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The A-Team Broadcast Restoration (Released)

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 (Edited)

Hi all

This is sort of a sequel to my Knight Rider restoration thread. The purpose will be to restore all episodes of the A-Team that currently have edits on the Blu-Ray release. So far the Blu-Ray has only been released in the UK. A further special edition release is planned, however the only likely difference is the inclusion of some commentary tracks. Likewise, should an American release happen, it is likely the same masters will be used.

There is no immediate timescale to this project, but ultimately, it will address all issues including missing scenes, music cuts, missing pre-credits teasers. What I will address now, or at least in the very near future, is the pilot episode which is missing an actual scene.

Further details will follow. I am happy to undertake this project, but have to confess I do not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the show, so I’m relying on others to tell me what cuts or edits exist. I will also be on the hunt for the best copies of the missing parts.

I will copy the main relevant posts from the Knight Rider thread and post them here, so everything is clear
 

This project is now complete 😃

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crampedmisfit1990 said:

I was researching edits to the A-TEAM series and a user named jeremy223 compiled a list of the changes as follows:

SEASON 1
Mexican Slayride: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” has been replaced with new music and footage of Murdock singing along has been cut. Columbia House VHS has this scene intact.
The Columbia House DVD spanish soundtrack plays “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, but the scene with Murdock singing along is still missing.

A Small and Deadly War: A scene with Murdock singing “Satisfaction” has been cut. Columbia House VHS, Itunes, VUDU, and Google Play have this scene intact.

SEASON 2
When You Comin’ Back , Range Rider?: Part of Hannibal’s dialog is cut. In the line “Now you tell Mr. Carter he’s out of the rustling business.” all words are missing except rustling business. This scene is intact on Netflix.

SEASON 3
Cup A’ Joe: The song “Cheeseburger in Paradise” has been removed.
Beverly Hills Assault: The songs “The Heat is On” and “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” have been replaced with new music. “The Heat is On” can be found intact on VUDU and Google Play.

SEASON 4
Teasers are missing from several episodes. The missing teasers can be found on Netflix and Amazon digital downloads.

SEASON 5
No changes that I know of.

Keep in mind that this was compiled before the Blu-ray release and some may be fixed, but I checked the pilot and it still has Murdock singing cut out with replacement music instead of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” as intended. I believe most of these are still edited even on the Blu-ray.

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crampedmisfit1990 said:

Baobab Archiver said:

Glad you like the Knight Rider fixes. I feel I’m so close to a complete definitive collection. Just need to try and try down the elusive stereo soundtracks to “Knight of the Juggernaut” and “Burial Ground”.

Regarding the A-team, although I’m not in a position to tackle the whole thing at the moment, I could sort out the pilot, but would need a good copy of the missing scene from somewhere. I can see from above it was released on VHS a while back, but has it been on any of the DVDs? Country of origin wouldn’t matter, or even the language. Sound tends to be a lot easier to patch than visuals,so getting a good visual source would be the first hurdle.
They are showing the A-team in the UK at the moment, but the channel quality is not great (no HD and heavy compression) but I will see what version of the pilot they show, if they start from the beginning again after the current run finishes (they’re on season 5 at the moment and it’s on 5 days a week).

I am not 100% sure if the missing scene in the A-Team pilot has ever been released on DVD. I will try to find that out by researching releases. I’ve only owned the US Season 1 set that had the pilot and it was cut. It would be nice to have a good looking source, better than VHS anyway… but could prove hard to find. I am going to see what I can do and find out. I am going to look all DVD releases and digital versions up to find out if we can get a matching quality (or pretty close) source. I’ll write back asap.

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Ah, I wish I’d known sooner about the issue with the Pilot. It was recently aired on Channel 5, in HD and 4:3. I could’ve checked…

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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Yes me too. I was assuming everything was fine with the set, and I do recall a Channel 5 HD showing recently that I passed by. Ah well, I’ll keep an eye on the schedules and see what comes up. I would imagine the other UK broadcasters are using the same masters as 5 HD, so if we see an unedited version on any of them, chances are a repeat run on 5 will be too 😊

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Hey, I forgot to ask… How are you aware they are going to release another A-Team set on blu-ray?

