The Catacombs The Merchandise Guide
DVD: USA
Compiled by Martin Willey

A&E

USA: Released from Jan 30 2001; VHS sets $29.95 each; DVD sets $39.95
DVD megaset released September 2002; $199.95, DVD bonus disc $14.95,
DVD Megaset 30th Anniversary Edition released 3 July 2007; $99.95
BluRay Series 1 released 2 November 2010; $99.95
DVD Season 1 and 2 30th Anniversary Edition released 7 May 2013; $29.98 each

Distributed by New Video (from 2013, distributed by Lionsgate). These are US issues of the remastered episodes from Carlton.

30 Jan 2001 VHS VHS sets are three videos (each with one episode; total 3 episodes per set). Only four video sets were released, comprising the first half of Year 1.
30 Jan 2001 DVD volumes DVD sets are two discs each with three episodes; total 6 episodes per set
September 2002 DVD Mega-Set All 48 episodes over 16 discs including a bonus disc. The bonus disc was also available separately.
3 July 2007 DVD Megaset 30th Anniversary Edition All 48 episodes over 17 discs including a bonus disc.
2 Nov 2010 BluRay First series on 6 discs.
7 May 2013 DVD 30th Anniversary Edition Two volumes, season 1 in 8 discs, season 2 in 9 discs

The episodes (DVD)

The DVD discs and the British Carlton DVDs were released at approximately the same time. The quality of Year One episodes is mostly identical to the Carlton and Japanese discs, although some episodes are of inferior quality, suffering from obvious changes in colour and grain, and warbling sound.

The A&E Year 2 episodes are newer prints, and are generally superior to the Carlton versions. The worst episodes in the Carlton set, such as Devil's Planet, are bright and clear on this set. In other episodes, the Carlton image was good to start with and there is no obvious difference (The Metamorph, Matter Of Balance, although the latter alters one shot to remove a visible clapperboard). Space Warp has slightly brighter colours but a much darker picture. Many of the other episodes have slightly brighter pictures but there is some increase in grain and occasionally poor colour balance (The Mark Of Archanon and Catacombs Of The Moon have greenish, slightly murky Alphan corridors).

The episodes (BluRay)

See more details.

Packaging

The series is subtitled "An Adventure As Big As The Universe!". Each cover features Martin Landau and/or Barbara Bain in front of a black and white still. VHS and DVD sets are similar but not identical (the background picture varied according to the episodes in the set). DVD Box Set 2 came in two versions: for the first, the background picture was from Guardian Of Piri, and for the second a shot from Breakaway. Liner notes were by Scott Michael Bosco (a number of errors crept in; his original notes are on his site (see links). Set 3 has reversed photos (the sleeves are wrong).

The sets labelled 30th Anniversary Edition were released in 2007 and 2013.

The Lionsgate 2013 editions were initially announced with packaging images showing year 2 publicity photos on the season 1 set, and year 1 publicity photos on the season 2 set.

30th Anniversary 30th Anniversary

After the error was explained to them, the final 2013 releases used the correct photos.

Final packaging Final packaging

DVD Extras

As extras, the DVDs contain interactive menus, scene selection and photo gallery. The opening sequence comprises the theme with shots from Breakaway (or, for the Year 2 sets, from the opening titles), before the menu appears (assembling in a brief animation). Each photo gallery contains about 20 images. These include shots from the episode, some behind the scenes views, and generic publicity, sets and model photos. A proportion are flopped right for left and a few mislabelled images from the wrong season appear. On the latter Year 1 volumes many of the photos are grainy. Set 4 contains "trailers" for all 24 first season episodes (the "this episode" sequences, used as short promos).

Sets 5 and 6 contain Landau/Bain promos for Year 2 (about 3 per disc, all identical apart from naming the station). Two other versions of this appear on the UK Carlton volumes 11 and 12. Set 6 volume 11 contains a short "behind the scenes featurette", a promotional film with scenes compiled from The Metamorph and a single behind the scenes special effects scene (this scene also appears in a much longer form on the UK Carlton volume 12). Set 6 volume 12 contains short "next week" promos by the actors.

The bulk of the Carlton extras appear on volumes 13-16, including the trailers, Horizon footage, vintage interviews and Johnson commentary for behind the scenes SFX footage. The Moonbase Alpha text guide and behind the scenes photos appear unaltered from the Carlton discs, with even the captions intact.

DVD Bonus Disc

A Bonus Disc was released with the DVD MegaSet, initially sold exclusively in the US store Best Buy, and from March 2003 separately from A&E. Megasets purchased from stores other than Best Buy and A&E before 2004 did not have the disc. It contained three remastered episodes, the Keith Wilson interview that had been missed from the earlier volumes, some unusual photos, Message From Moonbase Alpha (also on the French release), and new commentaries by Sylvia Anderson, Johnny Byrne, Christopher Penfold and A&E's consultant Scott Michael Bosco for the three episodes.

