For example, none of "The X-Files" show up. Neither does "Hard to be a God". As you say, these are probably just titles that were never flagged. I would like to know how those extra characters work for your search, the <p>, <b>, etc.

Then there are titles like "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry". This one (and ones like it) cannot be flagged because they were released in multiple countries, just not the USA. Perhaps, if the advanced search function had two country fields, one could be marked "Japan" and the other "not-USA". But I'm no programmer so I do not know if this is possible. More, I do not know how much work it would take to add a second country field. Apparently, not many people are even interested in this information so I would not ask for changes to be made to the website just for me.

Speaking of that, when I made this thread, I thought it would be both informative and fun for anyone interested. I thought wrong. I thought most laserdisc collectors would like to talk about their collections. When someone asks me about my laserdiscs, I usually mention my most unusual ones. Other people here make threads like, "What is the last laserdisc you bought?" and nobody asks them "why?", they just answer. I wasn't asking anyone to do extra work or searching on my behalf, just talk about some discs that are in their collection.

Hi tombstone13,

Like yourself, I'm not a computer programmer, so I can't intelligently discuss the technical aspects of exactly how the search functions work, or what would be involved in changing/adding features to the site. That would certainly be something on which I would have to defer to Julien, the site admin, to address. You mentioned the X-Files as not turning up in your search. I presume that you mean some of the Japanese box sets from the later seasons, as episodes from the early seasons were released in the U.S., as well as other countries. I think that the complete seasons of the series were only released in Japan, however. I'm not really an authority on these, as I only own some of them, mostly a few odd ones that I picked up very cheaply quite a few years ago from a single seller. He only had the ones I bought from him, and not any of the others. With regard to "Hard to Be a God", this is a film I was not even aware of until you mentioned it. Indeed, it had not been flagged as a Japan only release on the listing page. I did an update to correct this, so it should turn up in searches as soon as Julien validates the update. It is listed as being in English, however, IMDb states that the film is in German. I presume that the Japanese release must be an English dubbed version. I really can't say for sure, as I don't own a copy of it. You are correct about "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry". It had not been flagged because it was a title also released in other countries. The best way to classify it would be to say that it is a Japan only NTSC release, as the other releases were both PAL. I likewise did an update to that listing page to reflect this. I obtained a copy of the Japanese release of this title several years ago for which I gave absolutely nothing! It was given to me free of charge by a seller I was buying another disc from. He checked his copy when I expressed interest in this title. When he found that it had light rot on one side, he threw it in for free! Although certainly not perfect, it is very watchable, and I have never bothered looking for a better copy of it.

I thought of another such example of a title which was released in more than one country, but not in the U.S. I don't know if it is a title in which you have any interest, but it is "Space Mutiny", an obscure low budget sci-fi film. It was released in both Hong Kong and Taiwan. I obtained the Hong Kong release first, quite a few years ago. When I originally submitted it to be added to the database, I had it flagged as a Hong Kong only release. However, some years later, I updated the listing and removed the flag, after a copy of the Taiwanese release turned up. This has happened on a few other occasions over the years. Another example I can think of is "Victimless Crimes", which was released in both Hong Kong and China, but not the U.S. Yet another example would be "Alley Cat", which was released in both China and Taiwan. I'm not sure if any of these might be to your liking, but if you like low budget films, they are definitely worth checking out. They are also examples of very unusual titles I have in my collection, if that's what you were interested in hearing about. It would probably be easier for me to just tell you to look at my collection listing and judge for yourself what is the most unusual title I have. I would be hard pressed to say for sure, as my collection is quite large and absolutely loaded with that sort of stuff. The one thing I can say without a doubt is that I'm certain you will see something to your tastes listed in there somewhere!

