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Jail Time Makes Colargol SadThe question that has been lingering through all the pages is, what happened to Colargol? Why can't we buy the show as a complete collection of DVDs like all the Il était une fois ... series? Exact details are not widely known but based on the facts given by Jason Vanderhill on his currently unavailable Colargol pages the situation looks grave. When the show was made Se-Ma-For retained the rights for the Polish distribution. However, Se-Ma-For was a state run organization and the changed economical realities caused by the fall of the Eastern Bloc eventually led to its collapse. While Se-Ma-For was later re-established in its current form, all the rights for material produced between 1947 and 1999 including the Polish version of Colargol were inherited by the Polish National Filmotheque. Because of this, there are still legal copies of DVDs available in Poland, although a complete collection has never been published. For the rest of the world the situation is even worse. Procidis initially held the rights for distribution but at some point differences in opinions between Procidis and the right holders of the previously created Colargol operetta, the material of which was used throughout the series to provide the musical score, grew so large that the dispute went to court and Procidis lost the case and thus the distribution rights. Since various national television networks had licensed the show from Procidis, they lost the right to broadcast it as well (the Finnish version of Colargol was seen the last time in 1987). I don't currently know whether the court only revoked the distribution rights or actually transferred them to the winning side, an issue that has consequences regarding possible solutions to the dilemma and something that I must try to find out (is it possible that nobody has the rights for the French TV show at the moment?) Now, what are the possible avenues for solving the dilemma to see the little bear on the screen again? The Polish ConnectionSince there aren't any legal obstacles for publishing the Polish version it would appear to be the path of least resistance. The downside is, of course, that not all people are Polish or even know the language. However, at the Internet age that is only a minor inconvenience since fan made (unauthorized) subtitles can easily bridge the gap if one is willing to use somewhat grey hat solutions (unauthorized is not the same as illegal since anybody can create their own commentary track for an existing piece of work). The Polish voice casting is completely agreeable and subtitles can always be turned off once you know the dialogue by heart. The honorable way would be that everybody bought their own legal copies of Polish DVDs and downloaded a separate set of free subtitles for their language of choice to complement the viewing – that way the original creators and the company that remastered the DVDs would actually receive some compensation for their work. The dishonorable scenario would of course be that people just ripped the DVDs into the P2P net and nobody bought the originals. However, the fear of illegal copying shouldn't be a major factor in making decisions about whether to publish the material or not. With a vintage show like Colargol those who really want to see it again will gladly pay for authorized content, especially if it is easier and safer to obtain than an illegal copy from some shady corner of the Net. Those who only download illegal copies wouldn't have bought the legal one in the first place and the net effect is still marginally on the positive since the illegal copies can be seen as free advertisement creating further demand, the way fansubbed anime has paved the way for legal copies in the western world. Reflecting on this, an approach that would bypass the hassles of hunting down region coded PAL only DVDs and getting them sent around the world, would be if the current rights holder or its subsidiary provided a direct download of high quality digital copies of the material, for a fee of course. That would meet both the criteria for convenience but the question is whether the rights holder is willing to contemplate such a progressive idea. There is also the legal question about whether the rights are for the Polish version or the Polish distribution since in the latter case complications could arise if the downloading option is seen as an international distribution (restricting the download to Polish IP numbers would do little since that can be trivially bypassed with a proxy). The obvious action item would thus be to contact Filmoteka Narodowa and query whether there are any plans for publishing further content in Polish, whether they have the rights for publishing in Polish or in Poland, and to convey the issues discussed here. Update Jan 20, 2010: I just received a reply from the Polish company SDT Film responsible for the existing Polish VHS and DVD releases. Apparently, the 1967 distribution agreement between Procidis and Se-Ma-For gave Se-Ma-For exclusive rights for the Eastern Bloc and Procidis got the rest of the world, with a mutual royalty clause. However, this agreement is also being contested in court! The case hasn't been resolved yet but meanwhile it looks like even the Polish Colargol is locked up. The French AffairIn an ideal world people could settle old disputes and just live happily together but in the reality this is seldom the case. It is uncertain whether the original rights holders are even alive any more (some are known to have deceased), and it is uncertain whether the rights even exist as discussed above. Whatever the agreement was between the authors of the Colargol operetta and Philips Records, one must take into account that the latter was absorbed by Universal Music in 1998 and its classical material is now managed by Decca Music and contemporary material by Mercury Records. The latest known publication of the operetta material is from 1996 and it is by now firmly out of stock. On the other side, Procidis has recently made a deal with Sony Music which manages the international