The Final Frontier 8/Final Frontier 8 (Disk 2 of 4).adf/LCARS/TextFile/CIC/All_Bad_Things.pp/All_Bad_Things

Text File | 1995-01-14 | 9KB | 192 lines

TF01
3,All Bad Things...
4,by Simon Plumbe and Terry Shuttleworth

          All Bad Things: What Happened to the TNG Finale?
         --------------------------------------------------
               by Simon Plumbe and Terry Shuttleworth
              ----------------------------------------

When "All Good Things" was  released  on  video back in October, many
fans noticed a number of scenes  missing  from the story. A number of
scenes, some vital to the progression  of  the plot, had been omitted
from  the  two-part  version  for   it's   video  release.  Then  the
announcement was made about  a  "Collector's  Edition", featuring the
full one-part  version,  along  with  a  documentary,  retailing  for
£19.99. This outraged many fans, and CIC were subject to a barrage of
complaints from Trekkers everywhere.

In fact, we had a letter sent  to use here at Infinite Frontiers from
a reader, Baerbel Schmidt, regarding this:

  Dear Simon,

  I am mainly writing because I  read with interest that you intend
  to include an  interview  with  Terry  Shuttleworth  in The Final
  Frontier 8. I have a bit  of  news  that would fit very well into
  that department. It might even  be  interesting to ask him/her (I
  will never know if Terry is  male  or female - I have encountered
  both!) to give a comment.

  Recently I watched  the  CIC  cassette  of  "All  Good Things..."
  together with my fiance and a  friend.  We were very annoyed when
  it was obvious that this copy was several scenes shorter than the
  copy I got from US TV!  When  writing my contribution to the IDIC
  postbag I mentioned this and  a  short  time  later I got a reply
  from Sheila [Clark], saying this:

    "Re: the video of "All  Good  Things" - Terry Shuttleworth of
    CIC told Janet [Quarton] that they  didn't know they had been
    sent a cut  version  until  someone  complained,  so that, at
    least, wasn't  their  fault.  The  other  version  with  some
    additional material, is due in December, I understand, though
    I've heard it may be delayed until 1995."

  I am not happy with that  explanation.  For  me this looks like a
  big rip-off, even worse than  publishing  "Emissary" again with a
  Behind-The-Scenes! There are  also  strong  rumours  that two TNG
  specials will be out,  one  with  all  Q  and  one  with all Borg
  episodes (the question is where will  we  find "Q Who?" - On both
  cassettes?). Do these have additional footage?  If so, I would be
  sorely tempted to buy them  as  well  although I am dreading that
  one day all episodes might come out again with additional scenes.
  Also, one of my pen pals  told me recently that "Emissary" within
  the package of  "The  Three  Beginnings"  is  longer  than the TV
  version. I haven't got that package and  can not find out if that
  is true. Is it? In other  words,  do  I  have  to buy now a THIRD
  version of "Emissary" to see the  full  pilot? I would be glad if
  you could find that out for me.

  All the best,

                               Baerbel


Fortunately, unlike  other  fan  organisations  in  the  UK, Infinite
Frontiers is in constant  contact  with  all  the major organisations
producing Star Trek merchandise  including  Pocket Books, Titan, and,
of course, CIC Video. I have been  in the fortunate position for some
time to be able to consider  Terry  Shuttleworth  to be a good friend
and I often speak to him on the phone. We have talked at length about
this matter, and Terry sent a copy  of a letter to us for publication
that Terry sent out to Trek fans on behalf of CIC Video:

  Dear Simon,

  Many thanks for your recent  letter  regarding the recent release
  of Star Trek: The Next Generation  Volume  89 - "All Good Things"
  Parts 1 & 2.

  You are right to point out that  there are scenes in the feature-
  length version which do not appear in the two-part version.

  Regarding the edits made, our  understanding is that the two-part
  version was cut to bring each episode  to the right length for an
  hour's TV slot in the US,  while  still allowing the beginning of
  the second part of feature the  "synopsis" of the first part. The
  edits were made by Paramount in the US, rather than by CIC. To be
  clear: CIC do not make edits within episodes of Star Trek *EVER*;
  we merely decide which episodes to put on the videos we release.

