Bewitched - Seasons 3 and 4 Blu-ray coming from Imprint (1 Viewer)

[David*P]

My set is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow! Can’t wait!!

 

[David*P]

View attachment IMG_6351.jpegView attachment IMG_6352.jpegView attachment IMG_6353.jpegView attachment IMG_6354.jpegView attachment IMG_6355.jpeg BRAVO IMPRINT! The picture on the episodes is absolutely crisp and clear! Some episodes (ie “Bewitched, Bothered, annd Infuriated” and “Business, Italian Style”) are drastically improved from the DVD versions! Another big selling point is that the box is very sturdy plus the booklet with screen grabs and story information from the original Screen Gems episode descriptions.

Sadly, Sony didn’t provide Imprint with the season appropriate theme songs so we just have the generic theme. We do have the Screen Gems logo at the end, though.

I did want to mention three very minor issues:

1) The photo on the back was taken during Season Five.

2) In Season Three’s “My Friend Ben,” when Samantha zaps up the tankard of ale, just before it appears there is supposed to be one frame of a ball of light - that isn’t on this set.

3) In Season Four’s “Splitsville” when Darrin goes to eat the soybean brownie there is a brief scene showing him throwing it discreetly over his shoulder - that little scene is missing.

Like I said, MINOR issues. Because overall, these are stellar sets! Most definitely recommend!

 

[Jack P]

Sadly, Sony didn’t provide Imprint with the season appropriate theme songs so we just have the generic theme. We do have the Screen Gems logo at the end, though.

I have no reason to buy then. I've never been the biggest fan of the show to begin with and seeing it restored to the way it should be for its theme would have given me a reason to upgrade.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks David for your posting about the season 3 and 4 set. Looks like your set arrived safe and sound.

 

[ScottRE]

Sadly, Sony didn’t provide Imprint with the season appropriate theme songs so we just have the generic theme. We do have the Screen Gems logo at the end, though.

Weird that the effort to restore the opening was done in the initial set but not these? I'd love to know if these are new scans of the 35mm prints or did they go back to the existing Sony prints for the color seasons?

2) In Season Three’s “My Friend Ben,” when Samantha zaps up the tankard of ale, just before it appears there is supposed to be one frame of a ball of light - that isn’t on this set.

3) In Season Four’s “Splitsville” when Darrin goes to eat the soybean brownie there is a brief scene showing him throwing it discreetly over his shoulder - that little scene is missing.

Like I said, MINOR issues. Because overall, these are stellar sets! Most definitely recommend!

Point 2 is minor, but still a cut and point 3 is a little more serious because it's an omission of a gag. It may seem minor but to a fan, it depends. It's still a cut bit. For a show without music clearance issues, they should be uncut. Do the earlier DVDs have these pieces intact?

Appreciate the rundown, and as always the packaging is gorgeous. I have unanswered questions about the mastering. And now I wonder if the Mill Creek set will contain the same prints as Imprint, which may account for the hold up. But that's a discussion for the dedicated thread.

 

[Anthonydasher]

I'm conflicted about these Imprint releases. On the one hand, I have no doubt that they will best, in every conceivable way, the Mill Creek complete series release that is supposedly coming out in July (assuming it doesn't get pushed back yet again), but I have the Mill Creek full series set on pre-order for less than $90, whereas to get just the first 4 seasons from Imprint would cost $200+. By the time Imprint releases all 8 seasons, the total price tag will likely be approaching $400. I'm probably not enough of a Bewitched superfan to make that kind of an investment and will stick with the economy version. Again, assuming Mill Creek finally releases it one of these days...

Ive purchased all 4 seasons but season 3&4 images are beautifully pristine. To me its worth the money as ill watch these repeatedly. The older I get the more I appreciate and respect the craft represented by these actors and production staff, for basically an assembly line production the results are wonderful. The comic timing and writing were above average for this period and it shows.

 

[SD_Brian]

To me its worth the money as ill watch these repeatedly.

As I've gone back and forth over which version of the Blu-ray to get, I have kept reminding myself of the fact that I've had the first season DVD sitting on my shelf for years and have never gotten around to watching the whole thing.

 

[ScottRE]

2) In Season Three’s “My Friend Ben,” when Samantha zaps up the tankard of ale, just before it appears there is supposed to be one frame of a ball of light - that isn’t on this set.

3) In Season Four’s “Splitsville” when Darrin goes to eat the soybean brownie there is a brief scene showing him throwing it discreetly over his shoulder - that little scene is missing.

So I went back and dug up my Sony and Mill Creek sets to check these episodes. Neither of them have the bits you mention. However, there aren't any skips in the music - both scenes have underscore at the time. So there isn't an obvious edit in either case. In the case of "My Friend Ben" the lack of the "light" would be consistent with Sam's powers as I remember them.

