Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 A while back, I noticed a number of comments on both the official "I Love Lucy" facebook fanpage and "CBS Home Entertainment" fanpage about colorizing I Love Lucy. I was actually shocked (and rather upset) at the number of people who thought this was a good idea. When I posted a comment saying that I Love Lucy should never be colorized, that it's perfect the way it is, I got a few 'likes'. One person, however, wrote me a long comment back explaining why the show NEEDS (not should, but NEEDS) to be colorized. Basically that it's a matter of preference and that stuffy purists like me shouldn't spoil it for the rest of them, yadda yadda yadda... To which I responded with my view of things. That post is long since buried under more recent Facebook debris (people really can't type or spell anymore, can they?), but my reasoning is like this: ....... For the record, I am NOT anti-colorization; I just think it's more appropriate for some projects over others. Colorizing the early seasons of "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" didn't bother me much, considering how the majority of episodes for both series' were shot in colour. In addition, Sidney Sheldon had wanted to shoot Jeannie in colour from the start but was refused the money. So, in some ways, colorizing the B&W Jeannie episodes is making them on par with his original vision of the show. Plus, as Barbara Eden said, it really was a show meant to be seen in colour. Having said that, however, I must stress that, while I was pleased Sony Pictures released both B&W and Colorized sets for those particular shows, I do not approve of them making the colorized sets more easily available to purchase than the B&W ones. If you look in stores nowadays and stumble across one, 99% of the time it'll be a colorized edition, with no B&W one in sight. I also disapprove of them releasing only the colorized versions on the complete series boxset for Jeannie. Surely they could've included BOTH?? But I digress.... Those two shows are one thing. "I Love Lucy" is something else. To paraphrase Stefan Kampfer from his biography of Lucille, "Ball of Fire": Humour and colour are incompatible with one another, the palette calls attention to itself instead of the comedy. He goes on to say how many of Lucy's contemporaries who were filmed in colour do not have her longevity BECAUSE they were filmed in colour. Lucy's old-fashioned style of physical comedy does not need to be seen in color to be appreciated. Audiences don't HAVE to see the colour of her hair to know what a fiery spark lies in her head. "I Love Lucy" is a perfect reflection of an era where everything was black and white, and color is just not necessary. True, in later years her shows did switch to being shot in colour, but that was different. Here's Lucy, in particular, was a more whimsical and goofy show than I Love Lucy, and colour film was perfect to show off the vibrancy of the late 60's and early 70's. Same with "The Lucy Show". Not all of you may agree with this, and I welcome some debate. Even I admit that there is a big curiosity factor in seeing key moments from "I Love Lucy" in colour, but it's ultimately not necessary at all, in my opinion. Plus, audiences of today need to stop feeling so entitled, and need to stop demanding to see everything in one particular way or another. Just because something is shot in B&W does NOT mean it is inferior in any way to something shot in colour. Most audiences of today should recognize B&W not solely as a technical limitation but as a specific art form unto itself. If you can't stomach seeing something in shades of grey, either suck it up or don't watch it! And appreciate those years when "The Ball of Fire got it all down in black and white"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 A while back, I noticed a number of comments on both the official "I Love Lucy" facebook fanpage and "CBS Home Entertainment" fanpage about colorizing I Love Lucy. I was actually shocked (and rather upset) at the number of people who thought this was a good idea. When I posted a comment saying that I Love Lucy should never be colorized, that it's perfect the way it is, I got a few 'likes'. One person, however, wrote me a long comment back explaining why the show NEEDS (not should, but NEEDS) to be colorized. Basically that it's a matter of preference and that stuffy purists like me shouldn't spoil it for the rest of them, yadda yadda yadda... To which I responded with my view of things. That post is long since buried under more recent Facebook debris (people really can't type or spell anymore, can they?), but my reasoning is like this: ....... For the record, I am NOT anti-colorization; I just think it's more appropriate for some projects over others. Colorizing the early seasons of "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" didn't bother me much, considering how the majority of episodes for both series' were shot in colour. In addition, Sidney Sheldon had wanted to shoot Jeannie in colour from the start but was refused the money. So, in some ways, colorizing the B&W Jeannie episodes is making them on par with his original vision of the show. Plus, as Barbara Eden said, it really was a show meant to be seen in colour. Having said that, however, I must stress that, while I was pleased Sony Pictures released both B&W and Colorized sets for those particular shows, I do not approve of them making the colorized sets more easily available to purchase than the B&W