Filed under: iTS, Video, iTunes, Apple TV
Fraggles and Farscape come to iTunes!
OK, this is cool. Starting today, properties from the The Jim Henson Company are coming to iTunes. The complete first seasons of Farscape and Fraggle Rock are available now for $1.99 an episode. According to the company's press release, the entire series should be available on the site in the coming months.Now, I never watched Farscape, but as a television addict, I was pretty familiar with the various controversies over home video rights and for the show and how difficult it is to find on DVD. I can only guess that legions of Farscape fans will be happy to be able to download first season episodes from iTunes.
As for Fraggle Rock, well, this is something I can get behind. I remember watching the show on HBO at a very early age and the theme song still makes me smile. Fraggle Rock is actually the only "Muppet" property not owned by The Walt Disney Company (in 2004 The Jim Henson Company sold the rights to The Muppets and a few other properties to Disney), and as a result it's trek to DVD has not been as drawn out (though in the US we're still only up to season 3), but despite my general feelings about buying TV shows on iTunes, I will totally indulge in the nostalgia of the Fraggles.
Now that the TV season is pretty much at a standstill (we have Project Runway and American Idol, but that's about it), watching 25 year old Muppets sing songs or watching a beloved Sci-Fi show on the Mac or Apple TV is a bit more enticing than watching the emergency season of Big Brother.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shahin Shokoui said 8:21PM on 1-28-2008
Yeah! Farscape!Farscape, Farscape!
The last two episodes of the “Serie“ (just for some of you who want to learn some german and because I forgot how to write it in english and I˙m to lazy to open another tab)...
...anyways I just wanted to tell the World that Sat.1 one of our TV Stations here in FRG screwed up showing the last two episodes! I mean the last ones! How could they do that?
But this is my revenge. Web 2.0! Take this Sat.1. Everybody knows now what you did 6 Years ago.
I˙ll try to get some sleep now. Thanks for understanding!
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mortzz said 8:58PM on 1-28-2008
Weeeeee I wonder if they'll have the peacekeeper wars, too. /nerd
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Brendan West said 9:03PM on 1-28-2008
Erm, I can't find 'em yet. Maybe try tomorrow?
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Keith said 10:03PM on 1-28-2008
Man, Fraggle Rock was a wacky show. LOL. Nice pic.
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Simon Arch said 10:35PM on 1-28-2008
Nice, but I've had Farscape on DVD for years now. Call me when they get Monty Python's Flying Circus so I can mock them some more. I never did get into Fraggle Rock, though what I saw was amusing. I'd still rather have the DVDs though.
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Fritz Laurel said 10:38PM on 1-28-2008
Yeah, yeah, Farscape!
I didn't warm up to that show at first, but a friend of mine kept badgering me about it. When I finally started watching it from his DVDs, I was hooked.
I highly recommend it to anyone who likes 1) character-driven shows 2) the whole sci-fi thing of traveling to other worlds, etc and 3) good-looking people in tight outfits. ;)
Cheers,
FL
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Quix said 10:58PM on 1-28-2008
I never could get into Farscape, though I tried.
Loved Firefly, love Battlestar Galactica, but Farscape, meh.
Get BSG back on iTunes and I'll be happy. Give me the option of HD - I'll be ecstatic.
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Trevor said 1:24AM on 1-29-2008
Typo: "it's trek to DVD" --> "its trek to DVD"
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Kelly said 1:38AM on 1-29-2008
I adore Farscape, so this is great news. The first 14 episodes of season 1 are a little hit and miss but from then on the show overall really hits it's stride (although there is the occasional clunker).
No show has ripped my heart out, stamped on it, then handed it back to me as much as Farscape. It's wonderful character-driven, well written, cracked-out scifi. :)
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Joe said 8:58AM on 1-29-2008
Fraggle Rock may as well be on iTS. The DVDs don't really offer much of anything as far as extra features, and the show appeals to the late Gen-Xers who watched the show in kindergarten - well, after kindergarten.
Now we need some "You Can't Do That on Television." Why? I don't know.
