Simplest-shop.comonline shopping, the simple way |
Welcome | Help  |
| Search for |
|
Home > Dvds > Directors > ( E ) > Elikann, Larry > After School Specials 1976 1977 DVD Set
This website will be shutdown on 2008-04-01.
|
 Add to shopping cart |
After School Specials: 1976-1977 DVD Set | |||||||||||||||||
 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Studio: BCI ECLIPSE LLC Catalog: DVD Release date: 2004-10-12 Media: DVD released in theatres: 1976-10-06 Running time in minutes: 180 DVD aspect ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC DVD Region code: 1 released in theatres: 1976-10-06 Ean: 0787364577590 Upc: 787364577590  Tip: compare prices with similar DVDsDirector:
|
| |||||||||||||||
| Top stores | Description | Price | Link to shop |
| amazon.com | check store | check now! | |
| used | 1 used offers, as low as... | $99.99 | see more used offers |
| all new | 5 thirdParty new offers, as low as... | $38.00 | see more ThirdParty new offers |
| Professional Review: |
| After School Specials - Francesca Baby / Beat the Turtle Drum Martin Tahse is the most prolific and successful producer of After School Specials. His 26 productions have won numerous awards and prizes including 18 Emmys three Blue Ribbons in the American Film Festival the Peabody Award and First Second and Third Prize in the Chicago Film Festival in the same year - an honor which has never since been matched. His original contributions remain important to today's young and adult audiences. "Francesca Baby" - Francesca (Carol Jones) and her younger sister Kate (Tara Talboy) live in constant embarrassment with their alcoholic mother (Melendy Britt). When their mother falls asleep in bed with a lighted cigarette endangering the lives of the girls the outcome between Francesca and her mother is both dramatic and revealingly true. "Beat the Turtle Drum" - For her birthday Joss (Katy Kurtzman) is given a horse for a week. She and her older sister Kate (Melissa Sue Anderson) go out with the horse and tie it up so they can climb and play in a tree. Kate is devastated when Joss accidentally falls and is killed. Desolate and fearing the might have been able to save her sister Kate goes on a search to come to grips with the tragedy. After School Specials - Pinballs The / Trouble River Martin Tahse is the most prolific and successful producer of After School Specials. His 26 productions have won numerous awards and prizes including 18 Emmys three Blue Ribbons in the American Film Festival the Peabody Award and First Second and Third Prize in the Chicago Film Festival in the same year - an honor which has never since been matched. His original contributions remain important to today's young and adult audiences. "The Pinballs" - Three kids each with both haunting and often humorous backgrounds form a friendship while in a foster home. |
| User Reviews: |
 Written on November 17, 2004 Summary: Very Disappointing It's such a great idea to release these shows on DVD and the packaging for these two volumes is really inventive. However, great packaging doesn't make a great DVD. The quality of the shows on these DVDs is bottom of the barrel. I am actually surprised they had the gall to release these. Literally, the picture quality of "The Pinballs" episode is, and I am not exaggerating here, the same as a third generation VHS cassette as if the show were taped off of broadcast television. Without the benefit of cable. The extras are actually worse. The extras consist of still frames from the shows that have been blown up to fill the screen. The images are completely blown out and pixelated. I would have preferred no "extras" than something this bad. I don't know if it is a blessing that these shows are available at all or if it is just plain insulting that this company is asking people to pay for these horrible reproductions. Overall I think this DVD is an embarrassment. What a shame.  Written on November 6, 2004 Summary: After school with Melissa Sue Anderson, among others... The mid 70's...that wondrous time between Vietnam and Reaganomics...if you were growing up during that period, like me, you're probably familiar with these shows. Many families needed two incomes to survive (so much more so now), so generally once school let out for the day, you were pretty much on your own until Mom or Dad got home (usually Mom). What to do? There was no MTV (or cable, for that matter) and no Playstation 2...no, if you weren't off messing around with your friends poking dead animals with sticks, you were probably at home, watching After School Specials, dramatic programs designed especially entertain and teach pre-teens about life and issues they could have very well faced, in terms they could understand in an hour-long format (approximately 45 minutes, without the commercials). Each set comes with two DVDs, each containing 2 episodes, or 4 episodes per set. The series (I believe there were something like 26 episodes) was created and produced by Martin Tahse, and won a slew of awards, was really unique in that it was programming for young people that wasn't created to tie into products or sell merchandise, but to speak to them about situations difficult to understand or comprehend, treating its' audience with the respect and intelligence not often seen, not talking down to them but talking to them, and basically relating to them on a level they deserved. Francesca, Baby (Originally aired 6/10/76) deals with the issue of an alcoholic parent. Francesca (Carol Jones) and her little sister, Kate (Tara Talboy) deals with the burden (in the words of Lost in Space's Dr. Smith, "The shame, the shame...") of a mother who's struggling with a booze monkey on her back. Their father, unable to deal with his alkie-wife, tends to go on a lot of business trips, leaving the girls to fend pretty much for themselves (nice guy, hunh?). Francesca's boyfriend, Bix (Dennis Bowden) tries to get her