Re: Plan 9 from Outer Space

In the Year of the Earth Rat, the Great and Powerful Keith F. Lynch 
declared:
> Sean O'Hara <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> 
>> In that case they're either from countries that didn't subscribe to
>> the Bern Convention, or they're bootlegs -- probably the company
>> that produced the film is out of business and the DVD people figure
>> there's no one left to sue them.  A lot of these companies that do
>> the 50-DVD packs are sketchy.
> 
> The two newest movies in that set are The Galaxy Invader (1985) and
> Laser Mission (1990), both US. 

They both appear to've been produced by poverty-row studios that 
aren't in business anymore.

> I can't prove it wasn't bootlegged,
> but it's a good quality transfer, the packaging looks professional,

It doesn't take very fancy equipment to make professional-looking 
packaging (especially when so many legitimate DVD covers are done in 
Photoshop). There are whole websites devoted to making alternate 
cover art for people who don't like what the studios do. Here's a 
sampling of alternate "Star Trek" covers done by a fan.

http://www.rixgrafix.com/index_015.htm

And companies like VCI, Alpha, and Mill Creek are professional 
outfits, even if some of their releases are of questionable legality.


> and I bought it at Barnes & Noble.

Sadly, retailers don't check to see whether the products they're 
dealing with are legit. If a DVD company has a deal with their 
distributor, they'll stock it. For years you could go into stores 
and find bootlegged copies of "The Final Countdown" and Sam 
Peckinpah's "Convoy." It wasn't until a fan tracked down the rights 
holder and got them to threaten the company with legal action that 
they stopped. And every PD video company in existence distributes 
Hitchcock's British films even though they're under copyright -- as 
long as the British rights holders don't do anything, they have no 
reason to stop.

As an example of how unscrupulous the PD video business is, when a 
company obtains a decent print of a film, they often put a "bug" on 
the screen, like the channel ID used by TV stations, so their 
competitors don't just copy the DVDs and redistribute them under 
their own label.

-- 
Sean O'Hara <http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com>
Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would 
they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at 
the price of chains and slavery?
    -Patrick Henry