Pinocchio: The Series - Original Uncut English episodes
May 30, 2024 18:18:24 GMT
extremewreck2000, ModWalletGuy, and 1 more like this
Post by HarmonyOmega on May 30, 2024 18:18:24 GMT
This might be more on the niche side of lost media but the dub has somewhat poor preservation and it would be totally lost if it weren't for a few DVD and VHS releases. Since this is about parts that are pretty much totally missing in English I think it would be best to go in the main lost media section.
So basically, Pinocchio The Series is a dub of the Tatsunoko anime Mokku of the Oak Tree done by Saban. It's pretty much a sibling to Bob in a Bottle and Samurai Pizza Cats which were dubbed at the same time (1990) and also anime made by Tatsunoko, I think they (were) part of a package deal or something. For a cartoon, it has some super dark moments which Saban obviously had to edit out to air. Apparently though, it got further edited in the later years to remove some more content that was once suitable for broadcast (It appears some international Saban dubs were based on the uncut version while others use the censored version. It's a bit of a Shin Chan Vitello dub type situation). For some reason, the Spanish DVD of the full series only had access to the censored English audio while the spanish dub has the uncut scenes, resulting in the English audio track having Spanish spliced in during the parts that got censored.
So basically, Pinocchio The Series is a dub of the Tatsunoko anime Mokku of the Oak Tree done by Saban. It's pretty much a sibling to Bob in a Bottle and Samurai Pizza Cats which were dubbed at the same time (1990) and also anime made by Tatsunoko, I think they (were) part of a package deal or something. For a cartoon, it has some super dark moments which Saban obviously had to edit out to air. Apparently though, it got further edited in the later years to remove some more content that was once suitable for broadcast (It appears some international Saban dubs were based on the uncut version while others use the censored version. It's a bit of a Shin Chan Vitello dub type situation). For some reason, the Spanish DVD of the full series only had access to the censored English audio while the spanish dub has the uncut scenes, resulting in the English audio track having Spanish spliced in during the parts that got censored.
It only aired in North America on YTV in Canada and HBO in the US (around the summer of 1992). There's a YTV recording of an episode that has no cuts to be found on Myspleen, but from what I can tell the only recording online of Pinocchio being on HBO is from a commercial break of something else. The point is these airings likely would have been the uncut version of the dub. The Library of Congress also has a bunch of listings for the dub I have no doubt about being the uncut version (They're split weirdly unlike Bob in a Bottle which has all 52 episodes in one listing) and similar to Bob in a Bottle it's unlikely they'll be released unless it's picked up by someone for a new release or streaming. I contacted LoC in relation to Bob last year and they said they'd need a written permission from Tatsunoko to legally duplicate the episodes.
There USED to be this dubiously legal site called cartoondvdset up for years that had the series listed but there's no telling if it would've been the uncut version or just a 1:1 duplicate of the Spanish dvd set now that its gone (Domain is for sale) and I'm hitting myself for not asking about it sooner.
The list of episodes with censored content is as follows, using translation of dialog when needed: (The timestamps are based on the raw rips of the Spanish DVD, not the old encodes that have been floating around online for years)
There USED to be this dubiously legal site called cartoondvdset up for years that had the series listed but there's no telling if it would've been the uncut version or just a 1:1 duplicate of the Spanish dvd set now that its gone (Domain is for sale) and I'm hitting myself for not asking about it sooner.
The list of episodes with censored content is as follows, using translation of dialog when needed: (The timestamps are based on the raw rips of the Spanish DVD, not the old encodes that have been floating around online for years)
- 03 - Mind Your Father: Charlie the mouse is pissed at Pinocchio getting attention and rants to himself about gnawing his neck, and a later scene he talks about murdering the puppet and has a sequence where he tries sawing down the middle of his neck. This version is available on the Continuing Adventures of Pinocchio Vol. 1 VHS from the early 90s.
- 05 - What Is A Heart?: This one is a different situation from the rest and its "true uncut" status has yet to be debunked and dare I say could even warrant its own article so I'm including it. As for the episode otherwise, it's "uncut" on the Spanish DVD and the UK Jetix DVD has a censored version that removes some more of the violence from it.
This episode was clearly edited down AFTER it was finished which is clear by the way the music cuts. For context, in the original episode of the anime the last half of the episode features Pinocchio after being tricked by a cat, sneaking into a human boy (Johnny)'s room with a wood carving tool with the intent to take the heart out of his body to become human, and chasing him around with it, before being caught by Johnny's father (The music cuts awkwardly during the part of Pinocchio sneaking up to Johnny and after he says "You've got something that I want!" and Johnny's dad grabs him by the arm, implying there was much more to this part before) The only part that appears to be a normal edit is Pinocchio suffering from the flames of a pit Johnny's dad threw him into). Johnny's dad says that "he won't have a son that's a good for nothing" and takes Pinocchio out of the fire pit and apologizes.
The next part from the original that seems to have been taken out after the episode was done is Johnny's dad giving Pinocchio an axe and telling him to kill Johnny. Pinocchio ultimately decides against it. In the episode it cuts to the scene of the father after this saying "Both of you, believe me, I knew this would happen. I was just testing your true feelings." which doesn't really make sense with the context of what's left.