For "Splitsville" it seems pretty obvious that Dick York has nothing in his mouth and he's miming chewing, but again, the edit is impossible to detect. These seem to be straight from the Sony prints.

A similar edit was done on I Dream of Jeannie "Meet My Master's Mother" as Jeannie was trying to wake up Tony's mom, as some fans claimed something was missing, but there were likewise no edits in the soundtrack and the episode running time is consistent with the other episodes.

With all of the micro edits done on these two series, I don't doubt some pieces are missing. But - and please don't take this the wrong way - but is it possible you are misremembering the pre-1990's prints of these episodes?

Allowing your memory is accurate, these edits were done on the studio side and as seamlessly as possible.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

So I went back and dug up my Sony and Mill Creek sets to check these episodes. Neither of them have the bits you mention. However, there aren't any skips in the music - both scenes have underscore at the time. So there isn't an obvious edit in either case. In the case of "My Friend Ben" the lack of the "light" would be consistent with Sam's powers as I remember them.

For "Splitsville" it seems pretty obvious that Dick York has nothing in his mouth and he's miming chewing, but again, the edit is impossible to detect. These seem to be straight from the Sony prints.

A similar edit was done on I Dream of Jeannie "Meet My Master's Mother" as Jeannie was trying to wake up Tony's mom, as some fans claimed something was missing, but there were likewise no edits in the soundtrack and the episode running time is consistent with the other episodes.

With all of the micro edits done on these two series, I don't doubt some pieces are missing. But - and please don't take this the wrong way - but is it possible you are misremembering the pre-1990's prints of these episodes?

Allowing your memory is accurate, these edits were done on the studio side and as seamlessly as possible.

Longtime fan here. I grew up watching Bewitched in the 1970s, and I can confirm that a few seconds are missing from that Splitsville episode. Mrs. Kravitz offers Darrin one of her soybean brownies, and he reluctantly takes one, and when she isn't looking, he throws it over his shoulder, and when she turns around, he pretends to be chewing it and enjoying it. lol It aired in syndication and I probably still have it on VHS somewhere, but when they were remastered, they cut it out. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[BobO'Link]

It's somewhat infuriating about all the little throw away jokes that get excised when a series gets edited for syndication. Sometimes those edits are for later syndication efforts when there's a need for *just one more 30 second slot."

It reminds me of my TV days when the camera people were inserting leader into filmed copies of TV shows/movies for air. If more time was needed they were instructed to do an insert at a "fade to black" and cut an extra 20-30 seconds out of the program, either or both sides, for that extra commercial slot. Pure butchery. And those cut bits of film didn't always make it back into the reel, which was sent out to the next station, cut and shorter than it should have been.

 

[ScottRE]

Longtime fan here. I grew up watching Bewitched in the 1970s, and I can confirm that a few seconds are missing from that Splitsville episode. Mrs. Kravitz offers Darrin one of her soybean brownies, and he reluctantly takes one, and when she isn't looking, he throws it over his shoulder, and when she turns around, he pretends to be chewing it and enjoying it. lol It aired in syndication and I probably still have it on VHS somewhere, but when they were remastered, they cut it out. I'll see if I can find it.

I appreciate the confirmation, thanks! I will say, if I wasn't told those bits were missing, I would never suspect - other than Darren's fake chewing was a tipoff. The edit is that smooth.

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

I have been on the fence about these ever since the first announcement. Apart from the glowing reviews from folks who have the sets in hand and those beauty shots of the package contents, a few things got me to take the plunge on this despite some lil' edits(a question about that coming up):

1) Elizabeth Montgomery = Devastatingly gorgeous, early teevee crush!

2) Uncle Arthur. Many people have an inner monologue or "thinking voice"-- mine IS Paul Lynde! Lemme play it for ya: "Yaga-zoozie, yaga-zoozie, yaga-zoozie, ZIMMM!"

3) Endora. She spells out villainy with glamorous, naughty Diva perfection!

4) Alice Ghostley. Elevates everything she appeared (or partially disappeared) in!

I've only revisited this series once since I was quite young but it's like Gilligan's Island in that I've seen the shows so many times back then I feel like I've lived in that house! And it is time I went through the series again. Hopefully, it pushes all the nostalgic feels buttons and provides the warm fuzzies I sooo need during this difficult part of my life.

Now, about the chopped episodes and, hopefully clean titles with the correct instrumentals-- can someone who has those in good quality shoot me a good ol' pm? <hint, hint> Hoping to compile a sorta Ultimate Collection, a-la The Drew Carey fan sets. Or, can you point me to what I need to find on the second-hand market (outside of a 16mm collection) to get reasonable copies of those episodes? Old VHS releases, maybe?

