Quote:
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Originally Posted by beatlejam
(who would've thought VHS tapes would have better elements/extras than DVDs?).
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Well, though
rare, this certainly isn't the first time:
Dark Shadows (1991): The DVD set is in the wrong aspect ratio (the original 4:3 image is cropped to widescreen), most of the "day for night" shots are rendered incorrectly (making it look like the vampire is moving about in the daylight) and zero extras. the MPI VHS tapes are in the original aspect ratio, the day-for-night shooting is presented as intended, episodes 2 and 3 are in their originally-intended hour-long editions (rather than the combined 'movie-version' that was on the broadcast, and the DVD) and also, the pilot movie on the VHS contains several scene extensions/new scenes incorporated back into the story. This bonus footage isn't even presented as "deleted scenes" on the DVD.
Dark Shadows (1960s): The DVD authoring house removed several 'bloopers', and edited other footage out where there were master tape glitches, to the anger of dedicated fans (and without the knowledge of MPI). The fans didn't want anything edited out: the in-show bloopers added to the 'charm' of the show, and the fans argued that they'd rather not have a dialogue scene trimmed just because there were some tape glitches (like dropouts, quad banding, etc) on the masters. Better to have the dialouge with somewhat less-than-perfect picture than not at all.
V and
V: The Final Battle: The DVDs to both of these mini-series are presented in a matted (cropped) widescreen ratio. The VHS (and laser) releases are in the original full-frame TV aspect ratio.
Tales from the Crypt (seasons 1 and 2): for DVD, the opening credits sequences are
edited out from
every episode (at the series producers' request, them thinking the sequence as 'unnecessary'). Although not every season 1-2 show came out on VHS (as far as I remember), they at least weren't shorn of the original opening. There were apparently enough complaints that the opening was left intact beginning with the season 3 release.
Soap and
Wonder Woman: A small handful of episodes from both shows came out in edited syndication versions on the DVDs, despite having previously being released uncut on the previous 'subscription' VHS releases from Columbia House/reTV. Likely, a case of the wrong masters being used and no-one catching the mistake.
Monty Python's Flying Circus: A&E made
several mistakes with their DVD release of this show, with a handful of episodes containing edits (and censoring) to them, episodes which were previously issued uncut on VHS by Paramount.
(Region 2)
The Six Million Dollar Man: On the DVD set, all three of the original pilot movies are presented in their 2-part 'syndication' versions, which apart from dispensing with the original title sequences, also means the loss of actual story footage, due to making edits to fit in the "scenes from last week" and extra opening/closing for the 'part 2' for each. On the original PAL VHS releases, the first two pilot movies were released in their original TV movie format.
What's so distressing about many of the "edited episodes" goof ups is that nearly all of these problems could be avoided if the DVD companies would use 'fan/consultants' to help identify if they were given uncut masters for the episodes. For many shows (particularly one with the dedicated fan base that Python has), they could probably have secured the services of a knowledgeable fan/consultant who wouldn't even have expected to be paid.
