MovieChat Forums > The Comic Strip Presents... (1982) Discussion > The Comic Strip 'Complete' DVD Collectio...

The Comic Strip 'Complete' DVD Collection - The Edits

posted 20 years ago by Windowlicker2000
38 replies | jump to latest

This would have been the DVD-release of the decade to me...
until I compared some of the episodes to my old tapes.
Some of the shows are edited versions!!
I haven't checked the old Channel 4 films yet, but a lot of the later episodes
have been heavily messed around with. Many long scenes are shortened,
but worse: some of the funniest dialogue is missing!!
Of the shows I checked, I discovered these cuts:

SOUTH ATLANTIC RAIDERS 1:
2 min. cut:
- the scene where Stan gets an idea when counting the money bags
- a lot of the dialogue in Max' house (Stan tells Max about Frances /
Billy shows Rollo a photo of Cathy/Frances "Here's to operation Blondie!")
- when Billy & Rollo are confronted by the policeman, some of the funniest lines
are cut: "My cousin's just been let out of a Lancashire cotton mill and the
Southern air and the Chateau Mignon 54 has rather gone to his Northern head."
- the airport scene is shortened (Rollo talking to the manager,
some very funny dialogue cut)
- some funny dialogue when Stan visits Billy in prison disguised as his mother
- the prison escape scenes are shortened

SOUTH ATLANTIC RAIDERS 2:
about 5 minutes (!!!) cut:
- the whole intro sequence before the titles
- most part of the flashback scenes, when Stan tells the story
- many scenes in the airplane are shorter (some great gag is cut,
when Billy has nearly crashed the plane, Rollo wakes up and hasn't noticed
the chaos: "Ahh, that's better. How are we doing?")
- Cathy takes the axe
- some very funny dialogue, when Cathy wants to be alone with Stan
(Cathy: Can we have a few moments together..alone?
Stan: Billy, can you take a hint?
Billy: ...Yeah, what is it?
Stan: No, he can't.)
- more dialogue, Stan hears Frances shouting for help / Cathy kisses Stan
- the whole dialogue between Stan & Frances, when he tells her he was wrong,
appearance doesn't matter & he loves her
- when Cathy is with the dead General, she says: "Sieg heil, my darling!"
- the fight scenes are shortened
- the whole scene where Billy seems to be shot is gone
- the monologue from the Newsreporter is shorter (originally he talks about
a plot to kidnap Prince Charles to recapture the Falklands)
To make matters even worse, the remaining pieces of the episode are muddled.
The scene where Cathy goes to Frances with an axe is placed AFTER Stan has
arrived at the cottage, which makes it look like a continuity error.
Has the editor been totally drunk??!!

WILD TURKEY:
approx. 1 min. cut
- the intro, where Ruby Wax writes Xmas cards
- the dancing scene between her & the turkey is shorter ("have you kissed a turkey before?")
- when the turkey leaves, they hug & kiss ("I wish you were a turkey, Sue!"),
you can clearly see the sloppy cut there!

FOUR MEN IN A CAR - approx. 1 min. cut: dialogue between Jennifer & Peter;
the scene where Rik tries to steal the motorbike is shorter.

GREGORY: DIARY OF A NUTCASE - I don't have an original to compare,
but you can see a very sloppy cut when Gregory is watching TV.

So far so bad. Anyone noticed any cuts on other episodes?
(And please feel free to complain to the publisher about this, as I will.)

[–] treyparkeratemyhamster 20 years ago

Loads of The Supergrass was cut out, scenes where Dennis says that the smugglers will contact him with an orange chalk mark under the telephone or something.

this version plays a lot faster but i;m a purist at heart with comic strip stuff.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What makes a man? is it the power in his hands? is it his quest for glory?"

[–] Windowlicker2000 19 years ago

The Supergrass on DVD runs 94 min., the same (I think) as on the old Channel 4 PAL video.
Do you mean that the video was also an edited version, or do you mean that the DVD version
plays faster than the video and has edits that the video doesn't have?
If the video was also cut, was the full version released in any way?

