Hilarious House of Frightenstein V1 Question

Andrew Radke · 10-16-2006, 08:12 PM

I just read the news over at TSoD regarding the first volume of "Frightenstein".

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6509

I grew up watching this show in the 80's and it holds some very fond memories for me. Needless to say, when the SPACE channel here in Canada started airing reruns recently, I was ecstatic.

The only downfall with those episodes on that channel is the exclusion of the music. I speak mainly of the scenes where the Wolfman would play a record, step into that psychedelic looking screen and dance around.

I later learned that the rights for the music couldn't be cleared and were therefore omitted from the SPACE channel airings.

So, my question is pretty self-explanatory. Is the music on this DVD set included or has it been omitted here as well?

The banner on top of the box states: "Full one-hour episodes of the cult classic." If these episodes are truly 'full', then I'd like to think that the music would be intact. Probably just wishful thinking on my part.

The music will either make or break my decision. I can watch the cut episodes on SPACE all the time, so I probably won't get this if it's cut.

Stacey · 10-17-2006, 11:01 PM

Hi Andrew,

My husband just bought this set today and there is some good news and some bad.

First the good: Yes the original music is back in this set for the Wolfman & Igor parts and is, in fact, how the makers of the DVD distinguish from one episode to the other. i.e The eposiode with Amos Moses music in it is called Amos Moses.

Now the bad: The Original Music at the Beginning of the show (March of the Martians) is still a "re-performed" version and not the original. Though I have to admit that the re-performance is very close to the original and does not affect the enjoyment of the show.

The other "bad" is that the music that is playing in the background of the Wolfman & Igor sketches (before the feature song) had to be edited due to music clearance and in this editing Billy Van's voice has been replaced with someone (heaven only know's who) doing the wolfman impression. This, thankfully, is just some short sentences and once we get to the feature song everything is back to normal.

Overall I would say that other than the 2 small replacements the video and audio are really well transferred and look 100% better than the old videotapes we had of some of the shows, I only wish that the makers of the DVD hadn't made this set seem to be 100% original and unedited content when it is, in fact not and may anger some purchasers of the DVD who are expecting no edits or changes.

Russell G · 10-18-2006, 11:15 AM

It's good to see the wolfman dancing back.

Another question though: does this have the added laugh track that the previous 4 episode DVD had? If so, then no sale. That laugh track kills the show.

Mark Y · 10-18-2006, 11:29 AM

I suppose a little Googling might help before I ask this, but...

...wasn't there a big brouhaha a few years ago because the owners of the show supposedly destroyed all the masters? Supposedly, the show had been airing in reruns intermittently for the past 25 or 30 years, then it finished a run on some Canadian cable channel, and then the show's owner announced he'd erased or destroyed all the shows. Then a DVD came out in the US with a few of the US syndicated half-hours, which supposedly were preserved. Now this. Anyone know the status? That is, did these shows have to be reconstructed from some alternate source?

Russell G · 10-18-2006, 11:48 AM

Mark,

I remember hearing the same thing. It seemed incredulous that someone would destroy this show, but such things have happened. If these are actually restored, I'm guessing it was just a rumor.

I guess we'll have to see how many episodes come out, I think there are like 100 or so that were produced.

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Mark Y · 10-18-2006, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell G

Mark,

I remember hearing the same thing. It seemed incredulous that someone would destroy this show, but such things have happened. If these are actually restored, I'm guessing it was just a rumor.

I guess we'll have to see how many episodes come out, I think there are like 100 or so that were produced.

I did a little more research on this. Back when I first read that (it happened circa 1998-1999) all that was publicly known was that the owner had the shows erased. Beyond that, that's all they would say, and you should have heard the outrage from the fanboys...

But anyway, the show has been back on the air in Canada more recently, and as it turns out, what had been reported back then was incomplete information and somewhat misleading. All the broadcast masters were indeed ordered destroyed. The reason had to do with our old friend, "music licensing." There were segments in the shows which used recorded music, and due to copyright reasons (as we've entered the DVD age, a lot more rights owners are paying a lot more attention to this stuff) they had to go back and replace some of the segments. Initially, from what I've read, they dumped all the segments involving miming to a record altogether, just so they could have a version of the show which they could put on the air while they worked the whole thing out. Then they said they would go about securing the rights to the songs used in those segments...if a song could not be cleared, same old story, they'd replace it with something else, or cut the scene if necessary.

Wasn't as bad as everyone first thought.

Stacey · 10-18-2006, 09:00 PM

Quote: Another question though: does this have the added laugh track that the previous 4 episode DVD had? If so, then no sale. That laugh track kills the show.

I havent seen all the episodes but there is no laugh track whatsoever in the episodes I've seen thus far. (All of disc one)

I would assume the same for disc 2 and 3.

Andrew Radke · 10-18-2006, 09:17 PM

Thank you Stacey for the information about the set. It's great to know that the music segments are included. Pretty odd that they would dub Wolfman's voice before those segments though, but understandable since that music couldn't be used. Does the person who dubbed the sentences, etc at least sound like Billy Van/Wolfman?

Anyway, I think I'll take a chance on this set. I'm glad that the actual songs are intact. As I said initially, this show was a favorite of mine while growing up. It'll be great to finally own it.

Russell G · 10-19-2006, 02:57 PM

thanks too for the info on the laugh track. I'm wondering if that was maybe an American addition, like cutting it to a half hour.