Hercules and Xena discontinued; anyone knows why?

[Evil Genie Jafar]

I found this by coincidence.

I'm not worried about Xena since I already have the whole series. But I'm pissed because of Hercules since I just have Season One.

...and it was the cheapest one of the two; they were sold at $25 each Season.

Funny thing is that I called Suncoast and they said even that was the status of the series they could order them. I went and tried and then said wasn't possible.

Thought that I'd have to use ebay but luckily the official site still sells them.

So, can anyone explain me this?

[Escapay]

It's possible that Anchor Bay's distribution licence expired, or that they're taking them out of print to re-release them later on (and perhaps not make them such large 9-disc sets by re-authoring the discs to have 4 or 5 episodes per disc instead of 3). For example, ADV Films took "BeastMaster", "Mutant X", and a few other DVD sets out of print a couple years ago, and are re-releasing them in slimmer Complete Series sets. I've been wanting to get "BeastMaster" for some time, but it was never a high priority for me, and when they went out of print I didn't bother looking for them anymore. However, a couple weeks ago ADV released the new Complete Series set (at only $49.99!), and it's gotten higher on my DVDs-to-buy list.

Albert

[Chernabog_Rocks]

I hope they come out again they were always too expensive for me to get the first time around. Then again I'm not sure if I can afford them a second time around either

[Evil Genie Jafar]

Actually, the Xena sets were the most expensive.

The First Season was on sale for $90 the first time around. Later on, the prices dropped but still WAY too expensive.

Hercules started selling at around $40 and the price soon went down at $25 each set.

The only reason I see why I guess they made them OOP could be what Escapay says: that make better DVD sets and sell them cheaper.

However, one thing is that they do that... and another is to recall them. And that's my theory. Since even both shows were very popular (Xena the most), at least when it came down to Hercules I'd always see the Season Sets on sale. So I can't understand that they suddenly sold everything.

PS

I'm glad that I got the First Season since it included all the movies. However, I'm not taking chances of waiting for a re-release; since I already have that Season... if I hadn't then I wouldn't hace cared.

It's not that I'll run to buy it but it will make my high priority list.

[2099net]

I think Escapay's first suggestion is more likely really. Universal are bringing the property back "in-house".

Remember when Image's rights to Universal titles expired, including the much sought after (at the time) MST3K: The Movie? Universal didn't relicence it, and later Universal released their own versions of most of the titles they initially licenced to Image.

I think the same is going to be true with Anchor Bay. Worldwide, Universal has always kept Xena "in-house" (with crappy supplement free discs, where they couldn't even get the running order correct for S1 due to doing an alphanumeric sort of the episode numbers rather than just a numeric one), but Hercules was licenced out to Anchor Bay in the UK (but as far as I know, never completed).

[TM2-Megatron]

That's too bad; Hercules was a great series. I've got seasons 2, 4, 5, and 6 on DVD already... gotta look into getting 1 and 3 while there's still some extant stock floating around.

My particular favourites are the ones that feature the cast in a modern setting, where Hercules (apparently immortal, after all) is currently going under the name Kevin Sorbo and starring in the Hercules TV series, lol. And the mirror Universe episodes where Herc has a goatee (someone on that writing staff was a fan of Star Trek, clearly )

[Disney-Fan]

They've actually been OOP for a while now. Back in December I had to order the series sets for both through ebay since it wasn't available anywhere. I'm curious if this perhaps means a rerelease, though how they'd top these extensive sets is beyond me.

[Atlantis]

I just fine mine through various stores that carry different seasons. But I wouldnt be surprised if they re-release them in the uglyness that is "slim" case sets.

[memnv]

I bought season 1 a few years back for under 20 at best buy, I have not seen a single seaon for sale around here since then and I am always looking