ones. If you look in stores nowadays and stumble across one, 99% of the time it'll be a colorized edition, with no B&W one in sight. I also disapprove of them releasing only the colorized versions on the complete series boxset for Jeannie. Surely they could've included BOTH?? But I digress.... Those two shows are one thing. "I Love Lucy" is something else. To paraphrase Stefan Kampfer from his biography of Lucille, "Ball of Fire": Humour and colour are incompatible with one another, the palette calls attention to itself instead of the comedy. He goes on to say how many of Lucy's contemporaries who were filmed in colour do not have her longevity BECAUSE they were filmed in colour. Lucy's old-fashioned style of physical comedy does not need to be seen in color to be appreciated. Audiences don't HAVE to see the colour of her hair to know what a fiery spark lies in her head. "I Love Lucy" is a perfect reflection of an era where everything was black and white, and color is just not necessary. True, in later years her shows did switch to being shot in colour, but that was different. Here's Lucy, in particular, was a more whimsical and goofy show than I Love Lucy, and colour film was perfect to show off the vibrancy of the late 60's and early 70's. Same with "The Lucy Show". Not all of you may agree with this, and I welcome some debate. Even I admit that there is a big curiosity factor in seeing key moments from "I Love Lucy" in colour, but it's ultimately not necessary at all, in my opinion. Plus, audiences of today need to stop feeling so entitled, and need to stop demanding to see everything in one particular way or another. Just because something is shot in B&W does NOT mean it is inferior in any way to something shot in colour. Most audiences of today should recognize B&W not solely as a technical limitation but as a specific art form unto itself. If you can't stomach seeing something in shades of grey, either suck it up or don't watch it! And appreciate those years when "The Ball of Fire got it all down in black and white"! Well said. I responded (I thought) to this topic already but I guess what happened was you started a separate thread? Or did our posts "cross" one another?? I'm confused! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 OMG this again? I want to see I Love Lucy in color one day and i hope it happens before i die, it would get more people who don't live for Black and White like you do to see the show and i would personaly love to see all the ones i have seen in black and white for sixty years hundreds of times to finally blow my socks off in color, and CBS with their eye on that Lucy moolah will indulge us eventually as they never but never pass an occasion to make money off of that classic series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 OMG this again? I want to see I Love Lucy in color one day and i hope it happens before i die, it would get more people who don't live for Black and White like you do to see the show and i would personaly love to see all the ones i have seen in black and white for sixty years hundreds of times to finally blow my socks off in color, and CBS with their eye on that Lucy moolah will indulge us eventually as they never but never pass an occasion to make money off of that classic series. Doesn't mean they should! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Well said. I responded (I thought) to this topic already but I guess what happened was you started a separate thread? Or did our posts "cross" one another?? I'm confused! I guess, in tribute to LUCY, it's just another R E R U N ! LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 I guess, in tribute to LUCY, it's just another R E R U N ! LOL! To paraphrase Big Red...Well, if it is..."they aren't paying for them!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Doesn't mean they should! YES, it does, anybody who saw that beautiful, gorgeous, unbelievably stunning Scottish episode in color yearns to see every show of the best secries ever to air on television in glorious color. And anybody who saw the Holden episode colorized also agrees and every fan of color wants to see Lucy's hair in it's natural state, orange red. AND her antics would be more accepted by the new generation who have never seen anything in black and white the way Lucy's personality was in real life and her character's on the show, C O L O R, C O L O R , C O L O R , ok? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Would Gone with the Wind have less power in black and white, Y E S! Would Citizen Kane be more powerful in color, Y E S ! Would there be an audience for ILL in color? Y E S ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 I think Barbra Streisand said it best in one of her earliest albums when she titled it C O L O R me Barbra! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Colorizing the series would NOT be considered a WHITE COLLAR crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 In color you could see the veins in Ricky's face turn red and then blue as they are about to pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 The color lilies are in bloom again, really they are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 COLOR me back to old Virginie . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 C L A U D E, Thanks for your input. I wouldn't mind seeing a few in colour, I suppose, but it's not necessary, IMO. No, it would hardly be the end of the world if they did, but...as I said, people should accept things as they are, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 And Joey, yes, I decided this needed its own thread, so I moved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Wait...was "LA at Last" colorized???