For goodness sake, will someone please give me a definitive answer...

[dom]

Because I am cornfused. 

I love watching these old episodes again and complete episodes, not the chopped up ones from the videos. Why they did that I will never understand!

I thought it was the DVDs that were cut. I thought the videos were more complete?

[Nelson Collins]

Perhaps Alondra was talking about the early VHS releases that were edited to focus on the Barnabas story?

[Gothick]

Hi Dom,

I can understand why you're confused.  What she means is that the old VHS release of the series (the tapes that started coming out way back in '89) were edited so that most of the Jason Maguire story was left out, and even non-Barnabas scenes of episodes featuring Barn were sometimes eliminated.  I guess that initially, MPI execs thought the only reason why anyone would buy the tapes would be to see Barnabas.  They had not yet figured out that there are fans here who want to see every second of DS--bloopers and all!

I don't own the new volume one DVD set from 1966, but from what I have been able to determine, a technical glitch led to ONE disc of that set getting a few seconds edited out of the closing moments of each episode.  (I actually think I have an idea of how it happened--the people producing the discs may have inadvertently forgotten to re-set the defaults on a day when they had just been processing something that involved a "mix" feature on one of their editing machines.  This happened to a friend of mine recently when he burned a CD for me.)

Just to add a further wrinkle of complexity, we've also been discussing how the DVD issue of the 1991 remake failed to include deleted scenes that were incorporated into the VHS release for that series.  In the case of 1991, the VHS release IS more complete, both in terms of deleted scenes and in terms of image presentation (the DVD of this show was cropped to turn it into a "faux widescreen" look).

Hope this helps!

G.

[MagnusTrask]

Those first 7 or 8 tapes in the first VHS series released, which were edited, and which have DS in red letters on the box, most of them, were replaced later by the DS "Collector's Series", with a different numbering system (I think the same time period had #s in the 40s and 50s) and DS in blue letters on the box.   These are unedited and even have extra little bits such as the director's snap thing that has the basic info. on the episode on it-- that thing that's an old movie-making cliche.    There may have been promos for episodes too.  I imagine these were left off of the DVDs.

[David]

on the other hand, Sci Fi and local TV stations edited DS for years to throw in more commercials.

Whatever occasional edits are on the DVDs, the eps are still far more complete than what I saw on Sci-Fi, or on WNBC in New York in 1982, or channel 20 in San Francisco in the late 80s!

David

[dom]

Thanks guys. That never even occured to me (obviously).  

So then the DVDs start with Barn's intro unedited? Great, because I was wondering about that also. I am recieving the 'Beginning' DVDs and I probably won't be able to stop at Barn's intro and I was wondering how they were going to handle that transition (thinking the Barn's were edited on the DVDs also).

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Sci Fi ... edited DS

A certain someone we all know "reworked" the DS episodes for Sci-Fi.
(We've mentioned that a few times on the forum. So, if you can't figure out on your own who that was (though it should be obvious to almost everyone  ), it shouldn't be too hard to use the forum's Search feature to find those posts.)

So then the DVDs start with Barn's intro unedited?

Yup. 

[MagnusTrask]

Love the avatar and motto under it, dom and arashi!

[dom]

Thanks MB.

Thanks MT.

I wonder if Petofi & G Trask ever crossed paths? One would think so, but I don't remember. Though if they had, one would think one would remember, wouldn't one? (yes, I am being nauseating on purpose)

[Devlin66]

wow i am sure glad i put all the collectors series volume 1-54 on DVD a year ago.....

[Nelson Collins]

On a somewhat related subject, has anyone compiled a list of all the major flubs/bloopers/miscues and compared it to what was edited on the dvds?

[Alondra]

I thought it was the DVDs that were cut. I thought the videos were more complete?

Looks like this has been answered by others. Boy are we a lotta DS experts or what? Yeah the first 8 videos are edited to concentrate more on Barnabas and less on the rest of the storyline. And to think I paid about 20 bucks for each of these when MPI first started releasing them! Later they did release the complete episodes on the collector's series tapes. This is approximiately episodes #210-#275 which are edited on these first 8 tapes. They are complete now on the DVD's which is great. That's what I was referring to. I had been watching these episodes on the tapes for so long that I had forgotten several scenes that were not included on the tapes, and now watching DVD collection #1 it's really great to see ALL of it. I recall becoming very bored during the time [spoiler]Maggie is being kept in the cellar downstairs[/spoiler] since that's all we see, and I'm wondering what's happening at Collinwood during that time. They cut a lot of the Jason blackmail thing and I'm as interested in that as in the Barnabas Maggie Willie story. I'm so glad I was able to get the DVD's.

Alondra

[dom]

I have the series on VHS. I hate video tapes now that DVDs have been invented. I'd sell them if I weren't so attached to the boxes (especially the blue Collector's Series), as most of the cover photo's are to die for. And I doubt I'll get the complete series on DVD. But really, how & where do you stop, you know? I'll have to traipse on over to MPI's site and see how the series is broken down on the DVDs. It's so easy to say I don't like this storyline or that, but still, every storyline has periods that are hard to say no to. I'd be inclined to stop at the end of Leviathan's or maybe 1995. I can do without PT 70, 1840, & PT 1841. I don't remember where 1995 fits in sequence wise.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I can do without PT 70, 1840, & 1841.

Bite your tongue!    (Or should that be sprain your fingers?) Those storylines contain some of my favorite stuff as well as some absolutely wonderful performances that should never be missed. And they should be on the list on every serious DS collector. 

We may have to rethink your status around here if you ever repeat such blasphemy again!     

[Alondra]

I have the series on VHS. I hate video tapes now that DVDs have been invented. I'd sell them if I weren't so attached to the boxes (especially the blue Collector's Series), as most of the cover photo's are to die for. And I doubt I'll get the complete series on DVD. But really, how & where do you stop, you know? I'll have to traipse on over to MPI's site and see how the series is broken down on the DVDs. It's so easy to say I don't like this storyline or that, but still, every storyline has periods that are hard to say no to. I'd be inclined to stop at the end of Leviathan's or maybe 1995. I can do without PT 70, 1840, & PT 1841. I don't remember where 1995 fits in sequence wise.

You have a point there. I plan to eventually sell my MPI videos on ebay but I will regret giving up the pix on the front covers. The DVD collections don't have anything nearly so nice. Just some dippy postcard thing and most of them are not that great. And they're in black and white. But I love the DVD's much more than the tapes.

As for where you stop, you don't. I've suggested to people that you find some way to save back a few bucks a week, make some kind of sacrifice and save til you can buy a set. Deep Discount has them the cheapest IF they send you the right set. One of the sets they sent me was wrong and they never made it right though eventually they refunded my money, only after a couple months of the runaround. I then purchased the right set on amazon. I'd go with amazon or deep discount. You might could get it a bit cheaper on amazon if you buy it used. Some of mine were used but they're all good, I haven't had any problem with them. (knock on wood)

As for the sequence, you have 1970 parallel time, then 1995, then summer of '70, then 1840, then 1841 parallel time.

Alondra