DE-BUTCHER THE SEASON 8 DVD: RESTORE IT WHOLE!

[vandergraafk]

E-mails may be "trashed" but at least they don't litter the planet. Besides, I do believe that fans need to give voice. As a music dealer for over thirty years, it is hard not to overlook the hubris and incredible stupidity of the entertainment industry. And, in case anyone thinks modern technology has made this moot, consider the reaction to monopolist Steve Job's decision to drop the i-Phone price by $200. Don't you think the outpouring of grief over this incredibly stupid decision led to the profuse apologies and rebate offers? The safe bet is to assert that the entertainment industry will always underestimate the consumer/fan. Remember when VHS videos sold for $90 - $100. No one in the industry thought that anyone - apart from a few hard core collectors - would ever want to purchase a video or DVD. On the other hand, they did try to push a video device powered by a stylus (late 70s). Why adapt a fading technology (stylus driven long play records recorded in analogue) for movies? It made no sense when it was introduced in the marketplace and made plenty of sense when it faded away shortly thereafter. But, then what did RCA ever do except steal the TV patents from Farnsworth?

This could turn into a rant. But, let's see: the industry killed the long-play record for no apparent reason. It killed the CD single for no apparent reason. It killed the CD by maintaining monopoly pricing and encouraged the young to go digital. Is it a basic requirement to be stupid to work in the industry? No, of course not. I have friends who do work in the industry, but even they have to shake their heads from time to time. What another format war for DVD?

No, send e-mails that are thoughtful. It may actually give someone an idea or two.

[Lior Knight]

vandergraafk said:

Let's keep up the heat. And, a special thanks (again) to Astral Prue for keeping us up to the minute. Let me reiterate one of her central points.

1) A boycott is probably ill-advised. I know Lior Knight how frustrating this is. Most of us, however, will bite the bullet.

2) That said, we as world-wide Charmed fans need to engage in a very pointed letter campaign.

a) We are not happy with the trade-off between preserving the original and getting some extras. (So, Region 1 waits 9 months to get some extra extras?)

b) We are really not happy that CBS/Paramount differentiate among markets. (So, the Aussies don't get American humor? I don't think so.)


3) Limited editions DVDs - such as the Book of Shadows special edition that Astral Prue alluded to - might point the way towards the release of a corrected Season 8 DVD region-free. Or, delay the box set until you've made the corrections to Season 8.

a) As fans, we probably are a bit fanatic, but hopefully exercise due diligience with respect to budgets. However, if the product is right, we probably will scrimp and save to get something special. (From what I read about the English special edition Book of Shadows DVDs, I'm smitten!) I'm not certain CBS/Paramount really know what they're sitting on. Remember: Paramount is the company that severely underestimated Star Trek for years.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE JOIN MY EFFORT TO INUNDATE CBS/PARAMOUNT WITH THOUGHTFUL E-MAILS.

Please feel free to adapt my own letter - reposted above - or use the variation that Spiritkas adapted. If you need us to script a letter regarding the non-Region 1 discrimination, we can do that too. (I just need to know everything that differs from what Region 1 will get tomorrow.) So, get off your Wiccan butts and let's take action!

You can email them till Doomsday, but nothing will draw their attention other than financial damage. Buying this boxset says only one thing for them "We don't like how you treat us but we'd buy anything you release anyway"...so why would they bother changing anything for the boxset if people gonna buy it anyway?

[magik1]

I dont like the theme either. RESTORE THE ORIGINAL THEME!!!!!!
i live in australia and our season 8 has been ruined by the theme song

[carlmccabe]

Resort the theme song
Because it set timing of the show

[vandergraafk]

I'd love to keep e-mailing them. Whether Doomsday comes or not. E-mailing is cheap and free.

I would love to organize a boycott. However, I fear that it would fall as silently as a tree in a dense forest where no one is around to hear the impact. First, non-Region 1 has already been dealing with a fait accompli for the past nine months. I don't have any sales figures, but I imagine that CBS/Paramount sold about the usual amount. Some might have stayed away from Season 8 because they didn't like Season 8 anyway. Some who might have stayed away from Season 8 were drawn nevertheless by the extras, however paltry these may have been in some markets. Some bought the Season 8 DVD set, held their nose and complained to us in the Charmed Cafe. Some probably bought it unaware that the shows had been tampered with and were later disappointed.

