MovieChat Forums > Otherworld (1985) Discussion > Complete Season 1 exists

Complete Season 1 exists

posted 19 years ago by bdickinson
56 replies | jump to latest

I've been a fan of this since watching the original episodes as they aired. I have the eight aired episodes on VHS somewhere. Now comes the interesting tidbit. In 1987, my husband called to find out about the show for me and confirmed that THERE WERE THIRTEEN EPISODES FILMED, but that only eight were released. The rest were in the CBS studio vault.

Remember the opening credit sequence where we see a mntage of scenes from the episodes? Remember the scene from an episode you NEVER SAW? I remember looking for that and waiting for it, and it never aired. This is what prompted my husband to call the studio.

Now the question begs to be asked: Who owns the rights to Otherworld now and how many of the episodes do they have in their control? Does the original studio still have the last five episodes? Does the SciFi channel?

I'm really curious to find out. Time to start doing some research. Anyone know someone at either CBS or SciFi Channel? Write e-mails. Stir the pot. Let's see what we can find out. It would be awesome if we could get the SciFi channel to show all thirteen episodes.

Yay Otherworld fans!

UPDATE: I wrote to Lew Hunter, the producer and he confirmed that there were thirteen episodes. He said: "I thought all 13 were aired. CBS was the network. I am sure that Universal Studios, now NBC Universal owns the negatives and the rights."

Wow! There's a treasure trove of unaired episodes out there, and I for one am determined to see the missing five! I'm going to continue this campaign, and will keep you all informed of my progress.

[–] bruno-131 19 years ago

I can't believe that I suddenly decided to check on IMDB for Otherworld and this thread had just been started. I don't remember much of the show other than I liked it and would really like to see it again, and a few bits and pieces of the episodes. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn up on DVD.

I searched Scifi.com a few years ago for information, but only found a few other people looking to see the show again. I seem to recall that I emailed Scifi directly looking for information, but didn't get anything useful back.

I just searched Scifi.com again and found that Otherworld was supposedly to be shown in 2000 on "Fantasticland Thursdays". I don't recall that it was ever shown.

So, if SciFi was intending to show it, they probably at least have the rights to air it.

•Fantasticland Thursdays will start off with Quantum Leap, followed by Highlander, The Twilight Zone, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Probe, Otherworld, Darkroom, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Sliders, Beyond Reality and Night Gallery.

And to think that so many worse things have lasted much longer . . . Black Scorpion, Viper, and too many others to list.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bebee-1 19 years ago

Where did you find the 2 DVD set for $9.99? I found a 4 DVD-R (episodes 1-8)for $25.00 and ordered 2 sets. One for myself and one for my son's Birthday. His DVD player is just old enough that they won't play on it, he has to use his laptop. y DVD player will read them but I haven't had a chance to watch any yet to report on quality. Hope to do so tonight!! I, too, would love to get the COMPLETE 13 episodes if anyone can find them.

We watched this as a family and really enjoyed it. As I recall it was the most pre-empted show I had ever tried to follow!!!! So, I'm curious as to how many of the aired 8 I really did get to see.

[–] HtosDrol 19 years ago

This was one of my favorite shows of the 80's and I remember there were huge arguements between the sci-fi geeks at my high school as to which was better, Otherworld or V:The Series. I liked Otherworld!

Sci-Fi channel did show this series Thursday afternoons for awhile several years ago, because I remember being home from work one day and bam...there it was!

Oh yeah...I wrote Starlog Magazine about their lack of coverage for this show (I still have the letter).

Me

[–] HyperPup 15 years ago

"This was one of my favorite shows of the 80's and I remember there were huge arguements between the sci-fi geeks at my high school as to which was better, Otherworld or V:The Series. I liked Otherworld!"

Ironically both were cancelled. I think most people that I talked to about shows like these liked V, better. The Mini series had such a huge impact on us growing up. It was a cultural phenomenon. Otherworld was liked by a few of my friends but overall if they missed an episode, they weren't too crushed for it.

"Oh yeah...I wrote Starlog Magazine about their lack of coverage for this show (I still have the letter)."

