Pre-Order Sesame Street Old School Volume 3 (1979-1984) coming to DVD 11/6

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Naturally - I understand that.

But I don't understand why they can't release older videos as regular Barney DVDs. I'm not asking for season sets or anything, I just don't want to have to rely on VHS tapes so much.

And just for the record, next year is Barney's 25th year in buisness - That's not to be ignored.

I could say it might be that HIT just doesn't think it's viable to put out older Barney titles. But then again, Lionsgate put out a slew of obscure Henson titles no one would really think of releasing a few years back and pretty much all of Sesame's back-catalog that's been commercially-released on VHS is out there in DVD form. I could probably think of a ton of theories for any kid's show not having it's material re-released on DVD, but this obviously isn't the thread where that's needed.

 

[FrackleFan2012]

Well, let's look at it like this: Sesame Street's been on much longer and has a much larger fan base. There's a lot more nostalgic content to be mined from it.

There's just a bigger market for classic Sesame than classic Barney.

Yup, as well as The Muppet Show, too.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

I could say it might be that HIT just doesn't think it's viable to put out older Barney titles. But then again, Lionsgate put out a slew of obscure Henson titles no one would really think of releasing a few years back and pretty much all of Sesame's back-catalog that's been commercially-released on VHS is out there in DVD form. I could probably think of a ton of theories for any kid's show not having it's material re-released on DVD, but this obviously isn't the thread where that's needed.

Well, I think on the side of the Henson stuff, they're pretty much putting it out just because they have it. Not that I know the specifics - Does Lionsgate have ALL of Henson Company for distribution? (If yes, then I guess you guys are just luckier than the retro-Barney junkies of the world.)

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Not that I know the specifics - Does Lionsgate have ALL of Henson Company for distribution? (If yes, then I guess you guys are just luckier than the retro-Barney junkies of the world.)

That's a very good question. I want to say, yes, they can/could distribute anything Henson owned their own distribution rights to. I know Sony has the distribution rights to Dark Crystal but other than that Lionsgate can release anything else that still has a Henson copyright on it. Then again, they haven't put out any new Henson releases in two years, so who knows if that deal still stands...

 

[SuperGzilla12]

That's a very good question. I want to say, yes, they can/could distribute anything Henson owned their own distribution rights to. I know Sony has the distribution rights to Dark Crystal but other than that Lionsgate can release anything else that still has a Henson copyright on it. Then again, they haven't put out any new Henson releases in two years, so who knows if that deal still stands...

Makes sense.

You know, I was just about to correct myself - I know that NCircle does Sid the Science Kid.

 

[minor muppetz]

On the topic of Barney, while I'm not a fan and most likely wouldn't buy a DVD set, I agree that the early episodes (and especially the VHS releases that started it all) need to be on DVD. The longtime Barney fans probably deserve the old episodes as much as us longtime Sesame Street fans.

On the topic of Old School Volume 3, somebody uploaded some images of various parts of the packaging and booklet on Muppet Wiki. There's images from the outer and inner back cover. Unfortunately, for the most part we still don't know what bonus clips are included. The inner back cover shows images from segments that we know appear in the episodes (Big Bird and Madeline Kahn, Allistair Cookie introducing Me, Claudias, Harry Belafonte and the Count, Herry and John-John, and Ernie observing the Bert and Ernie statues). The outer back cover does not mention any of the celebrities who appear (in contrast to the first two volumes), but the outside back cover does have an image of Big Bird with R2D2, so I guess one of the bonus clips will feature R2 (and maybe C3PO).

The spine includes Cookie Monster.

 

[SuperGzilla12]

On the topic of Barney, while I'm not a fan and most likely wouldn't buy a DVD set, I agree that the early episodes (and especially the VHS releases that started it all) need to be on DVD. The longtime Barney fans probably deserve the old episodes as much as us longtime Sesame Street fans.

On the topic of Old School Volume 3, somebody uploaded some images of various parts of the packaging and booklet on Muppet Wiki. There's images from the outer and inner back cover. Unfortunately, for the most part we still don't know what bonus clips are included. The inner back cover shows images from segments that we know appear in the episodes (Big Bird and Madeline Kahn, Allistair Cookie introducing Me, Claudias, Harry Belafonte and the Count, Herry and John-John, and Ernie observing the Bert and Ernie statues). The outer back cover does not mention any of the celebrities who appear (in contrast to the first two volumes), but the outside back cover does have an image of Big Bird with R2D2, so I guess one of the bonus clips will feature R2 (and maybe C3PO).

The spine includes Cookie Monster.

Well, while I would love to see Barney & the Backyard Gang on DVD, as has been said on here, there isn't really a big market for classic Barney. It would be best for HiT Entertainment to continue making their DVDs for the audience of small kids.

With that in mind, there is really no reason why there are so many Barney videos pre-dating 2002 that aren't on DVD - Not to mention the first six seasons of the Barney & Friends television series.

 

[FrackleFan2012]

Hey, everyone! Look at the back cover of the DVD, as well as the bonus booklet cover, the back cover of the DVD Digi-Pack, and the Fold-Out from the bonus booklet.

Back Cover of DVD

Bonus Booklet Cover

Back Cover of the DVD Digi-Pack

Fold-Out from the Bonus Booklet

 

[SuperGzilla12]

Nice. I'm suddenly considering to pick this up.

 

[minor muppetz]

I find it amusing how the packaging mentions that it's "packed with classics like Monsterpiece Theater and Beetle Bailey". Considering the same Beetle Bailey segment had been included on the previous two releases (I assume there's only one Beetle Bailey segment produced for Sesame Street), I doubt many casual fans of either Sesame Street or Beetle Bailey would be aware of that particular appearance, Beetle Bailey isn't exactly associated with the show, and I don't think Beetle Bailey has that big of a fanbase (maybe I'm wrong). If the packaging is going to mention some of the classic segments, why not mention Sesame Street News or (assuming one will be on this set) Teeny Little Super Guy?