Miami Vice Season One
This was the second of Universal’s ‘premium’ back catalogue release. When I say premium this differed from their previous TV DVD releases in the following ways:
- More attention was paid to photo and artwork research.
- Original master materials were retrieved from the archives at University City, CA and the isolated sound stubs utilised to create Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
- Complete Season sets were introduced (as opposed to random one disc episode releases)
Now, the first release of this kind was the original Battlestar Galactica complete series which scored well. They dug out the original logo artwork, used decent library pictures and produced a superb Dolby 5.1 surround track from the original sound elements. Stu Phillips’ original stereo soundtrack masters were used and relaid against the FX and dialogue tracks. Married with the cleaned-up video, this was a 1978 show that looked and sounded better than it did on original transmission.
A note about Universal’s archives
The whole case for the debate as to which back catalogue releases get the ‘premium’ treatment and others don’t (see Knight Rider below) is made stronger when you learn a few facts about how efficient Universal Studios has been in their approach to archiving their TV shows over the years:
- They physically hold over 61,400 reels of color or black & white negatives, supported by over 154,800 reels of picture and sound preprint elements which include over 27.3 million feet of color interpositives or finegrains for television productions.
- The original negative is archived along with the Edit Decision List and original production paperwork for future use.
- Since 1976 Universal has spent approximately $30 million building and maintaining vaults
- In 1986 they created a computerized tracking system
for picture, sound and videotape element held in the library - In the mid-1970′s Universal’s sound department began protecting soundtrack masters. Original masters were copied onto 1/2 tape and the masters held in storage.
- In the 1980′s physical cleaning and repairing of original master elements was made and then transferred to both 32-track digital and analog 24-track protection masters.
This means that all TV shows in their catalogue should have their original, isolated music, FX and dialogue tracks properly catalogued and stored. So how does Knight Rider final season get released worldwide on DVD with the wrong soundtrack? Ditto on The A-Team Season Five.
So what about Vice S1?
The same approach was taken with the Season One worldwide release of Vice, but without the original logo – it’s close but no cigar. The soundtrack (which was originally produced in MONO for season one with the exception of the pilot) was created out of the isolated elements but a major time/cost saving was made by Universal. They didn’t replace the commercial music cues with stereo versions, so although the new soundtrack is indeed Dolby 5.1 with spaced out FX tracks and ambiance – all music is in the centre channel. Season Two onwards are fine as the original music stubs were stereo so it’s an easier job. But this makes a big audio difference!!!