Just right after my post I read in the other thread that Peter Richardson himself commissioned the edits.
Unbelievable, that he would cut some of his best gags (his own Rollo lines) and that he would consider S.A.R. as weak material.
What about rubbish like Oxford? And his latest movie effort "Churchill" had plenty of weak lines / jokes
(I think the film is only saved by some class performances like Miranda Richardson & Antony Sher).

[–] treyparkeratemyhamster 19 years ago

I have a video of The Supergrass when it was first released back in 1985 (i think) and this is compared to the DVD version in the Box Set. There was a part of the plot where Dennis tells Harvey that the smugglers are going to signal him with an orange chalk mark under a telephone in a telephone box next to the Hotel. i'm not sure of the running version of the video because the back cover isnt in very good condition.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What makes a man? is it the power in his hands? is it his quest for glory?"

[–] mickys_frodis 19 years ago

Peter did make some edits before the release of the boxset and he did again when Churchill was released as he wasnt happy. i guess he knew what he was doing and he is a perfectionist when it comes to his work

[–] Windowlicker2000 19 years ago

Well, some of the scenes he cut were some of my favourite scenes in the BBC Comic Strip shows.
Oxford, for example, is 30 minutes long and it's a total disaster,
the tedious performances (Lenny Henry, Dawn French...) and the jokeless script...
And South Atlantic Raiders had so many great & funny lines, well, BEFORE the edits.
Perhaps he wanted to view his later episodes rather as "films" than as comedies,
and therefore tried to remove the gags. I can't understand him.

And I have to add: "Perfectionism" is exactly the wrong word for these edits.

a) When you edit stuff out, you at least have to make sure it's not obvious to the viewer.
Many of his edits are so crude and sloppy, look at "Wild Turkey" for example, the scene
before the turkey leaves. The cut from one frame to another is so crude, it's ridiculous.
An absolute amateur would have made that cut better (and plenty of others).
It reminds me of how 18-rated horror movies are edited by Incompetents for TV transmission,
they don't care about how it looks, they just want to get rid off the scenes.
But Peter must have cared about his stuff, even if he considered it weaker!
Or did he want to parody his own stuff? It nearly looks like it.

b) The mess he made of the scenes in S.A.R. II. Stan arrives at the cottage and meets Cathy
(which he thinks is Frances), they begin to talk. In a next scene Cathy goes to Frances
at the cliff with an axe to cut the rope. Then we cut back to Stan and Cathy talking.
I mean... huhh???? This order makes no sense whatsoever.
It really seems as if he he was drunk one night, went into the studio and edited the stuff himself.

Peter Richardson is really a good script-writer and, well, a fairly good director
(although a lot of this work is very self-indulgent).
But he must be one of the worst editors in TV or film industry.
If he really wanted those ridiculous cuts, he should at least have left them to professionals.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] podwilliams 19 years ago

Here's an extract from Empire magazine's interview with Peter Richardson:

Are there any you're not so keen on?
South Atlantic Raiders didn't really come alive for me. I just felt I wish I hadn't done that one, the first episode is quite funny, but the second one, I wanted to try to make it better...on the DVD there's a new edit, I re-edited the second part of it for the DVD.

Any others been edited?
A little bit, just a little tweak here and there. You just need one little blip in there and you think that just really slows it down, you don't need that, so they're just little things...when you think "it's going fine, I'm enjoying this...oh, I'm not enjoying that!"
________________________________________________________________________________

He should've left 'em well alone, if you ask me. Any director is bound to have regrets about one thing or another, but those regrets could've simply been aired in the filmed interviews featured in the collection, or perhaps included in a retrospective booklet. The way it was, warts 'n' all, is what I paid for - and what I enjoyed way back when.

And it's yet another case of DVDs being released without any indication that they're cut. It's cheap and it's dishonest.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] Wolf_Solent 19 years ago

The Young Ones was recut after its original broadcast, though - when it first went out each episode was 35 minutes, but I think subsequent BBC repeats were 30 minutes, and they could be as short as 25 minutes on satellite/cable.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rochdale-1 19 years ago

If he was to be perfect with Churchill he'd have cut about 90 minutes from it. It really burns me that pile of rubbish is being compared to The Comic Strip Presents...