 

[Garysb]

We wont know until Mill Creek releases its version but I can't think of a reason why Mill Creek would not get the same transfers as Imprint. The Imprint version will look better due to fewer episodes per disk. The Mill Creek most likely will not have the colorized episodes as their DVD set did not and they want to keep the number of discs used as low as possible. Why would Sony give Mill Creek the DVD masters for their blu ray when they made new masters. Maybe they did and Mill Creek found out there were new masters and said we want those and that is why the set has been delayed nearly a year.

Was it ever confirmed that Mill Creek used actual B&W instead of the colorized episodes with the color turmed off on their DVD release? The only proof I remember was that the year 2000 copyright notice used on the colorized versions was missing on the Mill Creek version but present on the earlier Sony release of the B&W non colorized episodes.

Alice Pierce was so much more likable as Gladys Kravitz than Sandra Gould. It's hard to believe the writers just wrote for the character and not the actor which was something they said about the two Darrins . When Alice Pierce died they should have replaced her with a new character instead of a recast. It would have been much easier to do than getting rid of Darrin and having Samantha marry someone new. Though after it had been done I think it would have been better for the show. As far as Darrin is concerned aside from the remakes there was at least one 2 part episode that was written for Dick York that Dick Sargent did. Those were the season 6 episodes where Maurice gives Darrin a watch that allows him to do witchcraft. The first of those was the episode Dick York was filming when he had his seizure and was removed to the hospital never to return. They cobbled together a Season 5 episode where Maurice turns Darrin into a donkey after he refuses a gift from Maurice that allows him to do witchcraft. Dick York appears only in the opening teaser and a few seconds at the end using footage from the teaser. He filmed more but those were the only things used. He was filming or rehearsing the scene where Darrin and Maurice are invisible, listening in at the Bliss Pharmaceuticals board meeting. They filmed this with them sitting on top of ladders, which on the show would appear like they were floating near the ceiling. Dick started to feel ill and asked to be helped down. Shortly after, while still on the set, he had the seizure.

 

[ScottRE]

We wont know until Mill Creek releases its version but I can't think of a reason why Mill Creek would not get the same transfers as Imprint. The Imprint version will look better due to fewer episodes per disk. The Mill Creek most likely will not have the colorized episodes as their DVD set did not and they want to keep the number of discs used as low as possible. Why would Sony give Mill Creek the DVD masters for their blu ray when they made new masters. Maybe they did and Mill Creek found out there were new masters and said we want those and that is why the set has been delayed nearly a year.

That's my hope as well.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

I found the clip on facebook, but I can't seem to create a link to it. Its on The Bewitched History Book by David Pierce page. Once there, do a search of past posts for Splitsville, and it should come up.

 

[ScottRE]

I found the clip on facebook, but I can't seem to create a link to it. Its on The Bewitched History Book by David Pierce page. Once there, do a search of past posts for Splitsville, and it should come up.

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I appreciate you I retract my doubts and compliment Sony on their skill in excising the scene without a noticeable cut. Even though it shouldn't be missing in the first place since it's actually a gag and not something like a piece of music or an effects flash.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

I appreciate you I retract my doubts and compliment Sony on their skill in excising the scene without a noticeable cut. Even though it shouldn't be missing in the first place since it's actually a gag and not something like a piece of music or an effects flash.

I don't know why it was cut but it might have been the outside video facility doing the remastering. I remember a few years ago when MPI was releasing Dark Shadows on DVD for the first time, that the outside video facility was editing out the bloopers and flubs within the show thinking they were doing a favor without MPI's knowledge. Luckily, a fan noticed the edits and informed MPI and they put a stop to it. It was fixed for the complete series boxed coffin set. Here's the discussion:
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/dark-shadows-dvd-sets-6-and-7-edited.142747/

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

I just wrote DLT Entertainment and asked them if they could change distributors for the spin-offs. This company doesn't deserve them.

I don't know why it was cut but it might have been the outside video facility doing the remastering. I remember a few years ago when MPI was releasing Dark Shadows on DVD for the first time, that the outside video facility was editing out the bloopers and flubs within the show thinking they were doing a favor without MPI's knowledge. Luckily, a fan noticed the edits and informed MPI and they put a stop to it. It was fixed for the complete series boxed coffin set. Here's the discussion:
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/dark-shadows-dvd-sets-6-and-7-edited.142747/

One of the DVD forums had a discussion about some Bewitched differences regarding the Sony vs Mill Creek releases and there were screen grabs of the "orb of light", as well as mention of extra footage put back into one two-parter episode, but I can't remember what site or where to look. I could'a swore that Mill Creek had fixed some problems left in the previous sets but, of course, not the opening/closing theme issue.

