PAL Muppet Season One - Also cut

[Kermieuk]

Thanks for the info. All will be revealed on Monday. I already have the R1 Muppet Show set, and the earlier UK Xmas Carol release. Why did they cut the Love is Gone song? Although there are not actually any Muppets in it though!! Maybe its back in the NEW edition?


Chris

 

[anathema]

Thanks for the info. All will be revealed on Monday. I already have the R1 Muppet Show set, and the earlier UK Xmas Carol release. Why did they cut the Love is Gone song? Although there are not actually any Muppets in it though!! Maybe its back in the NEW edition?


Chris

Technically, they didn't: it was never part of the original movie. It was added back in for some of the first home video releases back in 1993 (US and UK both got it; Germany did not, for example). Exactly why Disney used the extended cut for the US DVD release three years ago and the theatrical print for everyone else remains a mystery. Personally I put it down to Disney's general incompetence.

 

[MuppetDanny]

According to someone on ebay selling a copy of "MCC", the DVD is in widescreen and the running time is 86 mins

 

[anathema]

According to someone on ebay selling a copy of "MCC", the DVD is in widescreen and the running time is 86 mins

That's promising Although it does raise the obvious question: if they're able to release a widescreen DVD of the extended cut in the UK - as this auction listing implies is the case - then why can't they do so in the US?

Looks like the UK artwork has changed, too: this disc has the same cover as the US release, but all the UK retailers who actually have artwork up for Monday's release are showing a totally different design.

 

[MuppetDanny]

It's definately widescreen, if you look closely on the spine of the DVD (on the second picture) it has the widscreen logo and it has that on most of the recent Disney/BVHE DVDs

 

[anathema]

Ok, confirmed: the UK TMS set has the same cuts as the US.

 

[MuppetDanny]

Ok, confirmed: the UK TMS set has the same cuts as the US.

I knew it . So it's even more likely the German version will be cut. So what's the quality like? Is it a PAL to NTSC to PAL conversion? and does it have original opening titles?

 

[MuppetDanny]

BTW anathema, what's the packing like?

 

[anathema]

The packaging is what you can see on the eBay listings - just a slipcase with four slim DVD cases inside it.

The shows do have their original openings, and it would appear that they're original PAL copies, although I haven't looked closely enough to be certain. I shall put a disc in the player later and report back

It's actually a little suspicious that the UK, US and Australian releases all have the exact same cuts. It could easily be a coincidence that the music rights were unavailable (or expensive) for all three countries. But there's always the nagging possibility that Disney simply took the edited masters prepared for the US release as their starting point rather than trying to clear everything.

I have to admit, I'd be very very surprised if the UK release in particular had the exact same rights issues as the US. In general, music clearances seem to be less of a problem over here - Muppet Family Christmas, for example, and the Quantum Leap boxsets. These have been hacked to pieces for their US releases thanks to music rights, and yet they're uncut in the UK.

 

[MuppetDanny]

Thanks anathema for the info, please do report back about the quality, I'm quite tempted to buy the R1 DVD set (just for the packaging)