Commentaries... my take

I think it sucks that Matt & Trey ended up releasing the Commentaries on a separate CD set. Would toning it down a bit really changed that much? If so, then I am happy that they released them anyway. No need for them to be censored.

Now that I said that... What the fuck is up with Warner Bros.? What could they have possibly said that would make them keep the Commentaries off? It's South Park for Christ sakes, not Pokemon. Of course the Commentaries are going to be off color. Could they have been any worse then what is said or implied in the TV show? Commentaries are not material that is being broadcast like SP is, so they should not be subjected to the same scrutiny. I mean the Commentary track on Cannibal the Musical was raunchy, but it still wasn't that bad. You suck Warner Bros. A pox on you. A pox on your family. I hope you choke and die on your own spit.

Thank you.

(Can't wait for the Orgazmo:Special Edition DVD with commentary intact)

This is my take:

1) Warner Bros. asked M&T to make some changes to the commentaries. 2) Said changes were deemed not acceptable by M&T. 3) Scheme is hatched to stir gossip right around release date about how controversial the commentaries that they had to be removed. 4) Simultaneous decision made to release uncensored commentary for nominal fee on separate discs; those who order direct at full price are given convenience of not even having to request extra discs. 5) M&T are defended by one legion of fans for sticking with their guns and attacked by other fans for being inconsiderate -- generating endless debate (and publicity) on the net. 6) Faceless corporation Warner Bros. easily takes the brunt of the heat, though being defended by no one. 7) M&T do keep honor by not censoring themselves, but they and Warner both cash in due to the controversy.

Bao H. Lammy wrote:

heh

You overestimate Usenet's consumer reach.

Who would have the balls to defend a Multi Conglomerate like Warner Bros.? What, they were the ones in the right since M&T refused to cooperate in fixing their commentaries, thus reducing overall sales due to pissed off fans? Maybe. But fuck them. They knew what they were getting themselves into distributing South Park in the first place. Talk about the worst time to start thinking of your image.

Not necessarily. I doubt as many people will buy the DVD's without there being commentary on them due to controversy, then would have if the commentaries had been kept on and there was no controversy at all. Warner Bros. couldn't care less I imagine though. It's not like the sales will be so affected that it will change their profit margin in anyway noticeable. And if it does... maybe next time they'll give a little instead of trying to take a lot as usual.

[email] (supo) wrote in message news:...

A friend and I decided to NOT get the box set since the commentaries were removed. I'm sure that many people who already had all the episodes on DVD- like us- are doing the same thing.

Warner did a stupid thing by releasing them on CDs.

We'll just wait and find them on the file-sharing networks. :-)

Smaug69

Well sure, if you already have them on DVD...and remember, we are more "studied" fans than the typical SP fan.

Maybe they will release the box sets again in a few years, this time with the commentaries intact. There *are* people who will buy anything when they are obsessed. I hate it, but one of the oldest tricks in the media business is to sell you the same product over and over again.

No, I don't. There are numerous web-boards as well. Also, I'm not just talking about fans jabbering at each other online, but also online hype as seen at southparkstudios.com and in the media-at-large such as the explanation from Matt: "This is our audio commentary for the first 13 episodes of the international comedy super-hit South Park. Warner Brothers would not release it on the DVD without editing some of its content for "standards" issues. Trey and I simply love the sounds of our own voices too much to let this happen. We also believe in a little thing called the First Amendment. [etc. etc. etc.]"

In fact, you raise a good point: Many people might read about the quote in a news story and never debate the issue, choosing instead to race out and buy the set (and get the extra discs) due to the extra publicity about its supposedly too-racy content. I did mention publicity in addition to debate in my original post.

The balls? Who would bother?! Anyway, my point was that no one needs to defend a corporation via PR in a relatively small issue like this. (A big issue might be something like hiding billions in losses from stockholders.) They generally walk away unscathed in short time no matter what. Anyone remember when Toshiba was blasted for selling stealth sub technology to some of our country's supposed enemies? I remember many people insisting that they would never buy a Toshiba product again. I really wonder how many of them even remember that this happened, let alone kept their promise.

Most people who buy the DVD set aren't going to be as picky as hardcore fans. In fact, many fans don't even care about the commentary. I still think the omission was designed to generate publicity...

For those curious, this happened in 1984. Toshiba sold some stealth sub technology to the Soviet Union: http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/anglesdangles/taming2.html Excerpt: "But something happened to change all that. Back in the mid-1980s, the Japanese company Toshiba sold propeller milling machinery to the Soviets through the Norwegian Kongsberg firm; this and other submarine intelligence furnished by the Walker spy ring resulted in significantly quieter Soviet subs by the later part of the decade."

"Bao H. Lammy" wrote in message news:[email]...

I think M&T should of altered their commentaries. Not that the WB was right in the first place, but M&T have made changes to their shows content in the past to meet standards.

Personally, I think they did the right thing with the DVDs. I don't care if they made changes in the past -- that was for cable TV. When I buy a DVD, I don't expect to be needlessly censored. Though I do think that perhaps the best thing would have been to release the DVD set with censored commentaries *along with* the same offer now to get uncensored commentaries. And then I think, what about DVD parental locks? It's MA-rated...so perhaps the censoring requested by Warner had less to do with being profane and offensive and more to do with attacking some powerful people...for example, if they decided to go off on someone that Warner does business with.