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Wait...was "LA at Last" colorized???? Yes, they showed the restaurant scene i think, colorized, at a LA convention a while back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 C L A U D E, Thanks for your input. I wouldn't mind seeing a few in colour, I suppose, but it's not necessary, IMO. No, it would hardly be the end of the world if they did, but...as I said, people should accept things as they are, IMO. Yes, it IS necessaary if it means getting a whole new audience for the show, some people just refuse to watch anything OLD in boring black and white. AND for us who are tired of watching the same shows over and over and over again, it would give us something NEW, colored versions of the greatest tv show of all time. And many of us fans would just LOVE to see them a little different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 No, it would hardly be the end of the world if they did, but...as I said, people should accept things as they are, IMO. Oh, so we should never improve anything huh? We should settle for black and white tv and not watch in color? We shouldn't try and redo things to gain them a wider audience? Ok, i'll go watch the BABY episode on a twelve inch black and white set, with no antenna, with snow on the screen and barely able to see the shenanigans going on in the Ricardo household then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Yes, it IS necessaary if it means getting a whole new audience for the show, some people just refuse to watch anything OLD in boring black and white. AND for us who are tired of watching the same shows over and over and over again, it would give us something NEW, colored versions of the greatest tv show of all time. And many of us fans would just LOVE to see them a little different. You do make some good points in there, yes. But frankly, people need to get over their stigma of B&W. I suppose if they found proper colour resource footage and photos to make everything as accurate in colour as possible, it'd be interesting to see a few examples. But I suppose if the whole series eventually is colorized, it'll just mean another victory for people who are too narrow-minded to view things as meant to be seen. Adjust, people, adjust! Hypothetically speaking, if any episodes would benefit from being seen in colour, I'd pick these: Lucy Gets in Pictures The Tour Bon Voyage Lucy's Italian Movie Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana Lucy Hunts Uranium Lucy Goes to Mexico (a scene of which WAS colorized when Legend Films colorized the Westinghouse special) Basically any episode with good location footage would be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Oh, so we should never improve anything huh? We should settle for black and white tv and not watch in color? We shouldn't try and redo things to gain them a wider audience? Ok, i'll go watch the BABY episode on a twelve inch black and white set, with no antenna, with snow on the screen and barely able to see the shenanigans going on in the Ricardo household then. Ha ha ha I'm not against seeing things in the best resolution possible! As a matter of fact, a blu-ray release down the line with all the episodes per season on just one or two discs would be great! I have no problem in high-def Lucy at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 In color you could see the veins in Ricky's face turn red and then blue as they are about to pop. I don't think the technology's quite there yet. It'd look too phony, and it looks phony enough as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 [Ha ha ha I'm not against seeing things in the best resolution possible! As a matter of fact, a blu-ray release down the line with all the episodes per season on just one or two discs would be great! I have no problem in high-def Lucy at all! Make it HIGH DEF Lucy IN COLOR and you gotta deal baby! Watching Lucy in black and white is sorta like listening to Lucy in My Favorite Husband, with no picture, you're not getting the COMPLETE picture, like listening to Fred Astaire sing instead of dance or Merman dancing instead of singing. I want to see Lucy's flame red hair that we kept hearing about or see her dazzling outfits or see the garish hostess pants she got for Fred to give Ethel. I want to see the GREEN plants, the color of the furs and gowns, the showstopping numbers at the Tropicana and those costumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 I don't think the technology's quite there yet. It'd look too phony, and it looks phony enough as it is. Oh but the technology IS there and they can do anything right now. If they can remaster those prints, they can colorize them too, the Scotland ep proved it would be well worth it also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mot Morenzi Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Ah, we differ there again, too! I LOVE listening to My Favourite Husband, and lots of radio shows BTW. Not having a picture just leaves it up to your imagination, and I love that. Sometimes when my eyes are too tired I love just listening to the show without having to worry about watching it. Plus, it's great listening while driving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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