Persistence of (Via) Vision

I now have the UK-exclusive Outer Limits Complete Series (both Blu-ray and DVD) sets from Mediumrare Entertainment in hand; however, that's not what today's entry is about. Before we explore those, I want to back up a step and give the 2020 Australian releases from Via Vision a bit more attention.

As previously reported, the Via Vision Blu-ray improves on Kino's 2018 effort in terms of both content and packaging. Let's hit the packaging first: The set is comprised of two Blu-ray cases (one for each season) and a lavish booklet, nestled rather tightly inside a gorgeous hard outer box.

'Rather tightly' is an understatement. It's SUPER tight in there. But look at that box! There are obviously more iconic aliens/monsters to choose from, but given how brilliantly successful this turned out, I don't mind seeing Ikar there at all. It's a classy job through and through. Sorry Kino, but those clunky digipacks can't touch this.

But it doesn't end there. Via Vision's effort includes all the bonus content from Kino's releases and augments the package with a number of new, exclusive extras:

Audio commentary on "The Hundred Days of the Dragon" by Tim Lucas

Audio commentary on "The Architects of Fear" by David J. Schow

Audio commentary on "The Man Who Was Never Born" by Craig Beam

THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWN audio essay by David J. Schow (regarding a newly-discovered early draft of Joseph Stefano's "The Forms of Things Unknown")

The First Control Voice (early radio spots by Leslie Stevens)

Season Two original ABC commercial spot

Seasons One & Two photo gallery

60 PAGE BOOKLET featuring essays by David J. Schow and episode guide

The booklet, which is essentially both the Kino Blu-ray booklets smooshed together.

Ikar's head extends to the top of the case. Adorable.

In 2020, the Via Vision Blu-ray release was far and away the single greatest release of the series in the history of home video. I never bothered to get the DVD edition (despite my pathological completist nature), an oversight that I finally rectified about a month ago. I assumed that it would come in a similar hard outer box (though it certainly wasn't advertised as such), so the flimsy slipcase that greeted me when I opened the package was admittedly a bit of a disappointment. It's the same exact design, which I do like, but... it still feels cheap (I guess Ikar's head isn't nearly as impressive if you can't pull it off).

The real shocker for me was the discovery that all that exclusive content found on the Blu-ray edition (including my new commentary for "The Man Who Was Never Born") is NOT present on the DVD version. Further, all the Blu-ray content that Kino didn't include in their 2018 DVD* is also missing here (so, basically, this is a clone of Kino's DVD effort). While Kino included a booklet with both the Blu-ray and DVD releases of Season 1, only the Season 2 Blu-ray came with a booklet (and, as previously reported, their 2022 Blu-ray reissues omit the booklets entirely). The Via Vision Complete Series DVD is similarly lacking a booklet, so no proper episode guide is included. The episodes are listed on the reverse of the case inserts, so at least you can see where to find each episode, and asterisks are employed to denote which episodes feature audio commentaries... but that's it. Who did the commentary for "Nightmare," you ask? You'll have to load up the disc to find out (spoiler alert: it's not me, and his initials are DJS). 

Left: spines. Right: Um... the other side. The opposite of spines. Anti-spines?

Hey! I just thought of a hilarious idea: they should've used the image of one of Ikar's soldiers on the DVD to further differentiate the two. It's especially appropriate since, like the DVD version, the soldier is taller and dumber.

So while Via Vision's Blu-ray edition is (or at least was, in 2020 when it was released) the gold standard of The Outer Limits on home video, their corresponding DVD edition is unfortunately... well, nothing special. Via Vision's efforts represent both ends of the spectrum: the best Blu-ray, and the worst DVD. You'd be better off just getting the Kino DVDs from 2018, since at least you'll get a booklet with Season 1.

But c'mon. It's 2023. Why buy DVD at all when you can enjoy the series in high definition on Blu-ray? It boggles my mind that DVD is still a thing, especially since it's been superseded by superior formats twice (Blu-ray and, more recently, 4K UHD). But apparently DVD is *still* the highest-selling home video format.

This is particularly bizarre since virtually ALL televisions sold are either high definition (1080p) or 4K. A helluva lotta people are either still using 20+ year-old TVs or they just don't care how things look. 

What REALLY kills me is that the Via Vision Blu-ray (again, the single greatest home video release of the series ever) was strictly limited to 1,500 units, and they sold out pretty fast (I tried to track down a second backup copy recently, and I couldn't find one anywhere---- not on eBay, not on Australian eBay, not on Australian Amazon, not on Via Vision's website, nowhere. They're just gone, baby, gone. There are rumors that they may be doing a second run at some point this year (which would make it a 60th anniversary release, so hopefully they present it as such if it happens), but for right now---- if you don't have the Australian Blu-ray, you're outta luck.

Shortly after Kino released their 2022 Blu-ray reissues (which deleted the booklets but switched from digipacks to standard cases), UK-based Mediumrare Entertainment announced that they'd be releasing a Complete Series Blu-ray and DVD of their own in December 2022. With the Via Vision Blu-ray out of print and unattainable, the immediate and obvious question was: would the UK release simply replicate the original Kino effort, or would it include the exclusive Australian content? And, perhaps even more importantly, would it include anything new?

I guess I already answered that last question in a previous entry (no, there's no new content). But as to the content that is there.... well, stay tuned. Will the Brits dethrone the Aussies? All will be revealed... soon.

* I don't think I've ever mentioned in these pages that Kino's Season 2 DVD is missing several bonus features found on the corresponding Blu-ray. I'm planning a comprehensive post detailing ALL of the bonus features across all the various home video releases soon.