Jaz Wiseman talks producing the Avengers DVDs

darren · Post by **darren** » Sun Apr 03, 2022 1:38 pm

https://youtu.be/cWK7M0Y49E0

Jaz Wiseman joins "From the Archives" to discuss the horrendous situation of producing The Avengers DVD.

What a nightmare Studio Canal in France sound!!!

I take my hat off to Jaz for managing to push against the wilful ineptitude of the Studio Canal - it beggars belief what we could have ended up with had he not pushed for better results!!

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Sun Apr 03, 2022 4:25 pm

I can only imagine what he had to go up against..when dealing with the company...they don't seem to care much..which is sad..

and I'm wondering about the storage conditions of the masters, etc..

what a trainwreck..

darren · Post by **darren** » Sun Apr 03, 2022 4:43 pm

The original masters are kept at Pinewood Studios in the UK apparently.

James C McFetridge · Post by **James C McFetridge** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 8:45 am

This is a terrific listen, and Jaz has to be applauded for making the DVD sets as good as they are, when faced with the unbelievable levels of ignorance and ineptitude from Studio Canal France.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 11:51 am

Interesting that Jaz says an actor died during the recording of the series 3 episode Second Sight.

Does anyone know who this was? I haven't got Mike's book to hand and there's nothing about it on Piers's site (yet)...

I know about the earlier death during an ABC play which was broadcast live, on which Verity Lambert was working, but that wasn't The Avengers and certainly before 1963!

darren · Post by **darren** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 7:37 pm

I think that's just a mistake. Peter Bowles was in that ABC play "Underground" (where up and coming actor Gareth Jones died during the live production) as well as Second Sight.

mariocki · Post by **mariocki** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 9:12 pm

Unsurprisingly, SC haven’t learned their lesson as the HD remasters of some Carry On films that have recently appeared on BritBox have the audio speed up problems that blighted The Avengers releases as they pitch-corrected them the wrong way again.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 9:47 pm

mariocki wrote:Unsurprisingly, SC haven’t learned their lesson as the HD remasters of some Carry On films that have recently appeared on BritBox have the audio speed up problems that blighted The Avengers releases as they pitch-corrected them the wrong way again.

Carry On films weren't made for television, so they'd use the cinema (theater) frame rate of 24fps anyway, not 25fps as for British PAL television; so why on Earth are they pitch-shifting movie masters?!?! Internet should be able to cope with different frame rates, I watch stuff at 60fps sometimes.

mariocki · Post by **mariocki** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:29 pm

I’ve no idea but they have - if you’ve got BritBox try watching Carry On Regardless or Carry On Sergeant.

Post by **dissolute** » Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:36 pm

I agree with darren, I think Jaz confused the productions. Certainly, all of the principal cast worked on other things afterwards so if anyone did die it would have been an extra. There's nothing in the production memos for the period in question.