The State DVD now avail. from MTV (+ dialogue dubbing: do you care?)

[isoS]

At long last, the day has come: you can now own the entire run of MTV's seminal sketch comedy show The State on DVD. (You can also score a T-shirt by ordering from MTV, but they're probably all gone by now.)

This leaves one question: do you care about the dubbing issue? A quick primer: because The State was produced at a time when MTV shows could use almost any song from a major label without paying royalties, the series in its original form would have been prohibitively expensive to put on DVD. The solution? Replace all the pricey pop music cues with sound-alikes, which may be only a minor quibble for most viewers, but there are instances when music played under dialogue, which meant the cast had to re-record pieces of dialogue nearly 15 years after the original sketches were created. Some of these remixed and looped sketches have been on iTunes for a while (the first season of The State was put out digitally in 2006), so this isn't exactly new news, but with the whole series now available for purchase, I'm wondering if die-hard fans are bothered by this. Will you shun the new set? Buy it, but keep your old VHS tapes of the original shows? Throw out the tapes and embrace the new versions? Is this a big "Who cares?" or the comedy equivalent of Greedo Shot First? Vote now, and discuss below!

[Aaron1933]

I only care in the sense that I'd prefer to have the original versions, but obviously that's to be expected and unrealistic. I still bought the DVD, and I'm still looking forward to it and glad it's finally been released.

[aenemaTron]

I was a sophomore/junior in high school when The State premiered, so naturally I was obsessed with it and quoted it all the time. Things I'm that familiar with, like Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark, become more like music, a song I know by heart, and when it's been changed, it's incredibly jarring. Chances are I won't get over that feeling because I'll never be as into the show as I used to be. Still, most of the show will probably be as I remember it and a complete set is worth having even if things aren't exactly the same.

The new shots in Empire Strike Back still freak me out a little, though.

(Can you edit the poll so it includes "yes, but I'll still buy it, yes and because of that I won't buy it, and no but I'm not buying it anyway"?)

[BillBrasky]

I wonder how many sketches have been redubbed. Obviously the Barry and Levon pudding sketch, and I guess they probably had to take "Cannonball" out of the pants sketch, but would that necessitate redubbing the entire sketch?
The dialogue redubbing bothers me more than the music replacement. I can't picture a way of them doing that without it being jarringly noticeable.

The closest thing I can compare this to is the SNL "Schmitts Gay" sketch. That sketch was never quite as funny with the replacement music as it was with the original. I'm happy that this is coming out, but it's a shame that things like this have to mar an otherwise exciting DVD release. (And that every company can't be cool like Shout! Factory and find a way to work these things out).

[TacoSmith]

The redubbing bothers me a little bit, but I'd rather the DVD be redubbed than not done at all.

[Berliner]

Male and female children...Vigorous Activity! Vigorous Activity!

[Jixby Phillips]

I think its a huge bummer, but I'm willing to get the set for the commentaries alone. I hope nothing is actually CUT from the set. I would love it if I could get the original audio from my home-made DVDs to match up with these episodes. If nobody else does it, I was thinking of making mp3s you could sync up to the DVD set, but I already have a shit ton on my plate as it what with the wedding coming up and all my kids dropping like flies

[Bucky_Sinister]

Now, maybe they'll figure out how to fix the music issues in Austin Stories and release that.

[isoS]

Male and female children...Vigorous Activity! Vigorous Activity!

Oh boy... I assume they got the rights to their own theme song.

...Right?

[DJ Sam]

As one of the babies who didn't get to see it when it was on TV, I'm so happy this set is finally out. After hearing so much about it, loving the 5 episodes on iTunes, and seeing almost everything else the group has done individually since, I'm glad they found a way to finally get the DVD out there.

Then again, it's hard to miss what you never knew. Maybe someone could secretly post an original version and put it next to one of the dubbed ones?

[darrylduffy]

Oh boy... I assume they got the rights to their own theme song.

...Right?

i think craig wedren also did the stella theme and continues to work with members of the state, so i think that's fine. it's at least on the itunes seasons that were put out a while back.

[Liezl]

As one of the babies who didn't get to see it when it was on TV, I'm so happy this set is finally out. After hearing so much about it, loving the 5 episodes on iTunes, and seeing almost everything else the group has done individually since, I'm glad they found a way to finally get the DVD out there.

Then again, it's hard to miss what you never knew. Maybe someone could secretly post an original version and put it next to one of the dubbed ones?

Barry & Levon's $240 worth of pudding:

MTV

vs.

Original

I'll leave it to you folks to discover the differences...

[BillBrasky]

Well, the new music's too damn loud, for one thing. It's almost overpowering the dialogue.

[Aaron1933]

Kind of disappointing that they had to redub it in its entirety. I'm trying to think of any more sketches that used licensed bed music throughout. I agree with Tron; it will probably make no difference to someone watching it for the first time, but to someone like me who has watched that sketch over and over, it's very noticeable and distracting.

[isoS]

Yeah, I watched that sketch a lot in college, and to my ear it sounds really wrong and weird in the new version. But I doubt there are that many sketches with music under the whole thing -- it's just unfortunate one of the most famous ones had it.

[Aaron1933]

Something else that just came to mind is that it may have only been the live sketches that actually needed dialogue redubbed, as the music was likely recorded live, thus explaining why no clean dialogue track would exist.

[isoS]

Good point, although I've heard MTV is notoriously bad about archiving stuff, so it's possible that they really didn't have anything but the mixed, final cut episodes archived anywhere. Keep in mind that no one expected there would be a market for TV shows released on home video back in 1994 -- only Hall of Fame stuff like M*A*S*H was even considered for complete series release.

[DJ Sam]

Barry & Levon's $240 worth of pudding:

MTV

vs.

Original

I'll leave it to you folks to discover the differences...

I wonder where they got the audience soundtrack. You could almost hear the lazy audio layering under the blaring replacement music. Plus sadly Tom changed his accent a bit to the lispy character he's been doing lately.

Thanks Liezl! Now I get what all the fuss is about.

[Jenny]

Fuck, that $240 pudding sketch was awkward. I hope it's not like that with all the skits!

[Having Fun!]

the one that comes to mind is the MTV Sports sketch, which to effectively parody required the music. Hows that one like because the idea of it gives me chills.