Mr Bean box set outrage
 

I am so upset right now I can't even tell you. I just got Mr Bean The Whole Bean box set the other day (gotta love pre-ordering from deepdiscountdvd) and watched the first dvd last night. Very enjoyable.
Just started the second dvd tonight and too my horror noticed a cut during Merry Christmas Mr Bean. I'm a rapid Mr Bean fan from way back. I have all the shows on video (taped off PBS years ago) and also have every ep on vcd. I even have some Mr Bean collectibles like his car from Corgi and 2 editions of his diary. So when I heard it was finally coming on dvd in the USA I was glad I held off on buying the foriegn edition dvds.
As I was watching the Christmas episode (my fave) I was horror struck to notice that the scene where Mr Bean actually "buys" the turkey was not there. Remember, he wins (by cheating with a scale) the turkey from a vendor offering a contest, guess the wieght of the turkey and win it. This scene was nowhere to be found.

Ughhh. I'm so upset that my most wanted dvds (no exaggeration) has cuts. I have no idea if the scene was cut out of the American video versions that have been around for years.

Does anyone know what's up with this. I actually couldn't concentrate watching the rest of the show and had to stop and come here and post, which I never do.

A Sad Bean Fan

edit: sorry for bad spelling.

That sucks, dude. I don't personally remember the scene, though. Was it aired on PBS or has it only been in foreign markets?

I just noticed another cut. It's in the episode "Do It Yourself Mr Bean" (the New Years eve one), where he goes to buy a recliner at a New Years day sale. The whole bit in the store where he finds the recliner he wants, but see's some old couple interested in it, and Mr Bean tampers with the recliners mechanism causing it to squish the old lady. All of that is missing. It goes from where he enters the store, then to already having the recliner ontop of his car.

I'm totally amazed at all these cuts and wonder what else is missing from the other episodes that I have already watched but may not have noticed.

I'm not ranting, and i'm not gonna bad mouth A&E. But I am VERY dissapointed.

A VERY Sad Bean Fan

It is on the PBS cuts I have. And so is the recliner one. Oh well.

Well, you can always ebay the box set w/ the cuts and maybe get a different region box set that might have the full version. But then again, since you like Mr. Bean so much, why not just keep the current box set and get another one that's uncut.

Well, I was so fed up with the cuts so far that I skipped to the 3rd disc and watched the Comic Relief specials and the excellent documentary. So, the 3rd disc sorta, kinda, almost makes up for the dissapointment. I won't sell the set, but i'd like to know why all the cuts. And yep, looks like i'll have to get a overseas set.

Can anyone with those other sets (overseas version dvds) tell me if those scene are intact on them?

TIA

Oh great. I just pre-ordered this and NOW I find this thread... ;)

I'm racking my brain trying to remember if the two scenes you described were in the versions I saw here in America. They don't sound familiar. As I remember it was HBO that was running them when I saw them...

I wonder if anyone else remembers them......?

Yes, Both scenes were featured when Bean aired on HBO.
I have not received my box set yet- but may just return it for credit- Now that Bean is airing on PBS again I will see if it is also cut , If not I will record them to my Dish PVR unit and transfer to recordable DVD- (When I get one) :)

I'm not sure if these times are accurate or what the difference is, but Amazon Japan states the R2 version is 491 minutes and A&E's site states the R1 version is 375+ minutes.

That's very disappointing. Why on earth would they make cuts to the episodes ? I was going to pick up the box set when it comes out this Tuesday but now I don't know. I might just stick with my VHS versions. You should email A&E and ask for an explanation.

By the way , Goshzilla , I own the Bean car and the Bean diary as well. Are there any differences between the 2 editions of the diary?

Argh, that's really upsetting... I preordered it and was so excited to get it in the mail in the next couple of days. This really took the air out of my balloon. The WHOLE Bean should be the WHOLE Bean! Does anyone know if the VCD set is UNCUT and contains these 2 scenes?

When is Bean on PBS? I can't find any listing in my TIVO.

Thats sucks! The R4 of this is pretty scarce in australia, but it is very cheap here.. I am still after this set, but will have to only hope some aussie online retailer will pick it up soon enough.

A&E did this with Poirot as well. They cut the episodes from their original British length to put in commercials, but when they release them on DVD they put the cut version on the DVD. I can understand needing to make cuts for time on TV, but you should release them uncut on DVD.

Sad to see them butcher the Bean set so badly. :(

I've just sent an email to A&E demanding an explanation. Does anyone out there have an R2 box set and can confirm that these 2 scenes ARE indeed in their set??

And not to mention you have to pay for outrageous shipping charges from Australia these days. I was looking into ordering Black Books season two from various stores (all the ones listed at the International DVD talk board) and ALL of them wanted to charge me an arm and a leg for shipping to the US. One store wanted to charge me more than the DVD was worth! I forget what store it was but I almost fell over when I saw this:

SUBTOTAL $18.95

SHIPPING $39.50

TOTAL $58.45

Insurance costs 50c.


I'd almost rather have cut episodes than to pay that to get it shipped! Is this out in the UK yet? Anybody have the German set? How is that as far as the English and overall quality and cuts?

That all depends on your local PBS station. Here in Phoenix, AZ it airs on Saturday nights at 11:00 with the animated Mr. Bean airing right after at 11:30.

I know for a fact that the VHS versions in the US do have both of those cut scenes. Quite hilarious I might add.

Still wondering if the whole set is worth it.

Goshzilla

If you have time you should try to compare all the episodes with your other copies and see exactly how many parts are missing exactly. If it is only these 2 then it might not be too too bad. However , if there are more parts missing than the 2 you've already described then this will be a real problem for DIE-HARD Mr. Bean fans like myself. I hope to find out more information on this before I pick it up at the store when it comes out in 3 days.

Thanks for letting me know. I almost bought it today but backed out thank goodness. I'm looking foward to what A&E has to say.

I have the German R2/4 set and I can confirm that those 2 scenes are complete without any cuts.

So, the German release is fairly complete, then?

As far as A&E goes, after their mishandling of the Monty Python sets I have no confidence in them whatsoever. I have seen, over the years, that nearly everything that they release on video is cut for, seemingly, no reason.

In the Monty Python sets, in particular - not only did they use the famous "summarize proust" bbc-censored sketch, as well as a couple of other episodes with senselessly missing material (whole sketches and age-old bbc-censor bleeps) that is/are present in other versions, (*ahem* Paramount VHS and LD *ahem*), the one that really burns me up is the missing "You b*stard!" from the end of "Parrot Sketch Not Included"! It's supposed to be the last thing you hear after the programme fades to black and, I mean, come on! It was Graham Chapman's last ever speaking part in a sketch! Why cut THAT out?

With the feedback forums on their website, A&E completely fobbed off angry fans on their message boards with some rubbish about not having any other master tapes to work with. Angry posts were eventually ignored, then, deleted as soon as they were posted. In short, I can say with confidence from past experience, that A&E have knowingly released "faulty" and incomplete products in the past and, as we will probably see in this case, still have no intentions of putting things right.

Hearing of these cuts I'm afraid that I will NOT be buying this set and it's a darn shame! I was really looking forward to it!

That really sucks if they made cuts. I won't get the set then until they come up with an "uncut" set.

Doubt that will ever happen.

Oh, I have the American paperback and the British hardcover. Don't worry, they're not very different. :)

I probably will email A&E, maybe we all should?

I have this weird feeling that there where cuts on the 1st dvd, only I didn't notice them (shame on me!). So, if I get a chance i'll try and do some comparisons. And of course post them here, anyone else that can do some comparisons please post here too.