I acquired a set of this when I was fairly new to this hobby, but it's 90 episodes on 6 discs, so it's obviously not great quality, and some of the episodes are low sound and they appear to come from ancient recordings. I know chillertv was airing this recently, and was wondering if anyone made a set out of that (i don't think they aired the lost episode 'attic suite', but that's pretty rare). If not, what is the best set of this series out there? I am looking to upgrade so please let me know if you'd like to talk trades

thanks.

I don't have a Chiller set (most of mine are from original 80's airings) but I do have a copy of Attic Suite.

http://www.rarevideosfortrade.com

wiseguy,

Chiller still airs Tales, I think in a block of 6 episodes, at least once a week. I taped about 5 or 6 discs worth. However, the first two seasons are available on retail disc sets, and I am sure that the remainder will end up being released as well.

Best, Joe aka videoJoe

wiseguy,

Chiller still airs Tales, I think in a block of 6 episodes, at least once a week. I taped about 5 or 6 discs worth. However, the first two seasons are available on retail disc sets, and I am sure that the remainder will end up being released as well.

Best, Joe aka videoJoe

thanks for that information Joe. However, the retail sets of tales from the darkside are decidedly very unpopular amongst fans of the show as they don't have the original music. There is a 9 disc set out there, so I think I'm gonna try for that.

Hi there I am authoring a 1st gen set of HQ eps of tales from the darkside that were capped from current chiller and sci-fi airings. This set will include the attic suite episode and original audio as well. 90 eps/4 seasons. I project at least 20 disc so far I just have a few projects going on with a few sets I am authoring project viper or viper, johnny test, alvin & the chipmunks (80'S)just to name a few. I will keep you mind as my projects develop.

o cool i recorded season 1-6 of alvin and the chipmunks direct to dvd sp quality gonna make a set too 5 episodes per disc. hopefully the last seasons air but i dont think retro has the rights to those seasons

o cool i recorded season 1-6 of alvin and the chipmunks direct to dvd sp quality gonna make a set too 5 episodes per disc. hopefully the last seasons air but i dont think retro has the rights to those seasons


That makes three of us with Alvin & The Chipmunks ;) but I'll leave this one to you guys as I have A LOT on my plate already.

It's good to see some new people producing some sets.

I have complete runs of series on vhs that I would be happy to master onto sets, but I only use my standalone dvr to record and it only provides an options for a very simple menu that just allows for title of an episode and name of disc. Nothing cool like others author. If someone could point me toward the direction of a free download for software that would allow for me to do fancy menus, I would be happy to contribute some sets that I don't currently see being offered on dvd, or the sets I see are from inferior master tapes.

thanks, Joe aka videoJoe

One more thing. Retro got brought up as to whether they have rights to certain episodes. I spoke with one of the programmers there as to why they kept showing the same 5 episodes of Lobo for the last year. They told me that some markets have the rights to air certain episodes, while other Retro affiliates have the rights to air all or others. For the last year, my Retro in Seattle has aired the same 5 episodes of Lobo. They also started airing the old BBC series Black Beauty from the early 70s about 4 months ago and have aired the same 4 episodes. It's really goofy.

I tape Switch, Kraft Suspense Theater, Run For Your Life, It Takes A Thief, Alias Smith and Jones, Marcus Welby MD, Quincy, Adam-12, Bachelor Father, Hardy Boys, The Bold Ones, Lobo, and The Cisco Kid. In the case of all of them (except Lobo) they had kept airing the same episodes over and over again, and then recently new batches have started appearing. So there is hope that Retro will start airing the Alvin that folks are missing.

i have THE BEST set out there now. 89 of the 90 episodes are great quality. season 1 and 2 are retail, seasons 3-5 from chiller. only 1 episode isn't from chiller, but it is a solid 7.5 of 10 quality.
thanks for that information Joe. However, the retail sets of tales from the darkside are decidedly very unpopular amongst fans of the show as they don't have the original music. There is a 9 disc set out there, so I think I'm gonna try for that.

i have THE BEST set out there now. 89 of the 90 episodes are great quality. season 1 and 2 are retail, seasons 3-4 from chiller. only 1 episode isn't from chiller, but it is a solid 7.5 of 10 quality.
thanks for that information Joe. However, the retail sets of tales from the darkside are decidedly very unpopular amongst fans of the show as they don't have the original music. There is a 9 disc set out there, so I think I'm gonna try for that.

