The Gold box - region 2

[Evenreven]

It's being discussed in two other threads, but I thought this might deserve its own thread...

So far we haven't heard much about any non-region 1 gold box release. The German "complete mystery" box has been slated for late October release since the Dawn of Time, but still without any cover to speak for it. In Norway www.release.no haven't posted anything, and they even reported the season 2 set five times or so, based on the bogus information they received from Paramount in Norway (Paramount even answered e-mails reporting a September 2004 release date, if I remember correctly). One of the reasons I'm not really holding my breath just yet.

In fact, the only info I can find on any R2 Gold Box at all (except the "complete mystery") is from www.discshop.se who report late November as the Swedish release date. Such releases are almost always simultaneously released in all Scandinavia, so it seems strange I can't find any Norwegian source. The fact that other Swedish sources don't mention it either gets me worried.

But then Paul on this forum said this:

The Gold Box complete mystery will be released in Europe - region 2 - everywhere but UK and France - as CBS/Par doesn't hol dthose rights - however, it will include English audio and will have all of the same extra features.

Where is this info from? It seems plausible, I just wondered where you got the info. Does your source mention a release date as well?

[Fatso the wombat]

I'm not going to bother waiting to see if there's an R2 version; I've ordered the R1 from Amazon.

In anycase, generally speaking it's best to order US TV as R1 discs, and UK TV as R2 discs as then they are in their native formats, without need for any standards conversions.

[FaceInTheLeaves]

Now season two has been released in the US and Europe it's only a matter of time before Ebay UK is flooded with bootleg DVD-R's, and they're not exactly proactive in dealing with pirate copies. I've noticed a couple of season two bootlegs on Ebay already.

It bothers me that people have the nerve to sell bootlegs in the first place, but then they have the cheek to say they want to share it with other fans. It's not theirs to sell. I have no problem with the Revok bootlegs of Industrial Symphony, On The Air and Hotel Room because they're donkeys years old and the companies that own the rights have chosen not to release them. Rabbits, Eraserhead and The Short Films are a different matter because DL owns the rights and he's not some huge, faceless corporation. They've all been available in one format or another over recent years - whether it's as region free Absurda DVDs on Amazon, or through davidlynch.com - so it's not like we need some selfless creature with a DVD writer to run off fifty copies to hawk on Ebay for a handsome profit, sorry, the good of others... And not only will season two be bootlegged but it'll be available to download on the torrents.

If and when season two is finally released in the UK the company that owns the rights will get a distorted view of demand because we'll all have imported it, either from the UK or Europe. I'd still buy a UK set for completist reasons but I won't be clamouring to pay full price for it during the week/year of release. They might as well not bother now.

[Evenreven]

I'm not going to bother waiting to see if there's an R2 version; I've ordered the R1 from Amazon.

In anycase, generally speaking it's best to order US TV as R1 discs, and UK TV as R2 discs as then they are in their native formats, without need for any standards conversions.

Generally I agree, but in the case of deluxe tv series dvd sets, some countries might get a problem with customs. I ordered the Inland Empire R1 dvd with no problems since it was only about 20 dollars, but the Gold box will at least double in cost once the Norwegian customs are through with it.

And it's of interest to people who don't order a lot from the net too. Sure, in this place we probably do, but I want to see if there's going to be a R2 release out of general interest - my mother doesn't have a region-free player, for one. Or maybe it's because I studied media and communication for 5 years and media/distribution in general interests me.

[Evenreven]

faceintheleaves, I agree with every word, but that's not really what we're discussing here, is it?

Not to sound grumpy, I just intended this thread to be about the announced R2 release of the Gold Box specifically, there is a long thread for the UK six-disc S2 non-release already.

(The bootlegging I don't even get. If it's a region thing, the S2 set can be bought from virtually every country in Europe; Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, take your pick. Surely easier than ebay bootlegs.)

[FaceInTheLeaves]

I debated whether to post my comments for exactly that reason. I found myself going round the houses to make a very simple point and I didn't think people would follow my train of thought.

The trouble with these threads (and there have been many) is that people want to discuss non-existent details of a DVD release that isn't happening.

I understand your intention was to create a thread specifically to discuss the R2 release of the gold box but since there isn't going to be one any time soon the thread will have dropped out of sight within a couple of weeks due to lack of information and people will just start new threads the second anything concrete is announced.

[Evenreven]

Well, this release IS a lot more concrete than the UK release already. I actually believe it might even come out. It would also make sense of that strange old German info. But more specifically the thread was created to get Paul to tell us where he got his info from. He claimed to have at least some details.

[Evenreven]

Aha! A Norwegian announcement just found its way to the net. They get their info straight from Paramount, so I would guess then that 28th of November is official.

http://www.jm-data.no/DVd_new/(1cg2esfw ... lmID=28539

Since they call it the Gold Box here too, I guess we're stuck with the awful cover even though they haven't posted one yet.

[mark84]

I'm glad to see this thread, sometimes it feels like i'm the only one in the whole world waiting for it!
I'm almost a bit sad to see that norwegian announcement, its a month later than the slated "Complete mystery" (amazon.de) and we're going to get stuck with that horrible cover and goofy name!
Its better than nothing though thats for sure.

[Evenreven]

Another thing that gets my hopes up is this part of the release.no/jmdata announcement:

Teksting: Norsk, Engelsk, Svensk, Dansk
Tale: Engelsk

Meaning "subtitles" and "speech" respectively. This might change of course, but omitting French, Spanish, German and Italian audio tracks can only be a good thing since there will be more room for English audio like the original stereo mixes. Italians can read just fine anyway.

The one-month delay is unnecessary, but it could be worse. And the cover doesn't annoy me anymore. I'll print replacement covers.

[Paul]

To be clear - the German release date is day and date with US. 30th October. Other European countries - Scandinavia etc will release a month or so later - per my sources. Exact same content as US release - and hopefully to include collector cards as well.

[mark84]

To be clear - the German release date is day and date with US. 30th October. Other European countries - Scandinavia etc will release a month or so later - per my sources. Exact same content as US release - and hopefully to include collector cards as well.

Thanks for the info - I'll take your word for it, I'm dying to ask about these sources but i figure you've got a reason to keep that to yourself.
It certainly is good news that, especially about the content, I wonder if you know if "the complete mystery" will be its actual name or if it is going to be a gold box too?
No worries if you dont know or dont want to say anyway, and thanks for the post, its good to hear some news!

[Evenreven]

Thanks for that, Paul! Makes sense. And I've waited for years, I can wait another month.

[Evenreven]

The German Complete Mystery box now has artwork. It's the dreaded gold design, but for some reason it's "ultimate" instead of "definitive". It also looks more lemon than gold, but I guess that's just Amazon.de using the wrong colour profile.

[mark84]

grrr evenreven, i was looking foward to getting to announce this first! Its funny how amazons stuck with the complete mystery tag! At least we can see what we're getting now though
Over to IMDB now to see if i can post it there first so you dont steal all my glory.