Caray, Caray!

So far I haven't seen any that make any sense at all unless you've already seen the full-length version. Even then they often leave out many of my own favorite highlights and the most entertaining side plots. They focus heavily on the main couple, who are often the most boring aside from a few romantic high points. Amor Bravio has the potential to be better, but I think it will lose the details of the smart mystery.
 

So far I haven't seen any that make any sense at all unless you've already seen the full-length version. Even then they often leave out many of my own favorite highlights and the most entertaining side plots. They focus heavily on the main couple, who are often the most boring aside from a few romantic high points. Amor Bravio has the potential to be better, but I think it will lose the details of the smart mystery.
 

Ugh. Post x 2 & can't delete on phone.
 

I haven't tried any of them. I have been tempted, but when I look at how few hours are in the dvds, versus how many hours were aired, I just can't believe that the story would end up making much sense or have much depth. I would also love to hear if there are any that our Caraymates feel were done really well.
 

I have bought quite a few (some I'd not seen before, but also Teresa, Llena de Amor, La que no podía amar, Eva Luna, La Fuerza del Destino, Soy tú Dueña, all which I have seen full-length). I've only watched Eva Luna at any length. It was "okay" for me because I knew the story already. It was a nice revisit of this novela. I was hoping to show it to my sister, who has heard me talk about Eva Luna. But I'm going to tell her not to bother watching it. It will make no sense unless I am there to pause the video and fill in the blanks.

Oh wait actually I forgot, I did start to watch Soy tú Dueña with this same sister (because she thinks Fernando Colunga is absolutely divine) and she got bored. I think it was just her. I didn't think it was soooo bad, but then again, I am already familiar with the storyline of Soy tú Dueña.

I'm curious to see what they've done with La que no podía amar, as well as Teresa. (These are probably my two top faves.) I would love to be able to recommend these DVDs to friends and family members as an intro to telenovelas, but I fear that they'll be incomprehensible unless I am there to "fill in the blanks" as they watch. And that isn't always possible!
 

Oh, I also watched Amor Real on DVD, having never seen it before and not knowing much about the story. I saw about 75% of it? I gather it was very heavily edited (more than is standard, if you can believe that). I did "get" it, but decided to stop watching and watch the novela in whole online. My understanding of spoken spanish is (as you may know) kind of iffy (but not hopeless) but having seen a sort of "overview" of the novela thanks to the DVD really helped me follow the full episodes online. I am very lazy about keeping up with Amor Real online, though (it's one of several novelas I'm vowing to follow!).

So in a way I think that the DVDs can serve a purpose, even if they are butchered. Watch them, get a "synopsis" of the story, then watch the whole series via downloaded episodes. It'll help those with iffy Spanish comprehension skills (like me!).

Oh another thing about Amor Real on DVD. There were two DVDs, I think both two-sided. But one of the DVDs was a "making of" DVD (not the actual novela). It was some butt-patting congratulatory documentary about the producer, I think? I was thinking, "Seriously?" They COULD have shown us more of the novela, so it wouldn't have been as butchered up, but instead they make us pay for a "making of" DVD that we aren't going to care about nearly as much as the ACTUAL NOVELA. I thought that was ridiculous.
 

When I was starting to learn Spanish, I bought a number of abridged telenovelas so that I'd have practice hearing the language. The fact that most of them had English subtitles was important to me, since my Spanish was so poor. To be honest, I really enjoyed some of these abridged versions. I think I started with La Madrastra. Even though at times the editing left me scratching my head wondering how the episodes fit together, I still enjoyed the story. I went on to buy others, and several of them I enjoyed a LOT. I'm thinking in particular of Alborada, Dame Chocolate, La Fea Más Bella, and Piel d'Otoño. In all of these, I thought the acting was very good and the plots quite compelling in spite of some confusing editing. And, of course, Alborada had the additional plus of Placido Domingo singing the theme song.

Eventually, I bought two shorter-than-usual uncut telenovelas: Azul Tequila and Como en el Cine. I enjoyed these, too, though they made me recognize another plus of the abridged versions: the abridged versions cut out a lot of unimportant sub-plots, which as far as I was concerned was a big advantage. I felt this even more strongly once I started to watch full-length telenovelas on TV.

Now, of course, I've been watching only the full-length novelas for several years. I'm more used to their pacing, and at times I even appreciate some of the tangential sub-plots. Even so, I pick my telenovelas pretty carefully. The majority of them seem to me much too hackneyed and predictable, and many run on for longer than I'd like. Amor Bravío has been a pleasant surprise, since the pacing seems much quicker and the plot less stereotyped than most.

