The state of altered TV on DVD...

You know, as the DVD industry moves into its second decade, the rash of altered DVDs continues to increase at an alarming rate. Sometimes the changes are minor, while at other times the changes are extremely significant. Of course, we’re all aware that one of the most notorious culprits of any kind of film, TV, or DVD alteration is George Lucas. Nothing he has made has been preserved as originally released (though he did finally give in and release the original theatrical versions of the “Star Wars” trilogy in a cheapjack unmastered format). However, my emphasis here is the recent rash of altered TV programs released on DVD over the last few years. Let’s look at some of the more notable culprits of this alteration process:

The Real World: Season 1, New York – This was my first experience with an altered TV product on DVD and an especially ugly example of major DVD alterations that disrespects the fans. In this, the granddaddy of the modern-day reality TV show craze, many of the episodes’ teasers and main titles have been removed, and the titles appear every 3-4 segments. In addition, all of the end credits and outtake footage have been cut from their original broadcasts, and, worst of all, the rock music underscore has been replaced with a non-descript generic instrumental score. No wonder piss-poor sales and major alteration issues have prevented the other seasons (which I think the second and third, along with the first, are still the best) from being issued on DVD.

Smallville: The Complete Fourth Season – As the fourth season started, Allison Mack’s credit was removed from the main title credits for the first two episodes. This was to preserve the illusion that her character of Chloe Sullivan had been supposedly killed off at the end of the third season. It was not until the third episode that her cast credit was restored, and reruns of the first two episodes, as well as its DVD representations, later restored her cast credit. I for one found it more interesting to have her cast credit removed from those first two episodes because it maintained the illusion, and I wish Warner Home Video would have kept it that way when they did the DVDs. It’s a minor alteration, to be sure, but an alternation nonetheless.

The Adventures of Superman: The Complete First Season – In the segment “Crime Wave”, pay particular attention to the end of the segment. As the segment ends with George Reeves saying, “There’s no more number one crime boss in Metropolis anymore,” the music swells up and goes into an explosion, followed by the end credits. Apparently, the version used in this set incorporated part of the syndicated broadcast when Kellogg’s originally sponsored the series back in the 1950’s. I’ve got this episode on VHS when it originally came out in 1988, and the version on the VHS is the unedited master without the music and the syndicated end credits. Is there a reason why some studios resort to using syndicated versions of episodes and not the original masters, especially when the unedited masters are out there to begin with? Hold onto that VHS tape at all costs.

Superman: The Animated Series, Volume One – When this first came out, the 60-minute pilot episode “Last Son of Krypton” was divided into three parts and presented as such on the first collected volume. Yet a few years before Warner Home Video had issued the original broadcast pilot of “Last Son of Krypton” unedited on a single-disc release. This is one time where you should hold onto that single-disc release.

WKRP in Cincinnati: Season One – This one was a really ugly monster. When one of the most popular series of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s premiered on television, it used a heavy amount of then-popular rock music underscore in its episodes. However, it took quite a while for a lot of music clearance rights to occur before part of the rock songs were retained in the DVD versions of the episodes. Some music, however, was missing, thereby robbing the series of some of its charm. Music clearance is an ugly monster, to be sure.

Star Trek: Captain’s Log Fan Collective – On Disc 2 the two-part “Chain of Command” has been re-edited into a movie-length feature and not retained as originally presented in 1992 and on the sixth season TNG box set back in 2002. In this release, the episode title credits have all been condensed and included at the start of Part 1; the end credits from Part 1 have been removed; and the Part 2 recap, main titles, and episode credits have all been removed from the episode. This is one that in some cases could easily slip under some people’s radars, but any Trek fan who knows the franchise well can spot this alteration right away. Why did this alteration have to happen to begin with?

That’s not the only Star Trek DVD alteration that occurred. In the third season set of Star Trek: Enterprise, a few alterations appeared. In the first two episodes, the series was still referred to as “Enterprise”; it didn’t include the “Star Trek” label until the third episode of the season. Later reruns of those first two episodes used the “Star Trek: Enterprise” title card. Also, in the episode “Harbinger”, the segment was shown as originally shot and produced, though it was altered for U.S. broadcast. Finally, in the second season Enterprise set, the season opener “Shockwave – Part II” ran a minute longer than in its initial airing, which was edited for some unknown. The rerun and the DVD version retained the unedited version. Sometimes slight changes do occur for the better, and the “Enterprise” sets are two of the very few exceptions to the norm.

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Season 1 – This is another rare exception where an alteration is actually a significant improvement. When the original pilot episode aired in 1993, it ran 78 minutes in length. The two-part rerun had some additional footage not seen in the original pilot broadcast, while the DVD version has even more footage not shown in the U.S. For once, this is a very good alteration that benefits the series.

Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology – When I got this one this past Christmas, I noticed that during the Hogan/Ultimate Warrior title match from Wrestlemania VI, part of the audio commentary from Jesse “The Body” Ventura was removed from the video. I know this for a fact because I’ve got a VHS of the unedited telecast of the complete WM VI at home, and the audio commentary is there intact. Not to mention that on every WWE DVD, anything you see the 90’s WWF “Attitude” logo, it’s digitally erased. Somebody slap a headlock on them and tell them to quit messing around with our cheesy memories from the 80’s and 90’s.

The New Adventures of Superman – In this recent release, none of the Superboy segments have been included in this two-disc set, though the cast credits for the Superboy segments are retained from their original broadcasts. This is because of continuing legal problems between DC Comics and the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster over media broadcast rights to the Superboy character. And yet a number of these segments were issued on VHS back in 1988? This DVD omission is a real shame, and I wish everyone would get their act together and clear this problem up sooner or later. If you’ve got the 1988 VHS, hang onto it.

Hawaii Five-0: The Second Season – Here’s another serious case for you. In this new set, quite a bit of musical underscore has been replaced from the original telecasts. In addition, one segment from the series, “Bored, She Hung Herself,” was not included. Reportedly, this episode was shown only one time in January 1970 and never aired again because somebody apparently duplicated the hanging shown in the episode. And yet 16-millimeter prints of the episode exist. Go figure.

This is not the only recent CBS/Paramount DVD release that has had a number of music and footage alterations from their original broadcast versions. Recent DVD releases of Soul Food: The Second Season; Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: The Second Season; Dynasty – Season Two; The Fugitive – Season One, Volume One; JAG – Season Four; and The Odd Couple – Season Two have all had footage removed from their original broadcast versions, and in the case of Soul Food, some musical cues have been replaced with non-descript generic cues. My only question I have to ask is this: why?

And then we have the upcoming Volume One release of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles on DVD in October. Remember at the start of this commentary when I said that George Lucas is one of the most notorious culprits of movie/TV/DVD alterations? Well, here’s an insult that’ll make you want to slap your mama – or at the very least Lucas’ mama, for that matter. Before the DVD industry took off he was already at work altering our memories of this great underrated series from the 1990’s. As you already know, many of the original hour-long episodes utilized bookend scenes directed by Carl Schultz and featuring George Hall as an elderly Indy. However, during the late 90’s Luca$ (as I like to put it) decided to re-edit all of the hour-long episodes together into two-hour movies, with many of the segments not properly connecting from one to the next, resulting in new bridging footage being shot. Now I don’t mind having new footage shot; that’s one thing, but cutting out all of the bookend footage to begin with? As if that weren’t enough, two episodes set in 1908 and 1909, respectively, were sewn together into the second chapter, “Passion for Life”, and reversed in chronological sequence for the two-hour movie version – huh? The last time I saw a higher numbered year coming before a lower numbered year, it usually had the abbreviation B.C. attached to the year. Furthermore, a great segment showing Indy in love with a British suffragette (the exquisite Elizabeth Hurley, who never looked more beautiful than here), had bookend footage that also featured the late Jane Wyatt in it. And here’s another one for you: “Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal”, with three incarnations of Indy and all tied together to a significant plot thread running through the segments. Yet that’s gone, too. But the worst insult of it all? The official Indiana Jones web site prominently mentions all the original bookend segments, yet Luca$ doesn’t respect the fans enough to preserve the episodes as originally shown and intended? And all we’re going to get is just the re-edited movie-length versions on DVD over the next year? If he really cared about the fans, he’d do us all a favor and make us forget that “Howard the Duck” ever existed on film to begin with.

And the list goes on and on. What I’ve presented is only a small sampling of the alterations that I’ve come across, though there’s quite a bit more out there that I haven’t seen at all. The good people at TVShowsonDVD.com used to keep up with a comprehensive list of such alterations, each listed as a positive, negative, or neutral alteration. Recently, though, they haven’t been keeping up with that list, and the Home Theater Forum also has an additional number of such alterations on its board. How many more of our memories must be altered, changed, re-edited, etc. like this? Enough with the madness already!!!

To change gears, here’s a big title to keep track of… Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition, which is set for release October 30th from CBS/Paramount Video. You’ll definitely want to hold onto your previous individual season sets, since much of the additional bonus content is substantially different this time around – the only thing it looks like that’ll be ported over from those two sets will be all of the Log Lady introductions. Otherwise, this is one set you’ll definitely want to grab hold of!