Response I received from Tigeraspect on Mr. Bean set
 

Forgive me for making this new post long- but I wanted it to be seen for the Bean fans that were waiting for an answer- I decided to send an Email to the Publicity Agency that handles Roman Atkinson and they referred to Tiger Aspect who are the people who produced Mr. Bean- I just received my set the other day and even though a few scenes are missing from what I originally seen on HBO, I am still happy with the set.
I asked permission if I could just quote the responses I received, and was granted permission, Below is my initial email and the responses I received:

Dear Sirs,
I just wanted to bring this to your attention-
I live in the US and just purchased the 3 set DVD Mr. Bean collection- I would like to know if you are aware that thus far 2 episodes are cut from there original broadcast- This is being discussed on the following forum site: WWW.DVDTALK.COM - The fans of Rowan Atkinson are upset, Here are the Quotes from the forum group:
"As I was watching the Christmas episode, 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 weight of the turkey and win it. This scene was nowhere to be found. 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 sees 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 on top of his car."

Some of the fans sent emails to various distributors of the DVD and they replied by saying Rowan Atkinson made the decision to cut the scenes. That is just a brush off answer because they do not know. Here is one reply someone received from a company called New Video:

"Hi Bobby. The Mr. Bean DVD set you received are the complete, authorized
episodes as Rowan Atkinson and the Executive Producers of Mr. Bean intended
the episodes to be. Any differences in the episodes from the episodes
you originally saw had been made because Rowan asked them to be -- the
episodes on the DVD set are his final cut."

Can you please answer why this happened? Are you aware of it? and is Rowan aware that they cut his work?


Please reply--

"Your email to the PBJ Management website has been passed to me for reply.
I am worldwide Brand Manager for Mr. Bean and licensed the home video rights to A&E Video in North America. New Video are the distribution company for A&E Video.

The reply that you received from New Video is absolutely correct, The Whole
Bean is the authorized version as approved by Rowan Atkinson and yes, he is
aware of the situation. The version that you have purchased is in worldwide
distribution for television and video and there is no other version
available. This version is produced in digital format to the highest
quality specification.

I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed with your purchase, but I can
assure you that this is the official, definitive, authorized version as
approved by the producers of the series and Rowan Atkinson himself."

Kind regards,

Katherine
Katherine Senior
Executive Producer, Mr. Bean
Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd
_____________________________________________________________
Katherine,
Thank you for your reply.
2 more things if I may...

1- Why were the scenes deleted in the 1st place- Because they do show on the VHS releases and also when they were broadcast on HBO?

2-Also with your permission- I would like to quote your original reply to the DVD forum group


"The HBO versions were produced in analogue format and needed additional
material inserted to meet their timing requirements. The scenes you refer
to were not included in the original UK produced versions which was a
creative decision. The whole series was converted to digital format in 1996
and Rowan Atkinson participated in this procedure. These digital masters
are the only masters in use all over the world.

I am happy for you to quote my response to you to the DVD forum so that
there is no longer any confusion as to the authenticity of the definitive
version."

Kind regards,

Katherine
Katherine Senior
Executive Producer, Mr. Bean
Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd

I'm afraid that that response doesn't quite "wash" with me.

And...


Then how come the Japanese version is complete with nothing missing? And the French, German, and Spanish versions are have only ONE cut? "Only ones in use all over the world?" Come on, now.

Sorry, not buying it. I seriously doubt that Rowan Atkinson has any idea what's on the DVD--he probably just signed off on it and didn't sit there watching every last minute. (If he had, maybe there would be a commentary track...) I still think someone screwed up somewhere and used the wrong masters to put together the "HOLE" Bean. (Hole as in something is missing...)[

From what I've been reading that explanation sounds reasonable. If the japanese set is older than 1996, (which I believe someone said it was), it's probably not the new transfer that was talked about.

I just go my set and I'm having a MR. BEAN weekend. Over 6 hours of episodes, plus extras. If it's missing a couple of scenes, I don't think I'll laugh any less.......

Sounds like a tempest in a teacup...

I think the key word here is "original UK broadcast." It seemed almost NO ONE in America saw the original UK broadcast. I also noticed that each episode runs for about 24 minutes, with six minutes left for commercials.

Now I think it seems reasonable that HBO asked Tiger Aspect to add in scenes to make the show as close as possible to 30 minutes.

I have the VHS tapes for the two episodes with the "missing footage" and I noticed that Polygram put them out. So, it's not surprising that Polygram's DVD release (for the rest of the world) for Bean has these scenes in them.

So, the only times these scenes have been seen is in the HBO broadcasts and the Polygram VHS/DVD releases, which incidentally is probably 100% of the American viewing audience.

So, if this explanation isn't good enough, then I don't think any explanation you get will be.

I feel just lucky to have these "deleted scenes" on VHS at least.

On the new set, they run 24 minutes? That's interesting...I am no tv-comparing genius, but one thing I've noticed about what little BBC TV shows on DVD I've seen is that the episodes are about 30 minutes, whereas most American TV shows are 22-24. Granted, the only ones I'm basing this on are:
The Young Ones: Every Stoopid Episode
Fawlty Towers
Red Dwarf.
That also assumes Bean is a BBC production.

I don't know about current BBC productions, but I don't believe they ran commercials during the shows when Ab Fab, Mr. Bean, Are you Being Served?, Fawlty Towers & Monty Python were aired in Britain. If you will notice, most if not all British shows have no commercial breaks. However, American shows seen on DVD & tape have their obvious breaks.
Also, I don't believe BBC America runs commercials during programs (if at all, I'm not sure, havn't watched it much at all).

Also, if these shows were expanded for time, wouldn't there be more scenes seen than there are on the new DVD sets? HBO showed more than 2.

Eh, no big whoop.

