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Co-hosts, Robert Meyer Burnett (in Hollywood) and Dieter Bastian (all the way from Saarbrücken, Deutschland), welcome special guest Cliff Stephenson to the show and talk about special features and extra content typically found on the DVDs and Blu-Rays of our favorite movies and TV series.
Our two favorite physical media junkies, separated by an ocean, share their mutual love of movies, special editions and obscure cult films.
Special thanks to Cliff Stephenson (IMDb) for coming on the show and participating in a great conversation!
Hello Rob and Dieter!
I’m the happy owner of both the Phase One and Phase Two box sets from Marvel (the S.H.I.E.L.D. briefcase and the Orb containing the Power Stone from Guardians of the Galaxy respectively). Will there be a Phase Three set in the same style? Ever?
I saw that Best Buy had a limited edition set of all 23 films that quickly sold out (not to mention was over $500), but I already own a majority of the movies and somehow I have resisted buying any of the Phase Three films because I thought they would release the set! It’s eating me alive.
My wife and I have been dying to watch Endgame lately, but Disney+ often buffers with it’s UHD content and that’s no fun, especially for a three hour epic. What would you physical media gurus recommend I do?
Happy New Year B & B!
Rob, I’m so glad you liked the Wookiee Erotica Magazines I sent a while back. I just knew you would appreciate the dedication and creativity of fandom that went into making them!
Dieter, Rock you like a Hurricane!
Congratulations to both of you on Let’s Get Physical Media, you guys have great chemistry and last episode with guest Cliff Stephenson might have been the best so far! He was fantastic, I hope you have him on again and really looking forward to Charles de Lazaurika coming on in the future. As with Robservations, there’s a very interesting dynamic with Rob straddling both sides of being a professional in the industry on the one hand and a consummate fan on the other. The same with Cliff last week and it’s that vibe which makes your channel unique. Actually I ordered Knives Out on 4K just for Cliff’s documentary (and the same for The Hills Run Red, btw ; ).
There’s been some very unfortunate news for physical media recently with the announcement that George Feltenstein will be leaving Warner Archive next month:
https://www.mediaplaynews.com/a-year-of-goodbyes-the-legacies-of-ron-george-melissa-rosemary-jay-and-evan/
Rob, in the past you’ve reported on the gutting of home video departments at the studios as well as Jason Kilar coming onboard to streamline Warner operations. Do you have any thoughts on this specific development? As a home video legend perhaps George could be a future guest on the show?
Not to be a downer, I’d also like to share some blu-ray discoveries I’ve enjoyed over Christmas and New Year’s that might be of interest to imagination connoisseurs. First is the UK release by a small company called Revelation Films of the 1966 series “The Time Tunnel”. This was both a “schnappchen” and a “cat in the bag” from Black Friday. I’ve only watched a few episodes so far but the transfer is astonishing. A lot of love has gone into the HD version of this seemingly unknown / forgotten show and it’s a rare treat that it’s available on Blu-ray. The show itself is like a 1960’s Quantum Leap and recommended to anyone who enjoys other colour genre shows of the 60s such as Star Trek, The Prisoner and Mission: Impossible. After watching the first episode I couldn’t help but wonder if it inspired James Cameron as a boy with early ideas for Titanic.
My second recommendation is Kino Lorber’s release of the 2017 German series Babylon Berlin. For a long time it looked like there wasn’t going to be an English subtitled release on home video anywhere in the world but Kino came through with their blu-ray of seasons 1-3 at the end of last year. Like Warner Archive, Kino Lorber do the Lord’s work. While they might not match WAC for consistent quality they are unrivaled for the volume of releases they put out that no other company would touch. As for the series, I’ve watched seasons 1 and 2 which are both fantastic! A hardboiled crime story set amongst the backdrop of Weimar era Berlin, between WW1 and WW2. The creator said his original inspiration was The Sopranos meets Fritz Lang’s “M”. It certainly supplies a German fix after finishing DARK last year and is equally excellent. Season 3 will be arriving soon and I also got inspired to order the 1980’s German series “Heimat” released by Second Sight. Being German I would be very interested in Dieter’s take on these shows and if they are well regarded in Germany?
You guys previously mentioned your most anticipated releases for 2021. From what has been announced or predicted, here are mine:
-Gold Diggers Of 1933 (Blu-ray rumoured from WAC)
-The Parallax View (Blu-ray next month from Criterion)
-Terminator 2 (30th Anniversary 4K from Studio Canal. Only if it’s a filmic transfer not a re-release of the DNR’d Mystery At The Wax Museum nightmare we got last time…)
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Finally, may I offer some criticism? I miss Dieter’s pronunciation of “digi” pack from the first episode. #JusticeForDieter
Thanks for taking the time to read this letter, it’s nice to share a love of physical media in its final years with people on the other side of the world.
Take care and keep up the great work with the show,
Rul The Obscure