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I'm printing a portion of THE RAVEN, Peter Beagle's occasional newsletter, to let those so inclined help out a favorite writer who has gotten himself into financial purgatory. Note that "the film's character design and animation were done by the Japanese artists who went on to become the core of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away)"
HUGE NEWS!
RADICALLY IMPROVED 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION DVD OF THE LAST UNICORN -- BUY IT FROM CONLAN PRESS TO HELP PETER! (release date February 6th)
Back in April 2004, THE LAST UNICORN was finally released on DVD in America for the first time...and it was terrible. The picture and sound were awful, the image was fullscreen instead of widescreen, there were no extras, and the cover art made the unicorn look like a mutant escapee from MY LITTLE PONY. Hard to imagine it being any worse.
Despite all that (and despite zero advertising and promotion), it went on to sell more than 530,000 copies. Wow!
But it was really, *really* bad...
Well, that's not a problem any more. Thanks to a lot of hard work by Peter and Connor, and a great crew at Lionsgate Entertainment, on February 6th there will be a brand-new 25th Anniversary DVD edition of THE LAST UNICORN...and this time it is *gorgeous*: digitally remastered video, digitally remastered sound (with available 5.1 audio track), widescreen picture, extras that include a featurette with a video interview of Peter, greatly improved packaging in a shiny printed-foil slipcase (click the cover image to see a bigger version of the artwork)...a terrific improvement in every way.
Here's the official press release with all the details (pdf format):
http://www.conlanpress.com/images/raven/TheLastUnicorn_DVDPressRelease.pdf.
BUT PLEASE NOTE: Granada Media (the English company that owns THE LAST
UNICORN) is still not paying Peter anything from this film. Not a cent. And he won't get anything from the new DVD, either, except for copies purchased through Conlan Press.
A hearty thank you to the folks at Lionsgate, who are as upset over Peter's situation as we are. To help him out they set up Conlan Press as a special sales outlet. If you buy the new DVD from anywhere else, Peter gets nothing. But if you buy it from Conlan Press, *more than half the money goes straight to Peter and his projects*...one of which is the legal fight to force Granada Media to pay the nearly half million dollars in royalties that they owe him. (And isn't that wonderfully appropriate.)
So here are some important requests, as plain as we can make them.
1) If you want to get the new DVD, buy it through Conlan Press. Two versions are available: an unautographed copy for $14.98 (same as Amazon!), and a personally autographed copy (signed in three places) for $24.98.
2) Buy it soon, please, because Peter definitely needs the help right now.
3) Spread the word! If you know anyone who loves the movie -- or who you think might love it, now that there's finally a good version they can see -- make sure they know that only Conlan Press purchases will help Peter.
There are slightly more than 5,700 people getting this newsletter. Some of you have bought the DVD already, for which Peter sends his personal thanks. If all the rest of you reading this were to click on the link below and buy the new DVD, then Peter's very serious personal and family financial problems would vanish overnight. Every one of them. So please give it some thought. Through this simple action you could get something to treasure *and* completely change Peter's life, ending his troubles and making it possible for him to focus completely on just writing more wonderful books and stories for the world to enjoy.
HUGE NEWS!
RADICALLY IMPROVED 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION DVD OF THE LAST UNICORN -- BUY IT FROM CONLAN PRESS TO HELP PETER! (release date February 6th)
Back in April 2004, THE LAST UNICORN was finally released on DVD in America for the first time...and it was terrible. The picture and sound were awful, the image was fullscreen instead of widescreen, there were no extras, and the cover art made the unicorn look like a mutant escapee from MY LITTLE PONY. Hard to imagine it being any worse.
Despite all that (and despite zero advertising and promotion), it went on to sell more than 530,000 copies. Wow!
But it was really, *really* bad...
Well, that's not a problem any more. Thanks to a lot of hard work by Peter and Connor, and a great crew at Lionsgate Entertainment, on February 6th there will be a brand-new 25th Anniversary DVD edition of THE LAST UNICORN...and this time it is *gorgeous*: digitally remastered video, digitally remastered sound (with available 5.1 audio track), widescreen picture, extras that include a featurette with a video interview of Peter, greatly improved packaging in a shiny printed-foil slipcase (click the cover image to see a bigger version of the artwork)...a terrific improvement in every way.
Here's the official press release with all the details (pdf format):
http://www.conlanpress.com/images/raven/TheLastUnicorn_DVDPressRelease.pdf.
BUT PLEASE NOTE: Granada Media (the English company that owns THE LAST
UNICORN) is still not paying Peter anything from this film. Not a cent. And he won't get anything from the new DVD, either, except for copies purchased through Conlan Press.
A hearty thank you to the folks at Lionsgate, who are as upset over Peter's situation as we are. To help him out they set up Conlan Press as a special sales outlet. If you buy the new DVD from anywhere else, Peter gets nothing. But if you buy it from Conlan Press, *more than half the money goes straight to Peter and his projects*...one of which is the legal fight to force Granada Media to pay the nearly half million dollars in royalties that they owe him. (And isn't that wonderfully appropriate.)
So here are some important requests, as plain as we can make them.
1) If you want to get the new DVD, buy it through Conlan Press. Two versions are available: an unautographed copy for $14.98 (same as Amazon!), and a personally autographed copy (signed in three places) for $24.98.
2) Buy it soon, please, because Peter definitely needs the help right now.
3) Spread the word! If you know anyone who loves the movie -- or who you think might love it, now that there's finally a good version they can see -- make sure they know that only Conlan Press purchases will help Peter.
There are slightly more than 5,700 people getting this newsletter. Some of you have bought the DVD already, for which Peter sends his personal thanks. If all the rest of you reading this were to click on the link below and buy the new DVD, then Peter's very serious personal and family financial problems would vanish overnight. Every one of them. So please give it some thought. Through this simple action you could get something to treasure *and* completely change Peter's life, ending his troubles and making it possible for him to focus completely on just writing more wonderful books and stories for the world to enjoy.
