www.falconcrest.org | Deutscher FALCON CREST - Fanclub / German FALCON CREST Fan Club
 

 

 
  

Season 1 is available for streaming or as downloads through the following services
 
 
(revised 08/30/2024):

 
 
 

USA

 
 

  • Plex TV and Amazon Amazon Prime Video
    (SD from early distribution prints)
     
    • Availability:
      Since 03/01/2022, seasons 1 through 4 have been available for purchase through Amazon Prime, which is exclusively available for people with a U.S. IP address and a residential address in the U.S. Due to geo-blocking, streaming is not available for customers outside the U.S.
      Free watching on Amazon Freevee was offered between 03/01/2022 and 03/01/2024. Free streaming through Plex TV has been available since 08/30/2024.
    •  
    • Picture and Sound Quality:
      The quality is much better than in TV airings, but varies from episode to episode. No picture remastering was applied, so the picture quality is not as good as the season 3 DVD release.
      Some episodes of season 1 are from syndication prints, i.e. shortened for TV rebroadcasts (approximately three minutes missing per episode, see below).
    •  
    • Edited Parts:
      approximately three minutes per episode missing in
      • # 002 <1.02>
      • # 005 <1.05>
      • # 006 <1.06>
      • # 007 <1.07>
      • # 008 <1.08>
      • # 009 <1.09>
      • # 010 <1.10>
      • # 013 <1.13>
      • # 014 <1.14>
      • # 015 <1.15>
      • # 017 <1.17>
      • # 018 <1.18>
     
     
  • iTunes
    (SD from early distribution prints)
     
    • Availability:
      The U.S. store of iTunes offers downloads of season 1 for purchase.
    •  
    • Picture and Sound Quality:
      The quality is much better than in TV airings, but varies from episode to episode. No picture remastering was applied, so the picture quality is not as good as the season 3 DVD release.
      One episode of season 1 is from syndication prints, i.e. shortened for TV rebroadcasts (approximately three minutes missing, see below).
    •  
    • Edited Parts:
      approximately three minutes missing in # 015 <1.15>
 
 
 

Germany, Austria and Switzerland

 
 

RTL+
(SD from the oldest distribution prints manipulated for the German TV broadcast)

  • Availability:
    Between 10/01/2023 and 09/30/2024, the episodes of seasons 1 through 4 (German audio only) were streaming through a subscription with this service, which is exclusively available for people with a German, Austrian or Swiss IP address and a residential address in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Due to geo-blocking, streaming was be available for customers outside the distribution zone of RTL+.
  •  
  • Picture and Sound Quality:
    • The quality is not on a par with the season 1 DVDs. The picture for this streaming service is from the old distribution prints that were used for the original broadcast on German TV. Back then, these initial distribution copies had been manipulated by Bavaria Synchron, the studio commissioned by the ARD network to dub the show into German; they changed the main title, opening credits, closing credits and end credits of each episode. The credits, at the time, had been superimposed onto the film reels, using a transparent layer. Since the German editors wanted to avoid English text, all the staff credits were removed from the main title, and a German episode title was added at the end; the original English epsiode title and all cast, staff and crew credits at the beginning of act 1 were removed, as were the producers' names at the end of act 4; the end credits were completely replaced with German text. To do all these manipulations, the respective parts of the film reels underwent a chemical process, dissolving the layer with the superimposed credits from the actual film, which led to strong discoloration in the manipulated segments. Fading and heavy discoloration progressed over time, and — with an abundance of dust and dirt particles as well as artifacts — this picture deteriorated so much that it is far from today's quality standards, even for SD.
    • Sound quality is mono. The German version, like all PAL versions, is 4 % accelerated by the conversion from the picture negative to video for the PAL TV format (particularly in Europe, Australia and many countries in South America). This leads to a slightly higher pitch in the music, which will be noticed by particularly sensitive viewers. For further information about the details of PAL speedup, please consult the last paragraph in the Show – Episodes – Analysis & Interpretation – Behind the Scenes – Season 1 – General Information section.
     
  • Edited Parts:
    • The episodes per se are usually unedited and are the same as in their original U.S. broadcast on CBS.
    • Like in all TV airings of # 009 <1.09> in German language, the scene with Vickie and Michael West at the Side Street Theatre was edited; 54 seconds are missing from 40:45 on (counting based on the accelerated PAL version). Although that particular segment was dubbed by new German speakers for the DVD release, it was not put into the version that is now streaming.
    • The teaser trailers, which featured a short sneak preview of the respective episode, are missing.
      This is particularly disappointing in all the cases where specific footage from the trailers was not used in the respective episode itself; e.g. the unique aerial view of the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion in # 001 <1.01>, which was never featured anywhere else in the series.