Customer Reviews

Route 66: Season 1, Vol. 2

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Hands down, "Route 66" was one of the greatest dramas produced in television's golden age. The acting, writing, and production values for this "show-on-the-go" were trend setting for its time and still resonate strongly with this viewer . . . . . surely a five star series if ever there was one. And that's why it pains me to give this second release from Roxbury Entertainment and the Infinity Entertainment Group only three stars.

The good news is that the visual quality for the episodes contained in this second volume represents an improvement over those in volume 1, at least based upon my viewing of the first two episodes (a good two-parter titled "Fly Away Home" with the great Michael Rennie) and spot checking other episodes. The visuals aren't in the same eye-popping category as some other shows from the era that have been released on DVD like the "The Untouchables" or "The Fugitive," but they still look pretty good to my eyes and represent an improvement over the vast majority of the episodes contained in volume 1. The extra features contained in volume 2 follow the same format as the first volume, cast credits and episode clips (to help you identify the actors) and early 1960s era commercials on disc 4.

Now for the bad news, Roxbury and/or Infinity have matted the top and bottom of the episodes to give it a FAKE WIDESCREEN look. So in certain scenes, the tops of the actors' heads are missing. This might not be so readily apparent to viewers who have never seen the show, but after releasing the first 15 episodes in volume 1 in the correct, full-screen aspect ratio, it becomes glaringly apparent. Even the bonus commercials on disc 4 are matted! I don't have the slightest idea as to why Roxbury/Infinity decided to go with this format, but if anyone from either of these companies happen to read these reviews, please do not matte any further volumes . . . . . serious viewers of "Route 66" want to be able to watch this series in its original, full-screen aspect ratio as originally broadcast. Had this second volume been released in its correct aspect ratio, without the matted effect, I would most certainly have given this release a full five stars.

Route 66, like all TV shows of its era, was filmed in a squarish 1.33:1 aspect ratio. But for this "Volume 2" DVD set, the manufacturer has shamefully CROPPED the top and bottom of the image to about a 1.77:1 frame. Essentially, you are missing part of the picture and it ruins the original photography.

Sure, it fills a "widescreen" TV, but at what expense? Tops of heads are frequently "cut off", and the cropping further deletes some of that wonderful Americana from 1960 that provided the mesmerizing backdrop of this classic series. The packaging does not warn you of this image tampering, so buyer beware! Maybe one day we'll see a re-release of the FULL image that was filmed and shown back in the '60s.

To Infinity Entertainment Group:
What were you thinking? I bought volume 1 and lived with the subpar prints, now this 16x9 crap -- I mean crop? How does cropping to 16x9 help try to draw a bigger audience beyond the die-hards when the series is black and white to begin with? I was a guaranteed sale of this and future volumes, but you lost me with this bizarre move.

Leave it to viewers whether they want to watch the show in a 16x9 picture.
All decent HD sets have a zoom function to fill the screen for 4x3 pictures (avoiding stretch-fill), plus a way to adjust up and down to find the visual center (above true center.) Sometimes I watch classic TV like Star Trek this way and it's fun. But that's my choice. I do not want that imposed on me, as Infinity, you are doing.

I would gladly give an intelligently produced release of Route 66 five stars. It ranks with the best American TV has to offer. Unfortunately, Kirk Hallam/Roxbury have chosen to disappoint AGAIN. The first 66 set featured mostly poor quality prints, as well as an edited episode. Mr. Hallam has subsequently explained that this was due to pre-Christmas release deadlines. OK, I'll buy that tale, but artificially altering the aspect ratio? Why??? How could a person who is involved in the creative process (Hallam is a film producer) approve such a bastardization of other people's artistic efforts? How would Hallam feel about someone doing that to one of HIS projects? Disgusting. Perhaps the next half- season can be colorized. Obviously Hallam has little/no appreciation for this series or it's historical context (witness the amateurish "Drive-In Theater" menu screens). I just wish Image had produced these sets. Buyer beware.

For all folks who care about the importance of maintaining the original aspect ratios of films and television programs I urge you to avoid this set. IMO, the cropping of the original 4:3 aspect ratio destroys this visual aesthetics in spite of using better source prints for picture transfers over the first boxed set.

Others may differ, but ignoring or overlooking the problem doesn't mean that there isn't one. The visual damage from cropping the 4:3 image to fit a 16:9 screen without window-boxing combined with the packaging deception is at the very least tragic, and arguably criminal, since consumers are purchasing butchered product that distorts the artist's original intent; the franchise holder should be ashamed. Note: The excuses I've read in respect to this botched effort don't inspire confidence that Infinity Entertainment Group will take responsibility and ameliorate the situation.

These should be returned to the vendor for a refund in the hope that the rights holder(s) will get the message and either correct the existing sets by a recall and replacement offer or at least release future seasons in the proper aspect ratio. Another reason to consider returning the second set as defective is the fact that consumer outrage over the practice of "tilt & scan" may be the only means of insuring that other series avoid a similar fate.

