Home Forums Ganymede & Titan Forum Series III Certification

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  • #237820
    Unrumble
    Participant

    I feel like I’ve heard/read the explanation for this somewhere before, but I’m not sure, and can’t find anything online (official site doesn’t work on my browser).

    So, as I recall from a Doug interview, the brief shot of Starbug added on the end credits on the remastered/DVD version of ‘Marooned’ was so the certificate could be lowered from a 15 to a 12. This was due to a change, however minor, needing to be made to allow it to be submitted to for re-classification.

    My question is, what was the reason for the original ‘Series III Byte 1’ VHS being rated 15? (This caused me issues with my strict Mum, not allowing me to watch it in the 90’s as a pre-teen.)

    Presumably it was something in the content of ‘Marooned’ specifically. The story of Lister losing his virginity as a minor seems like the only obvious contender.

    If so, why would it now be deserving of a lower rating? Simply just a relaxing of attitudes/regulations in the intervening years?

    Possibly just answered my own question there…

    #237821
    Dave
    Participant

    The ’12’ rating was only applied to home video releases after 1994, so presumably before that, anything that pushed beyond the PG rating (like Marooned, or maybe some of the Polymorph stuff) automatically bumped it up to a 15.

    #237822
    Unrumble
    Participant

    Thanks, I didn’t know that about the 12 cert!

    #237823
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    According to the Red Dwarf programme guide it was, yes, Lister’s virginity story.

    #237824
    Warbodog
    Participant

    The most pecular/oversensitive BBFC rating I’m aware of is making the Farscape season 2 DVD set an 18 (early 2000s) because it featured two headbutts (man-on-puppet). The DVD company was offered a 15 if they took out one of the headbutts, but they wanted to release the episodes intact. There was some national panic about kids imitating headbutts or something.

    #237825
    Flap Jack
    Participant

    Oh, so Lister talking about being a victim of rape in Marooned gets a higher age rating than Rimmer talking about being a perpetrator of rape in Confidence & Paranoia?

    DOUBLE STANDARDS, BBFC.

    #237826
    Dave
    Participant

    Something similar affected Attack Of The Clones in 2002 – they had to cut a brief shot of Jango Fett headbutting Obi-Wan to avoid a ludicrously high rating. It was cut on the DVD too, but I guess that the panic around headbutts died down as the cut moment was restored for the Blu-Rays a few years ago.

    #237829
    MANI506
    Participant

    The 15 certificate made Red Dwarf III Byte One look really cool – and the photo on the front was already really cool.

    The first 12 certificate I was aware of was Batman Begins in 1992

    #237831
    Dave
    Participant

    The first Batman in ’89 was a 12 too I think.

    #237835
    Lily
    Participant

    I hadn’t noticed before that XI got a 15, while X and XII were still 12.

    Bloody Samsara and its “infrequent strong sex references”.
    https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/red-dwarf-xi-video-4

    #237838
    clem
    Participant

    > The first 12 certificate I was aware of was Batman Begins in 1992

    Returns, not Begins. Like Series III Byte 1 it was bumped up to a 15 for the video release.

    #237839
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    >Something similar affected Attack Of The Clones in 2002

    Same with GoldenEye in 95. The BBFC was irrationally sensitive about headbutts for a time. And the mere presence of nunchukas, actually, (there was a right old hoo-ha over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Brady Bunch Movie).

    #237842
    Dave
    Participant

    Returns, not Begins. Like Series III Byte 1 it was bumped up to a 15 for the video release

    Yes, presumably every 12 became a 15 on home video until the 12 certificate was brought in for home video in ’94.

    #237868
    Toxteth O-Grady
    Participant

    >Yes, presumably every 12 became a 15 on home video until the 12 certificate was brought in for home video in ’94.
    That’s right. Batman Returns was a 12 at the cinema (as was the ’89 film) but a 15 when released on video, as they didn’t do 12-Certificates on videos back then.
    Presumably Warner Bros. hasn’t bothered with the Doug’s route of re-submission for re-classification, as they are still both a 15 on DVD and Blu-Ray to this day.

