Getting the cut stuff from TMS Season 1

[bloomcounty]

Hi,

I'm new here, am a huge fan of The Muppets, and am excited to get my Muppet Show Season 1 DVD set in the mail soon. Also, like many of you, I'm disappointed to see that stuff was cut, especially since I have no access to this cut material (except for a few things I found on a VHS taped off of the Odyssey station or something). I know there's many here that are in the same boat, but it seems there are also many here who have this cut material in one form or another. So I had an idea...

What if there was to be compiled a DVD (and/or VHS) containing all the stuff that's missing from the Season 1 set and then we all did a "burn and pass" (that's what B&P stands for, right?) with said DVD/VHS, each of us making ourselves a copy and then mailing it along to the next person on a list. The only cost would be for the postage sending it to the next person -- and the time for the kind souls who have access to this material to compile the "original" DVD/VHS to be B&P'ed.

Looking at the review from here of the DVD's, here's what seems to be missing (so far) that would be included on the B&P:

1. The original first season closing scene w/ Zoot. (Just one take of it...)

2. Joel Grey Episode bits: Two Missing Newsman bits; "Stormy Weather" sung by Wayne and Wanda

3. Jim Nabors Episode bits: Missing Intro, Missing Backstage material, "Gone With The Wind" sung by Jim Nabors, "The Danceros" sung by The Danceros

4. Paul Williams Episode bits: Missing Intro, "All Of Me" sung by Two Monsters

5. Charles Aznavour Episode bits: Missing Intro, "Old Fashioned Way" sung by Charles Aznavour with Mildred

6. Vincent Price Episode bits: Missing Intro, "You’ve Got A Friend" sung by Vincent Price, Uncle Deadly and chorus

7. Kermit's appearance and climatic line from the pitch reel.

In addition, I think these might be good possibilities if available:

8. Original Juliet Prowse episode (or, at least, the bits that are different)

9. Original Connie Stevens episode (or, at least, the bits that are different)

10. The Muppets Valentine Show (*only* if we find out it won't be included in a future Season DVD set some reason)

I don't know if this has already been discussed -- if so, I apologize. But if not, and it's a possiblity, what would it take to get this rolling? I say let's do it!

All it would take is for the fans here to work together to make it happen!

Thanks,

bloomcounty

 

[bloomcounty]

So nobody who has any of this material is interested in sharing with their fellow Muppet fans and taking part in this? I'm willing to do the compiling and starting off the B&P if we can get volunteers to supply the missing material. I tried contacting one of the people behind this site, but did not hear back either...

However, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some person on this message board who has all the missing stuff -- if so, please help to get this B&P going so all of us Muppet fans can see the stuff left out of the new DVD set!

(And since this is material that Disney can't/won't put out on DVD, we're not taking away any sales from them -- in fact, the few people who have refused to buy the DVD set because of the missing stuff would probably be more willing to buy it if they could get ahold of the missing material in some format... so we're helping give *more* sales to Disney!)

Thanks!

-- bloomcounty

 

[TotallySpiesFan]

Scarecroe has the Time-Life TMS DVD with Alice Cooper, Vincent Price, and Marty Feldman. It has Vincent's "You've Got a Friend" for download soon.

 

[bloomcounty]

Scarecroe has the Time-Life TMS DVD with Alice Cooper, Vincent Price, and Marty Feldman. It has Vincent's "You've Got a Friend" for download soon.

They actually have that DVD at my local library too, but that's still good to know! Thanks for posting. Now if we could get the folks who have the other previously unreleased missing material to offer that up for download or B&P, we'd be in business!

I have the Jim Nabors episode taped off of the Odyssey Channel from years back on VHS and I'm up for offering that to a B&P. So, please, if anyone reading this has the other harder to get missing material I listed in my first post on this thread, let's hear from you!

Thanks,

bloomcounty

 

[minor muppetz]

some things may not be possible

I don't think it would be possible to burn a DVD with everything you asked for. Although there are many fans who have uncut copies of every episode, I don't think any of us fans here actually own copies of the uncut version of the pitch tape, nor do we own the original versions of the juliet prowse or connie stevens episode.

