Several recent releases of a single TV Season are now coming out as multiple releases, e.g., Sopranos Season 6 Volume 1 and Volume 2; Perry Mason Seasons 1 & 2 both have Volumes 1 and 2.  These "volumes are being released at different times.

Given that no numbering is provided on the box, the menus or the episodes themselves, should the later "volumes" start their episode numbering over at "1" (essentially you would be saying there are two "Episode 1"'s for the same season) or should they pick up and start numbering from the last episode number of the previous volume?

Personally, if it says just "Volume 1", "Volume 2", etc. I say reboot the numbering for each volume.

On the other hand, if it's clearly "Season 1 Volume 1", then "Season 1 Volume 2", then I say go for it and continue the numbering on volume 2 from Volume 1.

That's just my tiny little drop of opinion, in the soon to be tsunami of opinions.

If they're not numbered in the boxset why not simply leave them un-numbered?

Why would you not begin the numbering ar 1 with Season One and just continue through ALL seasons, assuming no built-in numbering. OR as in the case of MTM Productions we could use the Episode number which isincluded at the end of every show.  Here we go getting complex again.

Skip

Just a couple of points here.

The season is broken up into two parts for just one reason.  Money.

The distributor has made an arbitrary decision to market the DVDs in this way to increase their revenue.

The argument could be made, as it has with other areas, that we should not be creating profiles based on "packaging".  A single season is a single season regardless of how it was packaged.

For consistency (something that Skip professes to be concerned about) shouldn't all "seasons" be handled the same.  It could also be argued that a "set" could refer to the entire season, not just to that DVD release.  I know, semantics.

Secondly, this is simply an extension of what is already in the Rules about continuing the episode numbering from one disc to the next in a season release.  It just so happens that the season spans two releases.

That is how I numbered the Lost in Space seasons 2 and 3 before we had any rules in place regarding episode numbering. I can understand Skip's argument about the arbitrary vagueness inherent in doing this, but I think most of the voting members can see if someone is numbering something wrong.

Quoting antolod:

Quote:
That is how I numbered the Lost in Space seasons 2 and 3 before we had any rules in place regarding episode numbering. I can understand Skip's argument about the arbitrary vagueness inherent in doing this, but I think most of the voting members can see if someone is numbering something wrong.

Agreed; it is usually quite simple to find out (or it's made very obvious on the packaging Season 1 Vol 1; Season1 Vol 2 etc.) whether something is arbitrary/random 'best of' episodes (in which case restart at 1 for each set) or part of a defined series (in which case start where the last one left off).

Quoting northbloke:
"If they're not numbered in the boxset why not simply leave them un-numbered?"

The problem here is the requirement to impose an arbitrary numbering system on data that is too "fluid" to handle it. An example: Thunderbirds TV series.

2 Volumes per set, six sets total.
OR
12 volumes in a megaset.

The volumes are all self-contained, with their own UPC codes. If I got Volume 4 freestanding the episodes should be numbered 1-3. If I got Volume 4 in Set 2, the episodes should be numbered 4-6. And if I got Volume 4 in the megaset the episodes should be numbered 10-12. Same disc, same disc ID, same UPC.

If the disc, packaging, or insert numbers the episodes in a specific manner, we should use that numbering (that's now in the rules, thank goodness). Not just because that's in the rules, but because that's what the "average Joe" customer wants to see. Don't forget, those of us that post, debate, and build profiles are the minority of users. Hopefully, there is a larger customer base of folks that just enter the UPC, download the profile, and click 'OK' when updates are offered. If an episode is numbered differently in the profile than on the DVD, because we "know better", then the profile, to them, is wrong. If an episode has a nonsensical number because of arbitrary requirements (like could happen to Thunderbirds), then the profile is wrong.

So, my opinion, I agree with northbloke-don't number them. Hal is right to question what needs to be done, since following the rules will lead to confusion. The

"Otherwise, episodes are to be numbered sequentially in the order that they appear on the DVD(s) in the set, with the number sequence carrying over from disc to disc."

rule needs to be modified or eliminated, or, as Skip said, these types of discussions will continue as packaging changes. (I think this is the only place in the rules that imposes a requirement to add arbitrary data to a profile.)

Chris