The 90s Are All That

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh yeah, there's Doug. Rugrats will probably have a special set (there must be a reason Shout couldn't get it) for the official anniversary, though honestly I just want the pre-movie stuff.

Other than that, all the A-listers are coming to DVD and that's awesome.

Now if only CN would be smarter about their sets and Disney would finish theirs.

[Avaitor]

I have to say that the reason that Shout's execs say that Nick won't give them the fully uncut masters of Rocko is bullshit.

They think that the show's raunchier moments don't fit their more PC programing? Please, iCarly and Victorious get away with just about as much as Rocko did on a daily basis, and those are two of their highest rated shows. And I severely doubt that the DVDs will bring new fans of the show. These are going to be bought by the people who grew up watching it on Nick and want to see it as they remember it, with everything intact.

It's stupid. I'm still buying the DVD, but I'm not too happy.

[Kiddington]

Yeah, but I'm still more inclined that Nick is at fault here, and not Shout.

Honestly, look at Shout's track record; rarely, if ever, do they try and cut corners on their releases. Most of the time, if not ALL of the time, they give the fans what they want. The fact that these Nicktoons sets are probably going to be... ahem, less than desirable, is something I put more on Nick than I do on Shout. I've always viewed present-day Nickelodeon as a soulless entity with shitty business practices anyhow (come on, dropping the iconic Splat logo for a boring piece of font? Fuck you, Cyma Zarghami), and this situation looks to be no different.

...and, let us not forget; Paramount probably has some kind of say in what is going on here as well (they are the ones sublicensing the rights to Shout, as far as I know), and they are about as bad as any DVD company can possibly get. Look at what they did with Ren & Stimpy; they were screaming until the cows came home about how those DVD's were "uncut", when over half of the episodes had missing material. Case and point; Paramount sucks, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were part of the problem here.

Up to this point, Shout Factory has never steered me wrong. I'd hate to think that once they finally got their hands on the coveted Nicktoons library, they all of a sudden kicked their mission statement right out the door, only to become as inconsistent (WHV) or as fucking useless (Paramount) as just about every other DVD company in existence. I hate to sound like some kind of company spokesman here, but I'm way more convinced Nick/Paramount are the ones dropping the ball, in this case. If Shout really had access to uncut masters and bonus material, I'm more than sure they'd deliver.

[Avaitor]

Oh, I'm not blaming Shout at all. I even believe their reasoning for why Nick won't let them have the uncut versions. As far as I'm concerned, this is entirely Nick's fault, and they need to realize that these DVDs are going to be bought by the adults/older teens that grew up watching these shows as kids, and not the kids in the demographics they aim for now.

[Kiddington]

Ah, sorry I misread you there.

...and yeah, Nick needs to realize that these DVD's are going to be mostly bought by the 90's nostalgia crowd, but I guarantee you, that isn't who they're going to target them towards. As I'm sure you know, a lot of stores devote an entire section of their DVD shelves to Nickelodeon productions; Target and Best Buy, especially. I'm sure Nick's thinking here is that they can slide Rocko and Hey Arnold right amongst Dora and Spongebob, and all the busybody soccer moms looking for a virtual babysitter will pick those up along the way, based solely on the Nickelodeon brand-name. Why only target the 90's nostalgia crowd, when you can also target ignorant parents with a steady paycheck?

It's unfortunate, but just like practically every other megacorporation in the world, their bottom-line is the all mighty dollar. There's more cash to be had in pandering these releases to a general audience, as opposed to a niche audience... and in order for these to be general audience friendly, they need to be as clean and tame as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if that scene in Hey Arnold where Helga utters the word "crap" is also cut, among other things.

This is all Nick's fault. There is really nobody else to blame here but them. Until someone else is put into a position of power within that organization (someone that, perhaps, grew up with these shows, and is a fan themselves), we'll never get uncut DVD's. Hell, now that I think about, we'll probably never get Rocko uncut anyway, though; the "no-tell Motel" scene from "Road Rash" was taken out over 15-years ago, and an uncut master probably doesn't even exist anymore. I'm sure Nick burned it at the first chance they got.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, one of the things that the rep from Shout said on their forums was that Nick wasn't aiming these at the older crowd and never were. They're aiming these at younger audiences, which is why they aren't getting uncut material for usage in the sets.

Which is stupid.

Not getting any of the creators of the original shows to have any input is also stupid, but it's obviously because they don't see these releases as more than simple product, a horrible viewpoint to have on your own back catalog.

The 90s were an important period of their existence, and seeing them not embrace the rather large audience that wants whatever they have for them is beyond bizarre. It's backwards ass thinking. Kids grow up, sure. But why wouldn't you want to have the business of kids and their parents on top of it? From purely a business standpoint, this still makes no sense.

[Avaitor]

I don't see why companies like Nick and Disney realize that nostalgia could be a big seller for them. I mean, Nick is slowly starting to embrace that with the Hot Topic stuff and these DVDs, but even the merch isn't done that well and the DVDs aren't marketed right at all. They're trying to sell these for today's kids, which is why they won't be getting much bonus features and some won't be released uncut, but they're not getting promotion.

That's just stupid.

[Avaitor]

Danny Phantom's next.

No interest whatsoever (although the first is the best), but great for fans.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Good for the fans, I guess. I was never too big on this show, even though I tried.

[Avaitor]

Just read Speedy's Rocko review. It sucks that the DVD doesn't do the show justice and it's edited a little, but I'm still happy to get the show on a retail release.

I don't think I'll be buying it for a little while, though. Strapped for cash now, and the little bit I have I'm saving for my friend's birthday gift. I'll try to get it before my birthday, but if not, I'll just ask for it as a gift or buy it with whatever cash I get then.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well, that was bound to happen with Nick not giving Shout Factory any of the uncut masters or letting Joe Murray participate. At least it's out there for a good price and isn't terrible.

I still think Nick could be treating this stuff with more respect.

[Lord Dalek]

A best of Double Dare set would rock my socks.

[Avaitor]

I'd hit that up as well.

But for now, Real Monsters and CatDog are confirmed. The former I might get, the latter I won't.

[Kiddington]

As I mentioned over on TZ, you take what you can get with these guys. This is Nickelodeon we're talking about; sans Spongebob (and Nick Jr. properties, to a lesser extent), they've never put any value whatsoever into the home video market. The fact that they're even doing this now is a miracle in itself, even if the sets do kinda suck.

I'll get around to buying it, at some point. Special features or not, it'll still be nice to finally have Rocko on DVD.

[Eddy]

Not happy at all to hear how poorly Nick is treating the release of Rocko. Really, how stupid can they be aiming these at the younger crowd? The people buying these are people who grew up with the show. Take Cartoon Network's full series release of The Powerpuff Girls, for example. They knew who would be buying that. They included a documentary about the origins of the show and included the original Whoopass Girls shorts. These we made with the older viewer in mind.

I'm glad Rocko's getting a DVD release but I'm still pretty pissed off at Nick over this.

I might get some of the other DVDs, but Rocko is easily priority one for me. I will not be getting Danny Phantom because I really never cared for the series (or Butch Hartman in general, to be honest). Never liked Catdog either, so that one is a pass.

I'd want a DVD release of Doug but that might be a legal mess. Does Disney still have the rights to Doug?