22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First time to see most of these unusual episodes!, September 16, 2006
A great chance to get some little seen episodes of this beloved family classic. As the rules for "political correctness" changed after the early 60's, many otherwise innocuous shows became more controversial by modern standards. This DVD features episodes that have been out of distribution for many years. Starlight Video has announced the episodes as "Ten Little Indians" (removed from distribution for the racist inference of "Indians"), "The Gang" (removed for violence), "The Watchdogs" (removed for violence), and "Down on the Farm" (removed- believe it or not- for nudity! In one scene, Davey goes skinny dipping! Shocking). These episodes were pulled from the TV airwaves many years ago and have been locked up in the vaults all this time! All true hard core fans are looking forward to this release.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This DVD was sliced and diced in places. WHY??? This is Home Video not syndication on TV, April 14, 2009
This review is from: Davey And Goliath: The Lost Episodes (DVD)
I am extremely disappointed in this DVD. As a collector of Classic TV shows I am a completist and want complete episodes. I would still recommend this DVD but BUY IT USED when prices go below 10 dollars unless you are desperate to see a couple episodes.
These episodes were given the "King WOrld Little Rascals treatment". What I mean was when Little Rascals was syndicated after about 15 years the syndicated TV prints were sliced and diced of scenes deemed to be racial or just in bad taste and a few episodes were removed altogether. At least in the Rascals case all the episodes were completely unedited on home video. Here with Davey 10 episodes are unavailable on TV now and on home video some of these are edited aby as much as a minute and a half.
Now the details. "Cousin Barney" was aired on television until about 3 years ago. It was even available on VHS since the mid 80's and on DVD in the early 2000's. But the ECLA determined the episode was in bad taste and abruptly took it out of Televison availability. The VHS tapes and DVD's went out of print. It was released on this DVD and is sliced by a minute and a half. The scene where the children played "Cowboys and Indians" was deleted. Fortunately I have a decent VHS copy of the complete episode dubbed to DVD so this is not tragic to me. By why edit this out on home video?
"Polka Dot Tie" seemed to be completely intact. This was taken off television back in the mid 1980's. Stations that had the episode continued running it until they discontinued the series but new stations picking up the series did not get this episode. The ECLA deemed the episode in bad taste. This episode ran just under 15 minutes so it seemed to be complete.
"Pilgrim Boy" ran on television until about 2004. It was probably edited but still run. It was also on home video through VHS tapes from the 80's until the late 90's. It was even on DVD in 2000 but also went out of print. I also have a VHS copy of this episode dubbed to DVD. Sadly, this episode was edited by about a minute. Every fearful reference to indians during the colonial times scene was edited out. Again, WHY??? Deemed in bad taste by the Lutheran Church. The current leadership I guess is more sensitive than the leadership from the 80's even. This is another disappointment.
"Tin Pan Alley" was edited by about a minute as well. It was originally known as "10 Little Indians". I recalled this episode only vaguely as a kid. It was simply not a favorite I guess. They even changed the title. From what I have been told, the pins in the bowling alley were referred to as indians. Also when the pins were knocked down, an indian boy would come and put them back up. These brief scenes were also edited out. Again, WHY??? I was desperate to get this episode so I still dont regret buying this disc. The moderately edited episode is better than none at all. The audio quality of this episode was barely satisfactory and poorer than the other episodes.
"Down On The Farm" was only edited by a couple seconds. Those seconds were when Davey and the other boy had no clothes on and jumped into the lake. The scene was so brief that unless one remembers them having no clothes on (which was very subtle anyway and would take a split second to miss) many probabably did not notice. Still a naked clay puppet is not that noticable. This episode remained on television until the early 2000's. WHy even remove it at all. I have a VHS copy of this episode as well that has since fallen out of print.
"The Jickets" seemed to be edited only slightly if at all. The title was originally "The Gang". This was pulled from TV back in the 1980's. It seemed intact and I enjoyed seeing it after over 25 years. This was the first time it was ever offered on home video in any form.
"Help", "Louder Please", and "Watchdogs" seemed to be fully intact. These was not pulled from television airing until about 2004. The length was 14 minutes but these 70's episodes were shorter originally than the 60's episodes. I was glad to see this on DVD. I do not see why these were pulled only recently. Still I was glad to see these once again.
"What's His Name", also from the 70's was also pulled from syndication in the early 2000's. This episode was only 13 minutes long and was edited by nearly a minute. The scene where Davey mentioned putting the boy who got him in trouble under a ladder and pouring molasses and feathers was edited out. This seemed no worse than the rest of the episode.
My theory of why these four episodes were pulled recently was because of the September 11 situation. Because of events happening at that point, the ECLA probably felt these episodes were no longer appropriate because of the trheats Davey was making against a kid on one episode, a violent crime scene on another, and the being trapped on top of a building on another.
All in all, while these apisodes may be inappropriate for a Christian TV station, I feel they are fine for a DVD release for secular classic TV collectors. Maybe they should release an edition for kids and one for collectors.
I therefore recommend this DVD with reservations.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Don't Know Davey, January 29, 2009
This review is from: Davey And Goliath: The Lost Episodes (DVD)
This Lost Episodes DVD was meant to be released several times in the past couple years. Now we have a new release date from a new company and with new box art. This classic show with great morals that still apply today along with humor that continues to be funny through the years is now available on a new DVD containing the following ten episodes:
Cousin Barney
Polka Dot Tie
The Pilgrim Boy
Ten-Pin Alley (formerly Ten Little Indians, guess it was offensive)
Down On The Farm
The Jickets (formerly The Gang, guess gang now sends the wrong message)
Help
Louder Please
What's His Name
The Watchdogs
This series is rather old now so don't expect perfect sound or picture quality, but apart from the pilot released on the Volume One DVD, which itself was in good shape considering, I have found sound and picture haven't been an issue for me on others since.
I guess over time certain political correctness found them opting for name changes on episodes but the show is still the same old Davey and Goliath. I was excited to watch the four volumes already released on DVD and think fans will enjoy this one too, it's too bad they haven't released larger box set formats or more DVD volumes, I'd love to have all these episodes on DVD.
I think it's great in alot of ways that TV is always evolving and I know children's shows need to adapt to the times in certain ways but I wish we still had more simplistic series like this with right and wrong and a sense of morality and religious undertones. If only they could create a new show like this to at least balance the other things children are exposed to on TV, if not in place of them.
Great DVD for fans, Goliath is so lovable even for children today and is what still sells the show. Hopefully they put out more Davey and Goliath on DVD, this is a series I would love to own. 5 Stars for anyone who is a fan or who wants wholesome entertainment with great moral lessons for children.
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