The only market a boycott could affect would be Region 1. As I wrote in my e-mail to Wentworth, let's be realistic many of us are going to buy it even as we surpress the urge to smash the thing to bits. I know I'm picking up my copy today in order to compare what I burned versus what I am getting. I will compile a list - episode by episode - of the alterations and post it here. (I invite others to participate.) How many others are going to do the same, i.e., buy it within the next week? So, if a boycott is a non-starter, what else is there left to do?

E-mailing CBS/Paramount is a creative way to vent. Second, if we suggest what CBS/Paramount might positively do, then maybe, just maybe, a light bulb will go off. It's happened in other cases. Why be so pessimistic from the start? Maybe we should all listen to Drake from Seven Year Witch. Do we just want to sit around with droopy faces and pout or take a few simple steps?

[Hansemand]

If the fan base was much larger, it would have a serious impact.
Just look at how much control the fan base of Star Trek has over Paramount and their releases.
It was thanks to the fan base that they even released the Collectors Editions of all the movies and added 5.1 sound to movies that was born with 2.0 only.
I also find it very strange that Charmed over the years not even got some 5.1 sound when it got aired on a channel
that broadcasts in digital.
I bet those fights they have would sound extremely good in 5.1 and realy suck you directly into all the action.

[Lior Knight]

vandergraafk said:

I'd love to keep e-mailing them. Whether Doomsday comes or not. E-mailing is cheap and free.

I would love to organize a boycott. However, I fear that it would fall as silently as a tree in a dense forest where no one is around to hear the impact. First, non-Region 1 has already been dealing with a fait accompli for the past nine months. I don't have any sales figures, but I imagine that CBS/Paramount sold about the usual amount. Some might have stayed away from Season 8 because they didn't like Season 8 anyway. Some who might have stayed away from Season 8 were drawn nevertheless by the extras, however paltry these may have been in some markets. Some bought the Season 8 DVD set, held their nose and complained to us in the Charmed Cafe. Some probably bought it unaware that the shows had been tampered with and were later disappointed.

The only market a boycott could affect would be Region 1. As I wrote in my e-mail to Wentworth, let's be realistic many of us are going to buy it even as we surpress the urge to smash the thing to bits. I know I'm picking up my copy today in order to compare what I burned versus what I am getting. I will compile a list - episode by episode - of the alterations and post it here. (I invite others to participate.) How many others are going to do the same, i.e., buy it within the next week? So, if a boycott is a non-starter, what else is there left to do?

E-mailing CBS/Paramount is a creative way to vent. Second, if we suggest what CBS/Paramount might positively do, then maybe, just maybe, a light bulb will go off. It's happened in other cases. Why be so pessimistic from the start? Maybe we should all listen to Drake from Seven Year Witch. Do we just want to sit around with droopy faces and pout or take a few simple steps?

Well, I for once didn't buy it and gonna keep it this way as long as it takes for these puppies to be sold for at least $15. If it's gonna take a year or two...so be it. And since I already have the AU Book of Shadows, I won't be buying the complete collection as well.

It's true that a boycott is almost impossible to organize but it starts with individuals and a bit of "word-spreading". Talk to your friends and convince them to wait (even for the entire series collection if that what it takes), and with time people would start waiting...even if they won't buy this just to save money it should still reflect on the financially.

Emailing is easy and good but as long as they don't "loose" on this all they need to do to solve the mailing issues is Shift+Delete.

[vandergraafk]

Well, here's my take on this. Yesterday, I went to the local Target at 4:30 in the afternoon to pick up my copy. It's on sale for $32.99. This branch was already out of stock. I have a rain check. My point: the boycott was doomed from the get-go. Okay, so they can delete e-mails. It's at their peril.

Right now, if I had a contact to someone who had tivoed the original broadcast, we could put together an even better package than CBS/Paramount could imagine. First, my own videotaped versions contain the voiced reprises for many of the Season 8 episodes. I also have the season intro where the WB added its own reprise. I also have the actress reprises for Season 7, as well as the one for Charmed Again Part 2. This is exactly how bootleggers get started.