Once I've seen a full-length telenovela on TV, I have no interest in buying an abridged version of the same telenovela. Indeed, the only telenovela that I've already seen that I was hoping to buy is La Reina del Sur. By far the best telenovela I've ever seen, it ran for three action-packed months on Telemundo. Interestingly, it's now available for purchase in an uncut version but not in an abridgement. I think I'd hate an abridgement--there was little if any fat to cut. I was delighted that it was available uncut, but, alas, there are no Spanish or English subtitles in the version for purchase. For this telenovela more than most, I need subtitles.


 

I've never bought or watched any of the abridged versions, but it seems like it would be like watching a movie after reading the book. I know we've all wondered how someone could even follow a movie plot that we knew so much more about after having read 450 in depth pages. Big case in point: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

There are some shows I'd buy the whole long unedited collection. Still waiting for the rest of Knot's Landing to come out on DVD. I have Seasons 1 & 2 and then they stopped making them.
 

I meant unabridged, not unedited.
 

The whole Ruben/Genoveva/Fito plot was pretty much erased in Teresa and it shouldn't have been since Fito was blackmailing Teresa for the whole show.

In fact, if you hadn't seen the original, you'd just think Esperanza & Hernan met, fell in love & had a baby...you wouldn't have known that Ruben was Espe's baby daddy, was threatening her and Teresa was involved with all of this because the DVD pretty much erased the Ruben/Genoveva/Mayra characters.
 

Still, I enjoyed the Teresa DVD & watch the truncated novelas for Spanish comprehension purposes. I will buy Amor Bravio's DVD when it comes out and wish La Verdad Oculta was on DVD.

I have Manana es Para Siempre & Sortilegio on DVD as well.

I had no desire to get La Fuerza del Destino or Soy Tu Duena on DVD and will not buy Abismo de Pasion on DVD either.
 

Do not bother with the DVD of Abrazame Muy Fuerte because it has none of the original music and is only 6 hours long (out of 135 episodes). Fernando Colunga is in maybe 3 scenes.

The one of El Privilegio de Amar isn't too bad. It has all the original music and enough of a lead-in so you understand the characters' motivations, but the brilliant confrontation scenes are completely missing. It also dropped off the real final Karmageddon of Ana Joaquina.

More tomorrow night; I need to catch a few zzzz's.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

90% of these DVDs are useless because they are abridged to death (most of them contain only the episode cliffhangers, imho) and I hate it when the soundtrack is changed.

However, I keep buying them because this is the only way I can pay tribute to the creators. And they look good on my shelves.

To my knowledge La antrocha encendida's (a great historical telenovela produced by Ernesto Alonso) DVD version is one of the fews that haven't been abridged.
 

I thought I left the comment but it has disappeared, so I'll try again. The La Fea Mas Bella DVD version is pretty good (having also seen the entire series).

I didn't see the full length version of Rubi, but I found the plot easy to follow on DVD.

DVDs I didn't enjoy much: Maria La Del Barrio (too dated, bad soundtrack, plot too convoluted to boil down) and Pasion (very convoluted, no subtitles, I have no idea what's going on, and it's kinda boring).
 

The one of the 1993 Corazon Salvaje is only 4 hours (out of 80 TV hours). Has the original music, but the plot is so cut-down it's only good as video wallpaper.

As I was watching "le gran noche" of AB last night it reminded me of some of these DVDs. It gave adequate time to the "prologue" to understand what was going on but so severely cut things down the road that a lot of this felt like it was coming out of left field.
 

I generally like them. For one thing, they're often bargains, in the sense that you get 4 discs for $19.99 or less. Rather than compare them to the full length versions, I view them as a different animal. They're still much longer than ordinary movies. I watch an hour at at time. So if it's 9 hours, that's 9 nights of enjoyment. I love the Spanish, and the beautiful actors and actresses. Yes, the plot jumps a bit, but you can usually figure out what happened.

I agree that when you watch a movie right after reading the book, one is struck by how much is left out, by how a gripping scene which went on for 20 pages in a book is done in 30 seconds in the movie. But the movie is a different animal, best appreciated for its own strengths. And that's what I appreciate in the abridged DVDs, the Spanish, the actors, the costumes, and the wild storylines.

Some of my favorites were Destilando Amor, La Fea Mas Bea, Alborada, Rubi, Dame Chocolate and Pasion de Gavilanes.
 

I have Amor Real. I probably only watched 5 minutes. I hadn't realized it wouldn't have the same soundtrack, and that just ruined it for me.
 

