8mm Forum: Plan 9 From Outer Space ! Outa this world price!

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Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 01, 2016, 10:34 AM:

Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Ebay UK - Super 8 - 200' black and white sound £159.99 or make an offer.

I did. £5.

Not sure which one of us is extracting the most urine!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on June 01, 2016, 10:37 AM:

It probably didn't cost £159.99 to make Plan 9 From Outer Space in the first place!

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 01, 2016, 10:41 AM:

Steve - You are right! No VAT in those days !! (ha ha!!)

(VAT = English tax.Currently 20%)

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on June 01, 2016, 10:44 AM:

Great comment from Steve!

I bought one new in the early 1980s and I don't think it cost me a great deal more than £5! It might be good if some other members make offers in the region of £8 to £12, which might help the seller to understand what a more sensible price would be.

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 01, 2016, 10:56 AM:

I must admit, Adrian, it was influenced by another recent thread on this forum about some of the stupid prices people not in the know are asking for these apparent pieces of platinum.
That is a very good suggestion of yours. A co-ordinated retaliation by "us lot in the know" to show these people how outlandish they have been. I wished I had offered £1. On the other hand..... maybe a gentle "contact buyer" message might do the trick?

Posted by George Seaton (Member # 5402) on June 01, 2016, 11:22 AM:

Makes the 200' colour/sound 'Star Wars' also on eBay UK at £200.00 at the moment sound like a bargain! No offers on this one though, bids only.

I wonder if Bela Lugosi even features in the 200' version of 'Plan 9'?

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 01, 2016, 11:29 AM:

The film's selling point is the fact it contains Bela Lugosi's final screen appearance...... so grab a bargain (!) while you can.

My offer of £5, for some unexplained reason, has just been rejected! The cheek of it!

Posted by George Seaton (Member # 5402) on June 01, 2016, 11:46 AM:

To put it into context I have the 4x400' Mountain version of 'Plan 9' which I bought in '88 (I think) for £15.00 which must be around £35/40 in today's money.

If the price of £159.99 for the 200' version is an accurate reflection of it's value I have a £1279.92 asset on my hands!

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 01, 2016, 11:57 AM:

Just like the clown who has listed 400ft version of superman and Alien with start prices of £100 [Big Grin]

Morons!

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 01, 2016, 11:58 AM:

Probably about £8 to £10 when new.
http://www.ebay.co.u k/itm/COLLECTABLE-SUPER-8-B-W-SOUND-PLAN-9-FROM-OUTER-SPACE-BELA-LUGOSI-1959-RARE-/142011273287?hash=item2110881047:g:fSoAAOSwrhlXTurJ

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 01, 2016, 12:06 PM:

Now, unless there was another print of it that was much better, I believe that this was released by Niles and in they're history of "hit or Miss" prints, this was definitely a MISS, as, it has nearly no grey tones whatsoever and was extremely dupey ...

... but I guess, in a way, that would be appropriate for this particular film, so bad that it's so good! [Smile]

(Please note, the above statement is about the feature on super 8, not this 200ft digest)

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 01, 2016, 12:53 PM:

Osi - This 200' version is from Heritage Films.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on June 01, 2016, 03:24 PM:

The same seller has the 2 Walton 200ft extracts from Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD (colour sound not scope) for £69.99 the pair.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1977-WALTON-2- PART-SUPER-8-FILM-DALEKS-INVASION-EARTH-PETER-CUSHING-DR-WHO-/142011594145?hash=item21108cf5a1

The only two films in the sellers 7 page ebay "shop"

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 03, 2016, 11:50 AM:

STOP PRESS+++STOP PRESS+++ STOP PRESS+++ STOP PRESS+++STOP PRESS++

YOU can now save a MASSIVE £100 on the 200' black and white sound film currently available on Ebay of Plan 9 From Outer Space with the price slashed to just a mere £59.99 so get your copy NOW !

(at least it makes my £5 offer look a little less of a urine extractor)(!!!)

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 03, 2016, 11:55 AM:

hee hee, we're just having too much fun!!
[Smile]

Posted by Tim Hartnell (Member # 4274) on June 07, 2016, 08:06 PM:

Theres a Plan 9 From Outer Space feature now on ebay.Starting price of a mere £553.08 or $800.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=231972300417&alt=web

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on June 07, 2016, 09:31 PM:

I have a great affection for this film and I paid about £100 for my 4X400ft Mountain print on ebay, but I really wanted it and there was a lot of bidding as it is quite a rare title.

