Early October sees the 4th Blu-Ray complete series release for THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN (fifth if you count the re-release of the German set last year), this time the French release.
The set, as usual, contains all 3 of the original TV movies (the original versions, not the padded syndicated versions), all the episodes of the series, including the BW cross-over episodes, and the 3 reunion movies. The set is bare-bones in terms of extra’s other than original movies and episodes and does include a 15 minute interview with Lindsay Wagner which looks unique to this set. It doesn’t look a recent interview and was potentially done for the DVD release many years ago. There are the network adverts for the reunion movies, but as the other releases these haven’t been upgraded and look like original network video versions.
Each of the seasons have their own unique menu identity/colour (see below) in a cartoon-style, in keeping with the outer packing. It isn’t really animated bar a brief intro then goes to a static episode selection. Languages are French and English, along with the option for French subtitles.
The booklet that is included is nice and starts with a 34 page overview of the show and it’s cast, along with some full page photo’s, most of which are the usual stock ones we see. There is then a guide to the discs, with details of disc numbers and content. Each episode gets a photo, a story summary, and original French and US air dates.
My one gripe for the release is the package, in particular how the discs are packed. It’s one of those packages where discs are stacked on top of each other – I hate that as one or two ALWAYS comes loose when you open the case – and there is always the fear of damaging the discs as you try to prise them out. Having gone to all the trouble of re-mastering these, it would have been nice to have each season have it’s own case, like the US and the UK releases.
If you should buy it, is dependant on if you have any of the other Blu-Ray releases or are a completist. Sounds and quality are top-notch as you would hope, definitely up to the other recent releases.
The last page of the booklet advertises up-coming future releases… one of which looks to be the French Bionic Woman series!