Hombre de Misterio, ITA with what you've said about the virtues and appeals of abridged telenovelas. And some of your favorites are also favorites of mine. (I wish there wee a "thumbs up" icon I could use.)
 

La Antorcha Encendida was chopped down from about 90 hours, according to memory and the reviews of the box set on Amazon. I taped the whole thing on VHS but my player isn't working at the moment.

There are sites that sell complete sets but I have no idea if they are legit or whether what you get is a quality product.
 

Yes, UA, I too recall coming upon one or two sites that claimed to sell unabridged versions, but I never tried to order one. Mostly, I was put off by the price, which was often more than $100. But I was also unsure about the legality of what they were doing, and the quality of the copies. IIRC, they did offer the possibility of sampling the quality, but I never took them up on that. This was several years ago--I haven't tried more recently.

What I'm more interested in finding are sites that allow me to view the episodes (I did that years ago with En Nombre del Amor, to catch up before switching finally to the telenovela in progress). However, it seems that the ones I've found more recently all want me to download and install a special downloader, and my searches on Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo indicate that many people who have installed these downloaders have problems with them, and that the downloaders are at times a source of malware.
 

I have MEPS because it got a good DVD transfer review. I passed on STuD because the review was bad and it is my least fav. I also have La Heredera. I haven't watched it yet. I bought it at Borders going out of business sale because it has SN in it. I wouldn't recommend DVD sets to people who haven't seen the TN--better to catch whole eps online or when they're repeated on TV. But I think they're fine if you want to revisit.
 

I'm weighing in on the convo.

I try to only buy the DVD's for the ones I've watched live or on line, or ones that have fave leads in them (Silvia Navarro, Juan Soler, Colunga, Noriega, Lucero, Guy Ecker, Jorge Salinas). That has actually led me to some pretty good movies--Amor Letra por Letra (Silvia), Labios Rojos (Silvia & Jorge), La Otra Familia (Jorge & Luis Roberto Guzman), Ladron que Roba a ladron (Colunga & Soto).

If I have watched the whole thing on tv or on-line, and love it, I buy a DVD sort of as a souvenir. I bought Amor Real as the first one ever and followed it pretty well (even though they cut out one of their most explicit love scenes), then Alborada, Eva Luna, Sortilegio, MEPS, CME (they cut out several of my favorite scenes between Silv & Juan, just to move the rest of the story along, but left enough to satisfy), Maria Isabel.

The ones I bought but haven't seen, because a favorite actor is in the lead, is the luck of the draw. Heridas de Amor (Bracamontes & Guy) was so chopped up I started to read the recap and looked for it on YouTube. Silly story and Guy wasn't really right for the role, IMHO.

I fervently desire to have and to hold for evva is Silvia & Diego Olivera's Azteca version of Montecristo. I watched the whole thing on YouTube almost two years ago, but am going through it again. I'm amazed at how much more I understand the second time through.

My Spanish is ok enough to watch without subtitles or CC's. Can't say the same about movies. I don't know what the difference is perhaps the words themselves or cadence, but I need the subtitles. Maybe I understand tn's better because they use the same phrases over and over and are easily recognizable--No me toques; Suelteme; Largate; No es cierto; Te amo; Yo mas.
END of ESSAY

 

I have many DVDs of telenovelas. My favorite is Pasion de Gavilanes. Yes, it's edited down from the original full length version from Telemundo, but most of the storyline is there and it was fun to watch. The worst one the 1993 Corazon Salvaje DVD -- they butchered the entire thing to death.

IMHO, the main reason I purchased the DVDs for Amor Real, Alborada, Pasion, MEPS and STuD is that they contained an english subtitle function. Also AR, Alborada and Pasion included extras like cast bios and bloopers. AMF did undergo lots of edits, and the music is all different from the TV version, but if you've never seen it at all, and can't find the original full length television version, it does cover the major plot points of the story.
 

Has anyone bought the ones on Ebay that go for about $1550-$200? I was looking at La Hija del Mariachi. Budget cuts forced me to stop looking, but I'd still some day be interested in the original one with Mark Tacher. I know Jorge Salinas will be in the remake but even though he's a good actor, I just don't see it. I think these on Ebay are recordings from tv but they claim the quality is good. I'm sure they wouldn't lie, right?

Kelly
 

I made a mistake and bought "La Otra" on dvd. The story was so abridged it made no sense. I finally had to fill in the missing pieces on you tube. Had the same problem with "corazon salvaje" the much older version. complete waste of time and money. The telemundo videos fare better than most.It is a complete mystery why they butcher their videos the way they do. Bottom line save your money.
 

I have Amor Real and Alborado..my 2 favorite telenovelas. I like the dvds, but I saw the whole shows. They might seem too edited if one hasn't seen the originals.
 