The one star rating is given because it's important to clearly delineate an advocacy position on these issues. Those who care about the BIG picture should say My Way or the Highway to Route 66.

Make that five stars for the show itself, which gets better with every episode.

The two stars is for Roxbury/Infinity's unaccountable botch job with the fake widescreen aspect ratio. Who thought that trimming the image at the top and bottom was a good idea? It's not: As with Warner's first-season set of "Kung Fu," which was similarly mutilated, it's distracting and disrespectful and makes me regret that I bought the set.

If you haven't yet, consider renting it instead -- or better yet, complain to the company and maybe they'll fix it for a rerelease. Sheesh.

Okay, I know that there are a lot of clueless individuals putting out DVDs nowadays, but this Volume 2 release boggles the mind. The first volume was nicely done. Obviously, this series is going to be purchased by fans and collectors. Why would anyone, even if they for some demented reason desired a cropped 16:9 image, want the first volume one way and the second volume the other? This is absolutely nutso, but what steams me is that you have no warning until you put the first disk into your dvd player, see the widescreen video, and say, "What the heck?!" And so:

1. You are stuck with something you don't want because you can't return an opened DVD.

2. You can't stand the thing, so what do you do with it?

3. Your season one collection of Route 66 includes only the first half of the season, and you don't know if they'll ever release the second half in full screen, so you have a ridiculously incomplete collection.

4. Now I hear that these people are releasing the entire first season in one set. Will it be full screen or butchered? And if it is full screen, now they're telling me that I have to buy both halves twice!

To quote Granny Clampett, "Pity-ful, just pity-ful!"

I was looking forward to buying the new volume of season I, but after reading the majority of reviews on its release, I am not too sure. The reviews basically said they were pleased with the better audio but are abhorred at the video. Changing the format to a cheap lackluster version of letterbox for digital screens. Ah, for your info. Digital is coming next year and some people will get a converter or their cable will change them over to the new presentation. This is as bad as T. Turner colorizing vintage films because his hatred of B/W films. Let's have as it was, gents. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't busted, don't fix it.

This is the second half of the first season, comprising 30 episodes. The next 15 shows should include:

Episode 16 --"Fly Away Home (Part 1)" -- Tod becomes a crop duster for a struggling company.

Episode 17 -- "Fly Away Home (Part 2)" -- Tod and Buz get involved in a quandary over an extra-dangerous crop dusting contract.

Episode 18 -- "Sleep on Four Pillows" -- Tod and Buz meet a teenage girl who claims to be on the run from gangsters - but her family thinks she has been kidnapped.

Episode 19 -- "An Absence of Tears" -- Tod and Buz try to protect a blind widow from her husband's murderers.

Episode 20 -- "Like a Motherless Child" -- Buz and Tod split up over whether to return a runaway boy to an orphanage.

Episode 21 -- "Effigy in Snow" -- Tod and Buz try to stop a murderer who has left his latest victim in the snow at Squaw Valley.

Episode 22 -- "Eleven, the Hard Way" -- Tod and Buz meet a gambler (Walter Matthau), whom the people of Broken Knee have asked to save their town.

Episode 23 -- "Most Vanquished, Most Victorious" -- At the request of his aunt, Tod traces the life of his saintly cousin through the Los Angeles slums.

Episode 24 -- "Don't Count Stars" -- Tod and Buz get involved in a custody case over a 9-year-old heiress and her drunken, gambling "uncle."

Episode 25 -- "The Newborn" -- Tod and Buz protect a Native American girl and her newborn from their employer, who rules the land like a feudal baron.

Episode 26 -- "A Skill for Hunting" -- Tod and Buz are framed as poachers after Tod interferes with a real poacher's hunting.

Episode 27 -- "Trap at Cordova" -- Tod and Buz are coerced into teaching school children in rural New Mexico.

Episode 28 -- "The Opponent" -- Buz visits and inspires his boyhood hero, a former boxing great (Darren McGavin) who is now on the skids.

Episode 29 -- "Welcome to Amity" -- Tod and Buz meet a woman (Susan Oliver), who wants to bury her mother in a nearby cemetery. The people of Amity want to stop her.

Episode 30 - "Incident on a Bridge" --Tod and Buz board in a home with an abused, mute girl and her two jealous - and violent - suitors.

The five stars is for the show; I reserve less than 5 for the digital transfer. Do hope the digital transfer is cleaner and the sound better, although I can't hope for much from Roxbury/Infinity who have made this series posible on DVD. Route 66 - Season 1, Vol. 1 could have been better.

Out of curiosity, I read the reviews of this set. Three years ago, I bought an import set of the entire series off of internet's favorite 'auction' site for a bit less than a hundred dollars. Now, I realize that I made a wise decision. Sad to think that people making these compilations have no clue as to what they are doing to classic media. Cutting the 4:3 into a letterbox to simulate widescreen for people with big screen tv's? And losing part of the picture? Are they crazy? Glad I have the 'old' set, monophonic soundtrack and all. Maybe it's got all the ticks and pops of old time TV, but that's what we're after, isn't it?