Friday, June 6, 2008

My dog eats dandelions...

Ooooo-kay.

My dog has discovered the joy of chomping on those bright yellow flowers and flinging petals around. There's a big bed of them right in the area I usually walk him. My dog is a flower-puppy. Bliss and rapture.

There are actual flowers here! I was starting to wonder if it would all just be green until fall, but I'm seeing some nice things, like bluebells (I think) and dandelions. And this is just at my apartment complex.

And now for something completely different...

Switching to rant mode...

Krrrscchh!

Ah, okay. Here we go.

WHY DO PEOPLE FEEL THE NEED TO CHANGE THINGS THAT WERE ALREADY GOOD TO BEGIN WITH AND MAKE THEM WORSE IN THE PROCESS!?!?!

Whew. That's better.

What I'm talking about is a set of DVDs I just bought. When Quantum Leap first came out, I didn't watch it too much. I saw repeats later on, though, and my mom had recorded a lot of them with her ever-present and trusty VCR. I fell in love with a few episodes in particular, one of which I even put on an audio tape.

Why would I do that? I was scared of the dark for most of my life until my later teens. I would listen to favorite movies, like The Little Mermaid, while going to sleep to keep me distracted from my fears.

So I put the episode called "Good Morning, Peoria" on tape and listened to that at night. It had some of the great oldies songs, including one during the most romantic scene that I have no idea who did or what it's called. I'm sure Mom could tell me if I asked.

Anyway (one), when you listen to a tape for many, many nights in a row and love it as much as I did, you expect it to always be that way, right? I mean, why would anyone change anything about a single episode, right?

But that's just what the bastards did.

I bought the entire collection of Quantum Leap on DVD so I could see all the cheesy early episodes I missed and all the good ones later on that I loved. That show truly improved as it aged.

I was jubilant when I got to "Good Morning, Peoria." I insist on watching it all in order, so I had to go through the whole first season and part of the second before I finally got to it last night.

THEY CHANGED SOME OF THE SONGS!!!!

Why the hell would they feel the need to DO that?!!?

The song they picked to replace the romantic one I loved was beyond cheesy and even inappropriate to the momentum of the scene. It just didn't work as well.

Of course, now I'm asking myself why I'm so irritated with it. It's just one episode. And technically not one of the better ones, either. Nothing poignant or special about it, like the evil leaper ones, or the finale, or the one where Al and Sam switch, etc.

I guess it's because I loved it the way it was. And they f***ed with it.

Mom, if you still have that one that you recorded off the TV all those years ago, can you make me a copy and mail it to me? There's nothing like the original.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My guess would be it's a rights issue. Remember, they have to get permission and pay the copyright holder a fee for any song used in any show, anywhere. Then, if they release it in a new medium such as DVD, they have to go through the whole process *again*. The one you remember was either too expensive to use or the owner didn't want to let them use it for reasons of his own. Incidentally, this is why "The Wonder Years" never got to DVD. There were classic songs in practically every episode and it would've been a yeoman's task to try to clear all of those songs and would've probably made the DVD so expensive it would never have turned a profit.

Miss Mel said...

WKRP In Cincinnati had the same problem. When the show first aired they played current music for the time without any formal copyright agreement. The people on the music end of things were happy for the free publicity (who wouldn't be?) and it boosted the show's rating.

However...

When Fox decided to put the show to DVD it either proved to be too much of a hassle or too costly to include all the original songs. So almost every single song was replaced with unknown songs and artists that sound like they came out of the very early eighties.

So there you have it.
I feel your pain.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is that it's good to have your mom. :) I rely on her heavily for old movie/series moments too.

Siobhan

Sparklecat said...

You know, that never occurred to me, matthew and dark rapunzel. How disappointing.

And I didn't realize until you mentioned it that the Wonder Years hasn't come out on DVD! Holy Hopping Hyacinth, Batman!

And yes, Mommy, I have you for all the stuff you've recorded over the years. Hundreds and hundreds of videotapes, making it hard to find the one thing you're looking for...

Just kidding! ;>

Sparklecat said...

So, have you asked mom for anything recently, Siobhannie-Bonnie?