'TV versions' on Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Camper]

As an old timer I must say i was always facinated by the extended cuts of movies when they were first show on TV in the 70s & 80s.

But as my memory fades i can only remeber a hand full of genre titles

Superman 1-3
Trek 1 & 2
Dune
Aliens


From Superman 1 they only had two brief 'lion pit' scenes included in the SD DVD version--none on the blu-ray
Superman 2 the donner cut included afew of the TV shots.
Superman 3 had an extended opening sequence, but it's not on blu yet.

The upcoming Trek 1 blu-ray will include some of the scenes from the TV version as deleted scenes.
The trek 2 blu won't have any in this first release.

I have two questions.........

1. Can anyone tell me what else was in the superman #1 TV version that's not in the extended cut?

2. What other movies had extended TV versions and has any of that material seen Blu-ray yet?


Thanks.

 

[Michael Rogers]

I like to collect TV versions of movies with a lot of changes.

There is a great deal of scenes and extensions of scenes in Superman: The Movie (which added 40+ minutes to the ABC showing and even a few minutes more to what is referred to as the KCOP version) to the and to a lesser extent the other Superman movies.

Other notable extended/altered TV versions of movies:

Earthquake: a few scenes added in and a whole additional subplot shot for TV.

Godfather 1 and 2: F.F. Coppola took both movies, reedited them chronologically and added in many formally unseen scenes.

Two Minute Warning: Original plot of a sniper at a football game (who's motive is never discovered) was deemed unsuitable for network TV. So a whole lot of additional scenes were filmed which reworked the plot to have the sniper be in league with a bunch of art thieves trying to heist the museum close to the stadium. The sniper scenes were reworked so that he was mainly shooting to scare, not to kill.

Airport 1977: Added nearly an hour of additional scenes, adding new subplots and flashbacks.

Airport 1979: had about 20+ minutes of additional scenes. Reportedly, some were shot especially for TV. TV version had some name actors that didn't appear in the original version like William Schallert and José Ferrer.

The Towering Inferno: 20+ minutes of additional scenes.

King Kong (1976): About 45 minutes of additional scenes.

Midway: 30 minutes, maybe more of additional scenes.

1941: 28 minutes additional scenes.

The idea behind additional scenes in big movies in the 70's and 80's is to inflate the time slot it was in and possibly make it a 2 night deal (to sell more advertising).

Right now, there is not really any that I know of that have these cut scenes available on blu-ray (save for Superman 1 and 2). I hope that changes.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Hoo boy--it's a LOT! Here's what I (foggily) recall:

1.) Extended dialogue with the Kryptonian Council members.

2.) Long tracking and reaction shots of Lana and Brad in their car (no dialogue really).

3.) The villains scene goes on while Miss Techsmacher complains about their underground lair. SOME of this is on the special edition dvd, but not the entire scene.

4.) An extended scene with Larry Hagman as the Army commander; he tries to give Miss Techsmacher mouth-to-mouth and she complains about his breath.

5.) A little additional dialogue with the girl who got her cat caught in the tree. Now, it's interesting because when that additional dialogue comes on, you hear the actual on-camera actress's voice (she had a thick British accent, and said something like "He's such a nahwty caht.") In the regular version, all her dialogue has been looped by an American actress.

6.) A scene where Otis is trying, and failing, to steer the remote-control car. Luthor says to him "Mr. Otis, do you live in England? Because you're driving it on the left side of the road..."

7.) A long sequence in which the earthquake breaks the dam and causes the river to happily run off into an impoverished Mexican town. Has little kids joyfully playing in their newfound water.

8.) The scene (later used in Superman II: The Donner Version) in which Perry White is trying to brush his teeth but time starts running backwards.

Here's a little somethin' somethin' about the deleted scenes. Mods may delete link if I made a TOS boo-boo by posting it lol

http://markshields.com/video-superma...roadcast.shtml

There are more scenes, mostly extensions of existing scenes and additional dialogue. Some of it turned up in the dvd special edition, most did not. All in all I think the tv version from the 80s had approx. 50 additional minutes in there!

 

[Michael Rogers]

The impoverished village was actually the place where that Native American that Lois was interviewing belonged. In the KCOP version there is an additional line where he says that the only reason why they are considering selling the land the village is is on is because the dam diverts water away from them. A later addition shows Lois dropping him off at that town.

When Superman diverts the water away from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (I affectionately call it that because the miniature work was bad in that scene) the water flows into that village that Luthor was going to buy.

 

[Brian McHale]

I recall some extra scenes in Blazing Saddles. Specifically, I remember some additional efforts by Sheriff Bart to defeat Mongo. I don't know if these scenes made it to the BD, though.

 

[Ethan Riley]

The deleted scenes are in the extras but not re-inserted into the movie, as they are in the tv version.

 

[Jay Pennington]

The additional Blazing Saddles scenes (there are several) are available as extras on the BD. Not re-incorporated into the film.

 

[BrettGallman]

Halloween also had a TV version that was released by AB as "the extended edition" of the film.

 

[Mike.B]

Though to be clear, the TV version of Halloween is only available on DVD.

Wish they release a deluxe blu-ray of the film with both versions, all available extras, and of course the correct color timing.

 

[Scott D S]

Someone asked about this at a WB chat in 2007:

VincentPrendergast: Some recent releases such as Quick Change & Looker have been of films that are known for having extra scenes when shown on TV. While it's understandable that these scenes wouldn't be integrated into the film on DVD, they have not even been present on the discs as deleted scenes. Is there a particular reason for this? As someone who loves Quick Change & grew up watching it on TV I was greatly disappointed the extra scenes weren't included.

WARNER: Good question. We were not aware of these issues in either case. Had we known, and had the material been available, we would have included them as extra scenes. We always try to do each film right. We have many folks on staff who help with these things, and both films you mention were two where we didn't know there was more to be had.

I hope WB and the other studios remember this for their Blu-Ray releases. I'm thinking specifically of the Police Academy films. Only the DVD for 4 has the additional TV scenes (included as a supplement) but all the films have deleted footage (the less said about Mission to Moscow, the better).

PA 3 in particular has some funny stuff.

 

[Camper]

Thanks to all for the info and especially to Ethan for the Superman stuff.

I think Donner made the right choice in leaving that stuff out of his DC.