Knight Rider dvd edits

[jeremy223]

Everyone remembers the problems that plagued the season 3 dvd sets. The missing sound effects,the missing or altered music. Season 4 has missing teasers. Does anyone know if there were any similar problems in the first and second season box sets? I remember reading some season 1 episodes were slightly cropped to hide camera mounts and boom microphones that were in shot,but I don't recall the first two seasons having any missing scenes or music.
Also, do the old Columbia House dvds or dvds from other regions have the missing songs and sound effects as well?

[Lost Knight]

Everyone remembers the problems that plagued the season 3 dvd sets. The missing sound effects,the missing or altered music. Season 4 has missing teasers. Does anyone know if there were any similar problems in the first and second season box sets? I remember reading some season 1 episodes were slightly cropped to hide camera mounts and boom microphones that were in shot,but I don't recall the first two seasons having any missing scenes or music.
Also, do the old Columbia House dvds or dvds from other regions have the missing songs and sound effects as well?

If I remember correctly, the only issue with the Season 2 set was with Prince's "Little Red Corvette" being omitted from the "White-Line Warriors" episode. I believe there was one other song of his that was omitted as well.

Universal has screwed up a lot of cropping on their DVDs. All of the Season 4 opening credit sequences are overcropped as well. It makes me wonder if the Season 1 cropping was a mistake that they caught before release or if it was really done on purpose as they say.

As for the Columbia House DVDs, I don't believe they suffered from any music or sound effect issues. It's just that the DVD transfers weren't as good as the subsequent Universal DVDs.

[Matthew]

Lost Knight,

Are you thinking of When Doves Cry, as that's the only other Prince song I recall being featured in the series, and that was removed from the season 3 episode, Dead of Knight?

Matt

[Lost Knight]

Lost Knight,

Are you thinking of When Doves Cry, as that's the only other Prince song I recall being featured in the series, and that was removed from the season 3 episode, Dead of Knight?

Matt

You could be right, Matt. I'm too lazy to look but what confused me was one of the sets saying something along the lines of "All original music included except for 2 songs."

[Matthew]

Yeah,

It could well be season 3 in that case, as Little Red Corvette was removed from Knight of the Drones as well as White Line Warriors.

Matt

[whet]

Yeah,

It could well be season 3 in that case, as Little Red Corvette was removed from Knight of the Drones as well as White Line Warriors.

Matt

Yes it was removed. both of the prince songs where removed, it's also the same if you download the episode from I tunes.

The odd thing with I tunes is"White Line Warriors" isn't there for download at all.
That annoyed me that's one of my favorite episdodes..

[Knight Rider Archive]

I wrote about the cropping of some shots, and you can check that out over at my site:

http://www.knightriderarchive.com/krtos ... ormat.html

Other minor and not-so-minor alterations:

- The teasers for Knight Song and The Scent of Roses (missing on the Region 1 release) do appear on the Region 2 and 4 versions.

- All Season 4 eps are downmixed from stereo to mono. Uncut versions of Sky Knight and Knight Sting in the original stereo can be found in the Region 2 and 4 release Knight Rider: Volume 2 from Universal Playback.

- The opening titles to Knight of the Drones have been replaced with the standard Season 3 version (with the 1-TV dash), while every episode of Season 2 carries the opening titles from the first half of that season (which is different by just 2 shots, which most probably wouldn't even notice).

[jeremy223]

Thanks for that link. Do you know if the region 2 dvds are cropped and have missing songs as well? I might just get those instead of region 1. Or at least the Columbia House versions. Anyone have any of those for sale?

[Knight Rider Archive]

For the most part, the Region 2 sets are the same as the Region 1 versions -- missing Prince songs, same issues with sound effects (Season 3), and some cropped shots. The first season is slightly different... it includes the pilot episode as a bonus feature on the last disc, and there are no teasers to the episodes.

The Columbia House releases are good. The episodes are uncut, but also seem to be sourced from older prints so the picture quality isn't quite as good. No cropping or music/sound effects issues here, but they are quite difficult to come by these days.

[Lost Knight]

Not necessarily a constructive comment to the thread, but I think it's amazing how a completely separate company can get the episodes right, while the company that actually owns the franchise (at least on television) screws up the most peculiar details, and for no real apparent reason, nonetheless.

Not being able to secure music clearances from an original artist who chooses to be uncooperative or too expensive is understandable, but screwing up simple framing and omitting teasers (which to me seems like it's part of the original film) I'll never understand.

[jeremy223]

I went to Amazon and began ordering the Columbia House volumes because I want as many unaltered episodes as I can get. The Knight Rider Archive lists 14 dvd volumes but were not 20 vhs tapes released? Anyone know for sure how many dvds and vhs tapes Columbia put out?

[Lost Knight]

I went to Amazon and began ordering the Columbia House volumes because I want as many unaltered episodes as I can get. The Knight Rider Archive lists 14 dvd volumes but were not 20 vhs tapes released? Anyone know for sure how many dvds and vhs tapes Columbia put out?

Even if that is the case, you can buy a VHS/DVD recorder and record the tapes to DVD. Obviously picture quality won't be an issue since even the Columbia House DVDs aren't exactly of the highest possibile quality as it is, not to mention the sound being mono, anyway.

Universal's Home Video Department is despicable. Whatever they're smoking must be some good stuff. Hopefully they'll eventually see this, so they're at least aware of how many needless mistakes they make.