Monty Python's 50th anniversary plans

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

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  1. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    I would hope it doesn't come to that.
     
  2. Lost In The Flood

    Lost In The Flood Feeding an invisible goat

    Location:
    England
    There were complaints (over at Roobarbs again) that some of the colour correction was OTT , I think claims, possibly with screen shots of exaggerated reds, but it's been a while, (sorry don't feel like fighting their dodgy search and trawling through ancient posts right now) and
    I never bought those dvds so no idea how accurate the complaints were.

    Speaking of Network and their comparison videos, last time I dipped into Roobarbs dvd forum, somebody in the thread re the Avengers/New Avengers cybernauts blu-ray set suggested they'd deliberately run the 'before' clips through a filter to make it look worse. (There's complaints about poor "bass heavy/boomy"sound on the final release, on some equipment, too. Funnily enough, Instead of cutting out adcaps, they;ve got an option where you can watch the episodes with ad stings & vintage adverts included:cool:).

    Back to Python Network: Monty Python's Flying Circus Blu-ray
    - one of the posters is probably one of the Monty Python outakes "the rushes still exist" obsessives from SOTCAA 'fame'.

    Great site (welll the Python/Young Ones sub sites) just incredibly obnoxious forum posters back in the day.
    SOTCAA Monty Python Edit News special some of the corpses are amusing
     
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  3. Lost In The Flood

    Lost In The Flood Feeding an invisible goat

    Location:
    England
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  4. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
  5. realkilroy

    realkilroy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    I guess, you didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.
     
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  6. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    Or Dinsdale nailin' me head to the floor. I mean there was nothing else he could do, be fair. I had transgressed the unwritten law.
     
  7. Meng

    Meng Forum Resident

    What had you done?
     
  8. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    Well he didn't tell me that, but he gave me his word that it was the case, and that's good enough for me with old Dinsy. I mean, he didn't want to nail my head to the floor. I had to insist!
     
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  9. Meng

    Meng Forum Resident

    He was a cruel man - but fair.
     
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  10. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Seems that the choice to use the original audio from the animation was both a technical and creative decision. The best source they have for the original soundtrack with laughter is an off-air PBS recording. Turns out that the Satan animation wasn't originally broadcast in the UK anyway so they thought it better to have the actual dialogue be audible rather than go with a sub-par recording.

    But in good news, all of the film segments from episode 24 have been found and will be in HD!
     
  11. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    New comparison is up:


    Not being seen looks very clean!
     
  12. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    I fear this new restoration is dangerous, you can be seen much more easily...
     
  13. Royce

    Royce Senior Member

    Oh I don't know, depends on the cooperation of the foliage really...
     
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  14. mr rigsby

    mr rigsby Well-Known Member

    Location:
    northants
    What are they comparing these remasters to? Neither the tv vesrion I recorded years ago, the dvd or the one I borrowed from youtube has the sketch in as bad quality as the version they show here. If it is of the original elements as someone on youtube suggests, that is an unfair comparison as we never seen them and probably never really will. Real comparison of remastering quality by Network can be seen in their restoration of The Goodies opening titles from their first two series. On the copies I had from Australian tv they were in a shocking state with massive cracks, glue lines and dirt. On the dvds they were made perfect. I haven't seen any Python footage anywhere near as bad as that. They really need to just show the Python 'improvements' from dvd to blueray. That is the real test.
     
  15. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
  16. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    So far they’ve been showing comparisons between the restored film segments and the raw film scans (possibly not on the baby carriage animation comparison though, as the unrestored part has interlacing visible)

    I think to show the restored How Not To Be Seen for example with the standard DVD as a comparison there wouldn’t be a huge difference once you factor in the YouTube compression etc.

    One thing to remember is that ALL of the sources used on the new set have never been used before for home video releases. Everything has either been a dub or an NTSC conversion or zoomed in or with other issues.
     
