We have just a couple things for you today here at The Bits to round out the week...
First, The Muppet Show is now officially available for streamed viewing on Disney+. I’ve already watched the John Cleese and Mark Hamill episodes and they’re a hoot. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this show. And it looks pretty good for SD upsampled to HD and digital remastered. If you’re familiar with Sony’s recent Fraggle Rock Blu-ray remaster, it’s right in the same ballpark. [Editor’s Note: It appears that it’s NOT the entire series, but over 100 of the series’ 120 total episodes. And there are several episodes that still have edits. This is presumably due to remaining unresolved music rights and related issues. Still, this is a lot more of the series than we’ve ever gotten before. And there is reason to hope that the unresolved portions will come online as the issues are cleared eventually. You can find more details here at EW and here in this post on Reddit.]
Also today, the first episode of the second season of For All Mankind is now available on Apple TV. And that is terrific too. So enjoy both of those.
In other news today, we have word that Disney and Pixar’s Soul is expected to street on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD at the end of March (street date 3/23). We would expect an announcement or retail pre-orders to begin fairly soon. [Read on here...]
Also today, Target has just listed a trio of Alejandro Jodorowsky films for release on 4K Ultra HD on 3/19, but we believe this is an error. What they’re likely talking about is Abkco’s forthcoming single-film Blu-ray releases of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando Y Lis. As you know, these were released last year by Abkco (which is distributed by Universal Music) in an Alejandro Jodorowsky: 4K Restoration Collection Blu-ray box set. So the company is likely just breaking up that set into single-film SKUs. While I would love to believe these are actual 4K UHD releases, assume regular Blu-ray until we hear official word to the contrary.
And finally today, our friends at Zavvi have begun releasing classic science fiction films on Blu-ray in exclusive new Steelbook editions that feature cool retro travel poster artwork. Available for pre-order now are Logan’s Run (Zavvi US and UK), Forbidden Planet (Zavvi US and UK), and THX 1138 (Zavvi US and UK). And we believe AI: Artificial Intelligence is up next (it should appear here soon at Zavvi US and UK). Click on the links provided to pre-order and here’s a look at the cover art (these links go to Zavvi US)...
That’s all for this week. Stay tuned...!
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