X-Bomber DVD Box Set

Post by **AndyThomas** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 1:08 am

Well, it's all interesting stuff this. Pioneer USA have released titles in the USA which have hit TV and DVD over here like Gundam Wing and Cardcaptors. After finally tracking down Pioneer's Japanese site and wrestling with the search engine (not easy when you can't read the instructions! ) I managed to track down Pioneer's information sheet for the release. Similar to CD Japan's information, but a little more detail about the show's history in Japan. I've taken some screenshots to save you having to do the translation (translated URL is http://www.stingray-jp.com/~pldc/view_d ... 142178).If Pioneer USA talks to Pioneer Japan, which seems likely, and basically releases everything it does... well...Additional - there's one review on Amazon but it seems to have been left before the series was actually out?! Seems enthusiastic though! Use http://www.altavista.com to translate Japanese to English, the Amazon translation doesn't seem to work...http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec....9594622

Shane · Post by **Shane** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 8:59 am

Enoki do appear to still hold the US rights, and I would definitely agree with Andy's take on the Japanese rights issue. It all sounds promising with Pioneer though. Just out of interest if there was a US release, would you buy it?I like the way the Japanese Pioneer blurb has come out through translation. I would actually say that the Laserdisc version might just beat the DVD's for picture quality. X Bomber's slightly grainy film look seemed more at home on a LD. Don't get me wrong it still looks pretty good and the colors are really vibarant, but the DVD format can make old films stick out like a sore thumb, and I can make out very slight pixelation now and again. To it's credit for a release that hasn't been visually remastered, it still looks great.The Space Quest disc is basically just like watching the vhs original on a DVD player, although my video copy never looked this good, again lovely rich colors, and no sound dropouts this time around. If the actual series masters still look this good now, then a possible US or UK release would be well worth buying.Shane.(Edited by Shane at 9:41 am on Dec. 7, 2002)

Post by **AndyThomas** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 9:55 pm

Just to add in this thread, you can find Shane's full catalogue of images here:http://www.bigdaix.com/xbgallery5.htmJudging by the appropriate use of images from the various episodes and the volume of text in the accompanying leaflet it certainly seems that a lot of effort has gone into this box set - someone, somewhere, took this release pretty seriously it would seem. Such a shame you can't learn Japanese in a Matrix plug-in-and-go sort of way! I was thinking that the Professor Hagen info, for example, might clear up the whole Shiro/Prof relationship query. In answer to your question, yes, I'd probably get a US DVD release if it came out although I don't have a multi-region player - that's another small irony of this Japanese release, of course, them being in the same DVD region as us... So close, and yet so far!

FZeroOne · Post by **FZeroOne** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 10:58 pm

Quote Quote: from Shane on 8:59 am on Dec. 7, 2002Enoki do appear to still hold the US rights, and I would definitely agree with Andy's take on the Japanese rights issue. It all sounds promising with Pioneer though. Just out of interest if there was a US release, would you buy it?Does Barry Hercules have a huge afro? Besides, success might encourage someone else to have a go at some other 80s stuff that might gather an even bigger audience, such as Mysterious Cities of Gold, or one of my personal favourites, Cats Eye ( known in Japan, Germany and France but sadly not the UK )

Shane · Post by **Shane** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 11:02 pm

I know it was a stupid question. Shane.

FZeroOne · Post by **FZeroOne** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 11:20 am

Still no reply, but maybe it wasn't such a good idea to e-mail on a Friday afternoon... ( can't help think that some poor Pioneer employee is thinking something like: "X-Bomber? 'X'?! Must be a pron title! Better send this one onto Anime 18 or Kitty!" )A few thoughts about a hypothetical US release; first, while I of course want subtitles, for a fairly risky title like X-Bomber, I suspect Pioneer would also want to dub it. This would probably involve a new voice cast. ( and dubs are rarely something to be overly apprehensive about anymore; some recent ones have been truly outstanding and theres more technology and experience out there than when I first started as an anime fan )It would also be unlikely that Star Fleet would be referred to if the show was dubbed; one, because of legal problems with a certain other franchise, and two, because they may work from a new and more accurate translation...

Post by **AndyThomas** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 11:31 am

I suppose it's possible that they might opt to put a new soundtrack over the X-Bomber footage - it would be an option, certainly, and then you'd end up with a brand new English version. However, from what I understand, if the original Star Fleet tapes exist (which they appear to) then they'll have been recorded in such a way that the sound is an integral part of them. It'd just be a question of someone at Pioneer asking Enoki USA the right question, basically. That said, a dub with voice actors of the ilk of the Princess Mononoke dub wouldn't go amiss! Incidentally, "Star Fleet" is sufficiently different to Star Trek not to cause a problem and in fact in Trek it's always "the starfleet" or "starfleet academy" - they always combine the two words. Ironically the sides of the US videos make it look like one word although they retained the star logo which seperated the two words elsewhere on the box...

Shane · Post by **Shane** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 4:23 pm

Releasing X Bomber with a new English dub, would be fine, esspecially for the US market. I'd be right in thinking though that there isn't much of a market for anime in the UK right? So over here at any rate, you would definitely be looking to get Star Fleet in it's original form so as to be recognised as classic TV rather than anime.Shane. (Edited by Shane at 4:26 pm on Dec. 8, 2002)

Shane · Post by **Shane** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 7:36 pm

I thought I might try compairing Daz's uncut Star Fleet video episodes to the ones contained on the X Bomber DVD just to see if there are any diferences. I've only done this with episode 1 so far, but at the moment Star Fleet's 1st episode contains every single shot that was present in X Bombers 1st episode. Even the next weeks epiosde teaser is exactly the same.I did notice though that X Bomber seems to be played much more straight. For instance when the crew all meet up for the first time at moonbase in Star fleet Barry quips "And I'm Barry Hercules Doc" when he's asked his name. In X Bomber all he says is "Bongo Heracles", no cheekiness present at all. I'll try the other episodes over time, but it's fairly certain that Star Fleet is pretty much the same as X Bomber.Shane.(Edited by Shane at 7:38 pm on Dec. 8, 2002)

Post by **AndyThomas** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 7:40 pm

I think the anime market over here isn't too bad actually - it's always been difficult to locate stuff over here and it's quite highly priced, but Gundam's on DVD as are several other series. Pokemon, Digimon and the like are all dubbed anime, of course. The difficulty, as ever, is that Star Fleet doesn't quite qualify as anime. The thing is, it was so well anglicised that it would probably do far better marketed as classic television and unlike those other shows was shown on mainstream UK television. It's unique all round...Ah, just seen your second post. Given that Star Fleet is derived from 25 episodes of X-Bomber, then one way or another I'd expect all the footage you'd need to be in there if you wanted to redub it - you could even extend it to include the 25th episode. If I remember rightly from your laserdisc videos Shane, it's stuff like the closing which is different - different video sequence and of course no English credits, yes? Oh, and as for them playing it straighter - if you've ever seen any of the Godzilla films or similar where there are Japanese crews, they're always very, very business-like. Again, this is why Star Fleet's script works so well - it gives it more of an English cultural feel. I don't know if that'd actually come through in a direct translation...