FAB #93 (2019) has an article by Jeff Smart about recording the commentary with Byrne and Penfold at Pinewood, with photos (p46-49).

BluRay Extras

  • 5.1 surround sound audio for each episode, along with the original mono
  • Audio commentaries
  • Music-only tracks
  • Behind-the-scenes featurettes
  • Episodic image galleries for all episodes
  • Trailers
  • Textless titles
  • Barry Gray's theme music demo
  • Alternate opening/closing titles
  • Martin Landau and Barbara Bain US premier intro and outro
  • SFX plates and deleted SFX scenes with music track

All these announced extras are identical to the Network DVD with the exception of the music only tracks (announced for the Network BluRay) and the image galleries (which may be the same as the previous A&E DVD sets).

DVD Set

DVD Release Date

Volume

Episodes

VHS Set

VHS Release Date

Set 1
US DVD 1

January 30th 2001

Volume 1

Breakaway
Matter Of Life And Death
Black Sun

Set 1

January 30th 2001

Volume 2

Ring Around The Moon
Earthbound
Another Time, Another Place

Set 2

January 30th 2001

Set 2
US DVD 2

January 30th 2001

Volume 3

Missing Link
Guardian Of Piri
Force Of Life

Set 3

July 31st 2001

Volume 4

Alpha Child
The Last Sunset
Voyager's Return

Set 4

July 31st 2001


Set 3
US DVD 3

July 31st 2001

Volume 5

Collision Course
Death's Other Dominion
The Full Circle

Volume 6

End Of Eternity
War Games
The Last Enemy

Set 4
US DVD 4

July 31st 2001

Volume 7

The Troubled Spirit
Space Brain
The Infernal Machine

Volume 8

Mission Of The Darians
Dragon's Domain
The Testament Of Arkadia


Set 5
US DVD 5

Feb 26 2002

Volume 9

The Metamorph
The Exiles
One Moment Of Humanity
Landau-Bain Trailers

Volume 10

All That Glisters
Journey To Where
The Taybor
Landau-Bain Trailers

Set 6
US DVD 6

Feb 26 2002

Volume 11

The Rules Of Luton
The Mark Of Archanon
Brian The Brain
Trailer with behind the scenes SFX footage
Landau-Bain Trailers

Volume 12

New Adam, New Eve
The A B Chrysalis
Catacombs Of The Moon
Landau-Bain Trailers
"Next week" trailers


Set 7
US DVD 7

June 25 2002

Volume 13

Seed Of Destruction
The Beta Cloud
A Matter Of Balance
Season 2 trailers
Pre-production gallery
About Moonbase Alpha

Volume 14

Space Warp
The Bringers Of Wonder part 1
The Bringers Of Wonder part 2
BBC Horizon footage
Theatrical trailers
Behind The Scenes photos


Set 8
US DVD 8

June 25 2002

Volume 15

The Lambda Factor
The Seance Spectre
Dorzak
SFX footage with Brian Johnson commentary
Blackpool Exhibit film
Ice Lolly commercial

Volume 16

Devil's Planet
The Immunity Syndrome
The Dorcons
Brian Johnson interview
Vintage interviews with Landau, Bain, Schell, Anderson, Freiberger
Behind The Scenes photos


MegaSet
US DVD MegaSet
AAE-70522

September 24, 2002

-

All 48 episodes over 16 volumes
Bonus disc with remastered episodes:
Death's Other Dominion
Dragon's Domain
The Testament Of Arkadia
Message From Moonbase Alpha
Commentaries by Sylvia Anderson, Johnny Byrne, Christopher Penfold, Scott Michael Bosco
Production stills
Vintage interview with Keith Wilson


MegaSet 30th Anniversary Edition
AAE-77337

30th Anniversary

July 3, 2007

-

All 48 episodes over 17 volumes. Reissue of Megaset with bonus disc in slim cases.


Bonus Disc

Bonus Disc
AAE-70614

March, 2003

-

Available separately from MegaSet (only from A&E).


Season 1 30th Anniversary Edition

30th Anniversary

May 7, 2013

-

24 episodes over 8 discs


Season 2 30th Anniversary Edition

30th Anniversary

May 7, 2013

-

24 episodes over 9 discs

VHS set 1

VHS set 2

DVD set 3

DVD set 4

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Below: promotional T-shirt sold when purchasing through the A&E online store. The left sleeve has the A&E logo.

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Copyright Martin Willey