No - but like all DVD viewers must know scenes are deleted all the time.

If on showing in America these can be re-instated to pad out the running time why not? It doesn't make the "undeleted" scenes more "official".

It's no different than the network showings of the Airplane movies, or Brady Bunch movies etc. All of which feature additional scenese to pad the run-time.

The "padded" scenes were probably shot at the same time as all the others but were not used for the official episodes. At a later date , for the "padded" episodes these scenes were reinstated.

With all this talk about THE WHOLE BEAN not being complete, I started watching my MR BEAN (taped from PBS many moons ago) episodes. I have all of them except the "flashbacks in the attic" epsiode, which I believe runs over 70 minutes. I have seen 10 episodes so far and none them run 30 minutes. Maybe the other episodes do, but I doubt it except maybe for X-MAS EPISODE.I don't believe that Rowan would film extra stuff for an old episode for PBS or HBO. If you humans are upset that THE WHOLE BEAN is cut or censored, be like me AND DON'T GIVE A&E your money for a misleading DVD box set.

For the LAST time, they didn't film EXTRA footage just for HBO and PBS. It was filmed at the same time as the other footage but cut for the original UK showing.

I will also go back to my VHS tapes and see the time differences.

I think you should take your own advice.

On the weekend I compared the Whole Bean DVD set to my store-bought (in Canada) Polygram-released VHS tapes. The 2 sets are identical except that the old VHS copies have the "turkey cheating" scene. There is no sign of the "old lady and the recliner" scene on either set. Since the DVD set is only missing one scene (a very short one too) I will probably sell my VHS set. Anyone else make any comparisons ???

I am posting to CONFIRM that the versions of "Merry Christmas" and "Do-It-Yourself" that are on the A&E set ARE the versions that were ORIGINALLY SHOWN on British television.

I know this as I asked this very same question over a year ago when I bought the British PAL-format VHS box set and discovered that "Do It" was missing the "chair" sequence. I posted to a British archive TV forum and it was confirmed by British TV viewers that the scene has NEVER aired in the U.K.

Now, a bit of history. Obviously, the British airings came first. The first U.S. airings were on HBO. Presumably, the missing sequences were cut from the UK version, most likely for reasons of running time rather than anything else. HBO probably asked for any extra footage to cut back into the episodes to pad them out.

It should be noted that some other tampering was done to the episodes when they aired on HBO (can't vouch for PBS). As you will have seen, some of the early episodes have a different opening sequence, that is basically black-and-white (with Rowan and the spotlight), rather than the full-colour version we all know. On HBO, every episode has the same opening sequence (the full-colour one) and the "first season" shows all have the episode title shown in the spotlight. These titles were apparently created especially for HBO (or syndication) to make the series look more uniform. And, obviously, the ad breaks (end of part one, part two) were left out. I also think the ending credits on the first episode were different than the original (I think they scrolled horizontally rather than vertically, or something like that).

Also, the "first season" Mr. Bean episodes were originally aired as "specials" many months apart, not as a regular series. Perhaps these "extra scenes" were originally filmed/taped with a "Christmas/Boxing Day special" time slot in mind, and when ITV gave them a 30 minute slot, they cut accordingly, so perhaps the special, longer version was retained and thus sold to HBO and/or PBS (I think Bean premiered on PBS about a year after HBO). The reason I mention this is often, around the Christmas/Boxing Day/New Year holidays, some shows merit special episodes with a longer running time, usually around 40-45 minutes.

As for the original UK edits being the only ones distributed after 1996, perhaps the reason for this is when Granada Media bought out Thames and the other "regional" ITV companies. Granada now owns all of Thames' TV output. Perhaps, in consolidating their master tape inventory, Granada re-mastered all of their domestic AND syndication tapes and, pehaps not knowing any better, used the same master for all of them? This could also explain why this is what they supplied to A&E for their set: the people at Granada (or Fremantle, the syndicator) didn't know that more than one version existed.

