quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

Nearly every signer lays down a signature that can be read letter for letter. I don't know if its because most of the people are older and take pride in their autograph,

I think you may be onto something there.

It's a generational thing. When my grandfather passed away a few years ago, I was in charge of disposing of all his business documents he had stored for 40 years. Every signature was like art. It was amazing to look at how people used to care about their signature.

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:
It's a generational thing. When my grandfather passed away a few years ago, I was in charge of disposing of all his business documents he had stored for 40 years. Every signature was like art. It was amazing to look at how people used to care about their signature.

I agree with you. Do they even stress penmanship in schools any more? Take a look at Mickey Mantle's signature or Ted Williams', heroes of my era. In a dealer's case last week I saw a card signed as "D. C. C." or something like that, just three printed, uppercase letters.

That "DCC" autograph is from David Conrad of "Ghost Whisperer", and you are very right, there's not much to it. I was glad to sell mine.

"The decline of cursive is happening as students are doing more and more work on computers, including writing. In 2011, the writing test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress will require 8th and 11th graders to compose on computers, with 4th graders following in 2019."

Source: See below.

HERE is more of an interesting article about the decline of cursive writing.

Would it be possible to upload a scan of a base card? Just curious what they look like.

Thanks!

Here you go:

Thanks Miss Lizzy!

Is each scan of the same card (ie, front, then back)?

They are kinda neat. I'm sure to get at least a base set - it's the box buying I'm still debating!

Thanks again!

quote:

Originally posted by anthonyd:
Thanks Miss Lizzy!

Is each scan of the same card (ie, front, then back)?


Thanks again!

You're very welcome.

No, they are just random, I picked a handful of cards then alternated fronts and backs.

I like the base cards, but I would have wished for more text on each episode.

In a perfect world every card would have been devoted to just one episode and than you could have gotten a larger picture and more storyline, including the twist endings. Of course that would have doubled the size of the set and you couldn't get a guaranteed complete base set in every box.

That is the trade off that we make when we, as collectors, demand a set fit in every box, plus premium inserts. We get smaller sets and sometimes lose a lot in the process. This 50th Anniversary release is quite nice as it is, but I think it would have been really great if more room was there. I personally would not have minded buying two boxes to finish the set.

And there must still be likeness issues such as the ones that prevented the first four card sets from covering some of the most famous episodes (probably because photos of certain actors were off limits).

With this "complete" episodes set, at least some of the cards absolutely would have been improved had Rittenhouse no restrictions as to which images could be used to accompany the episode descriptions. For instance, Robert Redford and Charles Bronson certainly could have appeared on the base cards for the epsiodes in which they starred.

Luckily, I have no such restrictions and lots of Twilight Zone pictures to use, so I can make a custom set with cards with with photos I find more pleasing and have already begun. I expect to "fix" about half of the cards.

Very true, some of the cards didn't show a very good still from the episode represented. Photos of Bronson and Redford would have been great, but I'm sure RA did the best it could with the selection available to them.

I wonder if they needed to do this set over two releases? 50th Anniv Series 1 and then a Series 2?

I wonder if this release wraps up TZ for RA?

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I like the base cards, but I would have wished for more text on each episode.

In a perfect world every card would have been devoted to just one episode and than you could have gotten a larger picture and more storyline, including the twist endings. Of course that would have doubled the size of the set and you couldn't get a guaranteed complete base set in every box.

That is the trade off that we make when we, as collectors, demand a set fit in every box, plus premium inserts. We get smaller sets and sometimes lose a lot in the process. This 50th Anniversary release is quite nice as it is, but I think it would have been really great if more room was there. I personally would not have minded buying two boxes to finish the set.

I know when RA did the Complete James Bond set with the large base set and no guarantee of a set in a box, that there were complaints.

You 'should' be able to complete a set in 2 boxes but with Complete Bond it took me 4 boxes before I had a complete base set. The law of averages took hold after that and everything turned out about as planned. But I would have been one unhappy collector to have opened those first 3 boxes as my only boxes and still not have a base set to show from it.

2 sets might have made more sense, but I'm not sure that RA could have had enough autos for 2 full print runs and fewer boxes in a print run cannot be cost-effective.

And Steve C has posted on their forum that he's not necessarily done with TZ, but would need to find some of the "lost actors" to make it work.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:
I know when RA did the Complete James Bond set with the large base set and no guarantee of a set in a box, that there were complaints.

You 'should' be able to complete a set in 2 boxes but with Complete Bond it took me 4 boxes before I had a complete base set.

2 sets might have made more sense, but I'm not sure that RA could have had enough autos for 2 full print runs and fewer boxes in a print run cannot be cost-effective.

Ed

Well another way to handle a larger set and still make sure that 2 boxes could guarantee a complete base set might be to produce an A and B box or just use the even/odd numbers. For Supernatural Christmas the A/B packs made it possible to get both piecework cards without running the risk of duplication. If card manufacturers can make the correlation work in a single box could it not also be made to work for a combined two?

All inserts and any base card doubles could be random, so that neither box would be considered better than the other. The box would have to be labeled or numbered on the outside, not under the flap, so collectors would know which half they were buying. Just a thought.

While it could be done, alternating boxes would be a nightmare for dealers and I'm guessing for the manufacturing process as well.

Another option would to just do a double sized box. You're expecting people to buy 2 boxes for a set, why not 48 packs in a box? The big hurdle here would be getting people to pop for a $120ish box of cards. But if that's what you expect them to purchase, why not be up front about it.

Ed

Or just return to the good old days when people were not guaranteed a complete base set in every box because the total number wouldn't fit and collectors compiled and filled a want list of cards needed to complete a set.

The typical non-sport TV/movie card set now seems to be between 79 and 90 cards, with the average about 81. That is too small to do anything justice, so we get partial storylines, smaller pictures, abbreviated text or all of the above. I guess it leaves a lot available for the next release on the same subject, done in some slightly altered format to make it seem different.

My only point here is that this particular set is good enough and has enough material to have been twice the size with a base card for each episode. I may be wrong, but I believe people who appreciate the Twilight Zone releases probably bought more than a single box anyway, if only for a chance at the autographs. I myself have bought three and may do another.

So while I understand the reasons why it was done as double sided cards and I am not being critical at all, perhaps this is a case where an expanded base set would have gone over well with collectors.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

Not to raise a subject from the dead, but I was thinking the other day that perhaps they could have done a 50th Anniversary set for each year like they did ST:TOS. So over the next 5 years we'd have TZ anniversary sets.

I don't imagine that TZ could support it like Trek can though.

Just a thought!