Kermits Swamp Years Official DVD Specs, Special Features & Extras

[Phillip]

Kermit's Swamp Years Official DVD Specs

Just got this from Columbia... the official rundown of everything on the Swamp Years DVD.

Every Star Has A First Adventure!

COLUMBIA TRISTAR HOME ENTERTAINMENT
AND JIM HENSON HOME ENTERTAINMENT
GET GREEN WITH THE VIDEO PREMIERE RELEASE OF

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KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS
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Delightful Family Musical Adventure
Tells The Never-Before-Told Story Of Everyone's Favorite Frog

Available To Own For The First Time
On Video and DVD Sept. 3

CULVER CITY, Calif. (July 8, 2002) - Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Jim Henson Home Entertainment will release the first-ever live-action Muppets direct-to-video feature KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS on Sept. 3. Featuring Kermit the Frog, along with new lovable Muppets, in a comedy-adventure film for the whole family highlighted by two new original songs, KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS will be priced to own at the suggested retail price of $19.95 for VHS and $27.96 for DVD.

With a banjo and a song in his heart, Kermit left for Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a star. In 1976, Kermit and the rest of the Muppets gang hit prime-time television with "The Muppet Show" and catapulted into superstardom in more than 100 countries. Since then, Kermit has made numerous television appearances, feature films, records and even met the Queen of England at her recent Golden Jubilee celebration.

Until now, very little has been known about Kermit the Frog's early childhood - how did the tadpole become the frog and renowned celebrity he is today? KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS describes his life before Hollywood and explores the untold story about Kermit's coming-of-age days in a southern swamp when he was a young frog with big dreams in his heart - dreams that eventually led him to become the world's most famous frog!

The DVD release of KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS will feature the following kid-friendly added-value elements:

* Audio commentary with Kermit the Frog and Horace D'Fly
* Bloopers / Outtakes
* Behind-the-Scenes of KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS hosted by Joe the Armadillo
* "On The Set with Kermit" featurette
* KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS trailer
* Bonus Trailers
* Digitally Mastered Audio and Anamorphic Video
* Widescreen & Full-screen presentations
* Scene selections

SYNOPSIS

KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS is the never-before-told story of how the world's most famous frog left the swamp for the very first time and began an adventure that would change his life - and ours - forever! Meet Young Kermit, a curious, fun-loving frog who likes hanging out with his amphibious best friends, Goggles and Croaker. Young Kermit loves the swamp, but wonders what lies beyond the tall marsh grass. When Goggles gets nabbed by a pet store owner, Kermit and Croaker must leap into action, leaving the swamp and racing to the rescue of their friend. With help from a world-wise dog named Pilgrim, Kermit and his friends discover that the outside world is bigger, stranger, more exciting and more wonderful than they ever imagined.

KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS features an acclaimed lineup of Muppet Performers: two-time Emmy nominee Steve Whitmire brings Kermit the Frog to life and also performs Jack Rabbit and Chico; Bill Barretta performs Croaker, Horace D'Fly and Roy; John Kennedy performs Blotch and Arnie; Daytime Emmy winner Joseph Mazzarino plays Goggles, and shares the screenplay credit with Jim Lewis and even Emmy winners Dave Goelz and Jerry Nelson provide a cameo appearance of a younger - and yet ever irreverent - Statler & Waldorf. Jim Lewis also wrote the story and is credited with Michael R. Polis as executive producers. The film is directed by Emmy winner David Gumpel, with Ritamarie Peruggi acting as producer.

KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS was filmed on location fall 2001 at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida.

KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS
Rated G
Color
Closed-Captioned
82 minutes
SLP: $19.95
VHS Slipsleeve #08627 / UPC #0-43396-08627-2

KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS DVD SPECS
DVD Format: Full Screen and Widescreen
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.0 and 2-Channel Dolby Surround
Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Subtitles: English, Chinese, Thai, Korean
SLP: $27.96
DVD #08492 / UPC #0-43396-08492-6

 

[frogboy4]

Kermit's Swamp Years Specs:

KSY will be a straight-to-video release that will have a widescreen option as listed at Amazon and The Cinema Laser. Is this true. One thing's for sure - this may be the best extras release even if the film isn't great. September can not come soon enough!

*Audio commentary with Kermit the Frog and Horace D'Fly
*Bloopers / Outtakes
*Behind-the-Scenes of KERMIT’S SWAMP YEARS hosted by Joe the Armadillo
*"On The Set with Kermit" featurette
*KERMIT’S SWAMP YEARS trailer
*Bonus Trailers
*Digitally Mastered Audio and Anamorphic Video
*Widescreen & Full-screen presentations
*Scene selections
*Rated G
*Closed-Captioned
*82 minutes
*DVD Format: Full Screen and Widescreen
*Sound: Dolby Digital 5.0 and 2-Channel Dolby Surround
*Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
*Subtitles: English, Chinese, Thai, Korean
*SLP: $27.96

 

[Luke]

Yes, over here at least it's definitely anamorphic widescreen !

 

[frogboy4]

what do you mean? Has it been released yet or are you going off some UK specs? Very weird. MTI was cropped to come to DVD and KSY was coverted to widescreed going directly to video. Not that i'm complaining. It just is a strange world if home entertainment!

 

[Luke]

I'm going off the official UK DVD specs from Columbia Tristar - its not released here till Sept 2nd. Apparently it is Anamorphic Widescreen in the UK. I know it's weird what with the whole MTI thing but i guess thats the corporate difference between CTHE and Disney for ya.

 

[matleo]

My brother-in-law explained this to me (sort of). Whenever a DVD is only in full screen (like MTI) it means it wasn't taken from the orginal film it was made from the video. Whereas KSY was filmed for widescreen, made into a video and they were able to take the DVD from both. SO MTI wasn't "cropped for DVD". it was cropped for video and the DVD was made from it. I don't know why Disney didn't take it from the original, but that's what happened. I hope that kind of fills in a piece of the puzzle.

--Matt

 

[MuppetQuilter]

Most things that are filmed for television are not done in widescreen. Since most of us do not have HDTV, people generally work with the screen size for which the film is intended. Which is why it is surprising that KSY is in widescreen.

I'm thrilled, but surprised.

It is true that theatrical releases should be in widescreen to maintain the integrity of the film and when they are not it is the pan and scan video nonsense we just got on MTI. But since KSY was not intended as a theatrical release, I think a lot of us assumed there would be no widescreen version.

The extras on this do seem pretty incredible! Can't wait!

 

[frogboy4]

matleo

It has been reported by Buena Vista Home Video that they do have a version of MTI that is anamorphic widescreen but chose not to use it. This was a discussion a while back. Very weird, but they saw fit to release only the cropped version as they didn't see any market fot the DVD other than children and adults that don't know the difference. Eeeeek!

 

[beaker]

>>>It has been reported by Buena Vista Home Video that they do have a version of MTI that is anamorphic widescreen but chose not to use it.<<<<

Its sad to think they opted not for even a widescreen option, just because theres some average joe and jane popcorn that dont like letterboxes. boo hoo.

These are the same rural folk who were the decision for miramax tp release crouching tiger on english dubbed format only into major retailer chains. just sad.

Ok, frogboy, Warrick, luke, anyone else...
because its rated, has a 82 min running time, and is called a 'feature'...

Is KSW considered a Muppet "MOVIE"?
Will a very Muppet Xmas be considered a movie too?

 

[frogboy4]

I vote no...it's a Muppet Special/Video.