Season 3 box question

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Klaus · #1 Post by **Klaus** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:55 am

I buy all my DVDs in Germany (from amazon). This doesn´t matter, since all DVDs do have the English original version, whis is the one I watch.

However, the 3rd season (unlike the 1st and 2nd) does have the episode title screened in German (somehow I could live with that), but what bothers me is the episode preview included before the title sequence starts. Does the English version have that, too?

What´s the English box´s running time (I fear the German season 3 box is cut)? Mine is approx. 1035 mins.

Are the following seasons released in Germany in a similar way?

#2 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:03 pm

Hello again Klaus,

Yes, the majority of Magnum episodes have a "preview" before the opening credits run.

The total running time for the Region 1 Season Three DVD is 1119 minutes, so it looks like you are missing 84 minutes of footage, or 3.6 minutes per episode. Hmmm, looks like the German version contains the syndicated episodes, not the original ones. I wonder why?!

grapeshot · #3 Post by **grapeshot** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:44 am

I find the preview scenes on each episode extremely annoying.

At the time these were originally broadcast, these "teaser" scenes may have been a way for the network to induce the audience from the previous show to stick around and watch Magnum. But since I'm about to watch the episode on DVD, I surely don't need those "teaser" scenes as a further inducement to watch. They're not only completely useless, but they take some of the suspense out of the upcoming episode.

On a related note, I'm so used to the "cold opens" that TV shows have nowadays, I find it jarring that on the syndicated rerun broadcasts these episodes open with the title and credits.

Klaus · #4 Post by **Klaus** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:18 am

I read about the NTSC to PAL conversion, which could gobble up some minutes (something about 25 and 25 pictures/second) without any notice by the viewier. I got this from a German review concerning the German/English Miami Vice box.

I am not sure if that´s the case here. What I don´t get is that the title sequence has the "Magnum, P.I." writing, which the German TV version never had (only "Magnum"). And then there´s the episode title in German.

Has anyone the U.K. version? If so, please tell me the total running time!

Thanks!

eegorr · #5 Post by **eegorr** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:19 pm

grapeshot wrote:I find the preview scenes on each episode extremely annoying.

I don't have the box sets for MPI, but I do have them for the original Star Trek series. They include previews which were actually run at the end of the previous episode, or during the week as a commercial for the show, I think.

On the Star Trek DVDs, the preview is a separate menu item so you don't have to watch it if you don't want to. Can you watch the MPI episodes without seeing the preview first?

Shermy · #6 Post by **Shermy** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:34 am

eegorr wrote:Can you watch the MPI episodes without seeing the preview first?

The teaser and intro have their own "chapter" on each episode, so you can skip right to the show's beginning (chapter 2) if you want. One of the seasons (perhaps the first?) neglected this option, so you have to fast-forward through them.

I quickly got in the habit of skipping them, since they do give a surprising amount of the plot away. Still, it's nice that they have been preserved on the dvd.

I also have the Star Trek dvds, and it's interesting to see the way they were edited for maximum impact. For instance, if Kirk has a choking scene, the teaser will end to make it appear as if he's dying!