    #237870
    Dave
    Participant

    To be honest in retrospect I’m always amazed that they get away with saying Shit so much in Flight Of The Navigator (U) and Short Circuit (PG).

    #237873
    Ben Saunders
    Participant

    Saying shit in a U, really? That must be some sort of special case. Also damn I wonder how many under-15s were prevented from watching relatively harmless films because of the bizarre lack of a 12 rating. Whose idea was that?

    #237886
    Warbodog
    Participant

    It’s surprising to learn that things from my early childhood like Batman Returns and Beetlejuice (“nice fucking model”) were rated 15, but more that my usually sensitive mum rented them out for us with no qualms when I was about 5-6. Though I remember noticing that Alien 3 was 18 and her saying it maybe wasn’t suitable but letting me watch it anyway a year or so later. I think I’ll report her.

    #237887
    Ben Saunders
    Participant

    Oh i absolutely watched 15s before I was 15, millions of people do and it’s all absolutely fine. Kids can handle quite a lot, it’s mostly prudish adults who seem to have forgotten that who are in charge of the ratings. You think fourteen year olds don’t swear, that eleven year olds are going to go on a killing spree the moment they see someone die in a film? Don’t be silly.
    12A is a great thing, parents using their common sense in general on whether or not to let their children watch something is good.

    #237890
    Dave
    Participant

    Although 12A is good for that reason, it’s also pretty useless as a parent in terms of providing a guide as to whether something is suitable for your kids or not. It essentially covers everything from what an old PG would have been, all the way up to stuff that pushes the boundaries of a 15.

    (It seems like PG rated films have all but disappeared as a result.)

    Luckily the BBFC website has pretty detailed breakdowns of exactly why a film has been rated as it has, which are really helpful.

    #237972
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    >official site doesn’t work on my browser

    Off the main topic, but what’s your browser, and in what way doesn’t the site work?

    #237973
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    >The first Batman in ’89 was a 12 too I think.

    Faaaaaairly sure Batman ’89 was the first ever 12. The rating was pretty much created for it, as it definitely wasn’t a PG but they couldn’t have kids not come to the film given what a merchandising juggernaut it was.

    It’s often thought that the first 12A was Spider-Man, as well; but it actually came out as a 12 and was later reclassified. The Bourne Identity was the first to be initially certified as 12A.

    #237974
    Dave
    Participant

    I was going to say Batman was the first ’12’ but I wasn’t sure.

    This article gives a history of the certificate:

    http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592516/index.html

    It says this:

    So in 1989, the BBFC experimentally awarded Madame Sousatzka (d. John Schlesinger, 1989) a 12 certificate in London, and Batman (US, d. Tim Burton, 1989) was the first general release title to feature the classification.

    However, the statutory nature of video classifications meant that extending the 12 certificate to cover video releases required an amendment to the 1984 Video Recordings Act. As with most changes in the law, this took some time, and the 12 video certificate was finally introduced on 1 July 1994.

    So that explains why it took so long for VHSs to get the ’12’ certificate.

    Also, I didn’t realise Crocodile Dundee had been a ’15’!

    #237975
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Given the number of shits and bastards in it, you’d have to assume Back to the Future would have been a 12 if the certificate existed then. Ghostbusters, too, primarily for the blowjob gag.

    #237976
    Dave
    Participant

    Yeah, I hurriedly had to skip that bit when I watched Ghostbusters for the first time with the kids recently!

    Language is an odd one – I mentioned earlier that Flight Of The Navigator and Short Circuit were a ‘U’ and ‘PG’ respectively on home video despite shits-a-plenty. Maybe PG is on the cusp, but a U seems a bit much.

    #237977
    Unrumble
    Participant

    >Off the main topic, but what’s your browser, and in what way doesn’t the site work?

    It may be down to the computers or network settings themselves (whisper it, I’m at work), but I have the option of Internet Explorer – ‘page cannot be displayed’, or Chrome – just stays as a blank screen.

