STARSKY AND HUTCH EP 1: MISSING MASTER NEG?

[Mark Dragicevic]

Hi all
Having just watched this on the Season 1 Boxset, I have noticed that it certainly seems NOT to have come from a negative, but from a syndicated print (reel changes being seen in the corner of the screen, print damage near changeovers, NTSC 'drag' evident etc). Did it go missing and was rediscovered, or is this how it originally 33 years ago? (33 years, wow, how time flies - I remember watching S&H when just a wee bairn).

All the best,
Mark

[Reg Long3]

Yes its more likely an American syndication print. Do not forget they have a hellavah lot of stations to get around in the US, in times gone by all doing their own thing in timings of adverts etc or shamelessly cutting chunks out to fill a slot. This is why a syndication print gets battered and was regarded as disposable. Prints for TV do not have reel change overs, but might be marked up for advert breaks or promos.
If a third party is doing the DVD there is no way the parent company is going to let out the master , simply because they might release it themselves one day and obviously want it to look better than anything else.
What usually happens is, small company buys license to use the copyright material off big parent company. Big parent company then says the prints will cost you extra. So small company has to locate some prints itself.. and be happy with whatever it finds in whatever condition..

The fairly recent showing of Starsky and Hutch season 1 looked very clean here in the UK but was obviously an NTSC to PAL transfer which lost a fair bit of the original atmosphere.

So yes your masters are probably very safe somewhere in Hollywood.




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