MovieChat Forums > Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman (2005) Discussion > 3 disc box sets

3 disc box sets

posted 19 years ago by TheSolarSailor
19 replies | jump to latest

Has anybody bought those three disc box sets? I opted not to get them. For one, they only collect two volumes of the show, while including another disc for extra features. That is going to take up even MORE space on my shelf. Had this new set bothered to collect three discs worth of episodes with a few extras (and collected the three discs in a smaller box), I would have gotten it. Sadly, that wasn't the case. I don't think the extras on the third disc sound too great either, and the single disc versions are cheaper. I just wondered if anybody else was getting the 3 disc sets.

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

[–] bowieeno3 19 years ago

Ah, a fellow "Gatchaman" fan! I see you also love the Man of Steel. Great characters, all.

To answer your question, however, I've been buying the collection boxes since the initial release. I find the price discrepancy between getting, say, the two single discs that are released at the same time as the boxes to be negligible. I'm happy to spend a little extra to get the beautiful Alex Ross-illustrated boxes. The extras on the bonus disc are fun. There's a lot of interesting features, such as classic toy commericals, selections of songs related to the property (you have to hear the "7-Zark-7" song, it's hilarious), pages of the Gatchaman manga, etc. Plus, the boxes look impressive when they're all lined up on a shelf. Good stuff.

[–] TheSolarSailor 19 years ago

I've been a Gatchaman fan ever since I was a kid and Battle Of The Planets debuted, though I didn't discover the true Gatchaman form of the show till after accidentally discovering the new OVA release.

Regarding price, I don't find the discrepency negligible, simply because I haven't been buying them from the beginning. Having to catch up, as it is, the difference begins to mount. Box art isn't something that makes me have to have anything, though I am not in any way dissing those who do enjoy it. Alex Ross does make some beautiful paintings and illustrations for Gatchaman. I just wish they'd made an efort not to take up so much room on the shelf (that is a big negative in my book). Still, his art is on the front of the single releases too. Have you ever read those Battle Of The Planets comic books from Ross? I read a few. While great art, I couldn't get into them simply because they were forced to stick to the BOTP story format due to not having permission to do actual adaptations of Gatchaman (legalities, yeesh). Having seen the real Gatchaman, well, it kind of ruined the nature of BOTP in every way for me, LOL!

The extras you described do sound pretty neat though!

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

[–] bowieeno3 19 years ago

Yeah, my story is exactly the same as yours. I first loved the characters while I was in grade school, watching the episodes of "Battle of the Planets" every day when I got home from class. Later, when I was probably around 13 or 14, I remember seeing the version Turner did, called simply, "G-Force." I loved that the Turner version of "Gatchaman" did away with the 7-Zark-7 nonsense. I also just happened to stumble across the OVA series when a preview for it ran at the beginning of some anime (the title of which I have forgotten)I had bought.

Anyway, knowing ADV, I wouldn't be surprised if, once all the episodes are out on DVD, they came out with a streamlined, slimpack, boxset containing the entire series. Just look at how many times they've repackaged "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Robotech/Macross."

Also, I do recall the "Battle of the Planets" comics Alex Ross worked on, I just never bothered to read them. From what you describe, sounds like I didn't miss much of anything.

[–] mezzabotta 19 years ago

The boxes ARE cool, but the Extras discs are kind of just OK....

[–] TheSolarSailor 18 years ago

"The boxes ARE cool, but the Extras discs are kind of just OK."

I finally finished up my collection a few days ago and bought the last box set. I had been debating on whether to get it or simply stay with the single releases, but I found it at Best Buy, marked down to $26.00 and decided to go for it. The extra bonus disc pretty much confirmed my suspicion that the bonus material wasn't really anything to write home about. Still, it did have the interviews with the voice cast this time around, and it was nice to get to see them at last.

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

[–] arkida 18 years ago

Best buy had the box sets for 20.99 when they came out which made them a good deal to get, but the last 3 box sets have been priced at 26.99, which has been a bummer. Plus the early box sets are now reduced to 9.99!
I'm a completist so i opted to get the box sets even though the extra disc usually is mostly fluff (the auditions are interesting though!)

[–] TheSolarSailor 18 years ago

Thanks for your response arkida. I am pretty content with not owning the box sets, though I have considered purchasing the very last one when it comes out, for I read somewhere that it is supposed to have a group interview from the entire English cast. I have enjoyed their work very much, as well as some of their commentaries, so I would very much be interested in seeing this interview with them. For the rest, well, I don't have enough shelf space to be wasting it on extra discs that aren't that interesting to begin with. They should have repackaged the sets so that they were smaller, for I am no fan of things needlessly taking up room. I know that is a nitpicky quibble, but that is a real irk for me, LOL! Anyhow, you can't fuss about $9.99 for one of those sets!!!