Best Regards,
David

Yeah, thats kind of what I was getting at earlier where "unreleased" becomes a very fuzzy area. I have Mike the Wizard (The Wizard of Speed and Time) (1989) [KYLY-59004] even though Wizard of Speed and Time, The (1989) [ID7209SG] exists because its easier to find a JP copy and the cover on the American one sucks as usual. On top of that, Wizard of Speed and Time, The: Premium Disc (1988) [KYMY-59004] is a disc containing just the original short in CAV with chapter titles on a bound to be rot-free forever 8" LD Single and that specifically is Japan only. Several TV series were started in the US and abandoned by the publisher before they completed, as has been said. Several dozen if not hundred movies came out in both major markets but in different aspect ratios, different soundtracks, plus or minus special features like commentaries, isolated scores, trailers, whatever. Terminator 2 came out on LD I think twenty-five times or something like that but the only Squeeze version was the JP one.

BTW, some...fellow...is asking $1300 for KYLY-59004 and I don't have anything nice to say about that. If anyone wants to swap me a Kronolog or a Daikon Film for mine, PM me.

I don't believe there is a US version of Father Christmas (1991) [ASLA-1027] but on top of that the JP LD has the UK english voice for Santa whereas the show aired in the US with changes...I want to say he didn't say "bloomin'" all the time in the US one but I don't remember. I think they replaced his voice completely. Similarly, The Snowman seems to have come out three times in Japan, once in the UK, but never in the US. The JP ones are Snowman, The (1978) [CSLW 1149] Snowman, The (1982) [50LS 4011] (supposedly has Bowie intro which my US DVD lacks), and Snowman, The: Theatrical Edition (1986) [CSLW 1150], whatever that is.

I dont think there is a US LD of Hundra (1983) [98C59-6100] but its on DVD in at least one Mill Creek collection so you can assume the PQ is naff. (I have it and it is indeed naff, even compared to the not so great 98C59-6100.)

For fans of The Transformers...I don't think there were any US LDs but the movie came out in Japan twice as did all the shows that aired here in the US except the US Headmasters but only some episodes are bilingual EN/JP, many of not most are JP dubbed only.

Lupin III Castle of Cagliostro was released in Japan with the English dub by Streamline, in this box with a copy of the script: Lupin the 3rd: Cagliostro no Shirou (Castle of Cagliostro) (1979) [TLL 2473]

Exclusive to Japan, it's an interesting oddity used, seemingly, for learning English given the book. For English speakers that wanted a high quality copy of Cagliostro, this was the way to go prior to DVD.

Made it back home with some good discs in tow. I did not find everything that was mentioned here. But I did score a lot of X-Files discs along with some others suggested. I probably missed out on some because I couldn't tell if they would be English-audio or not.

I found some other non-USA with English-audio discs that are not marked as Japan-only: Streethawk, Flash 2, Conquest of the Earth, Wedlock, and New Man (I can't even find this one in LDDB). There are a few others but I am blanking at the moment, sorry.

Thanks for all the additional suggestions. I don't know when or if I'll get another opportunity like this.
Movies like Transformers aren't for me but I would really like to find that Lupin disc!

Anyway you can post a picture or date of the film??
I can't find any title on imdb under "New Man"

It could be another title was used in Japan?

Street Hawk? Cool!

If you had just told us you were going to Japan or to a shop we could have simply told you how to tell if the disc has English just by looking at it. It should say 英語 in the data block on the back cover. It will generally be on the obi somewhere. If it says “Multi-Audio” then you know it’s probably because they isolated the score or it’s dual language so look for a box that has 英語 (English language) next to 日本語 (Japanese language).

If you had just said “I’m going to a shop with a huge pile of JP LDs, how can I tell if they are English or not?” we could have just straight up told you.

Yeah, I guess so. I haven't watched it yet but the cover looked interesting. It's from 1991.

Edit: See attached! Still haven't watched it yet.




It does look cool but the actual movie is kind of lame. It takes forever for him to get the motorbike. Even after that, it's a let-down. Neat idea, though.



Thanks, that's good to know. Only a few that I bought had the paper slip (obi?), though.



Thanks again, but that's only the half of it. I am only looking for English discs that were not released in the USA. As it is, I ended up buying a few that turned out to have USA releases (The X-Files movie, for example). My preference is for English-audio with no subtitles. But it's still cool to find discs that are in English that weren't released in the USA even if they do have subtitles.