No J! dvd reviews yet?

[opimus]

I thought there would be at least one review posted here by now?

[Chelsea Thrasher]

http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/index.php?show...ndpost&p=100242

[WhammyPower]

Link to another review, with a great deal near you (as long as you have a Best Buy somewhere)

[BrandonFG]

Bought it this morning, but so far, all I caught was the premiere episode, which I discussed a little with Mike Klauss. I'll prolly catch the special features when I get a chance, but from the '84 episode, to say the show progressed is an understatement.

-I had to watch the show with sunglasses b/c the neon letters almost blinded me...but still better than that computer set from the J! pilot.

-The graphics were extremely gaudy, even by 1984 standards. Got a kick out of the Daily Double reveal (a close-up of the monitor instead of the full-screen graphic). Also, when they superimposed the Final J! answer, it looked a lot like an art card.

-Interesting hearing canned applause/awwws after a correct/incorrect response.

Finally, the show was extremely fast-paced, even the contestant interviews seem rushed. To be honest, the show seemed like an unaired pilot instead of the premiere episode. Would love to see more stuff from that first season to see how things smoothed out.

[remlap]

Hi, now people have bought the DVD can someone please look at the back and see if there is any mention that the disk has been encoded with Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE).

Thanks.

[Dbacksfan12]

Best Buy currently has it on sale for $9.99.  Good way to use your "Best Buy Bucks", if you have any.  I checked Sony's website, as well as Amazon and Best Buy--they didn't have much technical information--sorry.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 11:51 PM\']-Interesting hearing canned applause/awwws after a correct/incorrect response.

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[/quote]

That pretty much stayed throughout the first season--guess Trebek felt that he had to push it a little to convince his bosses that the show would work.  What was interesting was that in the next season, all of the in-game applause (except for DDs, of course, and category runs) was gone--and those who remember the Fleming days recall that applause was always cued whenever a bottom clue got a correct response.

[irismason42]

And what interest more was in the first 2 seasons in Trebek era, when you hear the contestants' names, their names originally never appeared at the bottom of your screen, by the time we head into the 3rd season, we would see the contestants' names popping up on our screens for the first time.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Nov 9 2005, 04:58 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 11:51 PM\']-Interesting hearing canned applause/awwws after a correct/incorrect response.

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[/quote]

That pretty much stayed throughout the first season--guess Trebek felt that he had to push it a little to convince his bosses that the show would work.  What was interesting was that in the next season, all of the in-game applause (except for DDs, of course, and category runs) was gone--and those who remember the Fleming days recall that applause was always cued whenever a bottom clue got a correct response.

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[/quote]
I'm guessing that someone realized the show was rushed, and maybe it was due to the canned reactions bringing the game down? Was clearing the board common during season 1?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 9 2005, 04:01 PM\']I'm guessing that someone realized the show was rushed, and maybe it was due to the canned reactions bringing the game down? Was clearing the board common during season 1?

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Not at all, if I remember right. They would usually leave three or four clues laying.

[Steve McClellan]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 9 2005, 05:01 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 9 2005, 04:01 PM\']Was clearing the board common during season 1?[/quote]
Not at all, if I remember right. They would usually leave three or four clues laying.[/quote]
In the 24 season 1 episodes I have, an average of 9.7 clues per game went unrevealed. They also averaged about two entirely-unrevealed categories per week, with no completely-revealed boards.

But that was far more likely due to the players being able to ring in as soon as the clue was revealed, leading some to ring in when they ended up having no idea. I understand that they did start clearing the board regularly in season 2, when the current rule was put in place.

[Neumms]

I must admit I liked it when they didn't customarily finish the board.

It seems anticlimactic when they do, where playing to the time limit lends some urgency to the proceedings. It also adds importance (albeit, not a ton) to choosing where you go on the board. When we play the board game, we end it with a pre-set number of answers left.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Nov 10 2005, 01:41 PM\']When we play the board game, we end it with a pre-set number of answers left.

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Is that number known to the players?

It strikes me that you could get more verite by the host secretly rolling the polyhedral radomizing device of their choosing, noting down the result, and then letting the players sweat it out as the round winds down.

Mind you, I see advantages either way...it becomes an interesting tactical battle at the end to pick those categories a player is stronger in if they know when zero-hour is, but it's more true to the show the other way. I merely suggest it as an interesting variant.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 10 2005, 04:49 PM\']
Is that number known to the players?

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I wrote it down (without the polyhedral randomizing device) and didn't tell them.

Now this was back in college around '86, there may have been beverages around, and we were playing the tougher MB home game, so I don't know how much strategy there was. But it was fun.

[remlap]

For anyone would like to know, I have the DVD back and it does not seem to have RCE on it.

Its a Christmas present so I havent checked for sure using software on my computer to make sure.