vhsiv
10-26-2003, 02:33 AM
After watching the DVD of 'Dagon' yesterday evening - incidentally, the 'Best DVD Presentation Winner' at last year's Saturn Awards - it really hit home how savagely films get abused when shown on Skiffy. First it's the requisite cuts for commercial breaks, then it's the cuts for mature language and content, and then it's the cuts for length and the commercial breaks, again.
Granted, it's the year 2003, and many of the cable nets have relaxed their prohibitions against language, violence and sexual content. But if the audience for science fiction is 18-34 and 18-49, it seems to me that Skiffy doesn't need to be doing the Net Nanny thing, particularly on the late-evening broadcasts. FX, BBCAmerica, PBS, A&E and even Bravo respect the intelligence and maturity of their audience enough to leave some of the grittier content in their presentations after 10pm. But not Skiffy or USA - they've made John Carpenter's 'The Thing' virtually unwatchable, as there's a point in the film where almost every 3rd word is a curse word - with good reason - yet Skiffy and USA *bleep* it out, or insert some *darn*, *stupid* overdubbing that's clearly at variance with the crisis at hand.
The same can be said of 'Farscape', and the decision to cut the PG-13 'morning after' J/A scene from 'A Human Reaction'. My point here, is that with 'Dagon', they took a very skillful, deliberate and atmospheric film, and reduced it to a Grade-D schlocker. As much has been said by the producer of 'Dog Soldiers' - "If you saw it on the SciFi Channel, then you really haven't seen it at all...", he apparently said, this past year at the Saturn Awards ceremony.
If the quality of the entertainment is there, I will happily sit through all of the commercials for 'Farscape', 'The Shield', 'Nip/Tuck' and 'MI-5'. But if I know that something's been altered for length, content or political correctness, I quickly lose interest - for that reason, there are few USA films in my future, and even fewer TBS and TNT presentations.
So, has anyone else here had the content of a favorite film or show mauled because Mommy and Daddy SciFi didn't think it was 'age-appropriate'?
If I get enough responses, I'll put up a poll.
(I'm one to think that Bonnie's ratings would go up, and stay up, if only she realized that the majority of her potential audiece *is* adult, and often *educated*.)
Granted, it's the year 2003, and many of the cable nets have relaxed their prohibitions against language, violence and sexual content. But if the audience for science fiction is 18-34 and 18-49, it seems to me that Skiffy doesn't need to be doing the Net Nanny thing, particularly on the late-evening broadcasts. FX, BBCAmerica, PBS, A&E and even Bravo respect the intelligence and maturity of their audience enough to leave some of the grittier content in their presentations after 10pm. But not Skiffy or USA - they've made John Carpenter's 'The Thing' virtually unwatchable, as there's a point in the film where almost every 3rd word is a curse word - with good reason - yet Skiffy and USA *bleep* it out, or insert some *darn*, *stupid* overdubbing that's clearly at variance with the crisis at hand.
The same can be said of 'Farscape', and the decision to cut the PG-13 'morning after' J/A scene from 'A Human Reaction'. My point here, is that with 'Dagon', they took a very skillful, deliberate and atmospheric film, and reduced it to a Grade-D schlocker. As much has been said by the producer of 'Dog Soldiers' - "If you saw it on the SciFi Channel, then you really haven't seen it at all...", he apparently said, this past year at the Saturn Awards ceremony.
If the quality of the entertainment is there, I will happily sit through all of the commercials for 'Farscape', 'The Shield', 'Nip/Tuck' and 'MI-5'. But if I know that something's been altered for length, content or political correctness, I quickly lose interest - for that reason, there are few USA films in my future, and even fewer TBS and TNT presentations.
So, has anyone else here had the content of a favorite film or show mauled because Mommy and Daddy SciFi didn't think it was 'age-appropriate'?
If I get enough responses, I'll put up a poll.
(I'm one to think that Bonnie's ratings would go up, and stay up, if only she realized that the majority of her potential audiece *is* adult, and often *educated*.)