The Saga first aired on November 12th 1977.


Don Cardi

JG, Not only are they trying, but they're succeeding. I'm flipping back and forth between GF and Yankee game on commercials. I mean, it's not like I don't know how it turns out.

Signora Colombo!! That means my favorite landlord is coming!!

Ok, the first edit in a translation :

" I'll kick your Sicilian TAIL all over the street."



They couldn't write the word ASS?


Don Cardi

Like a donkey.

I love when he counts the money out, and then asks to sit down. The rent-a stays like-a before!!

My predictions for editing :

Sonny : " I don't want my brother coming out with just his STICK in his hands."

Sonny : " Son of a BUCK!"

Geary : " You and your whole DAMN family."

Sonny : "Get off your BEHIND."

Luca : " Minga" will be transalted to "WOW"

Moe Green : "He was HITTING on cocktail waitresses two at a time."

Clemenza : " I hate that GUY Barzini."

Don Cardi

WHAT THE HELL??!!!?

I programmed it to record, and it was scheduled for 9-12 -- and it runs over 10 minutes? I had to hit record again at 12, and MAY HAVE missed a few seconds of it - those Spike TV jerkoffs!

Ha ha! They did the same thing last time the saga was on.

It's only been on about a half hour here. My VCR is broken and I was disappointed that I couldn't record it, but damn, I don't want the "stick in his hand" "son of a buck" version. I mean come on!! That ruins it, because they make it so laughable.


TIS

Just my luck I record the movie and my tape runs out so I had to put another one in I'll have to remember to check the record speed tomorrow.

What's the matter with you? Always set a recording time for an extra 30 minutes. Do I have to teach you everything?

That sucks!





Don Cardi

How about the way they said it in the movie "The Commitments" --- fookin' That might get by the censors.

I caught a little of it. They really butchered the Vito-kills-Fanucci scene. But I feel less violated.

They've butchered lots of it. But remember, this is the Godfather Saga, which was created especially for tv viewing. So although we get to enjoy the deleted scenes, much is going to be edited for television.

Apple

You are right Apple. And let's not forget that it was made for TV back in the 70's! So the editing had to be in compliance even that much more because of the stricter rules of that era.

But anyone who read the book would know the details anyway.


Don Cardi

For some stupid reason, when you choose to record a show from the program guide, it won't let you change the start or stop time. I think I will manually enter the date/time and add a few minutes to it just in case. Pain in the butt.

But last night's *should* be complete because the unit records everything you watch to a buffer, so hopefully it caught that since I was tuned to the channel anyway.... hopefully.

Edit: Okay, I set it up to record the shows after each airing - so hopefully that'll take care of any potential problems...

Actually it was released on VHS in a Box Set. I've got it. It's very rare and very expensive. I'm going to try to get a freind of mine to convert it to DVD if anybody's interested I'll make copys.

Actually, no, The Saga (a.k.a. "The Novel for Television") was never officially released in any format. The Epic and The Trilogy boxsets came close, but it's not the same thing...

Ughh, right after the door shuts in Kay's face, which is arguably the most poignant scene in the Trilogy, they cut to a Jean Claude Van-Damme commercial. Sickening.

A bit of a strange edit from GFI to II there, I expected the Kay-candle-lighting scene but instead we got an awkwardly long shot on the Corleone docks on Lake Tahoe and then a quick cut into Michael just standing by the water. I'd never seen either of these scenes before, and although they were interesting, they were quite vague.

Watching seperate portions of Part II in this 'saga' doesn't really do it for me. To me Part II's greatness pretty much lies in the parallel shown between Vito and Michael's life. You see the father rising and his son self-destructing. It was just perfect. But a couple of days ago when the 'flashback' scenes were the first thing to be aired, I just couldn't get that feeling I usually get while watching Part II. Same goes for Michael's story. Something is missing. Even the 'extra' scenes are weird.....u get so used to seeing the same thing over and over for years and to all of a sudden see something new.....its like they don't even belong. Seriously, the only 'deleted' scenes I've enjoyed so far is Michael giving permission for marriage to Sonny's daughter(although, even then, he seems rather out of character).

Someone is taping this for me, so I won't be watching it until I receive my tapes after it's all done. Going by the TV Guide, that's 9 hours of programming.

If the original GF I (theatrical release) was 3 hours long and GF II was 3 hours & 20 minutes (this is per Box Office Magazine @ www.boxoff.com ), then that leaves a little over 2 and a half hours for the extra scenes and commercials.

So I'm curious to know this:

1. Does the Saga include any interviews with the cast and director?
2. For those who have been watching it as it's being broadcast, how do you find the amount of commercials? Are there so many commercial breaks that it's intrusive (like every 15 minutes or so)? Or are they just the normal amount?
3. Is there any of Part III tacked on at all to fill the alotted time?

At first, I thought that 9 hours of TV time must surely include Part III. I told the person who is taping for me that when he sees any of Part III coming on, he can stop recording and eject the tape . But if there is no Part III at all, and commercials + extras really do take up 2 and a half hours, then I have to contact him today and tell him to keep recording til the end.

So you see, time is of the essence -- and time is running out . Anyone know for sure?

I've been channel jumping the past three nights - Yankees/GF. The commericials are bearable. Kind of normal I think, but when you're jumping channels it may seem OK.

A weird/bad thing is of course the censoring and dubbing. In some edits, it sounds like they have dubbed in a whole line and not just the word. The sound quality and voice tone even changes. In others they change the words so drastically I find myself wondering,'what did he say?' e.g. last night, Frankie was telling Michael that "we should get those sonofabitches while we've got the muscle." Well, it wasn't sonofabitches, but I couldn't tell you what it was. The dub was too garbled or didn't make sense. That may also be the result of knowing the line and then not hearing it causes a brain blip.

Yeah, just to mention, although I like the scene where Mike gives his blessing to Francesca, I think it destroys the later effect of Mike taking pictures with Geary. I always loved that that was the opening shot of Mike, standing there with that fake sort of smile on his face. It seems to sum up how he feels about where his life is at that point, such a good look by Pacino.

I absolutely cannot watch a film on commercial TV because of the commercials.

Yeah, it can be tough to deal with. I really cannot wait until the day when they release this on DVD, or at least until I get a VHS copy, if they even exist.

I'm lost. I have The Godfather Collection on VHS, and my girlfriend's father has it for DVD. What is the difference between the Saga and the Collection? Or are they the same thing?

Ah, I was thinking they were one and the same. So we have three differant versions:
1. The Regular Trilogy which is out on DVD

2. The Epic which was released in a box set in the 80's

3. The Saga which is basically the Elpic but was for Television and is again differant.

Right?

I just discovered that the person doing the taping for me (someone who has seen the GFs many times, by the way) became so engrossed by the Saga that he ended up sitting down and watching it while he was recording it. Since he was right there anyway, he took the extra step of zapping out all the commercials (by pausing and resuming the taping for each one). When I view it, it will be commercial free.

Now isn't that person a real sweetheart?

Did anyone ever get around to throwing the Saga on a DVD? I was recently contemplating exactly how one would go about it and I remembered a few people said that they might do it.

Any luck?