Here we are again. :-) Hopefully, you all are being entertained and informed by these columns. Well, once again into the fray . . .
 

From: Abdelkareem A. Siddiq
I grew up watching some of these [World Masterpiece Theatre] titles in Arabic. They were thoroughly wonderful stories and I think we should be able to enjoy them.
 

http://web.wt.net/~ettinger/sekai.html
 

I must admit right off the bat that I have never seen any of the WMT series. There does seem to be a general interest in getting these shows available in region 1. There were a few posts a while back (that I can't find now, of course) when these titles were announced as coming out in Japan. And there were some folks that were interested in getting them over here. I also vaguely remember seeing that there was some sort of plan to dub the Anne of Green Gables series into French by the CBC, although this is the only information that I had heard about a series being dubbed (subbed? Somebody correct me on this, please) into a different language.
 

Now, of course, the only information that I can seem to find is related to the Japanese DVDs. I'm not finding any references to these titles coming out in the States. Also, I'm not seeing anything about any U.S. companies picking up the rights to them. This isn't all that surprising at this point, though. Only a very few titles have been released in Japan so far, and the trend has been previously that the titles come out in Japan first. Then there's a substantial lead time before the anime is released on DVD in any other country/language.
 

Here's the listing for all the WMT titles that are going to be released on DVD in Japan :
http://web.wt.net/~ettinger/wmtdvd.html
 

And here is a site that sells the Japanese DVDs:
http://www.amy.hiho.ne.jp/jigs/dvd/dvd.html#index
 

This is about all the information that I could find. If anyone else has any other information, please give me an email, and I'll either post it in an upcoming column, or just forward it on. :-)
 

From Dylan:

I'm a somewhat of an Anime DVD newbie, so please excuse me if you're answered this before. I was wondering whether there are any plans to bring the Robotech series (not Macross) to DVD? Who owns the rights to it in the US?

Chris' response--At this point, Harmony Gold, the owner of the Robotech and Macross license, has no known plans to put Robotech on DVD. Right now they're focusing more on their Robotech 3000 CG style series.

LadyCat here: Now, I had a hell of a time finding any information at all about this series, other than fan pages. In fact the only information I found that was useful in any way was this:

While Harmony Gold is still the sole rights holder of ROBOTECH, rights to all the ROBOTECH material are licensed to producer Carl Macek, now head of Streamline Pictures, a company formed to bring English-dubbed anime to the U.S. Streamline also sells the ROBOTECH II: THE SENTINELS videotape, as well as the 'Perfect Collection' which pairs two ROBOTECH episodes, and their subtitled Japanese originals on each tape. FHE is still selling the original ROBOTECH episodes (now unedited) in a more conventional format. No firm plans have been made to release either ROBOTECH: THE MOVIE or MEGAZONE 23 in any form, though it is reported that Streamline has acquired MEGAZONE 23 in the last year.

I got the info from this address: http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/hellblazer/210/learnaboutrobotech.htm

I'm not quite sure if this means that Harmony Gold has to ask Carl Macek's permission to release anything related to Robotech or not. It sounds pretty convoluted to me. And, as if this wasn't all confusing enough, the Wanderer [who has inside connections to the video world (he works in a video store)] says that he could have sworn that Harmony Gold no longer existed.

Now, it is entirely possible that this is the case. Harmony Gold may have been absorbed by Streamline, which could be why Carl Macek is now with Streamline. That also could be why we haven't heard anything about Robotech being released. In the infinite wisdom of whoever grants the "rights" of shows, it is technically possible for a company to still hold the rights even if that company is defunct. There may also be some sort of clause in the contract that says both Carl Macek and Harmony Gold have to approve any sort of Robotech licensing (including video), before anything can be released. Which, if they can't agree on formatting, schedules and a million other things, could be never.

In short, not that I know of. :-)

From Matthew: Yeah! A David Lynch fan! Think you could pull some strings and get a Twin Peaks on DVD petition? Anyway, speaking of David Lynch, did you see Key the Metal Idol? In one of the earlier episodes they have a scene in a video rental store. Some people are browsing through movies, most of which the titles are in Japanese, but for those that aren't, the English titles include: Fire Walk With Me, Blue Velvet, Dune, and Eraserhead. . . do I see a connection?

I was just wondering if there was a really exciting and intriguing story behind that. . . Thanks for your time!

Well, since I have such an incredible influence over the DVD market and the studios in general, your wish is my command! ;-) Twin Peaks will be coming out from Artisan. No specifics that I know of as yet , eps per disc or all that good stuff. Check out the artisan site here. They're getting their home video library page up and running, and there should be something about Twin Peaks soon.

As to your other question, I don't know of any thrilling behind-the-scenes stories. I haven't seen the show, so I'm making an educated guess here. It was probably nothing more exciting than a tribute by the director to David Lynch. Directors and producers do it all the time: Spielberg did it in E.T (look for the kid dressed as Yoda for Halloween in the trick or treating scene), Lucas did it in Episode I (look for the E.T.s in the Senate scene), Wes Craven did it in Scream, with his own movie (look for Nightmare on Elm Street in the TV in one scene). So it's probably nothing more than the director paying homage to one of his favorite directors. Sorry that I couldn't dig up any more exciting information for you.

From Himura Kenshin:

I noticed that Rurouni Kenshin was nowhere to be found on the Petition list. Seeing the popularity of the show, I would think it might get some votes!

Thank you for your time

Well, the petition page is devoted to shows that have already been licensed in the US. Basically, it's for shows that are already available in other formats, but not on DVD (like Oh! My Goddess, and You're Under Arrest). If there's no petition for it, it's not that there's not enough interest in it, it probably just isn't licensed yet. If and when it's licensed, I'm sure it'll make it to the petition page.

From Audio226:

Just a quick question, is there a reason why Pioneer's DVDs and tapes are always late?

Well, being the hopeless optimist that I am, I like to believe that they are just making sure that the discs are nearly perfect before they're released. But I think that's being a little too hopeful. I think it might have something to do with either reproducing and/or distributing the discs (i.e. things aren't going as planned and they're a little behind), or the other, less altruistic reason: they want to drum up interest. Now, seeing as they are pretty much the only company that is releasing discs on a really regular basis (with a couple of exceptions, of course), I would have to think that it's a production problem. Since there are a limited number of pressing plants that are available to all the companies (anime and non-anime alike) there's probably some backlog due to the slew of DVDs that will invariably be coming out for the holiday season. As cool as they are, Pioneer just has to wait in line like everyone else to have their DVDs pressed.

Also, I think we should also note that Pioneer has only been slipping lately with their releases. And since we all seem to have such high standards for Pioneer, the tiniest slip sends us all into a frenzy. Like I said before, Pioneer is a very cool company, but they are subject to problems, just like all other companies. I'm sure if we just cut them a little slack, we won't be disappointed.

From Fam-Fan:

Hi, LadyCat-chan
Here's one.

Please, let it be number 2.

Well, that's a pretty big if . . . but I would have to say #2, since I am in no way partially rabbit. Neither am I fully a cat. So that leaves #2 by process of elimination. And I want all of you to stay away from them until they're at least 21. ;-) And no, I won't ever dress them in sailor outfits. OK, you guys can stop drooling now . . . Don't make me get out the hentai hammer . . . Is that all you guys ever think about? ;-)

Well, that's it for this time. Jeez. I feel like I'm just of no use this time around, like I just can't seem to answer anyone's questions. I guess I'll just have to pick easier questions next time. ;-) And don't forget to tune in next time when I finally (yes, finally) reveal the secrets of modding your DVD player.

LadyCat =^-^=