Any 'in hand' reviews of "The Critic" and "Dilbert" yet??? (1 Viewer)

[Rick P]

Call me paranoid if you like (ok fulike.. you're paranoid) but I'm becoming nervous on the release of these two. I have the full, unmolested run of both sitting on a 120gb HD (made from original airings) ready to be transformed into homemade DVD's but have been sitting on them since the 'rumblings' of their release came forth. But I'm seeing things that are starting to bother me.

Now, remember that these are (reasonably) recent shows (The Critic and Dilbert both edit down to ~22 minutes each sans commercials) so one would think that further trimming of them for broadcast on Comedy Central would be unnecessary, but I have noticed some odd 'trims' in some of the recent Dilbert showings, usually in things that could be considered 'subversive' by some people (the entire "Who do we really want to be President" sthick I detailed in another message for one).

It makes me wonder if there are going to be the FULL versions or some that have been 'politically corrected' (see: "Futurama" and "Family Guy" edits) or am I just being a worry wart?

Has anyone actually gotten these in hand for a review (looks at calendar with a release about 30 days out... waves hand in air to volunteer to critically review same for content as well as overall release if anyone want's a rookie reviewer)

 

[JustinCleveland]

What in Futurama or Family Guy was edited? I noticed nothing.

 

[Rob Lutter]

Family Guy had an Osama bin Ladin joke lifted in the first season.

 

[PienSavaca]

Futurama changed a mention of "JFK jr Airport" after his plane crash/ death.

Family Guy dropped a Osama Bin Laden comment in an airport/ metal detector scene.

Also, Sex and the City season 2 changed a JFK jr reference to "Leonardo DiCaprio". .... made... no... sense.... Leo is L.A., and JFK jr was all around NYC... where the show is set.

The Critic MAY have it's main titles changed, as it featured the WTC. Anybody have a "Mad about You" DVD set? It had similar main titles in its original airings.

 

[Joel C]

Friends has the WTC all over the place.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Also removed was a scene with a JFK Pez dispenser being shot in the head. There were more changes too, which are listed in detail in other Family Guy threads. (Use "search".)

 

[David Lambert]

WTC was not dropped from Mad About You, nor do I expect it to be dropped from The Critic.

 

[Rick P]

Considering that the WTC opening is still in place on the airings on Comedy Central that didn't worry me too much (a little but that would have required changed to every episodes).

I am still concerned about the 'recent' trims that have been happening on Dilbert. And they are 'recent' since I have versions recorded a coupla of months before that have the bits in place (re: elections).

As an aside... Episode 1 of Dilbert, "The Name" is NOT broadcast on the Canadian service TeleToon because it "could be upsetting in the wake of the events of 9/11" (huh???), Neither is the "Infernal Wedding" episode of "The Ripping Friends" for the same reasons.

 

[Anthony Clifton]

I didn't know this. Thanks for pointing it out. The scene is easily found all over the Internet; they're not stopping its release by not having it on the DVD.

Having only seen a few episodes I was going to eventually buy the first set. Now I'll pass.

 

[Rick P]

Well, in a (weak) defense of the Osama being dropped, it HAS been removed from the versions showing now in syndication (I believe it was only in the 1st airing, BICBR). And Seth McFarlane was SUPPOSED to be on one of the planes that was hijacked. There are differing opinions on who removed it (some say FOX, some say Seth, some say Seth didn't care...).

PERSONALLY it should have at least been a deleted scene on the disc.. or they should have re-animated a new sequence (would have been funny to have Saddam doing show tunes).

 

[RichD]

The UK edition of Family Guy on DVD has the unedited Osama scene. It's a lousy edition, otherwise, that came out long before we got Family Guy in R1.

Wonder if DVD sales of Dilbert could bring the show back to life? I thought some of the later episodes were amusing.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

While on principle I'm against censoring shows, as a big fan of Family Guy, I don't think that scene being deleted is enough of a reason to boycott the set. The show is too brilliant, and there are plenty of other "I can't believe they just said that!" moments in all of the episodes. You're denying yourself the chance to see some of the best episodic comedy/satire ever if you chose not to buy the set solely because of that edit.

 

[Anthony Clifton]

Josh, I know what you're saying. I'm sure I'd enjoy most of the episodes. It's just that this one was a borderline purchase (I don't buy many DVDs these days) and the censoring thing pushes it over the line to "no thanks" for me. Maybe I'll just rent 'em or something.

 

[JustinCleveland]

McFarlaine addresses the removal of the comment in depth on the commentary for the DVD, and I didn't view it as censorship, since he was the creator and he wanted it removed. It wasn't done for political correctness sake (lord knows they don't care about that) instead it was done because they found it less-than-funny now, with all things considered.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

 

[Josh Steinberg]

At the least, yeah, I'd say rent them for the entertainment value. My personal feeling on the matter is that if one tiny little moment lasting mere seconds is deleted from one episode out of a four disc boxset, it's not worth refusing to buy the set over - particularly in this case where it would appear that Seth McFarlane didn't really have strong feelings about it one way or the other. And wasn't it removed for the syndication run, before DVDs were even put out? I could be wrong about that.

At any rate, I really think they did a top-notch job with both DVD sets, giving you the entire series over two box sets, both very reasonably priced, with some great commentaries, etc. I was especially pleased that the unaired "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" episode was included in the DVD set - if you want to have a talk about censorship, I would say that Fox's decision to allow something on the DVD that they wouldn't allow on the air more than makes up for the Bin Laden thing.

Again, I'm not a fan of censorship, but I think there are times when you have to pick and choose your battles, and this one doesn't seem worth fighting.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

There was more than one "tiny little moment" removed. But as far as I know, the episodes on the second FG box set (season 3) were not edited.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I didn't realize that - thanks for bringing that to my attention Jeff, I appreciate it.

Oh well.

I still laugh my ass off every time I see the show, so edited or not, I'm not parting with it. Most of my favorites are on the second box set (season three) anyhow, and I'm pretty sure those weren't edited.

 

[Scott_J]

First review of "The Critic," but it doesn't answer the question of edits. It does, however, give high marks to both the video and extras quality.

http://www.dvdmoviecentral.com/ReviewsText/critic.htm

The review mentions that the "Fun Facts," etc. that appeared before the Shockwave shorts, as the cartoon loaded, are included on each of the shorts on the DVD. I've waited a while for this to come out on DVD, but Columbia seems to have made this release well worth the wait.

 

[Josh Sieg]

I remember watching the critic when i was like 7 or 8 years old. I think it ran Monday or Tuesday nights. I remember this being funny then, and I'm sure its even funnier now.