Dark Shadows dvd sets 6 and 7 are edited! UPDATED NOW SET 8 AS WELL (1 Viewer)

[geod]

Dark Shadows dvd sets 6 and 7 are edited! UPDATED NOW SET 8 AS WELL

I just finished all 40 episodes of box set 8 and mpi has done it again! This is going to continue if dark shadows fans do not speak up. Ever since box sets 6 and 7, which you can find my complaints and response by mpi in another thread, I can't watch the show in peace. Instead of critiquing picture quality or enjoying the show I find myself waiting to see which scenes are going to be cut. This is not right. The box sets are expensive enough even with online discounts . Are we going to be forced to buy the tapes back(the tapes are unedited)? I bought the show on dvd with the express purpose of having the best quality possible(not cut 0R edited- which ever word one wants to use). TO my dismay this is not the case either. For example DR.WHO dvds are done brillantly the picture and sound are restored to perfection. IN DARK Shadows case no real effort is made as far as restoration is concerned(this was never promised so I can not claim false advertising BUT they are supposed to be at least the same as the affor mentioned MPI VHS releases and they are not... they are cut). AT any rate something has to be done if mpi thinks that I or anyone else will buy Edited or cut dark shadows.


SOME of the episodes spread around on box sets 6 and 7 are clearly edited and cut! MPI has acknowledged this and their claim that this is an isolated mistake is simply not true. Case in point: the newest set 8. I understand that some source materials used are very poor in quality BUT the vhs versions of MPI are unedited. In some, if not all cases the dvd's themselves are taken directly from these tapes I am not going to break down which shows are butchered because they are too many to list. Besides I did give a partial listing with sets 6 and 7. You will see them as you are watching. THIS will continue unless everyone interested writes or calls mpi and states that we will not buy anymore sets uless this is rectified.

Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[GregoryP]

I'm a big fan of Dark Shadows and enjoy watching it daily on the Sci-Fi channel. I'm sorry to hear the DVD versions are edited. That's a shame.

Gregory

 

[EdwardKarlinski]

How do you know that they are cut? This show had over 1000 episodes. How would anyone know?

 

[ScottRichard]

Well if you owned the videos and then bought the DVD sets and noticed scenes missing that were on the videos, that's how you would know. I hate hearing the episodes are cut as I've been buying the DVD sets, although I don't think I'd be able to tell since I've only seen many of the episodes once or twice on the SciFi channel and those are all edited for more commercial time!

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I've written to MPI but received zero acknowledgement about the issue. To be fair, set 8 was probably already being pressed when this issue surfaced. If it continues in set 9 I will stop buying the set and live with the VHS tapes.

 

[Steve Phillips]

What are the issues? Are entire scenes missing, or are they "fixing" the mistakes and bloopers which fans are so fond of? Either one is not acceptable of course. I've got the first 5 sets (currently most of the way through #4) and I haven't noticed anything yet.

If this is true fans must speak up NOW.

 

[geod]

Thank you for all the responses from all the new people...Mark Zimmer has been kind enough to post on this issue before and has been helpfull.

For a full account of the issues concerning boxed sets 6 and 7 and my expertise on dark shadows ..I know the show inside out, and as another poster said, I have all the episodes on tape and have made exhaustive comparisons etc..see this thread:

look up dark shadows 6 and 7 are edited that is my original post I can not post a url here as I do not have 15 posts yet ..some forum rule

some spoilers follow:






As far as boxed set 8 is concerned here are some examples but there are more:

disc 2: episode # 506 carolyn talking to her mother about willie talking about the dream curse ...you will see a weird cut.

disc 1:
episode # 500 when sam is blinded he asks maggie to get barnabas she sees julia and tells her about her father and another scene with dialogue is cut.

disc 4 episode #526
blair talking to vicky an argument ensues another cut in mid sentence.

The above problems are not old pre-existing tech issues ..they are not on the mpi tapes or off the broadcast channels from which I taped them... they are not from supposed new masters with the best quality possible as there are no newly mastered tapes... these episodes are mostly taken from the same sources as the mpi vhs tapes. Do not listen to anyone saying that since the show had low production values there were errors on the show when they were originaly made...I know that ...the whole show is full of errors tech wise.... blooper wise.... dialogue wise...acting wise....and any other wise you can think of.
The cuts and edits I am pointing out are BRAND NEW...THEY WERE NEVER THERE BEFORE THIS RELEASE ON DVD. WE JUST WANT THEM TO STOP AND HOPEFULLY CORRECTED BY MPI OR I AS WELL AS OTHERS WILL NO LONGER PURCHASE THESE SETS.
Thanks everyone

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Here's the link to the old thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=159719

(watch for wrap)

 

[richardWI]

This sounds terrible. :frowning:

 

[Dannie]

i know its a stupid question and probably shouldnt be asked but does neone know where to get bootleg versions of dark shadows on dvd? seeing as how i dont have a vcr and was never ableto view the unedited versions of some of these episodes since so many sets it seems are turning up with edited versions instead of unedited ones

 

[Ethan Riley]

How on earth did you resurrect a 3-year old thread? Was it actually still here? lol

Dannie, if I were you, I'd wait till the next format--just skip Dark Shadows on dvd. I'm really pizzed about the editing on these episodes. It's unnecessary; seeing as how the vcr releases were NOT edited (for the most part). I have no idea the thinking behind MPI suddenly deciding to edit out mistakes for dvd; they didn't do that at ALL for the 1990s vhs tapes; they did trim a couple of scenes in which the video was screwy, but they didn't cut out any on-camera mistakes, for which DS is beloved by millions. And why they would cut random scenes of ordinary dialogue is way beyond me... MPI should know here and now that the reason I NEVER bought ANY of the dvds is because of the few editing examples listed in this thread above (and others). As far as I'm concerned, they lost a lot of money from me because of this oversight. Well, tuff shit. They did it right on vhs; why such a bad job on dvd?

Btw, does anyone know if the editing problems continued on through the rest of the dvds? I haven't heard anything about this in a long time.

My theory is that DS will get another release in 5 or 10 years and it'll be the same old DS that we all loved, sloppy and unedited.

 

[Dannie]

lol i dont think i can wait for th next format. hddvd vs bluray. i much rather have them on dvd which is why im looking for someway to get bootleg dvds. since those would all be unedited unlike the official dvds. i wonder howmany ppl put the vhs version onto dvds?

 

[Harry-N]

I don't think there was a more devoted DARK SHADOWS fan than I, scheduling college courses around the original ABC airings, not always successfully.

And yet, as big a DVD fan and collector that I am, I cannot imagine ever buying this show on DVD. There are far too many episodes and not enough time in the day to even consider watching them.

But I can understand the attraction for younger fans - and more power to them in watching this winding, twisting tale.

Harry

 

[Charles Ellis]

Well, guess what, Harry- I have all of the MPI DVDs and I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

[Harry-N]

I'm hoping that someday the movie version, HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS will get a DVD release. That's short enough to view once in awhile and get a flavor of what the series was, visit some "old friends". I have the LaserDisc set of both HOUSE and NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS. They deserve restoration and proper aspect ratio treatment on DVD.

I had such a crush on Angelique!

Harry

 

[MishaLauenstein]

What I remember from the old thread is that once MPI found out about it, they put a stop to it immediatley. So I believe 6, 7 and 8 managed to get out with edits.

I assume that's the point of the extra disk that's coming out soon. It sounds to me like they will be including at least some of the pieces that were accidentally removed. Just a guess, of course.