<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
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
and then gradually dropped back.
