Little House on the Prairie: building the best possible collection (1 Viewer)

[moviebuff75]

It's not incorrect. The Lord is My Shepherd is missing a scene shown in the UK (the scene is on youtube.) It is a longer scene of Pa/Ma leaving for the doctor in the carriage. There is a scene at the end of Country Girls that was on the Imavision set that isn't on the blu-ray. This scene features a boy reading a lot of his essay after Laura finishes her reading. These are PAL episodes from the UK cuts. Also, the editor is different on some of the UK versions compared to the US according to the end credits (still a US editor.) It has happened with other shows...ROOTS being one of them. Downton Abbey has scenes in the US that aren't in the original UK (also US) blu rays.

 

[nigel19]

It's not incorrect. The Lord is My Shepherd is missing a scene shown in the UK (the scene is on youtube.) It is a longer scene of Pa/Ma leaving for the doctor in the carriage. There is a scene at the end of Country Girls that was on the Imavision set that isn't on the blu-ray. This scene features a boy reading a lot of his essay after Laura finishes her reading. These are PAL episodes from the UK cuts. Also, the editor is different on some of the UK versions compared to the US according to the end credits (still a US editor.) It has happened with other shows...ROOTS being one of them. Downton Abbey has scenes in the US that aren't in the original UK (also US) blu rays.

The idea that there would be specific versions created for a country where the series was hardly shown is plain wrong.

Its possible that original broadcasts in the US may have been shorter due to the number of ad breaks so perhaps a final edit was still shortened to fit the US slot but as the show was almost a non entity in the UK its more likely that uncut versions were available for international sales rather than specifically for the UK where it was not seen at all from around 1980 onwards and where many regions didn't even get halfway through. My region had only reached season 2 by 1978 and it only aired for another year or so. Basically , until C4 aired it from 1992 the series had been nothing but filler for morning and daytime tv. Much of the country never saw many of the key episodes until C4 showed them.

And you can't offer series such as Roots ( and others) which will have been shown in cinemas in some countries so additional scenes unsuitable for tv or scenes that include rapid plot explanations to make up for the shorter running times can easily be discounted as being part of the original broadcast.

And you can't possibly compare todays shows to 70's shows at all as the tv landscape is completely different in both countries.
For at least a decade many UK shows have been aired uncut with US edits prepared speically for their ad filled schedules .

Hustle and Jonathan Creek are just 2 shows aired here with running times of 55-60 minutes where US edits of around 45 minutes were prepared right from the word go. In one or two cases these edited versions found their way onto UK dvd's which resulted in replacements.

And its fairly common for shows on either side of the pond to be adjusted . We recently had a drama series on BBC2 and it was well reported that the version aired on US cable contained far more nudity than the version we had here .

So the way Little House or any other US show of that era was handled cannot be compared to how shows are handled today.

I'm not doubting there might be the odd discrepancy - I'm saying that there is no such thing as a UK version- maybe call it the International Version . But the only difference would be the IV would be unhindered by US ad break requirements so it would have no bearing on what was seen at the end of Remember Me Part 1 .
Have you actually looked at the Blu ending of Remember Me Part 1 ? The idea that's what is on the Bluray is what would have been broadcast at the time is nonsense.

 

[nigel19]

I have just compared the UK dvd of The Lord Is My Shepherd to the Blu and the scene of them getting ready for the carriage to see the doctor is identical.
Don't know about the Imavision version of Country Girls but the UK dvd does have the additional few seconds of the boy speaking after Laura aswell as a few seconds of extra footage of the people leaving church .

 

[moviebuff75]

LIMS scene was a French airing...the scene is on youtube....it goes on much longer...shows the carriage leaving across the prairie. Why would I make this up? I'm done with this conversation. International broadcasts were different, due to commercial times, etc.

 

[moviebuff75]

I have looked at Remember Me and to be honest, it wasn't any different than other shows at the time that were continued to the next week......cut quickly to black with To Be Continued. Frankly, either way, it doesn't bother me.

 

[jimmyjet]

so... are these new blu-rays coming out, edited or original ?

 

[moviebuff75]

Original NBC versions.

 

[Mike Frezon]

so... are these new blu-rays coming out, edited or original ?

Beautiful reproductions of the original broadcasts.

