In
our "cover art" news yesterday for
The Munsters - The Complete 1st Season from Universal, we commented on the apparent lack of extras on board the set.
Well, this morning we were looking over the list of releases that Image Entertainment has planned for August, and - lo and behold! - it looks like they are coming out with an independant 2-DVD release which has quite a few "extras" on it for
Munsters fans.
Arriving on
August 24th (conveniently, the same day as the Universal release of
The Complete 1st Season), the Image entry is called
The Munsters: America's First Family of Fright, and it also seems to include the unaired pilot episode. Here's how they describe it:
Your favorite TV ghouls have arrived on DVD with this fright-tastic two-disc set!
Disc One features Four Amazing Looks at the Munsters: The Munsters: America's First Family of Fright; Fred Gwynne: More than a Munster; Yvonne DeCarlo: Gilded Lily; Al Lewis: Forever Grandpa.
Disc Two with Hours of Eerie Extras: "My Fair Munster" plus 3 Different Presentations in Black and White and Color; Unaired Main Title Sequence (Pilot Version); CBS Network Promos; The Munsters in Several Vintage TV Special Appearances: "Seven Wonderful Nights" (CBS Special with Buddy Ebsen); "Wayne & Schuster Take an Affectionate Look at the Monsters"; "Marineland Carnival" (CBS Special); "Big G, Little O"; "It's What's Happening, Baby" (with "Murray the K"); "We Don't Knock" (with Lenny Clarke).
Plus: Universal Newsreels; Syndication TV Spots; Munsters Go Home Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots.
$24.99 is the list price for this 2-disc set that runs at 243 minutes. It's in full-frame video mode with sequences appearing in black-and-white where appropriate. Here's a look at the cover art:
We're not sure what to think about this. As fans of
The Munsters, it sure would be sweet to own all this exciting backhistory material about the show. And we can understand that this is coming from a completely different studio, so it is not (and can not be) "free bonus material" that consumers should expect at no extra charge with the main set.
What we mean is, of course we have to pay for this if we want it: Universal and Image are not the same company, and in fact there may still be resentment between these two firms due to a dispute in the past over Universal films that were licensed to Image, and each side felt the other treated them unfairly during the course of the contract (which led to those titles, including
Quantum Leap - The Pilot Episode, being taken out-of-print and becoming impossible to find in their Image incarnations).
However...$24.99 SRP? It sounds a bit pricey for "dessert"...especially when we're already planning to spend $59.98 SRP on the same day for the main course! Hopefully, some smart retailer will decide to set up a good combo offer on both of these together. It makes all the sense in the world.
On a separate-but-related note: one online e-tailer is claiming that the out-of-print-on-DVD film
Munsters Go Home will be included as an extra in Unversal's Season 1 release. We've looked into this, and while we haven't gotten a response from the studio yet, there is no indication on any of the material Universal's provided to indicate that this is true. Sorry, but we're pretty sure they are mistaken. However, if we find out differently, we'll let you know. But don't get your hopes up!
