Looks like Terminator Fans have a petition of their own

http://www.petitiononline.com/Syboltma/petition.html

I thought about buying the latest blu-ray version of The Terminator but returned it before I opened it when I read the reviews on it not being very good at blu-ray.com. I did buy the blu-ray Skynet Edition of Terminator 2 and while I was okay with the image quality and special features, people were complaining about that too. Now I hear a new blu-ray version of T2 is in the works. I wish these movie companies would slow down and take their time with these DVD releases and just release one version in each format instead of releasing 4+ different versions per format that are slightly different with all the same complaints. How many times has Star Wars been released on DVD like 4 or 5 times now? I wish these studios would go to forums like this one, imdb.com, and others and actually READ what fans want instead of assuming what they want or think they are too good to read what fans want.

I know with Star Wars it is a matter of George Lucas's ego why the DVDs have been so terrible, but it seems like with a lot of these DVDs they are ill released and don't serve justice to the fans.

I don't know about you guys but I have been going to Suncoast to buy my DVDs/Blu-rays. I know they are usually the most expensive, but I find goods deals and I like to support them because a lot have closed in my area and I would hate to see them all go.

I was wondering if you guys have Suncoasts in your area and do you go there for DVD/Blu-rays? Recently I have started downloading content off the internet and I may stop buying DVDs/Blu-rays altogether. The problem I have with downloading vs. DVDs/Blu-rays is you're not sure what you're getting. With Blu-rays you know it is official 1080p with all the extra features attached, but with downloading often time the files don't match that of a DVD/Blu-ray size and most people don't include the extra features included with the movie. Of course I only download from legal sources.

The Skynet Edition looks like garbage.  It's almost as bad as the "Ultimate Hunter Edition" of Predator.

Haven't seen any T1 Blu-Rays, so I don't know how they look.

I rarely buy new from a store unless there's a sale going on, or it's something I have to have right away (very rare - Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now are the only two that I've done this for so far).  I get the majority of my movies from the used section at FYE, or from Reckless Records (all used).

Yeah, the Japanese BR of T2 is pretty great.  I don't have it, but I've seen screenshot comparisons.  I believe it also has one full disc devoted to each cut of the film (so, one disc for the theatrical cut, one disc for the extended cut), unlike the "Skynet Edition," which has both cuts on one disc seamlessly-branched.

I remember a lot of people bitching about how "bad" the Ghostbusters Blu-Ray looked.  I own it, and I think it looks absolutely perfect, grain and all.  One of my favorite BR's, actually, for that reason - it looks exactly like I imagine it did in theaters during its original run.

Oh, and Sky - Back to the Future wasn't shot on Super 35, it was regular, open-matte 35mm.  Same for parts 2 and 3.

What a dumb petition.

Ok, fine you want better quality.  I get it.  But it's not like the original version is missing or anything.  Also...

We want a new Blu-Ray Special Edition of THE TERMINATOR with excellent image and sound quality, special features, extras, deleted scenes and cast/crew interviews.

I doubt the lack of substantial special features is going to lead to the creation of originalterminator.com.

Original Terminator found.

That's a cocktail that won't stop EVER until you are dead (drunk).

I actually have Terminator 2 Premium Edition SteelBook coming from Japan, should be here soon.

The Terminator franchise is an excellent example on how to turn a terrible concept into a fantastic movie by just using good writing and directing. The story is about a computer called skynet, sending a robot back in time to kill the mother of the child that will basically destroy skynet by starting and leading a rebellion against skynet's genocide of the human race. It sounds like the story of a cheesy Saturday morning cartoon. So many things could have gone wrong but James Cameron pulled off a believable, dark, exciting movie by using good acting, casting, cinematography, writing, and special effects. A lot of people defend the prequels because they say it was hard material to work with, but really the material has very little to do with the effectiveness of the movie. You could make a movie about a bunch of people in a room and depending on how you write direct and film it it could potentially be a very interesting and entertaining film.

Stan Winston died? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had no idea. I'll go look that up...

If I had a cannon for the word canon, I would blow that shit up every time I heard it.

I'm so done with "canon."  Who cares?

Seriously?  Stan Winston died in 2008, dude.

Ghostbusters said:

The Terminator franchise is an excellent example on how to turn a terrible concept into a fantastic movie by just using good writing and directing. The story is about a computer called skynet, sending a robot back in time to kill the mother of the child that will basically destroy skynet by starting and leading a rebellion against skynet's genocide of the human race. It sounds like the story of a cheesy Saturday morning cartoon. So many things could have gone wrong but James Cameron pulled off a believable, dark, exciting movie by using good acting, casting, cinematography, writing, and special effects.

I agree the execution of the story was very well done, but I disagree that there's anything wrong with the concept. It's an excellent concept, stolen from a top writer. It's a fascinating idea, full of dramatic situations, genuinely scary, not as cliche then as it is now, and I really wonder what Saturday morning cartoons you watch.

