Mac friends! I'm VERY excited that today, I'm finally able to announce MacGyver: The Complete Series Blu-ray box set from us at Koch Films in Germany (well, actually, from *them* at Koch Films, I'm only helping as an external advisor and Mac expert).

I teased that we might be able to do something a couple of months ago back and it was a long way to go, but yes, MacGyver will finally be back on Blu-ray in late 2020.

A little backstory on this release: I first checked in with my friends at Koch Films about one and a half years ago when the Mac remaster was first announced because I saw no chance that there would be any CBS BDs. So they checked, but the license wasn't available at that time because CBS in fact wanted to do the BDs themselves. (Don't we know it now!) Fast forward to one year later when they did do them ... and ... uh ... "surprisingly" realized it's not worth it for them.

Anyway, when it became clear there would be no further seasons from CBS and they even started to send out official email replies they had no plans to continue the series, I talked to my friend at Koch again in late April of this year. So they checked again ... and yes, after a couple months of waiting it finally became clear that it will in fact work out. (When CBS license out a property externally, they first do some sort of "feedback round" with their official local branches all over the world to see if any of them might be interested in still doing the property... in which case it wouldn't be licensed. But no CBS/Universal branch wanted to do Mac, so it was finally available for Koch.)

This is very exciting for me as I never thought I'd one day be able to see an ultimate high-quality version of Mac... much less actually help making it the best possible version for the fans. I can't go into much details as of now since we haven't started preproduction yet (we're currently expecting the box to come out next fall or winter), but I'll be writing an extensive booklet on the show's production and background and we'll try to add some cool bonus features (in terms of potential behind the scenes stuff, bloopers, b-roll etc., this will all come down to what is available from CBS, so I can't make any promises regarding that) and also possibly shoot some new interviews etc.

Now, of course, this is an American forum and you're probably wondering: "Nice for the German folks, but why should I care?" I can answer that for you: CBS will have the right to use our Blu-ray masters for their own CBS US edition of the show, and from what I've heard so far, they are in fact planning to do it. I can't say anything definite about this yet, though, since what they will end up doing or not doing is fully up to them, and if they do it, I don't know if it'd be a Complete Series set or if they would continue with the individual seasons. But anyway, in case they don't end up doing it after all, I'm sure you guys know how to get your hands on a foreign release if need be ...

As for possible questions that might come up right away:
- Yes, we'll include season one again and will make sure that the "white flicker" compression problems won't make an appearance this time.
- We'll try to include the slightly extended version of the pilot with the deleted scene set in the Pentagon. Both tv movies will be included, but only in SD, I'm afraid. CBS haven't remastered them and have no plans to do so, so it's unfortunately impossible to add them in a better version.
- We will try to have the original Mac logo recreated, so that our release doesn't come with the horrible random standard font logo that has been used since the DVDs came out. That's not a promise yet as it will depend on whether we'll be able to get a designer who will make it look awesome, but I hope we'll be able to make it work.
- The box set will come with both English and German audio.

(For those who are careful enough to require sources and don't trust just some random dude on a forum, here you go : https://www.facebook.com/KochFilms/photos/a...96810767016942/)

Interesting. Any subtitles?

Good luck with it.

Not sure yet. There are some Koch tv show releases that have only German subtitles, while others have both English and German ones. So it could go either way, I haven't heard anything regarding this yet.

It's interesting that they didn't want to go further because in the same week, they had also released the HD-remastered "Charmed" Season 1 BD (which still isn't available in Germany) and after a long wait, they just released Season 2 last month.

I wonder what the criteria was that they went with Charmed but not MacGyver; I don't imagine they sold that much since it was still over a year of a wait of releasing Season 2.

Interestingly, they relased it as "press on demand" or something; without any subtitles or more languages; contrary to Season 1. I also heard lots of complaints on their FB page about the BDs not being recognized by other devices than "real" Blu-Ray-Players (e.g. Playstation, XBox or work computers). So on the other hand, I'm sort of glad they didn't do a "half-botched" release for MacGyver as well.

Fans of witches might get some happy news tomorrow, too.

Thanks, I've actually been linked to this before, but the problem with it is that it only looks good at first sight.

This is not actually an HD recreation, but what the video creator did was to take the SD intro and retouch/remove everything besides the logo. So it's not actually anything digitally created or even HD that could be used for professional purposes. It's too blurry and the outlines are too bumpy since it's basically just a roughly done cut-out from the SD intro.

Agreed.

I'd rather keep the fixed up HD version.

Kinda weird that they couldn't transfer the original to HD. You'd think in 139 episodes they could find 1 good copy of the title sequence.

I'm not sure how it was done back then. Since all the visual effects were done during the mastering process, it's actually possible that the original logo only exists as an old SD videotape master and not on actual film stock. Or they weren't able to find it or whatever. It always confused me that the logo pretty much never appeared anywhere besides the opening. Even back in the day, merchandise, press pics etc. used a Times or other serifs font rather than the logo.

Anyway, yes, we'll only use a recreated version of the original logo if we can ensure that it will look good in the end, otherwise it'll stay the "random standard font" version CBS has used.

I am sorry, are you talking about this version of the logo not being good enough?

https://youtu.be/PkY_LAyGb8A

I would rather have this one than the *censored*ty version made for the HD release. Not only the logo is wrong, but the movement and speed make it look amateurish. Now, I am sure we can have this logo made in full Hi-Res 4K ready if necessary

Wow, this is fantastic!!

Thank you very much for championing MacGyver on BD and for making the complete series box a reality.
Looking forward to buying it next year.

