Absolutely DVD Release - Pete Baikie wouldn't lie. Would he...?

[dot]

Hehe, I remember the silly announcer saying at the end "and remember, absolutely the viddo is still available in the shops"
"It's VIDO!"

[Jemble Fred]

Y'know, I could almost stomach a 'Best Of' DVD with no extras, as long as they made a special 'Stoneybridge Divvid' sketch to advertise the release.

Almost.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Y'know, I could almost stomach a 'Best Of' DVD with no extras, as long as they made a special 'Stoneybridge Divvid' sketch to advertise the release.

Almost.

Oh God, no - they'd get the voices/wigs/timing wrong and swear too much. Like all reunion-sketches.

[Jemble Fred]

Oh God, no - they'd get the voices/wigs/timing wrong and swear too much. Like all reunion-sketches.

I'm trying to think of something that fits this description. Reunion sketches where people wear the wrong wigs and swear a lot? Foxed if I know of one. That doesn't describe Python night... And obviously not Blackadder... Or the TDT audio reunion. Nope, I'm stumped, sorry. Perhaps The Muppets Tonight?

[TJ]

Oh God, no - they'd get the voices/wigs/timing wrong and swear too much. Like all reunion-sketches.

I'm trying to think of something that fits this description. Reunion sketches where people wear the wrong wigs and swear a lot? Foxed if I know of one. That doesn't describe Python night... And obviously not Blackadder... Or the TDT audio reunion. Nope, I'm stumped, sorry. Perhaps The Muppets Tonight?

I'd say it captures the full essence of how infuriatingly off-beam and half-hearted all of those revivals were, though.

"Itf's an analogy..."

[Mediocre Rich]

How about Partridge on Comic Relief?

[Jemble Fred]

I'd say it captures the full essence of how infuriatingly off-beam and half-hearted all of those revivals were, though.

Ah well – complete and utter disagreement here, especially about Python Night, which was one of the most thrilling comedy events of the last ten years in my book. I'll always remember October 9th 1999 as a treat which I didn't think we would ever receive.

[Entropy Balsmalch]

Can someone please explain why lots of people in this thread are so obsessed with having the ad-caps? It just looks very odd when they're included and makes watching the shows a much more disjointed experience as far as I'm concerned. It's like reading a sentence with two full stops at the end of it..

[TJ]

Can someone please explain why lots of people in this thread are so obsessed with having the ad-caps? It just looks very odd when they're included and makes watching the shows a much more disjointed experience as far as I'm concerned. It's like reading a sentence with two full stops at the end of it..

But the cuts that they've made butcher gags and make it a bit like reading sentence a that cut out has and bits order words pointless wrong twattery.

[difbrook]

Can someone please explain why lots of people in this thread are so obsessed with having the ad-caps? It just looks very odd when they're included and makes watching the shows a much more disjointed experience as far as I'm concerned. It's like reading a sentence with two full stops at the end of it..

for my part, it goes like this -

if a show on a commercial station is done well and thought has been put into it (be it a sketch show, a sticom or a drama)  what you get is a twelve to fifteen minute stretch that is shaped, and builds to a natural conclusion. The adbreak works in the same way as the end of a chapter in a really well constructed novel.

If you think of Dennis Spooner's "Dramatic W" formula for television, where you're actually given a couple of breathing spaces and the plot builds to a certain amount of "high points", the adbreaks would go immediately after those "high points". Take them out, and what you wind with is something that sometimes renders the whole show less enjoyable because all the shape has gone.

Bunging the whole show together disrupts the flow of the thing. Sticking an adbreak into something that originally aired on the BBC or other non-commercial stations disrupts In much the same way, because they're structured differently.

or another, slightly different example - hacking together three episodes of a show to form a ninety minute programme. Look at Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different". Sags a bit in the middle, doesn't it? It does for me anyway, and it's nothing to do with the quality of the sketches, almost all of which are top notch. It's just that being forced to slap them all out one after the other is a bit relentless.

so basically, what it all comes down to for me is that a really well done show works in the way it was originally made, and knocking it around doesn't really do the content any justice.

[Morrisfan82]

Or, as a shortcut - removing material from an as-broadcasted programme for purely 'presentational' reasons is WRONG.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

I'm trying to think of something that fits this description. Reunion sketches where people wear the wrong wigs and swear a lot? Foxed if I know of one. That doesn't describe Python night... And obviously not Blackadder... Or the TDT audio reunion. Nope, I'm stumped, sorry.  

Are you kidding? It's true of all those things. There's a reason why renunions are bland at best and terrible at worst: the team's original motivation for making the show has gone, to be replaced by the 'Aw, it's nice to see them' factor alone. Which is comedy death.

