ALF season 1 EDITED, CUT !???!
 

Word is the Season One DVD set contains the edited versions created for syndication. There is a thread over at the home theater forum about it.

I won't be buying edited DVD sets of ALF or any other show. I could record the edited stuff from cable reruns! I've got some of the uncut shows from the original NBC broadcasts anyway.

Time to cancel those pre-orders; those who still have sealed copies may wish to consider whether or not they want to open them now.

Lion's Gate needs to hear from fans of this show (via a real letter, not e-mail) in droves that they won't pay good $$$ for edited junk.

bah, stupid lions gate ..now i need to decide if i want to keep them, or return it .. i remember reading about combat that they were "speed up" syndicated versions .. i wonder if this is the only thing we're gonna get, or if lions gate made a mistake (doubtful) or if these were the only ones they could (or wanted to) release..very pissed off :( boo to you lions gate..

That is the whole point of buying these box sets. To get the original broadcast episodes.

One of the reasons I don't watch shows like the Simpsons in syndication is the fact all the episodes are edited.

Yeah, I hope that the general reaction to this isn't a shrug and a "Well, it's just ALF... who cares?"

The whole point of putting together these TV sets (well, one of the BIG points anyways) is to have an archive of all the episodes at home, without the compromises that comes with sydication. No commercials, no random edits, etc.

I don't see much point in buying a season of a show if every episode has been sliced up by about 3-4 minutes to insert commercials.

Dammit. I knew getting it for $21 was too good to be true.

They edit some of the Will and Grace episodes as well. Lions Gate sucks.

Now I'm really glad that I didn't order it.

Pisses me off to be so mislead. That was clearly false advertising. Considering sending it back when it comes here, but my wife will probably want to keep it anyway.

Thanks for letting me know. one less thing to spend my money on now :)

Dare I ask what was edited about this? I really liked this show, and it is something I had hoped would come to DVD.

Count me as a non purchaser for any edited TV shows. BOOOO!

Not that I was planning to purchase ALF but I definetly WONT pick it up now.

I don't know if any sites will have a detailed list (there's probably an ALF fan site out there that has a list of syndication cuts... scary thought).

Anyway, just about every show out there has about 3-4 minutes (6-8 if it's a 1-hour drama) removed when it is sold to syndication. This allows for more commercials to be run when it airs. They usually aim to remove jokes or subplots that do not directly relate to the main plot, so as to not confuse the main plot.

In general, I don't have a huge problem with that. There are a bunch of compromises when watching a show on TNT or whatever anyway... a few minutes cut out won't make me cry. But to pass off these chopped-up versions on DVD? Unacceptable.

I didn't buy this, but I would absolutely return it if I had. Just to send a message.

Jsut sent an e-mail cancelling my order. Any chance, does anyone know or recall of a time that they have first sold "edited" versions of a TV show then later came out with an actual "complete" version. Just wondering since this is the first time I am purchasing a TV show series that I truly loved growing up and becasue it would not cost much since it was only 4 seasons long.

Is it possible that these syndication versions were the only ones available to release? Maybe the originals were lost or damaged or something? I wouldn't buy Alf at all, but I wouldn't buy any show that was the cut-up syndicated version.

Wasn't there a classic show of some sort not too long ago in which a couple or three of the episodes were the edited syndicated versions? All in the Family, Sanford and Son, one of those?

The only example I can think of is Sailor Moon seasons 1 and 2, but that's a VERY different situation ^^; (And, similarly, the upcoming uncut release of Yu-Gi-Oh)

A&E accidentally did this with the first season of Nero Wolfe. They shortened some of the episodes when replaying them later on TV and put those versions on the first box set. When people complained they recalled the box sets and replaced them with the unedited versions.

I can confirm that at least one episode is cut. A couple years ago, a Candian company called VSC released a disc called "The ALF Files" in Canada containing 3 hour-long episodes, including "Try to Remember," which is included in Lions Gate's season 1 set. I have that Canadian disc and since I opened the season set before seeing this thread (unfortunately) I checked the running time of that episode on both discs. I didn't watch the episodes so I can't tell you what's cut (I will try to watch them tomorrow). But I can tell you that the Canadian disc clocks in at 48:54 for that episode, a full 3:09 longer than LG's set, which was 45:45.

No Beach Boys song in "Help Me, Rhonda"! :mad:

Utterly amazing that some moronic company would do this with a show like ALF. As many shows that are on DVD at this point, there are quite a few where people wouldn't blink an eye to getting edited versions. But ALF seems to still enjoy a semi-cult following. Seems to me it would have been hard to pick a worse release to cut 10% of each episode, in regards to people bitching like mad.

Just sorry I didn't know about this two days ago. Even for $21, I wouldn't have bothered with this shoddy release if I had known. Order's already shipped from DDD, so I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle to return it or not. We need a smiley with steam coming out of it's ears, because that's about what I feel like using right now. Here we go: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/skins/Alab...es/f_steam.gif

It is also possible that these are the only versions that Lion's Gate had available to release. I read on a Little House thread that some of the S3 & S4 episodes are edited. Someone emailed them to ask why, and they said that they were the only ones that NBC sent them.

