Is there a reason why Disney dislikes releasing Muppet DVD's?

[Drtooth]

That's what I was saying previously: each of the Muppet movies were their own, one-off, stand-alone feature - they weren't connected to each other via a plot thread, or a hook, or anything, they each had their own self-contained story. I think that's just about the only problem with MMW is that it was a sequel - it continued where THE MUPPETS (2011) left off, and didn't hide the fact (nor were they shy about the Tom Hanks making TOY STORY 4 joke). I mean, sure, it's just my opinion, but I think MMW would have been a whole lot better had they not done the whole, "We're Doin' a Sequel," bit.

Even if it wasn't a sequel, direct or otherwise, they'd still call it one. I'm pretty sure that Disney coerced them into making the film an actual sequel when the writers have been on record saying they wanted something more disjointed. The happy medium was lampshading the fact it was a sequel with barely any of it actually connecting to the first one.

As for the DVD's, if that's truly what the public wants, the nostalgic T-shirt wearing, Robot Chicken and Family Guy cutscene, Sesame Street/Muppet Show confusing casuals want, I don't think the movie was in anyway an indication of the popularity of the franchise. If it's still a music rights thing, I don't see why Disney can't announce a list of the songs stopping them. At least then we can growl at the Monty Burns types that own them. Wouldn't be surprised if some likeness/celebrity rights issues are in the way as well. All I know is, nothing was stopping them with Star Wars characters before, and darn straight nothing's stopping them now.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Disney did indeed have plans to release Goof Troop, the rest of Talespin, and Ducktales the Movie to general retail after having these available for Movie club. They're clearly vanilla releases (I'd rather the term be sweet cream releases as vanilla is indeed a flavor), and well along the lines of the rest of the TDA "Oh Well it's something" DVD's. I'd love to hope this means that the rest of Darkwing Duck and Ducktales are in the pipeline.

 

[minor muppetz]

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Disney did indeed have plans to release Goof Troop, the rest of Talespin, and Ducktales the Movie to general retail after having these available for Movie club. They're clearly vanilla releases (I'd rather the term be sweet cream releases as vanilla is indeed a flavor), and well along the lines of the rest of the TDA "Oh Well it's something" DVD's.

Just a few days ago I saw the DuckTales movie and the rest of TailSpin at Target. So they are now retail releases (well, not sure about Goof Troop). I wonder if they're Target-retail exclusives or if they can be found at other stores.

 

[Duke Remington]

Just a few days ago I saw the DuckTales movie and the rest of TailSpin at Target. So they are now retail releases (well, not sure about Goof Troop). I wonder if they're Target-retail exclusives or if they can be found at other stores.

They're general retail releases.

 

[Muppet Master]

At least TMS got season set releases, even if they were not all the seasons. There was a time when three episodes on a VHS tape cost more than twenty bucks, but we get seasons on DVD with special features with the same amount. In my opinion, season two and three are much better than season four and five, so at least we have those available, better than nothing whatsoever.

 

[Drtooth]

Nothing has spoiled us quite like season sets did for the horrible days of 19.99 for 2 episodes on a VHS. Ditto when DVD's first came out, and we only got the same thing only without the hassle of rewinding.

Now, whenever some company releases a single disk with like 4 episodes on it, it's like really!?!

 

[Muppet Master]

Those VHS tapes help us now since they have a lot of season 4 and season 5 episodes, and they are much cheaper online, so it helps us legally watch those ones, so it works in our favor. You can easily find those on ebay or amazon for less than ten dollars which is a good buy, or at least better than what they used to cost.

 

[Drtooth]

The point of having DVD box sets is so you don't have to track down old VHS copies. Why spend well over 50 bucks to get a dead format to complete the episode collection when we were supposed to get them on DVD? I mean, none of that money goes to The Muppets or Disney or Henson. Might as well just watch the fuzzy youtube videos.

 

[Muppet Master]

The point of having DVD box sets is so you don't have to track down old VHS copies. Why spend well over 50 bucks to get a dead format to complete the episode collection when we were supposed to get them on DVD? I mean, none of that money goes to The Muppets or Disney or Henson. Might as well just watch the fuzzy youtube videos.

Someone bought them in the first place, and watching TMS on television is much better than watching it on a computer, I would buy one of them if I found one at a thrift store which always have those types of VHS tapes available all days.

 

[D'Snowth]

Do you realize Disney's not the only studio that does stuff like this?

It took six years to get Seasons Four and Five of Rocky and Bullwinkle after the first three seasons were released annually (of course, part of it had to do with Sony Wonder going under).

It's been been nearly a decade since MGM released Season Three of GREEN ACRES, and they still have three more seasons to go.

Warner is by far the worst... we were actually lucky they just released Season Two of COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG to coincide with the new CGI short that just came out, otherwise, they haven't released any new titles under the CN Hall of Fame banner. Likewise, it's been seven years since they released the first two seasons of ED, EDD N EDDY, and that was one of their biggest hits... they never even released BIG PICTURE SHOW on DVD!

Don't forget there was a five year gap between Vol. 2 and 3 of SST Old School.

I just remembered another one.

Back in the mid-2000s, a few of Sid & Marty Kroffts' shows saw DVD releases: H.R. PUFNSTUF, THE BUGALOOS, LIDSVILLE, the first season of SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS, and all three seasons of LAND OF THE LOST saw DVD releases. Then they just stopped. Years later, LAND OF THE LOST was re-released to coincide with the release of that terrible movie remake, then H.R. PUFNSTUF later saw a re-release too, as did Season One of SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS (though I never saw it in stores). Other than a compilation release within the last few years, we still have yet to see Season Two of SGMUND on DVD, along with THE LOST SAUCER, FAR OUT SPACE NUTS, D.C. FOLLIES, or any of those variety shows they did (save for PINK LADY & JEFF, for some reason).

 

[minor muppetz]

It's a wonder (and perhaps a good thing) that it's not illegal to buy used merchandise, considering that the companies making them don't make money when people buy things that were already purchased.

And Disney never made any money off those Best of the Muppet Show DVDs, as they were released before Disney got the Muppets and went out-of-print around that time (though Columbia's license to release Henson content expired at that time as well). Though I wonder if Disney got money from sales of any pre-2004 Muppet videos that were purchased after the sale/license expired. I'm pretty sure that retailers continued selling remaining stock, as opposed to selling unsold copies back to Columbia Home Video.