining myself on forums (especially if my mind's on something else at the time). But, if I were speaking out loud, it'd be much easier for me, because I wouldn't be contradicting myself or saying random nonsense (which you know I have the habit of doing). ^^;

The no extras thing is really baffling since there's so much they could have done. I'm sure PUSA wouldn't really want to get the old VAs or any of the 4Kids people together to do commentaries or interviews (assuming there's bad blood between the two),

Yeah, that's true. And honestly, I believe there will always be some bad blood between those two.

But what I was referring to earlier was that, if 4Kids had anything to do with making these box sets, I'm pretty sure that we would've had a greater chance to see extras (and yes, the things you mentioned would've been most likely to appear). I mean, with the movies, 4Kids did a wonderful job on the extras. So the way I see it, they very well could've done something similar with the DVD box sets for the older seasons (that is, if 4Kids had anything to do with it - but I know it's just Pokemon USA and Viz now).

 

[Musashi]

Say, please don't tell me that the J-OP's and J-ED's aren't included as easter eggs, which I have been expecting all along on the western DVD release.

There isn't a single thing that's Japanese about the releases.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Yeah, they never have Japanese stuff on the DVDs, except for Jirachi: Wish Maker.

 

[Pokeyug]

You could always import the Region 3 Taiwan box set from a Yahoo Japan Auction. A bit costly though, about 8,900yen for the box set. You can import it through a service like 'Shopping Mall Japan' but you'll be paying a premium.

You could also try getting them from a site like:
http://shopping.my-cartoon.com.tw/twecommerce/product_info.php?products_id=1486

I have the Raikou disk from that site. The quality is VERY good, probably the best quality Pokemon disk there is. I don't know about the AG/DP disks though, but I plan to get a set when I can afford it.

Does this include the Japanese version?

 

[nYoo]

Oh Great! Soon, everyone here will buy off Yahoo ... -_-

(And I don't care if this makes me look arrogant or elitist or whatever)