As for the Rowan Atkinson's approval thing, perhaps Rowan and the producer, when told they'd have to cut the episodes down for the original British Thames airings, personally approved what was cut so that they themselves could determine what was the least important bit. That would explain why these versions were "approved" by Mr. Atkinson.

___

All that said, I still wish the "extra" scenes were there, whether included in the episodes themselves or as extras. I'm so used to the versions I taped off of HBO that they seem to be "lacking" now, though I do understand the shorter versions are the originals.

___

By the way, anybody know how I can view the amazon.de website in English. I don't understand German. I belive the Japanese site has an English option, but darned if I can find it on the German one...

Thanks for the info on Mr. Bean, mythmaker18. You can translate (roughly) the amazon.de pages with either http://world.altavista.com/ or http://www.freetranslation.com/.

Has anyone determined which sets (versions) have the old couple/recliner scene ??? Do any of the overseas DVD sets have the scene ?? Do the old US VHS versions have it ?? I have done comparisons and I know for a fact that the Canadian VHS versions released by Polygram do NOT have that scene.

I just picked up my Whole Bean boxset and now I want to get a hold of that old lady/recliner scene because I've never seen it and it sounds hilarious. Any versions out there that have it or is it something you could have only seen on HBO or PBS ?

Wow, when you're a true fan, things get noticed. I have the set now and have enjoyed it immensely thus far. I never saw many of the episodes in their entirety, but sad to hear that there are cuts that some of you noticed.

Thoroughly enjoyable set and after reading what was once aired, I feel that I could be laughing harder!

Can anyone say: Johnny English? no.

No, you have misunderstood the discussion. There are no "cuts" and you are seeing the episodes in their entirety, exactly as they originally aired in the UK. What you are not seeing is the footage that was never aired as part of that original broadcast, and was later added in at the request of HBO. The production company (Tigeraspect) has already explained this quite clearly. The version currently available was mastered with Rowan Atkinson's personal involvement, and has received both his approval, as well as the approval of the producers.

Of course, I would like to have the additional footage as much as anyone else, but this constant misinformation that the scenes have been "cut" or that they are "missing" is simply untrue. There was no conspiracy or negligence involved in the production of this DVD set. It represents the official, authorized, approved, complete versions of the episodes. That is good enough for me.

Well, I started the thread, and i'm getting a little sick of the whole discussion actually, lol.
But, I really don't believe all the bullsh*t, I think these scenes are the scenes that are supposed to air when the show is aired.. wherever, they just "happened" to be cut in the UK airings (supposedly). It's so obvious when you see the scenes that they belong there. I mean, there are enough versions out there that contain the scenes, PBS, American video version and Japanese dvds. And there are enough versions that contain the turkey scene and not the chair scene. So, go figure why every country has something missing in their sets.

But, you can believe what you want, and i will too.

You're right. You can believe whatever you want. Personally, I choose to believe the people who actually produced the show, and its star. I don't know why, but I have this funny notion that they might actually know the real story, as opposed to a bunch of "rabid fans" posting speculation on an Internet message board.

And, BTW, you will note that I never said that I preferred not having the additional scenes. Quite to the contrary, I would really enjoy having them. However, I accept the explanation given by Katherine Senior of Tiger Aspect. Why you would automatically assume that she is a)a liar or b)an idiot, is beyond me.

You really need to get your facts straight bud, I never called anyone a liar or an idiot.

And, you remark about a buncha rapid fans, um, I see your posting about the set with a know-it-all attitude, Mr Rapid Fan.

Called? Maybe not. Inferred? Absolutely. Saying "I'll believe what I want" in the face of an explanation from the shows Executive Producer infers that you don't believe that explanation. This therefore infers that you believe that the originator of that explanation must either be lying, or oblivious to what really happened (i.e., and idiot).

Again, you are mistaken. I don't claim to know it all, unlike those who believe they know more than the people who created the show. I only claimed to take them at their word. If you have some proof, ANY proof, that what they are saying is false, please produce it. Oh, and BTW, the "rabid fan" quote was taken from your own post at the start of this thread.

