DVD boxset options - French, Dutch, US or UK?

[Jiggly]

What's the best way to get hold of the french boxsets? Do amazon.fr deliver to the uk? I've had a look on the site but my french isn't the best in the world! I've also checked ebay but the french sets seem to go for silly money, despite the fact they're still in print.

Don't know if this will be useful, but if you are already registered with Amazon UK you can simply log in using your UK password etc - this simplifies the ordering process enormously as it automatically defaults to your listed address/ordering details when you add an item to your shopping cart (my French isn't that hot either, but since the pages follow the same format as the UK counterpart, it was relatively simple process to negotiate).

As for postal destinations, I live down under in sunny Oz, and the boxset safe and sound arrived within a week of ordering online. Happy chappie I was too

[DrAndreq]

Thanks guys!

[DrAndreq]

Ended up ordering the first Dutch set from a uk seller on amazon for a very reasonable £25. I've never seen any of the Cathy episodes (or Keel or Venus ones for that matter!), I hope I'm in for a treat!

[Peter Motte]

Let us know something about it!

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Last watched: Tara King: "Noon Doomsday", "LEGACY OF DEATH"

[DrAndreq]

Well the packaging is horrible and inspired me to make my own dvd covers (see the Avengers Online section of the forum for my paltry efforts) but other than that it's a good set, picture/sound quality variable but generally good (Mission to Montreal was particularly bad), but I guess that's a problem with the prints themselves rather than the dvd mastering. It'd be lovely to see the Cathy eps restored and vidfired!

I also ordered the french Cathy vol 2 and Tara set. Haven't had a chance to watch them properly but had a glance at Invasion of the Earthmen, the french title sequence doesn't really bother me and it seemed to be a good print but the sound was apalling! had to turn the vol right up to hear anything. Hopefully other episodes are an improvement.

All these foreign sets are very good value and until a fully restored uk set materialises (if it ever does) they are probably the wisest way to get the Avengers on DVD.

[Jiggly]

Three-quarters of the way through the French Emma Peel (B/W) set and generally very pleased with picture/sound - the only jarring item to date was the sound being a tad out of sync on the wonderful 'Death at Bargain Prices'.

I agree that the sets are wonderful value - can be watched in the original English, so easily a welcome alternative to attempting to track down the deleted Contender titles. Although is it just me or are the discs notoriously difficult to extract from their spindles?!

Aiming to get the French Tara King set next - any more info on it's merits (or otherwise) from those who have already purchased this?

[yucafrita]

Currently I am thrilled to watch all The Avengers episodes on french-german cultural (!) TV ARTE.

The broadcasted all Emma Peel and Tara King Episodes, I presume. Currently, they broadcast The New Avengers series (with french titles).

So I thought about buying the complete series on DVD including Cathy Gale. However, I am a bit surprised that there is no british DVD box set out at the moment containing everything in a restored quality.

In ARTE, all colour episodes were restored except a few, some had french sections integrated that were missing in the german version. In fact, the german TV always thought they were smarter than the inventor so they cut episodes of every TV series just as they like.

Now my question: I would love to buy a complete box set, including as much restored and uncut episodes as possible, in english with original titles. So the choice would be between the dutch and the french box sets (right?). Are there substantial differences which qualify one complete box better than the other? Or should I rather go for the best picks from every box? And what are the best picks in terms of restoration, uncut episodes, sound?

The New Avengers are out of question ATM as there is no restored version (is there?).

Thanks a lot for ideas!!

[Steed3003]

In ARTE, all colour episodes were restored except a few, some had french sections integrated that were missing in the german version. In fact, the german TV always thought they were smarter than the inventor so they cut episodes of every TV series just as they like.

ARTE used the HD masters which are going to be soon available in a Blu Ray edition of the TV show.

[Norbert]

In ARTE, all colour episodes were restored except a few, some had french sections integrated that were missing in the german version.

Some of the arte versions were shorter than the actual German or French versions! The tag scene of ESCAPE IN TIME was cut out from the German version in arte! The tag scene of THE WINGED AVENGER was cut out from the French version in arte! THE THIRTEENTH HOLE was severely cut on arte (the German TV version is almost two minutes longer!).

[Norbert]

In fact, the French box sets are superior in picture quality but inferior in completeness.

The Dutch box of series 4 has French titles; the episodes are as incomplete as on the French DVDs.

The German box of series 4 has the original English titles, the picure qualitiy is the same as on the French discs. However, the episodes run without interuption whereas the French versions have a short break after the episode title and before the tag scene. Furthermore, several missing scenes available in the German version but cut on the DVD masters and therefore missing on the French and Dutch disks can be found in the bonus section (in German only):

- The Gravediggers (1 scene)
- Castle D'eath (5 scenes)
- The Thirteenth Hole (7 scenes; 5 of them do not appear on the British disc either!)