That and, in Batman's case, that show was produced LONG after it changed hands to Warner bros. Makes me worry about certain Marvel cartoons, now that Disney owns them. Sure, the Saban produced ones are safe (Disney owns that too), but now's the time to get Spectacular Spider-Man and Wolverine and the X-Men before they're lost.Oh I totally agree, Dr. Tooth. Batman is another great example. Like I've said in some of my other posts about DVDs around here on the board, when they originally produced these shows, unfortunately they never thought about down the road that people might want to own/see these again and what that would entail legally and therefore never got the proper rights, etc. squared away from the get go. It sucks I know
But overall, I'd rather buy someone's crappy taped off TV, poorly coded disks than to sit around saying "Man, I wish I could watch me some Hanna Barbera's Adventures of Don Coyote," while flipping though the channels watch promo after promo for weightloss competitions. Though, heh, youtube has so far made the bootlegging almost obsolete... until, of course, the corporations completely take over the internet in a few years.
Here's something... why don't MORE studios just put their own stuff online on Hulu and Youtube? And not even the recent stuff... the "there's no way we can make a profit if we ever sold this" stuff... again, Hanna Barbera's Adventures of Don Coyote or something. MG put up like 3 Bill and ted cartoons, and they never finished them off. There's gotta be the same rights crap, sure, but not to the same extent as home video.
As for Disney and the Muppet Babies... well, there's an awkward spot there. Even if you take OUT the film clip rights, Disney wouldn't want to focus on that part of the franchise just yet (maybe sometime after the movie, sure). But at the same time, kids who watched that show have mostly grown up and have preschool kids of their own. Now WOULD be the opportune time to strike. I still think, again, after movie, Disney should bring back the Muppet Babies, if nothing else, for baby goods.. Nursery decorations, diapers, baby clothes... stuff like that. THEN try and go at releasing it on DVD or rerunning it somewhere.