If I had the power to make a 'No new material under the same name if the show ended more than five years ago' rule, I would.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Also, with Absolutely, the adcaps have music stings which often merge into the action of the sketch itself. So unless they find 'clean' copies of the sketch material, cutting the adcaps is going to look really messy.

[Jemble Fred]

Also, with Absolutely, the adcaps have music stings which often merge into the action of the sketch itself. So unless they find 'clean' copies of the sketch material, cutting the adcaps is going to look really messy.

As the music stings for both sides of the adverts are identical, I imagine it'd be quite easy to merge them into one pan-across-the-crazy-shelves, and back into the sketches. That way, you'd get the marker for the ad break, without the annoyance of having to sit through the same sting twice every half hour, with a pause in between. Perhaps you'd need to go back to the original tapes to do this cleanly though, which makes it a probable no-no.

Oh, and if you passed your reunion law, I'd track you down and burn you. Sorry, but I'd consider it my duty.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

And I know the 'wigs' and swearing' thing isn't literally true of the TDT, Python and Blackadder reunions. But you know what I mean: flabby, watery, out-of-practice, forgeting-why-it-was-originally-funny blandfests.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

As the music stings for both sides of the adverts are identical, I imagine it'd be quite easy to merge them into one pan-across-the-crazy-shelves, and back into the sketches. That way, you'd get the marker for the ad break, without the annoyance of having to sit through the same sting twice every half hour, with a pause in between. Perhaps you'd need to go back to the original tapes to do this cleanly though, which makes it a probable no-no.

But why would you even want to do that? JUST LEAVE IT.

[LordSnooty]

Personally I find the prospect of sitting through TWO tedious, drawn-out ad stings makes me uneasy at best. ONE ad sting, however, is much more manageable.

Or in other more serious words, it matters not a jot, so don't waste time trying to edit it, just use the time more productively to find items of use, such as original rushes & so on.

[Morrisfan82]

This little chap comes in handy:



I use it every time the intro sequence to Family Guy comes on, doesn't mean they should have chopped the fucker out does it.

And they can always stick a chapter point at the beginning of part two (perhaps at the end of the sting, if it makes people cry that much). You could zip straight through it then without slicing the programme into eggy soldiers for baby.

[TotalNightmare]

They would be fool, by the way, to not have the menu system designed like that of the bric-a-brac type shelving used in the title sequence...

Click on the piano to hear the songs...

Click on the babys head for Episodes...

Click on the Theatre Curtain for PLAY ALL...

its perfect!

One last thing...

The Kids In The Hall Boxsets, although not elaborate, are great ways to present the material.

Stick he 20 odd eps over 3 disc and a forth for a retrospective documetary for the series over view, some delated stuff and a 'best of the season' episode specially made for the DVD with sketches chosen by the fans!

[trotsky assortment]

...forgeting-why-it-was-originally-funny blandfests.

That's exactly how I feel about 'Blackadder: Back and Forth'.  I've never seen the end.

[Jemble Fred]

But why would you even want to do that? JUST LEAVE IT.

For fuck's sake, I'm just saying it's preferable to a Big Night Out-style edit-fest. If they had to fuck about with it, or rather, THEY FELT they had to fuck around with it, I'd rather it was subtle and seamless.

[Neil]

If they were going to fuck about with it  I think I'd rather they just left well alone so there was a chance of getting a proper relase sometime in the future.

>With regard to a full release, I agree totally and have been assured >by Gordon that this WILL be the case so don't worry

[alan strang]

>With regard to a full release, I agree totally and have been assured >by Gordon that this WILL be the case so don't worry

"Didn't expect that, did you?"

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

slicing the programme into eggy soldiers for baby.

Yeah, that's exactly what adcap-removal is. See also cropping 4:3 pictures for widescreen and editing interesting footage into 'featurettes'.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Personally I find the prospect of sitting through TWO tedious, drawn-out ad stings makes me uneasy at best.

The Absolutely stings aren't tedious or drawn-out though.

I just don't trust anyone to edit them properly, that's the thing. And, as you say, they shouldn't be wasting their time on it when they could be searching through Pete Baikie's boxes.

Besides, I do have a hardline attitide to this. When I watched all 17 episodes of The Prisoner on video a couple of years back, I always watched the (very long) title sequence each time. It wouldn't feel right to skip it.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

For fuck's sake, I'm just saying it's preferable to a Big Night Out-style edit-fest. If they had to fuck about with it, or rather, THEY FELT they had to fuck around with it, I'd rather it was subtle and seamless.

I'm not having a go at you - I'm just talking to any would-be Absolutely re-editors who may or may not be lurking. Best not to put the idea in their heads.

[LordSnooty]

The Absolutely stings aren't tedious or drawn-out though.

I know. And therein lies the irony of my statement.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

I know. And therein lies the irony of my statement.

Sorry, my sarcasm-detector wasn't working...