Holmes/UFO/Thunderbirds on Japanese BD

Recently in Japan, some notable blu-ray releases of British TV shows were announced.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett)

Release date: Dec. 04, 2012
Publisher: Happinet Pictures

Region code: ALL
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono / Japanese LPCM 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: Japanese / Japanese for dubbs / English
Video: 4:3
Discs 12
Running time: 2392 mins

Contents: all 41 episodes of the series.

Extras (all in SD):

• Some multi-part featurette entitled "How to enjoy Sherlock Holmes" (this may be in Japanese audio only) which has:
  
  • Holmes' art of detection
  • Baker Street 221B
  • Illsutrations of Holmes
  • Holmes and Jeremy Brett
  • Holmes and pipes

Also includes a booklet.

Personal comment
I'm slightly skeptical about this release, because previous DVDs of the show from Happinet had poor video quality. I hope they'd acquired HD remasters from UK this time around.

UFO

Release date: Dec. 05, 2012
Publisher: Geneon Universal Entertainment

Region code: ALL (Amazon claims A, but Geneon confirmed ALL)
Audio: Japanese dts SR Mono / English dts-HD MA 5.1 / English dts SR Mono
Subtitles: Japanese / Japanese for dubbs
Video: 4:3
Discs 7
Running time: 1300 mins

Contents: all 26 episodes of the series.

Extras (130 mins):

• Video interviews with Japanese voice cast (15 mins +)
• Original version of the opening Ep.1 （5mins）
• 2 deleted scenes from Ep.2 (Foster and Koffax [3 mins], Foster and Dr. Jackson [9 mins])
• SID sings （3 mins）
• Studio recordings from Ep.6 (Foster [2 mins), Straker [2 mins])
• Textless ending (1 min)
• SHADO Secret File (24 mins)
• Retrospective documentary "The UFO Documentary" (55 mns)
• Textless ending of Ep.14
• Effects test for Ep..24
• Unused sound effects for Ep.26

Booklet (40 pages):

• Introduction
• Cast bios
• Mechanics guide
• Episode guide

Note:

• Restored from the original 35mm negatives, telecine was done by Technicolor Creative Services (USA)
• DNR'ed with Teranex
• Scratches and dirts were repaired with HD Edifis

Here's a promo video on YouTube:

[ADDED Oct.6: One thing should be noted for foreign UFO fans.
It's very likely the Japanese BD will have the episodes in irder of the Japanese TV broadcast, as in the previous Japanese DVDs.
The Japanese order is significantly different from the original UK broadcast order (see Fanderson page).

Here's the Japanese broadcast order, preceded with the original ep.# in []:

1. [01] Identified
2. [05] Exposed
3. [04] Survival
4. [06] Conflict
5. [13] Close Up
6. [16] Kill Straker!
7. [17] Sub-Smash
8. [19] The Cat With Ten Lives
9. [18] The Sound Of Silence
10. [09] Ordeal
11. [15] E.S.P.
12. [02] Computer Affair
13. [03] Flight Path
14. [11] The Square Triangle
15. [21] The Man Who Came Back
16. [22] The Psychobombs
17. [20] Destruction
18. [10] The Responsibility Seat
19. [23] Reflections In The Water
20. [25] Mindbender
21. [07] The Dalotek Affair
22. [14] Confetti Check A-O.K.
23. [12] Court Martial
24. [24] Timelash
25. [08] A Question Of Priorities
26. [26] The Long Sleep

]

Thunderbirds

       

Release date: Feb. 06, 27, 2013 [date changed on Feb. 2, 2013]
Publisher: Geneon Universal Entertainment  (not much information as of this writing)  
Region code: A    
Audio: Japanese / English    
Subtitles: Japanese    
Video: 4:3  
Discs 9    
Running time: 1500 mins    

Contents: all 32 episodes of the series.    

Extras (over 170 mins):

• Documentary "Thunderbirds Companion" (50 mins)
• UK version preview (3 mins)
• All about the secret base (23 mins)
• Century 21 Files (2 mins x7)
• Thunderbirds in Tokyo (20 mins)
• Episode guide (2 mins x 32)

Booklet (60 pages):

• Introduction
• Cast bios
• Mechanics guide
• Episode guide

Note:

• Film scanning, telecine, restoration were done by JCA (UK).
• Original negatives were cleaned with ultrasonic.
• Films were scanned in 3K with Arriscan Film Scanner, output to super 2K DPX file, and digitally restored.
• Broken films and other problems such as kicks, flicker, were repaired semi-automatically and manually. Restoration technicians checked them frame by frame afterwards.
• All materials were tuned with Cinnefilm Dark Energy.
• Finally colors were adjusted, and restored materials were tuned as one program with Pandora Revolution Grading system.

Geneon has set up a promotional website for UFO and Thunderbirds here.