Magnum Mania!

I don't have Magnum on blu-ray and I won't risk buying it until it is released in region A, but I did recently purchase the Mill Creek release of Quantum Leap on blu-ray and it looks awesome! It doesn't look as good as something like Hawaii Five-0 (2010), but compared to what QL looked like in 1989 on a 19" Panasonic that you still had to walk across the room to change the channel it's pretty amazing. There are no extras (not even subtitles) on the Mill Creek release, and in some darker scenes there is some graininess (outdoor scenes look awesome); but compared to what it looks like on the NBC streaming site it's a huge upgrade. So if Mill Creek does do a Magnum release, I'm all in. Giant TVs, HD, and blu-ray have certainly spoiled us!

Hi everyone! I've been lurking around for awhile hoping for news on a US version of Magnum on bluray. I've been checking here almost every day, and I realized that it would be nice to say hi to you all, and express how happy I am to see so many people that still love this show. Also, I wanted to let you all know that I recently discovered that all 8 seasons of Magnum is available on Starz in high definition ( via the Starz app) to hold us over until a true region A set comes along. I don't know if this had been mentioned here, but wanted to give you all the heads up in case it wasn't . I've been binge watching it casting it to my TV this past week, and it really looks great.

Macca24 wrote:Hi everyone! I've been lurking around for awhile hoping for news on a US version of Magnum on bluray. I've been checking here almost every day, and I realized that it would be nice to say hi to you all, and express how happy I am to see so many people that still love this show. Also, I wanted to let you all know that I recently discovered that all 8 seasons of Magnum is available on Starz in high definition ( via the Starz app) to hold us over until a true region A set comes along. I don't know if this had been mentioned here, but wanted to give you all the heads up in case it wasn't . I've been binge watching it casting it to my TV this past week, and it really looks great.

Welcome Maca24! Board isn't as active as it one was, but still a great crew of veterans. I think the only way they'd convince me to buy a new set of DVDs would be if there was a significant upgrade in quality and some great bonus features or episode commentary. I bought my DVDs early and paid top dollar, so Universal won't get more from me without a fight!

I've actually ripped all of my discs into MP4 and now watch them on my Apple TV. It's not as good quality as the disc itself but way more convenient. I guess the quality doesn't mean that much to me. I used to watch it on our old family Sony back in the early 80s so it was never the image quality that had me coming back for more.

So from some selective "searching and viewing" of these episodes , I can determine that the episode lengths, etc. are the same as the UK DVDs, and commercial breaks are certainly not abridged.

"L.A." and "The Man From Marseilles" are fully uncut, and in the case of "China Doll", its syncing issues regarding audio and music are no longer there. Rick's dialogue with the two tourists doesn't have music playing over it, and the Six Million Dollar Man sound effects seem to be in the right places now. I'm guessing the issues before had to do with the DVDs using a different source.

Improvement of PQ is definitely all but abandoned in season 8, which is a shame. Even in earlier season episodes where there's not a huge improvement over the DVDs, they still largely look good in general, but taking, say "Tigers Fan" for example, one could easily mistake it for a DVD print.

Hope this helps!

I just saw on Amazon that the Miami Vice blu-rays are less than $40!!! Ugh...why can't we get MAGNUM???

MagnumsLeftShoulder wrote:I just saw on Amazon that the Miami Vice blu-rays are less than $40!!! Ugh...why can't we get MAGNUM???

I thought the same thing! I keep looking to see an announcement from Mill Creek for Magnum, but there has been nothing so far . Here's hoping the upcoming BD release of Rockford Files does well financially and can help make a stateside release possible.

It's still way over priced here in the UK. I'll wait until the full BD set is $9.99

I e-mailed Mill Creek and this is the reply I got this morning.

Good Morning,

Thank you for contacting Mill Creek Entertainment with your product suggestion. Your e-mail has been forwarded to the appropriate parties for further review and consideration. Unfortunately, we do not have the manufacturing or the distribution rights to the Magnum P.I. television series.

Sincerely,

LYLE GOFF
CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER
cid:A57BACB4-1214-47B6-923A-D236FF4C4C73
15102 MINNETONKA INDUSTRIAL BLVD | SUITE 200 | MINNETONKA, MN 55345
office: (763) 259-3204 | toll free: (866) 410-9000

Huh, ok. Maybe Universal themselves will do the North American release, which would at least show promise of extras and/or a decent series-wide transfer. Here's hoping.

