Dark Shadows dvd sets 6 and 7 edited!

geod · 09-17-2003, 01:37 AM

Hello All,

Dark Shadows dvd sets 6 and 7 are edited!

To all Dark Shadow fans out there (hopefully a good amount) any info on the following would be helpful

Just some background info...I own all the original vhs tapes of Dark Shadows...all 1,224 episodes 1 is missing. I own all 7 DVD's released up to this date. MPI home video owns the rights to this series. Bear in mind that the quality of these episodes range from good to poor with little or no restoration done for the DVD release...that is not my problem.... I would rather have the same Vhs quality and UNCUT episodes than any other version.

There were many mistakes made during the production of this show I.E. bloopers, missed cues, boom mike operators, cameras getting into shots, coughing in the background and many many more...anywhere from 0 to 6 mistakes per episode. The show is sometimes called "mike Shadows" from all the microphones seen above the actors during many scenes. These mistakes are part of the shows charm....BUT...someone at Mpi has decided to start cutting out the mistakes..why?? I dont know.

I am still waiting for a response From MPI.

Just a brief rundown of cuts:

boxed set 6: 1 I noticed

Character bethia mapes forgets line: "then go to the house" which is shouted out by the director which can be heard loudly....there is a quick cut and this line is now removed.

boxed set 7: there are at least 6:

harrys first appearence at front door he turns around and vicky screams. Instead we have 2 sloppy cuts he is already facing vicky . There was no mistake in this scene so I dont understand the cuts.
lang forgets his line while talking to julia there is a pause between lines so he can remember what to say... the pause is removed with a bad cut and some of his dialogue is now cut off instead.
2 various sloppy cuts of dialouge cut off in the bnegining and middle of 2 episodes.
and more...

What I did confirm with a few Mpi reps was that the same sources for the video tapes were used for the DVDs and the tapes do not have any of the above cuts. It is apparent that these cuts are deliberate. A proof reader or watcher from MPI was unaware of this being authorised. I purchased and returned 3 copies from 3 different retailers to confirm that this is not a manufacturers error.

Thank You,
any help or constructive feedback appreciated.
Kindly forgive typos.

G

Mark Zimmer · 09-17-2003, 09:54 AM

Well, that stinks. Part of the charm of this series is that it's essentially being done live, and those screwups (like the classic late in the series when Jonathan Frid, in street clothes, wanders into the closing credits, oblivious to the fact the cameras are still running) are part of the history. I'm only up to vol. 4 but I may reconsider going on if they're going to pull this crap. MPI was responsive, though when they originally issued the VHS tapes without the opening and closings and people complained, so perhaps there will be a fix. I'll write them too.

geod · 09-17-2003, 04:51 PM

I received this email from the best Dark Shadows site on the net! collinwood.net/news/ run by Stuart Manning and below it is my response:

According to Dan Curtis Productions he only edit -- and I use the word edit
rather than cut -- made to the DVDs was the Bathia Mapes blooper on Set
6, which was dubbed over without the knowledge of Dan Curtis Productions.

Although the show taped "as live" originally, timing cuts were sometimes
made -- crudely -- afterwards, but splicing the master tapes before
transmission.
It might be these that are being commented on.

Hope that helps

Stuart

and my response:

Thanks for the quick response,

As far as the Bathia Mapes "edit" I am glad they admit to the problem and I hope Mpi or Dan curtis productions will be more aggressive in preventing this in the future...as far as the other "cuts" or "edits" to boxed set 7... I did an exhaustive side by side comparisson between the Mpi video versions and the new DVD's and they are in fact edited in at least 6 scenes. I know this show like the back of my hand and I am sure you do as well. Some scenes are unintentionally funny and they stick with you years later. The cuts or edits I mentioned from the DVD were never there in any of the WNJN broadcast versions or in any of the MPI home vhs video copies. So something else is going on without the knowledge of Dan Curtis Productions. Hopefully this will stop. We still have about 1000 episodes to go so there is plenty of time to correct any future mistakes.

Thanks again for your help and if you find out anything else in the future feel free to e-mail me any time.

So, we are getting some movement on the above issues and hopefully the edits or cuts will not be repeated in the future

Mark Zimmer · 09-18-2003, 01:05 PM

My letter to MPI:

I understand that you have started editing the bloopers out of Dark Shadows, beginning with the above sets. Part of the charm of this program is that it was essentially being done live, and with-the-bloopers are how the programs were originally aired. I have been replacing my VHS sets from MPI with the DVDs, but I will have to reconsider this if unedited versions of the programs are not included. Please keep the original programs intact on DVD, without tampering, and I will continue to buy them. I expect that most fans of this series who would consider buying the set will feel likewise.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Mark S Zimmer
Reviewer, www.digitallyobsessed.com

geod · 09-18-2003, 03:46 PM

I e-mailed them as well hopefully evreything will be addressed and fixed.

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geod · 09-23-2003, 04:29 PM

I Received this from MPI today. Hopefully this will ensure non-edited releases in the future.

Dear Dark Shadows Customer:

MPI is committed to releasing Dark Shadows in its complete and unedited form as originally broadcast. An outside videotape restoration facility recently digitally remastered the episodes for the program's owner, Dan Curtis Productions, and apparently there are a very few instances where the video facility has made small edits for technical reasons -- since the original masters have various picture blemishes and other problems due to the age of the material and the technology existent at the time of production (1966-71). We are investigating this matter thoroughly to hopefully avoid any further incidents even though the few trims encountered thus far have been minimal.

Thank you for your interest and understanding.
MPI Home Video

Mark Zimmer · 09-23-2003, 06:17 PM

Sounds like the "outside video facility" may have been slapped with a trout.

Excellent catch on this; it is to be hoped that this has had the desired effect for future volumes (though who knows how many more have been mastered with edits already....)

Carlos Garcia · 03-27-2004, 09:07 AM

Did they eventually release the next sets unedited?

geod · 04-18-2004, 01:09 AM

Hello,
Just a quick follow up. Boxed sets 10 and 11 are, as far as I can tell, unedited. 11 being in a new style box...AND for the first time there is an acknowledgment on the liner notes as well as on the beginning of each disc that these episodes "have inherent flaws on the original masters that cannot be removed without being edited" THUS proving the fact that they have been cutting, editing and altering the original episodes and had they not had so much backlash against what they were doing they would not have finally decided to put them on DVD in there original form. This proves that writing and complaining does work ..Good work everyone.

Carlos Garcia · 04-18-2004, 02:33 AM

This is indeed great news, however, what about the previous volumes that were edited? Maybe we should all start a letter campaign asking that they re-release those volumes that have been edited, so we can see the un-edited version (same version seen on the VHS release). Maybe if enough people complain, they can actually issue an (exchange the original volumes for the unedited version) exchange program!

Ron Lee Green · 04-18-2004, 06:01 AM

Thanks geod for noticing these edits and informing MPI

About the new slimline case: Is it better, worse or same? I would think it is a space saver, but what does the inside look like?