to go to Ala-Teen, a program for kids with alcoholic parents, but she's too embarrassed, that is until her drunken stumblebum mother nearly kills them all by falling into a boozy sleep with a lit coffin nail (cigarette). Francesca sees her own embarrassment is a rather paltry, trifling matter when weighed against the lives of her, her sister, and her mother. In Beat the Turtle Drum (Originally aired 4/6/77), Kate (Melissa Sue Anderson) must deal with the accidental death, caused by the rapid deceleration of hitting the ground after falling from a tree (you canna change the laws of physics, captain) of her younger sister Joss (Katy Kurtzman). Could Kate have prevented the accident? Is she to blame for death of the more popular of the two sisters? (everyone knows in families with multiple children, there's always a favorite, despite what the parents say) She searches for answers and, I guess, a sense of closure to the tragedy, by involving a number of different people (more like bothering), gaining insight she didn't have before. Ultimately she learns sometimes things just happen, and while it's easy enough to take the blame and burden one's own soul, it may not always be hers to take (although I think it was). The Pinballs (Originally aired 10/26/77) deals with three kids who develop a friendship in a foster home. There's Carlie (Kristy McNichol), a voracious liar, constantly making up stuff about her past, Thomas J. (Sparky Marcus) who was sent to the home after his guardians (his two twin aunts) get sick and can't care for him anymore, and finally Harvey (Johnny Doran), who suffers from a pair of broken legs (ouch) after his rummy father confused the boy for the driveway (double ouch). Basically the three learn that while their lives may suck (and they do), there's value to be had in friendship and a positive outlook, rather than focusing on the negatives (like being a `pinball', bouncing around from place to place). The fourth and final episode in this collection is set in the olden times, and by that I mean covered wagons, log cabins, outhouses and such, titled Trouble River (Originally aired 11/12/77). Dewey (Michael LeClair) is stuck at the homestead with his old granny (Nora Denny) when his parents leave for a nearby settlement as his mother is about to give birth (procreation was a big thing before the invention of the TV). Things get hairy when news of renegades are in the area causing all kinds of trouble, so Dewey builds a raft and does a Tom Sawyer bit with his grandmother hoping to reach the settlement where his parents went to have the baby. The trip is a difficult one, as not only must Dewey face the trials and tribulations of navigating the raft through treacherous waters, but he must also deal with his pain in the behind grandmother who's stubbornness seems to know no bounds (I probably would have pushed her and her precious rocker into the river and say she fell in). In the end, Dewey learns old people can serve a useful function, rather than be a cumbersome weight dragging you into the abyss. The quality of the pictures on these DVDs is not the best, but it is as how it was when originally presented, and given these were teleplays made to be presented on television in the 70's, you really can't compare it to today's standards. The packaging is amazing, as the DVDs, enclosed in a regular DVD case, come in a surprisingly detailed reproduction of a Trapper Keeper (oh how we all lusted for organizational capabilities of Trapper Keepers back in the day). Printed inside is a brief synopsis and airdate for each episode, along with the key talent, and the name of the original author for each story. If you liked these, also look for After School Specials 1974-76, available here. Cookieman108 |
| Comparison map |
| Wondering how the DVD "After School Specials: 1976-1977 DVD Set" relates to similar DVDs? Find out at a glance here: |
| Price comparison |
 After School Specials: 1976-1977 DVD Set |
 After School Specials: 1974-1976 DVD Set |
 After School Specials: 1979-1980 DVD Set |
 After School Specials: Class of '81-'82 |
 After School Specials: Class of '82-'86 |
 After School Specials: 1978-1979 |
| Our price | - | $11.99 | - | $8.49 | $8.49 | - |
| List price | $12.98 | $19.98 | $19.98 | $12.98 | $12.98 | $12.98 |
| Lowest used price | $99.99 | $5.79 | $4.99 | $4.56 | $1.61 | $39.99 |
| Lowest new price | $38.00 | $7.90 | $5.90 | $4.70 | $1.95 | $49.99 |
| Collectible price | - | - | - | $17.65 | - | - |
| Catalog | DVD | DVD | DVD | DVD | DVD | DVD |
| Release date | 2004-10-12 | 2004-10-12 | 2005-01-11 | 2005-05-24 | 2005-05-24 | 2005-01-11 |
| Media | DVD | DVD | DVD | DVD | DVD | DVD |
| released in theatres | 1976-10-06 | 1974-01-16 | - | - | - | - |
| Running time in minutes | 180 | 180 | 180 | 180 | 180 | 180 |
| DVD aspect ratio | 1.33:1 | 1.33:1 | 1.33:1 | 1.33:1 | 1.33:1 | 1.33:1 |
| Audience Rating | G (General Audience) | G (General Audience) | NR (Not Rated) | NR (Not Rated) | NR (Not Rated) | NR (Not Rated) |
| Format | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC | Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC | Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC |
| DVD Region code | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ean | 0787364577590 | 0787364577491 | 0787364577798 | 0787364577897 | 0787364577996 | 0787364577699 |
| Upc | 787364577590 | 787364577491 | 787364577798 | 787364577897 | 787364577996 | 787364577699 |
| Link to shop* (opens in a new window) | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* |
| take one out? |
|
I am here: Home > Dvds > Directors > ( E ) > Elikann, Larry > After School Specials 1976 1977 DVD Set
This website will be shutdown on 2008-04-01.
|
 E-mail this page |
|
About the Simplest Shop | Help | Term of Use | Privacy Policy
Home | Contact us | Bookmark us | get paid for writing |
|
Copyright Simplest-Shop.com 2004. All rights reserved |