Monty Python's 50th anniversary plans

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Raf, Jun 26, 2019.

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  1. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Well you said it better ,I learned that the film segments in season 1 are 35mm ,where the rest of the film segments are 16mm Still no word about how expensive this set will be ,or how much magic they can do restoring old video tape
     
  2. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    As long as there is no widescreen cropping and the videotape bits are not filmized at 24fps..

    I’m hoping this will be the definitive set for the show
     
  3. MarkTheShark

    MarkTheShark Senior Member

    "Understandably aghast, Jones and the Pythons quietly smuggled the original tapes out and made VHS copies..."

    The article says this happened in 1971. VHS didn't exist yet. It had to have been some professional video format.

    I know there are certain examples of things that were cut from later reruns, but still existed in the tapes shown on PBS stations in the United States, then distributed by Time-Life Television (WTTW-Channel 11 In Chicago ran these versions through 1980).

    They lost the rights for a while, but brought the show back in 1983, now with Python's copyright at the end and distributed by a new company. (Two names, both starting with "D," followed by "Enterprises.") These had some things cut and were evidently taken from later copies of the shows.

    When one version of the series was released on DVD in England, one of these missing skits was added as an extra, copied from a You Tube download of a PBS showing during a pledge drive with a phone number superimposed over it.

    I thought in some cases, the complete versions were now lost. I am optimistically hopeful about this new set. I hope it is truly complete, is not in "fake widescreen" or with frame-rate issues. It would be nice if somewhere along the way, there would be a Region 1/Region A version...
     
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  4. NaturalD

    NaturalD The King of Pop

    Location:
    Boston, Mass., USA
    I always assumed/believed the loss of the Dad's Pooves sketch was just careless transferring; that's the episode with 2 false endings -- "5 more minutes" and "1 more minute" -- and the DVD version ends after the second false ending.
     
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  5. NaturalD

    NaturalD The King of Pop

    Location:
    Boston, Mass., USA
    Re the potentially lost "cancer" edited audio from the prince-and-the-spot sketch: That sketch appears intact in And Now for Something Completely Different. Seems like it could be a simple matter to copy the audio from there. If it's not the exact same recording, at least both are Carol Cleveland. Even if they did it "unlicensed" due to rights problems, who would *spot* it?
     
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  6. Buddybud

    Buddybud Paisley DayGlo Freak!

    I want the executive edition!
     
  7. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    One of the behind-the-scenes people working on the new set (who is also very involved in the Doctor Who restorations) is very knowledgeable about the edits to the series and I'm sure this new set will be done correctly.

    Apparently there were only 6 episodes with physical edits to the 2" quad master tapes, the rest being edits done to copy tapes or during home media mastering for music rights issues.

    I'm guessing these would be:

    S01E02 - David Frost's phone number
    S02E06 - Prince and the Black spot "cancer" line
    S02E11 - "cancer" line in Conquistador Coffee and of course the Satan animation
    S02E13 - Undertakers Sketch
    S03E09 - ZDP Microphone & Trees animation cut out and re-dubbed with different music
    S03E12 - Choreographed Party Political Broadcast



    They already attempted to do that on the Terry Gilliam's Personal Best set.
     
  8. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    Having any member of the Dr. Who “Destruction” Team working on this is worrisome, at best, to me. This is the same bunch that started out restoring broadcast tapes and moved to adding cgi effects to 1960’s vintage programs, inserting their own “dalek” voices because they “sounded okay”, making feature length re-edits of episodic story lines and digitally “fixing” technical problems because they “always bugged them” when things went wrong.
    There were some “fixes” applied to the 2008 Python box set for similar reasons which extend far beyond restoring a program to its original transmission state.
    There is a fine line between restoration and tampering.
    These programs have withstood the test of time, otherwise, and have suffered enough at the hands of those with the notion of recreating their own vision of the work.
    Leave well enough alone. Don’t change things just because it “bugs you” and is easy to do in the digital realm.
     
  9. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    The difference here is that nothing needs to be recreated because every cut part exists in one form or another.

    Their goal is to restore the 45 episodes to original broadcast length, and have apparently succeeded in doing so. Along the way they have found a treasure trove of unseen outtakes and possibly some of the cut sketches from series 3.

    Thankfully they aren't using any of Sony's work from 2007!
     
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  10. Raf

    Raf Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
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  11. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    If only Pete and Dud had done that!
     
  12. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    The worst part is that Peter Cooke offered to buy replacement tapes for the BBC so he could have the originals, but they wouldn't go for it :(
     
  13. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Just a follow up on this, I received the Pidax DVD today and the picture quality is much better than the old A&E DVDs or the Australian Rainbow video DVD, which both seem to come from scratchy, washed out film prints of the German episodes.

    The Pidax DVD appears to be sourced from the original German 2” video masters, so it’s unclear if the original film elements for the episodes still exist (which seems unlikely).

    The only downside however is that the first episode (while it is without the burnt in subtitles we’ve had for years) has no English subtitles at all! Currently working on making up a set though, based on the burnt in subtitle translation and timing.

    Also of note is that the 2nd episode has the original end credits over black, rather than the superimposed credits over the “chicken rush” sketch ending like the common English edit.
     
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  14. Phil147

    Phil147 Forum Resident

    Location:
    York UK
    This just seems so right for Python... :D ... would be even better if there were subtitles which had no relation whatsoever to what was been said.
     
  15. realkilroy

    realkilroy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    Thanks for the info. I've ordered it anyway, I doubt we will have it in any other form soon.
    Check these subs, maybe it helps with your translation.
     
  16. Phil147

    Phil147 Forum Resident

    Location:
    York UK
  17. Phil147

    Phil147 Forum Resident

    Location:
    York UK
  18. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Cheers!

    I have a complete sub file for the German broadcast version of episode 1 (which is the same, just without the Bavarian Restaurant Sketch) so I’m about halfway through that sketch adding subtitles. Once I’m done I’ll check the timing on the entire episode and share the file.
     
  19. On the subtitle front: might anyone be able to post an accurate English translation of the German "Lumberjack Song" lyrics? It's irritating that the subtitles on the DVDs/Netflix just reprise the English lyrics, when you don't have to know German to hear they're not the same.
     
  20. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    These new Blu-rays should make a fine addition:

    [​IMG]
     
  21. Royce

    Royce Senior Member

    Wow!...nice collection Ben! :righton:

    I'm REALLY looking forward to these new TV series transfers on Blu-Ray. :agree:

    As I don't have any of the previous DVD sets, I've only ever seen them on the telly.
     
  22. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    He's gonna need a whole brand New shelf to fit the 50th boxset!

     
  23. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    I cant wait for this to be reweased.
     
  24. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Cheers!

    Not counting the pre/post Python stuff, the CDs, the vinyl, the books, etc etc.....

    I'm also very much looking forward to the restored BFI sets of At Last The 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set later this year!
     
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  25. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    That thar looks the full Monty!
     
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