The Force Five series (1980s) possibly getting DVD release from Jim Terry Production Services Inc.

[WTK]

Originally posted @ TFP forums.

Official Force Five Promotion (via YouTube)

http://jimterryproductionservices.com/index.html

Welcome to the official website of Jim Terry Production Services Inc.

Jim Terry Production Services Inc. is the official producer of the 1980's syndicated
series dubbed as "Force Five". This series was made up of 5 different Japanese
animated shows:

1. Gaiking
2. Danguard Ace
3. Starvengers
4. Grandizer
5. Spaceketeers

Each show consisted of 26 episodes and a 100-minute movie feature.

These shows were shown in many parts of the world in the English language.

http://jimterryproductionservices.com/order.html

For the first time ever!

Pre-order your official Force Five DVD Set today for just $129 + shipping!

Your DVD set will include 25 DVD's as follows:

1. Grandizer 100-minute movie feature & 26 TV episodes - 5 DVD's
2. Starvengers 100-minute movie feature & 26 TV episodes - 5 DVD's
3. Gaiking 100-minute movie feature & 26 TV episodes - 5 DVD's
4. Spaceketeers 100-minute movie feature & 26 TV episodes - 5 DVD's
5. Danguard Ace 100-minute movie feature & 26 TV episodes - 5 DVD's

We are looking to get at least 500 pre-orders prior to releasing the sets. Please watch the gauge to the right to see the progress. For orders outside North America, please contact us directly to get shipping quotes.

[KudosForce]

Provided that this isn't fake, it's pretty cool of them to do this for those who enjoyed watching these shows back in the day.

However, I'm not really sure it'd be worth it for collectors, between the likely cheesy English dubs, various changes via localization, and incomplete amount of episodes (especially in Grandizer-- or rather, Grendizer's case).

So yeah, this may have a limited amount of success.

[Brent Long]

Originally Posted by KudosForce

Provided that this isn't fake,

You're wise to consider this possibility. At the very least, it's probably underhanded. The domain is registered to one "Wasim Ismail," a rather... ahem, distinguished figure in the Force Five fan community--peddling his own remastered copies of the franchise under the dubious claim of connection with Jim Terry et alii. There's never been any proof of said connection, and Ismail's editing of the series to conform to the dogmas of his religious faith (Islam) would never be approved knowingly: by a licensee or a licensor.

[WTK]

Interesting bit of info.

So looking up Wasim Ismail, I found this:
- http://toyboxdx.com/phorum/read.php?5,197340,page=1 (June 24, 2009): complete Force Five dvds sets (36 DVDs) for 49.00 plus shipping.

Archived pages:
- http://web.archive.org/web/201006081...grendizer.net/
- http://web.archive.org/web/201005310....net/News.html
- http://web.archive.org/web/201004112.../News_Old.html
- http://web.archive.org/web/200911230...im_Ismail.html

[Damius]

If I was a fan of this, I think I wouldn't be happy about this release. Having it incomplete and dub only would have been a double deception. I wonder how many people will be interested.

[Bumble]

Originally Posted by Brent Long

You're wise to consider this possibility. At the very least, it's probably underhanded. The domain is registered to one "Wasim Ismail," a rather... ahem, distinguished figure in the Force Five fan community--peddling his own remastered copies of the franchise under the dubious claim of connection with Jim Terry et alii. There's never been any proof of said connection, and Ismail's editing of the series to conform to the dogmas of his religious faith (Islam) would never be approved knowingly: by a licensee or a licensor.

While the other points you mention are all true, including the rather baffling and insulting editing of harmless 1970s anime (seriously, this is as tame as it gets!), I am of the understanding Mr. Ismail has genuinely been in contact with Jim Terry Productions in the past regarding the Force Five series, at least historically.

While I've no knowledge of this latest endeavor, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he is indeed working in official conjunction with Jim Terry Productions. I know he pulled all his long-running Grendizer websites a while ago; maybe he's going legit?

Whatever the case, like most others I'd like to be 100% what the deal is before even considering parting with any money, so if Jim Terry Productions could make an official statement on this, that would increase my enthusiasm for this project. At the very least it might be worth it to get unedited versions of the episodes as they originally aired in syndication, as these proposed releases have technically been announced by a company and not an individual.

[KudosForce]

Originally Posted by Bumble

Whatever the case, like most others I'd like to be 100% what the deal is before even considering parting with any money, so if Jim Terry Productions could make an official statement on this, that would increase my enthusiasm for this project. At the very least it might be worth it to get unedited versions of the episodes as they originally aired in syndication, as these proposed releases have technically been announced by a company and not an individual.

And with any luck, Discotek might take notice of this and seize the chance to license Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu, as a cross-promotion of sorts.