  17. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    The newly transferred and tweaked material will look and sound great! However, these won't be restorations like Lawrence of Arabia or It's a Mad, Mad.. World roadshow, although the project calls for the restoration of original elements. What we'll end up with are new versions of the programs-- a blend of restoration and re-editing. Think of it more like The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen, only this time the creative decisions aren't being made by anyone connected with the original production. This new set will have its own set of new issues, as some deliberate choices are being made about what is included, why it is included and how it is presented. For example:

    The telephone pole animation has been reinstated, even though it was reportedly not in the original UK broadcast, but had been seen in US re-runs. So, if something never broadcast anywhere, like Wee-Wee Wine Tasting, has been found, should that be dropped back into the program or left as a "deleted scene"?

    I've been labeled as "hysterical" over content issues that others might consider insignificant. But, for some fans, when there are alterations or if something goes missing (anyone remember the fuss made about the"Mønti Pythøn ik den Høli Gräilen" caption?) it will be quite obvious and folks (not just me) will talk about it.

    Just let's wait and see what gets put back into the actual shows and what gets left out or relegated to "bonus features".
     
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  18. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    I would say leave that separate.

    In the animation example, there's no winners; either you have a UK viewer complaining that they added something, or a US viewer complaining that they left something out.
     
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  19. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    Some good points here for sure. It’s hard for any restoration to get it 100% right (look at the “unfaded” transition they forgot in the 4K 2001: A Space Odessey remaster) but all the work on the Flying Circus set so far seems to point towards a great level of attention to detail (the tilted titles on How Not To Be Seen, using the original audio for the Frost Phone number rather than the easily available alt take from the insert trims)

    As far as restoring bits into the shows that weren’t originally seen, they could do it with seamless branching and give you the option for both, but honestly I don’t really mind if some bits are extended beyond what was originally shown. The “Shakespeare’s Gay Boys In Bondage” animation for example has always had that jarring cut in the middle, which would work much better being the full animation.
     
  20. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    I'm reading your points, here, and thinking back to how excited I was to see It's a Mad, Mad.. World on VHS with all that deleted footage shoved in. The aspect ratio was wrong, and the image and sound quality took a dive each time "new" footage rolled, but it was expected-- and a delight to see. I think there are no less than 4 versions of that film, now, each having its own merits and drawbacks.

    I have to remind myself that the history of the Python programs is littered with evidence of alterations, some to the point of litigation. Ultimately, nitpicking aside, I realize that no current "version" of these shows might be called definitive, but I hope the forthcoming set will be the most comprehensive compromise to date.

    I'm of two minds on this. I'm used to seeing it on the copy I've had for ages, so I'd miss it. But if it wasn't part of the original broadcast.. should it be there?

    Why not do what Laservampire suggests and do a (theoretically) seamless branching option a-la The Meaning of Life dvd? That way we could have a choice of viewing the studio tapes as they have been for better or worse, or the extended ones with tweaked/added footage.
     
  21. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    That would spell trouble for the “masturbating” line in Summarize Proust, being muted in the original broadcast!
     
  22. cloggedmind

    cloggedmind Doctor Do-Very-Little

    Location:
    Limbo
    [As Mrs. Slocombe] True!
     
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  23. mr rigsby

    mr rigsby Well-Known Member

    Location:
    northants
    I guess the BIG question not answered yet (as far as I know) (hello Network staff) is 'will the Montreux special be on this set?' I understand if the German Specials are not put on it as they were made elsewhere (nice if they were), but the Montreux special is a major BBC made episode. I haven't seen this named in any list of extras yet. With all the promised extras and a month to sort it, surely this is a must... Now is the time to message your chum at Network if you have one and mention it to him/her. Before we end up with a December release date...
     
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  24. frimleygreener

    frimleygreener "It 'a'int why...it just is"

    Location:
    united kingdom
    I admittedly am in the minority, but having been in my mid/late teens when "Python" was current, I found it only mildly enjoyable, and in later years found it embarrassing. What is it about silly walks and affected voices that the English find so "funny"?
     
  25. realkilroy

    realkilroy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    [​IMG]
     
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