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B5 dvd

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Hi
does anyone no if they are going to bring out babylon 5 season box sets in the uk, or do something simular?
thanx
 
They will almost certainly release the series in boxed sets over there, given that it has always done better on home video in the U.K. than in the U.S. When Warner Bros. discontinued the VHS release of all things related to B5 last September (including the TV movies and Crusade) many assumed that this was a preliminary move to "clear the decks" for an eventual DVD release.

There was a rumor (or "rumour" /forums/images/icons/smile.gif) that S1 was to be released in R2 on October 24th, but given JMS's comment about a mid-November R1 release, I think this unlikely. Chances are the U.K. set will follow a few months after the U.S. release - at least that has often been the pattern. (Except for things like Buffy where a syndication release window enforced in the U.S. did not apply in the U.K.)

So far there's been no official comment from Warner Bros. (not even on the R1 release, which JMS has been talking about freely), so nothing is certain. But I have no reason to think that they would not release essentially the same set in the U.K. that we'll be getting here. (Allowing for the vagaries of the British film censors. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif)

Regards,

Joe
 
Thanx joseph, there is still hope /forums/images/icons/grin.gif
 
The VHS cassettes have been through the UK censor and came out uncut as a maximum of '12', so the same will probably happen to the DVDs. This is not a big restriction, since if you are under 12 Babylon 5 will be too complex for you anyway.

Before 9 p.m. British TV is limited to PG, fortunately that is the natural classification of Babylon 5.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The VHS cassettes have been through the UK censor and came out uncut as a maximum of '12', so the same will probably happen to the DVDs.

[/quote]

But the extras will have to be rated separately. Also I'm not sure that the VHS tapes were uncut. If they were the same as the broadcast episodes there would have been trims in a number of them as compared with the American release. When I checked the BBFC website to see if Rangers had been cleared for DVD, my "Babylon 5" search returned a lot of items, and several of the episodes and movies seem to have had a rating other than PG, although I must admit I didn't bother looking at the key to see what all the symbols meant. Unfortunately they seem to be having a problem with their database at the moment and I can't check further.

BTW, TV Zone magazine, which has been reporting that a Rangers movie DVD would be released July 22nd in its past couple of issues has now quietly updated its "coming soon" list to indicate that the disc has been delayed until sometime in 2003. Personally, I think they just had bad information to begin with, since no other R2 DVD news source (including the R2 project) was reporting this, and no R2 dealer ever offered the title for pre-order, which they certainly would have if July 22nd had been an announced date that merely slipped.

Regards,

Joe
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
But the extras will have to be rated separately. Also I'm not sure that the VHS tapes were uncut. If they were the same as the broadcast episodes there would have been trims in a number of them as compared with the American release. When I checked the BBFC website to see if Rangers had been cleared for DVD, my "Babylon 5" search returned a lot of items, and several of the episodes and movies seem to have had a rating other than PG, although I must admit I didn't bother looking at the key to see what all the symbols meant. Unfortunately they seem to be having a problem with their database at the moment and I can't check further.


[/quote]

I suspect that the '12' episodes were the same as the US episodes. Looking at my collection all the videos were either '12' or the lower 'PG'.

The range is U, Uc, PG, 12, 15, 18 and 18R.

U is universal and most musicals have this rating.
Uc are universal especially suitable for children. (Trust Disney to have its own classification.) This is only used on videos, cinemars do not use it.
12 can only be purchased or borrowed by people aged 12 and over.
15 can only be purchased or borrowed by people aged 15 and over. Many episodes of Buffy have this classification.
18 is the old X.
18R videos can only be sold in licensed sex shops.

Unless the actors swear in their talks, I doubt that the classifications will change because of the extras.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Unless the actors swear in their talks, I doubt that the classifications will change because of the extras.


[/quote]

Then you obviously haven't seen the bloopers, not that they'll certainly include them, but if they do, don't expect it to be anything under 18 on the UK release from my understanding of the UK censors as described above. In America, the bloopers are hardly ever rated, almost everything in the "extras" has the phrase that the extra footage has not been rated, and may not be suitable for all audiences.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Also I'm not sure that the VHS tapes were uncut.

[/quote]

I remember checking the BBFC site myself ones, to find out if they've cut scenes on the tapes. I believe they mentioned a total of 0 (zero) minutes were cut.

I also remember someone (JMS?) saying it was kind of special no scenes were cut in the UK.

So for years now, I've had no reason to believe my tapes are missing a few scenes.
Accept for the 'deleted scenes' of course, scenes that never made it to the screen. I hope we get to see some of those on the DVD's.
 
If the existing B5 blooper reels were included on the DVDs (and there isn't a chance in the world that they will be, said to say) they could always "bleep" the swear words rather than cutting up the reels. That is almost certainly what they would do, on both sides of the Atlantic, given that the show also appeals to younger viewers.

But I agree that extra material can go a lot farther than the film in some cases, or at least just as far. (I watched the documentaries included with The French Connection last night, and I'm sure Billy Friedkin used the "f word" more in his interview than all the characters in the film combined. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif)

IIRC a number of shots over the years were "trimmed" by the BBFC before the show aired in the U.K. One that I remember JMS commenting on was a few seconds of the knife attack on Franklin, and there were certainly others. On the Bravo UK site there was a thread complaining about their not showing the uncut versions of the episodes since they're running the show very late at night. So someone over there must be aware of some cuts. The trims in any given episode probably would be "0 minutes" since they would add up to less than 60 seconds total, but they would still count as "cuts".

Regards,

Joe
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
IIRC a number of shots over the years were "trimmed" by the BBFC before the show aired in the U.K. One that I remember JMS commenting on was a few seconds of the knife attack on Franklin, and there were certainly others. On the Bravo UK site there was a thread complaining about their not showing the uncut versions of the episodes since they're running the show very late at night. So someone over there must be aware of some cuts. The trims in any given episode probably would be "0 minutes" since they would add up to less than 60 seconds total, but they would still count as "cuts".


[/quote]

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) does not censor TV. In the case of Channel 4, censorship is supervised by an organization called the ITC. The BBFC and ITC have different rulebooks so the cuts can be different.

The original job of the BBFC was films shown in theatres but it has diversified into videos and computer games.

The ITC does not have film classifications as such buts its main rule is the 9 o'clock watershed. Before that all programs must be U or PG, including the news. After the watershed 12s and 15s can be shown, since children are assumed to be in bed. Real porn can be shown much later in the evening when the moral campaigners have gone to bed.

There are only a few cuts in Babylon 5 episodes because JMS had to write them to comply with US Network rules, which are not that different from the UK children's rules. The videos can go out without cuts because they simply end up with a 12 classification. That will not bother Warner Brothers because it will not affect sales.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) does not censor TV.

[/quote]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. Since we don't have a similar body over here, I was a little fuzzy on how this all works. In that case there is no reason at all to believe that the eventual UK release will differ materially from the US version. Good news all around.

Regards,

Joe
 
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