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crampedmisfit1990 said:

Hey, I forgot to ask… How are you aware they are going to release another A-Team set on blu-ray?

Fabulous Films posted on their Facebook feed a couple of months ago, with a picture of Dirk Benedict and (I think) Dwight Schultz recording commentary tracks. This was met with a lukewarm response, mainly due to a lot of the fan base having recently bought the original set, which let’s face it, was rather pricey! I think this may have led them to postpone the release, although they’ve not said anything official either way. Still, having recorded the commentaries, I think it’s a question of when rather than an if this gets released

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Cool. I hadn’t seen that post as I haven’t liked their page on FB yet. I’ll check it out. Thanx.

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I checked my planner as I recorded the episodes CH5 aired in the UK over the last few weeks of season 1, afraid to say apart from been in HD they were cut, not only replacement music but also scenes cut out either for time or violence and the pilot film chopped in half and wrong fake opening titles tacked on them inserting the actor who played face in the pilot into the normal season opening titles.

I have selected episodes recorded onto DVD from airing recorded off UK Gold in the UK from several years ago, I may have to check them and the episodes I recorded.

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Wow! Thanks for the low down, looks like I saved myself some time and hard drive space.

Replacement music and then massacred for daytime TV broadcast. The content was only ever PG rated, at the very worst and I’ve seen racier stuff shown during the same time slot on other channels.

This doesn’t make me hopeful for when Spike starts airing Knight Rider.

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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Knight rider is currently on forces Tv on Sky in the Uk same for street hawk, Spike is also showing the A Team, The A Team blu rays are also cut syndicated versions unless you get the repress reissue but still music replacement going to check my UK Gold versions tomorrow

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Yeah, I’ve got all those channels on Freeview. Viacom own Spike and CH5, hence the crossover in programming. I just saw a Forces TV promo for The A-Team on Monday nights, so that’s another potential lead, in case they’re using a different source.

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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Some interesting info there, thanks everyone. I’m trying to get as many of these recorded on my sky box as I can (the one benefit of them not being HD broadcasts is they don’t take up much space!).
The series link options seem to be a bit temperamental though, so hopefully I don’t miss a key episode.

The Gold source episodes sound promising. Can you tell me how these are recorded? DVD-R, VHS etc.

It’s good to see a good few people interested in this.it increases the chance of getting a successful outcome 😊

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I have dug out my old DVRs that I recorded off UK Gold ditectly onto my Hard Drive Recorder then I placed them on my Pc to edit out the breaks then back onto DVR, I played Cup O Joes this morning image wise as good as DVD and thankfully I think 90% of them dont have logo’s a rarity for the channel at the time, dont know which part of the episode to check for music replacement?
I thought I had more but afraid all I have is

Judgement Day feature length
Sheriffs of rivertown
Showdown
Bend in the river feature length
Fire
Bounty
Incident at Crystal lake
The squeeze
Moving targets
Knights of the road
Cup A Joes
Breakout
Skins
Timber
Trouble on wheels
The A team is coming
Sound of thunder
Point of no return
Say uncle affair
Crystal skull
Theory of revolution
Quarterback sneak
Without reservations
Dishpan man
Trial by Fire
Firing line

I you want to point in the direction of which part of any of these episodes to check for cuts or music replacements I will.

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lorang said:

Knight rider is currently on forces Tv on Sky in the Uk same for street hawk, Spike is also showing the A Team, The A Team blu rays are also cut syndicated versions unless you get the repress reissue but still music replacement going to check my UK Gold versions tomorrow

Is there anyway to tell if I got the repress? I own the BD set and didn’t know there were any syndication versions.

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crampedmisfit1990 said:

lorang said:

Is there anyway to tell if I got the repress? I own the BD set and didn’t know there were any syndication versions.

If you’re talking the A-team set, check the Season 3 episode “Bend in the river” , and see if it’s split into 2 parts.

