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Posted: 31 Aug 2021, 03:52 

I come from the old school so I'm partial to the era. I've been meaning to get one for years. There are also some Japanese releases that were never released anywhere else so it was just time :)

The best reason to get a laserdisc player is because you want one. I've had one for thirty years and never regretted it. I've got a lot of discs over the years but who cares? It's my money. As long as you're not neglecting your family it's a great hobby. I also really enjoy searching through old collections at garage sales and second-hand stores (some countries like Japan are amazing for this), though that has become less frequent in recent years. I will probably never get a PAL player but I have found PAL discs in the past that were cool, like Charro!, a Star Trek tribbles box, or animated Lone Ranger discs.

I've had people tell me over the years that I should buy VHS or DVD or what-ever. I haven't seen any reason to do it. It's not like my eyesight is getting better with age anyways! :P

Having been stuck at home more for the past two years, I've still been finding new movies and shows to watch, plus I still enjoy re-watching my favorites all the time.

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Posted: 10 Sep 2021, 18:09 

Things to Come

Really interesting old sci-fi movie.


is it this edition or are there other editions?
Things to Come (1936) [G78F2624]

great movie. have the Criterion BD of it.

Yes, that’s it. You can see how it influenced a lot of later sci-fi. I looked up the book that it’s based upon afterwards. I also recommend War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, laser movies based upon books by that same author.

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Posted: 02 Nov 2021, 01:19 

I'm not the biggest fan of Sherlock Holmes, but I have read all the stories. If you've not seen it already then I highly recommend Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The: Special Edition (1970) [ID7413MG] . Although it's not based on a specific Arthur Conan Doyle story I think they got most of the characters spot on, and it was certainly an inspiration for the recent modern day BBC series.

On the contrary, the depiction of Holmes and Watson in Private Life are atypical. They even state more than once in the film that many of Holmes' famous traits are fabrications by Watson for his stories. Personally, I also thought Holmes was too whiny and Watson too outrageous. Holmes berating Mrs. Hudson? Watson shouting and angry repeatedly? Even Mrs. Hudson waving a gun around, really. :roll: More importantly, Sherlock is about the equivalent of a TV detective here. He solves part of the case (it's not a really difficult mystery) but for the biggest part of it, he is clueless; Mycroft has to explain it plainly to him, with Watson being left to believe it was Sherlock that solved it. More, Sherlock never demonstrates his amazing powers of observation, those traits apparently also only created for Watson's stories. Overall, disappointing.

*** spoiler alert ***

If you haven't seen The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and plan to do so, DO NOT look at the laserdisc cover as it includes a major spoiler. It is a fantastic cover artwork, otherwise.


Not related to original Holmes saga

However.....
"Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother" starring Gene Wilder / Marty Feldman / Dom DeLuise / Madeleine Khan and more....
One of the funniest movies ever made imo.....

It was issued on CED ....
Wished it had a Japanese issue.

If anyone gets a chance .... check it out ! ! !

Cheers Mates

Yes, that movie is hilarious! The main cast is awesome and there are lots of funny bits like the Albert Finney cameo. And the "Sheer Luck" comment, funny also because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock to be unlike other detectives at the time that relied on luck to solve cases. I have seen it on television. I did see the laserdisc for sale in someone's collection once but it was PAL video so I passed on it.

I forgot that Wilder was a fencer before actor and had some great form in the film, only watched about 20 minutes and didn't have time to finish the film.
Always on my list as there is an odd film channel on roku that shows stuff for free that should be pay.

I did not know Wilder was a fencer, interesting. He does a great job here. The final battle against Moriarity (The Prisoner's Leo McKern) is very under-rated amongst famous movie sword fights.

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I am not sure which Holmes on laserdisc is my favorite. I have some of the Jeremy Brett stuff which is very good because it's so faithful to the books and definitely has the best depiction of Dr. Watson. I really like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Rathbone is an excellent Holmes and although Bruce's bumbling Watson isn't accurate to the books, the chemistry between the two just seems right. I also kind of like the animated Peter O'Toole stories because they stay relatively close to the source material and O'Toole gives a solid performance, though some of the supporting characters are almost annoyingly acted out.

My favorite Rathbone Sherlock doesn't seem to be on laserdisc, though. I'm talking about the excellent Sherlock Holmes vs. Spider-Woman. I keep hoping that I will find out it's part of some classic collection or under a different title but no luck so far. It's got some great action, mystery, disguises, and even comedy. Nigel Bruce's Watson is probably at his most competent in this story, too.

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Posted: 02 Nov 2021, 02:08 

Oh! How could I forget Young Sherlock Holmes? Although it's an alternate history (Holmes and Watson never met as kids in the books), they are a great pair in this movie that you could believe grew up to be the adults. I also enjoyed the mystery.

I am not really a fan of talking animal movies but I've heard good things about The Great Mouse Detective. It's on my list of laserdiscs to buy if I ever see it, actually.

Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Elementary Dear Data, got me into watching the show. I was not overwhelmed by the sci-fi story though there is one scene where Data (as Holmes) solves a "murder" on the holodeck that is classic Holmes. I really enjoyed that part of the story.

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Posted: 02 Nov 2021, 03:31 

Under Siege 2. The only other Seagal disc I own is Under Siege (not counting Executive Decision). I never knew there was an Under Siege 2. I guess they even planned a part 3.

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Posted: 09 Nov 2021, 06:58 

Watched Ghostbusters for Halloween and in anticipation of the new movie Ghostbusters Afterlife. Not sure if I will actually ever set foot in a theater again. Also not sure about another YA-heroes story with the adults all being skeptical idiots. But I like Paul Rudd and Annie Potts so here's hoping!