  Regarding the choice to release  a  two-part version of "All Good
  Things", the feedback we have had from customers is that the two-
  part versions are preferable  because  the one-part versions omit
  the "synopsis", and consequently our customers find that they are
  missing out on footage which  they  could otherwise have had. For
  this reason, we took the decision  to make the standard "All Good
  Things" release the two-part  version.  Unfortunately, it was not
  communicated to us by Paramount that  edits were made in the two-
  part version which caused some scenes not to appear, and the two-
  part version was not compared to  the one-part version by any CIC
  staff before the video duplication process began.

  To be clear: there was no  decision  to release a "short" version
  and then a  "long"  version  of  "All  Good  Things".  It was our
  understanding that, barring the  "synopsis",  both versions would
  contain exactly the same content.

  The  Collector's  Edition  will  be  the  one-part  version.  For
  completeness, we have added  the  "synopsis"  to  the  end of the
  Collector's Edition tape.

  I hope this goes in  some  way  to  clarify the situation. If you
  would like to explore this matter further, please do not hesitate
  to write to me at the address shown.

  Yours sincerely,



  Terry Shuttleworth
  Product Manager
  TV Product, Direct Mail & New Product Development


Following on from this, Terry  confirmed that the Collector's Edition
release did have all the footage intact, along with the "synopsis", a
50 minute  documentary  called  "Journey's  End"  hosted  by Jonathan
Frakes, and the trailers to all  seven  movies.  For a full review of
this, see elsewhere in this issue.

One thing I would like to  say  in  regards to Baerbel's letter - she
wrote to IDIC who gave a  reply  and offered an explanation, which as
you can see is different to the  official  CIC reply and I think (and
Baerbel can  correct  me  here)  she  based  her  comment  on  IDIC's
interpretation of CIC's reply. Now,  I  trust Terry implicitly and if
Terry states that the release was not their fault and it wasn't their
intention to release an edited version  then  that is good enough for
me.

I also found their  remark  about  the  delay  to  the release of the
Collector's Editon rather interesting.  I  don't  know where they got
this "news" from, but  as  I  said,  we  are  in touch with companies
producing Trek merchandise and as you'll see, it was released back on
December 5th, along with the Borg  and  Q  boxed sets. We get all the
advance information, press releases  AND  review  copies from CIC, so
the information you read  in  The  Final  Frontier  is as accurate as
you'll find ANYWHERE.

As far as her comments regarding  the  Borg and Q boxed sets, neither
of them have extra footage, and  "Q  Who?" IS included in both packs.
These 3-cassette packs represent  remarkable  value  for  money for 6
episodes, each packaged  in  a  superbly  designed  presentation box.
Admitttedly, die-hard fans will  already  have  the  videos, but what
about the casual fan who  DOESN'T  buy  the  tapes?  These will be an
ideal way to get all the best  Q  stories and ALL of the Borg stories
for a relatively small outlay.  Even  then,  the  tapes have been re-
edited so all you have on them are the Borg or Q episodes and not the
episodes that originally accompanied them when first released, making
for a well put together collectors pack. I for one will definitely be
buying them.

Finally, no the version of "Emissary" in the "Three Beginnings" boxed
set does not have any extra footage.  That collection is simply a re-
packaged release of the first  tapes  from  Classic,  TNG and DS9 and
inside the card box you will  finds  that the individual video cases,
and  the  tapes  themselves,   are   identical  to  their  full-price
counterparts. The compilation was designed  to introduce Trek fans to
the idea of collecting the  videos  by  offering them the first tapes
from each set at the reduced price of £24.99 - only £8.33 a tape!


Summing up, yes there was a  mistake  with "All Good Things", but CIC
were certainly NOT  to  blame.  If  anyone,  blame  Paramount for not
telling CIC about the edits.  Please  remember though, when releasing
as much Trek material as CIC have  done  (see our guide in this issue
for a full run-down of all their  Star Trek tapes to-date) and you'll
see that only one or two mistakes  in that time is pretty remarkable.
CIC should be congratulated for their hard work in keeping Trek alive
and making the episodes available so quickly.


If you have any comments regarding  this,  you can write to Terry (or
his successor) care of Infinite Frontiers at:

                         Infinite Frontiers
                             PO Box 8966
                             Great Barr
                             Birmingham
                               B43 5ST
                               ENGLAND