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Bobh

senior member

151 posts
posted on 5/19/2004 9:25:00 AM
'“The Adventures of Robin Hood” was one of the very first British productions to grace American airwaves and ran from 1955 to 1958 on the CBS network. A total of 143 episodes were produced; some of the later episodes did not appear in the original network run but were later broadcast in the syndicated runs. Richard Greene, a British film star of the Thirties and Forties, portrayed the title character. Greene can be seen in one of his earliest film roles in the public domain staple “The Little Princess” starring Shirley Temple and in another PD film that foreshadowed Robin Hood, “Captain Scarlet.”
The show’s producer, Hannah Weinstein, employed several writers who had left America due to the Hollywood Blacklist of the 1950s; these writers used writing aliases on the shows. One of these writers was Ring Lardner, Jr. who later wrote the original film version of M*A*S*H.

In the UK, where Robin Hood was originally produced, there have been two officially licensed DVD releases of the show’s first two seasons. In the US, however, there has never been an official release of Robin Hood on either VHS or DVD. Instead, there have been sporadic releases of episodes that have fallen into the US public domain. A number of these episodes can be viewed, for free (with registration), at MovieFlix.com or one can opt to purchase VHS cassettes or DVDs of random episodes. For further information about “The Adventures of Robin Hood” television series, I encourage readers to visit the excellent “The Adventures of Robin Hood Appreciation Society” web site at: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/robinhood/

For those interested in VHS tapes, one of the largest commercially available collections comes from Marathon Music and Video which spreads 21 episodes over 7 cassettes. Unfortunately, Marathon has substituted the show’s original opening with an opening narration by an anonymous narrator and has completely cut out all of the show’s closing credits. See a description at: http://www.timelessmusic.com/detailpage.cfm?id1=84

“The Adventures of Robin Hood” is beginning to appear on a few DVDs; one of the very first collections came from Nostalgia Ventures, along with three episodes of “The Cisco Kid” (the “Robin Hood of the Old West.” Episodes and a description can be seen at:
http://www.nostalgiaventures.com/cisco_kid.htm

Canada’s Cascadia Entertainment released a four episode disc in 2003; a brief description of the episodes can be found at the “The Adventures of Robin Hood Appreciation Society” at: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/robinhood/bookshelf_dvd.htm

Critics Choice Video’s April 2004 release of Robin Hood contained the first four episodes of the series and, IMHO, the best looking quality of any of the Robin episodes released to date in the US thus far. Unfortunately, the first episode is missing about a minute and a half plus of footage. Also, the transfers for the first three episodes were used for a Television Classics DVD release that can be had for just a dollar at selected dollar stores like Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only. See a description of the Critics Choice DVD at: http://www.ccvideo.com/item.cfm?itemid=CCD001048

Finally, the newest DVD release come from Platinum Disc Corporation which offers 12 episodes spread over two discs. Visual quality is variable for these episodes and the Platinum Disc Corporation logo appears occasionally in the bottom right corner, but it does represent the largest single collection of Robin Hood episodes released in the US on DVD so far. The following links will take you to descriptions for each of the discs:
http://www.littleman.com/movies/films/3/000206793.html
http://www.littleman.com/movies/films/7/000206957.html

As time passes, we’ll likely see additional releases of episodes of this wonderful series from television’s first decade. Please feel free to add anything related to “The Adventures of Robin Hood” to this thread.
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Replies [ post reply ]
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 5/24/2004 9:43:00 AM
Another US Robin Hood DVD to be released July 9th
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Critics Choice Video, which released the first four episodes of The Adventures of Robin Hood on DVD in April, will release a second volume of episodes on July 9th. This collection will also include four episodes from series 1:

"Maid Marian"
"A Guest for the Gallows"
"Checkmate"
"The Youngest Outlaw"

See a full description at: http://www.ccvideo.com/item.cfm?itemid=CCD001067

As is the case with all other US releases of The Adventures of Robin Hood, this is a release of episodes that have fallen into the US public domain.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 7/23/2004 7:02:00 AM
Alpha Video to release two 4-episode DVDs

Alpha Video is scheduled to release two DVDs, each with 4 episodes of "The Adventures of Robin Hood," at the end of September. At this time, there is no word on which episodes will be included. For more information, visit Alpha's website at http://www.oldies.com.

Alpha is a bit of a crapshoot in terms of the quality of its public domain releases, so we'll just have to wait and see how these episodes will look. In the meantime, the best US DVD releases of Robin Hood episodes are from Critics Choice, IMHO. While far from perfect, it certainly looks like Critics Choice has secured better than average prints and/or are performing some digital restoration of the prints. DeepDiscountDVD.com offers the best web price ($5.99 shipped) on the two volumes released so far by Critics Choice.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 9/2/2004 6:41:00 AM
Digiview Productions has released a series of DVDs for $1.00 that contain public domain television shows, movies, and cartoons. I've found these only at Walmart. Included in the group is a three episode collection from "The Adventures of Robin Hood." The visual quality is on a par with most other PD releases of the series, but not as good as the episodes released by Critics Choice Video and Television Classics. There are a few episodes on the disc that have not been previously released on DVD in the U.S. They are the episodes titled "Isabella" and "Lincoln Green." The third episode "Food for Thought" appears on at least two other DVD collections. All original music is included but the credits for "Isabella" are incorrect. Donald Pleasence appears in the episode as "Prince John." If you're a fan of the series, this disc is a must given the low price.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 10/19/2004 12:24:00 PM
Alpha Video’s Robin Hood releases

