I'm just curious if other country's DVD releases: is 'Apocalypse' subtly censored as it is in the Australian DVD release? That is, the word "gypo" replaced in that episode?
I was quite surprised (and annoyed!) about this tiny change, and was curious if ALL releases have it, or just the R4 Australian one?
I'm guessing it originated with the UK release, since few here would even know what a "gypo" is!!!).
It's been censored everywhere. Just because some flouncy group objected to the term 'gippo'. No Romanies complained as far as I'm aware.
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Thanks for the answer!
I REALLY hate that it's censored... and heck, of all the things in Bottom to be offended by, too!!!
I know! It's like saying you find the character of Mr. Hankey in South Park offensive!
Who can take you higher than a twin peak mountain blue?
I'm English and living in the UK, but have the Dutch version of the DVD box-set. The word 'gypo' isn't censored in my version; but strangely the episode 'Contest' IS, and is completely missing from the Series 1 DVD.
Very odd stuff.
"Not Gods, Englishmen! Which is the next best thing."
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where were they supposed to say gyppo? No words were censored in my DVD, and the closest they got was yobbo - I also have Contest on the first disc.
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I thought as much, but the mouth movements actually matches "yobbos" which I thought was strange. I don't doubt your word, but I couldn't seen any proof of it being dubbed. Could it have been re-shot? I wonder if it's on youtube somewhere - guess I'll go have a look
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When it was first shown on TV. As Dave change it to yobbos too.
Who can take you higher than a twin peak mountain blue?
My "proof" is owning the show on VHS and taped off the TV as well... with "gyppo" in the dialog!!!
Unless THAT was the re-dub, which seems unlikely (I can't see anyone complaining about 'yobbo'!)
Not only is it wrong and confusing it was censored (as I said, there's SO much in Bottom someone could get offended by, including a "biblical parody"; my favourite 'ratings warning' I've ever heard on-air!), but it actually weakens the joke, IMO, by replacing the insult. Ritchie is SO offensive he pretty much deserves everything that happens to him, and that the Gypsies he so slighted weren't guilty of anything anyway! Making his insult generic and 'flat' just spoils the whole rant he makes for me.
I'd love to get that episode 'uncensored' on DVD... so is the Dutch release the one I need to track down? I presume it has soft subtitles and/or original english language track? If so, where could I buy it?
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My "proof" is owning the show on VHS and taped off the TV as well... with "gyppo" in the dialog!!!
It is a ridiculous bit of censorship isn't it? Sadly by the time the DVD was released the BBC was already on the long slippery slope to Politically Correct hell
shareBanjo_oz, you are absolutely right, you have the original broadcast from BBC2. But they did not wait until the VHS release to censor it. I recorded series 1 also on its original transmission in 91, and when they repeated it a year or whatever later, I decided to re-record the episodes because the quality was a bit better, and i had missed a few seconds of one of the episodes first time around. I used the same tape I had used before .... big mistake. Imagine how pi55ed off i was when I heard them censor "gyppo" and dub in "yobbo"
So there you go, they did in fact censor it for the repeat run on BBC2.
I think it came from the fact that there was a lot of hullabaloo going on in the news at the time about gypsies, and one or two people probably complained to the Beeb, and look what happens, they bend over for the tiny minority. I despise censorship in any form.
Just to let you all know - I bought the Dutch DVD version (the one missing episode Contest) and the 'Gyppo's' line is still overdubbed with 'Yobbo's'.
shareIt really is beyond a joke how PC the BBC is nowadays but, then again, I'm not their biggest fan as I'm still waiting for releases of Harry Enfields TV Programme and Manchild series 2!
Little things like this spoil the programmes we love, there was no reason to change it, it's almost like someone theived the original dub!
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I just checked the Apocalypse episode a second ago and Rick after his 300 quid gets stolen says and I quote "I bet it was you that nicked it, you swarthy, thieving nomad!". I never knew that scene was censored. Yes it does state in the scene selection menu "Thieving Gyppos" as that particular scene. Which is pretty bad censoring if you ask me. If the bastards censor Gyppo in dialogue then it should be censored in text as well. Gyppo! Gyppo! Gyppo!. *beep* the parasitic BBC and their narrow minded simpleton actions.
"I want to kill everyone. Satan is good. Satan is our pal."
I'm 15, so never saw it originally, but I watch it on GOLD and it doesn't seem to be censored.
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I have the first series on VHS and DVD. In the VHS version (which I bought about 20 years ago), the line is definitely "thieving bastard gyppos", whereas on the DVD, "gyppos" has been changed to "yobbos".
A little annoying and, I think, unnecessary, given the context of the line.
"There he is. Half Iago, half Fu Manchu, all bastard."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM9mzYws5Qg&feature=related
04:33 onwards
This is the version from the first VHS release and the word 'Gyppos' is clearly used (not overduded with 'Yobbo's) and there is no ghost train sound to try to drown out Richie saying 'I know what you Gypsies get upto when the lights go out'.
Compare them and you'll see what the Beeb did. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
If I do decide to buy the DVDs I will definitely be keeping all my old VHS tapes just to have the episode in it's original context and on any other episodes that have been butchered so to speak, which I assume hasn't been done judging by other people's comments, but yeah, the BBC make me sick when they do this, You can't offend anyone anymore, even if the joke is pretty mild in the way it insults certain people.
shareCan't remember where I read it (sorry) but apparently the use of the censored episode on the DVD release was a mistake, pure and simple - hence the DVD's menu having the "offensive" word right there in plain text while the audio on the episode itself has the word overdubbed.
They intended to use the uncensored version from the first broadcast, but instead mistakenly used a censored version that was prepared for the repeat broadcast. It was a stupid and annoying mistake, not the result of some sinister agenda of political correctness.
What's that famous saying? "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"? Wise words.
The same thing happened with the Halloween Special of "Psychoville" - another BBC comedy. By mistake, the version used for the Season 2 box-set was a heavily-censored version prepared for the US market, not the version we'd seen on TV. In that case the BBC rectified the error by releasing the uncut version separately.
Also, "The Young Ones" - that show was released on DVD with several episodes edited, mostly due to music rights having expired. Not strictly-speaking a mistake, but definitely an error of judgement. The show was subsequently re-released on DVD with the full unedited episodes.
This wasn't the first error the BBC have made with DVD releases of their comedies, and it probably won't be the last either. Same as the others, this mistake will almost certainly be rectified on a future release.
Can I just make the screamingly obvious point that sinister agenda or traditional BBC incompetence notwithstanding, it was still the BBC that censored it in the first place, and if they hadn't, there wouldn't be two different versions floating around for them to get mixed up. Typical BBC to overreact, typical BBC to make a mess of belatedly clearing things up, standard procedure (Gilligan, Manuel, Savile, ad infinitum, although hardly in the same league, I admit). Love to know the secret history, i.e. Who complained, who panicked and censored, who complained about the censorship with enough clout to get it reversed (because it's never the long-suffering viewers), who decided to un-censor, and why? And what would they say and do if some simpleton complained again?
By the way, regardless of what it says on the post, I'm writing this early evening, Jan 1st, 2014!
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I wonder if they are going to re-release Top Gear with everything Clarkson says as an overdub of eco-friendly pc feminazi approved drivel, perhaps automatically switching Prius with Ferrari and vice versa.
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