In recent weeks, it’s come to our attention that a few online companies have been offering all four seasons of the original “Route 66” television series on DVD.
Those are unofficial releases, because Roxbury Entertainment owns the rights to “Route 66” and is releasing the first half-season on a four-DVD set in a matter of days.
Here’s what the official “Route 66” release looks like.
By the way, that’s a metallic Route 66 shield on the cover.
Below is the gatefold package that stores the DVDs on plastic hinged cases:
Obviously, there’s a lot of care in Roxbury’s packaging. The tire design on the surface of the discs is a nice touch.
The Roxbury “Route 66” release used duplicates of the original film footage for the transfers to DVD. “Route 66” was shot on 16-mm, and it looks like it. The picture is sharp, and so is the sound.
The upcoming release also offers special features, including original commercials, cast biographies and an overview of the Chevrolet Corvette models used during the show. It retails for $29.95, although a few online retailers, such as Amazon.com, sell it for a few bucks cheaper.
(Note: A full review of the Roxbury release is coming in a few days.)
In addition to the official Roxbury release, one of my readers ordered an unofficial 12-DVD set of “Route 66” from an online company. Here’s what the bootleg “Route 66” box set looked like when he received it:
And here’s a photo of one of the DVDs:
The reader acknowledged the DVDs are of “homemade quality.” There are no special features.
The reader also told me:
“The viewing quality reminds me of what it was like when I first viewed this show in the ’60s on our black and white TV with a rooftop antenna. […] The sound quality is that of the ’60s too.”
The reader said he’s watched about 10 episodes, and there have been no playback problems so far.
He may have to consider himself lucky.
Several people on the “Route 66 TV” yahoogroup said they also ordered same sort of “Route 66” bootleg box set and encountered big problems.
Mike from Jersey wrote:
The last DVD would not play the last 3 episodes of the series. Most of the episodes had marginal picture and audio. I would never have accepted such quality except I was starving to see the 80-some episodes I had yet to view.
Red Dragon wrote:
They arrived in broken boxes. The quality of one disc was so bad that the episode I really wanted to see, “The Opponent,” was unwatchable. So, my husband received his money back after a threat of the consumer watchdog being involved. They didn’t want the discs back and I decided to try to look at “The Opponent” again. Guess what? The company stamped the nonrecording side with a Route 66 logo, but they had also stamped the play side! No wonder it wouldn’t play.
Another member, Patricia, said of the DVDs:
They varied from just okay to just awful.
Another member, Saloonsinger, ordered a “Route 66” bootleg box set that never arrived. Fortunately, the credit card company gave a refund.
The company my reader dealt with has a slew of dissatisfied customers who’ve taken their complaints online, including to RipoffReport.com, Epinions.com, DVDscams.org, badbusinessbureau.com and 419Legal.org.
In total, about a dozen companies offer these “Route 66” bootlegs. Many of their ISPs are in countries such as the Netherlands, Ukraine, Australia, Mexico and Ukraine — giving them a bit more protection from U.S. trademark laws. The registration information on these sites often is sketchy.
Domain names of these retailers pop up and disappear with regularity. At least six online DVD retailers that specialized in old television programs have vanished.
At least two that I’d found stripped down their operations to a single, skeletal home page. One claimed it was restructuring the site and pledged to “resolve all delayed orders or refund requests.” Another claimed a spam attack crippled its site, but that “all previous orders are being processed and fulfilled as normal.” I predict those will disappear soon, also.
So dealing with these companies appears to be a risky proposition. Bootleg releases may be cheaper, but what you’re getting — if you get it at all — probably won’t be satisfactory, especially with the higher expectations in the DVD age.
Buyer beware.
But there’s another reason to buy Roxbury Entertainment’s offering if you want to watch old “Route 66” episodes.
The actors, producers and their heirs receive royalty payments from sales of the official DVDs. “Route 66” co-star Martin Milner undoubtedly would want his children and grandchildren to receive that income. Co-star George Maharis undoubtedly uses those royalty checks to help pay the bills during his retirement years.
Buying the official product is the ethical thing to do, and doesn’t cheat the principals of “Route 66” out of income they deserve.
Thanks for this timely info! I just happened to see an offer for the full 4 seasons that said it retailed for about $340 a couple days ago. However, there was a “special offer” price of under $70. I was tempted to order it for a Christmas present for my mom. You saved me some real heartache! Thank you so much!
I inadvertantly bought a boot of the series a while back that was actually listed on Amazon with a photo of the set in nicely-packaged brown cases with each disc silk-screened with art. I even talked to the company and they claimed the sets were made from “wet masters” of the film stock. Not likely. When the set arrived the quality was horrible, recorded off fluctuating video stock with signal noise and everything. I was out $230. But I held on to them waiting for the “official” release. Unfortunately, reports are coming in that great care wasn’t taken to find the best source for these official transfers. Maybe that will change with upcoming volumes. But the packaging is extremely nice and it’s great to see all the discussions and support for this series continuing in cyberspace.
I agree that the “official” Route 66 release is a major disappointment in both video and audio quality. Considering the beautiful releases of shows such as “Naked City,” “The Untouchables,” and “The Fugitive,” among others, this DVD release was expected to maintain those standards. It fails.