Muppet Babies DVD Box Sets

[Drtooth]

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

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.

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.

 

[MelissaY1]

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.

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.

You're right, Dr. Tooth. The studios should take a lead after Sesame Workshop did the smart thing and put a video streaming feature on their site to showcase the clips people were throwing up on YouTube.

 

[unheard]

I hope the box set is out in the uk

 

[Drtooth]

You're right, Dr. Tooth. The studios should take a lead after Sesame Workshop did the smart thing and put a video streaming feature on their site to showcase the clips people were throwing up on YouTube.

Some are taking that initiative, others aren't. You want the pirates to lose? Beat them at their own game. So many anime companies are streaming their stuff online as well as selling them. Makes me wish they'd loosen some of the idiotic red tape and give us something RARE that all the other shows borrow from that no one gets the references to. But more often than not, I see outrageous copyright claims take down videos that studios are too disinterested in putting up or releasing themselves. Disney... you don't want to sell Darkwing Duck DVD's anymore? Release the rest of the episodes on-line streaming or on iTunes or something. Even MOD. Sure, there will always be those frustrating copyright gonks that keep things away from the public eye... and that's greed and stubbornness on both counts, but at least dust off some old shows that may not be huge enough to sell.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I am curious about this whole rights negotiation process for DVD releases. How is that there are officially released episodes of Muppet Babies on VHS but they can't get DVD releases for the episodes? Perhaps the episodes released to VHS some years ago didn't use any outside clips or only clips that the company had the rights to?

 

[MelissaY1]

I am curious about this whole rights negotiation process for DVD releases. How is that there are officially released episodes of Muppet Babies on VHS but they can't get DVD releases for the episodes? Perhaps the episodes released to VHS some years ago didn't use any outside clips or only clips that the company had the rights to?

I haven't seen the VHS releases of the episodes, so I am not sure if/how they are edited. Also, contractual rights can change from different forms of media. For example, there are a certain set of laws to release a DVD here in the U.S. but if you want to distribute something overseas, there are other layers involved. Also, contractual rights can change. Studios can lose the rights to distribute something on DVD or have different sets of rules of how they can be released depending on the company's contract. Like when The Best of the Muppet Show DVDs came out from Time/Life, notice all those episodes were complete and uncut, but when Disney started to put them out they were obviously edited.

 

[Drtooth]

I have some of them...the Disney released ones... MOST of them didn't actually have clips. The only ones I can recall are Star Wars bits in Muppet Babies: The Next Generation, and Beauty and the Beast TV series clips in Beauty and the weirdo. Most of the others had no clips, or public domain film. I'm sure there was some deal hammered out long ago, but it would need to be renegotiated.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I guess I just don't understand why it's so hard to reach a simple agreement. If Muppet Babies used clips from different TV shows, movies and specials, and popular music, etc. that other companies own- call up the companies, agree on a percentage for the company to receive of sales, and leave it at that. It seems like some things are made much harder than they need to be- often because of greed on the part of corporations trying to make sure they get every last cent they can through capitalizing on their properties.
And of course, it's their consumer public who suffers as they wait for shows like Muppet Babies, The Wonder Years and Batman to get released to some sort of viewing format somewhere in their lifetime.
(I guess I should be glad I was able to snag an officially released VHS of The Wonder Years at a thrift store some years ago and that I taped some Batman episodes when it was airing on cable. Thankfully, it airs on The Hub now, so that's one way for fans to see the show. And I won't be surprised if someone out there makes tapes of all the episodes and puts out a bootleg DVD set since it doesn't look like the copyright owners are doing anything with it anytime soon.
I suppose I should be glad I can at least have "Batman: The Movie" available- but I've seen it more than once and I'd like to see the actual series again.
And I am glad that I've been able to get a number of the officially released VHS episodes of Muppet Babies.)

 

[MelissaY1]

I guess I just don't understand why it's so hard to reach a simple agreement. If Muppet Babies used clips from different TV shows, movies and specials, and popular music, etc. that other companies own- call up the companies, agree on a percentage for the company to receive of sales, and leave it at that. It seems like some things are made much harder than they need to be- often because of greed on the part of corporations trying to make sure they get every last cent they can through capitalizing on their properties.
And of course, it's their consumer public who suffers as they wait for shows like Muppet Babies, The Wonder Years and Batman to get released to some sort of viewing format somewhere in their lifetime.
(I guess I should be glad I was able to snag an officially released VHS of The Wonder Years at a thrift store some years ago and that I taped some Batman episodes when it was airing on cable. Thankfully, it airs on The Hub now, so that's one way for fans to see the show. And I won't be surprised if someone out there makes tapes of all the episodes and puts out a bootleg DVD set since it doesn't look like the copyright owners are doing anything with it anytime soon.
I suppose I should be glad I can at least have "Batman: The Movie" available- but I've seen it more than once and I'd like to see the actual series again.
And I am glad that I've been able to get a number of the officially released VHS episodes of Muppet Babies.)

Because it's not just a simple matter of people agreeing on a price, unfortunately. It's the legal angles involved. You're right it WOULD be a world of difference if people can just say yes or no I'll pay this or that and that's it. Because one person just doesn't own a piece of whatever it is that someone may want to use, it can't be that simple For example, let's say they re-release the Muppet Babies with the old Beauty and the Beast T.V. show clip that Dr. Tooth mentioned in his post. Not only will they have to call up the production company that MADE the actual show, but the original network it aired on, etc. That's why music ownership is always a problem. Not only does the record label that put out the song have to get paid, but the artist, the publisher/people who own the copyrights to the songs, etc.

 

[Drtooth]

Though, there are plenty of episodes that have not a single clip in them, other than public domain stuff. They could be released on (ugh) "Best ofs" if they wanted to.

Let's also not forget the partnership with Columbia at the time gave them free range to use a lot of their clips, especially Ghostbusters and the Three Stooges.

Still... I wonder how they were able to get those 3 episodes on disk that came with plush with no problem.