Freaks & Geeks coming to BluRay!

https://twitter.com/ShoutFactory/status/619701725239185408

Day one purchase for me as long as it's the original aspect ratio. Probably going to have to hold on to the old Yearbook DVD Edition, 'cause they're unlikely to replicate the whole thing, but you never know.

 

I bet it's going to be widescreen but NOT due to cropping, but because there was enough image on the original film...

 

Great news.

Now, if only they'd get My So-Called Life on Blu.

 

Great

 

now we need a reunion movie!

 

"Shout! Factory ‏@ShoutFactory
We're doing Freaks & Geeks on Blu! We have the film to work with and it's happening!"

"prazzers ‏@prazzers_
@ShoutFactory @JuddApatow What film?"

"Shout! Factory @ShoutFactory
@prazzers_ @JuddApatow The original film the series was shot on."

 

This is definitely good news for the fans of the show but remember this is Shout! Factory we're talking about.

The same company that delayed Dog Soldiers when it said it found better source materials which turned out to be two 35mm prints of a movie shot on Super 16.

 

Awesome news!
>>>

"The Freaks & Geeks Blu-ray Collector’s Edition from Shout! Factory contains:
- All 18 episodes in both original aspect ratio (1.33:1) and widescreen (1.78:1)
- Special features disc, complete with extras from both The Complete Series DVD set (2004) and The Yearbook Edition set (2008)
- New booklet packed with a letter and Q&A from creators Paul Feig and Judd Apatow, essays, and memorabilia

Highlights from the special features disc:
Museum of Television & Radio Panel Discussion
Complete Script for a Never-Shot Episode
Three Full-Episode Table Reads
Deleted Scenes
Original Cast Audition Footage
Raw Footage
Mr. Rosso Live in Concert
Sober Students Improv Players
Tales of the Secret Service
NBC Promos and EPK
Behind the Scenes
Seven Minutes in Heaven
Graduation
Thanks, Goodbye
"

Source:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12...d-details-revealed-for-the-blu-ray-collection

 

I'm curious if they've been able to retain all the music licensing from the previous DVD set. I seem to recall seeing a few episodes on IFC a while back that used generic replacement music in place of the licensed stuff.

 

I would be very surprised if it didn't. both of the existing DVD sets contained all the original music--it took four years for the first one to be released because Apatow refused to issue a set without the music entirely intact.

 

Dang it! I already bought the ORIGINAL limited year book edition (and my photo is in it) - but I'll end up buying this too.

 

Rockin' good news.

I do kind of wish they'd used the Yearbook packaging for the BluRay, though. It just looks so gorgeous on my shelf.

 

I still curse them for reissuing the yearbook as a non-limited edition with everything the same on the inside. That thing wasn't cheap either.

 

So the only new bonus content is in the booklet?

 

And high def transfers!

 

It is and I'm happy about that.

 

Not certain about this, but I recall that there were one or two songs that couldn't be cleared on the original set....can anyone verify?

 

Apatow had originally wanted to use Neil Young's 'only love can break your heart' over the montage that ends 'noshing and moshing' (episode 18)--the aftermath of the Schweibers' party and Daniel going to Kim's house after the punk club. Apatow said he was sure enough the show would never air that he didn't think the license was worth the expense. it didn't air, but when they put together the DVDs, they needed to fill that space, and they didn't have the money for Young. so, they used Dean Martin doing 'you're nobody 'till somebody loves you' for the sequence instead. it's still great, but I think it changes the entire feel of the episode. if you imagine the Neil Young cut, the montage shifts from darkly funny to more plaintive, which is closer to the overall tone of the final episodes.

other than that, though, they wrangled all the licenses. there are something like 120 pop song cues over the entire season.

 

Due to arrive March 22, 2016. Amazon has it here.

 

Pre-ordered, because if the price drops Amazon will adjust it.

For Physical Items:
Whenever you pre-order a physical item displaying the “Pre-order Price Guarantee” message on the product detail page, the price we charge when we ship it to you will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.com between the time you placed your order and the end of the day of the release date.

 

I haven't cracked open my yearbook DVD set in a while, but I'm pretty sure most of this stuff is new:

Highlights from the special features disc:
Museum of Television & Radio Panel Discussion
Complete Script for a Never-Shot Episode
Three Full-Episode Table Reads
Deleted Scenes
Original Cast Audition Footage
Raw Footage
Mr. Rosso Live in Concert
Sober Students Improv Players
Tales of the Secret Service
NBC Promos and EPK
Behind the Scenes
Seven Minutes in Heaven
Graduation
Thanks, Goodbye

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I certainly never remember watching table reads or panel discussions and I thought I had watched everything on the old set.

 

Yes, I certainly remember that rip-off. The original yearbook edition was only available online (I think it was $125). They absolutely promised it would never be reissued then a few years later thats exactly what they did. As soon as I heard about them reissuing it I immediately sold my "out of print" yearbook edition on ebay for $200. I still haven't gotten around to re-buying the yearbook reissue although its been available a number of times for under $50. All that being said Freaks and Geeks is one of my favorite shows and I've got the blu-ray on preorder.

 

I bought one of the "limited edition" yearbooks as well. I subsequently found another copy on the shelf at a Fry's Electronics. This was several years before the yearbook was reissued, so it was definitely the limited edition version, but it was after the yearbook was supposedly sold out. It was priced at $39.99, which had to have been a mistake (I'm guessing it was confused with the regular, non-yearbook version). I bought it, intending to resell it to defer some of the cost of the copy I'd purchased earlier, and wound up selling it on eBay for over $200 to a guy in Australia. He was thrilled to get it, since the website that had offered them when they were still available did not accept international orders.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on what the "special widescreen" presentation will be? Do they have the means to actually recover new visual information from the film masters, or will this likely just be a re-cropping that reduces visual information from the original 4:3 presentation?

 

Best show ever.
Fine with my DVD set.