One of the main public domain releasing companies in the US is Alpha Video (http://www.oldies.com) which, up until last year, had primarily released older films that had fallen into the public domain. Of late, the company has released an expanding catalog of classic television titles, including two new DVDs, each with four episodes of “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” These DVDs are notable because seven of the eight episodes included are from the series’ second season and are making their US debut on DVD. The eighth episode is the premiere episode “The Coming of Robin Hood,” which has been previously released (by Critics Choice Video and Television Classics), but this episode is notable because it contains the entire episode. The print used for the Critics Choice and Television Classics DVDs has about a minute and a half of missing footage. Visually, the prints used by Alpha are among the best on the market, a little fuzzy looking occasionally, but not so much that it would detract from the viewing experience. The prints are very clean, with few scratches or visible dirt. Kudos to Alpha Video on these two volumes!

The Robin Hood series has yet to receive an official, authorized release in the United States and Canada but in Great Britain, it’s a different story. Seasons 1 through 3 have been released on “region free” DVDs, but only in the PAL format. The public domain releases of the series will have to suffice for now until such time when the series might see a North American release (and I’m not holding my breath that this will ever happen).

Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 11/17/2004 12:49:00 PM
Upcoming releases of The Adventures of Robin Hood

On the near horizon are a trio of releases from the two companies offering the best looking releases of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Alpha Video will release Volume 3 in late December and Critics Choice Video will release their fourth volume in early January 2005 and a fifth volume in February. Hopefully, both companies will maintain the better-than-average standards that they set with their earlier releases. No word, yet, on which episodes will be included but it's a safe assumption that each volume will contain 4 episodes. Given the rather shoddy looking public domain releases of this series, these two companies' releases are considerably better than what has been released by other PD companies. I've been particularly impressed with Alpha; although they're a relative "latecomer" with their Robin Hood episodes, most of their episodes are of "near boadcast" quality. Unless there is ever an official release of the series in the US, Alpha's episodes are probably going to be as good as it gets for this series, with Critics Choice running a close second.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 2/3/2005 11:36:00 AM
Critic's Choice Volume 4 - The Adventures of Robin Hood

After two very good releases (volumes 1 & 2) and one so-so release (volume 3), the newest volume of Robin Hood episodes from Critics Choice is a big let-down and it's mainly for the first episode on the disc, "Queen Eleanor." In the several years that I have been collecting classic television episodes that have fallen into the public domain, this episode, by far, is the worst that I've ever seen on DVD . . . . . simply put, it's a blurry mess that will hurt your eyes. I have a pretty high tolerance for less than pristine public domain material, but this is virtually unwatchable. Those wanting to secure a better copy of this episode are far better served with DVDs from the Platinum Disc Corporation or even Cascadia Entertainment. Critcs Choice really should not have released an episode that's as poor looking as this one is. The remaining three episodes are somewhat better, but that's not saying much, and the entire release is saved only by the inclusion of some original Wildroot Creme Hair Tonic commercials. Wildroot was the show's original US sponsor. Critics Choice is scheduled to release Volume 5 on February 8th but, if it looks as bad as Volume 4 does, I'll probably not buy any future RH DVDs from them. What a letdown . . . . . I was expecting better things from this company.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 2/16/2005 11:29:00 AM
Critics Choice Volume 5 - The Adventures of Robin Hood

After a poor looking Volume 4 in their series of Robin Hood DVD releases, Critics Choice Video has redeemed itself, somewhat, with its fifth volume. One of the episodes, Isabella, is fairly sharp (as Robin Hood releases go) and two other episodes are a bit better than average for public domain releases of this series. The first episode (The Thornkill Ghost), however, is of lesser quality than the other three episodes, and there are several occasions where the screen almost blackens out for a short period of time, like someone was placing a finger or a piece of cardboard over the projector's lens. The episode is watchable, however, so I'll continue to look at releases from this company. Meanwhile . . . . .

Alpha Video

I'm convinced, at least with the release of its first three volumes, that Alpha Video has the best looking episodes of the Robin Hood series of any public domain releasing company in North America. For the most part, their episodes have looked consistently better than those offered by the competition. We'll see if they can maintain their high quality standards with their release of volumes 4 and 5 on February 22nd.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 9/1/2005 8:10:00 AM
Two More DVD Volumes from Alpha Video

Alpha Video, which has previously released 5 DVD volumes, each with four episodes, will be releasing two more volumes in October. No word yet on which episodes will be included. I eagerly await Alpha's Robin Hood releases as, generally speaking, they have had the best looking episodes that I've seen among the various public domain releases for this series.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 3/24/2008 7:48:00 AM
Season One released by Mill Creek Entertainment

Mill Creek Entertainment has released all 39 episodes of season one (1955-56) of "The Adventures of Robin Hood." While the visual quality is typical of public domain releases, this three DVD collection can be found currently at Walmart for just $5.00 or at Amazon for $5.49. That's simply an amazing price for 39 episodes of this early classic televsion series.
Bobh

senior member

151 posts
replied on 7/10/2008 7:16:00 AM
Mill Creek Entertainment has announced an October 14 release date for season 2 of "The Adventures of Robin Hood." Details here:

http://www.millcreekent.com/ViewProductDetails.asp?productid=441
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