A few questions:

Do you know what CBS have done with later MacGyver episodes that feature visual effects?
The UFO in "The Visitor" and the explosion at the end of "Cease Fire" come to mind, for example.
Have they recreated the visual effects in HD, or will these scenes remain in SD?

And would the extended version of the pilot also include the alternate music, as heard in this clip from Czech television?
https://youtu.be/-iiIwdUvO3c

I'm afraid it's too early to tell. We haven't seen any material yet since the contract was just fully finalized a couple days ago and I don't think Koch will order the files before next spring or summer.

Based on the lasers in the pilot, which were digitally redone, I'd assume that the UFO effect has been recreated, too. We'll see.

Same goes for the extend pilot scene. We don't actually know yet if CBS will be able (or will want) to provide it, but I guess it should exist somewhere since they also dug up that alternate explosion scene they used in the pilot's opening credits. In any case, anything having to do with the actual episodes (i.e. alternate or unseen material) will fully depend on what CBS makes available, so for the moment, we can just hope it will be possible to include someything along those lines, but we can't promise it yet.

You're not going to re-use the alternate opening title from the Pilot are you? Can't you get the original footage when the theme plays and Mac using the parachute?

Again, it's too early to tell. I don't have any info on any available material yet as production won't officially start before spring or summer. So I've got no clue what can or can't be used for the time being. I know getting the slightly extended version of the pilot is on my friend's top priority list, but as with all content stuff, it will ultimately come down to what CBS is able and willing to provide. Koch does not have any access to the actual film stock and thus can't do any scanning or remastering themselves. So anything that pertains the footage must come from CBS.

I guess the "holy grail" would be finding Jerrold Freedman's original long cut of the pilot, if it still exists in the vaults somewhere. He mentions it in this interview:

Would be great to see it, even if it's just in SD. Who knows if Henry Winkler would be willing to approve a release, though...

I'm not sure Henry would have much say in it. The show and all its rights are owned by CBS. This includes any unused materials - as I found out from my run-in with Warner Brothers lawyers after posting the Young MacGyver pilot on youtube.

So it's probably down to if they a) have it, and b) want to release it.

It's also possible that they haven't even thought about it so would need someone to ask the question to get them considering it.

If you really want to have a say over there you pretty much have to be the head of studio apparently.

That reminds me: My friend at Koch checked on this to be included as a bonus, but they won't allow it. (I guess they would need to pay someone again if it ended up being "officially" used somewhere.)

Great news! Following this can't wait for any progress updates. Can someone pin this thread

HOLY, SH... GREAT NEWS. I live in Norway. You think subtitles from the DVD set could be reused for the BD box?

Technically, it surely wouldn't be a problem. But ultimately, it will depend on Koch's license. Since this is first and foremost a German release, only German and English audio as well as German (and maybe English) subtitles are a sure thing. I'm not involved with their contract negotiations, so I'm not sure what might and might not be possible. I should have more info on this (along with all other interesting details) around spring or so once work on the set starts.

I understand that!
Gaddamn, it would be a dream come true if that was possible
My deutsch is rather rusty

But if the subtitles could be used, it would be a good move. Since more people would buy the box set, without making a different set for each part of the world. I would totally buy from Germany if it had Norwegian subtitles

This post has been edited by OLE on 4 January 2020 - 03:35 AM

Hi !

If you want some templates to create your MacGyver logos, look at this:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/MacGyverLab/pho...304138146858943

I already try to recreate some of them, but it's not really a professional job, i guess, so don't use it.

This post has been edited by MacGyver Lab on 20 February 2020 - 02:54 PM

Lets say CBS doesn't use the Koch masters and doesn't release anything else in the US, would there be a Koch version in English? And if so would it work in America? I'd try my hardest to get a copy.

This is really cool news as I was in awe to actually see MacGyver in HD and was devastated when CBS declined to release more seasons.

Thanks for the update!

The German box will have at least German and English audio, so in general, it shouldn't be a problem for international fans to get it. I can't say yet, though, if it will (need to) be region-B locked.

In other news, we were supposed to have a first overview of possible interviewees in early April, but due to the current events, I'm sure any bonus feature filming will need to be postponed for several months. We'll see.

Hello!

Any news about the German complete set?

No. Koch have received the digital streams a couple of days ago, but are currently still working on their Miami Vice set. Also, due to the current situation, the production process on any possible new extras like interviews etc. has been halted. There's currently no release date set, but depending on how soon or late stuff like interviewing people will be possible again, it might also be possible that the bonus features might be stuff like people from cast and crew filming themselves answering questions or something.

So no, for now, nothing's concrete yet, but I should have more info at hand once the production process has actively started on the set.

Dear Jano,
thank you for the detailed response.
It was only my curiosity,but I'm very happy that the set is on the way,however. I understand the delay and the problems with the extras. It would be fantastic if will be not only interviews, but outtakes,behind the scenes etc (how I founded sometimes on the web). I hope so....

Thank you and keep us updated!

Lamberto from Italy

Hiya

Any updates on this or progress in general ?

Thankies

I've noticed the HD episodes of season three of Macgyver (87-88) have appeared on some of the cloud sites. Of course it looks way, way better than the standard DVD versions (even though it was slightly compressed) seen on Amazon Prime and CBS Access. I assume the covid-19 situation will delay, just like everything else in the world, the release of the Koch blu-ray of the complete series that was expected by the end of 2020. Makes me wonder why Amazon, and of course CBS, are not pay streaming the HD versions of Macgyver if it's already being broadcast elsewhere.

I did try and contact CBS about updating the versions they have streaming on Amazon Video and CBS All Access but no joy.