I've already burned my own rough Season 8 episodes. True, I would love to have cleaner copies. But, I am very patient.

[Lior Knight]

Well, that's the point - fans don't care enough about the bad way they are treated, they rather have the DVDs right now than wait and try to change something.

So, sending them emails is as good as the none existing boycott - as long as the fans don't care, they would keep treating us this way.

[leosgirl]

vandergraafk said:

Right now, if I had a contact to someone who had tivoed the original broadcast, we could put together an even better package than CBS/Paramount could imagine. First, my own videotaped versions contain the voiced reprises for many of the Season 8 episodes. I also have the season intro where the WB added its own reprise. I also have the actress reprises for Season 7, as well as the one for Charmed Again Part 2. This is exactly how bootleggers get started.

Just a question, what do reprises mean?

[vandergraafk]

Reprise is a review of what happened previously in Charmed. For example, in The Lost Picture Show, we see snippets from previous episodes from Season 8 in order to aid the casual - or even the, dare I say, new - viewer of Charmed with a brief summary of what happened before. In this particular episode, a snippet from Season 5's Sam I Am is included so that the viewer might have a better chance of understanding who Sam is. For Seasons 7 and 8, each of the actresses - Holly, Alyssa or Rose - would intone "Previously on Charmed" followed by the juxtaposed snippets. Thereafter, the teaser segment (Esmeralda's choice) would follow and culminate in the title song.

Not every episode of Season 7 and 8 had these reprise segments. Most of Season 8 did. In addition, the WB included their own reprise which pulled footage from the scene where Leo sees the grave markers for each of the Halliwells during his Avatar interrupted vision quest in order to remind returning viewers of the events that had occurred at the end of Season 7.

Not one of these reprise segments was included on the Season 7 DVD. The reprise segment for Charmed Again Part 2 was not included because the DVD very nicely melds the two episodes into one by eliminating the title song both times. And, I am certain not one of them was included on the Season 8 DVD.

[leosgirl]

Thanks for telling me.

So there are no reprises on the season 8 DVD?

[vandergraafk]

I don't believe so since they weren't included on the Season 7 DVD set.

[leosgirl]

I don't understand why they wouldn't include them, I wonder what the reason is?

[vandergraafk]

I believe the answer is quite simple. CBS/Paramount don't understand what Charmed fans' expectations are. Aussie fans are ripped off by not receiving the gag reel as part of their package. Why? Aussies wouldn't understand gag jokes?!? CBS/Paramount believe we would rather save money and put up with a butchered version of season 8 than be faithful to what was broadcast. For seven dVD sets, no one seemed to think any of us would be interested in extras. Doh! Never underestimate Hollywood's ability to underestimate its fans!

[Elder]

If I'm a producer of DVDs I am sitting in my office just licking my chops reading this stuff.

To know that there are actually people that would buy 8 entire seasons of a show...then buy the whole thing (again!) later.

These DVD producers are like "Charmed fans are gullible" and then they do a evil laugh as they make extra room in their wallets for the extra cash they'll get from overly radical fans.

Trust me, I'm a huge fan of the show. I'm not saying everyone is a fool for wanting the right thing, but to be upset over bits and pieces missing in the course of 178 episodes is just silly.

The only way I would buy the whole thing as a collection is if all seasons had commentary on them for a good majority of the episodes.

Maybe they could convince Shannen to do a commentary on--at the very least--the final scene of season three before fade-out.
Since she directed it, I would love to know if she came up with the smashing ending!

[vandergraafk]

Yes, of course you are right in one respect. We will reach into our wallets. However, it was incredibly stupid to release a butchered version! And, Hollywood keeps doing it again and again. Maybe they laugh all the way to the bank ....

[Astral Prue]

I'm glad that most of you guys purchased the Charmed Final Season (Season 8) DVD set. I purchased my set the morning it came out. So far, I've watched the first episode, all three episodes that included the cast commentary (Still Charmed and Kicking, Vaya Con Leos, and Forever Charmed), and all the extra features(Which are pretty much the same extra features included on the other region sets). Anyway, I just want to make note that the region 1 DVD does NOT include the gag reels, which were supposed to be included with this set. I'm disappointed by this, but the cast commentary for the three episodes totally made up for this loss. I think fans should purchase this set, if not just for the cast commentary, which are filled with interesting facts and trivia. I think most of you fans out there will be happy what Brad Kern had to say about that little girl who closes the door in the series finale. And also, why Shannen Dohertys picture could not be shown on the wall of the series finale and also the seasons after she left the show. It's very interesting. So, go get your copy of this set ;D

P.S- I'm very excited about the complete series special edition set coming out later this year!!!

