Fellowship of the Ring extended version gets boosted Region 1 sales due to BBFC cuts! (1 Viewer)

[Johnny G]

Star Wars Episode 2 is getting healthy import pre-order sales due to the cut headbutt scene in the UK and now the same things gonna happen to LOTR box sets due to these cuts.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classi...5?OpenDocument
This is a boast for us British Region 1 advocates and the reason I put this in the Home Theater Software section!

 

[Scott_MacD]

I understand the BBFC do not certify 2 different versions of the same film.

shhh!

 

[Mark_vdH]

These cuts only apply to the extra material?

I doubt if that will induce R1 imports on a large scale....

The fact that the National Geographic documentary is missing from the R2 Collector's set will, however......

 

[Steve Christou]

I would never have bought Episode II or LOTR on R2 anyway, I don't want even a second missing from those dvds, on the other hand I did take a chance on Black Hawk Down on R2 because of the humungous extras disc, couldn't resist.
ps. Watch out when buying Glory on R2, nice extras but a scene of horses falling over in the forest battle was cut, and if you switch to the commentary there is an abrupt edit at the same point.
pps. In the Line of Fire special edition on r2 dvd is a cut version with some violence missing, the pathetic thing is the UK widescreen video version is totally uncut.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

These cuts only apply to the extra material?

Well, yes and no. Footage not in the theatrical release, but part of the film itself. I'm thinking the goried up end battle between Aragorn and that Orc dude is the issue here.

 

[Mark_vdH]

Footage not in the theatrical release, but part of the film itself.

Sorry, but I don't understand.
Both the theatrical cut and the extended cut are uncut, aren't they?:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classi...6?OpenDocument
The link provided by Johnny G only applies to the Special Features on disc 3 & 4, or is this incorrect?
The 'cut scenes', according to the BBFC, are :
00:11:50:05 | A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HOBBIT
00:15:33:11 | SCALE
00:16:15:13 | BIG-ATURES
00:12:27:07 | MUSIC FOR MIDDLE-EARTH
00:12:06:13 | DIGITAL GRADING
00:11:32:08 | COSTUME DESIGN

 

[Frank Sadler]

Hello Paramount

 

[TheoGB]

Yeah, I was certain the cuts were only to extended material.

Personally only the R4 would be an option to the R2 - I know from another Debate member that I would hate the pulldown of the NTSC version.

 

[Todd Phillips]

The LOTR extended edition is uncut:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classi...6?OpenDocument
And it looks like the extras are just edited for language (not violence), i.e. cast/crew members swearing.

 

[Mark_vdH]

I've ordered the R1 version nevertheless .
All PAL versions have the burnt-in 'elvish' subtitles removed BTW. Well, they've removed them in the previous release at least, and I assume they'll do this again.
A very minor thing, but perhaps relevant to the Purists (with a capital P ) among us....

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I stand corrected!:b Sorry to throw misleading information your way, Mark. I wonder what was so controversial about the footage? "...strong language, audible or visible over the bleeps, and accompanying sexual references..." I wonder if this is similiar to the editted The Beginning, with Rick McCallum's "...sexual expletives..." ala This is so f**king awesome! or the wide stream of fucks when he finds the Tunisia set trashed from the storm? If so, I wonder how you rack up [that amount of cuts.]


EDIT: My computer had some serious problems the day I posted this...

 

[TheoGB]

Err Adam, was half of that meant to go in a thread relating to the new Bewitched movie?

 

[Johnny G]

Theo,

Are you saying you couldn't stand 3:2 pulldown of this particular movie or any movie?

 

[TheoGB]

I'm not a fan of pulldown - Shirley you must have seen my comments on this one at the Debate? I don't have the original cut as I know I'll not watch it after I have the longer version.
However, Gee has said it was bad and he's not as bothered as me. It's a title with a lot of bright-lit panning shots. I'd rather have it in PAL so I guess I may cancel my Play order and buy R4...
I was only trying to point out that people would not necessarily boost the sales of R1 product. In fact, R4 is probably still cheaper!!

 

[Ray H]

I stand corrected! Sorry to throw misleading information your way, Mark. I wonder what was so controversial about the footage? "...strong language, audible or visible over the bleeps, and accompanying sexual references..." I wonder if this is similiar to the editted The Beginning, with Rick McCallum's "...sexual expletives..." ala This is so f**king awesome! or the wide stream of fucks when he finds the Tunisia set trashed from the storm?

This was posted at theOneRing.net regarding this same topic.
No - this is completely untrue (in regards to recent internet rumors, about a severe cut to the UK edition -Xo). The 'extended version' of the film has already been seen and passed 'PG' uncut. The extra material doesn't contain any additional violence beyond what was in the film itself - most of the extra footage is extra dialogue and narrative exposition. It may not yet be shown on our website, but this is probably because we are still waiting for the packaging to come in for approval. As for DVD extras, two have received cuts - one to remove uses of "f***ing wanker" that would be unacceptable at 'PG' and one to remove a sequence in which a character announces that, after a drunken visit to a piercing parlour, the one Ring has been attached to his *****. Clearly this was unacceptable at 'PG' and these extras have therefore been removed. the company were offered a '12'uncut for the extras but preferred to cut for 'PG'.
Wow! Sure sounds like a fun set to be on! But I'm hoping those lines are in there (atleast in R1). Or at worst, just possibly in an edited form.

 

[Terrell]

Wait a minute! The LOTR extended edition receives no cuts. But AOTC has a headbutt removed. Does anyone find that a bit ridiculous? LOTR is already more violent than AOTC. Yet, AOTC gets cut. Ridiculous.

I think it's great for UK fans of LOTR, but ridiculous for UK AOTC fans.

 

[Ray H]

Yeah. Pretty strange ain't it?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Now that I have turned two unrelated posts into one (semi)coherent one, I thought I'd just pop in and say sounds like some cool extras then.

And Terrell, many were outraged over this. Here is the BBFC's offical (half-assed) response:

With respect, the head butt in "The Lord of the Rings" is different from the one in "Star Wars..Clones." The former work does not invite imitation by young children -they don't play hobbits in the playground. On the other hand, they do play Star Wars games in the playground, and that's why we took the precaution of removing the head butt at the distributor's request - the distributor was free to allow the head butt to remain for a 12, but chose not to. "Clones" featured recognisable humans in the head butt scene - "LR" deals in mythical creatures in Middle Earth.

 

[Terrell]

Yeah, but it seems awfully silly to me that UK's rating system would dictate an entirely new rating simply because of one headbutt. Seems to me even if you leave the headbutt in, it still deserves the same rating. I don't think a half second scene warrants that.

 

[Iain Jackson]

Welcome to the weird world of the BBFC...

The Matrix had headbutts cut to drop the film from an 18 to a 15 certificate...
The Mummy Returns had a headbutt cut to drop the film from a 15 to a 12 certificate...
Attack of the Clones had a headbutt cut to drop the film from a 12 to a PG certificate...
And The Lord of the Rings didn't have a headbutt cut, and yet is still a PG certificate!

I wouldn't mind the censorship as much if they were at least to be consistent about it...