I have the 10th anniversary Clerks DVD and from memory the theatrical edition is presented in 4:3 and the special edition with extra footage is 16:9.

Clerks is listed as being in HD but Dogma isn't.

I wonder if Film 4 will be showing Clerks 2, which I actually found to be funnier than the original, although the original is still a very enjoyable film.

The Clerks 15th Anniversary blu-ray is in 1.85:1. I'd assume that's correct. The HD transfer is about the best Clerks will ever look, but it certainly isn't amazing, perhaps best to temper your expectations PQ wise. (However, the first cut on the blu-ray has clearly been taken from a different, must less well-preserved source...)

I think Clerks is a recent acquisition, whereas Dogma was originally distributed by Film4 theatrically, and is listed on their website as a Film4 Production...

Looks like Clerks was originally distributed theatrically by Polygram, which obviously went bust. The video rights were sold to Buena Vista, but now the TV rights (bundled with theatrical rights) have now reverted to Kevin Smith (he sold the rights for 20 years but was in limbo when Polygram went), and he's sold them to Film4.

According to the BBFC, Artifical Eye distributed it originally both theatrically and on home video in the UK, although I'm wondering if Miramax held international rights and sold them to Artificial Eye for UK distribution - in the same way The Weinstein Company uses Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK), then the rights reverted back to Disney/Miramax. If that's the case it seems weird to me that the rights would expire in the UK before elsewhere.

But the comments Kevin Smith made were about a stage show production of Clerks (IIRC it was on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast, where somebody had sent him a link to an unauthorised German Clerks musical), which he said he couldn't do in the US because Miramax held the rights, but the rights would be reverting back to him this year in the UK, so he was looking at doing something over here.

Hmm, I'm just going off a 16mm trailer I have for it that has a Polygram logo at the header.

You're right about the Artificial Eye thing though, as i have a VHS edition with that logo. However, my Clerks X DVD says Buena Vista on the side, and another DVD edition I have says Miramax.

So confusing.

Buena Vista is a trading name of Disney, who for a long period of time owned Miramax and after about 2000 started distributing their titles internationally (but Disney doesn't own or distribute them anymore, which is why the recent blu-ray is labelled Miramax but distributed by Lionsgate)...

Cockneys Vs Zombies screening OAR on Pick (available free to air on freeview and freesat)

Clerks was originally financed by Kevin Smith and other investors for about $20,000, when Miramax picked it another $200,000 was invested to make the film releasable. The film is probably owned by Filmyard Holdings who bought the Miramax film catalogue.

Clerks had a riotously funny cartoon tv series based on it, that stuck to the format but opened it up to brilliantly.

I'll have to catch that the next time - what a cast!

It's a great comedy. Glad it's OAR, but why the hell isn't it on a main channel, where it can be shown in HD!

It's called Cockneys vs. Zombies, it sounds like a Syfy film but less fun. The only audience it has are stoners and those watching to see how bad it is...

The problem is the title...

It's actually a very good film, it made me laugh out loud and I'm not a stoner!

C vs. Z is a very funny film on the first viewing, with its decent cast of older actors. Its a drag the second time, all the element of surprise is taken away. Glad I didn't buy the DVD

That wasn't a comment on the film, it was a comment on the title. Bad titles can ruin good films, and good (by which I mean amusing) titles can make bad films...

It does what it says on the tin, and is a great laugh, but there are times when it does drag a little, eg. Richard Briers being chased by zombies while he's using a zimmerframe. The pacing is perfect in the trailer, but in the film, it's very laboured and kills the scene.

Interesting clash of schedules on Halloween night.

My copy of the Radio Times made it seem like the 2009 version of HALLOWEEN II was going to premiere at 9pm on 5*, Halloween night. This seemed a bit odd, since the version of HII which I saw on home video a while ago was incredibly vicious and fully deserving of its 18 certificate. Screening it before 10pm (at the very least!) would have been completely inappropriate.

My fears were unfounded, since it turned out to be a cropped (4:3) print of the 1981 version. It was also an NTSC-to-PAL transfer, which became evident an hour later when...

...when 4Music screened the exact same film, at the proper ratio (for the first time ever on terrestrial TV), in a PAL print. The classic opening theme music sounded really speeded-up here, in a way that would only have been noticeable to anyone familiar with how it should sound, and the earlier screening allowed for that very opportunity.

Waterloo is OAR on BBC2. Is this a premiere?

Might be the previous BBC showing was on BBC Four in OAR, only saw the last hour of it then so recording this for later.

One would assume you know that it has to been shown in PAL, especially since neither of those channels broadcasts in HD...

Of course. But the 5* version was very definitely NTSC-to-PAL because - as I say in my earlier post - the opening theme music sounded very much as I'm used to hearing it, whereas the 4Music version sounded as if it was on helium!

Just means channel 5 know how to use pitch lock, and C4 seemingly don't...

Halloween II was also shown in that NSTC to Pal full screen version on the Horror Channel. Must be some kind of record the same film being shown on three different stations. I think Ofcom will be fining the channels for that.

No, they won't, there's no requirement to show something different at all times. Theoretically every channel in the UK could simulcast the same show, and nobody would care (from a legal/regulatory perspective)...

Does anyone know if MASH on DVD is in a widescreen format, or are they full screen like they are True Entertainment. I only ask because the series was obviously shot in a one camera format on film.

ITV4 screened an AOR copy of Cheyanne Autumn but it was shaking very slightly

Channel 5 with embarrassing 4:3 print of Long Kiss Goodbye!

Horror Channel (which now screens AOR when possible) has Zombie Flesh Eaters in gorious widescreen!