BBFC JTS News Posted by John Hoare on 20th October 2007, 15:48 I wondered whether this would show up. New versions of Smeg Ups and Smeg Outs have been classified by the BBFC – because the Just The Smegs versions slightly different to the VHS, with changed merchandise plugs. To be honest, I wish they hadn’t been changed – like the episodes, I think Smeg Ups and Smeg Outs should have been put out in their original versions, as part of the, erm, historical record. Still, it matters less than with the proper episodes, I suppose. Anyway, weirdly enough, in the classification listing we also get something entitled (RED DWARF – JUST THE SMEGS DVD), lasting for 21 minutes 56 seconds. Seeing as the broadcast Smeg Ups has already been classified, and so were the VII and VIII smegs at the time for the VHS releases – has anyone got any ideas as to what this is? It’s perhaps worth noting that Polymorph and Parallel Universe weren’t reclassified for DVD, despite being slightly different from the VHS versions – Polymorph has “week’s” intact in the opening announcement as per the broadcast version, and Parallel Universe had no title caption, unlike the VHS version. This means that the Series II and III DVDs have stuff on them that should have been classified but wasn’t – making the releases, erm, illegal to sell in the UK under the The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which amended the Video Recordings Act 1984. Ho!
Hmmm. Could be. The VII smegs on the DVD (virtually the same as the VHS version apart from the opening caption) last 10m 25s, and the two VIII ones last 6m 27s and 7m 34s – making a grand total of 24m 27s. 2 minutes 31 seconds seems slightly too much to be out by, though – unless there’s something else there…
Perhaps a 2 minute intro to the VII and VIII fuckups? Or maybe a couple of new ones really have been unearthed.
Is that running time for VIII smegs based on the star wars “farce” trailer being included within it or not? As I’m assuming that thats not on this release, as it was on the VIII DVD wasnt it? So does that a) account for some of the time difference and b) is the reason for at least one reclassification being needed due to the removal of this material?
Hmmm. You could be onto something there. Certainly, I can’t see a separate entry for the Star Wars spoof trailer, which indicates it could well have been included in one of the VIII smegs classifications. I never bought the VIII videos, so I can’t check here…
>I absolutely love the description of Just The Smegs on the BBC Shop: ?Comedy double bill?. I find it interesting they are promoting the VCR-cassettes at the end of the description with “Each video is also available separately”…*smirks*