Two questions:

1) Murder by Night from season 7 - did they correct the dvd problem with the dream sequences being in color?

2) Ki' I's Don't Lie - did they include the non syndicated version, by any chance?


Apologies if someone has already answered these.

I'd be happy to answer these questions for you marlboro, but I'm not sure whether I fully understand what you mean;

What exactly was the problem with the colors on the DVDs in that episode? Or how should it be, in your opinion?
For "Ki' I's Don't Lie": How can I tell whether it's the "syndicated" or "non-syndicated" version?


Just tell me what I have to look for and I'd be glad to check.

Great! I've never actually seen these. I'm just going by the info provided by the Magnum experts here at Magnum Mania.


Murder by Night


http://magnum-mania.com/Episodes/Season ... Night.html

The original broadcast version of this episode was mostly in black-and-white, except for the very beginning and end. The syndicated and DVD version is mostly in color, with only opening and closing credits (and part of the denouement) in black-and-white.




Ki' I's Don't Lie

http://magnum-mania.com/Episodes/Season ... t_Lie.html

There are actually two different versions of this episode - the original broadcast version and the syndication version. The syndicated version is a stand-alone episode with a different ending (Catherine Hailey is caught at the airport before she flees to South America). The syndicated version allows this episode to be shown in syndication without having to view the Simon & Simon episode.


While I'm asking, I might as well mention these, too:


L.A.

http://magnum-mania.com/Episodes/Season7/LA_1.html

L.A." originally aired as a two-hour movie, but it is broken up into two parts for syndication airings. The Region 1 DVD version of this episode inexplicably omits a one-minute foot chase scene. The scene occurs just after Magnum is shot at by two uzi-toting henchmen. After his rental car is blown up, Magnum runs through several backyards to escape. In one of the backyards, Magnum encounters Playboy "Playmate of the Month" Kimberly McArthur (January 1982) in a hot tub and briefly talks to her! A few moments later there is also a brief scene with her being interviewed on the news, in which she states that a man nearly attacked her in her backyard (in fact, Magnum just stood there and told her that he's "not the sushi man"). This entire scene is missing on the Region 1 DVD (at the 32:52 mark, you can hear the musical score end abruptly). Oddly, this scene IS included in the standard syndication airings on television (and is included in the German DVD)!


Resolutions

http://magnum-mania.com/Episodes/Season ... ons_1.html

For unknown reasons, The Complete Eighth Season DVD uses the syndicated version, not the original broadcast version. The syndicated version breaks the episode into two parts and several scenes have been cut, including most of the Naval Academy reunion scene at the Naval Officer's Club, the entire scene with Magnum and Lt. Nolan Page at the estate tidal pool (~ three minutes of footage) and most of the end credits montage sequence (with highlight clips of scenes from previous episodes).

"Ki'i's", to my knowledge, is the standalone syndicated version like on the newer-issued DVDs. As far as I can tell, the Blu-rays in terms of cuts are pretty much the same as the UK DVDs, so "L.A." and "The Man from Marseilles" are uncut.

Damn. I didn't even know The Man from Marseilles was cut on my dvd. thanks for the info!


Edited to add: It may be stupid, but does anyone think it would be worthwhile to contact Universal or whomever might someday give Magnum a region 1 BR release and give them a list of things missing from the old dvd releases? One in a million shot that we could find someone who would listen who actually had the power to fix the issues, but you never know.

I checked:
"Murder by night" is in color exept for the part in the end when Magnum wakes up, that's in black-and-white for about a minute or so.
So yeah, seems to be the syndicated version known from the DVDs.
"Ki'i's", as already mentioned, seems to be the standalone syndicated version.
"L.A." is 1:36:48 long and does contain the hot tub scene etc.
"Resolutions" is actually split in two parts, each one 45min. long and the end credits montage sequence does not contain the highlight clips of scenes from previous episodes.
I guess the other parts are also missing, so, unfortunately, that seems to be the 2-part syndicated version with cuts. Strange, I didn't expect that...

If you've got any other questions, feel free to ask