Season one was butchered with new music added to each & every episode so if you are a "TRUE FAN" of the series,... YOU WILL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE! Season two now has arrived. 12 episodes have been re-scored (butchered) and 12 have kept their music, so half the release has been changed. The video still looks like a crappy VHS tape of course, and this time around, P@ramount only gives us a crumby 5 minute interview with George Romero.

The episodes with changed music include:
The Impressionist
Lifebomb
The Devil's Advocate ( no more classic tune at the conclusion)
The Trouble with Mary Jane
Effect and Cause
Dream Girl
A New Lease on Life
Printer's Devil
The Shrine
The Last Car ( A great score that is now completely ruined!)
The Uhappy Medium
The Casavin Curse (one of my favorite episodes, now butchered)

Episodes with their score intact are: Ring around the redhead
Parlour Floor Front
Halloween Candy
The Satanic Piano
Distant Signals
Ursa Minor
Monsters In My Room
Comet Watch
The Old Soft Shoe
A Choice of Dreams
Strange Love
Fear of Floating

I agree the chillers eps are the closest source to the original intact, my set features all eps sourced from chillers eps.

Maybe you could try Syfy. I know they show em every once and a while.

One of the local video stores here that specializes in renting out of print and rare titles has all of the retail vhs releases of Tales from the Darkside. Since these were issued in the 80s, my guess is that they are intact and not butchered. If there is enough interest in me renting them and putting them onto dvd for trades, I will do it. It's not the complete run of 90 episodes, but it looks like at least a third of them. Might be the only way to get good quality, no screenbugs, or edits.

JT made a set- from chiller- its very good- i think has original commercials in it- he made that, and the 1980's hitchcock hour- both were very good quality as i recall when i saw them - and he is very careful with complete- and titles

But once again, aren't the Chiller airings butchered? If so, wouldn't it make sense to at least try and assemble what episodes are out there that are uncut?

if Jtmovies91 made a set, I would definitely think it would be the best set out there because I have the 80's Alfred Hitchcock Presents set he made and Kim is right, it is top-notch.

I have a different set of Tales from the Darkside. It's 90 episodes on 6 discs and while the episodes may be uncut, the quailty on some of those is pretty low. 3 of the episodes I could barely hear ("Fear of Flying", "Deliver us from Goodness", and "the shrine")

I guess I still don't get it. If the episodes that Jayson put together came from Chiller, and they are butchered, and the official retail sets are butchered and altered, why wouldn't transferring retail vhs episodes of the series that haven't been edited or altered be a better option to incorporate into an existing set. For example, if 30 of 90 episodes are available on retail vhs, why wouldn't one author a new and improved set that features the 30 episodes and then 60 of the best available source for the others?
I know for certain that two of the episodes that you listed as being hard to hear are available on retail vhs at the local rental store in my area.
This sort of reminds me of The Bradys two disc set that is out there. The volume is so low on most all of it that you can't hear it. But I have all but two of the episodes that I taped myself from original broadcast that could be incorporated into an improved set.

I don't copy retail and i don't ask for it in trades, and I know I'm not the only one.

Well before we get high and mighty on the "don't do retail" kick, let's keep in mind that I am talking about a series of out of print retail vhs tapes from the late 80s. If something is out of print, and is no longer available retail, that sort of throws it back into the category of being unavailable.

Grizzly Adams had several episodes released onto vhs, retail, and those are out of print and it hasn't stopped people from trading for a complete set that includes those episodes that were released.

