Fraggle Rock DVD box released in Holland

[chikara]

This week a Fraggle Rock DVD set was released in the Netherlands. It has 17 episodes starting with "The beginning" so this might be a season 1 3-DVD set ? It has 475 minutes of material and a documentary "Henson's place at the Muppets". Wonderfull picture DVD's, gatefold packaging, crisp & clear sound and vision... and that for under $ 20 !!! www.bridgeonline.nl or www.bridgekids.nl for more info.

 

[Pero]

Yep, that's all true! I just bought the set and it was a dream come true! That quality, that eye for detail! It contains the first 17 episodes from Season 1 in correct order. So we were hoping for a second release containing the rest of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2. Bridgekids promised they were going to do that UNTIL ... Disney bought Henson!!

Will Disney start all over in Fall 2005 by releasing Fraggle Rock Season 1 in the UK? I hope they don't, because I don't want a Disney boxed set imported from the UK without Subtitles or Dutch audio! I want a perfect Bridgekids release!!! That means: Great packaging, crystal clear transfers, great menus, subtitles, English audio and even a Dutch audio track and even a one hour special feature about Henson and his Fraggle Rock.

Does anyone have more info about what is going to happen for us in Holland and Belgium? Bridgekids themself thinks Disney won't allow them to continue their perfect boxed sets...

 

[muppet_dk]

UNTIL ... Disney bought Henson!!
Will Disney start all over in Fall 2005 by releasing Fraggle Rock Season 1 in the UK?

Disney don't own JHC or the rights to Fraggle Rock. Disney have bought The Muppets and Bear. Hit, those that now has the rights to Fraggle Rock, are planing to release a season one boxset in the US next fall. No word on a UK release yet.

 

[Stulz]

Where?

I couldn't find any info on either link you posted.
Can you link directly to the Fraglle info?

 

[Pero]

Are you sure about Disney? This is the e-mail I got from Bridgekids.nl

-------

Beste Heer Weytens,

Allereerst bedankt voor uw compliment! Wij, als echte Freggels-fans, vonden het ook echt een plezier deze box uit te brengen.

Helaas moet ik u verder teleurstellen: het zal heel moeilijk worden nog nieuwe afleveringen van de Freggels aan te kopen. Zoals u wellicht weet, is het bedrijf Henson eerder dit jaar opgeslokt door de grote Disney Group. Zij houden het releasen van dvd's van oudere series binnenshuis, en zullen de home-video rechten slechts bij uitzondering nog verkopen aan derden.

Helaas is hier voor ons heel weinig aan te doen! We blijven hopen op de mogelijkheid nieuwe afleveringen aan te schaffen, maar het is ons onduidelijk of dit nog zal gebeuren.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Anne Bijl

----
Translation:

Dear Sir Weytens,

First of all, thank you for your compliments. We, as real Fraggle Rock fans had a very good time releasing this boxed set.

I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. It will be very difficult for us to buy any more Fraggle Rock episodes. As you might know, the Jim Henson company was bought by the Disney group earlier this year. They keep the rights to older tv series to themselves and will seldom release them to other companies.

There's little we can do about this. We keep hoping to get the chance to buy new episodes, but it remains doubtful that this will ever happen again.

Greetings,
Anne Bijl,
Bridgekids.nl

------
That's it. What do you guys think?

 

[muppet_dk]

Are you sure about Disney? This is the e-mail I got from Bridgekids.nl

I'am sure, and everyone else here also knows it. go to www.henson.com and read about who owns what or look at these news & threads:

http://muppetcentral.com/news/2004/042804.shtml
http://muppetcentral.com/news/2004/040104.shtml
http://muppetcentral.com/news/2004/021704.shtml
http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=13933
http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=15230

But don't worry about it, alot of news papers & websites here in Denmark has also been claiming that Disney BOUGHT JHC so it's a common mistake, for companys that don't have any people that knows how to read english.
So do what I've done here, send them the press release and translate it for them.

 

[BlueFrackle]

Maybe its because HIT! now wants to keep International rights for themselves also.

 

[Joggy]

What a funny theory. A few things just aren't right with it.

- Like said before, Disney does not own the Fraggles. Bridge has that fact wrong.
- It can not be THAT difficult to get access to Fraggle episodes for DVD release. HIT is going to release a season 1 boxed set in the US!
- On another website where there was a discussion about this FR set, I read another letter from Bridge regarding Fraggle DVDs where Disney wasn't mentioned at all. They said they might have plans to complete season 1, however that was a bit unlikely.

My guess on the matter is that they don't have access to the next Dutch episodes.

I'm seeing a pattern in the number of episodes they're using: they're the exact episodes that were released on rental video in the early 80s by Video Garant. They stopped after "Marooned." I think they bought the rights to Video Garant's recordings and used them as a source for the audio.

Episodes 18 to 24 were shown on television only, and getting access to the audio from those might be more difficult for Bridge.

 

[Pero]

That's possible! I guess that's it...

So probably there won't be any more episodes on DVD then?

 

[Kermieuk]

This DVD set is now on ebay, it ends on Sunday 31st October. It has some great pics of all sides of the box. Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=56381&item=5930091566&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Cheers guys