Lars Vermundsberget wrote:I guess my LD will remain quite valuable then, so I'm happy to see that there won't be a SotS DVD after all...
Funny thing is that once the rumor from Jim Hill was up on the web regarding an imminent release of SOTS for a 60th Anniversary DVD in 2006, the Japanese LDs plummeted in price to about $50 (or less) on eBay. I also saw a Hong Kong LD (no subtitles) go unbid upon with an opening bid of $650. Three years ago, that Hong Kong LD would have gone for twice that much!
Now, that this decision was made by Iger, I've seen the Japanese LD steadily go up in price to over $80. Three years ago, they went for over $200 easy.
The Lizard King wrote:I also saw a Hong Kong LD (no subtitles) go unbid upon with an opening bid of $650. Three years ago, that Hong Kong LD would have gone for twice that much!
TLK
WTF?!?
Hey come over to the UK next time its on TV and record it - no adverts, a great vacation and it will still cost less!
Bebopgroove wrote:Disney needs to take the frickin risk and release the thing. They're a big company. It's not like a few whiney soccer moms can stop them. What are they so afraid of?
I'd guess Disney is most afraid of the NAACP, which organized protests against SotS in the past. They have considerable lobbying power and usually don't have too much trouble getting the attention of the public. Still even they have to know that sparking an active dialogue about a controversial film is better than not letting anyone see it at all. Although I think for the most part that the heart of the NAACP is in the right place, I don't always agree 100% with them and I definitely wouldn't want them to tell me about absolutely everything that I should or should not be offended by, even though my ethnicity includes a mixture of several historically subjugated races. I still appreciate my ability to make up my own mind sometimes.
Oh, I'm sorry, you're all standing...here, let me make you a chair!
Karushifa's Random Top 5 of the Week: US National Parks/Sites:
1) Yosemite N.P.
2) Caribbean Nat'l Forest (Puerto Rico)
3) Death Valley N.P.
4) Cape Lookout Nat'l Seashore
5) Sequoia N.P.
I think some of you are putting too much stock into the latest "news." Keep in mind that there was nothing to corroborate the rumor that <i>Song of the South</i> was coming this fall, like most of Jim Hill's stories. They're interesting to read and they seem quite believable, but when they're proved to be plainly false as was the case in his big <i>Song of the South</i> scoop, it's tough to take them as sheer fact. Most of them cannot be corroborated elsewhere, or rather are not. And IMDb (and others) post his columns as fact, and voila. Yes, there is an element of truth in the latest piece - that Iger is keen on new media. One can notice how Disney has jumped onto the iTunes bandwagon for instance and has plans to put the ABC shows online for free with commercials. But does the Vault Disney online pay-per-view plan really sound like something that's been thought through? And does it really make sense (financial or otherwise) that the only way to appease people who want <i>Song of the South</i> is to put it online, so that it doesn't offend Wal-Mart shoppers? No.
"Fifteen years from now, when people are talking about 3-D, they will talk about the business before 'Monsters vs. Aliens' and the business after 'Monsters vs. Aliens.' It's the line in the sand." - Greg Foster, IMAX chairman and president
The Lizard King wrote:I also saw a Hong Kong LD (no subtitles) go unbid upon with an opening bid of $650. Three years ago, that Hong Kong LD would have gone for twice that much!
TLK
WTF?!?
Yep. I'm not kidding. $1,350 back at Christmastime 2002. I think that it's still to this day a record price paid for a single-disc LaserDisc:
Luke wrote:I think some of you are putting too much stock into the latest "news." Keep in mind that there was nothing to corroborate the rumor that <i>Song of the South</i> was coming this fall, like most of Jim Hill's stories. They're interesting to read and they seem quite believable, but when they're proved to be plainly false as was the case in his big <i>Song of the South</i> scoop, it's tough to take them as sheer fact. Most of them cannot be corroborated elsewhere, or rather are not. And IMDb (and others) post his columns as fact, and voila. Yes, there is an element of truth in the latest piece - that Iger is keen on new media. One can notice how Disney has jumped onto the iTunes bandwagon for instance and has plans to put the ABC shows online for free with commercials. But does the Vault Disney online pay-per-view plan really sound like something that's been thought through? And does it really make sense (financial or otherwise) that the only way to appease people who want <i>Song of the South</i> is to put it online, so that it doesn't offend Wal-Mart shoppers? No.
