COMPARISON: US vs UK Market Danger Man / Secret Agent DVD Box Sets

COMPARISON:  US vs. UK Market 

Danger Man / Secret Agent DVD Box Sets

If you want a DVD set of Danger Man/Secret Agent, you have two choices.  One is the US-market box set from Timeless Media Group.  The other is the UK (or Region 2) market set from Network, released in 2007.  There are some differences between the two, which I will show you in case you are in the market for either.

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SECRET AGENT aka: DANGER MAN - The Complete Series

Timeless Media/ITV

NTSC - Region 1

UPC:  0-11301-61527-5, 0-11301-61587-9, 0-11301-61657-9

I'll start off with the set I know best, the US one.  This set includes both the first and second versions of the show.  That means the 1960-61 half-hour shows and 1964-67 hour-long shows, for a total of 86 episodes on 17 discs.  All are black and white except for the final two filmed, "Koroshi" and "Shinda Shima", which were aired in 1968.

All of the shows have the UK theme songs, NOT the US-market "Secret Agent Man" beginning.

Overall image quality is good with a few episodes having varying audio levels, and at least one disc that has some seriously annoying distortion to the audio (the final disc).  I don't know if this is a problem with every set or not.

Extras are few, with audio commentary for three episodes, and a super nifty little interview with Catherine McGoohan.  

The set's overall design is nice BUT contain an error... the photo on the back of the box is from the film "Ice Station Zebra" and is reversed!  

If you live in the US and want the whole series on DVD, this is the only way to go.  Worth the money if you can score a set.

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DANGER MAN - Special Edition

Network/Granada/ITC (7952182)

PAL - Region 2

UPC:  5-027626-218249

NOTE:  In order to watch these PAL/Region 2 discs in the US, you either need a region-free DVD player (not quite sure about the TV itself) OR a computer drive set to Region 2.

I purchased this set used from a US seller on Ebay.  Not sure why they had it, but the price was right and I NEEDED the included book!  I was also curious about the audio quality of certain episodes compared to the US set.

Firstly, keep in mind this set ONLY contains the second version of the show, the one-hour 1964-1967 episodes.  

I have only checked out a few episodes from this 13-disc set as of today, but am glad to report the audio issues from the last disc of the US set are not present.  Alas, the somewhat tinny audio of "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" is the same.  Image quality also seems good so far.

This set includes some nice extras, including lots of the behind-the-scenes and promotional photos fans usually have to look at with watermarks all over them.  They are presented as slide shows with incidental music from the show.

There is also the US-market "Secret Agent" theme, script PDFs, trading card gallery, commercial-break bumpers, and more.  

And, of course, the icing on the cake, a book by Andrew Pixley covering each episode. (check my "book" page for more pics)

Packaging is nice, but does take up way more space than the US set does, even without the half-hour episodes included.  Each disc cover sports a nice COLOR photo of Our Man Drake (McGoohan). 

Really, the only reason someone in the USA would want this set is they are a super-Patrick McGoohan fan and wants the extras included here.