Well, duh! I never said i wasn't a rapid fan, now did I? It's your ignorant comment that we are all a buncha over-the-top Bean fans who got nothing better to do than complain about this thing, I started this thread and have barely posted since the first page. I will keep my box-set, and I will enjoy it, I will also enjoy my other versions with the COMPLETE SCENES.

There's a reason I never post on these types of forums, and it's because of elitist 1000+ posters (posers) like yourself.

This is my last post on this matter.

Which American VHS version has the recliner scene ? Is it the Polygram version or the Universal version ?

I have the Polygram US VHS tape for Do-It-Yourself Bean, and from what I can remember, it had the deleted scene. I haven't watched it in a while but I will check when I get home.

rapid fans? what makes you faster than regular fans? oh wait, I see -- you meant "rabid"... so what makes fans with rabies better than the rest of us?

BE COOL, STAY IN SCHOOL!!!

Well, I think I'm going to take the plunge and go ahead and buy it. The explanations I've seen in this thread are good enough for me, so off to DDD I go....

I don't know how you do your ordering, but I just placed a test order for Black Books 2 at www.atlanticdvd.com.au and the shipping to the "rest of the world" (that is, everywhere but Australia and Asia) is just $5.50 AUD.

So, in Australian dollars, my order looks like this:

SUBTOTAL $27.23
SHIPPING $5.50
TOTAL $32.73

I will let you do the conversion to whichever currency you like, but it sure as hell won't come anywhere near your claim.

For what it's worth, I have the old laserdisc which includes the Christmas episode, and it does indeed include the scene with the turkey. It was probably mastered from the same source as the VHS tapes.

So the story is that when they made the original versions for the British ITV network, they had to edit to a relatively short time slot. When the time came to sell it to PBS and cable, longer running times were allowable, so they included more of the original footage, which originally had ended up on the cutting room floor simply for time reasons.

I suspect that they used the original British versions for the digital master without really thinking about the fact that they had the longer alternate versions available. It's not so much that the ones they used are the "definitive" versions, they're just the versions that were originally approved for British TV, and happened to be handy when they made the new digital masters.

If someone had stepped in at that point and said, "Hey, let's use the longer versions," everyone would have said "Why, of course! We should have thought of that! We can even present it to the British audience as 'Contains Extra Footage' - DVD buyers love that!"

All involved have been caught with egg on their faces, but to save face they're simply going to cling to the justification that these versions were approved for the original British broadcasts.

Brilliant. I could not have said it better myself.

I would swear that the first time I saw the pilot episode on my local PBS station, there is a scene in the department store that ends with a woman's skirt getting blown up over her head.

Am I crazy, thinking of something else, or does anyone else remember that as well?

My thinking exactly. This seems more apparent when you watch the endings of the episodes. Look at the ending "idents" on each episode. They vary WIDELY from episode to episode. Some say "Thames production for ITV", some say "Pearson" (which would be syndication versions), and one or two might evey just say "ITV". Bizarrely, a couple of them have the Thames "front-cap" on them (almost made me think I was watching Benny Hill).

Clearly, they used a mixed bag of originals to start with. Probably as you said, picked the handiest copies of the shelf (or perhaps, the newest transfers).

Just too bad they didn't have a fan "expert" as a consultant. I'm sure they would have included the additional footage as an added "selling point" for the set.

By the way, didn't somebody say here that they have confirmed that the German set has both "US edition" scenes (the turkey and the recliner) intact? If this is so, can anyone tell me what the video quality is like on the German discs? Is it good or is there a bunch of crappy artifacting all over the place? Presumably, you can watch in English audio without any subtitles? Anywhere else less expensive to get them from than amazon.de?

The reason I ask for someone to confirm this is the Australia set has the exact same art, but someone up here has said that the "recliner" scene is missing on these discs. A lot of Australian companies who use the same art also use the same masters, so I'd like to be sure before I possibly waste my money on a German set.