Subj : Re: Rampage of the Cancerous Black Spot
To : Albert Sims
From : Nullibicity
Date : Tue Oct 24 2006 03:36 am
From: Nullibicity <
[email protected]>
In article <
[email protected]>,
"Albert Sims" <
[email protected]> wrote:
> EDM wrote:
> > "Albert Sims" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:
[email protected]...
> >> EDM wrote:
> >>> I have some off-the-air recordings of MPFC episodes, and in one
> >>> of the animated bits ("Rampage of the Cancerous Black Spot"),
> >>> Michael Palin tells a story of an enchanted prince who finds a
> >>> black spot on his face. Now in my recording the line goes,
> >>> "Foolishly, he ignored it...and three years later he died of
> >>> syphilis", but in every rerun I've seen of that episode the word
> >>> syphilis is overdubbed (rather obviously) with either "cancer", or,
> >>> in one
> >>> case, "gangrene".
> >>>
> >>> Anyone know the history of this edit? Was the word syphilis
> >>> considered too risque by British censors at the time?
> >>>
> >>>
> >> First time I've heard "syphilis" being used. In the original
> >> airing, Carol Cleveland is narrating the story, and says "cancer".
> >> In later years, a male voice is dubbed in JUST over the word
> >> "cancer", that says "gangrene". Not sure why the change, unless the
> >> group was just being sensitive to Graham's throat cancer...
> >
> > Ah ok, I wasn't remembering it correctly. I came across this:
> >
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/sotcaa/sotcaa_python.html?/sotcaa/pythonpages/pyt
h
> > on_press_1990_99.html
> >
> > "Gilliam: The BBC censored something on repeats, the 'Black Spot'
> > thing. [In an animated section in the second series, a handsome young
> > prince discovers a spot on his face. 'Foolishly he ignored it,' says a
> > female narrator, 'and three years later he died of cancer.' In later
> > broadcasts, the word 'cancer' was replaced with 'gangrene', spoken
> > by a male.] It's extraordinary that the word 'cancer' was so
> > frightening
> > to them that they had to cut the word out."
> >
> > So strange, I could have sworn the word syphilis was used in
> > that line.
>
> I have an audiocassette of the episode in question I recorded from PBS in
> the late 1970's. The word "cancer" was there back then. In the DVD box set
> released by A & E, they use the "gangrene" edit.
I don't think I've ever heard the cancer version. Actually, I think the
gangrene version is better, both because the edit is so blatant (I first
thought it was supposed to be like that) and "gangrene" is a funnier word than
"cancer."
--
Nullibicity
http://www.nullibicity.com/
--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
* Origin: FidoNet MONTE <--> alt.fan.monty-python (1:379/45)
