Original length vs. syndi-cut length

Manifan

Project QL Intern
Aug 15, 2005
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Does anyone know how much time is being cut from the original episodes on the Sci-Fi network? I'm just wondering how much original footage we're missing whenever we tune in.
 
Well....given that the episodes were already trimmed to about a 45 - 50 minute length for USA airing in the 90s....and that Sci-Fi has trimmed MORE from what USA had trimmed.....

I can tell you that from opening ("Theorizing that one could time travel....") to closing credits, pausing at each fade in and out (to have commercials edited out) it is about 44 minutes now.
 
Manifan said:
Does anyone know how much time is being cut from the original episodes on the Sci-Fi network? I'm just wondering how much original footage we're missing whenever we tune in.
I'm not sure exactly, but one perfect example I can think of that I always notice is whenever I see "A Leap for Lisa" on Sci-Fi. One of the funniest scenes is pretty much cut almost in its entirety when Al first starts getting very worried that he'll vanish from existence. Most of this did not survive the syndicut, but this is what I recall almost word-for-word from the original NBC broadcast (with a little help from the taped copy I have of the NBC rerun): ;)

Al: Oh no!
Sam: What?
Al: Now there's an 81.6% chance that I get convicted!
Sam: (whispers) All right, all right, now just calm down, okay?
Al: I get found guilty and get sentenced to the gas chamber, executed!
Sam: (whispers) I'm not going to let that happen.
Al: How you gonna stop it?
Sam: (whispers) By finding out who really raped and murdered her!
(*I think the rest of this gets cut in syndication, and picks up again where Al starts scratching his head.)
Al: (not reassured) I'm gonna die in the gas chamber!
Sam: (whispers) You're not gonna die in the gas chamber; if anyone dies, it's gonna be me!
Al: Oh, BIG DEAL, YOU'RE ME!
Sam: (whispers) Stop it! Look, if we're gonna solve this thing, we need to stay calm; you've gotta calm down!
Al: I'm CALM, I'M CALM!!
Sam: (whispering over Al's tirade) You're not calm...
Al: I'M calm, I'm CALM!!! (pauses and then whispers to himself) I am...I'm calm, I'm calm...
Sam: (whispers) Good. Now I want you to go back and talk to Bingo. If I've changed history, then...
Al: (high sarcastic voice) IF?!? What do you mean 'IF'!!
Sam: (angrily whispers) YOU SAID YOU WERE GONNA BE CALM!
Al: OKAY!!! (finally calms down) Okay, okay...
Sam: (whispers) If I've changed history, then you've lived through it.
(*This is where the syndicut resumes.)
(Al is now scratching his head looking worried.)

There's another scene later when St. John first appears and Sam is supposed to move his hands through St. John's hologram:

St. John: Why are you staring at me like that, Samuel?
Sam: Where'd you get that handlink?
(St. John just looks down at the handlink and then back up at Sam in confusion. Sam circles around St. John.)
(*I believe this is where the scene gets cut in syndication.)
Sam: And where's Al?
St. John: Al?
Sam: You know! AL!!
(Sam's sudden movement causes the corporal to draw his weapon.)
St. John: Careful, there is an 88% probability that that young man will shoot at the slightest propagation.
(Sam then sticks out both arms through St. John's hologram while the corporal and other members of the tribunal look on thinking "Bingo" has lost it.)
St. John: (warning) You are attracting undue attention, Samuel!
(Sam then removes his hands.)
Sam: You're a hologram! You are a hologram.
(*I believe this is where the syndicut resumes.)
Sam: What happened... (starts forgetting) ... to Al? What happened to Al?
St. John: Al? OH, that young pilot that you leaped into. (looks down at the handlink) There's no change. He's still found guilty and sentenced to die in the gas chamber.
Sam: He dies in the gas chamber?
St. John: At midnight; October 6, 1960.

The part where Sam sticks his hands through St. John and everyone sees him sticking out his arms in mid-air is also cut from that episode. In fact, if I remember correctly, the background music track that can be heard during that scene continues into St. John's dialogue. In the original NBC broadcast, the track ends just as Sam sticks his hands through St. John's hologram and you hear the hologram sound-effect.

So, my guess is that it's often anywhere from thirty seconds cut from one scene (as it was from the first scene) to a couple of minutes, depending on how long one particular "act" was (some were longer than others). For example, this episode in total must have had about one or two minutes cut from it, at least. Other episodes have very little cut, some have a lot more. It all depends on how much content was originally broadcast. Like "Return" and "Revenge" were both originally shown as a 2-hour movie on NBC, even though they're 2 parts in syndication. In the original movie (which I also have on tape), it ended with about 5 minutes left, and those last 5 minutes were used to show a promo for upcoming episodes ("Memphis Melody," "Goodbye, Norma Jean," "The Beast Within," and "The Leap Between the States") that both Scott and Al introduced while on the set of the Civil War episode.