BRAVE ARCHER series--> questions

[bobo]

even though most of this series was english dubbed i have never seen any of them--so a few simple questions--1. since media blasters has brave archer #1 will they go after the rest of the series ? 2. i know parts 1-2-3 have at least some english dubbing does #4 have an english dub? 3. according to most info i have gathered brave archer #2 is listed as 110 min. but the dub version is only around 60 min-so is there a more complete dub version anywhere? perhaps LINN could answer most of these as he is working with media blasters. thanks

[Linn1]

1. since media blasters has brave archer #1 will they go after the rest of the series ?

If the first batch does well.

2. i know parts 1-2-3 have at least some english dubbing does #4 have an english dub?

Supposedly it does, but I don't believe that stuff until I see it myself. That leads to fans getting disappointed by something not having a dub that may never have had one in the first place, all just because someone said it should on a forum.

3. according to most info i have gathered brave archer #2 is listed as 110 min. but the dub version is only around 60 min-so is there a more complete dub version anywhere?

There's a full dub of part two, if Celestial still has it is another question. BTW, there's a VERY cool extra I'm pushing for on the MB disc which will be a first anywhere. I bet there's some hardcore collectors who don't know about it.

[bobo]

thanks for the reply.

[Eastern Evil]

Wow, this is an old thread, but I just aquired an english Dub of

Brave Archer and His Mate (#4) and it is an hour & 40 minutes long. It is from Celestial/Well Go Entertainment.

On the menu page it says 'Swordmasters/Shaw Brothers)

It looks pretty nice. Anyone know when it was released?

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Amazon says August 18, 2009. I don't remember it being pushed back so that release date should be correct.

The dub was pretty good. Some funny lines, especially from Wang Li (Western Poison). But I had to switch to the original audio at the end when Kwok Choi and Lu Feng fight. They were trying a little too hard with the hoo-ing and ha-ing sounds on the dub.

[DeathFuMaster]

So does anybody know who has the rights to parts 2 & 3 in North America? I thought it might be MB, but I don't remember...

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Yeah MB should be releasing them some day. Just don't expect it to be any time soon.

[Michael L.]

I just got Brave Archer #2 from Netflix, but it isn't with me right now. I'll try to remember to check... The first one I watched subtitled. It was still so crazy confusing that I wasn't even sure I was going to watch this second one...

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I just got Brave Archer #2 from Netflix, but it isn't with me right now. I'll try to remember to check...

That would mean Netflix has Panmedia DVDs. Well, I guess that's not the worst thing in the world. I'd never buy a Panmedia DVD ever again, but I'd rent one.

This really pisses me off if it's true about Netlfix renting out these DVDs. Pretty soon this shitty company is going to be the only distributor left for kf movies. Maybe THEN somebody will put a stop to them.

[DeathFuMaster]

I really hope Panmedia doesn't end up rising to the top. Tokyo Shock in my opinion always has good DVD releases. Dragon Dynasty, Well Go USA, and Image are all hit and miss, but at least they are putting on the movies especially Shaws. Tai Seng is alright too, but they could definitely up their quality. I'm not sure whether Video Asia is legit or not still, but the budget packages they have been releasing lately are not too bad and they are a good way to get Fu films that probably wouldn't be released by other companies otherwise.

[HAZ]

Spend some time in a Chinatown and you'll see that Panmedia is a pretty inconsequential operation in regards to bootlegging. In Toronto's Chinatown, there's a mall that sells DVD's. If you were to count the bootleg DVD's in that mall, I would guess that you'd be looking at 250,000 units. And that's just one mall. If someone told me that there were 5,000,000 bootleg DVD's for sale in the Greater Toronto Area, I'd believe it. There's also China, HK, Malaysia, and Singapore. Millions of bootleg DVD's are produced and sold in those countries daily. People here have a thing about Panmedia, but if you spend a little time in a Chinese or Asian community, you look at Panmedia as the tinest drop in the bucket. I don't think they sell more than a couple hundred units per month, with all of their titles combined. I think that many people here don't have a chinatown in their hometowns, so Panmedia is a big operation to them.

[Michael L.]

Actually, 3 disappeared from my queue and what I got was (kind of) 4: Brave Archer and His Mate. That is the second time Netflix allowed me to order something that disappeared (the other was a Doctor Who episode).

Weird. I'm definitely sending it back; I haven't seen 2 or 3 yet and I have a huge stack of things I need to watch over Thanksgiving!

