DirecTV just got BBC America in HD this summer, possibly it is slowly rolling out on different providers.

Oh, good! I never thought I'd say this (mostly because I think it sounds kinda douchey) but once you go hi-def, it's difficult to watch anything less.

i'm fairly certain they edit out, at least, a few minutes of the original airing for extra commercial breaks. that's why i've always ahemmed.

I know the initial airing sometimes goes over an hour, but the repeats are always an hour, so I think for the initial broadcast you may get everything. I don't think they are consistent with it though.

Can't recall if anyone has linked to these little BBC shorts called "Pond Life." Super short and cute!

Intro: >[link] Part 1: >[link] Part 2: >[link] Part 3: >[link] Part 4: [link]

Here's some of the story I grew up reading, Vonnie:

So everything went on for a long time, until at last, happy as she was, Beauty began to long for the sight of her father and her brothers and sisters; and one night, seeing her look very sad, the Beast asked her what was the matter. Beauty had quite ceased to be afraid of him. Now she knew that he was really gentle in spite of his ferocious looks and his dreadful voice. So she answered that she was longing to see her home once more. Upon hearing this the Beast seemed sadly distressed, and cried miserably.

"Ah! Beauty, have you the heart to desert an unhappy Beast like this? What more do you want to make you happy? Is it because you hate me that you want to escape?"

"No, dear Beast," answered Beauty softly, "I do not hate you, and I should be very sorry never to see you any more, but I long to see my father again. Only let me go for two months, and I promise to come back to you and stay for the rest of my life."

He's clearly not a Bad Boy--he's a Nice Guy, and that's entirely endorsed by the story. I mean, he threatens her with his death--that's the penalty exacted if she doesn't fulfil her promise to return.

And before she leaves, she has this conversation with her dream prince:

"Indeed, I should be ungrateful if I did not care for such a kind Beast," cried Beauty indignantly. "I would die to save him from pain. I assure you it is not his fault that he is so ugly."

The bad boy message was definitely a later addition. He threatens the father with death, but it's still not about him. This story is her saying yes to the beast because she stops holding onto the dream cutie in her head. And because this is magical fairy tale land, she gets her cake and eats it too. But there's no character arc for the Beast. The story is all about her eyes opening.

So, in a really big nutshell, that's why your initial post confused me. And, boy, do I have little to no urge to see the Disney version, if that's what they did to it. When I said I wan't interested in the story, it was the Nice Guy stuff that left me cold.

Huh. Then I don't know which version it is that gave me the impression that Belle was not allowed to leave initially, until her father fell ill. Maybe that was the Disney version? I haven't seen it since I watched it on its initial run, which was 20 years ago.

Karen Gillian and Matt Smith perform the Doctor Who Theme: [link]

Then I don't know which version it is that gave me the impression that Belle was not allowed to leave initially, until her father fell ill.

That's the "original" version in my head. But I've never heard of a version where Beauty was talking with a prince in her dreams.

My fairy tale bibles are the coloured fairy books. I have no idea how they rank in terms of One True Plot, but they're what I come back to to get righted. They are what I read first for most of the stories.

I make sure my ereaders are loaded up with as much of the spectrum as I can find.