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& don’t mention Knight Rider on Blu Ray that has the pilot movie condensed into a single 46mim episide. On the A team they chopped the pilot movie in 2 parts same for Range Rider and bend in the river and cut sequences out of those episodes such as in range rider part 1 when Decker is introduced the sequence had flashbacks from the pilot and season 1 episodes slotted in but missing on the first run of blu rays until fans complained, so ignore the tag line uncut on the box.

Baobab Archiver said:

crampedmisfit1990 said:

lorang said:

Is there anyway to tell if I got the repress? I own the BD set and didn’t know there were any syndication versions.

If you’re talking the A-team set, check the Season 3 episode “Bend in the river” , and see if it’s split into 2 parts.

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lorang said:

I have dug out my old DVRs that I recorded off UK Gold ditectly onto my Hard Drive Recorder then I placed them on my Pc to edit out the breaks then back onto DVR, I played Cup O Joes this morning image wise as good as DVD and thankfully I think 90% of them dont have logo’s a rarity for the channel at the time, dont know which part of the episode to check for music replacement?

I you want to point in the direction of which part of any of these episodes to check for cuts or music replacements I will.

Great collection you’ve got there, and potentially some good sources for the restoration.
As I stated in an earlier post, unfortunately I am not as familiar with each episode of The A-team as I am with Knight Rider. I am relying on others to know what edits exist and therefore I don’t know any particular times/scenes.
What I will be able to do is piece together any edits using the Blu-ray as the initial source. In particular music only edits should be seamless once I’m done.
If someone out there can put some times to the edits listed at the top then that would be great, but to avoid any confusion state the source you are viewing. PAL recordings will normally be sped up!

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Baobab Archiver said:

crampedmisfit1990 said:

lorang said:

Is there anyway to tell if I got the repress? I own the BD set and didn’t know there were any syndication versions.

If you’re talking the A-team set, check the Season 3 episode “Bend in the river” , and see if it’s split into 2 parts.

Ok I just checked the episode “Bend in the River” and thankfully it’s the full movie length version in 1 part. I just got this November 1st from the UK Amazon and I guess they only sell the repress by now. Saved me a lot of trouble.

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If anyone in the US has Netflix, and is willing to assist me with this project, can you please PM me?

Thanks

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Ok, I’m stopping in for an update… As I haven’t posted in a bit. Been researching things about this series though. I checked a week or so ago and it seems the US Netflix currently doesn’t have A-Team available to watch. I know it was up a few years ago. Also, Did you notice Season 2 and 3 on the UK BD set has no pre-credits teasers? I been watching a lot of these episodes in order and noticed only Season 1 had them. I am binge watching these and am halfway through Season 3 currently.

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Also, the following listed edits are corrected on the UK BD set:
SEASON 1

A Small and Deadly War: A scene with Murdock singing “Satisfaction” has been cut.

SEASON 2

When You Comin’ Back , Range Rider?: Part of Hannibal’s dialog is cut. In the line “Now you tell Mr. Carter he’s out of the rustling business.” all words are missing except rustling business.

So no need to fix those ones. Good news to have less to fix than originally thought. That edit list was compiled years ago for the DVD sets and apparently some of the edits aren’t present on the BD set thankfully.

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Well that is good news ☺️
I suppose the next question is, how familiar are you with the episodes to know if anything is now missing that was on the DVDs…
I know the Knight Rider set had some additional cuts on the Blu-ray that weren’t missing from the DVDs.

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Also, regarding the pre credits teasers, I was planning to rebuild them using the audio from the DVDs, and extracting the relevant visual elements from the episode. However that will be a time consuming exercise, so I am waiting to see what any future releases contain before committing to that!

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I am pretty familiar with the series, as I grew up with it… But I wouldn’t say I know it 100% perfectly scene for scene and word for word. I will see if I can find any mention of anything missing on the BDs that is present on th DVDs though. And good idea about the rebuilding of the teasers. That will take awhile but will be cool. I would like the teasers restored but they are not as important as the edits to me. They’re part of the history of the show though, so they do eventually need restored. 👍