Front seat thrills DVD review: More from Horse Creek

As promised, here is my review of Horse Creek Production's "Front Seat Thrills". First of all, I have to say that they hauled @ss to get this to me. Within less than a week, the DVD was at my doorstep. Yes, it appears to be a homemade production, and yes, there is NO navigation once you load the DVD into your player. A strange menu that doesn't really do anything pops up, and you press play and begin the journey. The arrangement of the rides really doesn't make any sense either. I tried to figure out their ordering, and really couldn't find any rhyme or reason. The CP coasters are together, but that's about it.
The CP rides do appear to be professionally done, and lifted from another source as the ride's logos are on the bottom corner of the screen. That does not happen anywhere else in the production. The disc sleeve promises "No fluff, no frills... " and on that they deliver. But for those of us who have not been to some of the more obscure parks in the collection, it is hard to discern what is going on during the ride, and you don't get the big picture of the ride before hand. Some panning shots of the ride, just to give us a general view would have been nice.
Some of the ride footage is truly remarkable, and presents a true "front seat thrill" for the viewer, but others are really lacking in cinematography and sound. The ride from Germany pops, crackles, and makes your system sound like it is going to ex/implode on you. Others are merely silent. Strange. During one of the coasters, the person holding the camera succumbs to the G-forces and has a difficult time keeping the camera facing out and onto the track. This concerns me... are they shooting these illegally without the park's permission or supervision? Can you imagine a hand held video camera coming lose at 50+ mph? The damage it could do to the people behind you in the car could be deadly. Those signs warning you to NOT do that kind of stuff are there for a reason. Remember Fabio the goose incident?
My one big (somewhat nit-picky) beef about the DVD is the dirty lens on a few of the rides. Check yer equipment boys... I hate that. It's bad enough that I have had to wear glasses all my life and have to deal with smudges, etc. I don't need them on my DVDs!
I was also a bit dismayed that the DVD was over in less than an hour. I thought that the description said that it was "over two hours of fun" but I could be wrong. I can't find any of their sites on the web currently to confirm or deny this claim.
Was it worth the $20? Sure, it will help when I am jonesin' for a ride in mid-February. Is it legal? I doubt it. Some of the material appears to be park footage, and some of it appears to be pirated from other sources. As an artist myself, I am somewhat concerned about copyright infringement, especially when it is a for-profit venture like this.

Tom

As stated numerous times before..... all of their videos are 100% legit, straight from the parks themselves. If the footage is bad, lenses dirty, etc... blame it on the parks that sent it to them.

Once again you seem to be the only one defending HCP. Hmmm....

-Nate

Nate,

I can vouch for Rampage as well. While I don't have the video in question, I have seen proof with my own eyes that the footage used has been sent to the production company from parks and ride manufactures for use of these videos.

-Sean

That's fine, but personally I've heard enough of HCP's questionable actions (see other thread) and that makes me seriously doubt they would have any problem with using illegally-obtained footage. I'm not on any sort of war path here, I've never seen the videos (nor do I care to), but I am pointing out that it's always just one person defending them.

-Nate

Actually Nathaniel, you'll see a good bit of Homey G mixed in with a dash of Legendary as well. But we've come to expect your own unique little dose of hyperbole.

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coasterdude318 said:
Once again you seem to be the only one defending HCP. Hmmm....

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I guess I'll be quiet and let the other post speak for themselves.

Zero-G,

From what I understand, permission was also granted for the use of music in the video. I don't know much about how that came about, but for whatever reason, permission was given in at least one instance that I know of.

-Sean

That is correct, Sean. Music rights have been 100% legally obtained for the entire DVD collection.

And now back to your regularly scheduled witch hunt!

JC

Peabody,

Quick question about that picture of yours that they used on the cover. Did you grant permission verbally or did you actually give permission via a letter or other written means?

*** Edited 4/27/2004 8:05:31 PM UTC by Gemini***

Homey: First off, my name is not Nathaniel. It never has been, it never will be. Secondly, your "arguments" in the other thread were so completely ridiculous that I simply ignored them. Boo hoo.

-Nate
*** Edited 4/27/2004 7:50:57 PM UTC by coasterdude318***

Yeah, yeah ... I edited it so the kids don't get tempted. :)

Well can I call you Nathaniel anyway? I really like the sound of it. It can be just a name I use, ya know? Like a nickname? Please? I won't let anyone else use it, but it's such a great name. **Trumpets blare regal tunes**

"Make wayyy!! For CoasterNathaniel318!! **Trumpets blare again**

As far as my arguments being ridiculous, I don't understand that. Why, even Jes, who was largely on the other side of the fence never referred to my statements as ridiculous and yet we still get along.

You, my good (and regal) man, are the one flailing out a bunch of unfounded remarks about that which you clearly know little about.

Brian, who bows before you graciously. ;)

Is the HCP web site still down?

Homey, all you did was continue to ask why Peabody never simply asked HCP to remove the picture, even though he answered your question at least seven times. And yet you just kept asking...

-Nate

Affirmative, Walt. Horse Creek is still down with 403 and 404 errors.

That is not a site down due to errors...that's a site whose admins deleted all the files.
*** Edited 4/27/2004 8:37:13 PM UTC by redman822***

Actually George... the front PAGE is down.. there are other pages.

Nate, just drop it dood. You were never a part of the original debate.. why you wanna insert yourself into the equation now I'll never know.

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Homey G. said:
Actually George... the front PAGE is down.. there are other pages.

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Well that's hardly useful.

Here is a list of 698 archived url's from the site.

I can't get a single one to work with the exception of a few of the graphics files.

Just saying...

http://www.horsecreekproductions.com/summertime.html
http://www.horsecreekproductions.com/raptor.html
http://www.horsecreekproductions.com/dollywood.html
http://www.horsecreekproductions.com/cedarpointvideo1.html

Those were all URLs that worked less than two weeks ago...before they deleted their site...

Gonch, I'm not necessarily in a position where I should say anymore than I have already.

I promise you there are pages, including those with his trip pics intact. I know he's had trouble with his splash and maybe a few other pages.

When they get it back up and running, I'm sure it will all work. Right now, they're on vacation. So I'm jealous. >:o Grrr.