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Posted: 18 Nov 2021, 04:48 

What is the goal? Is it black-out / got to have them all or just "expensive" titles?

I have always just bought movies that either I like and want to be able to re-watch or movies that look interesting that I haven't seen. I have never bought a movie just because I thought it was a high value item. I already have a bunch of discs that I bought and only watched once. I guess I'm just too lazy to bother selling them. :P

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Posted: 18 Nov 2021, 05:47 

This past week, my friend and I watched four adaptations of The Hound of the Baskervilles on laserdisc. I think we only missed one that is only available in PAL. I had previously seen all of them in years past except for the one with Peter Cushing as Sherlock, which I had never seen before. I have never watched four different adaptations in a short time but it was actually interesting as we talked about what was included, added, or left out. Our final ranking, from best to worst:

1. Basil Rathbone's version
2. Jeremy Brett's version (a very close second)
3. Peter O'Toole's version
4. Peter Cushing's version

Some spoilers (if my memory serves):

Rathbone's version is the best. His Sherlock is the only one to don a disguise and it's a great one, too.
He is always great with disguises in his Sherlock movies; I think only Clayton Moore's old prospector disguise in The Lone Ranger rivals it. It's just fun to watch. And not once but twice, someone else claims to be Sherlock which is also just great humor (the book only has it once). Oddly, the part where Holmes & Watson following the carriage in London includes a murder attempt with a pistol (not in the book) but it does add some excitement, at least. This movie also has the best hound, a real large dog that looks truly menacing when Stapleton releases him from his confinement.iThere is no phosphour for the hound but I imagine it would be hard to do in Black & White. And Sir Henry really has to battle this hound, well done! The only poor part of this movie is the added seance scene (which is not in the book) and is boring. Oh yeah, and Watson has totally the wrong kind of pistol.

Brett's version is also really well done. It's the only one to include the part in the beginning with Watson saying Holmes must have eyes in the back of his head. It's a fairly faithful adaptation of the book though it leaves out the amusing bit of someone claiming to be Sherlock. I don't think this was Brett's best Sherlock, he looked a little overweight actually. The way they did the hound was frustrating. It had the green phosphour effect which was okay but not great. But it looked ridiculous attacking Sir Henry, clearly a fake dog head. Worse, the hound's growl was obviously a person doing a poor growling raspberry! We howled with laughter at this! Embarrassing. At least Watson's revolver was the right type here. They added a character and also lobotomized the convict Selden for some reason which seemed unnecessary. And while the locations in this adaptation can be brilliant, this is the only of the four that does not include a flashback to Sir Hugo and the origins of the curse. I know it was just read aloud in the book but I think it's much better to see it when it's a movie.

O'Toole's version is also a very close adaptation to the book. The animation is typical Seventies Saturday morning animation, a little better than Superfriends/Scooby Doo but not as good as Jonny Quest. Visually, this is the best hound, glowing outlines and very menacing for that style of animation. The hounds sound is odd, though, a mix of a large wild cat and dog; it would sound good if it wasn't supposed to be a hound. I really liked how when they are firing at it, Holmes says if they can wound it they can kill it. That is right from the book and the only adaptation to include it. They also included the book version of someone pretending to be Sherlock. I would also say this adaptation is the only one to lay enough clues similar to the book for the viewer to deduce all of the plot elements correctly. And this is the only version to include Inspector Lestrade like in the book.

Cushing's version is troubling in many ways. Look, I like Peter Cushing. Maybe I am falling for the type-casting thing but he just seems wrong for Holmes. For one thing, he just seems too small compared to everyone else. I kept think that Christopher Lee (who plays Sir Henry) would have made a better Sherlock. Then there is the weird take on the already strange Stapletons -- rather than a married couple pretending to be siblings, here they are evil father and eviler daughter. Plus, their hound is not covered in phosphorous, instead it's wearing some kind of weird headpiece. Again, they use a fake dog head for Sir Henry to battle and it looks silly. This is the only adaptation I would say to skip, there is nothing really interesting in this one.

The one part that none of them got right was the initial reaction of Sherlock Holmes to the hound. I still have a clear memory of reading the story as a kid. This was the first story I had read where Holmes was shocked and surprised, if even for a moment. It's my all-time favorite passage from Sherlock Holmes. O'Toole's version is perhaps the closest to getting this part right but not really. Still, the first three on my list are definitely worth checking out!

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Posted: 21 Jun 2023, 00:59 

Mine is "Balance of Terror" ....
Do not even recall the episode on the flip side.


Yeah, that is a great episode. Unfortunately, the flip side is the dull and obvious "Conscience of the King". Another example is the awesome "City on the Edge of Forever" is paired with the dreadful "The Alternative Factor". Not as big of a deal these days since most discs can be found for around five dollars. But back in the day, these discs were thirty or forty dollars new. It really burned the ol' wallet to spend that much knowing that one episode was not worth it.

I was thinking more of which pair of episodes make a great single laserdisc. Another one I like is "Squire of Gothos" with "Arena" on the flip side; both are fun to watch even if not perfect. And most of the movies are great, no question, though I was thinking more of the single disc releases. What ones do you think are the best pair of good episodes?

I hadn't even thought about boxsets. If you look at single discs from the boxsets, "The Best of Both Worlds" is on a single disc, which is great. On the other hand, one of Voyager's greatest episodes, "Meld", is paired with "Threshold" which is undoubtedly the worst hour of any Star Trek that I have ever seen!

Anyways, what do you think is the best pair of Star Trek episodes on one of the single LD's?
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