Let me tell you, we get some of the best and most interactive readers on the internet, and we appreciate them a lot! What we appreciate even more is when a studio is really responsive to consumer issues as well, and this is a perfect example of both! A couple of weeks ago, we got in a letter from one of our readers, Kevin Besner. Here's what he asked about:
Hello, I just purchased the 10 best episode collection of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and I wanted to point out an error on the set. On the first disc for the 5 best episodes of Season 1, they wrongly used the second season's opening sequence for "Diamond Ray of Disappearance" which was the first aired episode back in 1983. It has the group shot of Man-At-Arms, Orko and the Sorceress and at the end of the sequence it shows the year as 1984. I'm hoping this is corrected for the first season box set!!! Perhaps BCI is unaware of this error and so I thought I would share this information with you since you probably have a way of contacting them directly. Thanks for your time.
Wow, good spot! I thought I noticed something strange with the opening credits sequence when I viewed that episode, but what exactly the issue was didn't strike me dead-on until I read Kevin's note. It took a bit for me to dig out a VHS copy of "Diamond Ray", and I saw that Kevin was dead-on correct. So this past week I wrote to the folks at BCI, forwarding Kevin's note and asking for some feedback. The response I got was straight and to-the-point:
It's an issue with the ER masters, but we are fixing it for the season sets. Diamond Ray will have the correct opening come October.
Now "ER" is "Entertainment Rights", and (as everyone should know by now) the issue isn't theirs, either...they got the masters that way from Hallmark. How this particular item got changed is anyone's guess. But it's good to know that BCI can take the time to fix it for the season sets! Those opening credits had that tiny bit of difference between the seasons, and while in the end it's a tiny thing, it IS the little things that make for a great experience, after all. BCI has been taking note of that all along for
He-Man, and we appreciate it!
By the way, you will be happy to know that Amazon.com now has a pre-order listing for
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Season 1, Volume 1. List price is $49.98, but you can lock it in right now for just $34.99! That's 30% off, and it qualifies for the free shipping deal Amazon's had going for a while now. Or, if for any reason you prefer DVDPlanet, they also have it
up for pre-order, at just two cents more and also with free shipping.
In other news, another friend of ours - Andy Mangels, who produces the extras for the
He-Man DVDs (thanks, Andy!) - has sent over a BCI press release telling us how well the sales are going on
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Best 10 Episode Collector's Edition. Let's see what it has to say!
Navarre's BCI Announces First Week Sales on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe TV Series' DVD
Thursday July 28, 4:01 pm ET
MINNEAPOLIS, July 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Navarre Corporation (Nasdaq: NAVR - News), a publisher and distributor of a broad range of home entertainment and multimedia software products, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, BCI Eclipse Company, LLC ("BCI"), achieved the #17 ranking on the VideoScan chart for the week ending July 17, 2005, with its He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 10 Best Episode DVD release.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 10 Best Episode Set, released July 12 by BCI, was the highest chart position achieved by an independent studio release during the sales week. It is also one of the best first week sales results for a BCI release in the company's history.
"Everyone at BCI is extremely pleased with the first week results," said Greg Glass, Senior Vice President at BCI. Glass continued, "The marketing plan executed by our team at BCI included broadcast, print and event media, along with solid co-op support from retail to produce the successful results we were all hoping for. With these results we look forward to the First Season / Volume One He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 6-Disc DVD box set scheduled to be released on October 18, 2005."
In total, BCI has seven more He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVD releases scheduled for 2005 and 2006.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and The New Adventures of He-Man are under exclusive license to BCI for North American home video distribution from Entertainment Rights Plc, a U.K.-based media company.
Sounds great, and it makes us here at TVShowsOnDVD proud to see a release done so well, and doing so well as a result. There never was a doubt that BCI would go ahead with the season sets, but fans who wondered if
He-Man was still popular enough to fly off store shelves can now rest easier knowing that this is a successful venture, and we should see everything in the long run. Hopefully that success will convince Entertainment Rights to give BCI a shot at
She-Ra as soon as possible, and will also convince Mattel to let BCI do the 2002
He-Man series as well. We want it all! For now, though, we'll be happy to have the below set on
October 18th:
