Blu-ray Review The Muppet Christmas Carol: 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Tommy R]

I’m glad I never bought the blu ray. I had the VHS as a kid, and bought a DVD of it years ago that had both version, but the longer one only in full screen. I had no idea at the time that there were two versions.

 

[MatthewA]

The DVD that had the uncut version was pan-and-scan, not open-matte which would have made a 4x3 release less objectionable, even if still not the OAR that was shown in theaters. I think all Muppet movies after the first one were hard-matted. I know for a fact that Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, whose 35th anniversary Warner Archive missed for a Blu-ray remastering, was shot hard-matted because I owned a 16mm print that was 1.33:1 and cropped differently from the old pan-and-scan transfer; the widescreen DVD pretty much confirmed it.

 

[anytimepally]

I listened to the interview with Brian Henson where this news came from. When he tells the story of being shown the footage of "When Love is Gone," he states pretty clearly that the 4K restoration he was there to review was The Muppet Movie, not The Muppet Christmas Carol. They brought out the lost footage to show him beforehand as a surprise.

 

[MatthewA]

The Muppet Movie was filmed before the invention of low-fade stock so it would likely be more in need of a restoration. That also has an alternate cut that surfaced on VHS in the UK in the 1980s. I wonder whether those scenes can be located although to be honest, I think "Never Before Never Again" works better without the backup singers, though I liked hearing the complete version of "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along" and the complete end credits music (which can be heard on the German track of the existing Blu-ray).