Ghostbusters said:

The Terminator franchise is an excellent example on how to turn a terrible concept into a fantastic movie by just using good writing and directing. The story is about a computer called skynet, sending a robot back in time to kill the mother of the child that will basically destroy skynet by starting and leading a rebellion against skynet's genocide of the human race. It sounds like the story of a cheesy Saturday morning cartoon. So many things could have gone wrong but James Cameron pulled off a believable, dark, exciting movie by using good acting, casting, cinematography, writing, and special effects. A lot of people defend the prequels because they say it was hard material to work with, but really the material has very little to do with the effectiveness of the movie. You could make a movie about a bunch of people in a room and depending on how you write direct and film it it could potentially be a very interesting and entertaining film.

The Terminator 'franchise" shows everything that goes wrong when a strong science fiction idea, turned into a slightly cheesy but tight and pacey action film with a great bleak ending becomes the well remembered early success of a rising director.

It becomes a 'franchise'.

The Terminator didn't need a sequel, it was perfectly self contained but if there had to be more films set in the same fictional universe did they have to be all slide rule calculated demographic pleasers?

The formula has been followed without much in the way of wit or creativity but who cares because it's a 'franchise' not a series of stories set in the same universe, it's only aim from that point is to squeeze money out of the brand name.

There is nothing wrong with making money but good story telling can make money, the first film proved that.

Salvation proved how story telling is still being sacrificed on the altar of brand identity.

The last act of the that film was made nonsensical by slashing the intended storyline to ribbons because of interweb panic at the leaked script.

In the end it back fired because the television series which was telling interesting stories was curtailed to make room for an artistically compromised film that didn't make anywhere near the money that was expected and hoped for.

I like all four Terminator movies.

One and two on their own merits.

Three after Uncanny Antman was done slicing and dicing it.

Four with a few modest trims by Q2.

That is all.

I'm in a bit of a Terminator phase at the moment.

Somehow, I never saw any of them until a couple years ago, when the lady friend got me to watch the first two movies.  I didn't give them as much thought as I would later, but found them to be pretty cool.  I think I liked the second one more, not so much because the effects were better but the story seemed more involved and developed and so forth, and it was just plain thrilling to watch.  Which is not to say that I didn't like the first, of course, I like them both considerably.

I've never seen the third or fourth movies.  From what I've heard, they sound like they're pretty bad, so I'm going to steer clear of them.

Several months ago we started to watch the tv show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  The fact that it starred Summer Glau played a part in that, because we were already big fans of Firefly.  I found myself particularly intrigued by her character, since there was a strange and fascinating disconnect between her nature as a killing machine and her ability to convincingly fake (or not fake?!) real feeling.  The show does have some writing problems, namely that whole wretched subplot with Riley and Jesse; and tvtropes accurately describes the show as suffering from "designated protagonist syndrome", meaning that Sarah Connor is ostensibly the main character and yet her part of the story isn't nearly as interesting as Cameron's and others.  Still, while there are flaws, as a whole it was a good show that I enjoyed quite a lot, with a lot of really cool ideas (Catherine Weaver and John Henry, especially), and I was sorry to come to the end of it.  With the cancellation leaving it on a ridiculously epic cliffhanger, sometimes I drive myself bonkers trying to figure out what the hell was supposed to happen next!

One of the things about the show that I appreciated was that it pretty much ignores the other movies and only follows from the first two.  It was kind of like, yeah, that's nice, but we're doing a completely separate thing that overwrites it.  Honestly, the idea that a completely different computer system could go on to become exactly the same as the one built by Miles Dyson was ludicrous to the extreme.  The show's approach was more along the lines that Skynet was actively aiding the process of its own creation, rather than it being crazy random happenstance, so in that case it makes a lot more sense.

Still, ultimately the first two movies are the essential heart of the Terminator story, more important than anything else, and there are times when I choose to believe that Judgement Day was averted and everything was just dandy after that.  ;)

On a tech level, the existing Bluray of the T1 apparently does not have a original mono mix, while the dvd I have does.  I haven't done an exhaustive comparison of it with the 5.1 version, but the balance was usually quite different from what I remember.  The original is an aesthetically superior mix, but I'd have to go back and listen again to make any more meaningful comments.  The thing that really stood out as being objectionable and unnecessary was changing the sound of Arnold's pistol from the .44 Magnum effect to something else entirely.  No idea why they did that, but it was an unfortunate change that shouldn't have been made.

My copy of T2 has a 6.1 remix in DTS that sounds fantastic.  I haven't heard the original 70mm/CDS version.  Does anyone know if there are any significant changes or differences?

The Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled? I watch it a few times during its first season, but quickly lost interest. I'm not sure if I just forgot about it or didn't care. I thought it was kind of good though.

I found Terminator 3 pretty funny, I didn't take it seriously as a continuation of the story, but for what it was it was entertaining enough. I didn't bother seeing Terminator 4, just didn't care enough.

Ghostbusters said:

 You could make a movie about a bunch of people in a room and depending on how you write direct and film it it could potentially be a very interesting and entertaining film.

that was done, and it is a very interesting and entertaining film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/

Anchorhead said:

doubleofive said:

...and some people who only acknowledge the original Terminator and complain that T2 made the universe too small... ;-)

 

Could you at least wait until I've left the room?

;-)

lol!