Hopefully, the last word on this:
Fox have issued an official statement about "24". Here it is in full:
The UK DVD release of 24 is taken from the US version and therefore contains approx.90 secs of cuts from the UK aired programmes on the last five episodes.
If consumers wish to replace discs 5 and 6, which are the only ones affected, they can write to the following address free of charge, including their original ones:
20th Century Fox
Freepost 38LON203004
London W1E 3HG
Discs will be available in approx 4-5 weeks.
The VHS version contains all of the UK aired programmes.
And now, back to the original post from “Rayanne Graff”:
Herc, see what you make of this:
Today on BBC teletext in Britain it was reported that the 24 DVD box set has suffered numerous edits from the originally broadcast material. The article quoted a Fox spokesman as being aware of the problem but says that there is not as yet an official statement about it. The article also mentions rumours of a potential recall and notes that the VHS box set has not been cut.
The BBC are usually very trustworthy in their news gathering. I will receive my pre-ordered box set in a few days and will know more. Presumably if Fox is aware of the problem it won't affect the imminent region 1 release, unless the discs have already been pressed.
“What kind of cuts?” you query? This from “Russ”:
Hi Herc
Dont know if you've heard about this already, but I thought that it might interest you. Over here in the UK (where we've already had the 24 DVD boxset), there have been slight cuts made to it. Two have been noticed so far. One is a small cut of Jack on the dock, taking cover behind a post with his two guns in the final episode. The other (and more important) one is where Teri tells Jack that she is pregnant. Why either of these cuts were made, I have no idea. Personally I think it's stupid, especially as they are apparently both still in the video version.
20th can pull this kind of nonsense all it wants in Blighty, but if they try it here in this free and great nation, Jack Bauer will be waiting for them at Pico and Motor with a wet hand towel.
UPDATED! This from Robert "madabout24" Buckingham:
hi ya... some people told me your wires were slightly crossed concerning cuts on the "24 dvd" and so as a big 24 fan and (some say expert) i'm emailing you the situation Heres what i told uk viewers
"The american dvd is the same as the uk dvd which is the same as the US tv broadcast. BBC had exclusive rights to the full episodes as the american versions of some episodes had scenes removed to make way for yet more adverts (american tv stations do love their adverts !!)...the cuts are mailnly in the last few episodes...and i noticed them because i downloaded those episodes from usa to avoid spoilers.
The UK video boxset is the same in episode content as the bbc broadcast, but is not widescreen and suffers from all the things that videos suffer from...ie) my video eats them and sometimes doesnt spit them out !!
Amongst the missing scenes (note for americans these are extra scenes that they have never seen )....are
1) 7-8 pm : andre plans to attack the prison...harris says its a rubbish plan...so andre threatens him with a knife ..(good scene)
2) 10-11pm nina asks teri about whether she has spoken to anyone about jack...teri then tells her that she wants to make up with her and that she is pregnant ...cue shocked look
3) nina telling teri shes putting in for a transfer in the comms room (last ep)
and many other smaller cuts that make things run smmother...including the second reloading scene in the last ep where the drazens reload too.. people who think that the shoot out was unrealistic because of the number of bullets ...obviously watched the downloaded version or the dvd ...and not on bbc (shame on you !! :-) )....
There are 2 rumours as to how this mixup will be "resolved"
1) the dvd will be pulled and rereleased with the uk version on the discs (unlikely as it would mean refunds etc etc)
2) releasing the dvd again later with the uncut episodes (possibly with more extras to sweeten the deal) ...
No decision has been announced yet ....so its a case of wait and see ...and foxuk are ignoring my emails....."
So thats the sitaution... as to whether you guys in the states will ever get to ee the full uncut 24 depends on fox...or on whether we get it uncut on dvd and you can play dvds from the uk ....
I hope this is clear... i keep complaining about not being able to see it uncut again...you guys havent even seen it yet.... major bummer get fox doing something !!!
bye from Robert "madabout24" Buckingham
P.S: great site by the way... keep giving those hollywood guys hell !!! :-)
And one more from "Grum":
Herc,
I saw your article on aicn and that I'd write something as the info you've been given is a bit incorrect and vague. Here's what's happened. 24 was shown on the BBC here and because of the lack of ad breaks the BBC had access to 'exclusive' material not seen in the US. The problem is that the DVD is the American broadcast. Now to make matters even worse they've also released 24 on video here but these are the UK version of the show.
The main scene that has been cut is a conversation between Nina & Teri (not the one between Jack & Teri) where Teri tells Nina that she's pregnant, which could be classed as pretty important due to where Nina shot Teri. Below is a list of scenes that we know have been cut and a list of times for each episode showing how much has been edited out (worked out using the BBFC website). This info has been taken from the Fox 24 forum.
There's no idea which version of 24 is the 'directors version' although some of these edits suggest possible cuts due to violence & tone rather than purely for timing reasons.
I hope this is of interest (or you haven't been sent it already). It may not mean much to US people as you never saw this stuff in the first place but I think a UK DVD viewer should have the right to see what he saw on tv (or can watch on the video set)
Info from the 24 forum:
Here are all of the cut scenes in a shorter version.
7pm-8pm
Andre theaten's Harris with a Knife.
10pm-11pm
Teri Tells Nina she is pregnant
11pm-12 Midnight
The Gun Shootout with Jack and the Drazen's is about a minute longer.
Nina's conversation with Teri after she catches her on the phone in the control room is also longer.
Teri tells her that she basically does not want Nina interfering with her and Jack's relationship as Nina knows she is pregnant and they are going to have a child.
In response Nina tells Teri she is being transfered from CTU and she won't be in the way.
I've looked on the BBFC's website to see the two different versions they had to review to give the VHS and DVD a rating.
Each episode has been reviewed twice (one the DVD version and one the VHS that's uncut) and if you compare the running time of each you get this:
- 2am-3am - 3 secs missing
- 7am-8am - 6 secs missing
- 8am-9am - 3 secs missing
- 9am-10am - 3 secs missing
- 12pm-1pm - 86 secs missing
- 4pm-5pm - 4 secs missing
- 5pm-6pm - 4 secs missing
- 7pm-8pm - 86 secs missing
- 8pm-9pm - 90 secs missing
- 9pm-10pm - 91 secs missing
- 10pm-11pm - 92 secs missing
- 11pm-12am - 92 secs missing
