I never realized Ralph had blood on him in DVS

[scenario]

I just watched "Divorce Venusian Style" for the first time on DVD, and with the super crystal clear picture and sound, I am noticing all kinds of things I never picked up before in the previous billion viewings.

Perhaps this was discussed before, please excuse me, I dunno since I don't post anywhere near as often I used to....but

for one thing...Ralph actually had blood on him from the gunshot wound he recieved earlier in the episode!!! My God, I could NEVER see that on all the TV broadcasts and VHS viewings I've gone through. And since I was a little kid, I used to think it was cheesy that Ralph got shot and we never saw any blood. Plus I was under the impression that the networks simply did not allow blood to be shown on early 80s primetime. It's like watching a whole new series when it's on DVD.


-scenario-

[billswoman]

Yes, the first several times I watched it, I kept LOOKING for blood, also thinking it was pretty unrealistic if there was none, and I finally caught it too, when they're moving from the weiner wagon to the spaceship.

It IS very subtle and something a younger child might not even notice and get distressed over. Katt does a good job holding it together, only letting the barest hint peek out that he's bleeding.

[scenario]

You can see blood on his hands when they are in the weiner wagon too. I was FLOORED when I saw that. All these years of watching it on my VHS tape I never caught that, and the copy of DVS I have on VHS is of EXCELLENT quality, studio quality actually, but I could still never see any blood.

Then when they get out of the weiner wagon, ofcourse we can see the gunshot wound much better and Ralph covering it up with his blood smeared hands. It's pretty creepy seeing that, and makes the scene much more scarier.

This is something that is next to impossible to see on VHS tape or broadcast TV airings. For a few moments, I honestly wondered if that was reedited into that scene, just because I never saw that before.


-scenario-

[HoudiniDerek]

It took a long time to show though. He should have had blood from the start...Bill too, but they didn't. I don't think there was ever blood on Bill.

[Maxwell - F.B.I.]

Me? I want a FOUNTAIN of blood SHOOTING out of Ralph's abdomen!!! YEAH! The Greatest American GEYSER!!! EVIL DEAD 2 STYLE!!!

(sorry... it's been a long day)

[MelMac]

I'm not too surprised that there wasn't much blood shown, though logically he would be bleeding the moment he was shot. The third season is the only one I largely didn't remember until getting the DVDs (the exception was "Resurrection of Carlini"). Compared to today's shows, this would be a relatively simple wound, but though subtle, worked well because of the acting Katt and Culp did.

I don't know if moving the show to day it was the third season had anything to do with what they could or couldn't show though. But same holds true for a lot of shows back then. Looking through the earlier seasons, there were cases where there wasn't much blood shown, if at all. I think someone mentioned here that in "Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory," that when the bad guy gets shot in the arm, he doesn't bleed. When he raises his hands, there is no blood on them. In "The Hit Car," when Bill is shot in the leg, you don't even see the wound, though judging from Ralph's reaction, was pretty bad. (Sorry, it's been a long day for me too, so I'll quit rambling. )

[HoudiniDerek]

I agree...blood seems to be taboo at first for some shows and then is more acceptable as a show moves time slots or is about to be cancelled or is very popular. Maybe the people who decide what can get in decided it was necessary there to see the danger Ralph was in this episode compared to other people that got shot.