I watched this movie long ago when it first came out and thoroughly loved it! It's a really great look (from the actual people themselves) on what happened to shape how computers are used today.
I heard the DVD had some scenes cut due to lack of space, but I can't find a confirmation of this. Does anyone know?
Thanks,
Aaron
The DVD does have some scenes cut. Off the top of my head there is a short sequence with Bob Metcalf riding his boat in New York Harbor during the Great Artists Steal chapter. This is not in the DVD. This particular omission really doesn't affect the documentary, and the other omissions are similar in this regard IIRC.
shareThat's too bad, that was one of my favorite scenes where Bob says
"Steve Jobs is forever on my great guys list and there is nothing he can do to get kicked off of it" something like that :)
"Watch the Heart!......Spike
They actually show that. They only cut off the part where Bob is riding thru the harbor past a pier prior to that interview on the boat, and Cringley says something like 'It got Bob the good things in life like a boat and a prime berth in New York Harbor'. About maybe 10 seconds were cut. In general, they only deleted 'non essential fluff' parts, but all the interview dialogue parts have been kept.
I too like that comment from Bob about Jobs.
There is a list of missing scenes in the reviews for the DVD version over on Amazon.com.
I emailed Ambrose Video and they sent me this response:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your inquiry. We sell the original Triumph of the Nerds that
was aired on PBS in 1996. The running time is 3 hours. Many customers have
pursued on line selling services to find lower prices. What they have found
often represents copies that were poorly (illegally) made. The problem lies
with the pirates. We pay royalties to the appropriate parties and make
digital remastered DVDs. We guarantee a complete series.
Sincerely,
Customer Service
Ambrose Video
---
Are they lying? I can't imagine that the version on sale at Amazon.com is pirated.
"Wallace Beery. Wrestling picture. What do you need, a road map?"
Yes. that Customer Service fool at Ambrose Video is WRONG!
Total time LISTED on the company web site is 150 min.
I bought the orig 1996 Ambrose 3 vhs and it's the same 150 min as the dvd!
The 'out of print' Ambrose VHS is EDITED just like the DVD.
It just goes to show that Ambrose Video did not give a damn
about a quality release of this title.
HOW can they sell a EDITED DVD for $49!
They have no shame.
As Al Goldstein would say...'Ambrose Video, go F___k yourself!.
The only way you can find the unedited version is from someone who rec it when it was on PBS in 1996!
I did rec it when it was on PBS but my tape is no good and I missed the first hour and the start of the second hour.
Interesting, I bought the VHS version and the DVD both at the time they were originally released, and I was never aware that anything from VHS was omitted from the DVD.
What I have always been aware of is that both the VHS and DVD versions omit some great scenes that were in the original broadcast. The only one I can remember now (what, 12 freakin' years later?) was a scene in Bob's garage where he and an Asian gentleman built a PC from scratch... or something like that. That really irked me for a while... eventually I got over it.
I think aprox 15 min was cut from the orig broadcast. One segment was about the two Steve's and the digital Bluebox and Woz calling the Vatican. Another was about Bill Gates open letter rant to people who copyed MS software. Another was about how Steve Jobs would screw around with peoples heads and use a strange sort of reverse logic.
On the plus side I bought the 1998 sequel 'Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet' on three VHS (never released on dvd) and transfered it to 3 dvdr. Fortunately for the production of the 1998 sequel they dumped Ambrose Video and used Oregon PBS and I'm happy to report that the 3 VHS set is UNEDITED and a full 3 hours long. Thank you PBS!
Another was about Bill Gates open letter rant to people who copyed MS software.
This is a late reply, but hopefully there is still some interest in this series. I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ambrose did NOT include everything that PBS originally aired. I taped the show when it first aired and there are at least 5-6 omissions of people speaking, probably many other short edits here and there to cram it all onto one DVD.
Blaming "pirates" for slicing out bits that were in the originally aired show, Ambrose? That is pathetic.
The decision to cut some part in the DVD was probably a decision of the producers.
shareSince my last posts in here I compared my VHS copy to my DVD copy and confirmed:
They are BOTH edited. They are both missing segments that were in the original broadcast. They are identical, probably sourced from the exact same master.
So, if you really want the complete version, your only hope is to somehow get a copy from someone who taped the original 1996 PBS broadcast.
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