Who Framed Roger Rabbit coming to 4K disc. (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

 

[B-ROLL]

View attachment 101868

They're not BAD, they're just drawn that way !

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Doesn’t the CAV LD of WFRR have the missing frames?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Doesn’t the CAV LD of WFRR have the missing frames?

I would assume so since the removal of those images took place after that release.

 

[Malcolm R]

That's when it became an "issue" because that was the first format where folks could easily freeze frame and clearly reveal the naughty bits.

 

[JoshZ]

Doesn’t the CAV LD of WFRR have the missing frames?

Disney's censorship of this film has gone through multiple iterations since the original theatrical release. As I recall, the 1989 CAV LD had Baby Herman's extended finger, but the brief upskirt shot of Jessica spinning on the ground was altered to add visible white panties (originally, her nether regions were flesh colored, leaving the impression that she doesn't wear panties). Some of the other subliminal gags (Betty Boop flashing her boobs, the appearance of Michael Eisner's home phone number written on a bathroom stall) were erased.

The CLV Dolby Digital Laserdisc remaster of the film in 1998 made further changes, including erasing Baby Herman's arm when he walks between the woman's legs.

The arm was apparently reinstated (minus the extended finger) for DVD and Blu-ray. The shot of Jessica spinning on the ground was redrawn so that her skirt fully covers her groin and you never see between her legs at all.

Allegedly, a French HDTV broadcast of the film in the early 2000s was fully uncensored.

 

[B-ROLL]

Has Aladdin's penis castle been reinstated? I need hard facts ... !

 

[Scamp]

Song of the South characters actually make cameos in this film, most notably the three moles who accompanied Uncle Remus on "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." They appear with Peter Pig, who didn't make it as big as his more famous avian co-star in 1934's The Wise Little Hen who appeared earlier in the film playing the piano:

And at the extreme left bottom side of the frame, I just noticed Chicken Little. The real one.

Other cameos from the film:

There was an alteration to actual movie The Little Mermaid unrelated to that poster, which was changed after the VHS release but before the Laserdisc:

As many times as I've seen the film, can't recall my ever having noticed the Tar Baby from Song of the South making a cameo. What fun!

 

[MatthewA]

Allegedly, a French HDTV broadcast of the film in the early 2000s was fully uncensored.

That would not necessarily even be good enough for a Blu-ray, never mind a UHD disc, but it proves that an unaltered film element exists.

 

[TonyD]

There was also something taken out of one of the Shorts. There was one or two frames of Jessica straddling a Log on a wall poster as they are riding down the log flume.

 

[MatthewA]

Doesn’t the CAV LD of WFRR have the missing frames?

It has everything but Eisner's home phone number. That must have been the first thing they caught since that is in no home video version.

 

[David Norman]

There was also something taken out of one of the Shorts. There was one or two frames of Jessica straddling a Log on a wall poster as they are riding down the log flume.

The Best of Roger Rabbit has the scene you're thinking of though I don't think it was supposed to be Jessica
In teh short Trail Mix Up


"During the scene in which Roger Rabbit chases Baby Herman through a sawmill, he runs past a poster hanging on the wall. When played at normal speed, this cannot even be seen. However, when played with frame advance, the poster can be seen fairly clearly. It shows a buxom woman in a bikini, straddling a large saw blade in a suggestive pose, with the words "Rigid Tools" at the top. The material in question consists of about a half dozen frames. The most noticeable example is frame 32478, when the poster can be seen clearly."

In addition to the Phone number, I'm not sure teh Betty Boop NipSlip were on any of the LD either.

 

[TonyD]

I still have both the original laser disc releases and the Best Of laserdisc but don’t have access to a player that works on my system anymore.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I have the CAV pressing and vaguely remembered freezing those frames many moons ago but at my age the brain sometimes plays trickery and wanted to verify first. I’ll have to pull it out for a spin to check out all the debauchery mentioned above.
Thanks for the confirms!

On another note I’m hoping on the new 4K the colors pop the way I remember in the theater. The last blu-ray just didn’t do it for me.

 

[JoshZ]

That would not necessarily even be good enough for a Blu-ray, never mind a UHD disc, but it proves that an unaltered film element exists.

I'm sure there must still be original 35mm or 70mm theatrical prints in some collectors' hands. Whether Disney applied the censorship to the OCN or only to home video masters, I can't say. I wonder if there's at least a good IP or IN of the uncensored version in the Disney vault somewhere? (Not that we'll ever see it.)

I believe the French broadcast was 720p. Some fans at the time recorded it and freeze-frame analyzed it looking for all the dirty gags.

 

[John Dirk]

After reading the Space Jam review I waxed nostalgic and would have been waiting to order this when released since I don't currently own any version of the film. Thanks for the heads up on the censorship. Without getting into the merits of Disney's policy decisions, I'll just state I will never knowingly purchase censored material.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

With respect I don’t see that as censorship. Censorship is when the government tells an individual or company that they cannot release something, not when an individual or company makes a voluntary choice about what to release.

Disney/Spielberg/Zemeckis et al conceived Roger Rabbit as a family friendly PG rated film. At the time the film was made, movies were shown in theaters and then released for home viewing in low resolution formats that made pouring over them frame-by-frame virtually impossible. The animators, that is, employees for hire who were neither the film’s owner nor chief creative officials, mischievously added some gags for their own amusement that a general audience was never meant to see. Much like the wires in War of the Worlds, just because modern technology and its clarity allows them to be seen doesn’t mean they were meant to be seen. I don’t see an issue with Disney removing this material that was never meant to be seen by the audience, thus preserving the intent of the original release.

If you’re an architect overseeing construction of a house, and one of your contractors hides something in the frame that wasn’t meant to be there, you’re well within your rights to remove it. It doesn’t change the intent or integrity of the original design.

Anyhow, that’s how I see it. I’m sure others will have different takes.

 

[Malcolm R]

I would agree, it's not censorship, it's revision. Much like George Lucas and his Star Wars films, or Spielberg and the E.T. walkie-talkie fiasco.

I don't necessarily like it, or agree with it, but it's not censorship.

And given the content of some PG-rated films of the 80's, I'm not sure it's even necessary.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I would agree, it's not censorship, it's revision. Much like George Lucas and his Star Wars films, or Spielberg and the E.T. walkie-talkie fiasco.

I don't necessarily like it, or agree with it, but it's not censorship.

And given the content of some PG-rated films of the 80's, I'm not sure it's even necessary.

I have no issues with the deletion of frames that were never meant to be seen. Those were inside jokes by the animators and not part of the movie in a true sense.

Stuff like the alteration of Baby Herman goosing the woman bugs me, though. That wasn't some "need to go frame by frame to see" inside joke - it was always a clear, intentional gag...

 

[MatthewA]

Spielberg undid the E.T. revisions for post-2002 reissues.