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Back to the Future - Clues point to Animated BTTF coming to DVD |
Posted by David Lambert
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1/15/2005
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In 2002, Universal released the Back To The Future Trilogy DVD set, containing all three films starring Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd, and Tom Wilson. Fans rejoiced in finally getting what was, at the time, one of the "holy grails" of unreleased-to-DVD film trilogies. But not every BTTF fan was satisfied. There were two complaints: one from fans who only wanted the first film, and weren't interested in the sequels, that you could only get the films together as a set. The other, and where TVShowsOnDVD comes in, is that fans thought it would be the perfect time to get the 1991 animated series brought to DVD as well, but the studio passed up that opportunity...probably because the TV-on-DVD genre had yet to explode the way it has recently.
Now, three years later, the 2002 trilogy box set release is heading off the market. Universal has declared an "Outa-time" promotion that urges you to hurry up and purchase the existing version "before time runs out", because "on February 1st, Universal stops selling the trilogy." The existing 3-disc set will no longer be made, and stores will be allowed to sell out their remainng stock at a new low price of $27.98 SRP, which takes effect on January 25th.
So, what does this have to do with DVDs of the cartoon? Perhaps everything!
This past Christmas Day (and the day after), I posted news about various plans from Universal Studios Home Video for 2005 TV-on-DVD releases. I mentioned titles like Kojak, Leave It To Beaver, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and 2nd-season sets for Las Vegas, Knight Rider, The A-Team, The Munsters, Magnum P.I., and Columbo. Well, the source of that information wasn't limited to TV-DVDs, you should know: film plans were also mentioned along the way. Special editions apparently are in the works for '05 release of classic films like The Sting, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Jerk, and others, including - yes! - Back To The Future.
There was no mention, by the way, as to whether this will be a separate release of just the first movie, or if it is once again the entire trilogy packed together in one box. I'm afraid I don't know anything more than just the words "Back to the Future (special edition)", written exactly that way. So please don't write asking me for more info about this new film release...I have none! It simply looks like they want to take advantage of the 20th anniversary of the first film's release and do something special with it on DVD. There's no way to know yet if it's one film in there, or all three.
But, IF Universal is clearing out inventory on the old film DVDs, and getting ready to release a new film DVD - in any configuration - then it brings us cartoon fans back to the question of "will the studio take the (new) opportunity to tie into that and release the animated series on DVD?" The answer will be found in a URL that was registered by "Universal City Studios" back on this past November 4th:
As you can see, "BackToTheFutureAnimatedDVD.com" is the domain name that Universal has registered, which can be verified via a simple WhoIs search on the web. We first found this out, though, thanks to a reader named "Brian", who pointed us toward a story posted yesterday at BTTF.com, the fansite which uncovered the fact of the domain name registration. As they point out, surfing over to that URL brings up an error message, because there is absolutely no content there so far. Still, the fact that the studio registered that particular phrase as a domain name - specifically mentioning a DVD associated with the cartoon series - speaks volumes!
So we have nothing official from the studio telling us that the cartoon is headed to DVD, but when you follow the history of the franchise on DVD and look at the new clues, putting together the pieces of the puzzle, then it becomes pretty obvious that Universal is prepping the animated show for release on our favorite digital discs sometime soon. Probably at the same time the film is re-released on DVD, which I would speculate would be in time for the holidays. For now, feel free to drop them a note and remind them just how much you want the animated show on DVD, so they don't change their minds, and we'll keep a lookout here for official info about any developments. Stay tuned, and we'll let you know anything further that we uncover.
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Link to this page:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Future/2734 |
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All news for this show:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/shownews/Future/808 |
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More info on this show:
Back to the Future |
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