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Surrounded by (unfinished ) Box Sets !!
Tuesday, 8th July 2008, 22:47

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 8-7-2008 22:47

I love being able to collect whole series in one gulp. My own collection includes every episode sets of The Prisoner, The Avengers, Danger Man, Lost in Space, Dark Shadows, Catweazle, Twin Peaks, The Saint, Most the Gerry anderson sets, The Munsters, The Addams Family, On the Buses, The Champions, The Protectors, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, The Persuaders, The Tomorrow People, Gilligans Island, and about a zillion others. And I'm ashamed to say that many (read most) remain in the pending pile.

Having said that, every time I creak open my wardrobe and see that splendid display taking up all the spare shelving, it fills me with joy!

Am I the greediest addict in this hood? Or does anyone else share this shameful, indefensible vice? Most of the above were bought at 'can't be missed' prices. Does that make such DVD gluttony acceptable?

Comments on this Item

ChangesPosted by Mark Oates on 8-7-2008 23:44

Stu, Stu, Stu. You have to ask?

At the moment, I'm debating pre-ordering the US Box Set of The Man From UNCLE out just before Halloween. It costs an arm and a leg, but it's all four seasons and extras in a handy presentation attache case. £90 at current exchange rates.

Stu?

Come off that Amazon site immediately!!

ChangesPosted by Si Wooldridge on 9-7-2008 00:10

Ah, Mark. Did you have to? Bugger, guess I'm off to Amazon...

ChangesPosted by Mark Oates on 9-7-2008 12:05

Why should I suffer alone?

ChangesPosted by David Beckett on 9-7-2008 18:48

You are probably "the greediest addict in this hood"! I can't resist bargains and have plenty of box sets but their number is reducing. After recently watching things like Prime Suspect and Cracker – I’ve just finished Louis Theroux: The Collection – I still have House M.D. Season 3, Girls of the Playboy Mansion Season 1, 24 Season 5 and The Wire Seasons 1 & 2 unwatched and (mostly) unopened on the shelf. Many of these have been blind buys but I have made a conscious effort to slow down until I buy a new plasma and PS3 this month or next; plus there's no point entering a new academic term with an enormous pending pile!

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 9-7-2008 21:32

Ah! I can take comfort in knowing I'm amongst my own breed!

And Mark...you knew your casual announcement about the MFU sets would set me hurtling to Amazon...it's a more predictable reaction than Pavlov had with his dogs!

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 9-7-2008 21:53

Oh God!!! Gotta have it!! What have you done?!!!!

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 9-7-2008 22:04

DROOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The classic TV series Man From U.N.C.L.E. is finally here! Authorized for the very first time on DVD and offered exclusively by Time Life. You'll get all 105 episodes of the Emmy® Award-nominated series, each remastered for stunning clarity and sound, on 41 DVDs!

Show me the episodes!

PLUS you get over 10 hours of bonus material, including:

Interviews with stars David McCallum and Robert Vaughn
Commentaries and home movies from the U.N.C.L.E. set
Rare promos and TV appearances

It’s all packaged in a special collector’s U.N.C.L.E. attaché case! Not sold in stores.

ChangesPosted by Mark Oates on 9-7-2008 23:26

Well, actually come October 21st the store moratorium comes to an end and the MFU set will be available to import from all good US retailers.

I'm debating with myself whether to pre-order it from Amazon. What's bothering me is the exchange rate in October than being hit by HMCR.

Sod it. I've succumbed myself. £96 at current exchange rate. I need to look into Amazon's currency converter if the exchange rate starts playing silly buggers.

ChangesPosted by David Beckett on 10-7-2008 08:45

That's well over 100 hours of UNCLE-goodness - where will you get the time? I wonder what the Customs mark up will be?

I remember when I was younger watching the double bill of The Man from UNCLE and Stingray/Thunderbirds/Captain Scarlet at 6pm (I think) on a Friday night. Ah, happy days!