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

[–] Crow4ever 18 years ago

Where are the early sets priced at $9.99? Best Buy lists sets 1 & 2 @ $22.99, 3 & 4 are $18.99, then back up to $22.99.

I'd love to get some cheap early sets, or else it looks like I'm gonna hafta Netflix these it seems.

[–] TheSolarSailor 18 years ago

I have never found any of the box sets that were marked so low. Amazon.com offers the single disc versions for $9.99 at times, which is a bit of a markdown. I am up to Volume 15 now on the single discs. I was thinking of getting the box set for the very last two discs, for I heard it's supplement contained an interview with the English vocal cast that I am a bit interested in seeing.

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

[–] TheSolarSailor 18 years ago

I bought the last box set for $26 at Amazon. The supplement disc was alright, but my main reason for wanting it was for the actual live interview with the cast. Not everyone was present, but most of the main characters and some henchmen were available. It was really goofy with them all acting silly, but they were having fun with it. They answered questions submitted to them by fans. It was great seeing the actual faces of my new favorite voices. I am sad that I now have completed the series and hope that ADV will continue it with Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter. Are you out there, ADV?????

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OK, so what's the speed of dark?

[–] arkida 16 years ago

The entire time i was buying the 3 volume box sets, i was thinking that they would pull a fast one & release a complete streamlined set once all the volumes were released. I was gonna wait & hold off on any more purchases after the first few boxsets were released, but i was so hooked on the show that i couldn't wait. Good thing i didn't wait cause they never did release a comprehensive set & now the boxsets are hard to find. I initially bought them at bestbuy, but once they raised the price, i switched to an online seller who would often ship them out early. I love the boxsets, but i agree that it is a rather bulky set. maybe they shoulda have released 3 sets of 6 discs with the final set having all the bonus stuff on maybe 3 dvd's. The bonus features as they are, don't really warrant taking up 9 dvd's. Another spacesaver would have been slim cases as opposed to standard cases.

[–] TheSolarSailor 16 years ago

I absolutely agree that slimline cases would have been the way to go. Either way, we both have the full series now, something I never really dreamed I would get to see outside of those hilarious Chinese bootlegs I have! For once, we got a great English voice-over that kept things pretty much true to the original! That was the best part!

I am very surprised that they never released a comprehensive set, though.

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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

[–] DragonbradZ 16 years ago

Maybe Alex Ross should redo the comic series as true Gatchaman now that Sandy Frank's BotP license has expired since 2007 and they have not renewed it.

[–] undercovermann 16 years ago

Man I so regret not getting the box sets when they first came out.They're all OOP & the entire series seems to fetch over $200

[–] TheSolarSailor 16 years ago

Which isn't a bad price, seeing that you spent that much on them when they were new once you added it all up.

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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

[–] grendelkhan 12 years ago

Ross was only doing the covers and kind of supervising (though it didn't seem like he was supervising that closely). The work featured other artists and writers. It wasn't bad, for what it was; but it was a bit tame. they seemed to be hinting at something bigger coming down the road, but never got a chance to reveal what.

"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"

[–] arkida 16 years ago

yeah, those chinese bootlegs were hilarious! I only got volume 1 & was happy that i was getting the episodes at all, The rhino battle of the planet dvd's were ok because they had the corresponding gatchaman episodes (sadly only subtitled, but far superior video quality than the chinese dvd's) but they never got around to releasing them all & even then, it wouldn't have been a complete gatchaman set. I love my set & as soon as i finish up some other tv dvd's i need to watch i certainly plan on re-watching the series again.one of my pet projects is also to consolidate the set with some standard cases that hold 6 dvd's & do some custom artwork. it would be nice to have the entire set take up the space of about maybe 5 standard dvd cases.

[–] TheSolarSailor 16 years ago

I think my Chinese bootlegs were made at different factories in China. Volume one and three seemed to be the same type of oddball names and such, but Volume 2 diverges into using completely different names for the characters (Katse is simply called "Head", the team is "the scientific paladins"). Some of the sentences were near indecipherable, but it was good enough to tell what was going on. I laughed so hard but thoroughly enjoyed my first run through the original badly subtitled Gatchaman series at the time. Whatever the case, the sets were pretty nice, with nice packaging, cover art and disc art. I still have them!

I loved the subtitled Gatchaman episodes on the Battle of the Planets DVDs, but I never got any more than just the first three volumes of that. I realized quick that they'd be out of order (in accordance with the BOTP arrangement) and that it would never be the complete series of Gatchaman. BOTP was fun to revisit for a few episodes, but my heart was set on seeing Gatchaman in it's original form.

LOL, yes, the 19 DVDs does consume space! Good luck on your efforts and new artwork. Maybe you could come here and post some of it when you get around to doing it??

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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

[–] arkida 16 years ago

if & when i get them done, i will def share.