The downside to the internet when it comes to video is that once it’s taken down it’s gone. Sometimes the hoster takes it down and sometimes there are right issues. Hosting sites have sprung up or reworked their business model to host programs for copyright holders who want to make some money off of their video, which is more and more becoming profitable online as the companies work out how to advertise (the source of most program and network/video hosting site financing, for those of you who complain about ads) in this new medium.
Joost was one of the first sites to do this, but Hulu is becoming the juggernaut in this department. Currently, many of the videos hosted at Joost have moved to Hulu, the company owned by “NBC Universal, News Corp., The Walt Disney Company, Providence Equity Partners and the Hulu team”, according to the website.
- Joost Announces It is Now the Pre-Roll Advertising Network of Record and Video Advertising Platform for Demand Media (eon.businesswire.com)
Courtesy of WordPress’s new “Zemanta” recommendations widget on our editing interfaces, which is quite a help linking-wise. Anyway, this means that I have to update my videos to their new host, if one exists. Hulu allows embedding through Vodpod, but a couple I could only find through another site, Fancast. Sadly, the method they use to embed sends some red flags with Vodpod, the site I use to embed stuff that otherwise sends red flags to WordPress. That was all probably confusing to some of you.
Sadly, some of the stuff I’ve had up haven’t found new homes, and that means that they are completely gone. So here is an update of all the articles that have new links, in case you came across it sometime in your travels.
- Joost’s “Comic Book Grouping”: gone for good
This was a listing of all the super hero series they had up. The Warner Brothers owned content might be found somewhere on Fancast, but I don’t know where the live-action shows are available otherwise.
- Ultraman: Towards the Future pilot episode: moved to Hulu
A co-production between Tsuburaya and an Australian company, this was my big introduction to the franchise besides the Hanna-Barbera made-for-tv movie.
- The Flash two-hour pilot: available on Fancast
You won’t be able to watch it from the Spotlight anymore, which was difficult anyway since outside of YouTube and the Blip player video embeds don’t seem to go fullscreen from here. Google Video and Vodpod are the big culprits here. Anyway, this was a live-action version of the character, although for some reason they went with the then still dead Barry Allen instead of the then-active Wally West for the Flash, but used one of Wally’s supporting cast members. I’m not sure if this one works outside of the US due to rights issues, so those of you in the UK can consider it payback for most of the Doctor Who site. 😀
- Peanuts Motion Comic: A Fall Rain: available via Fancast
Mostly put up because I was busy that Saturday (been too long to remember what with), it was a quick video to make sure I had an article. Veoh used to carry it as well, but that’s gone now as well.
- That one Bravestarr episode that Hulu won’t carry: can’t find it
Although to be fair, Joost didn’t carry it during their run, either so I plan to do a full article if I can get some screencaps or the DVD. Still, you do get from the article why it was major for the time. The episode had Marshal Bravestarr’s mentor accused of murder, which was odd for an 80’s kid show. Even odder is that not only was he in fact guilty, but you saw the murder take place. Yes, for kids, and I highly support the episode.
This is disappointing. Hulu ripped the series out of Joost’s hands, but only has 13 episodes up. This is supposedly one of the biggest fan-loved episodes, for reasons I make clear in the article (complete with screencaps). It really is one of those-must see episodes, but for now you’ll have to settle for finding the DVDs. Luckily his sister’s Showcased episode was already on Hulu.
- Gojira vs. Godzilla: King of the Monsters: gone, gone, gone
Of everything in this list that is no longer available, these two movies are the most personally disappointing. I even went to Crackle.com, which has many Godzilla movies, but not those two. My disappointment comes not only from the fact that the franchise is my #2 favorite fiction, but that the two-part articles where I compare both the Japanese and Raymond Burr-added US version are some of the best stuff I’ve written for this site. While having the videos there doesn’t take away from the piece, especially if you’ve already seen both versions, it was nice having them there in case someone hadn’t.
- Gatchaman: The Remake: gone
Showing that YouTube can mess with me as well, this remake of the anime that became Battle of the Planets is that rare occasion where doing darker actually worked for me. Although I wasn’t too happy with the mechanical designs. Trailers for a potential new remake are still intact, however.
- Bodyslam: private?
As it was, the studio that used YouTube to host the video didn’t allow for embedding. Now the love letter to pro wrestling featuring Dirk Benedict at odds with the late Captain Lou Albano is “private”. So why host it there if you’re the rights holder, but won’t let anyone watch it? How do you make money that way? It’s not even for rental, not that you can find it with YouTube’s current listings. At least the article ends with a tribute to the wrestler who had just passed away the previous weekend.
- Moral Kombat: still up?
I’m actually posting this one because I thought it was supposed to be taken down by now. Moral Kombat is an unbiased look at the debate of violence in video games from both sides of the issue. It’s recommended to any video game player or critic before getting into the debate.
So those are the links I’ve found, at least in the SNS category. A couple have been changed to “no embed, but visit the site here”, so I didn’t bother with them. If anyone ever finds another broken link, use the comments section or the “contact” page form and please let me know so I can see if I can still get my hands on it.
Personally, I’m actually kind of glad that “Saturday Night Galactica” crashed, because Saturday Night Theater rising from the ashes to evolve into the current Saturday Night Showcase has allowed me to spotlight a lot of pretty cool stuff. Still, going through all the old Battlestar Galactica episodes is something I may try again once I have a DVD to screen cap, perhaps as a new recurring series or posted at That Guy With The Glasses fan-blog area or something. If I though anyone would read it this time. 🙂
BW Media Spotlight 