Does NBC own AFL? If so I suspect a conspiracy. Maybe now that Universal owns NBC they will only let Lion's Gate put out the edited versions so Universal can put out the original versions after Lion's Gates' contract expires. I did read somewhere that when Universal will be the excusive distributor of NBC dvd's once the other contracts expire.

Again I don't know if ALF is owned by NBC or not so my theory may no be correct. I have heard that Saved by the Bell (an NBC show) is somwhat edited and Punky Brewster (also an NBC show) is not edited buy the video does have several glitches in it. I now fear that the S2 set of Punky will be edited.

according to imdb, NBC & Warner were two distributors.. NBC for the USA, as well as Warner Brothers..your NBC theory maybe correct? :(

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090390/companycredits

also, Lions Gate/Artisan previously struck deals with NBC/etc to release their stuff exclusively .. (like dead zone, which airs on USA network, which is owned by Universal/NBC) ..it may just be simply thats what they had in the best condition ..but who knows ..

Will and Grace is NBC...and is edited as well.

That wouldn't surprise me at all. They probably figured (wrongly) that fans would want the best looking copy versus the most complete copy. The syndication versions are likely of a more recent vintage than the original broadcast tapes. Perhaps the originals had a lot of drop-outs, etc. in them that Lion's Gate couldn't be bothered to clean up...

I'm not an Alf fan, but if someone tried pulling this crap on a show that I would collect, especially a show that I'd be "on the fence about", like M*A*S*H (on-the-fence in a "I'd like to own it, but if it's cut, I'll just watch it in syndication or otherwise forget about it" kind of way), then it could sit on the store shelf and rot for all I care.

Mistakes like this rarely (if ever) happened in the early days of home video. Granted, we didn't have the tidal wave of TV product that we now have, but there's still no excuse to use TV edits. Someone should've checked, then raised bloody Hell when they discovered the shortened versions were sent.

What did they find to censor?

Animal-rights activists demanded that all references to eating cats be removed.

Welp, add me to the list of people who won't be buying this set now. I was "iffy" on getting it, having liked the show when it was broadcast and thinking about picking up the DVDs because the price was "reasonable", but not if it's the syndication (cut) version. Nope. No way.

Are you serious???

Read the thread, and you'll see your answer. They didn't censor anything. They edited. Totally different things. Those are not synonyms, people!

He's dead serious. They also changed the name of the show to IILF (Intergalactic Immigrant Life Form), since some people had a problem with him being referred to as an "alien."

To update my last post (on page 1), the uncut episode is actually 48:13, not 48:54 as I previously stated (the commentary on that disc went overtime, causing the extra time).

As far as cuts to that episode, I didn't notice any of the dialogue cut, so I think they just cut out some of the clips shown in that flashback episode. The only one I actually noticed was a clip of ALF eating on a date with a blind woman (that was in the middle of a montage of clips of ALF eating).

You can rest easy because there were plenty of references to ALF eating cats intact in the episode I watched.

Did you actually think that poster was being serious?

I was able to cancel my DeepDiscountDVD.com order before it shipped.

I was really looking forward to this release and I really think I might write them a letter. I'm not sure it'll do any good but this is one of the shows I loved and watch religiously growing up and this is really sad news.

I didn't expect much from this release as far as extras but I never thought it would be this much of a letdown.

Edited ALF
 

I also just canceled my order for ALF season 1, and have written to Lion's Gate.

Thanks for the heads up. I went ahead and cancelled my order.

Well, I have been reading the post and thought I would chime in with a somewhat dissenting opinion.

I will still buy it.

Will I be happy that is is editied? NO. Will I bitch yes.

I figure it is cheap. I like ALF. I don't really see any reason to not pick up the best available versions. A poster above had a hard time even finding the cuts. If a new version were announced I could easily part with this $20 set for at least $10 and buy the non-cut set. Should we all call and bitch, yes. Should we all boycott, well I am not so sure. they may just think there was no demand and not continue the series.

Hahahaha :lol:

Well...if you're not buying the sets anyway so what does it matter if they discontinued them? :)

As a side note, this has been happening for a while with other series. I'm surprised that the "straw that broke the camel's back" was Alf. :)

Would you buy and be happy with a book if you knew that 15% of the pages had been removed?

Didn't think so.....so why buy edited TV shows? The only message you sent is that it is OK to screw the consumer.

I did get this ALF set and while I dont agree with editing or many other DVD related issues (full frame, discs with no extras, multiple disc releases etc.) I wont be returning it or anything else. I really looked forward to seeing ALF and have enjoyed watching so far. I dont remember the shows to the point that I would noticed what was missing. Problem is that much like Back to the Future I waited a year for a "fixed" release and it never showed up so I ended up buying the same product but waited a year for it. I doubt we'll see a "fixed" version of ALF becuase most people will buy it not knowing about the edits and it will sell well enough. If the whole Universal thing is true, they can rest assured they will NOT get my money since I will not buy this set twice. Although I will let this one go, I wouldnt if it were a set I REALLY admired like Friends! So I do agree but will mark this one up as a loss since I intend to keep it.

At least with "Back to the Future," you can send in your defective disc and they'll send you back the fixed version.