Monty Python's Flying Circus: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:52, 23 January 2025

Revision as of 19:27, 23 January 2025

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Some sketches were deleted in their entirety and later recovered. One such sketch is the "Party Political Broadcast (Choreographed)", where a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] spokesman (Cleese) delivers a party political broadcast before getting up and dancing, being coached by a choreographer (Idle), and being joined by a chorus of spokesmen dancing behind him. The camera passes two [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] spokesmen practising ballet, and an animation featuring [[Edward Heath]] in a tutu. Once deemed lost, a home-recorded tape of this sketch, captured from a broadcast from [[Buffalo, New York]] [[PBS]] outlet [[WNED-TV]], turned up on [[YouTube]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=Monty Python – political choreographer|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Ija4Dec7o|publisher=Spiny Norman|access-date=17 June 2013|author=Monty Python|date=18 December 1971}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}}</ref> Another high-quality recording of this sketch, broadcast on [[WTTW]] in Chicago, has also turned up on YouTube.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lost Sketch- Choreographed Party Political Broadcast from WTTW-11|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KO4_feIKO0|work=Lost Sketch- Choreographed Party Political Broadcast – Monty Python's Flying Circus WTTW Channel|publisher=MontyPythoNET|access-date=23 January 2012|author=Monty Python|date=18 December 1971}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}}</ref> The Buffalo version can be seen as an extra on the new [[DVD region code#2|Region 2]]/[[DVD Region code|4]] eight-disc ''The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus'' DVD set.{{citation needed|date=March 2012}} The [[DVD region code#1|Region 1]] DVD of ''Before The Flying Circus'', which is included in ''The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Collector's Edition Megaset'' and ''Monty Python: The Other British Invasion'', also contains the Buffalo version as an extra.<ref>{{cite web|title = DVD Talk Review: The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus – Collectors Edition Megaset|date = 18 November 2008|url = http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35399/complete-monty-pythons-flying-circus-collectors-edition-megaset-the/|access-date = 20 May 2014|archive-date = 27 February 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140227093053/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35399/complete-monty-pythons-flying-circus-collectors-edition-megaset-the/|url-status = live}}</ref>

Another lost sketch is the "Satan" animation following the "Crackpot Religion" piece and the "Cartoon Religion Ltd" animation, and preceding the "[[How Not To Be Seen]]" sketch: this had been edited out of the official tape. Six frames of the animation can be seen at the end of the episode, wherein that particular episode is repeated in fast-forward. {{cns|date=January 2025|A black and white 16&nbsp;mm film print has since turned up (found by a private film collector in the US) showing the animation in its entirety.}}

At least two references to cancer were censored, both during the second series. In the sixth episode ("It's A Living" or "School Prizes"), [[Carol Cleveland]]'s narration of a Gilliam cartoon suddenly has a male voice dub '[[gangrene]]' over the word cancer (although this word was used unedited when the animation appeared in the movie ''[[And Now for Something Completely Different]]''; the 2006 special ''[[Monty Python's Personal Best|Terry Gilliam's Personal Best]]'' uses this audio to restore the censored line). Another reference was removed from the sketch "Conquistador Coffee Campaign", in the eleventh episode "How Not to Be Seen", although a reference to [[leprosy]] remained intact. This line has also been recovered from the same 16&nbsp;mm film print as the above-mentioned "Satan" animation.