Anita. TN DVDs as souvenirs. That's a good way to put it.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

A friend loaned me her full VHS version of Amor Real. After watching, I bought the DVD thinking that it was going to be just as enjoyable. That was my first DVD purchase and I swore I'd never buy another (especially since I rarely watch the same thing twice). But recently all of the positive comments on the Amor Bravio blog about "Cuando Me Enamoro" (which I missed), have made me anxious to buy the DVD. Contrary to some, I look on it as an advantage not to have the full length tn to compare it to because I would have already set myself up for disappointment. .

Hobre de misterio, yours is a great way of looking at it.



 

My guess is that the production companies don't release the full versions for two reasons:

-- Sticker shock; not that many people would be willing to pay $100 or more.

-- Length, because they want the viewers to come back to the network to watch their new productions. You can't add more hours to a day.

If I were a producer at Televisa I would try to promote the idea of simultaneously producing a feature film version of each prime time novela production. If Peter Jackson could shoot the Lord of the Rings trilogy all in one shooting schedule, this should certainly be possible and desirable.
 

UA - This is an interesting topic. I always look to see what's new and tempting in the DVD possibilities and caved twice.

I watched Alma de Hierro on DVD. It had won all kinds of awards and I missed it completely when it was broadcast here. There's lots missing on the DVDs, but I think an abridged version was probably fine. I didn't love it and can imagine myself getting frustrated by its length if watching for months on end. Some of the performances were excellent, lots of actors I like, etc. So, all in all, it was worth it. And, in fact, I think I might have rented it, so no cost.

On the other hand, PVAA is way too good for an abridged version. I was sorry that I watched it in that way, but once I started, I just couldn't stop.

So, I guess it depends on what you want to in viewing them and the quality of the novela to begin with.
 

Mariana de la Noche wasn't too bad. It left out a lot of the crazy stuff from the second part. While it also substituted another title song for the Juan Gabriel one used in the broadcast it kept the incidental music, which has a fabulous love theme. Of course, you need to have this one in your collection if you are a fan of Jorge Salinas.
 

Urban:

"If I were a producer at Televisa I would try to promote the idea of simultaneously producing a feature film version of each prime time novela production. "

They used to do this back in the 50's and 60's. That's why you can find film versions of some classic novelas (like Teresa).

Jarocha
 

Well, it was only for the most popular ones, not all primetime novelas got that priviledge.

Jarocha
 

I have Manana Es Para Siempre which I got from Amazon. It's mostly fantastic but a few things are left out.
 

I have El Cuerpo del Deseo w/ Cimarro, and thoroughly enjoyed it. didn't see the entire novela on tv.

also got Sortilegio, just for William Levy.
 

I have several of them, but mainly ones I have watched full length, like PVAA, Destilando Amor, CS2009MEPS, Dinero, and FELS. FELS I haven't watched yet, cause I am watching that on Youtube before I watch the DVD. I agree they do edit alot of the storyline out, but that being said, alot of what they edit out is secondary storylines. I agree with Anita, they are great souvenirs of the novela. They usually put the main storyline in, except for CS 2009. That one disappointed me cause they left most of the love story of Juan and Regina out. Destilando Amor was the best one. It left most of the storyline in with not too much cut. I too would love it if they made these DVD's full length and charged a little more, like under $100 or edit them better to get more of the storyline in.
 

I actually loved FELS (the series) for the actors, the music, and the series' overall look. It had script issues out the wazoo. When you finally screen the DVD let me know if it substituted any or all of the music. That's one of my biggest peeves about these things.
 

Once when I was between TNs, I watched the Corazón Salvaje with Eduardo Yáñez and Aracely Arámbula on DVD, and it was pretty fun. The plot was a little choppy, but I filled it in with the recaps from Caray so I had some idea who was who. The Spanish was pretty good and the melodrama was over the top! I showed my students one of the swordfighting scenes with English subtitles, and they got a big kick out of it.
 

Urban, I sure will let you know :)
 

I bought the dvd of "Mariana de la Noche" after reading this thread and UA's recommendation of it as a must-see for Jorge Salinas fans.

I've watched half of it so far and am enjoying it and not having any problems to speak of in following the abridged story-line. JS is at his finest (in both senses of the word!)

Karamy
 

where can i find Amor Bravio on dvd not worried about theprie just need to buy it as a gift
 

I bought here , Love and Heart Wild Bravio but have DVD subtitles are not the highlights are the full versions http://mistelenovelasfavoritas.com/store/home/25-amor-bravio-dvd.html