This same video store has every retail vhs Disney title that came out in the very early 80s in the big clamshell cases, featuring many of the two-part tv movies that originally appeared on Wonderful World of Disney back in the 60s and 70s. Most of them are titles that folks have never heard of. And most haven't been seen since their airing. So because the only way to get the majority of them is via these old retail vhs clamshells, does that mean some would pass up on them because at one point, 20 plus years ago, they were in print?

I've never had any trader out there in my years of trading argue that because they came from a retail source over 20 years ago that they won't trade for it. I completely agree when it's something that is currently available to buy now from a company. But when it no longer becomes available to the public, then what? All of those copies of stuff that so many of us have that came from original 35mm prints. What's the difference? Nothing.

The whole purpose of the rule of not trading retail sets is because a) it is illegal, and b) because you are infringing on the sales of a company. Hate to tell all of the other traders out there but for those of you that have traded for years titles like Tales of the Gold Monkey and Barnaby Jones, guess what, they are owned by someone and in fact are both being released onto dvd this year. Trading for them before they came out officially didn't make it any more legal or "hip" because they weren't retail....yet. The truth is that unless something is public domain, someone owns it. And trading for anything that is not public domain doesn't make it right just because it's not readily available or because the owner hasn't released it sooner.

Trading for titles that someone has the rights to can hurt sales just as much as anything. I can use Voyagers as an example. I traded for the 10 disc set and then the retail version came out. I haven't upgraded because the set I got was good enough and there were no extras worth noting on the retail version. Had that bootleg set not been traded, I would have picked up the retail set. Either way, it cost the studio a sale.

WKRP is another set that we all know was butchered when the first season was released. And the fine 20 disc set that many of us have that is spliced together, it seems, has retail versions of the first season in portions of it. So to is the case with The Muppets w/o/c, where portions of the shows are missing but someone spliced in retail versions to compensate.

Sorry for the long email folks. I just get sick of the whole "I don't trade retail" statement people try to pull out of their hat. Guess what, none of us should and most of us don't. But whether something is out of print for 30 years, or 20 years, or 10, it's still out of print and no longer something the public can purchase except for second hand. At any rate, I've made my points on this. We can agree to disagree. I won't waste anymore time talking about the subject.

Well before we get high and mighty on the "don't do retail" kick, I just get sick of the whole "I don't trade retail" statement people try to pull out of their hat.

I wasn't being "high and mighty". You asked why a set created with retail episodes spliced it wouldn't be considered the best set of the series out there, and I responded with "I don't copy retail and i don't ask for it in trades, and I know I'm not the only one". Meaning that, I wouldn't consider that set the best of its kind and others wouldn't either. It was a statement of fact, so I really don't know how you concluded that I was being "high and mighty". I understand that you consider a set with retail episodes spliced in the best of its kind, but it's a matter of preference.

[QUOTE=wiseguy182]"I don't copy retail and i don't ask for it in trades, and I know I'm not the only one". Meaning that, I wouldn't consider that set the best of its kind and others wouldn't either"

Wha.....huh? How does "I don't copy retail, don't ask for it in trades, and I know I am not the only one" mean that you wouldn't consider a set with retail footage the best set out there and others wouldn't either? It's two completely different issues.

We all know that trading for retail stuff is a no no on this site and is illegal in and of itself. And your above statement has nothing to do with the merits of having retail footage incorporated into a set. It's a short sentence that clearly states that you and others don't mess with retail. Nothing in that sentence talks about the fact that you don't like retail footage spliced into sets. That might be another opinion of yours, but it wasn't the one you were making with that sentence. So let's tackle this one at a time:

When you say that you and others don't mess with retail, it absolutely reeks of being holier than thou and shame on me for suggesting it. And what I was trying to point out is that all of us are guilty, ALL of us, for having some retail copy or portions of a retail copy in our collection. But more to the point, we all trade stuff that is the intellectual property of someone. And just because someone hasn't officially released it doesn't make it legal to trade. So while I understand the rule here of not trading retail, it's not any more legal to trade Diffrent Strokes Seasons 3 thru 8 just because they aren't on dvd and then start subtracting the seasons that we can trade as they become available. The only exceptions to this being the case is if something is public domain. Not having a movie or tv series released doesn't make it public domain, nor legal to trade. If you go back and read what I wrote, you'll see that all I was saying was don't come off like you are better than me because you are above trading anything with retail components in it. That's like a cocaine user telling a heroin addict that they're messed up.

