Waaaay back in March 2010 we
passed along word that MGM had entered the manufacture on demand (MOD) market, and that one of their planned titles was
Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot - The Complete Series. Since that time fans have continued waiting for this item, but Amazon never fulfilled the pre-orders they took...and then they left the listing up, but stopped accepting new pre-orders. Fans were disappointed, but hope was renewed this past summer when
we updated you to the fact that Amazon had begun accepting advance purchases once again! That didn't last long, however, because by the autumn that listing was once again deactivated from taking new orders. Would fans never get this show on DVD?
YES!, as it so happens.
Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot - The Complete Series IS coming to DVD, but not from MGM, and not as an MOD title.
A brand-new Amazon listing shows that Shout! Factory has licensed this title, and is releasing it through traditional in-store distribution starting
March 26th. It will cost $39.97 SRP...yes, higher than the price quoted for the MOD version, but where MOD titles are usually not discounted at all, Amazon is currently pre-selling this for $27.98 after markdown. The MOD version planned was going to be a 7-disc set, because the MOD process at the time of the original design would only allow for single-density discs (which hold half as much as the standard double-density discs used for most TV-DVD titles). But since Shout! will manufacture these using factory production methods, the set will consist of 4 double-density DVDs. Package art will be revised, but we don't have that new image yet; stay tuned!
