The intention of my original post in this thread was to verify if the glitch in DVD #2 of Volume 5 was unique to my copy. I have no intention of being drawn into another debate on whether the bloopers should or should not be left in the DVD episodes (although, if memory serves, the vast majority of fans here who are willing to purchase the DVDs want those episodes complete, "warts and all".)
The main question I have is why are these very few, very subtle changes being made at all? If Dan Curtis is worried about the bloopers of DS reflecting badly on his professional reputation, he's about 38 years too late. Personally, I don't believe Dan has much to do with the DVD production at all. If he was worried about the bloopers keeping consumers from purchasing the DVDs why doesn't he insist that ALL of the bloopers be corrected, or at least, ALL THAT CAN BE corrected? For instance, the scene where Barnabas picks his nose. How awful is that? That entire sequence could EASILY be taken out without disrupting the story. (When the DVD episodes reach that point, perhaps that blooper WILL be edited out. But, I think more people who buy the DVDs will be disappointed that it's not included than there will be people who never saw it before and thus, will never miss it.)
Sorry to digress, but again, my question is WHO did these edits and WHY? The MPI rep who posts here occasionally said that the edits were mistakes and that they would stop and presumably, they have. However, the fact that such sporadic editing was done, editing of bloopers that I think most techs unfamiliar with DS would miss, intrigues me. Did the tech have a knowledge of the show and its reputation for frequent bloopers? Did she/he set out to make a name for him/herself in the eyes of his superiors (including Dan Curtis) by ridding DS of its bloopers? Did she/he miss all of the other bloopers, only correcting the ones we've found?
Of course I will not say that Dan has no right to do what he wants to do to a show that he owns. George Lucas changed his Star Wars films after nearly 20 years, to the consternation of thousands of fans. Not that he didn't have the right to do it, but the fans are begging him, when the original Star Wars trilogy DVD is released, to release the versions that they saw in their younger years. They want these versions, not at the expense of releasing the newer versions, but are circulating petitions for ALL versions to be released.
However, I suspect that Dan Curtis is not behind these minor edits. I want to know who and why?
I probably won't get to the truth, but then again who knows? Maybe Dan reads this forum and will give us some answers?
SDP