Monty Python's Flying Circus 45th anniversary remasterer/ reissue? (1 Viewer)

This year is the 45th anniversary of this British comedy classic. The existing A&E "16 ton megaset" DVD collection is full of problems, such as various missing segments of episodes, and the unremastered, non-widescreen transfer of "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (Unless I'm wrong, I believe this program was originally filmed and/or shown with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 or thereabouts). The episodes look mostly okay, but just don't look so great on today's larger TVs, something I'm sure could be greatly improved with a new remastered set or season sets. I realise that the show will probably never be issued on Blu-ray due to most of the interior scenes having been shot on videotape (with exteriors done on film), as was the standard practice for scripted shows in Britain then - which lacks the resolution necessary for true HD. According to the Wikipedia page for the show, a remastered/ restored set of the complete series was released in 2007 in Region 2/B only. I find it surprising that A&E (assuming they still hold the U.S. rights) would let this anniversary pass without putting out a new edition or collection of some kind.

Perfect time now, since the Pythons have re-united (at least for a short while).

Those A&E discs weren't even as complete as the Paramount VHS/Laserdisc releases from the 1980s. What went wrong and why did they never do anything about it?

gimmie

I truly wouldn't hold my breath. New remastered transfers exist for The Avengers and have been released in the UK, but A&E still just re-released their old 1990's transfers in new packaging again. Not a hopeful sign that they're interested in upgrading their titles.

JohnMor said:

I truly wouldn't hold my breath. New remastered transfers exist for The Avengers and have been released in the UK, but A&E still just re-released their old 1990's transfers in new packaging again. Not a hopeful sign that they're interested in upgrading their titles.

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Heck... A&E *still* doesn't do CC, subtitles, or anamorphic WS on most releases while charging premium prices. They are truly stuck in the past.

Hasn't A&E's conctract expireded? Monty Python could easily go to Acron or maybe 2 | Entertain under BBC Video, but as BBC Video is under Warner, I would dread to see how WB would handle Python.

darkrock17 said:

Hasn't A&E's conctract expireded? Monty Python could easily go to Acron or maybe 2 | Entertain under BBC Video, but as BBC Video is under Warner, I would dread to see how WB would handle Python.

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...a $200 dollar set packaged in a giant foot with a replica of the 16 ton anvil inside, while using the same old A&E masters.

$200, more like $500 as WB knows how popular MP is

I don't believe BBC has any legal claims on the ownership of the series.

MatthewA said:

I don't believe BBC has any legal claims on the ownership of the series.

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BBC greenlighted the show, so I think they have some claim to copyrights

darkrock17 said:

BBC greenlighted the show, so I think they have some claim to copyrights

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Not necessarily.

I mean, does CBS have any claim on MASH just because they aired it?

If BBC had anything to do with the series, the sets probably would have been released by the BBC instead of A&E. The copyright reads "Python (Monty) Pictures, Limited", and that's all.

In fact, here, Wiki provides...

In 1974, the PBS station KERA in Dallas was the first television station in the United States to broadcast episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and is often credited with introducing the programme to American audiences. When several episodes were broadcast by ABC in their Wide World of Entertainment showcase in 1975, the episodes were re-edited, thus losing the continuity and flow intended in the originals. When ABC refused to stop treating the series in this way, the Pythons took them to court. Initially the court ruled that their artistic rights had indeed been violated, but it refused to stop the ABC broadcasts. However, on appeal the team gained control over all subsequent US broadcasts of its programmes.The case also led to their gaining the rights from the BBC, once their original contracts ended at the end of 1980.

So any studio could take over basicaly if A&E's contract was up, does A&E even know they still own this? as it's been a few year's since we saw MP Personal Best collection.

darkrock17 said:

Hasn't A&E's conctract expireded? Monty Python could easily go to Acron or maybe 2 | Entertain under BBC Video, but as BBC Video is under Warner, I would dread to see how WB would handle Python.

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From what I understand, Warner's arrangement with BBC Video is merely a distribution agreement. They have no say in the content of such a release, aside from packaging maybe. For an example, I own several of their classic Doctor Who releases and there is apparently no difference in disc content between them and their Region 2 counterparts.

The BBC apparently no longer have any video rights to MPFC whatsoever (and for what its worth, they never even released full episodes when they did). Even in the UK they've transferred over to Sony.

Furthermore, the show was made on old videotape and some material was excised and wiped in the early 1980s. There's nothing you can do there.

FTR - Usually the BBC does retain the rights to all its in-house productions. This is one of the rare exceptions.

2nd FTR - Hollywood Bowl was actually shot on videotape and transfered to film. Its going to look awful no matter what they do.

This series was shot on PAL video. As was standard for BBC / British comedies of the time (e.g. Fawlty Towers), only outdoor scenes were shot on 16mm film, and heaven only knows if that film still exists.Maybe they could take another pass on the video masters, though. I'd be all over a new UK set for remastered video at in the correct PAL format.

Tom St Jones said:

and the unremastered, non-widescreen transfer of "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (Unless I'm wrong, I believe this program was originally filmed and/or shown with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 or thereabouts).

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I saw it in the theater when originally released, can't remember the aspect ratio. I DO know, however, that it was shot on videotape, then transferred to film.

Taped shows are easier to restore from what I've been told. MP did do a lot of on location though, so that would need the most restoring, though from all the copies I've seen, I think all outdoor scenes were meant to look like they were faded and worn out.

Albert71292 said:

I saw it in the theater when originally released, can't remember the aspect ratio. I DO know, however, that it was shot on videotape, then transferred to film.

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I didn't realise it was shot on videotape. Unless it was some super-resolution videotape we've never heard of, this doesn't bode well for an HD version.
Perhaps if the original master videotape still exists, it could be remastered from that. From there, they could easily recreate the "film look" using today's technology. Anything would be an improvement over the version of the movie we currently have.

Tape shows are NOT easier to restore. Just look at most entries on the Doctor Who Restoration Team's website and how much of a pain in the neck the Jon Pertwee era (which ran contemporaneous with Python albeit with worse archiving) was.