It was kinda sad that Starlog didn't give more press to it, but this was a mid-season replacement show that probably sprung up on their radar rather unexpectedly. Had the series survived to air more than one season they could have come back and done a follow up interview with the creators. I know they did do a story on it, because the issue is listed on Roderick Taylor's IMDB page. Issue 91 from Feb 1985 has a 3 page article about the show and I personally picked up a copy from Ebay, and I am waiting for it to arrive as we speak.

Thousands die every day for no reason at all, where's your bleeding heart for them?

[–] StormShadow420 14 years ago

Did Sci-Fi ever air those last 5 episodes, or just the ones that played originally years before? It's not looking good. If they did play the entire series, someone would have taped the entire series on the Sci-Fi replay and posted them online now.

And regarding the music issue, they did covers of songs. It's not like they played originals, so I'd guess it wouldn't be an issue. At worst, they'd just omit that episode if they ever did release it. It's not like it was that important anyways.

--
R.I.P. America, 1776 - 2008
Bring back Scott & Charlene to Neighbours

[–] MovieCriticMarvelfan 14 years ago

Highly unlikely that they would air Unaired episodes especially if they are in the Cbs vault unless they were aired in a foreign market back in the day.

"We have guided missiles and misguided men."

[–] sscheiber 8 years ago

Sci-Fi did air them for awhile a number of years ago. They aired only the 8 that CBS ran in 1985. Also, as is customary these days, the episodes were not complete. I specifically remember a couple of pieces of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" that got cut.

As for issuing a set without that episode, it would be a dealbreaker for me. It's my favorite.

CBS really didn't know what they had with the show. They couldn't figure out what genre to promote, and then the kept moving it around.

I also would love to see "The Missing 5".

[–] dollvalley 19 years ago

THANK YOU GUYS!!! I have been looking for this show since I saw it on italian tv in the 80s and loved it, i had no way even to find out about the original title and did just some time ago, and i can buy them too, well let's hope they are in a good quality.
Cheers man!

[–] beerstand 19 years ago

Any further information on the unaired episodes?

[–] bdickinson 19 years ago

Nothing yet, but I'll keep trying.

[–] ddtac 19 years ago

Good news. The script for one of these unaired episodes available for $9.99 from scriptcity.com. Its called Seeing Double and it has to do with an evil doppleganger Sterling family.

[–] wingaddict 19 years ago

Wow! This is news to me! With so many shows going to DVD it would be awfully nice to see ALL 13 episodes released. I always hated how there was no resolution to the show.

Any more updates?

Thanks!

WingAddict

[–] frjoe 19 years ago

When the Sci-Fi Channel first started, they had a regular program that showed the episodes of short-lived television shows. Along with the commercial breaks, they also had actors talk about the shows. At least eight episodes of Otherworld were shown. Another favorite of mine was The Fantastic Journey. Roddy McDowall did brief interview pieces. Now that the Sci-Fi Channel is making more of its own programming, and owned by NBC (instead of directly by USA), they have abandoned the many great repeats they once showed. They have also revealed a willingness to drop good shows like Farscape, proving that they are more money-ratings than fan conscious, and are reaching for a larger audience. It is doubtful that they will show the repeats again any time soon. It is also upsetting that Sci-Fi Channel UK (British) has shown some great programs which they felt would not appeal on the US Channel. Now that I think about it, another show they repeated in the special series was Man and Machine with Yancy Butler. Without becoming sleezy, like so much of their current programming, the program had a pretty (robot) girl and a lot of charm. NBC killed that show, too. It would be great to have a DVD series of short-lived but creative science fiction programs.

[–] HyperPup 18 years ago

"When the Sci-Fi Channel first started, they had a regular program that showed the episodes of short-lived television shows. Along with the commercial breaks, they also had actors talk about the shows. At least eight episodes of Otherworld were shown"

This was known as the "SciFi Series Collection" and they ran..Otherworld, The Fantastic Journey, Something Is Out There, Automan, Night Gallery and other series that only lasted one season. You were right about the brief interview segments. They added a nice flair to the nostalgia of the series being aired again. The sad part is that NBC/Universal owns SciFi. So the catalog is wide open for any show created by those two. Right now they are only focusing on the newer more original programs or the extremely older programs like Twilight Zone or Buck Rodgers. They could be airing some of the more contemporary scifi programs as filler on the week or weekends instead of shoving those horrible SciFi Original Films down our throats on more than one night.