Sometimes there are just careless errors in these big sets, like with the old Fawlty Towers release where the line, "Is it your legs?" got excised for no apparent reason. Or, when Gilligan's Island was prepped for VHS originally, and some footage of Gilligan zipping off on the jet pack got lost in the edit. That bit was restored for the dvd set and the hi-def downloads, but even the new 1080p transfers of Gilligan still have some problems like day shots with night filters, flipped images, and shots out of order.

Remember MASH when it first hit streaming and The Interview was released in color? I saved that episode (later corrected to b&w) as an extra feature and anomaly when I compiled my own Bluray set which also retains the original edit of Our Finest Hour from Columbia House VHS.

Worthy of note: The Doctor Who "Destruction" Team, as I call them, have been making their own personal choice changes to those programs for years and people have just accepted the "corrections" and judgement calls like no big deal. Funny thing is that the whole "restoration" project's initial goal was to restore the programs to as close to original transmission as possible-- until there was suddenly a budget! Then CGI, new credit sequences, camera blips that just had to be smoothed over, audio that was deemed to rough for release so, of course, the guy editing puts his own voice in as a Dalek and just loves it so, there! It stays!

This even extended to other shows like Monty Python's Flying Circus when it hit Bluray, where changes were made at the video producers' discretion, even when it was known that fans would expect a different result. Little jokes like the intentional jump-splicey look of the titles for How Not To Be Seen were "cleaned up" because those in charge decided it just wasn't supposed to look that way. Animations were alternately cleaned up to their advantage, and also edited to remove anything considered a mistake. A mistake in a Terry Jones cutout animation sequence shot hastily on 16mm and edited with cello-tape? Nah. Can't have that. It has to look like it was filmed professionally yesterday.

I, uh.. Need sleep, I guess? LOL

 

[Anthonydasher]

We wont know until Mill Creek releases its version but I can't think of a reason why Mill Creek would not get the same transfers as Imprint. The Imprint version will look better due to fewer episodes per disk. The Mill Creek most likely will not have the colorized episodes as their DVD set did not and they want to keep the number of discs used as low as possible. Why would Sony give Mill Creek the DVD masters for their blu ray when they made new masters. Maybe they did and Mill Creek found out there were new masters and said we want those and that is why the set has been delayed nearly a year.

Was it ever confirmed that Mill Creek used actual B&W instead of the colorized episodes with the color turmed off on their DVD release? The only proof I remember was that the year 2000 copyright notice used on the colorized versions was missing on the Mill Creek version but present on the earlier Sony release of the B&W non colorized episodes.

Alice Pierce was so much more likable as Gladys Kravitz than Sandra Gould. It's hard to believe the writers just wrote for the character and not the actor which was something they said about the two Darrins . When Alice Pierce died they should have replaced her with a new character instead of a recast. It would have been much easier to do than getting rid of Darrin and having Samantha marry someone new. Though after it had been done I think it would have been better for the show. As far as Darrin is concerned aside from the remakes there was at least one 2 part episode that was written for Dick York that Dick Sargent did. Those were the season 6 episodes where Maurice gives Darrin a watch that allows him to do witchcraft. The first of those was the episode Dick York was filming when he had his seizure and was removed to the hospital never to return. They cobbled together a Season 5 episode where Maurice turns Darrin into a donkey after he refuses a gift from Maurice that allows him to do witchcraft. Dick York appears only in the opening teaser and a few seconds at the end using footage from the teaser. He filmed more but those were the only things used. He was filming or rehearsing the scene where Darrin and Maurice are invisible, listening in at the Bliss Pharmaceuticals board meeting. They filmed this with them sitting on top of ladders, which on the show would appear like they were floating near the ceiling. Dick started to feel ill and asked to be helped down. Shortly after, while still on the set, he had the seizure.

I totally agree Alice Pierce was the only Gladys Kravitz, a superior comic actress and more complex character, with Gould the character became harsh and nasty. But given all the other problems going on with constant recasts, egos and an undependable lead I think it was all Asher could do to keep the production going.

 

[KPmusmag]

2) Uncle Arthur. Many people have an inner monologue or "thinking voice"-- mine IS Paul Lynde! Lemme play it for ya: "Yaga-zoozie, yaga-zoozie, yaga-zoozie, ZIMMM!"

The amazing thing to me about Paul Lynde is that he appeared as Uncle Arthur only 10 times out of 254 episodes but he made Arthur so indelible that he seems like a regular. One of a kind.