I noticed a few edits but for a 9 disc dvd set it's not bad.

Yes, this DVD set is the best ever released. And a snip if you avoid buying it from rip-off highstreet stores. I got it back in the summer and i'm still working through it now.

[–] podwilliams 19 years ago

LOL@If he was to be perfect with Churchill he'd have cut about 90 minutes from it. It really burns me that pile of rubbish is being compared to The Comic Strip Presents...

Hear, hear. You should see the board for that film - people don't 'alf get upset when you point out how unutterably crap it is.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359078/board/nest/27312148

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] podwilliams 16 years ago

The unedited version of The Supergrass has been uploaded to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfkOzaUzCzM&feature=channel_page

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jenesis 19 years ago

Not having seen most of those, I won't miss the excised bits. But it is annoying to hear they've been George Lucased. I expected more from Peter.

Just got my 9-disc set in the mail from Blighty yesterday, woo-friggin'-hoo! I know what I'll be watching continuously for the next two weeks... One of the jewels in my DVD collection.

................
(¯`· ._.» º Jen º «._.·´¯)

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jenesis 19 years ago

Actually I went straight for the two Bad News episodes. Now I'm watching the rest in order.

................
(¯`· ._.» º Jen º «._.·´¯)

[–] w-thomson 19 years ago

I have just noticed Bottom Series 2 has also been CUT!!!!!!

For people who have seen the episode Culture on tv. Do you remenber the scene at the end where Eddie hits Richie over the head with the tv. Just before that there's a part (can't remenber this scene clearly) where Richie says that he was the old woman who gave Eddie the magic beans for his money. Can't remenber how Eddie got Richie to say that. Then I remenber Richie doing the voice of the old woman. Then I think they stated fighting again till Eddie finds the tv when hitting Richie's head in the fridge.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] amyl_nitrate 19 years ago

"There was a part of the plot where Dennis tells Harvey that the smugglers are going to signal him with an orange chalk mark under a telephone in a telephone box next to the Hotel. i'm not sure of the running version of the video because the back cover isnt in very good condition."

^^^ I've got the dvd release of The Supergrass from 2003 and that scene is not on it.

[–] blacklodger 19 years ago

Can someone please confirm/deny if the 'Bad News' promo for thier "Bohemian Rhapsody" track and the "E.M.I." clip is on the box set.

Maybe as an easter egg?

[–] bettywhait06 18 years ago

The 'chalk' scene is infamous in that it was in the original film in the 1985 Supergrass cinema version. I then remember hiring the video when it came out in 1986 and it was in. However, when Channel 4 first showed the film on TV later that year it had been cut. Subsequent DVD / Video releases seem to have cut it as well. Don't know why as it's a fairly innocent scene but the first time I saw a version without it in it really puzzled me!

[–] Unicorn-9 18 years ago

Pacing, I'd guess. I didn't notice any problems when watching the movie on the DVD, so the scene probably just wasn't needed.

[–] trevorwomble 19 years ago

I've just realised that there are two notable films missing from this box set. One is the feature film 'The Pope must die' and the other one is 'Eat the rich'. Okay, okay i know that neither are that great but it still means that the set is incomplete when it was compiled. Does this mean that there is a copyright problem with those two films?

[–] drawbunny 18 years ago

pope must die wasnt comic strip but I beleive Eat the rich was

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

The Comic Strip guest in Eat The Rich but, strictly speaking, it's not a 'Comic Strip film'.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] acetremendous 18 years ago

About South Atlantic Raiders Part II - AAArrrrgh! I have always thought that Part II seems distinctly weaker than Part I, like it doesn't hang together and seems badly edited. I had no idea it was Peter tinkering for the dvd set. What mad stupidity. And his other comment about taking bits here and there, wow, that steams me. There are all these shows I've only seen on the dvd that have little plot problems, seeming continuity errors, etc. I am now wondering about all of them, if they're knuckleheaded dvd edits. I love the guy, but what a jerk!!!

