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JOE 90 DVD BOX SET (UK) Joe 90 made its DVD debut on September 30th 2002 (three weeks later than originally announced, and 34 years almost to the day since its initial broadcast) with a box set release of all thirty episodes - five discs featuring six episodes per disc. The discs are contained in a Digipak and not in separate boxes, which has upset some fans. As all video releases of Joe 90 from the mid 1980s and UK television screenings since 1994 had been from very poor quality 16mm prints (and sadly that included BRAVO's 2003 run), the DVD releases were eagerly anticipated. The thirty episodes have been remastered from 35mm interpositive prints and magnetic audio source material, ensuring a quality of picture and sound even better than on the show's first airing in 1968. You can see a comparison between the old VHS versions and the new DVD transfers by clicking here. |
Discs 1 and 2 were released individually at the same time as the box set. Discs 3 and 4 followed on November 11th 2002, and disc 5 was released on January 27th 2003. Early promotional images of the covers featured the "U" certificate and Joe's Most Special Agent badge in swapped positions.
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Special features are:
* It should be noted that these
do not feature the finished soundtrack as transmitted - Joe's
opening voiceover is the 1990 "generic" version on all three,
many sound effects are missing, and the voiceover "tag" and
BBC TWO captions are absent. To see the versions that aired,
visit the I Love The
90s section of BIG RAT. |
| The series is also available on VHS
as a box set of five tapes. As with the DVDs, the tapes can
be purchased individually, and they too had a staggered release.
UK residents should be able to buy the DVD or VHS box set at a reasonable price in most high street video outlets or online retailer. |
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THE GREAT SUPERMARIONATION SAMPLER (UK) Released on April 7th 2003, only available from HMV (and apparently already deleted), this DVD contains the first episode from five consecutive Gerry Anderson series: Planet 46 from Fireball XL5, Stingray from Stingray, Trapped In The Sky from Thunderbirds, The Mysterons from Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons, and The Most Special Agent from Joe 90. Not much in the bells & whistles department (nothing in fact, not even animated menus) but a unique opportunity to get five pilot episodes on one disc. Annoyingly, the Fireball XL5 episode does not appear to be a new transfer. 154 mins approx |
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JOE 90 - THE COMPLETE SERIES (US) A&E in
the US released the complete Joe 90 series
as a 4 disc box set on July 29th 2003. Extras include a commentary
from designer Mike Trim on
The Most Special Agent
and director Ken Turner on
The Unorthodox Shepherd,
in addition to character biographies and data files on the gadgets
& vehicles. 12 hrs. 30 mins. total + extras |
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JOE 90 DVD BOX SET (AU) Australia finally caught up with their own release on 8th October 2003. The discs are in individual boxes (not a Digipak) and are more or less straight repackages of the Region 2 discs, featuring the same menus and extras. The covers of the boxes have been adapted from the Region 2 versions as well, but instead of going back to the original artwork they have used what looks like compressed JPGs - which means they are a bit soft and have the characteristic "mosquito noise" around the text. Looks a bit amateurish really. 750 mins approx |
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3 GERRY ANDERSON CLASSICS (UK) Released on 20th October 2003, this is simply a repackaging of the first three volumes of the Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons, Stingray and Joe 90 DVDs. Erm... that's it really. The covers of the individual discs are no different, and there's nothing "extra" as such. No incentive to buy it at all if you've bought the discs before. 475 mins approx |
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PC PRO COVER DVD (UK) Computing magazine PC Pro featured two episodes of Joe 90 on their January 2004 cover DVD (issue 111), The Most Special Agent and Hi-Jacked. Not bad for £4.99, and you get a whole heap of software too. 50 minute-video |
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JOE 90 DVD BOX SET (FR) Montreal-based company Imavision released a 4 disc box set in a rather flimsy Digipak on 25th May 2004. This features all thirty episodes with French soundtracks. The episode titles are listed in French on the box and animated menus, but bizarrely it's the standard English titles that appear on-screen in the episodes themselves. Even the title sequences are in English, so the original voice artistes get a nod even though they cannot be heard on these discs! There are no subtitles and no alternate soundtracks, so if like me you only scraped a "C" at O Level French this set is more of a curiosity than anything. Erm... unless you're French of course... or French Canadian... I'll get my coat. The extras are somewhat thin on the ground. Disc one features text biographies of Joe, Shane, Mac & Sam, and Disc 2 has an animated photo gallery featuring a sad array of just nine very "dupey" photos - and one of those is from Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons! An obvious extra would have been the French title sequence, but there's no sign of it. Fortunately BIG RAT has a copy and you can watch the original French version of the opening titles here in a pop-up window. 13 hrs. approx |
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GERRY ANDERSON TRIPLE PACK (JAPAN) TFC (Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, who incidentally distributed Thunderbirds in Japan back in 1966) released this on February 25th 2005. Three discs covering three series, each containing two episodes:
Despite TFC starting life as a dubbing house for foreign films and television programmes, only the Joe 90 episodes feature a Japanese language track, but they do also include the opening title song (but the standard visuals). For the curious, BIG RAT comes to the rescue again - click here to see the original Japanese title sequence that isn't on this DVD... 2 hrs 36 mins approx |
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JOE 90 DVD BOX SET (UK REPACKAGE) DD Home Entertainment (who have gone into administration, and were acquired by The Simply Media Group on August 21st 2007) released this repackaged box set in the UK at some point before they went under. This set "is not available in the shops" - at least, I haven't seen it on sale anywhere, but it has been offered on some TV shopping channels, and can sometimes be found on eBay. Simply Home Entertainment currently offer it on their web site for £19.99 (plus £1.99 P&P). The disc content appears to be exactly the same as the original 2002 Carlton DVD box set, with the same extras. The discs themselves are contained in individual cases and not a Digipak, but the design of each sleeve and disc label are almost identical. 12 hrs 28 mins approx |
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THE CLASSICS COLLECTION - GERRY ANDERSON Or "The Supermarionation Collection" if you look at the DVDs individually. Another box set from the defunct DD Home Entertainment, which features disc 1 & 2 of Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons, disc 1 & 2 of Stingray, disc 1 to 3 of Thunderbirds and disc 1 of Joe 90. The discs are identical in content to the previous Carlton releases, although the sleeves and disc labels have been redesigned. Strangely, the label on the Joe 90 disc doesn't match the others - it is a reworking of the original Carlton label with minor changes, and with the "itv DVD" logo replacing the "Carlton" logo. 23 hrs 7 mins approx |
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THE TRIPLE COLLECTION Three discs crammed into a single disc box by itv DVD. This set features disc 1 of Stingray, Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons and Joe 90. The discs themselves have been re-authored since the original Carlton releases but seem to be essentially the same, although they now feature the "itv DVD" logo on-screen instead of the "Carlton" one - which for the Captain Scarlet disc is a pity, as the original "Carlton" logo was taken over by the Mysterons... The Joe 90 disc no longer plays the opening theme on the main menu for some reason, and all the discs really are Region 2 (several of the previous Carlton releases were effectively Region 0 and could be played on almost any DVD player). 450 mins approx |
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