From: ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: cbs/fox videos edited?
Date: 18 Nov 92 14:03:11 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - River Falls

In article <168A37697.GGPERRY@NUACVM.ACNS.NWU.EDU>, GGPERRY@NUACVM.ACNS.NWU.EDU (ggreg) writes:
> can anyone tell me what's been edited out of the episodes that were
> mentioned as being "slightly edited"?  for instance, does anyone know what was
> chopped out of TALONS OF WENG CHIANG?  thanx,
>                                              ggreg
>  
>  

When CBS/Fox video issues a video in the States, it merely converts the
master print for the video that BBC Video was using on the UK side of
the Atlantic.  Thus, any cuts that BBC Video make in their version are
inherited by the CBS/Fox video version.
After the first few videos, BBC Video eventually gave up on their silly
editing practice and started issuing the stories whole, and then even that
got complaints as collectors wanted the series in episode format.
Henceforth, all videos issued by the BBC will be complete and in episode
format, and so CBS/Fox will do the same.

As to what has been cut from the videos up until now, I can only tell
you about the videos I own:

"The Brain of Morbius" has half an hour of footage taken out for no readily
	apparant reason.
"Pyramids of Mars" has just a few small cuts and scrapes here and there
	throughout the story that only total probably two minutes.
	Again, no one quite knows why this was done.
"The Five Doctors" is much the same story as "Pyramids."
"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was released after the no-cuts rule was
	established, but the UK's licensing boards were going to give it
	the US equivalent of a "PG-13" rating, which in the UK means no
	one under 13 can legally rent or buy the thing, as opposed to
	the US where parents are merely strongly cautioned at this age.
	Anyway, the grounds for this rating were violence, so BBC Video
	needed to edit out part of the martial arts fight sequence near
	the start (where the Doctor and Leela come upon the Tong members
	carrying Buller's body).  This is the only cut to the video,
	and in fact, the running time isn't affected at all as the cut
	was done by letting the soundtrack run (you still hear the fight)
	and letting an image of the Doctor approaching the gang members
	slow to almost a crawl whilst the offending scene passes by.
"Spearhead from Space"  When we get our first look at the plastics factory
	assembly line, some very 70s electric guitar music was played
	for a few seconds.  This music is deleted from these scenes 
	(the scenes are still there, just the music is gone) as it would
	have posed heavy royalty clearance problems since the tune was
	in fact some early Fleetwood Mac (the story was done before they
	really hit it big).

Any story in movie format, of course, contains cuts of the cliffhangers
and opening and closing credits, and those stories are:
"The Seeds of Death"
"Spearhead from Space"
."Day of the Daleks"
."The Time Warrior"
."Death to the Daleks"
."The Ark in Space"
."Revenge of the Cybermen"
."Terror of the Zygons"
"Pyramids of Mars"
"The Brain of Morbius"
"The Deadly Assassin"
."The Robots of Death"
"The Talons of Weng-Chiang"

the ones I've marked with decimal points I have not yet seen, so I can't
be sure if they contain cuts or not.  "Terror of the Zygons" and "The
Ark in Space" came after the editing ban was placed so they are probably OK.
"Revenge of the Cybermen," and "The Robots of Death" were among the first
of the videos and are thus probably most likely to have cuts in them.

Anyone else out there with more information than that is welcome to add
to this, as I'd like to know for myself.

Steven.K.Manfred

 


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