AboutJo Skywriter Expertise All general Bonanza, Specific Episodes, Lorne Greene (Ben Cartwright) knowledge, long time Bonanza fan even for my young age, don't let that fool you.
Experience I founded a website for Bonanza called Bonanza Brand. We have a high volume forum there with tons of discussion and experts. I know A LOT of the fans that come online personally, the fanfic writers and the Bonanza Gold Staff. You can email privately for more information at: jjskywriter@bonanzabrand.net
Education/Credentials Obtaining Two Bachelor's of Science Degrees in TV/Film Production and Radio/Audio Production with a minor in Film Studies. I Hope to work as a Disk Jockey or Radio Personality someday.
Expert: Jo Skywriter Date: 3/27/2008 Subject: German Bonanza Collections
Question QUESTION: Thanks for taking my question! You referred someone else to the German DVD Bonanza collections because they are the only ones with all 430 episodes. Would you be able to direct me to their web site to purchase the German DVD collection? And do they sell them separately in volumes or can the entire collection be purchased at once? It's okay for me because I speak German, but my family doesn't and so I need to verify that it is in English- my family would be very disappointed if it wasn't! Also it would be great if you knew if they have subtitles in German and/or English as well. Thanks so much! Kristy
ANSWER: I'm happy to answer your question Kristy. :D
The German DVDs can be purchased at Amazon's German site (Amazon.de) once you're there just type Bonanza into the search box and the season sets will pop up. They are sold by season just like shows are done here and they are releasing 2 sets a year until all 14 are out. They will be releasing season #7 next month and that's as high as they go at the moment. You could purchase season's 1-7 at once if you like. They are really nice. The boxes and cases are very sturdy and the discs play well (make sure you have a region free DVD player though or they won't work at all. You can buy region free players very cheap on Amazon's U.S. page). The sound and video is amazing! As for the English verification yes they have choices of language. They start automatically in German dubbed but when you go to the main menu you can select English and they guys voices will be back with no dubbing. I have a set (I'm holding out on buying all of them until I see what happens next year with the anniversary) and they are very very nice even if a tad expensive at over $70.00 a set + shipping. If however no American sets are made I will go this route myself. :D
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QUESTION: Thanks for the info...you're right about it being expensive! I thank you for your expertise in this matter. I'm sure you know a lot about what's available, so I'm wondering if you would be able to tell me what you might know about the 'almost complete' set on the following site that I found: http://www.123classictv.com/store/shows1.php
Have you heard about this one? They have 124 episodes (that's only minus 6 or 7 episodes) and they are commercial free with a video/audio quality of 8/10. I'm not really sure what a video quality of 8 will be, do you know? Also, the price was a lot better at $150 + shipping. If you have any experience with the quality of this collection, I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanks! Kristy
Answer I've never had experience with this seller or other sites with similar sets but I know people on my website Bonanza Brand have. Some say their cool others are not happy but it depends greatly on what you're looking for out of the set. A lot of people just want to watch the episodes but a lot of serious fans want the digitalized copies with great clarity, colour and sound as well as complete uncut episodes (not cut to accommodate commercial spots such as on TV Land) so sets such as these are not for them. The reason that there might be episodes missing from this set is there are a handful of episodes that have not been rerunned since their release. One such episode is "Three Brides For Hoss" from season #7 (I wonder if it will be on the German set?). As for your question about 8 out of 10 quality I'd lump that with standard TV broadcasts of older shows. These episodes were most likely recorded from TV and the commercials edited out later so the resolution of 8 would be about right based on how clear and crisp TVLand's airings are.
Hope this helps. If you need further help or recommendation you're welcome to visit Bonanza Brand and ask my members who have more experience with this stuff than I do.
