Monty Python’s Flying Circus Restored for Blu Ray (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

"This is an ex-parrot!"

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Ordered.
104.33 = $130.55

That website (Network) is very dangerous for me.

I put The Prisoner, UFO and Space 1999 on my wish list.

 

[darkrock17]

Ordered.
104.33 = $130.55

That website (Network) is very dangerous for me.

I put The Prisoner, UFO and Space 1999 on my wish list.

That's too expensive right now, going to have to wait till next year when the price drops either drops or a North American release is made from another studio/company.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I just saw that! Great news, actually. I'd rather wait an extra month and get all the goods:
Here is the email I got from Network Distributing:

Dear customer,


First, some slightly not-so-good-news - we’re really sorry that we have had to delay the release date of the magnificent box set until 4th November 2019


The absolutely spiffing news, however, is that during the course of the restoration, just as we thought we’d seen everything, yet more cans of film material emerged from other quarters that could, frankly, have been anything. We’re still painstakingly going through every frame of the archive but have discovered a wealth of Python nuggets, a lot of it unseen.


It would be impossible to include this material and still make the original release date but, it was an easy decision as not only is a lot of the material being seen for the first time, it is all being restored and presented in HD.


As a thank you for your patience, enjoy this preview of an exclusive, very rare and reinstated piece of animation we have restored to HD quality:

So I read this and was delighted. I, like the rest of you, would love to have some new (old) Python content.

That led me to thinking, what did they find? My first thought was that it was skits they had done, but then decided not to include in episodes. Then I realized that can't be true, with the pathetic state of BBC tape reuse, any original skit media that wasn't included in final broadcast tapes would have been reused.

So, if not stuff the BBC could destroy, it would have to be their private stuff. To me that means its limited to anything done for film or stage. Practice runs, or outtakes on parts of the movies or things like that.

Another thought, and I doubt it, is stuff pre-Python, because of right's issues:

At Last the 1948 Show
Do Not Adjust Your Set

 

[Lord Dalek]

At Last the 1948 Show
Do Not Adjust Your Set

Yes what survives of those shows is controlled by Freemantle Media who is currently licensing them out to the BFI.

 

[David Weicker]

Season 1 just showed up on Amazon UK.

There are two listings
£39.99 digipack (thicker box)
£17.99 with an Amaray case.

My assumption is the digipack has the booklet




Oa a related note, there is also now a listing for Fawlty Towers on Blu

 

[darkrock17]

Is this set available on regular Amazon to order, as I've never seen anything from Network in stores or on other sites that aren't in the UK

 

[David Norman]

As far as I know the Deluxe Limited Edition box is a Network exclusive.
The individual season are supposed to be released and I think S1 is now up for sale on AmazonUK

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Looks like BBC America is airing this today.

Not quite sure if it's the new HD versions or not, but it looks decent.

I'm glad I have a... comfy chair.

/which is on right now.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Looks like BBC America is airing this today.

Not quite sure if it's the new HD versions or not, but it looks decent.

Almost certainly not.

 

[bigshot]

I read in another forum that the BBC is airing the restored episodes in the anniversary programming.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

That would be very surprising, if true. Usually, such restorations are copyright to whoever does the restoration (in this case, probably Network) and they would be owed some sort of compensation for using them.

The BBC in the UK, for instance, did not use the restored versions in their recent repeats. They used off-the-shelf masters of their own. Maybe BBC America (separate company) struck some sort of deal, or, the rumour is false.

 

[bigshot]

Maybe the BBC did the restorations.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

While the BBC has its own video distribution arm [2 entertain], its titles have been distributed by numerous video companies in the UK over the years, owing to multiple rights holders, etc. Mostly, distribution has been handled by WB in North America, with a handful of exceptions.

 

[bigshot]

But the BBC owns and maintains the masters. That certainly gives them a stake in it. Maybe they are restoring them to upgrade their master copies.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Furthermore its BBC employees that are doing the restoration work on this series.

 

[bigshot]

Distributors distribute. They don't often engage in restoring properties that they don't control.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Distributors distribute. They don't often engage in restoring properties that they don't control.

I think I've read that Jonathan Wood did the restoration work on Flying Circus, so the restoration should be in pretty good hands.

If they (Network) are the ones underwriting at least some of the costs, though, they definitely have a stake and, perhaps, at least partial ownership of the "remastered masters". They're certainly not going to give them away for free. I'm sure they would probably have come to some sort of deal for the BBC to have archive copies and/or copies that they could distribute via syndication, but if Network paid some (or all) of the restoration costs, I'm sure they're going to want to recoup some of that.

The BBC, technically, don't even have any rights to the Python episodes anymore, anyway. They lost those rights to the Pythons back in 1980.

From what I've seen, Eric Idle has mentioned on Twitter that the Pythons themselves have underwritten the restoration (certainly, at least, in part), so it might be that the Pythons themselves wholly own the remastered tapes. The BBC would probably have to negotiate/pay a fee to use them.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that Network paid for the remastering of Space: 1999, even though the people at BBC Resources did the actual work. I think A&E/New Video ponied up some of the dough (half?) for Year One (which they gained distribution rights for), but part of the reason Year Two took so long was that Network had to "go solo" with it.

 

[MatthewA]

What an irony. The Pythons are turning to the Beeb to help them restore what they were ready to throw out like yesterday's breakfast, and using (presumably) the same division that salvaged as many lost Doctor Who episodes as they could.

I just wish there was as much effort into saving presumably lost American shows. Not that there aren't already wonderful people doing great work, but imagine how much of early TV presumed to be lost is merely misplaced and awaiting restoration.

I wonder how many of the actual cameras and VTRs they used are still in existence. Obviously they were retired years ago for actual broadcast and production, but it would be interesting to compare them to what the US used at the time.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Most "lost American shows" are just soap operas, sporting events, and game shows. Outside of the sports, its a niche audience.