The episode runtime is 19 minutes so it's very likely that these parts of the episode were once here but cut out after the episode was finished, but I know nothing about whether or not it would have aired like that on TV back in the day. It's possible they were cut out at the last minute before being broadcast and aren't even in the Library of Congress master of the episode. The only way to debunk whether or not these scenes were actually dubbed is to ask someone who worked on the show or was explicitly in the episode like Pinocchio's VA Thor Bishopric. - 09 - The Magic Ring: Around the 11 minute mark, there's a scene of Pinocchio on the ground in pain from eating poison berries. The censored version cuts out him on the ground kicking and yelling in pain and the music audibly cuts.
At 15 minutes, Pinocchio angrily repeats to the boss something like "I said I didn't ask you to make me a demon!" after saying "You didn't make me a human, you turned me into a devil!" The censor cuts out the scene where he repeats it.
At around 19 minutes, crows peck at the fake Pinocchio's made by the evil boss who has the magic ring. The censored version is shorter. - 30 - Be A Clown!: At 6 minutes, Sneeroff whips Pinocchio off of the balancing ball. This was censored by having it cut directly to Jack and Willy gasping after
Just before the 13 minute mark, Pinocchio brutally punches Willy multiple times in anger during a boxing match set up by Sneeroff and the violence drives away the audience. It cuts from the first punch to Willy falling on the ground and crawling away making it seem like there was only 1 punch. - 37 - Filthy Rich: At the start of the 17 minute mark, a bird desperately begs Pinocchio to help him get out of a fire, but Pinocchio covers his eyes and then runs away. The audio is cut a little unnaturally in this moment, and the original Japanese version has more footage showing the bird helplessly getting trapped in the flames. It's possible this was another thing cut before broadcast.
At around 17:20, Geppetto and Charlie looking out to see the fire at the castle is a longer scene. Geppetto is in awe of the fire and Charlie says "They deserve it" and laughs. He overhears two townspeople say they're glad it's burning and another saying they hope it burns too, which Geppetto is shocked by. Another person calls Pinocchio a spoiled brat and says he should burn, prompting Geppetto to run out to the burning castle. - 41 - The Evil Spirit: at 10:31, a guard picks up Pinocchio before raising him over his head and throwing him a bit away. (The initial picking up is cut from English). A few seconds later, a guard threatens him and points a blade directly in front of his nose, and Pinocchio walks away with a limp leg. The censor cuts to after this bit.
- 46 - Gunner: Around 15 minutes, Pinocchio asks if the doctor's son died, to which he reveals his son was murdered, and Pinocchio says that's terrible. Although the doctor's son died of an illness, this makes sense in the context of the episode as his son was essentially "murdered" by a rich man who wouldn't give him the money to save his son. Surprisingly, that small exchange seems to be the only part that was censored.
- 47 - How Many Pinocchio's Are There: at 10:12, a drunk prison guard walks towards Pinocchio and hits him in the head with a glass bottle that's shown to shatter. It gets censored by shortening him walking towards the puppet and cutting directly after to the guard laughing after he falls to the ground.
At 11:58, there is inexplicably a line after a fade in from black (ad break space) of Pinocchio saying, after being found by Charlie "I'm glad to see you here, how did you find me?" that's spliced with the Spanish dub for some reason. This doesn't really make sense and isn't necessarily censorship but it's missing English dialog. - 48 - Fury of the Sea Devil: at 3:44, Pinocchio takes out a match to light a dynamite fuse. The censor cuts to while he's already lighting the fuse.
at 11:51 before what would be an ad break, for some reason the spanish dub is spliced in after it is announced that a tidal wave is approaching. I'm not really sure why this happened.
at 13:04 there's a short shot showing a dagger going into Pinocchio's hand.
at around 21:10, Pinocchio is shown in a t-pose for a little longer than the cut version. For context, he is being put into the shape of a crucifix by the Oak Fairy to kill the titular sea devil. There is even a ghostly crucifix behind him in some shots, but the dub just generally censored the christian imagery by zooming the footage in really close.
About 20 seconds later, there's a short shot of the crucifix shown flying closer to the sea devil as he begs "No more!" over and over which was cut as it has the spanish dub spliced into it for a moment.
Originally when syncing remastered anime footage to the dub as a project to do something with my time I missed the edit in Gunner so it's possible that there may be another or two I missed, but this is most if not all of the moments that were later cut when being released on DVD in the later years.
Aside from the unconfirmed status of episode 5 (which I'm really interested in seeing if it exists in dub form or not), I hope there's someone out there who recorded the series when it originally aired and has these on tape. Pretty much the only way of finding these are from old recordings or the masters the Library of Congress has.
Aside from the unconfirmed status of episode 5 (which I'm really interested in seeing if it exists in dub form or not), I hope there's someone out there who recorded the series when it originally aired and has these on tape. Pretty much the only way of finding these are from old recordings or the masters the Library of Congress has.