Politically correct censorship of "Back to the Future"

[DarrinS]

I was watching a marathon of Back to the Future on G4 yesterday, and I noticed some strange P.C. censorship.

First, when the Libyans come for Doc Brown at the beginning of the movie, they censored the part where they gun down Doc Brown with machine guns.

Next, when the Libyans continue to chase Marty in the Delorian, they removed the part where the guy pulls out an RPG.

Finally, near the end of the movie when Marty is writing Doc Brown a letter to warn him "you will be shot by terrorists", they censored the word "terrorists".


What gives?

[greyforest]

pansy-ass advertisers who pull advertising from anything controversial

[DarrinS]

pansy-ass advertisers who pull advertising from anything controversial

Is it really all that controversial?

[Yonivore]

Is it really all that controversial?
Can't be pissing off the terrorists and their friends on the left.

[Spurminator]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/alternateversions

TV versions that aired shortly after the World Trade Center Attack in September 2001 featured certain alterations to the Libyan terrorists subplot. When Marty reads aloud his warning letter for Doc, he says "You will be shot," instead of "You will be shot by terrorists," and the "by terrorists" area of the letter is digitally erased. The most recent TV airing edits the scene where Doc is shot by the Lybians as well as the scene where Marty is almost shot. It just cuts to the scene of Doc running off and Marty diving into the DeLorean and noticing Doc slain. However when Marty returns to 1985 and witnesses these events reoccuring, the shooting scenes are intact.

[Spurminator]

Or maybe it's just the infiltration of radical Islam into our culture.

[Wild Cobra]

I think it'ss more trying to make a PG rated movie acceptable to a G rated crowd. In this case, i don't think it's anything amiss.

BTTF is 116 minutes long.

#2 is 108 minutes long.

#3 is 118 minutes long.

For every 30 minute time slot, the is normally around 22 minutes of programming and 8 minutes of commercials. To make the first part say... 110 minutes would be a 2-1/2 hr time slot, cutting 6 minutes out. For TV, they normally cut out the more questionable parts. I wouldn't read too much into that.

That's one reason why I seldom watch TV. Any movie I want, I simply buy.

I like the extended directors cut of Stargate for example. However, the newer release of the pilot episode for the series, "Children of the Gods," deleted a scene and altered another that I noticed. I liked the original better. However, they decided I guess that Samantha carters remarks about her reproductive organs being on the inside rather than the outside, I guess were considered stupid, and the nudity was removed too.

A guy I work with, isn't a racist, but he was disappointed that a Mel Brooks movie was altered in DVD form. I think he was talking about History of the World, but it might have been Blazing Saddles. He said he couldn't find an "uncensored" version. Well, not long ago, I bought "Blazing Saddle" in BluRay... It's original, with the racial slurs and all! I'll bet that they had complaints about the movies not being original, and released them in their original form in BluRay.

[Parker2112]

is it censorship if the producer redacts the scenes?

[Yonivore]

Technically, censorship can only be engaged in by governments.

[Winehole23]

I was watching a marathon of Back to the Future on G4 yesterday...Nothing else stacks up to a fistful of dollars, for a few dollars more, and the good the bad and the ugly, watched back to back to back.

How was the B2TF marathon, apart from the bowdlerization (http://dictionary.die.net/bowdlerized)?

[Stringer_Bell]

I like the extended directors cut of Stargate for example. However, the newer release of the pilot episode for the series, "Children of the Gods," deleted a scene and altered another that I noticed. I liked the original better. However, they decided I guess that Samantha carters remarks about her reproductive organs being on the inside rather than the outside, I guess were considered stupid, and the nudity was removed too.

More than likely, I'd say it has to do with SG1's audience being more family-oriented since it moved from Showtime to Syfy. Without it being on Showtime, there's no need to maintain anything risque since it would totally seem out of the oridinary or gratuitous to "newer" fans that only started watching since it was on Syfy.


A guy I work with, isn't a racist, but he was disappointed that a Mel Brooks movie was altered in DVD form. I think he was talking about History of the World, but it might have been Blazing Saddles. He said he couldn't find an "uncensored" version. Well, not long ago, I bought "Blazing Saddle" in BluRay... It's original, with the racial slurs and all! I'll bet that they had complaints about the movies not being original, and released them in their original form in BluRay.

Or, maybe Blazing Saddles wouldn't be censored on DVD in the first place? I can't imagine a scenario or instance in which Blazing Saddles or History of the World would be censored on any home video format, the movie studio would just be throwing money away because no one would buy it and everyone would raise hell. UNLESS, they wanted to sell edited versions of stuff, make money, then released unedited versions later, and make more money. :lol That's a bit of a reach for a conspiracy. However, I heard the Muppet Movie (w/ Mel Brooks) was censored. :wow