doubt Raymond Briggs had anything to do with it though. Don't think we can lay the blame at Channel 4 for this one if they're given an already cropped (badly at that) version to show.
It depends on what options Channel 4 had at the time. If they still had their original 4:3 version and still had the right to show it, then it's their fault. However, it's highly likely that the 20th anniversary saw a renewal of the transmission rights, and that C4 were provided with a new copy which they had to use.
This has happened with other programmes (i.e. C4's current run of 'Bewitched' is all on new remastered tapes, with a weird rearrangement of the theme tune substituted in (still using the same copy of the titles for every episode, meaning that every episode has a 1966 copyright date), and the old Screen Gems endcaps cut off).
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What's particularly sad about this is that they probably did some work to clean up the film print and bring the colours out a bit (I haven't seen the cropped version but it's likely that what you can see in it looks better than the original 4:3 version does) - if they hadn't cropped it it actually would have looked better than ever.
Father Christmas! I haven't seen that for years. I think I prefer it to The Snowman
Father Christmas! I haven't seen that for years. I think I prefer it to The Snowman
I think it was on a couple of years ago but it is really more for children, but a couple of characters from The Snowman make a cameo appearance, but I think they were made at the same time.
I knew they had another one called Grandpa which was shown at Easter, it was very nice but like The Snowman has a very sad ending, as that hasn't been shown for years too.
I knew they had another one called Grandpa which was shown at Easter, it was very nice but like The Snowman has a very sad ending, as that hasn't been shown for years too.
Yeah, I know the cartoon you mean, I've seen it. It's in the same style as the aforementioned cartoons. The sad ending is the chap's died and all there's left is his chair to remember him by and the kid's upset about it.
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I think it was on a couple of years ago but it is really more for children, but a couple of characters from The Snowman make a cameo appearance, but I think they were made at the same time.
So far as it goes, its only The Snowman and the kid (and the other snowmen) who feature briefly in it. It looks newer than The Snowman though, in fact considerably newer. If you look at the way that The Snowman cartoon has been animated (ie, most of the colouring-in kind of like "shuffles", for want of a better description, on every different frame - see the kid's bed in the scenes just before the snowman comes to life for what I mean) then the Father Christmas cartoon doesn't do this.
Can someone confirm if Channel 4 have actually shown this every single year since 1982, or was there one year they dropped it and then it had to be reinstated due to complaints?
Also - re: the whole widescreen/cropping thing - I thought that at the end, when he finds the snowman has melted, there was a shot of his parents looking on and/or coming out to meet him just as the credits started - or am I mistaken?
I actually thought it was far more powerful without - but its one of those things I've always remembered...
I assume Raymond Briggs' other stuff ('Father Christmas' and 'Grandpa') hasn't seen the light of day on any channel for years?
I miss olive the other reindeer, they've had it on along with the snowman for the past couple of years, and not this one! That was something that made me christmassy as well. I may have felt more than a normal day.
Also - re: the whole widescreen/cropping thing - I thought that at the end, when he finds the snowman has melted, there was a shot of his parents looking on and/or coming out to meet him just as the credits started - or am I mistaken?
I've never seen it end like this so I presume you're mistaken, unless it's an alternate ending of some sort...
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I assume Raymond Briggs' other stuff ('Father Christmas' and 'Grandpa') hasn't seen the light of day on any channel for years?
Not sure when Father Christmas was last on, but Grandpa definitely hasn't been seen for years. I dare say when it was last on it may have come on in a package broadcast right - ie, The Snowman, Father Christmas and Grandpa. They're all wonderful cartoons in their own right though.