[–] mrgb48 12 years ago

You can get the complete series on dvd-r at twisted anger dot net.....Thanks! Gary

[–] brownwolf7 19 years ago

I remember watching Otherworld when it aired in 1985, enjoyed it very much. But was saddened when it was taken off the air before its last story aired.

Thank you for the site to purchase the 8 episode DVD set.
But I'm still interested in purchasing copies of the other 5 unaired episodes.

I'm curious, Is there anyone, or any business out there that is interested
in working with the archive studios in converting some of the old sci-fi tv series onto complete DVD's? I understand they would need permission, and access to the old films to convert them to DVD's. But they could share the sales profits. They would make a lot of fans extremely happy, and that would add on to the studio's residual profits, and possibly open up a different sales outlet.

Again, Thank You, Bdickinson for your work, and updates.
Hope to hear more about the 5 unaired episodes.

[–] MovieCriticMarvelfan 18 years ago

IwantthatonDvd.com allegedly has the complete series I haven't
bought anything from them but it's worth a look.

"I'am laughing on the outside, crying on the inside"

[–] SargeantStryker 19 years ago

bdickenson:

This is the sort of research I like to do and have done in the past in other venues ...

The ownership of the 'lost' episodes may not be clearly known to anyone at this point and will require extensive research.

Then after establishing ownership you have to find someone who cares ...

And then someone who has responsibility and authority ...

Most probably the best way to do it would be to pursue it as much as possible by email after some initial letters. Then, eventually, phone calls to those deep in the 'vaults'.

The ones with the leverage to finally flush them out after the legwork has been done is, most probably, the SciFi cable channel or whatever other cable channel is likely to broadcast them.

Send me an internal email if you like in re this.

And keep us all up to date in this formum ...

Thanks,

Stryker

[–] mongrove_mantichora 18 years ago

bdickinson,

That's a very interesting post... I do remember the mysterious montage scene from no episode! However, it's very unusual for a network to pay for something (such as an additional five episodes) and then NOT generate any revenue from it at all... it's been in syndication and shown on the SciFi channel, so why not get the most from it? Since it was only one missing scene (and not, say, half of the opening sequences), it could have been something filmed for one of the known eight that was later edited out.

Also, formal references, which provide air dates, production numbers and other data -- such as "The SciFi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction" -- only have information for the known eight episodes. That would also be an unusual omission...

I wonder if the studio paid for thirteen scripts but only filmed eight? That would explain the "Seeing Double" script... I know it's fairly common for studios to "film as they go"; if ratings stay down, the rest of the season doesn't get shot. I sadly suspect that is the case with "Otherworld". It was a January-to-March phenomenon that just never clicked with the mainstream.

That said, I would be first in line to see any missing episodes. Good luck and best wishes for your campaign!

[–] jameso-7 18 years ago

Can you rent or buy these show's??

Thanks

[–] hstickne 18 years ago

the first 8 episodes are all over eBay

[–] dougo13 18 years ago

I'm sitting and watching the pilot episode as I type this from an old Beta tape of mine from 1985 when the show first aired. I have no need to buy bootlegs as at the time I was much of a completest and made sure I recorded the entire run. I'm still much like that for current shows....

[–] sscheiber 7 years ago

Ahhh. Somebody else who had BETA VCRs. That's all I ever had.

[–] mrgb48 12 years ago

You can buy the complete series on dvd-r at twisted anger dot net....Thanks! Gary

[–] ntr-121-646989 11 years ago

You can only get the 8 episodes aired and not the complete series. 13 Episodes were apparently made although I did find this tidbit somewhere.

"Rumors of an additional five episodes never aired in the United States, however, are simply untrue. There were just eight: the two-hour pilot split into two one-hour episodes plus six additional one-hour episodes. One other episode, titled "Seeing Double," was scripted, but it was turned down by CBS."

[–] talussun 18 years ago

So, do you know yet who we can call and call and call and bug the living heck out of until they release this on DVD?? i will do what i can. let me know if i can help.

[–] dougo13 18 years ago

The 8 aired episodes have turned up on Usenet in the past 2 months. If you have one of the news servers with 70 day retention, you should be able to download them all....

[–] ntr-121-646989 11 years ago

Still would love to know where to get all 13 episodes 6 years after following this post.