I hope you all are enjoying the holidays! I don’t want to start out the year with another of my “rant and rave” entries… so thought I should hurry up and post my next two entries… which of course >>> are rant and raves!
My family picked two holiday movies to watch this year… and both of them were Jim Henson productions! I am SO glad that we got these movies years ago… when our children were little (during the ’80s) because, apparently, Disney is distributing them ALTERED!
You know the expression… “Don’t mess with perfection.”>>> Well, apparently when Disney bought the Henson Production Company, they thought that they (Disney!) could make “perfection” even more perfect! They (Disney!) were wrong!
We bought our DVD of The Muppet Christmas Carol years ago, right when it was originally released. Unfortunately, it was released in the “pan and scan” mode. My husband, (I have “spoken” about him before… with his love of technological toys…) decided that we “need” to get the wide screen DVD version, so he decided to buy it. He was in for a big surprise!
Apparently, it is now being released by Disney without a very crucial song/sequence, which makes a critical transition time in the movie. You know longer are able to see Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine) sing a song with the fiancée who lost out to his love for money. We don’t know exactly why this scene has been deleted from the wide screen version. The good news is that the (Disney) distributors did deem this scene important enough to include in the “bonus scenes.” So, you can watch the wide screen version until the crucial moment, go to the bonus scene, continue watching the movie AS IT WAS INTENDED in the bonus scene, and then, when you get to the precise moment, you can go back to the wide screen version.
Needless to say, my husband did NOT buy the new and “improved” wide screen version of the movie. We will continue to watch it each year in the pan and scan mode… since we prefer seeing all of the scenes VS all of the scenery. Although each time we watch the movie, we see more of the small details that producer Brian Henson added to the movie scenery.
Shame on you, Disney Studios, for messing with perfection!
PS… I’m on a “3 Rs” >>>Rant & Rave Roll! A Muppet Family Christmas DVD in my next entry!
Maria BearMountainBooks.com says
I understand that the same thing has been done to “Charlie Brown’s Christmas.” I don’t know who owns it, but it is on every year and my husband (you’ve heard him mentioned before–yes, he of techno gadgets!) informed me that several critical parts were missing. Apparently they were shortened and/or deleted to allow for more commercials!!!
Grr. Don’t mess with perfection. No, we do not need more commercials!!!
Sheila says
My DVD, bought several years ago, has both the wide-screen and “pan-and-scan” full-screen versions. The package says, “Includes widescreen & extended full-screen version with deleted scene.” The wide-screen version is the original theatrical release, which I’m pretty sure never had that scene in it. I always watch the full-screen one, because I love that song!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Maria, I am really sorry to hear about Charlie Brown’s Christmas being edited to make room for more commercials. “Grr” is right!
Sheila, I love that song and it provides a perfect transition into the sadder parts of the Dickens’ tale. I can’t imagine the movie without that scene…