Between a
"Set 1" and a
"Set 2" release, plus the separately-released
Christmas Special (all of these hit DVD in 2004), fans of
Pee-wee's Playhouse think they have the entire show on DVD by now. And you do, IF you're talking about the official run of the 1986 series.
The the thing that started all of this inspired lunacy was the 1981 HBO special,
The Pee-wee Herman Show. It had the basic premise of the
Playhouse all down, and included cast members and characters who would go on to do the regular show five years later: Paul Reubens of course as "Pee-wee Herman," Lynne Marie Stewart as "Miss Yvonne," John Paragon as "Jambi the Genie," and the late great Phil Hartman as "Captain Carl."
Now Image Entertainment is bringing
The Pee-wee Herman Show to DVD in 2006. We've got conflicting dates on when that is supposed to happen, though. Image's info says
June 6th, but
Amazon.com has a pre-release listing which says "April 4th" instead. Obviously, we tend to believe the studio info first and foremost. Both dates are Tuesdays, but the retailer's date may be an order-due date that mistakenly got input into their system as the street date. If we find out differently, we'll surely let you know.
Image's info shows this will run 58 minutes, and will go for $14.99 SRP in the USA and CA$17.99 SRP in Canada. The aspect ratio is the original 1.33:1 and the sound is English mono, the way it was first shown. We're still waiting on cover art, but stay tuned and we'll bring it just as soon as we figure out the secret word and give it to Image.
By the way, no word yet on that
Pee-wee's Playhouse "specially packaged limited edition containing all 45 episodes with commentary by Paul Reubens and additional bonus material culled from Reubens' vast show archives" that Image promised us
in the original Pee-wee press release would hit in 2005. Until Image says differently, we figure it's a no-show and we're not holding our breathes for it any more. But if something surfaces concerning that item, we'll hurry up and tell you all about it. So stay tuned!
