TV Versions of Films that are Much Different from the Theatrical Versions (1 Viewer)

[TheLongshot]

The version of Army Of Darkness that the Sci-Fi channel shows has much of the scenes from the "director's cut", but still has the US "S-Mart" ending.

Jason

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Matt,

Nope. The few scenes from the PC cut shown (young jamie backflash, Kara walking the school grounds, Loomis and Wynn conversing, and one or two others) were all in perfect condition when aired.

In other words, they were as in good of condition as the actual movie. No quality difference. The music bits from the PC on the PC scenes sounded cleaned up and very nice as well.

So, this goes to show you right there a PC cut could be released in top notch shape if this silly director would allow it.

 

[Matt Stone]

Wow, that's really kewl!

Damn that Joe Chapelle!

 

[Bill Williams]

Another one that was recent was ABC's recent extended telecast of the first "Harry Potter" movie. A buddy of mine told me that it had the same deleted scenes as on the DVD, so nothing new beyond that was included.

Of course, one of the most significantly different TV broadcast of a theatrical film or films, beyond the first two "Superman" films, was "The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television", which re-edited the first two "Godfather" films into chronological order and restored lots of extra footage to the films. I remember Paramount releasing this extended version on VHS during the late 80's, which I have. (And all of the deleted scenes are on the "Godfather" DVD box set.)

 

[David_Blackwell]

Matt, I watched the Producer's Cut of Halloween 6 last year (a bad copy of the workprint). I think the Producer Cut is better than what got released. The Producer's Cut is more like the type of horror movies that are in the same tone as the John Carpenter horror movies of the 1980s. I love the ending of the PC.

 

[Matt Stone]

You misunderstood me, David. I was referring to the Audio/Video quality of the extra scenes, not their inherent quality. As you said... "a bad copy of the workprint" was what I meant.

I like the Producer's Cut much more than the theatrical cut as well.

 

[ZacharyTait]

I remember flipping through the channels once and seeing Billy Madison on USA and the scene that I happened to see was one where Billy plays kickball with the servants, a scene that is not in the theatrical version or on the DVD. I wonder if it'll appear on the DVD coming out at the end of the month?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Ace Ventura has soem pretty good material added in the TV version. I wash we could get a better DVD.

Same goes for Dumb and Dumber.

 

[Rob P S]

I saw Happy Gilmore on NBC and saw an extra scene that shows Happy throwing Ben Stiller out the window of the nursing home.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

That extended Godfather re-edit was also available on LD, as The Godfather Saga, I think. Because of the way it de-interlocks the interlocking stories of II, separating them by a couple of hours, the parallels are murkier and dear God is it ever slow at the beginning. But it's neat to see...once.

I remember when I saw it on TV that frequently the subtitles changed in material from II -- either single lines, here and there, to remove profanity, or whole scenes when it was a new scene that didn't make the original cut.

I seem to recall that it was in two-hour chunks, each with opening and end credits. Four parts? That would make it about 400 minutes plus commercials. Of course, a bunch of that would be repeated credits.

 

[Matt Stone]

That sums up my feelings. I watched it on AMC once, and I don't plan on watching it again. Interesting idea, but I'd much rather watch the films separately.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Although, as pointed out already, the scenes were filmed during the making of Part 2, they were actually directed by John Carpenter (who didn't direct the sequel) and, for some odd reason, shot in scope. Anchor Bay's 1999 DVD release(s) was the first time that the original scope versions of these scenes were discovered and shown.

DJ

 

[WillG]

Not odd at all. They were shooting 2 in scope so why not shoot the television scenes in scope. It would have looked the same on TV anyway. Carpenter, as most of us know, is a die hard Panavision guy. One of the last cowboys of true scope photography.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Did he shoot the Elvis telefilm in scope? Or his "Body Bags" segments? Surely he is willing to use other equipment when the job calls for it. Just because the guy loves scope, it doesn't mean it wasn't odd for him to shoot the additional Halloween scenes that way. I love t-shirts and jeans, but it would be odd for me to wear that, say, to a wedding.

DJ

 

[WillG]

Since Carpenter knew that the scenes were for television, I would bet that he framed the shots safe for 4:3 (Although I do admit is has been awhile since I have seen the footage. I would imagine that if he shot the extra scenes in 4:3 it would have looked similar to the pan and scan of the scope version version that was used.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

One other possible reason why you might film in scope for a 4:3 image (purely theoretical, and looking at it from a position of complete ignorance)

The rest of the film needed to be panned-n-scanned, so it might logistically have been simpler to just film the new scenes in scope and then pan-n-scan the whole thing at once. Then, if you shoot 4:3 safe, there may not need to be too much effort in actually executing the pan-n-scan of the new scenes.

Just an idea - feel free to tell me why I'm completely wrong.

 

[Matt Stone]

Sounds pretty logical to me.

Knowing Carpenter's work and feelings on Anamorphic lenses, it doesn't surprise me either. Whether he was shooting for TV or not, he could have at least toyed with the idea of the extra scenes being inserted in some home video format. Since time has proved one correct, I'm glad he shot it the way he did.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

They also used all of the same equipment and such from the set of Halloween 2, so they likely used whatever filming process that was used on that film (which was scope).

 

[Damin J Toell]

That would've been rather brave toying on Carpenter's part, since no letterboxed home video releases had happened by that point.

DJ

 

[Matt Stone]

Brave or not, I'm just saying it's possible. And as Robert mentioned, they were using the H2 equipment anyway. I just don't see how you can be that surprised by the fact that he shot it in scope.