For next Christmas, please release the following DVDs:
1. The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.
2. The Six Million Dollar Man, first season.
3. The 1971 animated version of A Christmas Carol, with Scrooge voiced by Alistair Sims.
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The interesting thing to me is that if you search, you’ll see that all three of these works are eagerly sought after. When Amazon announced a DVD of The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh a few years back, it shot up to the top ten DVDs ordered within a day and there are 114 reviews of it despite the later cancellation of the DVD, all from people desperate for a DVD edition of it. VHS copies of The Scarecrow and Christmas Carol routinely go for good money on eBay.
It’s one of the odd things about the market for releases of older popular culture into new formats, that some of the most demanded items are hard to come by for reasons that are often obscure or unknown. The Six Million Dollar Man (which is available in Europen on DVD, I believe) might be tied up in the possibility of a film remake, or maybe it’s Lee Majors negotiating with the studio. The Scarecrow? Who knows what’s going on with that: there’s about eight different theories out there. The 1971 Christmas Carol was an amazing piece of work: frightening, distinctive animation that’s pretty unforgettable if you happened to see it back when it first aired.
Oh, well. At least The Point is available on DVD. I had expected to add that to my wishlist of unavailable, obscure but memorable popular culture from ye olden days.
I’d like to add a DVD of Song of the South to the list. I wish I could find the laserdisk version my Dad showed us when he worked for Magnavox….
Tim, you nailed it! Six Million Dollar Man has been on my wish list for years. Even more obscurely, I’d add the pilot film and series of Salvage One (1979). Web shrine here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9782/salvage1.html
Tim, is that _Christmas Carol_ a full length version? I’m a Carol junkie and haven’t heard of it. My current favorite is the version with George C. Scott as Scrooge.
Tim, is this a different animated Christmas Carol than the Mr. Magoo musical version, which, as weird as it sounds, is my favorite?
It’s relatively short–I think about 25 minutes. The animation almost looks like woodcuts at some points, just really unforgettable.
Salvage One, yes.
I don’t think there’s a DVD of the series Quark, at least not an authorized one. That would be another to add to the list.
I love Quark. It’s the cornerstone of my addiction to 1970s SF. I may have some episodes floating around in my collection if you’re interested.
Surprisingly good YouTube harvest of Quark out there.
I want John Sayles’ “Baby, It’s You.” It’s apparently out there on VHS (though I don’t have it, and don’t have a working VCR right now), but will most likely never show up on DVD. There’s a lot of Springsteen on the soundtrack, and the process of getting all the permissions and such, plus the studio’s lack of enthusiasm for the movie, seem to make it unlikely.