Posted by Dave Groves (Member # 4685) on June 08, 2016, 07:29 AM:

Now what have I got that I can ask silly money for. What about 'Old Mother Riley Headmistress' with genuine scratches and original pulled perfs....going at £800. 'I don't have a projecor right now so can't check it but my dad said it was O.K. in 1948'. It smells of wax polish and has a proper film label on the box that say's 'Bijou Kinema, London'. Genuine offers only. No time wasters. Definitely no returns.

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on June 08, 2016, 02:03 PM:

Dave.... your sarcasm exceeds even mine! Love it!

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on June 10, 2016, 05:27 PM:

I sometimes browse our local charity shops in the faint hope of finding cine stuff. In contrast to the crazy prices being asked for cine films, feature films on VHS can be had for 20p (about 29 cents). Perhaps I should be snapping them up so that I can try flogging them for £100 in 2036!

Posted by Tom Spielman (Member # 5352) on June 10, 2016, 05:45 PM:

Regarding VHS, I've wondered if at some point down the road it will become as warmly regarded by some in the same we film is appreciated here. We had lots of VHS tapes my son used to watch over and over when he was little. My daughter is 4 years younger and we had mostly transitioned to DVD by then.

One thing that became apparent pretty quickly is that she could render a DVD unplayable in a short period of time just due to the scratches that they endured. We had to throw a number of them away. Yet, the VHS tapes that my son watched at the same age are still playable.

There are a few popular mobile apps that will give a VHS look to digital videos (including the blocky timestamps).

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on June 10, 2016, 06:23 PM:

There's absolutely no longevity to VHS tape plus the resolution is dire.

I cannot imagine one single reason why anyone would wish to revisit the days of compromise ever again.

Cost over quality in other words. It was merely an era when for the very first time it allowed a movie to be owned by the masses but was a huge downwards step to the quality of film.

So far it is extremely doubtful that any present day storage medium can last as long as celluloid does and still be of any serviceable use.

Hard drives probably come the closest especially as regular transfer is relatively cheap and quick nowadays.

Anything on a shiny standalone disc, forget it.

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on June 10, 2016, 06:37 PM:

I was thinking the same. I have loads of VHS tapes and DVDs but watching them can't compare to the magic of projecting a cine film onto a screen in a darkened room!

Posted by Tom Spielman (Member # 5352) on June 10, 2016, 10:26 PM:

Whether it's film or tape, they'll last several decades if stored under the right conditions. I do agree that film would last longer. I just popped in an old VHS tape from 1992 and it plays perfectly. That's almost 25 years and I haven't done anything special to preserve it. In our old house the basement is always fairly cool, so that helps. I think there is some fear mongering amongst scanning services. Most of them would like you to believe that your films and tapes are months away from being gone forever.

Anyway, VHS is definitely a small screen format which was part of its appeal at the time. It made presentation very convenient and the resolution was adequate for the TVs of the day. And it has its fans and collectors: Is VHS making a comeback?

At this point in my life I don't feel any particular nostalgia for it, but I do remember my college roommates and I scraping some money together so we could order a pizza and rent a movie PLUS the player from the corner video store. Years later I spent many a Friday evening with my young family perusing the new releases at a local Block Buster video. We were happy to transition from VHS to DVD but we've kind of skipped Blu-Ray and mostly stream now. I guess maybe I do feel at least a little nostalgia [Smile]

I'd be wary of using hard drives for archival purposes. Some of the problems:

1. Magnetic thermal decay of recorded bits and control signals
2. Media corrosion
3. Media lubricant evaporation
4. Fluid dynamic bearing oil evaporation
5. Electronics corrosion and degradation

One organization decided to randomly test a few hard drives that they had sitting round for 10 years or more and about 1/4 wouldn't function at all. Another worked for less than hour. The rest were OK, but take into consideration that older drives were simpler mechanisms that were more reliable than what is being produced today.

While people have been actively converting film to different formats for quite some time in order to preserve it, the film may outlast whatever media they're converting to. Archiving is a tough problem.

[ June 11, 2016, 03:50 AM: Message edited by: Tom Spielman ]

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