The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

Picked up the sixth season of The Office today. I don't watch the shows as they air, preferring to wait for the DVD.

I always like the holiday themed episodes, so I was looking forward to the second episdoe on disc two, called "Koi Pond". The description on the case reads: The office puts on a Halloween haunted house for local children. Michael is mocked after falling into a koi pond. Pam and Andy are mistaken for a couple."

So I watch the episode but there is no subplot involving Halloween in it.

I look on line and find this on wikipedia:"When the episode aired again on August 12, 2010, the entire Halloween-related opening sequence was edited out."

I tried looking on-line but couldn't find any reason given for the removal. Anyone remember the episode and could speculate on why this was removed?

It's odd enough that it is still mentioned on the DVD case, but even the menu for that disc has a picture of what appears to be characters dressed up and in a haunted house.

And no, it is also not in the deleted scenes for that episode.

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

Michael hanged himself in front of a bunch of school children to make a point about suicide. Needless to say, some people were upset. It actually upsets me a little that they edited this out for the DVD release.

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Is this true? What the fuck?! I know all it was was a cold open, but still. What a load of shit.

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I remember that scene being both funny and in poor taste. Censoring it, however, is in even worse taste.

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Wow... not even as an "unrated episode" or deleted footage... might be a lost sale on principle for me...

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Is it on the Best Buy bonus disc? I think one of the features was "Best of Cold Opens (40 minutes)." I don't have the disc so I can't tell you for sure.

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Sadly, this isn't a unique situation for The Office. Remember Kevin's 'Staples Salad'? But at least that was intact on Amazon's on demand video, unlike this opening for 'Koi Pond.'

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A little off topic, but what the hell is it with Universal and their fondness for crappy, experimental disc cases? The case that "The Office" Blu-ray came in is more like some sort of puzzle than a disc case. I actually had to sit down and really look it over just to figure out how to get the discs out. I wonder how many people are cracking discs with this damned thing?

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

That was a hilarious scene. I understand editing it for future broadcasts - but to edit the dvd, and to not even have it as a deleted scene is plain bullshit.

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Lame.

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The season three DVD set had something similar with "The Return." The cold open was different (that was kept as a deleted scene) but the scene with Jim asking Ryan to help prank Andy was gone, completely. The original version did show up on iTunes. I haven't followed the series much since that season but at the time I remember a bit of discussion about it, as it changed the dynamics of the Pam vs. Karen situation in that episode.

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That's garbage. If they edited a scene completely, it needs to be made known on the packaging.

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It wasn't even that offensive considering the whole television series is made up of 'offensive' material. Glad I'm not planning on buying this season. It's a shame because there were some other hilarious parts to that cold opening.

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This omission is bullshit! That was one of my favorite cold opens, with Michael dressed up as the "Dick in a Box" guy. Oscar dressed up like Sarah Palin no less. Is there no cold open for that episode on the DVD? Who/Where can I write to with my objections?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...alloween-3.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/thgord/13495.jpg

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

Scary Bookface !

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this episode needs to stay on the DL, I was "facebook" last year for halloween and noone called me on it.

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I was having a hard time remembering the open until Jack posted photos. That intro was hilarious. Seems odd to remove it from the dvd release.

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I don't even remember this episode at all. I guess I'll have to find some way to watch it intact. Thanks for the heads up, though, about the changes!

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Agreed. I usually dont remember episodes well enough to notice song and other changes liek this. To be honest, if I hadnt read the thread, I wouldnt have missed anything. Now that I know which particular scene is missing, I remember it being particularly funny, and am a little upset that it is missing.

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

The scene can still be watched online

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/...house/1170902/

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Thanks for the info. No sale for me. Tired of edited BS. Self censorship is almost worse. Did anyone even object to this scene? These studios are doing such a great job of savin me money these days.

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I'm working on my review this afternoon, but this is absolutely correct. It also reveals an issue with the packaging in general. This is the listed description for "Koi Pond", directly on the foldout flap on the digipack:

Those who watched the broadcast will remember that the only mentioning of Halloween in the whole episode was the cold open in the haunted house. Therefore, material described in the synopsis doesn't actually take place in the episode, since they cut the entire beginning. It begins in Jim's office with Michael talking about the garlic festival, with the title cards inserted between Jim's line, "That's what a teacher is, right?" and Michael talking to Jim about what name to call the guy at the location with the koi pond. I dug the "lazy haunted warehouse" setup and feel they should've at least included the scene in the supplements, but I can also see why they cut it for being inappropriate.

An extra kicker: There's a photograph of the cast in costume on the menu for the episode's disc (bottom left).

<img src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/196/1284152783_1.jpg" width="400" height="225">

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

Very weird. I remember no controversy about that cold open at all.

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/\ Yeah, none at all at the time. As a matter of fact, I had forgotten all about the cold open until this thread. It was pretty harmless, in my opinion.

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So odd. I've actually only seen all the episodes from the original broadcasts. I have most of the DVDs, but have never re-watched them.

What an incredible disappointment that ANYTHING was edited/censored from the original broadcasts. Completely unacceptable. I will have to do my research before re-watching the DVDs.

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

Maybe they do not have the rights to release the scene on home video due to an objection by one of the rights holders of one of the other characters used in the scene? I mean, "The Fifth Element" is owned by Sony, "Shrek" by Dreamworks, and "Saw" by Lionsgate, while this is a Universal release....
Even though it is obviously done as parody/in a comedic fashion, there could be some unknown legal issue at work here....look at ROBOT CHICKEN, they had to cut a whole 3+ minute sketch where Beavis & Butt-head join the Teen Titans out of one of their 1st season DVD release.....

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

^ I seriously doubt that - they're dressed up as those characters for Halloween, they're not actually playing those character like in that Robot Chicken skit.

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

I never said they were "playing those characters"....however, simply appearing in a costume as a character that is copyrighted by a different company could run into possible issues with likeness rights and just exactly how they may be used.....it seems completely within at least the logical realm of possibility, considering how overzealous some corporations are to protect the use of their trademarked property without the appropriate licensing....

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But then they include the picture of it on the packaging.... not a rights issue.

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Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

They should go kill themselves!

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Yeah, this sucks. At least throw it in the deleted scenes section of the DVD.

Not that I think it'll show up there, but it'd be nice if they at least throw it on as an extra for the upcoming "Overtime" DVD:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

People are so ridiculous.

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These days, all those DVD rights are worked out beforehand. Not an issue.

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Sorry, but that general statement is far from true....
If it was, then "Robot Chicken" would not have had to cut the sketch I mentioned, and "My Name Is Earl" would not have had music replacement....both of those shows were created during the DVD-era, and yet both had rights issued which prevented them from being released as originally aired....

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

Thanks for pointing this out. You saved me some money. I don't support edited content like that. What a joke.

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I didn't know a sketch was cut from Robot Chicken, which one was it?

Re: The Office Season Six: Scene Missing
 

From the post above by WMAangel: ROBOT CHICKEN, they had to cut a whole 3+ minute sketch where Beavis & Butt-head join the Teen Titans out of one of their 1st season DVD release.....

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If it was just an issue with Michael hanging, THEN CUT THE SHOT OF HIM HANGING. They didn't need to excise the whole bit.

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The scene still lives on Hulu and again, they could have cut to credits after Jim's sarcastic quip about Bookface. It would have been a little off, but no reason to destroy ~1min and 55secs of genuine comedy because of a 20sec gag that a bunch of crybabies got all in a huff about.