[UnderTheirSpell]

I really dont understand why they changed the theme song on the US Season 8. Can someone explain to me.

[vandergraafk]

Okay, I purchased my copy as well. And, I would encourage fans everywhere to read carefully what Astral Prue wrote above. As someone spearheading the effort to have CBS/Paramount issue a corrected Season 8 - perhaps as a limited edition and including the 28 minute unaired pilot, I may come across as hypocritical since I did buy and enjoyed the extras. I, too, missed the gag reel. And, I haven't gotten to the audio commentary yet. Still, it is worth the relatively cheap price.

At the conclusion of Forever Charmed, there appear the bonus features (non-audio commentaries). These include: To the Manor Born, Charmed: Genesis; Charmed Again, as well as an overview of Charmed and fan commentary. That some bits of the unaired pilot were included for comparative purposes (the scene with the hideaway key repeats) is great. To know that the unaired pilot exists in pristeen condition is also good to know. (The youTube feed does not do this unaired footage justice.)

Still, there is that absent title song. After the teaser, we are treated with - or, should I say, abused by - an instrumental piece featuring a subdued, but ear-catching guitar riff. However, there is no vocal accompaniment. Worse: the sound is generally suppressed and it comes as across as dubbed. I'm no sound engineer, but it seems to me that what we got is really, really inferior. If the sound had been boosted to rival that the musical interlude in Charmed Again or a Witch's Tale where the title song was removed (twice) in order to create a seamless movie, then there might have been less complaining. (Yes, I know that How Soon is Now is virtually irreplaceable. But, I didn't mind what was done in Charmed Again or a Witch's Tale. I DO MIND this!)

Below is a list of all changes made, episode by episode. (I will add to this, as I have yet to see them all.)

Episode by Episode

Episode 1: Still Charmed and Kicking (title song only)
Episode 5: Rewitched (title song only)


Episode 21: Kill Billie Volume 2 (title song only)
Episode 22: Forever Charmed (title song only)

Please feel free to add to this list. I will include your comments as a re-edit in order to hasten this process.


Undertheirspell, as we have discussed before, it appears as if someone let the rights to How Soon Is Now lapse. Perhaps Astral Prue has more information specific to this. However, the rights could have lapsed simply due to normal expiration. Or, the rights were not renewed for this season simply because it was an added expense that CBS/Paramount felt unjustified in light of all of the other extras added while still maintaining a reaonable end-customer price.

The first explanation makes a virtue out of necessity and places the onus on CBS/Paramount. The second explanation points to the marketplace as the ultimate arbiter. As dedicated fans, we are convinced by neither. Nor, are we assuaged by the reasonable price. Many of us are willing to chuck out the extra bucks to obtain - perhaps as a limited edition - Season 8 with the original title song restored.

As Elder might say, isn't this what CBS/Paramount have intended for us all along? I believe that gives the studio more credit than they deserve. I prefer to accept the first explanation; but, given Hollywood's history in the early years of VHS releases of TV serials, Hollywood's penchant for trying to fob off inferior product because of its relatively low cost can't be ignored. Had it been just the first explanation, this might have been easily corrected. That it was not and - worse - we get a poor sounding replacement instrumental suggest that cost-cutting may have been the primary motivation.

And, that CBS/Paramount have allowed the Region 1 release to contain the same misspelling of Holly's name on the fan commentary disc just boggles the mind. What were they thinking? Were they even thinking? Which is really, really sad given the top-notch quality of the extras themselves. I guess as in all things Charmed, a point that was made several times in the extras, those who were most intimately involved in the Charmed family knew they had something special. Convincing the WB, then the CW and CBS/Paramount that Charmed is and always will be special is another matter entirely!

BUY IT, ENJOY THE EXTRAS AND JOIN MY CAMPAIGN FOR A REVISED EDITION