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Spend some time in a Chinatown and you'll see that Panmedia is a pretty inconsequential operation in regards to bootlegging. In Toronto's Chinatown, there's a mall that sells DVD's. If you were to count the bootleg DVD's in that mall, I would guess that you'd be looking at 250,000 units. And that's just one mall. If someone told me that there were 5,000,000 bootleg DVD's for sale in the Greater Toronto Area, I'd believe it. There's also China, HK, Malaysia, and Singapore. Millions of bootleg DVD's are produced and sold in those countries daily. People here have a thing about Panmedia, but if you spend a little time in a Chinese or Asian community, you look at Panmedia as the tinest drop in the bucket. I don't think they sell more than a couple hundred units per month, with all of their titles combined. I think that many people here don't have a chinatown in their hometowns, so Panmedia is a big operation to them.

I know bootlegging is big in Asia, but for USA I don't think anybody comes close to Panmedia. There's Videoasia, but they don't sell you a single movie for $15 like Panmedia does, it's more like 4-10 movies for $7-$15. So I don't compare the 2. I'm sure Videoasia maks a lot less money. I would guess Panmedia sells a couple thousand units per month. It's good to hear they aren't on Netflix, but I heard awhile ago that they are on Blockbuster online rentals. And from what I've heard, they have kiosks set up at malls and other places all over the country. Panmedia makes a ton of money, no doubt about it. they pay next to nothing to make the discs, and sell them for a high price.

What are the names of the companies who sell boots in that mall HAZ? Panmedia goes by a lot of other names. Red Sun, Bonzai, Yin Yang, Golden Dragon, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting or haven't discovered yet. I don't have a Chinatown in my area so it'd be interesting to hear what other bootleg companies there are.

[HAZ]

I know bootlegging is big in Asia, but for USA I don't think anybody comes close to Panmedia. There's Videoasia, but they don't sell you a single movie for $15 like Panmedia does, it's more like 4-10 movies for $7-$15. So I don't compare the 2. I'm sure Videoasia maks a lot less money. I would guess Panmedia sells a couple thousand units per month. It's good to hear they aren't on Netflix, but I heard awhile ago that they are on Blockbuster online rentals. And from what I've heard, they have kiosks set up at malls and other places all over the country. Panmedia makes a ton of money, no doubt about it. they pay next to nothing to make the discs, and sell them for a high price.

What are the names of the companies who sell boots in that mall HAZ? Panmedia goes by a lot of other names. Red Sun, Bonzai, Yin Yang, Golden Dragon, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting or haven't discovered yet. I don't have a Chinatown in my area so it'd be interesting to hear what other bootleg companies there are.

The large bootlegging operations don't have names like "Redsun". They just copy DVD's and copy thier covers. Kiosks at malls sell these copies. Redsun DVD's sold at these kiosks are copies of the DVD. Some places sell them for a dollar a piece.

[odioustrident]

At least in NY state, the mall kiosks that sell bootlegs are most if not all affiliated with Red Sun / Jack Stiller. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

edit: The only other bootleg sources I see for kung fu films are sold in Chinatown and nowhere else. That bootleg source does Celestial titles only. The biggest store that carries independent kung fu films in Manhattan's Chinatown stocks Panmedia/Red Sun etc...

I have only seen new films and Celestial titles bootlegged by someone other than Jack Stiller in NY state, but I might be wrong.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

The large bootlegging operations don't have names like "Redsun". They just copy DVD's and copy thier covers. Kiosks at malls sell these copies. Redsun DVD's sold at these kiosks are copies of the DVD. Some places sell them for a dollar a piece.

ONE DOLLAR?!?! Damn that would be nice. Reminds me of when I first started collecting these movies. There was an Asian guy who owned a crappy 7-11 type gas station (without the gas) at the Westroads mall. He had a table with a bunch of VHSs on it for a dollar. And most of them didn't even come with real VHS cases. They came in these home made cases that were made out of thick construction paper, and they just had the name of the movie written in pen. I used to spend all my money there when I was about 10 years old.

[HAZ]

In my town, there's only one guy selling bootlegs. The Asian community here is sizable, but no where near like Toronto's. He sells 5 DVD's for 20 dollars. He sells all of the new releases, and many Panmedia DVD's, but his bootlegs are made in China, and imported here. These aren't burned copies, but factory pressed bootlegs. They even come with a professional quality copy of the cover. He sells some panmedia DVD's, but not the real ones. He has copies of panmedia DVD's that are professionaly copied in China & then re-sold here, so they are a bootleg of a bootleg.

