O/T Steptoe and Son Series 3 DVD

[Mark Dragicevic]

Hi all
Just got Steptoe Series 3, and the first episode, 'Homes Fit For Heroes' is in a pitiful state. Big scratches throughout the whole reel, spots, blotches, splices. Just thankful the episode is still complete. Don't 2Entertain bother with just a little bit of restoration? If it was a Dr Who or Dad's Army DVD (not handled by 2Entertain I think?) I believe some effort would have been made to clean up this particular episode. Its good to see it again, but the thick black scratches down the whole episode are quite off-putting at times. Come on 2Entertain, after the Likely Lads debacle you need to save face, and this isn't the way to do it!

Cheers, Mark

[Gary Robinson]

Agreed my thoughts exactly the print is dreadful!

[Laurence Piper]

This isn't a release of some obscure comedy series that doesn't warrant much attention, presentation or restoration - it's one of the jewels in the BBC's crown! It deserves much better. The BBC should BELIEVE in the idea of doing it (and some of their other classics) justice. Same with Hancock. The BBC's own DVD releases are often (with exceptions like the Dr.Whos and Quatermass box set) piss poor!

[KennyG]

All the episodes in the set seem to come from pretty grotty prints with noisy soundtracks and poor visuals. I even briefly mistook one of the episodes (I forget which one) for one of 'lost' steptoes.

It's really poor, particularly as Steptoe seems to achieve decent sales outside the UK. All the shops around here in Dublin seem to keep pretty well stocked up with Steptoe so presumably there is a demand there.

By contrast, it's damn near impossible to find Hancock or some of the Dad's Army sets around here!

[Gary]

Thats odd because Hancock and Dads Army are everywhere here and the Steptoes are not so common.

[Andy Henderson]

Again, no one on here appears to know the budget for these DVD releases. A lot of the 'extra' effort put into the other DVDs comes from the goodwill of the people involved, not from a more lavish budget. In an ideal world, the negatives for the 'Steptoes' would be telecined, but this seems unlikely. It may be a case of having these in fair condition or not having them released at all. I also think that people are overtly critical. The episodes look much better than any vhs release. Yes, they could look better, but as a low budget release, they are good value. The budget needed for a deluxe release would push the price away from the target buyer.

[Matthew K Sharp]

Andy said:

In an ideal world, the negatives for the 'Steptoes' would be telecined,

That's assuming negatives even exist.

It could well be the case that some episodes, like Homes Fit For Heroes only exist as a print, and a damaged print at that. And as we've seen on Dr Who: The Lion, severe film damage isn't easily concealable.

[Andy Henderson]

I was told they did, though not in detail.

[Gary]

Youve gotta ask yourself though why the BBC are releasing low budget versions of prestige series?So many series are coming out in well produced sets more and more and these kind of jobs just look cheap.Not just talking about fan favourites either.These sets should be seen as shabby and not worthy of a great series.

[Andy Henderson]

Again, they are running a business and have a strict budget. If the DVDs were double the price and better, then you would be happy, but the target audience would be missed.

[Gary]

So are lots of companies releasing vintage series as a business.lots of them are well presented.It does the BBC no favours putting out ropey old recordings like this of a so called classic that look like they were made in 1920 and not 1960.We know what can be done with bad copies now so quick buck releases like this wont be acceptable for much longer.

[Andy Henderson]

That might well be so, but these DVD sets are aimed at your 'scampi and black forest gateaux' crowd and not to spotty herberts who lust after pristine 405 line recordings.

[B Thomas]

Touchy...

[Pete Seaton]

how did u know that I like scampi and black forest gateaux

and I posess the (so far To date) three series on DVD

of Stepoes & Dads army

[Andy Henderson]

'#how did u know that I like scampi and black forest gateaux and I posess the (so far To date) three series on DVD of Stepoes & Dads army'

Then you undoubtedly win a Generation Game engraved Tankard for outstanding achievement in buying them.

As every other nerdy techie between the RT team, Roobarbs, Maus Club and here has written at least 6 school jotters full of complaints about them.

And then spilled their anguish on the forums. 'if only the BBC would do something right for a change' etc etc