Big John, Little John has finally been released on DVD in the US. The show was originally scheduled to be released in the fall of 2009, then pushed back to the spring of 2010, and then it was postponed indefinitely.
As mentioned here, I picked up the UK release a few years back and the shows appeared to be uncut and each episode included an opening preview for each episode, as well as a preview of next episode at the end.
The Big John, Little John series set that was supposed to come out in October 2009 was initially delayed until April 2010. A few weeks prior to that, the release was postponed indefinitely and TV Shows on DVD reported that the studio intends to release it one way or another at some point.
For those, like myself, who don’t want to wait, the series was released in the UK and Australia last year. As with the Red Hand Gang release, which was released in the UK the year before it was released in the US, the UK DVD is region free, which means it should play on any US DVD player or computer.
I received the UK DVD as a Christmas present and it includes all 13 episodes uncut. Unlike the episodes copied from faded 16 mm prints, these episodes include an episode preview at the beginning of each episode, as well as a preview for the next episode. The bonus material is pretty small, just an episode guide and a few promotional photos.
Imported copies have shown up on Amazon in the US, but currently, no copies are available. I got my copy from Amazon UK
As mentioned previously, Big John, Little John is coming out on DVD this fall, October 13th, to be exact, which is just two weeks away!
The set features all 13 episodes of the series, which starred Herb Edelman and Robbie Rist and ran on NBC during the 1976. From what I have read and been told, there are no major extras on the set. Which was the same case for the two other Saturday morning series released by Virgil Films and Entertainment this year, Monster Squad and Red Hand Gang. What you should expect is nice, clear, cleaned up episodes of this rare series.
You can pre-order the set from Amazon:
Land of the Lost DVD releases
On the same day Big John will be released, the Land of the Lost movie is also coming out in both regular DVD and Blu-Ray format. Both versions with contain the following extras: deleted scenes with commentary from director Brad Silberling; ” A Day in the Life of a Big-Time Movie Star” featuring costar Danny McBride; Devil’s Canyon Gift Shop Commercial and Tour; and a commentary track with director Silberling.
The Blu-Ray edition includes more bonus features: 12 more minutes of deleted scenes with commentary from the director; “Dr. Marshall’s Food Diaries” with commentary from the director; “This is Not a Routine Expedition: Making Land of the Lost” featurette; “ Brad, Sid and Marty: A Conversation with the Kroffts” a look back at the various shows produced by Sid and Marty Krofft.
No word as to whether the deleted scenes will include the alternate ending that featured cameos from the stars of the original series, Wesley Eure and Kathy Coleman.
In addition to the movie release, the original series is being re-released as season sets. So far, the only announced extra is a preview for the 2009 movie on the season 3 set, but based on the complete series re-release from May, I wouldn’t expect any other ones.
Pre-order the DVDs from Amazon:
In other Krofft related DVD news, on the Krofft brothers’ myspace message board, there are official postings that said that Far Out Space Nuts will be released on DVD in the next six months and The Lost Saucer will be released within the next year.
The Red Hand Gang will be released on DVD in the US on July 28, 2009. It is being released by Virgil Films and Entertainment, the same company that will be releasing Monster Squad on June 23rd. No extras have been announced, but the 2008 UK release of the series did have the series’ commercial bumpers as an extra.
You can now pre-order the US set from Amazon.
The same company plans on releasing two other Saturday morning series from the same production company, D’Angelo-Bullock-Allen: Big John, Little John in the latter part of 2009 and Run, Joe, Run in 2010. Hopefully, the sales of the series will be good enough to get the last two D’Angelo produced series, Westwind and McDuff, the Talking Dog, released.
