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News post: First US Babylon 5 DVD on sale today

For a very short period at the start of pre-ordering, its sales rank hit 11
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and then gradually dropped back.

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"We are the universe, trying to figure itself out.
Unfortunately we as software lack any coherent documentation."
-- Delenn
 
AFAIK the sales rank numbers aren't really all that useful, although they can be fun to look at. I believe they are calculated a frquent intervals based on current sales activity in various categories. So they bounce all over the place. The disc hit the #11 spot shortly after it first appeared (prematurely) on Amazon.com, and word raced like wildfire across the internet. Tons of fans from around the world hit the Amazon USA site, often in the small hours of the morning, either because fans tend to be night owls or because they were logging in from overseas. As a result Amazon registered lots of orders for B5 on DVD at times when there was probably relatively little activity on the site in general.

Still, these snapshots do indicate steady interest in the disc, and I suspect that it is selling very well elsewhere, too. But like the Sci-Fi Channel "top 10" lists, the method of calculating this figure makes it more of a PR tool than a reliable indicator of how well B5 is doing.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
I called the local Future Shop and they said that they have it for $19.99 CAN so I should have it by tomorrow night at the latest.
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No one here is exactly what he appears.
G'Kar - Andreas Katsulas

Nothing's the same anymore.
Commander Sinclair - Michael O'Hare

Babylon 5
 
It has arrived.
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I shall watch it over the weekend.

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No one here is exactly what he appears.
G'Kar - Andreas Katsulas

Nothing's the same anymore.
Commander Sinclair - Michael O'Hare

Babylon 5
 
well, i am very fed up with WB. it was very frustrating that they put out bits and pieces of different seasons. talk about major jerks. if they put out all of one season or two, fine, but to cherry pick? some of season 2, none of season 3, all of season 5? now, what is it about England where who ever has the rights didn't fool around? all of the episodes are/were available. or so i've been told. also, i hope that they go the way of Xfiles, Stargate, Sopranos, etc... - each season sold on several dvds all at once. none of this crap like with Star Trek where one gets one or two episodes per dvd, depending on what country one is in, for 15 to 18 bucks or more each.


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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>it was very frustrating that they put out bits and pieces of different seasons. talk about major jerks. if they put out all of one season or two, fine, but to cherry pick?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They didn't "cherry pick" and they didn't put out bits and pieces. There actually was a semi-rational reason for releasing the show the way they did.

They put out episodes from each season in order, it was the season order that got confusing.

They began by releasing The Gathering and first six episodes of season one. So far so good this makes sense.

Then they released In the Beginning and the first six episodes of season five. The reason for this was very simple: When PTEN folded and the series moved to TNT, millions of viewers were unable to watch the show because they either didn't have cable at all, or had cable systems that didn't carry TNT. Since WHV started the VHS release not too long after the series wrapped up, it made sense to get the S5 tapes out early, so that folks who missed them could "catch up."

They continued alternating S1 and S5 3-tape sets until all the episodes of the two seasons were released. Then they continued the release, working forwards from S1 with S2, and backwards from S5 with S4. Four S2 sets were released, and two or three from S4. It was around this time that word got out about a pending DVD release, and people stopped buying the video tapes. WHV saw the sales figures dropping below the break-even point for the tapes, and promptly halted production - so they never finished S2 and S4, and never even started on S3.

That's annoying, but the plan wasn't as completely irrational as you portrayed it, and were it not for the DVD rumor and the falling sales they would have finished the release.

Flashforward to 2002: The reasons that prompted them to put out season five early no longer exist, and they're working with a medium (DVD) that makes season boxed sets practical, not one that works better with single tapes or 3-tape sets, and which is limited to 1 movie or 2 episodes per tape. (Show of hands please: How many of you would have bought an 11-tape boxed set of VHS tapes two feet long and costing $165? Yeah, that's about what I thought.)

In short, they had a reason for doing what they did with the VHS release and they don't have a reason for handling the DVDs the same way. So it doesn't matter what they did in the case of the VHS release. DVD is a different medium with different realities and they will act accordingly. (There are limits to reasoning by analogy. The cermonies of knighthood and execution for treason both involve the monarch and a sharp, edged weapon, but are utterly different to the person on the receiving end. Context is everything, as JMS is fond of reminding us. The context surrounding the DVD release is nothing like that surrounding the VHS tapes.)

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
Very good news!!!

dvdplanet lists Babylon 5 : The Gathering / In The Beginning in ninth place of top ten best sellers in all catagories and first place in the Sci Fi catagory!
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If my URL didn't work you can find the info at www.dvdplanet.com

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Very good indeed! That ought to open the eyeballs of a few stuffed shirts!
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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.
 

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