Request from fans of this show for DVD review

[snowpeck]

Hello gang,

I am currently in the process of writing DVD reviews for the site of the new DVD releases of seasons 1 and 2 from Mill Creek. I know the older sets had music changes, and I am trying to determine if these sets do as well. The only problem is I don't have access to those older sets to compare. Does anybody know of any specific examples of music replacement in these two seasons that I can check?

Thanks!

[bigoranget]

So far I haven't noticed anything different between the two sets. I really don't know how accurate other website are when they claim that season one was syndicated versions. I seriously doubt that is the case. There may be some music replacements but even that is probably minimal. The average runtime on both sets is around 22:30 which was normal for 98/99.

There is about a 5 or 6 second difference in episode runtimes between the two sets but the original release has a longer pause between scenes.

[ArtOfLosingBV3k]

I've been very curious about this myself, so I'll try to help you out.

Honestly, the pilot episode on the first DVD set is the only one I've compared to an original broadcast version so far, and there was only one song replaced in that episode. It's about 3 minutes in when it cuts to Hyde and Kelso in the basement looking at a nudie mag. The song playing in the background is different on the DVD than when it was first aired on FOX. Problem is, I don't know the title of the song, but there are clips on YouTube from the old DVD set. I can't post links to other sites yet, so do a YouTube search for 'that 70s show pilot' and click on the video entitled 'That '70s Show S01 E01- That '70s Pilot (pt. 1)' uploaded by user 'That70sGuy1988'. That is a clip from the old DVD set with the song replaced. Again, it's about 3 minutes in. Compare that to the Mill Creek set and I look forward to finding out out if they're the same.

I wish I had more examples for you, but that's all I've got at this time.

[bigoranget]

Siting that specific example that ArtOfLosingBV3k provided; the Millcreek and original DVD is identical.

[McGillicuddy]

I'm now collecting the Millcreek Roseanne dvd sets, since season 1 with the original sets was not original broadcasts. Neither was seasons 8 & 9.

In the case of That's 70's Show, I own the all the original season sets, and so far, there doesn't seem to be any insentive to replace these with the Millcreek Sets.

I'm now believing music edits were minimal with the original dvd sets, and the re-releases are the exact same.

[ArtOfLosingBV3k]

Originally Posted by markway895

In the case of That's 70's Show, I own the all the original season sets, and so far, there doesn't seem to be any insentive to replace these with the Millcreek Sets.

You're right. So far, there isn't any reason to replace the original season sets with Mill Creek's; they're practically identical, save for the lower video bitrate and crummy packaging from Mill Creek. The only exception might possibly come with the upcoming release of the fifth season from Mill Creek, as the 25th episode of the fifth season was actually presented in it's edited syndicated form on the FOX dvd. If that episode is presented uncut on the upcoming Mill Creek set, then that would be incentive enough for me to buy it. Unfortunately, Mill Creek doesn't seem to be advertising anything about the episode being uncut which leads me to believe that they're still going to use the syndicated cut, as Mill Creek has been pretty good in the past when it comes to flaunting it's original broadcast edits. I've even gone so far as to e-mail Mill Creek about it, but they appear to have ignored me completely.

Originally Posted by markway895

I'm now believing music edits were minimal with the original dvd sets, and the re-releases are the exact same.

This is not true at all. The music edits on the original DVD sets were actually quite severe. I've compared every episode of the fifth season and the first seven of the first season. They basically replaced every song that they could, unless the song being played was directly referenced by the characters or was an otherwise essential plot point. I wasn't keeping a record when I compared the fifth season, but just from the first seven episodes of season one alone, I counted 18 instances of music edits/replacements. And, yes, the Mill Creek sets are exactly the same.

[Skywalker]

Originally Posted by ArtOfLosingBV3k

You're right. So far, there isn't any reason to replace the original season sets with Mill Creek's; they're practically identical, save for the lower video bitrate and crummy packaging from Mill Creek. The only exception might possibly come with the upcoming release of the fifth season from Mill Creek, as the 25th episode of the fifth season was actually presented in it's edited syndicated form on the FOX dvd. If that episode is presented uncut on the upcoming Mill Creek set, then that would be incentive enough for me to buy it. Unfortunately, Mill Creek doesn't seem to be advertising anything about the episode being uncut which leads me to believe that they're still going to use the syndicated cut, as Mill Creek has been pretty good in the past when it comes to flaunting it's original broadcast edits. I've even gone so far as to e-mail Mill Creek about it, but they appear to have ignored me completely.

Is that episode really a syndicated version? It has the same running time as the other episodes on the Season 5 DVD.

[ArtOfLosingBV3k]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

Is that episode really a syndicated version? It has the same running time as the other episodes on the Season 5 DVD.

Yes, it is. When Celebration Day originally aired, it aired as a "super-sized" episode, or one that was longer than the average episode but not quite an hour-long special (that, or they just aired the whole thing in a regular half-hour time-slot with more footage and less commercials. I'm not entirely sure how it went down.) Its original run-time was about 27 minutes long (that's including the "previously on" segment and the theme song), as opposed to the DVD run-time of about 22 minutes. That's a substantial amount of missing footage.

[Skywalker]

Originally Posted by ArtOfLosingBV3k

Yes, it is. When Celebration Day originally aired, it aired as a "super-sized" episode, or one that was longer than the average episode but not quite an hour-long special (that, or they just aired the whole thing in a regular half-hour time-slot with more footage and less commercials. I'm not entirely sure how it went down.) Its original run-time was about 27 minutes long (that's including the "previously on" segment and the theme song), as opposed to the DVD run-time of about 22 minutes. That's a substantial amount of missing footage.

Oh, I never knew that they had a supersized episode. Now I regret that I stopped recording the show after Season 1. Thanks for the info.

[ArtOfLosingBV3k]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

Oh, I never knew that they had a supersized episode. Now I regret that I stopped recording the show after Season 1. Thanks for the info.

No problem. So you have recordings of the original airings of the first season? Are you tech-savvy at all? Because I would love to be able to get the audio from those original first airings in good quality. I'm working on reconstructing the original broadcast audio for That '70s Show (basically reinserting the songs that were replaced/removed) and my sources for season 1 aren't of the best quality. In fact, I'm missing a source for a couple episodes in the first and second seasons. Anyway, if you're able to easily transfer audio from the recordings to your computer, I would be forever grateful if you were able to help me out. If not, that's cool, I'm sure there are a lot of people who recorded the show. Let me know, thanks.

[Skywalker]

Originally Posted by ArtOfLosingBV3k

No problem. So you have recordings of the original airings of the first season? Are you tech-savvy at all? Because I would love to be able to get the audio from those original first airings in good quality. I'm working on reconstructing the original broadcast audio for That '70s Show (basically reinserting the songs that were replaced/removed) and my sources for season 1 aren't of the best quality. In fact, I'm missing a source for a couple episodes in the first and second seasons. Anyway, if you're able to easily transfer audio from the recordings to your computer, I would be forever grateful if you were able to help me out. If not, that's cool, I'm sure there are a lot of people who recorded the show. Let me know, thanks.

I'm sorry, I got rid of the tapes after I bought the season 1 DVD. I compared the episodes I taped to the episodes on the season 1 DVDs to find missing music and I didn't find much at all so I threw the tapes out.

[ArtOfLosingBV3k]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

I'm sorry, I got rid of the tapes after I bought the season 1 DVD. I compared the episodes I taped to the episodes on the season 1 DVDs to find missing music and I didn't find much at all so I threw the tapes out.

That's okay, no worries. I'll just continue using the sources I have. Thanks anyway!