 

[jimmyjet]

Original NBC versions.

great - i have heard only positive stuff about it, so far.

for the most part, i think these shoddy releases are a thing of the past.

the releasers now know that the public simply isnt gonna purchase them, to any degree.

with wonder years, most likely wkrp, this show.

and reviews on bonanza that has been released so far, are all very good.

when they are putting out this sort of quality, we are gonna have to wait longer for many of these shows to come out.

but that is fine, with me. gosh, a few quality releases every year..

that is stupendous !!!!!

 

[nigel19]

LIMS scene was a French airing...the scene is on youtube....it goes on much longer...shows the carriage leaving across the prairie. Why would I make this up? I'm done with this conversation. International broadcasts were different, due to commercial times, etc.

Well the fact that the UK version is different to the French version which is different to the Network version shows your theory is questionable.
I'm not saying you are making it up . I've been watching tv in the UK for 50 years and in all that time I've never heard of any US show where different versions for non US broadcasts would have had alternate cuts prepared during the time when the original broadcasts occurred. Sure , we all know about syndication edits but they don't usually get done while the show is new - and it did appear on the BBC when it was still new. When ITV , the commercial network screened US shows back in the 70's they were often in 55 minute slots and even then they might add some trailers to pad out the slot as they usually did when shows were given a 60 minute slot.
The BBC broadcasts of Little House were in a 45 minute slot which is correct for a 48 minute show with PAL speedup.

Incidentally the pilot film remains unavailable on dvd in the UK

You said LIMS was longer on the UK dvd . Now you say it was from a French broadcast. ????


Over the decades after shows ended their initial run and went into syndication and then got new copies made many years later for showing internationally its not uncommon for shows that aren't looked after that well to end up with bits missing.

I watched Troublemaker today and the white spots over the image which look like white marks on the camera during the episode credits ( not the opening titles) are quite bad but they end once the episode credits have ended . They may well have been there before but only visible now thanks to HD.

I have looked at Remember Me and to be honest, it wasn't any different than other shows at the time that were continued to the next week......cut quickly to black with To Be Continued. Frankly, either way, it doesn't bother me.

I find it annoying the way its been done . And if you think that crash edits such as that are / were the norm I think you're wrong- certainly not on a genuine 2 parter . They might do that on a feature cut into 2 .
When C4 showed the last 3 movies they cut them into 2 parts themselves and they ended their Part 1 in a similar but much neater fashion.
As the UK version changes the running timeof Remember Me Part 1 by about 3 seconds the notion that its something to do with a foreign version does not fit .

It could be what you said that it was supposed to be a feature and that's how the negative remains which would explain the crash edit if they don't have the ending . But that doesn't fit either because the start of Part 2 is fine and that would also be missing.

But yes , let's agree to differ. I have the UK dvd's ( except season 3 which is Dutch - although they seem to be from the same source as the UK discs) so I can keep track as we go

 

[Mark-P]

this has spoiled me, makes me wish another classic from the 70's would get the same treatment, The Waltons

Just in case anyone missed it, Warner has indeed redone the entire Waltons series in high definition. Currently available only on iTunes and now airing in true high definition on the Hallmark Channel. The bad news? They've all been reformatted into widescreen.

 

[LeoA]

Are they not showing the new transfers on the SD channel for Hallmark?

Someone had that channel on the other day with The Walton's on, and it looked like it always does on tv or on DVD to me. Where as I can hook my PS3 up via composite to a 13" CRT, fire up season 1 or 2 of Little House on Blu-Ray, and still see a huge leap visually compared to the DVD's despite limiting myself to 480i.

The DVD's for The Walton's, other than being uncut, weren't much better off than Little House. Lots of dirt, scratches, faded colors, etc. Picture quality didn't dip as low as Little House did at times, but these transfers used were far from ideal.

I don't understand how I couldn't see it.

 

[Bob_S.]

Just in case anyone missed it, Warner has indeed redone the entire Waltons series in high definition. Currently available only on iTunes and now airing in true high definition on the Hallmark Channel. The bad news? They've all been reformatted into widescreen.

Why oh why do they do this to me?!?!?!