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Christina Warren said 11:51AM on 1-29-2008
Water!
KR said 9:42AM on 1-29-2008
Fraggles are not the only Muppet property that's not owned by Disney. Sesame Street didn't pass over to the Mouse.
That's why you don't see Kermit on Sesame Street anymore. He's owned by Disney, where the Street is pretty far away from the Magic Kingdom.
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Christina Warren said 12:12PM on 1-29-2008
Right you are! I actually meant that Fraggles were the only Muppet property originally owned by The Jim Henson Company -- Seasame Street has always been owned by the Children's Television Workshop. I always thought Kermit's disappearance actually had more to do with Henson's death (as he was the voice), rather than the Disney thing. I'm sure selling to Disney didn't help.
Tony C said 10:23AM on 1-29-2008
Huzzah!! Farscape on iTunes!! Not like I'm going to pay $44 for a full season of DRM video, but it's the thought that counts... Especially if fans want to snag their favorite episodes. Any idea what the specs on the encoding are? Video size? File size? I couldn't snag anything from the iTunes store information and I don't want to buy an ep just to find that out.
They REALLY need to re-release the Farscape "Starburst Edition" on DVD (or Blu-ray!), instead of letting it languish in the bargain bins of e-tailers and eBay. Particularly season one, where the discs are so long out of production that they regularly demand auction prices exponentially more than the original's full retail -- even used!! >:o( I just saw season one, collection one close out at $175 -- four discs, seven episodes... THAT'S NUTS!!!
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Brendan West said 12:21PM on 1-29-2008
Yeah well, you don't want to pay $44 for a DRMed season, but your alternative really is $150 for a season you "legally" can't copy to a HDD and watch on portable multimedia players.
Christina Warren said 12:19PM on 1-29-2008
Typically for TV shows, they are better than broadcast for standard definition shows and near-DVD quality. DVD is something like 852x480 for widescreen - if Farscape was shot in 4x3 and not 16x9, the max DVD resolution is slightly different. I don't have any of my "free iTunes TV show" downloads on my computer, but I know at least for file size, many were larger than an entire movie, for a 44 minute program -- so hopefully they'll be pretty good.
I would say, DRM or not - since the quality (at least for other shows I have downloaded, from their free promotions) is very near DVD, it might be a worthy alternative to spending hundreds of dollars on the Sunburst sets on eBay. Especially since Sony is pretty notorious about not doing a whole lot of extra features on their TV DVDs (NewsRadio not withstanding, and that was only because the creator of the show found out and complained, pushing the release date of the first and second season set back a year so that they could be launched with lots of extras). At least it would be something.
Tony C said 11:24AM on 1-30-2008
Brendan: I already have the original DVD releases of Farscape, but the whole reason to get the "Starburst Edition" is to get all the extra bonus material (videos, etc). Not on iTunes.
Christina: AFAIK, Farscape was originally shot on film (vice video tape) for a higher image and lend it a cinematic quality. Seasons 1-3 were a full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio while season 4 and the Peacekeeper Wars movie were 1.77:1 widescreen.
Brendan West said 1:59PM on 1-30-2008
Tony:
Ah. Yeah, I have a couple Starburst discs, because they were cheaper gifts than the full seasons. Love the bonus materials.
I think you're right, too, about it being filmed on film.
Special features really are the last bastion of physical media. Sort of like if you want the album artwork, buy the CD. If you don't, buy the iTunes album (PDFed "exclusive artwork" doesn't do it for me).
It's a shame you can only find Farscape discs at places like Suncoast, and not the more-ubiquitous shops like B&N.
Tony C said 3:04PM on 1-30-2008
If you're still looking for "starburst" (or any other title for that matter), DVD Price Search (http://www.dvdpricesearch.com) can be a boon for anyone looking for deals.
I found Farscape (starburst of course) seasons 2 through 4 for ~$14 each and managed to further pare down the final cost by buying from two different stores and using online coupons.
eric f. said 11:26AM on 1-29-2008
Farscape was super well written, and the humor was brilliant. Don't forget that you get to watch Claudia Black in every episode, either.
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