Different editions of the videos of the 1978 series

[CapoeiraGeorgie]

Hello,
I have been trying to collect the entire Famous Five 1978 Series on Video. I've managed to order all except Plenty of Fun & Mystery to Solve from the UK (I'm in Australia). Can anyone advise if these two were part of the series? I read somewhere on this site about the issue with Treasure Island in 1978, so I have already crossed that off my list.

[Moonraker]

Hallo and welcome!

I'm no expert on the tv series tapes, but would try eBay for the titles you are missing (if you haven't already!)

[Lucky Star]

Plenty of Fun and Mystery to Solve were not part of the series CapoeiraGeorgie so you can stop looking. I'm not sure why they didn't do those two, something about story repetition I think I remember reading.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Plenty of Fun wasn't released because it was considered too similar to some of the other storylines (I think it was Gary Russell who once commented that it made him laugh that they picked out just one story and deemed it to be too similar to the others, when so many elements are repeated throughout the series!) Mystery to Solve, like Treasure Island, had already been made by the Children's Film Foundation who still owned the copyright.

Anita

[CapoeiraGeorgie]

Thanks everyone for the prompt and informative responses! I'm glad to know that I have now sourced the entire 1978 series. Hurray!
Moonraker, Thanks for the Welcome too, yes E-bay and Amazon is where I found the entire collection and
it only took two weeks to find the various tapes come up for sale, so that was sooner than I expected.

[Petermax]

CapoeiraGeorgie, Gary Russell's article originally published in one of the early editions of the E.B.S Journal may be of interest to you. It is a very hilarious account of his experiences during the filming of the Southern TV Famous Five series back in 1977/78.

Here is the Online version of the article, it is a great read, Gary certainly has a way with words!

[Fiona1986]

I've got the full 70s series on dvd, but they are bootleg. Whoever did them did a good job though, there is a proper menu to select episodes, and each episode has a large number of scenes to select from (when this is viewed it it actually shows them all as 5 second video clips to help you identify them).
I got them on eBay for less than £20.

[Petermax]

I've got the full 70s series on dvd, but they are bootleg. Whoever did them did a good job though, there is a proper menu to select episodes, and each episode has a large number of scenes to select from (when this is viewed it it actually shows them all as 5 second video clips to help you identify them).
I got them on eBay for less than £20.

It sounds like we both have the same bootleg! I payed somewhat more than £20 though, but that was over two years ago. Naturally I thoroughly disapprove of bootlegs and will willinglly consign mine to the bin if and when there is an official DVD release of the Famous Five. It may be some time............

[Lucky Star]

I also paid about £20 for my RareTv set of bootleg DVDs. Like Petermax I will also consign them to the bin if there is ever an official DVD release of the series. All seems to have gone quiet on that front though. Is anyone still pressing for this release?

[CapoeiraGeorgie]

Thanks Petermax, Gary's article was a great read!!

[Nearby]

Another thanks for pointing out that Rare TV has made a return. I thought they had gone for good. I've just ordered the "Adventure" series from them, as it's cheaper and easier than waiting for the original videos to pop up on ebay australia (plus the hassle of getting the video player out of the loft and setting it up).

I don't approve of people making profit out of pirate releases when the items in question are commercially available, but neither do I feel any compunction about obtaining the items from somewhere else when the production companies refuse to pull their fingers out and respond to an obvious market demand for a product.

So there.

[Moonraker]

When trying to access their website, I got this:

MySQL Error Occured
1203: User db58913_raretele already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connec

[Lucky Star]

I have just had an email from RareTv.com stating that everything is currently 50% off as they are closing down for an extended period on May 14th 2009. Here is the text of the email.

Thank you very much for your support
through the years. To give back everything
in store is 50% off until we close.

Everything must go @
http://raretelevision.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RareTelevision will close its doors on
May 14th 2009.

# Future Support

Do not worry, we will still be around to
provide support, but the store front will be
closed for an extended break on 00:00 May
14th 2009.

Many thanks,
J, http://raretelevision.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

P.S. We loved serving the collector with an
array of television and movie rarities. Again
many thanks for your support.

[Moonraker]

Call me a pessimist, but I would be wary of sending money to a firm that was about to close its doors...

[Petermax]

RareTV.com sell bootleg DVDs of TV series so far unreleased on DVD. There seems to be a misconception that long forgotten series are somehow public domain as far as copyright is concerned, but that is certainly not the case. I for one would never send my precious credit card details to this firm.