Fear not, I'm familiar with the sometimes speculative, often opinionated fare that Jim Hill tends to write. And that's why the particular speculation about a large broadening of pay-per-stream to include classic Disney films seemed a little far-fetched to me. You'd have to be pretty technologically naive to think that you can create an infallible encryption system to protect online content as high-profile as Disney works, and I'm almost certain that someone at Disney has thought the same thing.
Mostly I ranted because this would be a bad step for Disney to take with SotS distribution, if it ever happened. I most always take Jim Hill articles with a grain of salt anyhow (ever since his long, meandering rants about how Disney was corrupting the Muppets franchise via Muppets' Wizard of Oz), but that doesn't mean I can't still be frustrated with possibilities he brings up. Only if an actual press release comes out confirming the webcast mess will I reach for my pitchfork in earnest
Oh, I'm sorry, you're all standing...here, let me make you a chair!
Karushifa's Random Top 5 of the Week: US National Parks/Sites:
1) Yosemite N.P.
2) Caribbean Nat'l Forest (Puerto Rico)
3) Death Valley N.P.
4) Cape Lookout Nat'l Seashore
5) Sequoia N.P.
The Lizard King wrote:Yep. I'm not kidding. $1,350 back at Christmastime 2002. I think that it's still to this day a record price paid for a single-disc LaserDisc:
I cannot really confirm this as a fact, but about ten years ago it was rumoured that the LDs of Make Mine Music, Melody Time and even Fun and Fancy Free would go for $1,500-2,000.
Lars Vermundsberget wrote:I cannot really confirm this as a fact, but about ten years ago it was rumoured that the LDs of Make Mine Music, Melody Time and even Fun and Fancy Free would go for $1,500-2,000.
mvealf was offered that much for his IIRC. I sold my extra MMM and MT Japanese LDs two years ago on eBay for $750 for the pair.
The Lizard King wrote:mvealf was offered that much for his IIRC. I sold my extra MMM and MT Japanese LDs two years ago on eBay for $750 for the pair.
Did they have any bonus features on them? Or were they just that valuable because they were laserdisc?
No extras - these discs are from the mid-80s, and there wasn't much in the extras department back then... They were valuable (and are still to some extent) - perhaps because they are (the only?) uncut NTSC home video versions, but also because there were the only LD releases of these titles ever.
Last edited by Lars Vermundsberget on Sun Jun 25, 2006 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Luckily my grandma had both of these classic films (Song of the South and So Dear to my Heart) recorded on tape. Without going into details, I can safely say that I will be able to enjoy them for years to come although it will be VHS quality. Better than nothing I guess.
Bebopgroove wrote:Disney needs to take the frickin risk and release the thing. They're a big company. It's not like a few whiney soccer moms can stop them. What are they so afraid of?
I'd guess Disney is most afraid of the NAACP, which organized protests against SotS in the past. They have considerable lobbying power and usually don't have too much trouble getting the attention of the public. Still even they have to know that sparking an active dialogue about a controversial film is better than not letting anyone see it at all. Although I think for the most part that the heart of the NAACP is in the right place, I don't always agree 100% with them and I definitely wouldn't want them to tell me about absolutely everything that I should or should not be offended by, even though my ethnicity includes a mixture of several historically subjugated races. I still appreciate my ability to make up my own mind sometimes.
The NAACP has REALLY outlived its usefullness, IMO.
I was about to slag you for redoing a thread that has been done to death. However, you get big bonus points for the nicely done cover. I will increase the bidding to $125. Think I paid about 80 US for a decent DVD bootleg off of laserdisc a few years ago.