 

[Mr. Handley]

I've been replacing my flippers on The Waltons with the single-sided discs put out a couple of years ago. The first few episodes that I've watched look fine to me. They are by no means perfect, but they are miles ahead of the old Little House abominations. And yes, I'd buy them again (triple-dip) if they released the remastered versions on BD and in the proper aspect ratio.

 

[LeoA]

There are a lot of decent looking transfers on the Little House DVD's. I was watching season 3 the other day, I think, with the Halloween episode and that one looked awful. But on the same disc was an episode or two that looked pretty good. Quality varied a ton throughout these sets from episode to episode.

The Walton's never drops down to as low as Little House did at its worse on the earlier releases, but it's still far from how the new DVD's look for Little House.

An upgrade to a comparable level would be nice to see for this classic show. I turned it on today and while it's letterboxed on Hallmark as said, I don't see much of a quality jump if any over the DVD's.

I hope they didn't spend much money doing this.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

WB did this also to Wonder Woman. They need to stop this cropping full frame classic shows like this. It is actually kind of shocking that they would create more work for themselves. Just transfer the show in HD.

I watched a couple episodes of Wonder Woman in HD and while they looked OK, they didn't do any remastering IMO just a quick HD transfer and cropped the show. IMO I would rather watch it in standard def DVD. (because of the needless cropping)

Just in case anyone missed it, Warner has indeed redone the entire Waltons series in high definition. Currently available only on iTunes and now airing in true high definition on the Hallmark Channel. The bad news? They've all been reformatted into widescreen.

 

[charlesgunn]

There are a lot of decent looking transfers on the Little House DVD's. I was watching season 3 the other day, I think, with the Halloween episode and that one looked awful. But on the same disc was an episode or two that looked pretty good. Quality varied a ton throughout these sets from episode to episode.

The Walton's never drops down to as low as Little House did at its worse on the earlier releases, but it's still far from how the new DVD's look for Little House.

An upgrade to a comparable level would be nice to see for this classic show. I turned it on today and while it's letterboxed on Hallmark as said, I don't see much of a quality jump if any over the DVD's.

I hope they didn't spend much money doing this.

That's the main problem with the Imavision discs . They are so inconsistent . Some actually do look remastered etc as stated on the box but others are atrocious.

It wasn't until I got the UK dvd's that I realised quite how dreadful the Imavision discs are .
And the Blurays now show up just how poor the best of the dvd's were . There are many thousands of shows on dvd and the LHoP rank amongst the worst quality bar public domain content.

Put an original late 90's Star Trek TOS dvd alongside a Prairie one and even the pre-restoration Trek disc still looks better.

But our enjoyment of the discs regardless shows that the stories and performances shine through enough to forget the shortcomings of the discs.

 

[Mr. Handley]

I just started Season 2 of the new BD set last night ("The Richest Man In Walnut Grove")...Mrs. O & her two little brats were at their hateable best (worst) and once again I was reaching for the Kleenex by the end of the episode. Yes, I'd watch this series in any condition, but the new transfers once again amaze with their beauty and rich detail.

 

[charlesgunn]

I just started Season 2 of the new BD set last night ("The Richest Man In Walnut Grove")...Mrs. O & her two little brats were at their hateable best (worst) and once again I was reaching for the Kleenex by the end of the episode. Yes, I'd watch this series in any condition, but the new transfers once again amaze with their beauty and rich detail.

Definitely.
Shooting on 35mm film rather than tape means the US is very lucky when it comes to archive tv compared to the UK where the vast majority was shot on tape which has subsequently been wiped or lost and even what survives is impossible to remaster for HD.

LHoP does not seem to have been treated with respect over the years and it's great to finally be able to see the show as it should be . The crystal clarity means we can see detail the makers never thought we would and we can really appreciate the locations and the work that went into the sets and costumes.

It really is like seeing something brand new all over again . Many of the other Bluray reissues of classic tv aren't as exciting because the shows have been well cared for over the years and broadcasts and dvd releases have been very good but because Little House did not fare so well this upgrade is a giant leap in quality which means that even those who only buy the restored versions on dvd are also getting a far better version than they have likely ever seen before.

I'm in the UK and Amazon.com just shipped my season 3 . I'm wondering if the Bunny/Race order will be the right way round this time

 

[Ethan Riley]

They are. We're they out of order on the old dvd?