The pitch tape was shown at Muppetfest in 2001, and I am sure that was the first time that many of the fans who saw it there ever saw it.

The original version of the Juliet prowse episode is availible to watch at the museum of television and radio, but as far as I know, the museum doesn't sell copies of any of the programs there.

I don't think any of us here at muppet central have even seen the original cut of the Connie Stevens episode.

I do know that every once in a while, the jim henson company has special kinds of events that screen rare Henson production (and sometimes things that even the most hardcore fans didn't even know about were screened), and many of them have been at the museum of television and radio, where they usually donate copies to after the events, so maybe there will be a future event that screens rare henson materials, and maybe the connie stevens episode would be shown.

 

[bloomcounty]

That makes sense. I guess it would more realistically, it would be:

1. The original first season closing scene w/ Zoot. (Just one take of it...)

2. Joel Grey Episode bits: Two Missing Newsman bits; "Stormy Weather" sung by Wayne and Wanda

3. Jim Nabors Episode bits: Missing Intro, Missing Backstage material, "Gone With The Wind" sung by Jim Nabors, "The Danceros" sung by The Danceros

4. Paul Williams Episode bits: Missing Intro, "All Of Me" sung by Two Monsters

5. Charles Aznavour Episode bits: Missing Intro, "Old Fashioned Way" sung by Charles Aznavour with Mildred

6. Vincent Price Episode bits: Missing Intro, "You’ve Got A Friend" sung by Vincent Price, Uncle Deadly and chorus

...with the Vincent Price stuff already being available on those other dvds. I have the Jim Nabors episode from Odyssey. So if anyone has the Joel Grey, Paul Williams, and Charles Aznavour episodes, those would be good to B&P (along with my Jim Nabors). And it doesn't have to be the full episodes, just the missing stuff. Anyways... just a thought! Thanks for the post!

-- bloomcounty

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Yeah, I've noticed a problem with the cuts. Specifically, in the Paul Williams and Charles Aznavour episodes. In the Paul Williams ep, Kermit does the introduction. Then they skip to a backstage scene. And in the Charles Aznavour ep, they did two backstage scenes in a row. Though I haven't seen those eps when they originally aired, I could tell, as the whatnot in the Rudolf Nureyev ep once said, "Something's Missing." Also, I didn't get Waldorf's "I didn't order any" joke until I reread the outline of that episode here. It's only funny the second time if you hear it the first time. That's sort of why I prefer the Timelife eps. They're episodes are complete (with the exception of the first season openings and Zoot closings.) Still, I enjoy watching the first season eps on DVD, I just wish they hadn't made all those cuts.

 

[Blue Weirdo]

I have the Joel Grey episode taped off Oddesy soemwhere. (I have a huge pile of unmarked tapes in my room I need to go through and label)

I remember the "All of Me" number was on a collection tape but I don't recall which one.

 

[Honbrifcl]

Actually, I am working on this. I found all the missing materials for season one in digital form. They are not DVD quality but DivX and they are OK to watch. What I am trying to do now is to extract the original DVD with Vincent Price episode, edit in the missing song and then reassemble it to a new DVD with the same menu functionality and without losing quality of the original material.
I haven't had any experience with this before and it is quite complex to do it. A lot of different tools to be used and you get to learn how a DVD works technically, but many problems to overcome. So I did not succeed yet (I managed to get the missing scene into the video files, which works pretty fine, but not to rebuild the DVD and menu structure to point to the correct locations). I think this will be a long term project. Maybe interesting if several people try it at the same time to share experience and results.

Now before continuing, I don't know if these activities are illegal in your countries. If it is, I would rather not discuss it via this board. Actually in Holland, non of these activities are illegal (we are allowed to download music/movies and burn it on DVD and we are allowed to make a personal copy of a DVD ). I will definitely not sell the result (if I get it working!), but share information on how to do it is the least I can do for true fans.

Anyone interested in this option and anyone with experience in tools like vobedit, infoedit and those kind of tools?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Maybe it would be a good idea to load that stuff online. Maybe they could be MP3 video or audio files. Just a thought.