What's The Longest Show You'd Collect All Of?

[Si Hunt]

... besides Doctor Who I suppose.

It's easy to collect the entire runs of "Goodnight Sweetheart" or "The Office" for example. But where would you draw the line? Are you collecting "Dallas" or "Casualty" on DVD, hoping one day to get them all? "Prisoner" is coming out at a weighty 693 episodes (43 4-disc volumes) but is this excessive? Is there a longer series you'd have a go at collecting? Do you think one day we'll be able to buy the complete "Eastenders" or "Neighbours"? Would we want to?

What's the longest series you've collected, or are collecting, hoping to get them all?

Si.

[stuartdg]

Normally I collect complete series,Dallas,PCBH,SG-1,Doctor Who.Dont believe theres a point in startin to watch an ongoing series unless u follow it all the way through!

[Si Hunt]

I share that attitude Stu, the problem with it is, lots of series start with dozens of really crap episodes before you get to the good stuff. I'm sure if I had a more relaxed attitude I'd be enjoying the good middle episodes of stuff like "Sorry" and "Brush Strokes", but it's so difficult to get started on them.

Si.

[Captain Tancredi]

Realistically the longest run of anything I'm likely to collect would be the X-Files, which must run to something not far short of 200 episodes. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have the complete run of Buffy already and had DS9 when it first came out, but given that it's taken me nearly a year to do two seasons of Alias, it's not necessarily all it's cracked up to be.

[stuartdg]

The only exceptions to this rule has been for me Wonder Woman,i watched all three seasons but got rid of season 3 as its utter rubbish:and the 90s remake of the Tomorrow People as it bears no similarity to the original-D
I do own all of DS9,B5,Blake's 7,Alias,Buffy,Angel,Roswell and countless others and will continue to collect Smallville,Battlestar Galactica,Lost and Heroes(upon its release)

Basically a show has to be the absolute pits consistantly before I will dump it mid term

[SiHart]

and the 90s remake of the Tomorrow People as it bears no similarity to the original-D

No, it's good

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

Speaking in strictly linear terms, as the chronometer flies, I've been collecting Red Dwarf on DVD since 2002 (got another set coming this autumn). Eight series, 52 episodes. Similarly, I've been following the Steptoe releases for the last couple of years, with even more episodes there. But I've never collected anything as long running as Doctor Who (I can't believe I own every single episode, not to mention tons of extra bits, but you know what, I'm rather proud too). Most series now come in box sets (Goodnight Sweetheart, Captain Scarlet, The Prisoner etc etc), so they're very easy to get. But Doctor Who is a real effort/challenge/journey (all of the above).

The nearest thing, off the top of my head, is Beavis And Butt-Head. 200 episodes, it took me over 8 years to collect every single one in original unedited form.

[Larry]

other than Doctor Who - the Longest show i'd say is probably Stargate SG1 , I have the first 4 seasons that amount to roughly 100 episodes ,

[Ralph]

I never collected before the DVD age but I think this format lends itself to encouraging people to give more stuff a try. My longest is 202 eps of X files which was great fun followed up by 118 eps of The Saint

I wouldn't be interested at all in routine soap operas like East Enders... it's got to be something special

[Phillip Culley]

I think Law & Order would be in the running for ones I'd get - with L&O you've got 17 22ish-episode seasons (as well as the spin-off series as well)....

There's also The Simpsons, but that would depend whether I really want to get the later season sets

[Alex]

I used to have 200+ episodes of The Simpsons on tape, it started when we first got Sky in 91 and I taped them for other people to watch, and then just started making tapes up of them. But then the series went all a bit wrong during S.10 - S.11 (and even a bit before that), so I stopped.

I've got all of South Park (153ish episodes), and all of Buffy, but I can't see me collecting anything that big again, once again due to my fear of it only being a matter of time before dvd is superseded by something better.

[Larry]

I never collected before the DVD age but I think this format lends itself to encoraging people to give more stuff a try. My longest is 202 eps of X files which was great fun followed up by 118 eps of The Saint

never realised the X-Files had made over 200 episodes.

[Jonno]

I've got all of Buffy on VHS boxsets - that's 150-odd episodes. A bit frustrating now as I'd much rather have them on DVD, but there you go. Maybe one day, but it's not a priority.