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 10-7-2008 20:38

David - you're missing the point entirely. We won't actually WATCH them. It's having them handy in case we get round to watching them that counts.

Sad but (probably) true.

ChangesPosted by Mark Oates on 11-7-2008 01:41

The key to being a rabid collector is the sense of security of having a copy of a movie or tv show that you can watch at a moment's notice without having to rely on Studios or tv channels or rental shops.

MFU hasn't been screened in the UK since its initial tx in the 1960s, bar the movies which have been shown odd times. I have dim recollections of the series, pretty much as I do about Batman. Technically I'm more a fan of the movies (particularly The Karate Killers), as I've seen them regularly in the past. As well as the movie box set, I have home recordings of all the MFU movies, and a couple of VHSes that were released a few years back. I was an UNCLE fan before I was a Bond fan, so for me the MFU set is a must-have.

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 11-7-2008 21:39

It feels like I'm running my own satellite channel where I get to choose all the programming. It's great - except I never watch any new stuff anymore!!

I saw some MFU (black and white eps) when I was in Denmark last year and they were broadcast in english with Danish subs. It still looked FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC!!

ChangesPosted by David Beckett on 12-7-2008 12:42

I’m a different kind of collector to you then – I like to buy DVDs to have them and it’s almost a challenge to see whether I can keep on top of the ‘pending pile’ rather than purposefully let it get out of hand! If I had the MFU box set I would watch it to the exclusion of all other DVDs until I’d finished every episode, rather than have it sitting looking at me. I suppose it’s the sense of accomplishment, you know you have started watching something from a box set and, when you’ve seen everything, you can move onto the next one. That’s what I did with the Alien Quadrilogy, Matrix Collection, Laurel and Hardy and the Hammer Collection.

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 12-7-2008 19:54

David - believe me when I say that your style of collecting makes far more sense! I jest when I say I wouldn't want to watch them all. I absolutely fully intend to watch ALL my DVD's (and all the extras etc) but I just keep adding to the pile. Having said that, as I tend to be more interested in older stuff, I'm actually beginning to slow down. Most of what I consider to be essential I now already have. MFU is one of about a dozen on my 'wants' list. At one time that list probably went into the hundreds. Once they release The Double Deckers, the 1960's Batman series, and a handful of other series / movies I will be completely satisfied!

ChangesPosted by Mark Oates on 13-7-2008 04:53

Same here. This year has been one of the slowest since I started collecting DVDs in 2000. My wish list is dwindling as I've got most of the movies and tv shows I've ever wanted, and there's not as much new stuff that attracts me. I only have seven preorders currently planned between now and the end of the year, although most of the year's blockbusters have yet to be announced.

TBH, I don't actually have a "pending pile" at all. There's no pressure for me to watch anything, and in deference to my parents I don't make them watch stuff for the sake of it. Okay, there are a few shows and movies I haven't got round to watching. I may watch them, I may not. I have the choice. The thing is, I don't consider myself to be a DVD collector first and foremost. For me movies and tv shows are merely research materials for my own writing; and if you asked me what I am, I'd never say I'm a DVD collector. I'd say I'm a writer.

ChangesPosted by Si Wooldridge on 13-7-2008 11:43

I'd agree with that last statement, Mark.

ChangesPosted by Stuart McLean on 13-7-2008 22:00

Mark - you've articulated that viewpoint remarkably well. Dammit - you're right! I'm more of a research archivist / writer than a collector myself...

ChangesPosted by David Simpson on 29-6-2009 16:25

I too am a boxset junky. I recently finished buying season 9 of Seinfeld... later to see the pristine and beautiful 'Entire Series' boxset that just makes me want to cry.
Is it sad that if I won the lottery this would be the first thing I would buy?
Not a car/house/holiday/clear debts

Just to own all Seinfeld in one place. Giddyup!

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Surrounded by (unfinished ) Box Sets !!Tuesday, 8th July 2008, 22:47