Artisan's Response Re: Rambo 3 SE - No Subt's for Russian Lines (1 Viewer)

[David Glenn]

After further thought, I felt this topic needed a separate thread. If mods feel otherwise, feel free to merge away.

I just got off the phone with a few people from Artisan. I first contacted their MIS Department after conducting a whois on their URL. I asked them if I could speak to someone from their Home Entertainment Division.

I was then transferred to a "Secretary" who told me the subtitles for the russian speaking parts were left out on purpose. I then asked her why; since not everybody speaks Russian and that's how the film was originally released (with burned subs). She did not have an answer. I then asked her if that was Artisan's official response and she said no and put me on hold. She then came back and asked me if I was a Journalist and I said no, I am a consumer. She then transferred me to someone by the name of Miguel in their "dvd department" but I was only able to get his voice mail.

I left him a detailed message and will post his reply here.

I basically said I needed to know if Artisan plans on reissuing Rambo 3 with the english subs specifically during the Russian speaking parts.

 

[Dave H]

It's quite interesting when you ask "why?" they don't have an answer. I may be wrong, but I think this was just a goof-up or mistake on Artisan's part by leaving out the subtitles. I don't think they actually intended leaving them out as you were told. Maybe Miguel will have the answer.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Next time when they ask you if you are a journalist, say yes. They don't want bad press and won't put you off like some lowly customer.

 

[David Glenn]

I thought about doing that but I really wanted to see how they respond to their customers.
We may have to resort to the journalist route.

 

[Larry Gardner]

Glenn:

Do you have their phone number. I have tried contacting them via email many times on their failure to provide English subtitles on their releases. I have NEVER received a response.

I do not understand why, if they can provide Spanish subtitlers, why they cannot provide English subtitles. Many people do not have TV's with builtin closed caption decoders - and don't need to when purchasing a DVD player, since most companies provide English subtitles in some shape or form.

Even with CC, much of the bottom screen is obliterated with the CC black box - whioch you do not have with the transparent subtitle box.

I would like to get a definitive answer from them - soon.

 

[Randy A Salas]

We may have to resort to the journalist route.

Consider yourself resorted. I already ran an item in yesterday's newspaper that Rambo III had this problem. I'm waiting to hear back from Artisan's PR people on how/if it will be fixed.

 

[David Glenn]

Larry,
As I mentioned in the first post of this thread my first contact with Artisan was with their MIS Department from conducting a whois query. They then transfered me to another department.
Here's the contact info I originally posted in the DVDTalk forum:
Coming soon to DVD... T2
It appears Artisan's website is a bit outdated but I found the following contact info within their privacy policy:
"If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you may contact Artisan by mail at Artisan Pictures, Inc., 2700 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404, by telephone at (310) 449-9200, or by e-mail at [email protected]."
Also, here's the results of a whois:
Registrant:
Artisan Entertainment (ARTISANENT-DOM)
2700 Colorado Avenue, 2nd Floor
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Domain Name: ARTISANENT.COM
Administrative Contact:
DNS Hostmaster (LC626-ORG) [email protected]
Artisan Entertainment
2700 Colorado Avenue, 2nd Floor
Santa Monica, CA 90404
US
(310) 255-3942 Fax- - (310) 255-3990
Fax- - - (310) 255-3990

 

[Randy A Salas]

I'm waiting to hear back from Artisan's PR people on how/if it will be fixed.

I finally heard back from Artisan via their PR firm. The studio does not plan to redo Rambo 3 to correct the missing English subtitles for the Russian scene. When I asked why, the spokesman replied that 1) Artisan has not really heard from that many consumers about the problem; 2) I was the only journalist, along with one web site, to ask about it (both 1 and 2 signaling to the studio that it's not that big of a deal); and 3) the scenes are so short and the whole matter so negligible that they don't merit the costs of recalling and replacing the existing discs.
:frowning:

 

[Craig Beam]

Randy Salas! I knew that name looked familiar! How's life, ya old dog? Remember me? (does the name Krieger ring a bell?)

 

[Keith E]

Did the original DVD relaease of Rambo III have the Russian subtitles? If so, I think I'll see if I can hunt it down somewhere.

 

[Rolando]

here's what i mailed to the 2 addresses on that previous post:

Hello,



Not sure which department needs to know but I hope this info will reach them. I was disappointed to find out Rambo 3 was missing the subtitle translation to English in the scenes where Russian was spoken.



The translation appeared in the original theatrical presentation and has now been omitted in this release. I hope you will replace my copy with a corrected version with the subtitles appearing in it’s proper place. I have at least one friend who will NOT be purchasing this set due to this error and will keep his current copies rather than purchase this new, improved but flawed re-release.


Hoping you will resolve this issue,


Have a great day!


Rolando Avendano

 

[John H Ross]

3) the scenes are so short and the whole matter so negligible that they don't merit the costs of recalling and replacing the existing discs.

Well if's THAT'S how they want to play it, then this new set does not merit the hard-earned money that I had initially intended to spend on it.
If I'm going to suffer a "flawed" product, I'd rather stick with my original version of this set.
Shame on you Artisan, for treating customers with such contempt
John
PS. Is the on-screen caption indicating that the film moves to "Peshawar" shortly after the opening credits also missing from this so-called "improved" release?

 

[Kelly W]

3) the scenes are so short and the whole matter so negligible that they don't merit the costs of recalling and replacing the existing discs.

How many lines/scenes are in question here? I know Rambo movies are not really "plot-intensive", but do the missing lines result in the loss of important information? Are there entire scenes in Russian, or only a few lines?

I'd been waiting for this set, but have held off on buying it due to this issue. I understand the importance of complete subtitles (I sent back my mis-subbed Bond DVDs, for example), but if these lines are, in fact, "negligible" I may still pick up a used copy at some point.

It's true that Artisan is not my favorite studio right now, but how serious is the subtitle problem in terms of understanding the movie?

Thanks!!!

-Kelly