    I have no issues using Safari on my phone, or Firefox at home. I also have no issues with other sites, apart from social media sites, which I imagine are deliberately blocked.

    #237979
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Ah, okay. AFAIK it should still work on IE (the underlying tech is largely the same as it has been for years), but the blank screen on Chrome does suggest a connection/firewall issue at your end more than anything. Does seem weird that it would be singled out by a policy, mind!

    But yeah, happy to look into any potential compatibility issues (or, I should say, get them looked into) as we would always want it to be as accessible as possible…

    #237982
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    >Yeah, I hurriedly had to skip that bit when I watched Ghostbusters for the first time with the kids recently!

    I watched GhostBusters endlessly between the ages of 6 and 10. It was only when I revisited it on DVD *much* later after years of not watching it, that I finally twigged what was happening in that scene. If I’d known it was “naughty”, I’d have never watched it with my Dad numerous times as I’d have been too embarrassed (and I definitely watched it with him a few times, as I recall asking him who Elvis was during one viewing, and him giving me a strangely cryptic/lazy answer).

    #237991
    Toxteth O-Grady
    Participant

    Exactly. The blowjob *joke* (I’d say “blowjob gag” has a very different meaning), is only rude and risqué if you know what is being suggested in that scene; and any children watching won’t, therefore it shouldn’t effect the rating certificate.
    I watched Ghostbusters countless times as kid, and never thought to myself “here’s the bit where Dan Aykroyd gets sucked off by a sexy ghost”.
    It’s part of a dream sequence anyway, so I probably just thought it was him having a weird dream where his trousers unzipped by themself.

    Not that BTTF is necessarily a kid’s film, but I’m sure there’s a few specific movies made for kids that have the word “shit” in them. Home Alone is one.

    Circling back to RD, it always seems odd to me when Cat says “does mouse shit roll?”.
    Not only because they’d always used smeg as replacement swear word, but they use it in a line that makes barely any sense.
    Does mouse shit roll? I’ve never checked.

    #237992
    Lily
    Participant

    >Yeah, I hurriedly had to skip that bit when I watched Ghostbusters for the first time with the kids recently!

    My parents home edited Ghostbusters before letting me watch it (pausing the recording off TV when it got too scary). The only bit that they cut out was the librarian ghost at the start, as she was too frightening. I remember that in particular as she scared the CRAP out of me first time I watched an unedited version. I’m pretty sure they left the blowjob thing in, as to a kid it’s pretty meaningless ghosty lady floating around.

    #237993
    bloodteller
    Participant

    >Circling back to RD, it always seems odd to me when Cat says “does mouse shit roll?”.
    Not only because they’d always used smeg as replacement swear word, but they use it in a line that makes barely any sense. Does mouse shit roll? I’ve never checked.

    Presumably it’s the Cat equivalent of the “is the Pope a Catholic?” line. As you said though, it still seems weird

    The only other time I can think of them saying ‘shit’ in Red Dwarf is in Trojan when Rimmer fails his exam again. It always feels a little odd hearing actual swearing in the show. Thank goodness they removed the scene from The Beginning where they all say “We’re fucked” otherwise everyone would have totally freaked out

    #237994
    Paul Muller
    Participant

    I was under the impression Rimmer’s line was actually ‘sack of sick’, but I could be wrong.

    #237998
    Hamish
    Participant

    It’s sack of sick.

    #237999
    Bargain Bin Holly
    Participant

    I remember Rimmer says bullshit in Last Human, but I think that was more to make the situation more serious and bring it to reality a bit.

    #238006
    Lily
    Participant

    >Does mouse shit roll? I’ve never checked.

    It looks like small brown grains of rice, sooooo no, not really.

    Kinda kills the line though.

    #238007
    si
    Participant

    No, I was never liked “Does mouse shit roll?” either. Seems really out of character and jarring. Same way as when Cat’s on about ‘titties’ in Timewave.