distribution of the various Il était une fois series and these are now available as convenient DVD collection boxes. Having two music industry giants in the same room may not bode well for negotiations but the issue remains that the rights, regardless of who has or doesn't have them, are not currently doing any good to anybody, the general public including. Looking for action items, it is clear that the current state of rights for the TV show must be investigated. If the rights were just revoked then the French Colargol is currently a real persona non grata but that could be possibly reversed. If the rights were actually transferred to the authors of the operetta (the fact that the 1996 re-issue of the CD used the TV version of Colargol instead of the original operetta design on the covers is an ominous sign) then that is a serious problem since there may not be any interest or even ability to redistribute the series unless the rights were transferred directly to Philips, in which case UMG would likely have them now. If somebody actually has the rights but doesn't exert them from the fear of lessening the value of the operetta (which can't be purchased either!) then just release both as a bundle – I am more than happy to pay an extra euro or two to get it all. On the other hand, if somebody is sitting on the rights and not exerting them because there isn't enough financial incentive to do so, then I would like to remind that the prospects won't be getting any better as the people who have actually seen the series age. If the existing fan base cannot make the case that there is an incentive to publish, then why not consider buying some goodwill and just give away what has no redeemable value for you? I know how radical that may sound but one shouldn't ever underestimate the power of genuine goodwill. Other OptionsIf all the Polish and French advances get stalled there is still at least one true grassroots approach left. We as a community already have a somewhat incomplete set of the episodes in our collective possession and it is fairly certain that there are additional pieces lying around in one format or another – it is just a matter of finding them and putting all the pieces together to recreate the show as closely as possible. This would be the most legally questionable approach of them all but if those who hold the rights refuse to publish the material, a moral case can be made that a public recreation of the show at this phase is in line with the original intent if not necessarily the current letter of the copyright law which is supposed to provide the public an access to culture and the authors a fair compensation, not to deny both! Finally, the most desperate approach would be to push for modifications to copyright laws. It can be argued that Colargol's current condition is a clear case of copyrights not working as intended – it is making everybody that much poorer instead of richer. Copyright is not a natural right but only a deal between the public and the author, brokered by the society, and it has over time become so lopsided that it is in danger of breaking altogether. While various remedies could be implemented to achieve a better balance (shorter period of copyright instead of the current eternity + 20 more years whenever something 'valuable' is in danger of falling into the public domain, mandatory licensing, revoking of copyright if not exerted within a given time frame, etc.) none of them have a realistic chance of solving this particular problem within our lifetime especially since the current drift is still predominantly in the pro-industry / anti-public direction. Just to be clear, this is not a call to demolishing / ignoring copyright law but a statement in favor of reforming the worst excesses that are causing real problems. What You Can DoIf possible, contact your local TV network that has shown the adventures of Colargol in the past. Even if they don't have the rights for broadcasting the series right now your concern will let them know that there is still demand for it. You can freely use the material on this site to make your case (consider giving a link). If you can discover original episodes that are currently missing (see the workshop for a complete listing of known episodes) then that's great even if they cannot be released – just try to make sure that they aren't destroyed either! If you actually have missing episodes in your possession, please contact me. If you feel confident enough, discuss the current state of copyright laws in the media that are available to you, every voice of reason counts. If you find poor grammar or wording, factual inaccuracies or omissions on these pages, please let me know. If you can think of another approach to get Colargol back feel free to suggest (and pursue) it. If you can transcribe / translate between two relevant languages (Polish, French, English and any target languages) and feel that you could give a non-profit contribution to building a collection of subtitles in various languages then please volunteer through the guestbook. Please also consider signing the petition below. Signing does not constitute an endorsement of any particular option that I have described though you are welcome to give your own opinion that will be published alongside your name. By signing the petition you only make known that you would like to see Colargol re-released. If you want to ask something, please use the guestbook instead of / in addition to signing the petition. While the identity of persons signing the petition is not verified, please don't resort to sockpuppetry since suspicious signatures or inflammatory / unintelligible comments won't be published. The Petition
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This is a non-commercial tribute site. The author is not associated with Procidis France, Se-Ma-For Poland or other right holders for the original Colargol franchise. Unless otherwise indicated, all the material including the puppets is created by the author and is provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. The author doesn't endorse breaking law when pursuing the given objectives. |
