ALL SCI-FI

alltare · Quantum Engineer Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Posts: 349

One of my favorites is usually overlooked- SPECIAL UNIT 2 ("SU2") was on UPN TV in 2001/2002 for 2 seasons.

It's a good spoof of monsters and monster hunters. All the actors are good, but Danny Woodburn, in the role of a scalawag gnome, takes the cake. I bought an OK bootleg set (copied from TV) a few years ago, but I would sure like to see a quality studio release.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:03 am Post subject:

Another TV series I wasn't even aware of! Why do they keep making these without my permission? Shocked

I'll certainly give this one a look, alltare. Thanks.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Krel · Guest

It was a good show, and very un-PC, but will probably never get a DVD release. It was taken off the air, because some people claimed that it was taken from their game.

Now the people that did the show might have copied elements from the game. But there is also a very good chance, that they came up with it on their own. William Goldman calls it parallel development.

He tells a story, about how when he first started writing screenplays. He sent a script to a Producer, who sent him another script by courier. The Producer said that normally he wouldn't do this, but he wanted W.G. to understand how these things sometimes happen. The script was almost exactly like his, but it had been mailed the day the Producer received his. It was too short a turnaround to be copy of his script. The producer said that they often receive scripts, that are so close, that you would think that they were written by the same person. William Goldman was a best selling Author, and the Producer wanted him to understand that this sometimes happens.

William Goldman said, that he has seen many instances of this over the years.

David.

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1865

The practice of copycat writing is so prevalent in the TV and movie industries that the rate of coincidences can't possibly be attributed to parallel development. It may well happen on rare occasions, but it's more likely that two separate writers were both influenced by (or stole their ideas from) the same source, even if direct copying was not involved. I keep a list of movies that came out in the same year, treating the same specific subject, whereas for years before and after, no such movies were produced. I've even seen TV episodes from two separate series that were obviously from the same source, with only the names changed to match those of the series they appear in.
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...or not...

WayneO
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alltare · Quantum Engineer Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Posts: 349

I see no current listings for SU2 on ebay - maybe they have blocked sales of this title.

I bought my complete set at iOffer.com . Currently, prices there are as low as $13.

alltare · Quantum Engineer Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Posts: 349

Special Unit 2 was originally slated to be released by Visual Entertainment in late 2015. I just received this reply to my inquiry from them:

VEI is planning the DVD release of this title [Special Unit 2] for 2017.

We encourage you to visit the website for any product release news.

If you have purchased from VEI before and subscribed to our email letter, you will receive product announcements.

Sincerely

Support Desk
VEI a div. of Visual Entertainment, Inc.,
Web: www.visualentertainment.tv , www.vei.tv "

Gord Green · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 12:05 pm Post subject:

The complete series is on Youtube.
Follow from the first episode here----

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=906dLosqUTo

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:08 pm Post subject:

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I was worried that Youtube might have pulled the videos for this series (as they sometimes do), but I'm pleased to report that (a) the episodes are still available, (b) the picture quality is better than I expected, and (c) the opening for episode 1 is intriguing!

A doctor leans over to gaze down into a toilet because it bubbles a few times (a tragic mistake for someone in a show like this), and he gets his face grabbed by a monster's hand before said monster crawls out and stalks off to have fun terrorizing the unfortunate hospital.

That did it for me! I'm hooked! Very Happy

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________ Special Unit 2 | S01E01 - The Brothers

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 8:35 pm Post subject:

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Today I noticed that YouTube DID pull the good versions of this series, so I replaced the link and thumbnail above with what they now have . . . which kinda sucks.

I guess you missed your chance, folks. Sad

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

alltare · Quantum Engineer Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Posts: 349

It's finally here! SU2 was apparently released about 2 months ago by VEI. Amazon has it for $24.97. All 19 episodes are on 3 DVDs.

alltare · Quantum Engineer Joined: 17 Jul 2015 Posts: 349

The recently released complete series of SU2 is much better as far as picture quality goes, but you might want to hang on to your bootleg set anyway. It seems that VEI has replaced some of the original music with woosy, bland substitutes. This probably has something to do with licensing the music rights. I wish someone would explain this concept to me. The same thing has happened on other series releases. For example, the ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE box sets have replaced the original theme music with generic tunes. On some retro TV channels, THE REBEL, BONANZA, and many others have had their theme music replaced with lesser tunes. WHY DO THEY DO THAT?? Is it just that the broadcasters cheap out on purchasing the music rights along with the picture rights, or is there more to it than that? As far as I'm concerned, the (original) music is a very important part of the whole experience, and arbitrarily changing the sound track should not be done.

Well anyway, being a BLONDIE fan, I immediately noticed that their song "Die Young Stay Pretty" was removed from the intro to SU2's"The Years" episode. Also, Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" intro song has been purged from "The Love" episode. There are probably others, but I haven't watched the entire series yet, and also it's not that easy to notice every bit of original music that has now disappeared. SU2 had a lot of pretty good R&R music, which makes these changes even more disappointing.

I'm somewhat irked.

Gord Green · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:00 am Post subject:

Often the music rights are only licinsed for a certain time limit. There are different rates for how long, and most producers being cheap they opt for first or second run over perpetuity. This happens on a lot of TV shows and TV movies while very seldom on feature films that have a different music structure.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

Krel · Guest