What I loved about the Bean set is in "Blind Date," you'll see a very young Alan Cumming (aka Nightcrawler in X2, Boris Grishenko in Goldeneye, Floop in Spy Kids 1 & 2).

Very interesting to see him as the straight man with Rowan Atkinson. :)

absolutely! :up::up:

I'm disappointed in these exclusions, but I am still very pleased with the set overall.

I think I've finally sorted out this Mr.Bean mess. I'll try to explain it step-by-step so follow closely. If I've made a mistake somewhere please correct me.

1) Mr. Bean was originally shown in the UK on ITV and NOT BBC1 or BBC2. ITV has commercials but the BBC channels do not.

2) Therefore , when Mr. Bean first aired in the UK the episodes were around 22-25 minutes in length so that 5-8 mins. of commercials could be shown in a 30 min slot. This is why you get the placards showing such as "End of Part 1" etc.

3) Therefore , the official explanation from Katherine (the show's producer) that the new DVD set here in Region 1 (The Whole Bean)is the official , approved and authorized version is correct.

4) HBO and PBS have no commercials during a 30 minute slot. Therefore , in order to play the Mr. Bean episodes they needed to "pad" the episodes to make them a bit longer so that they could fit the 30 minute slot better. I'm guessing they asked for the extra scenes to be filmed so that they could insert them. I'm surprised that this was allowed to happen but I guess the producers didn't mind. (?)

5) For Canadians : The CBC has commercials. Therefore , when CBC shows Mr. Bean they use the original (22-25 min) UK version and that's why these 2 scenes are not seen on the CBC.

6) VHS Releases : I suppose that if some VHS copies out there have these scenes then that must mean that they got the rights to the HBO/PBS versions (the "padded" versions)

7) Overseas DVD releases : I suppose that if overseas (Region 2 German or R2 Australian etc.) DVDs have these scenes then they too must have got the rights to the "padded" versions.

So to sum up : there seems to be 2 different versions : an official one (22-25 mins. - original) and a special version exclusively for stations such as HBO and PBS. ("padded")

Since this new DVD set The Whole Bean is the official set then the episodes are only 22-25 mins long and will not have any of the "padding" that was added for the HBO/PBS broadcasts. Therefore , you will not see the turkey scene , the old lady scene and some other parts of Mr.Bean driving around in his car.

I suppose that if you want to see the "padded" versions you will have to get a hold of the appropriate copies. I myself have not figured which copies have both these scenes but it seems that the US VHS versions (I have the Canadian VHS versions and they do not have the scenes) and some overseas versions have the scenes.

"4) HBO and PBS have no commercials during a 30 minute slot. Therefore , in order to play the Mr. Bean episodes they needed to "pad" the episodes to make them a bit longer so that they could fit the 30 minute slot better. I'm guessing they asked for the extra scenes to be filmed so that they could insert them. I'm surprised that this was allowed to happen but I guess the producers didn't mind. (?)"

I'd bet that the scenes were filmed originally with the other scenes and were cut out for various reasons.

That's a good point. You're probably right. :-)

I bet there is now about a 0% chance of any type of "fixed version" seeing the light of day soon.

There is no need for a "fixed" version from A&E's standpoint because this is the official version. However , if you are inerested in seeing the "padded" scenes you will have to get a version that has them.

Think of it as a barebones DVD compared to a special edition (with extra footage) DVD. If you think of it that way then what we have now is the barebones Bean. What they probably should have done is included the extra scenes (as seen on HBO) as an "extra".

I think they could have added "padded scenes" as "deleted scenes." I don't think most HBO/PBS purists would have a problem with that. With that said, it's a fabulous set. I feel much better for getting it cheap ($30 Costco).

Anyone noticed the extremely poor video transfer of this set?Looks like it was copied from a VHS tape. And anyone having any problems with pixeling on all the dvds? I seem to have a bad
pressing/set but I find it hard to believe all 3 discs would be bad.
So I tried this set all all my 7 players and they all seem to have a
problem playing this set. Composite, S-Video, Component-Video,
Progressive-Scan......I tried them all, picture quality is still crappy
(at best) and pixelation problem still exists!!!
Just thought I would post my experience with this set. Rather disappointed that A&E would release such crap as they usually to offer a high-quality product...
Just my opinion....

Atleast you guys are getting -not only a response from the studio- but an answer to your question. (And relatively quick too).

So my only question is...

Why were only 2 of the episodes "padded" to 30 minutes? Why aren't we noticing that ALL episodes have cut scenes?

That's a very good question. A question that I can't answer. I'm picking up the Whole Bean set this weekend and I'm going to compare it to my old VHS tapes.

Are all of the episodes the same length? Even the two with missing scenes?

They convinced me. I'm buying the region 1 set now.

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 ???

This is probably right. I remember I went to a taping of Cheers many years ago and I was amazed that an entire side storyline that was filmed was cut prior to airing. I think that they must include extra material to ensure even with fast delivery of lines, the episodes don't run too short, which would be a real problem. It's a shame that we don't get the Mr Bean "Bonus" material, but I feel a whole lot better about picking this set up now :D

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 ?

Mr. Bean mising footage
 

I tried to post this message last week, but I'm not sure if it got posted. For the record, I bought the Mr. Bean laserdiscs when they came out a few years ago and they have the missing footage, both the lady in the recliner and the buying the turkey footage. My guess is that they may have any other footage missing from the DVD. I will try to check it out when I get a chance. The laserdiscs included four seperate discs which seems to have included all fourteen episodes and the Best Bits of Bean. I do know that the Best Bits of Bean on DVD does not always include complete segments, but you can hardly fault that set since it was just excerpts anyway. The laserdiscs were put out by Polygram Video and distributed by Image Entertainment. Tiger TV is also mentioned on the back cover.