I did it…for science!

§ April 18th, 2006 § Filed under swamp thing § 7 Comments

So when the original version of the Swamp Thing DVD was released, and then pulled off the market due to a parent’s complaint (look under May 7-8 for details EDIT: link no bueno, sorry), I thought it was primarily for the accidentally-included footage of some topless dancers that appear late in the film, in a scene that was trimmed from the PG-rated theatrical release and initial video release.

However, in online reviews of the DVD, listings on the eBay, and whatnot, people kept saying over and over again “THIS IS THE VERSION WITH THE ADRIENNE BARBEAU NUDE SCENE THAT GOT IT PULLED FROM THE SHELVES,” or words to that effect. And I kept thinking, “No, that’s not the reason…the original version of the film had that nude scene with Adrienne Barbeau. ‘Twas the topless dancers what did the deed.”

Finally, after seeing the nude Adrienne Barbeau claim over and over and over again, I dug deep into the Mikester Video Archives and found my copy of Swamp Thing on VHS, and, strictly for the purpose of setting the record straight on this important matter, sought out the infamous Barbeau swamp-bathing scene to compare it to the same scene on my copy of the DVD.

First, I should note that the actual quality of the transfer really suffers when compared to DVD. It’s hard to believe we put with with such crummy reproduction and “pan ‘n’ scan” for so long. Second, I’ve been spoiled by DVD chapter stops…actually having to (gasp) fast-forward a video cassette is so…primitive. This must be how our caveman ancestors watched television.

As it turns out, all those online reviewers and eBay sellers were correct…the nuditivity in question involving Adrienne Barbeau is far more, well, full-frontal, and much longer in duration, in the DVD version than the video version. For example, there are more shots of Barbeau posing like this:


Alas, if you want that scene in its full glory, along with the topless dancers, you are at the mercy of online auctions, since the first edition of the DVD has been replaced with a version featuring the original theatrical cut.

So there you go…I hope that was educational and enlightening.

In other news:

As I noted to a few online friends over the weekend regarding this story: “pop eats itself.” The CSI comics are going the route of Marvel’s Alf and Mighty Mouse comics, by explicitly gearing the comic to the people who are actually buying it, i.e. people who are already comic book fans, rather than futilely trying to tap the non-comic-reading audience that watches the TV shows.

I may be overstating it a bit…I’m sure the CSI comics must have grabbed a few fans of the show who don’t otherwise read funnybooks. I know I’ve sold a couple to such people. However, it must be frustrating to have a comic book license to a popular TV show, and to have the print runs of the comic hover around 1% of the TV show’s audience. You’d think it’d be like printing money, with a million CSI fans rushing to their local comic shops with cash in hand, eager to seek out new adventures of their favorite characters.

But it doesn’t happen, since most of those people don’t want comics. There are a number of CSI prose novels, too…I wonder if these are selling as well as their publisher hoped. In this age of immediate DVD releases of TV shows, and movies too, the fanbase’s need to seek out additional tie-in stories has greatly diminished, a point I’ve made before.

Okay, that was bit of a downer. Sorry about that. Here, have an out-of-work Hulk:

(EDIT: Sorry, the video is also out of work, and lost to memory.)


If you learn just one thing from this video, let that lesson be “don’t have Hulk as your golf caddy.”

7 Responses to “I did it…for science!”