About The Supergrass - I have an American VHS and it is slightly different than the box set dvd. Both have tiny bits that the other doesn't. For example, the vhs version has a longer arrival/patio scene but a shorter vomiting scene. How many times was this edited, and by how many people? If anyone out there knows, please post. This is a favorite movie of mine, and I'm one of those geeks that actually reads scripts to find out more about films I like - so any info is appreciated.

Speaking of scripts - has anyone else read the Series 1 scripts? Loads of extra material, including the infamous "Back To Normal With Eddie Monsoon". Fascinating!

About the Bulls-ers - there is an obvious bleep that no one has mentioned. Foyle names a suspect to Bonehead and the name is silenced. Could anyone fill me in on the joke?

About bleeping on the box set - why is the f-word bleeped on the later shows but unbleeped in the earlier shows?

About Gregory - when the show was originally broadcast, was "I can smell your *beep* overdubbed, as it is on the box set, with "I can smell your chips"? It's a dumb substitution.

Flaws and all, it's the best dvd set ever. Cheers to all you fellow fans!

[–] w-thomson 18 years ago

Well I can tell what's wrong with the language edits, they were there already! When the Comic Strip was first shown on Channel 4 in 1982-1986 they took a chance and allowed the f word to be used. By 1988 Channel 4 could have been in trouble if they continued to use the f word on thier channel so the series that year has been dubbed, example "He's out of his fu(quick pause)ing mind". The BBC also did the same thing and the Comic Strip team never found out till it was aired but they still used the f word in their screenplays.

In 1996 & 1997 the BBC and Channel 4 changed their style and brought the f word back. It is believed that the uncut f word versons no longer excist so that's why it's still on the dvd.

Watch "The Crying Game" the swearing edits on that make you laugh your head off.

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

Regarding these edits, surely, between us, we have the technology (cue: 'Six Million Dollar Man' theme tune) and resources to transfer the original, uncut video releases to DVD, and then share out the glorious booty? I have The Supergrass on VHS, for starters. Wasn't that release uncut? If we pool our collections, maybe - just maybe - we could come up with the essential companion to the official box-set.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

Re: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083402/board/flat/23985281?p=3&d=71846078#71846078

Was my idea really that bad?

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] treyparkeratemyhamster 17 years ago

Podwilliams - it wasnt a bad idea!

if you have the original stuff which was cut out, you're more than welcome to send it to me and i'll stick it on my comic strip website for people to download. i need to get my behind into gear and do all the chalk mark stuff.

The DVD seriously needed a blooper reel.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What makes a man? is it the power in his hands? is it his quest for glory?"

[–] treyparkeratemyhamster 17 years ago

Has anyone got any objections to me putting the edits on my CS website? if there are no replies i will credit the individual poster with their IMDB IDs

cheers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What makes a man? is it the power in his hands? is it his quest for glory?"

[–] podwilliams 17 years ago

What's the URL for your site, 'trey'? Ta.

In the meantime, Comic Strip fans will've noticed that similar worries about cuts have come up in relation to the new DVD release of The Young Ones:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0083505/board/flat/88431040

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] treyparkeratemyhamster 17 years ago

Podwilliams, the url is:

http://www.geocities.com/thecomicstrippresents

If it starts to get traffic and people like it i'll probably get a domain and hosting for it.

thanks

Em
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What makes a man? is it the power in his hands? is it his quest for glory?"

[–] podwilliams 18 years ago

About Gregory - when the show was originally broadcast, was "I can smell your c u n t overdubbed, as it is on the box set, with "I can smell your chips"? It's a dumb substitution.

No, that was the line! And dumb? The 'chips' line is hilarious!

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.

[–] danger_walking_contradic 18 years ago

ARGH! HEARTBREAK!
I thought the DVD was a bit sub-standard as well. S'not that hard to edit the video quality and add subtitle options. They could have avoided cutting material and used the time on quality improvement.