The Professionals (TV) on BD

how about releasing the other series of space1999 or futher series of the sweeny first :(
 
Maybe they'll only do the one of The Professionals too. I'd love to see The Champions on Blu.
I'd assumed The Champions was already out, or at least due to come out as they released an episode on one of their retro compilation discs.
 
I watched a few earlier this year and to me they appeared a bit dated.

I loved this series as a kid, but Im just not sure the HD treatment is going to make a big enough difference for me.
 
I would imagine that some fans of this would love The Comic Strip's take on it - they did two parodies, one was 'The Bull****ers' and the other was 'Detectives on the edge of a nervous breakdown' - which sent up a lot of other regional detectives too. :)
 
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Jasper Carrot's "The Detectives" is the best parody of them all :D
 
Awesome. I have the DVD set but would love to see what they're like on BR.
 
No doubt it'll only end up with 1 series released, people in this country expect to pay next to nothing for new releases. Probably the reason sets like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes will never see the light of day here.

I'll have to see if I can afford it when it comes out :)
 
No doubt it'll only end up with 1 series released, people in this country expect to pay next to nothing for new releases. Probably the reason sets like Poirot and Sherlock Holmes will never see the light of day here.

I'll have to see if I can afford it when it comes out :)

I'll be one of those waiting for the price to come down because I can't to afford to pay a lot of money for this. It was a lot of fun in it's day and I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I see it again especially in HD but the price is a big issue. There's lots of films and tv shows that'd benefit from a BD release but how many of us are prepared to pay the cost? Even those who are well off might hold back.

Bri
 
I'm guessing people will pay "what it's worth to them" but when it falls so drastically in price you find it hard to sell on,you also have to take in.to account of the hard work that goes into bringing a decent box set out.we live in.an age where nearly everyone "wants something for nothing" and that has a long term.effect on future releases.
 
I'll be one of those waiting for the price to come down because I can't to afford to pay a lot of money for this. It was a lot of fun in it's day and I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I see it again especially in HD but the price is a big issue. There's lots of films and tv shows that'd benefit from a BD release but how many of us are prepared to pay the cost? Even those who are well off might hold back.

Bri

And this is why they don't get released.
 
they did a brilliant job of The Sweeney series 1, although I did pick it up for £5 in CEX over Xmas! bargain!
 
Thanks for the link to the write-up. I'm amazed that their backup CRI prints were in any usable condition though, as that stock was notorious for fading. Still, they only had to use the CRI elements on one occasion so it wasn't a big deal I guess. It's brilliant that they found the 35mm mag DME audio tracks, I thought they'd have been stuck with some creaky old tape source.

It's interesting that the negative was cut to A/B rolls, was that typical for TV shows at the time? It means that the printer functions weren't 'burned in', so things like fades and dissolves have to be redone from scratch (which is why they were able to 'remove' the five intended ad bumpers, because they weren't on the negs in the first place!) and should look far better than the old opticals did back in the day.

If Martin Shaw was dead, he'd be turning in his grave at the love and care that's gone into this restoration, and I feel like buying it just to spite him (even though he'll probably get a few quid from the residuals anyway). Grumpy sod. I should be getting mine tomorrow. :D
 
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Not bad, not bad at all. The video is 1080i50 (I'm assuming it was shot at 25fps for PAL transmission) and the audio is DTS-HD Master Audio for the 5.1 remix and regular Dolby Digital for the mono track.

PQ is pretty darned good, looking crisp and vibrant. Skin tones occasionally look a bit oversaturated and orangey, but it's not a chronic problem. There's still the odd bit of dirt or hair in the frame, yet it's not a distraction because they're a reminder that this was shot on film. That said, there is grain present although it looks a little bit soupy to my eyes, like they've "managed" it just a shade too aggressively. Again, it's not a problem though. Most folks will just see grain regardless, so Network have done their job well.

The show itself is still entertaining but hilariously outdated, not for the fashions and whatnot because retro is all the rage; no, I mean things the attitudes that Bodie and Doyle have towards the "birds". Still, Lewis Collins did have something about him, being able to switch from loverboy to wisecracker to double-hard bastard in the blink of an eye.

Packaging pics below. It comes on 4 discs in a G1-sized slipcase with a book.

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It looks nice. How much did you pay for it? The frame rate is interesting. I'd assumed all of these kind of shows would have shot at the standard 24 fps so subject to the usual Pal speed up. If they did shoot at 25 fps how would this affect it's presentation in NTSC terrietories where they were used to showing 24 fps in 30 fps?

As regards to how out dated it is I caught one of them several years ago. They saw a black person driving a flash car so they both agreed he was a pimp. My jaw hit the ground.

Bri
 
£28.75 from amazon.

With NTSC and 25fps, it's no different than from a 24fps source: they just duplicate the extra frames/fields which are needed to round it off to 30fps. I've got some British shows on American DVD which do exactly that.

It's funny though, as outdated as it is regarding things like sexism, racism etc, some things never change. The baddies still rock up in white Range Rovers, and in one episode Bodie remarks that "Britain's become a funny old place". How right you are sir, how right you are...
 
It's funny though, as outdated as it is regarding things like sexism, racism etc, some things never change. The baddies still rock up in white Range Rovers, and in one episode Bodie remarks that "Britain's become a funny old place". How right you are sir, how right you are...

Cheers for the info. As regards to the racism I'm watching my DVD of Department S again. That aired several years before The Professionals but despite that their boss was black. Also the only reason he didn't drive a flash car is because he was usually being chauffeur driven in one.

:D
Bri
 

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