On DVD, I have complete collections of Steptoe and Son (57 eps) and Dad's Army (80 eps) though both I believe are due a Christmas Specials release each to make them up to those totals. It's been easy and enjoyable to buy series boxsets at the rate of one every 2-3 months or so, especially as they fit nicely through the letterbox!

Next on my list is Grange Hill, the first four seasons of which are due in November. If they continue, I'd look to get the first ten-eleven seasons, i.e. up to the end of the 80s and the end of the Mr Bronson era, after which I wouldn't be interested and I stopped watching back in the day too.

Oh yeah, I also enjoyed collecting the 70s Tomorrow People (8 seasons @ 68 eps) and have the first five seasons of 24, being 120 eps with more to follow!

[MacNimon]

I never collected before the DVD age but I think this format lends itself to encouraging people to give more stuff a try. My longest is 202 eps of X files which was great fun followed up by 118 eps of The Saint

Return Of The Saint would take that count up to 144 episodes, but I suppose you've really got to count that as a seperate series.

My biggest collection at the moment is 5 seasons of Babylon 5, coming in at 110 episodes (I think!) plus tv movies. Most likely (once it's finally released!) I expect my biggest collection of tv episodes on dvd to be The Avengers. It's just as well I'm not holding my breath waiting for them, though!

[Paul Clement]

V would be the longest series I've collected. I'd probably get the Star Trek DVD's if they got cheaper though and across the franchises, that's a lot of DVD's to get.

[Jason Thompson]

So far between us Emma and I have the entire Dad's Army, Porridge, Red Dwarf, Buffy, M*A*S*H, Original Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Blake's 7, Transformers and Doctor Who. I'd like to get the rest of the Star Trek DVDs and Friends at some point, but there's no hurry.

[cullsoft]

Main, if only, reason I haven't bothered with getting the Star Trek TNG or DS9 box sets is the amount it'd cost to get all 7 seasons of a series (though having noticed them redone at 35-40 a pop, I'm tempted to go for it) - I was going to get the TOS ones, but never saw them at a reasonable price.

If they did, for some bally reason, release every episode of Knightmare on DVD, I'd almost certainly get that - 8 autumn school terms worth of dungeoneering goodness!

[Philipnet]

The longest one I'd go for is Frasier weighing in a 11 seasons and 264 episodes.

It's the perfect thing for me when I'm off sick from work - it's a decent comedy that always brightens my mood!

[Wayne]

Apart from the complete collective of Dr.Who & Star Trek Series, i think the longest i've got is set to be 'Prisoner: Cell Block H' by the time they're all out!
Runners up would be X-Files, Buffy, & 24.

[stuartdg]

In terms of episode numbers i expect Crossroads will be the longest with some 1700episodes due for release

[Rob McCow]

The longest show that Si Hart would collect all of is Crossroads.

[Jonno]

Since my post last summer, my 24 collection is now up to 144 episodes, so only a handful of episodes behind Buffy now! No 7th season this year due to the writers' strike, so the collection stays on hold for now.

I've started collecting ST:TNG since my previous post too, as the slimpack season sets have been around the £15 mark. Got 4 out of the 7 seasons so far, so that will end up in excess of 150 episodes.

It looks unlikely that there'll be any further Grange Hill releases due to poor sales of the first releases late last year.

[WhiteCrow]

Star Cops at 9 episodes ...

The basic thing is any series of any length has some awful episodes. If you are seriously putting your hand in your pocket to buy an individual DVD of an episode you despise just for completeness, you have some issues.

If you just so happen to buy a season boxset with includes that individual episode, then that's a different matter.

[Paul Clement]

I've finally started getting the Star Trek: Next Generation boxsets as they're just under £16 at Amazon at the moment. I bought the first two seasons, but I'm not sure how much I will end up collecting, most probably STNG, DS9 and Voyager only. The original series doesn't really interest me, and Enterprise was pretty awful. I'm also part way through collecting Highlander The Series, having the first three seasons on DVD. The fact it's not been released in Britain on DVD does make it a bit more expensive though.

[Lord President]

I have every episode of DW & Star Trek, I also have the complete X-Files, Buffy, Angel & The West Wing, although my prized posession is probably the 17 episodes of The Prisoner boxset.