The second issue, the one that you are trying to somehow merge with your first as if it were the same sentence is whether merging retail footage with bootleg footage is preferred. Well, can we think of a better example of this than Funnybook's authoring of the WKRP set. It's the most complete form of the series out there. Why on Earth would any of us want a set of the series that came from Nick At Nite, and miss several minutes of content per episode, as well as the original music. And that brings my original post full circle. If there are old retail vhs tapes that can provide full episodes, good quality, with everything in tact, why not incorporate those into a revised set? I didn't once mention splicing the episodes themselves. I said why not use all of the retail episodes and then the best quality available for the rest and put out a revised set that is more complete.

Everyone is taping Phyllis right now on American Life and putting together a set of all 48 episodes. But if we later found out that a third of the episodes were released onto video, retail, and uncut back in the 80s, would we not then replace the American Life episodes with the retail episodes that we had available. Would we honestly play the "no retail" card, even though the vhs tapes were 20 years out of print?

I know with the WKRP Funnybook authored set, it's sometimes jolting that the quality goes from great to fuzzy for a second or two, just to incorporate a missing scene, and then back to great. But if you are looking for a set as complete as possible, Funnybook did right by the fans.

And if you go back and look at a post of mine from almost a year ago, someone was talking about Tales from the Darkside, wanting a better set than what was released by the studio, and I mentioned Chiller. The response was "they butcher it." So when I found the old retail vhs tapes, I was excited at the prospect of at least improving any existing set. If Jayson's set is deemed the best, even though it came from Chiller, then it means that you feel that a screenbug filled edited version of the series is superior than the opportunity to at least have a third of the episodes be exactly as they were aired originally. And if that's your taste then great. I just don't appreciate the whole "no retail" comment as if I was suggesting something that broke rules.

It's great and needed to have rules. But we also have to understand the rules and also realize where we are being hypocritical with them. I have no beef with you Wiseguy, as you and I have no history of trading. My purpose has been to encourage the traders here to evaluate this hobby. Where are we being hypocritical? Where is the grey area and where are things absolute?

well I guess I was a little vague. When I said "I don't copy retail and i don't ask for it in trades, and I know I'm not the only one." I should have added "and it is because of that, I don't consider a set with retail episodes spliced in the best version."

As I've said, it's a matter of preference. On imdb, the majority of people on there are VERY against even the trading of homemade sets, so I would imagine they would be even more against the copying of retail.

I believe that trading homemade material is covered under the time-shifting laws. The majority of my stuff originally aired before I was born, or when I was a kid and I couldn't have conceivably watched/recorded it then. The only difference is that I'm going to another source. But it's the same thing as me forgetting to record a show today and asking a friend or relative to record it for me. Would we be in trouble then? I doubt it, and I doubt the FBI will be knocking on anyone's door that trade homemade sets. I think they would be more concerned with copying of retail discs and taking away potential sales from someone.

I get what you're saying.

It amazes me the amount of stuff that keeps getting released. Like the announcement that Barnaby Jones Season 1 is coming out. You figure that the show is 40 years old, and the demographics had to be people over 35 back then, so who exactly is the show appealing to today on dvd? 75 year-olds? Sure, shows pick up followings when they are in syndication, but really, who do they think will purchase it?

As it relates to trading, it's hard because I think most of us like to keep the hobby as clean as possible and not violate laws. But when you look at shows that just don't get daylight or when they do they are altered heavily, then what is a trader to do?

Personal preference is certainly a factor in trading. All I know is that I am grateful to Funnybook for putting out a definitive version of WKRP for us to enjoy.