    #238015
    Warbodog
    Participant

    Is ‘bastard’ lower down the cussing scale than ‘shit?’ Rimmer’s “bastard” in Waiting for God surprised me as a kid, but is sparing swearing used to great effect. Marty saying it in BTTF1 seemed much more risque when I was in primary school than the various shits, which I didn’t even notice.

    #238016
    Dave
    Participant

    Yes, I would say Shit comfortably outranks Bastard.

    There are a few Bastards in Red Dwarf – Father Christmas in Backwards springs to mind.

    #238031
    Plastic Percy
    Participant

    There’s also a “you bastard!” from Lister in Bodyswap when he thinks Rimmer has lost his arm.

    #238032
    Unrumble
    Participant

    Off the top of my head, both Rimmer:

    “It’s my duty. My duty as a complete and utter bastard” – Timeslides

    “The world loves a bastard” – Back in the Red

    #238033
    Unrumble
    Participant

    Also-ish, from Tikka to Ride:

    Lister: “What pizza place have you been going to? The Fat Bastard-aria?”

    #238034
    Dave
    Participant

    Then without any warning at all, you’re suddenly a fat bastard.

    #238036
    tombow
    Participant

    They say bastard in Simpsons sometimes.

    #238037
    Unrumble
    Participant

    >They say bastard in Simpsons sometimes.

    “Bastard! He’s always one step ahead”

    #238038
    Dave
    Participant

    I always remember being baffled by the UK broadcaster’s cackhanded overdub of that Simpsons episode with ‘wankers’ in it (the U2 one).

    #238039
    Toxteth O-Grady
    Participant

    >I always remember being baffled by the UK broadcaster’s cackhanded overdub of that Simpsons episode with ‘wankers’ in it (the U2 one).

    I don’t think they ever overdubbed it, did they? They just cut the word out entirely. Otherwise what did they overdub it with?

    I remember being utterly surprised when Channel 4 accidentally broadcast it uncut, as I never even knew it had been censored in the countless times I’d seen it on BBC 2 and Sky 1.

    These days Channel 4 make excessive cuts to The Simpsons, even for relatively harmless stuff. So much so I can’t be bothered with it.

    #238040
    Warbodog
    Participant

    I was shocked to hear “bloody” (x2) in legit kids’ film Muppet Treasure Island, then disappointed when it was “corrected” for the video release.

    I remember Tony Robinson on Stay Tooned! recounting a time when some British channel forgot to censor that not-rude-in-America word in an imported cartoon and it didn’t go down well (“it rhymes with ‘muddy’ and begins with a ‘bl.'”).

    #238041
    Toxteth O-Grady
    Participant

    ‘Bloody’ must be the least offensive “offensive” word of all, right? I mean, it’s the exact same word as the completely innocuous adjective meaning ‘covered in blood’.

    “Police have discovered a bloody knife at the scene.”
    “Shut your bloody gob!”

    Would anyone *really* be offended to hear the latter but not the former?

    #238042
    Dave
    Participant

    I always think of Bloody and Damn as being UK-US counterparts. Neither are particularly offensive, but in one country they are seen as slightly stronger than in the other. Both are on about the same level as Crap for me.

    I don’t think they ever overdubbed it, did they? They just cut the word out entirely. Otherwise what did they overdub it with?

    Bizarrely, on the first BBC2 broadcast they just took Burns saying “ow” and doubled it up again to dub over “wankers”. It was just odd and distracting.

    #238043
    Toxteth O-Grady
    Participant

    Aaah. I don’t remember that version. On Sky it just immediately faded out after the first “ow”, which worked a lot better.

    I’m trying to remember at what time of day they broadcast the episode where Skinner says “Stand back, it’s wanking time!”. It may have been when Channel 4 showed episodes post-watershed.

    #238044
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Bizarrely, on the first BBC2 broadcast they just took Burns saying “ow” and doubled it up again to dub over “wankers”. It was just odd and distracting.

    I REMEMBER THIS it was incredibly cack-handed.

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