In Toronto, you have a mix of people selling DVD-R's, and high quality bootlegs. Many stores that sell original DVD's sell DVD-R's. They have the original on the shelf, and right next to the original, they have a pile of DVD-R's of the same movie. These are 2 bucks. The DVD-R is a white disc with Chinese characters. In Toronto malls, you don't have one kiosk, but maybe 15 or 20 selling copies of Kung fu/Asian DVD's in varying quality. Not a single one is original, but some copies are done in such high quality that it can be hard to tell the difference. Toronto is the North American destination if you want Kung fu movies on DVD. Vancouver might be even better. I'll be going soon to see for myself.

[Michael L.]

Back in the day all the Chinese rental places in St. Louis rented VHS tapes, in two parts, usually with hand written labels. Sometimes they were printed but crazy ass crooked. I was told later (by a girl whose family ran a rental place) that in the '80s they were sold laser discs and labels to transfer to VHS themselves as part of the rental agreement.

[odioustrident]

In my town, there's only one guy selling bootlegs. The Asian community here is sizable, but no where near like Toronto's. He sells 5 DVD's for 20 dollars. He sells all of the new releases, and many Panmedia DVD's, but his bootlegs are made in China, and imported here. These aren't burned copies, but factory pressed bootlegs. They even come with a professional quality copy of the cover. He sells some panmedia DVD's, but not the real ones. He has copies of panmedia DVD's that are professionaly copied in China & then re-sold here, so they are a bootleg of a bootleg.

In Toronto, you have a mix of people selling DVD-R's, and high quality bootlegs. Many stores that sell original DVD's sell DVD-R's. They have the original on the shelf, and right next to the original, they have a pile of DVD-R's of the same movie. These are 2 bucks. The DVD-R is a white disc with Chinese characters. In Toronto malls, you don't have one kiosk, but maybe 15 or 20 selling copies of Kung fu/Asian DVD's in varying quality. Not a single one is original, but some copies are done in such high quality that it can be hard to tell the difference. Toronto is the North American destination if you want Kung fu movies on DVD. Vancouver might be even better. I'll be going soon to see for myself.

Do these kiosks sell boots that aren't Celestial titles or new releases? Maybe copies of Joy Sales or something similar?

[HAZ]

Do these kiosks sell boots that aren't Celestial titles or new releases? Maybe copies of Joy Sales or something similar?

They sell copies of all of the Asian DVD's on the market, irrespective of distributor or country. It's crazy. When I was there last, I bought orignials. The DVD-R's are cheap - 2 bucks - but many of the originals were only 5 bucks. I got so many of the Joy Sales dvd's on my last trip. The phenomenon of selling copies along side originals was new to me. I think they do that to give off the impression that they are legit sellers.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

give me a break, even the mod is telling where to buy boots.

Time to pack up my bags (posters) and bail this popsicle stand.

I must be missing something here. All he said is that boots are sold in Canada. What’s wrong with that?

[Eastern Evil]

The large bootlegging operations don't have names like "Redsun". They just copy DVD's and copy thier covers. Kiosks at malls sell these copies. Redsun DVD's sold at these kiosks are copies of the DVD. Some places sell them for a dollar a piece.

Amazing that this post comes up, and with the word 'Kiosk' to boot! ( I was gonna use that word) - I just went to the Westfield Mall by me and they had a Kiosk selling red sun brand movies - they were 10 dollars, and I bought Brave Archer 3. It said English, but the movie cuts in & out -withPoor english audio and better sounding Chinese Audio and automatic english subs fior those parts. I guess you live & learn. Man, I was excited to find the place until I put the movie in the player.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Yeah that English dub is bad. And the dub on Part 2 is much worse. Pretty much inaudible.

[John]

I will never understand the appeal of bootlegs. If you won't buy a legit copy, why buy anything at all?

[The Silver Fox]

Yeah, Toronto is nuts for bootlegs but you can also buy legit dvd and vcds for pretty cheap too. I live about an hour away from TO and I make trips there fairly often to buy movies.

One place on Dundas had a deal last time- 30% off all IVL shaw bros dvds(about 8-10 dollars each) and 4 IVL or Fortune Star VCD's for 10 bucks, not bad.

Of course, you can go to just about any store that sells dvds and buy 10 bootleg dvds for 20 bucks. They have everything: IVL,Mei Ah,Criterion Collection,TOHO-you basically get a DVD-r with a label with Chinese characters on it ,a slim dvd case with a colour photocopied copy of the original.

If you visit TO, you have to check out Bay St Video on Bay St. It has the biggest DVD collection for rent or for sale in Canada. A bit on the pricey side, but you can spend hours in there.