World of Blue - Archived Forum 2007-2022

Jonah wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:00 am Dave - Didn't he say that BEFORE "The Return", though?

Stavrogyn - Agreed. I have a long list of things I want to watch and read, but even the few limited things I've been watching lately (a handful of old TV shows such as Northern Exposure, Due South, and China Beach) I've only gotten halfway through them over the entire winter. I also stopped watching a few of the new TV shows I had been following, again at the halfway point or just after. So the list grows longer lol.

I'm also halfway through my rewatch of Northern Exposure currently! A show I haven't seriously watched in 20 years and would easily make my top 10 shows of all time. Watching it now after so much time has passed has made me aware of its assets even more and I'm feeling sad and nostalgic at how long that wonderful universe has been off our screens. They can't even air/stream it anywhere due to music copyright issues, so it's - like John Corbett (Chris Stevens) says in a recent interview - likely to stay buried forever ("like Titanic", he says)... There's been talk of a revival a few years ago - that would be on par with the Twin Peaks and Riget revivals as far as my expectations go -, but with the death of John Falsey, one of the original creators, that probably went down the drain.

I got "Northern Exposure" on Blu-Ray which was a bit pricey but then stopped watching it not longer later lol (I had been getting along fine with the DVDs until I couldn't find the Season 4 one). I must go back to it and I want to soon. I've also been watching some old sitcoms (my favourite ones are "Wings", "Frasier", and "Cheers" all made by the same people and classics now) as they're easy to watch while I'm writing - they're short, easy watches, and don't distract me with long, complicated narratives (which is something I don't want to get sucked into when I'm trying to write my own complicated narratives).

Agent Earle wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:56 pm I'm also halfway through my rewatch of Northern Exposure currently! A show I haven't seriously watched in 20 years and would easily make my top 10 shows of all time. Watching it now after so much time has passed has made me aware of its assets even more and I'm feeling sad and nostalgic at how long that wonderful universe has been off our screens. They can't even air/stream it anywhere due to music copyright issues, so it's - like John Corbett (Chris Stevens) says in a recent interview - likely to stay buried forever ("like Titanic", he says)... There's been talk of a revival a few years ago - that would be on par with the Twin Peaks and Riget revivals as far as my expectations go -, but with the death of John Falsey, one of the original creators, that probably went down the drain.

I’ve been doing a slow rewatch over the last couple of years too, currently into Season 5 now. It’s an excellent late night watch, with such a wonderful sense of place. Some bits have aged poorly and it occasionally leans into its quirkiness a bit too much, but at its best it’s such a well-executed character drama with enough magic realism for Peaks fans. There's also enough dark/weird undercurrents there that it's not quite as cosy as people probably remember.

BTW, I’m in the UK and you can get the whole thing on blu-ray here with the correct music cues. Worth paying for if you’re a fan. Also, I won’t share the link, but I gather the whole thing can be found on archive.org again with the correct music in good quality.

Evil Robot Bill wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 2:29 am There's also enough dark/weird undercurrents there that it's not quite as cosy as people probably remember.

This is a really great point. I often think of NE as a "nice TP" (and in many ways it is) but it does have a lot of its own darkness and heaviness to the narrative, to the point I've even had to skip a few episodes until I'm in a better headspace for them. There are a lot of heavy, existential themes, something that can be missed sometimes under its quirky veneer.

Evil Robot Bill wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 2:29 am BTW, I’m in the UK and you can get the whole thing on blu-ray here with the correct music cues. Worth paying for if you’re a fan. Also, I won’t share the link, but I gather the whole thing can be found on archive.org again with the correct music in good quality.

I got the UK Blu-Rays. I was perfectly happy with my old DVDs and had never seen the show with the proper music so was debating buying the Blu-Rays but then I couldn't find one of my DVD sets so decided to grab it while it was in a bit of a deal on Amazon.co.uk.

Do the music changes affect the intro too, or is the intro music everywhere the same?

I wasn't even aware of the music copyright issues until the creation of this thread, so now I'm wondering have I seen the proper version or not. I watched it as it aired on Croatian national television 10 or even 15 years ago.

Hmm, I just found an article saying that it aired in my country on RTL last year. The article also says: "Serije su dijelile određene paralele zbog kojih su gledatelji Northern Exposure često zvali Twin Peaks light. To naravno nije bilo jako fer za obje serije", which would translate as: "The series shared certain parallels which often made viewers call Northern Exposure Twin Peaks light. This, of course, wasn't quite fair to both of the series".

The article mentions music copyright issues, but not which version was shown on RTL.

The intro music is the same. I believe it's songs played during key scenes and closing scenes too. It didn't bother me hugely as I never saw the original broadcast but I can understand why it would be an issue for some. I think the first couple of seasons I had on DVD had the original music then the rest was changed, but I didn't really notice it yet on my rewatch (but I haven't watched many episodes on Blu-Ray). There's a few articles out there (and mentioned on the NE subreddit I believe somewhere) that explain some of what was changed. Unless you're a major music buff and/or a fan of the original broadcasts, it may not be a major issue, though for many fans it is.

Jonah wrote: ↑Mon Apr 11, 2022 7:17 am This is a really great point. I often think of NE as a "nice TP" (and in many ways it is) but it does have a lot of its own darkness and heaviness to the narrative, to the point I've even had to skip a few episodes until I'm in a better headspace for them. There are a lot of heavy, existential themes, something that can be missed sometimes under its quirky veneer.

Yeah, I often think of it as Benign Peaks, but there's a lot of stuff going on. I'm in a run of episodes where Maurice is confronting his mortality and the fact that he was once this bastion of all American greatness - an astronaut! - but that's behind him now. The Three Amigos is another great episode fundamentally about death. And there was always something weird and morbid about Maggie's character thinking that she was 'cursed' and her exes all dying in horrific ways - like being crushed by a fallen satellite!

Yeah, I have to admit I found some of those episodes tougher to watch recently than I did back in my 20's. The older you get and when you experience loss in real life can make these kind of episodes tougher to watch, though even more touching if you can. I even skipped a few though I watched most of them, including the one where they carry their friend up into the mountains. And Maggie posting the letters in the river - so brilliant. I also love the quirky shout-out to Twin Peaks and our dear Log Lady (Catherine Coulson, may she rest in peace) in an early episode.