StarmanSkywalker

Burton’s Batman fans: Has anyone here been on this ride in the 90’s? The Batman Adventure ride is in the same vein as Star Tours (1987) and The Back to the Future Ride (1991), both projects which have an avid restoration community.
The footage used for the movie ride was filmed on the Burbank Lot after principal photography wrapped on Batman Returns. Does anyone know if there’s ever been an attempt made to find and restore the 35mm film material?

Here’s the information available on Wikipedia:

On 23 December 1992, Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia opened the US$9 million Batman Adventure - The Ride motion simulator ride. The ride was based upon Tim Burton’s Batman films, the second of which was released earlier that year.

In 1996, Batman Abenteuer (Batman Adventure) opened with Warner Bros. Movie World in Germany. The ride was identical to the version that opened in Australia many years prior.

In 2001, Warner Bros. Movie World in Australia revamped their ride and renamed it Batman Adventure - The Ride 2. As part of this process the original live-action film was scrapped in favour of computer-generated high-definition film developed by Blur Studio.The new film featured elements from four of the Batman films as well as the animated series franchise released before Batman Begins.
 

As a kid I remember seeing ads for the park, unfortuately I never ended up going there.

Here are some ride videos taken at the German Warner Bros. Movie World in Germany.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilBpXMKGu7s&feature=youtu.be&t=278

Pre-ride cam footage (taken at the Australian park):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXQSFxS10bY

Shoot, they aired the DVD Edition today. Well, here's hope customer service will get back to me within the next few day. Other than that, the final option is to sit down with my editor friend and see if we can export it from the drive with the equipment he could have access to.

Yes, I checked. 1080i it is.

Some updates:
Another Austrian TV channel is gonna air TPM in HD on December 27th. Not the best station, since they tend to show inserts and whatnot. Fingers crossed this is the same version, not the one shown on German TV.

Haven't heard back from customer service yet, maybe by tomorrow.

I hope so, too.

RU.08 said:

So it had the shorter podracing sequence? I'm right to be skeptical, since the VHS and jap-LD were the last we ever saw of the theatrical version...

 Yep, it's the theatrical version, no doubt about it. I took some pictures off the screen, mind you the quality is not representative of the broadcast's colors, brightness and sharpness). There is still visible film dirt (see the three spots Mace Windu's close-up).

I don't fully see the point to invest in transfer equipment for an incomplete taping. ORF will most likely air the film again within the next couple of months (usually between February and April, but I just sent out an E-Mail to customer service for a more definitive answer and the possibility of acquiring a copy, as unlikely as that is due to copyrights).

I have someone in the family who can directly capture the full feature next time it is shown. Then only the shots with the hard-coded german subtitles would need to be replaced, resulting in a consistent quality transfer (most likely 720p broadcast, not 1080p as first assumed) of the whole feature.

Absolutely. Unfortunately I only taped it from the night before Boonta Eve until the end and it's very hard to get anything but an audio signal out of those UPC DVRs without investing into an HD-Fury.

^This

That'd definitely be awesome along with AOTC. I think they only released ROTS on Widescreen VHS in the U.K.

Great screenshots so far, especially interested how your ROTJ will look like.
Your new Ep I-III color timing I am still most looking forward to.

HD Fury is the only helpful device. But let's hold off on any investments until Sky Germany starts their Star Wars channel in a few weeks. With a bit of luck they will air the theatrical cut as well.

I can take photos of the screen tomorrow. The original Republica 500 exterior shot after the arrival on Coruscant will be the most obvious proof. Anyone have any requests?

If you need proof, let me know, I have it on my UPC DVR. ;)
Beginning with the night before the race all the way to the end.

Unfortunately there is no way to get it off the DVR's HD without breaking the warranty seal (it's a rental only deal) and everything on it is encoded in HDCP.

The 1080p Theatrical Cut of TPM was recently aired on Austrian TV two years ago. Definitely the highest quality source of TPM besides the DNR'd Blu-Ray Edition. I hope it will be shown this way again sooner than later.

I like the idea, but the best source material for this project would be the theatrical cut itself, which was aired on Austrian TV in HD in 2012. I don't have the complete film on my UPC DVR since it really took me by surprise when I found out it wasn't the DVD Director's Cut.

The balance between picture clarity, detail and grain is perfect in that version. The hues are also very good.
Shame there is no way to get it off the UPC DVR because of the unique encoding of that box. 

Here's to hoping the Sky Star Wars channel will use the same source. Also, why not use the 7.1. DTS-HD audio and make a couple of edits? I believe most of the newly added shots are SFX only.

A 24/7 Star Wars channel for the Holidays? Now that is just incredible!

I'd love to see 1080p versions of all the modern documentaries.

I just hope they will show the HD version of the theatrical version of TPM, which was shown on Austrian TV in 2012. It's possible.

Next time it airs on ORF HD, I will post the info.

To my surprise, Austria's ORF aired an HD broadcast of the theatrical cut of TPM in 2012.
I didn't know such a thing would even exist. It certainly doesn't look like an upscale of an SD source to my eyes. I could have sworn they had shown the DVD version previously.

The interesting thing about this Theatrical Cut is that the quality is superior to the 1080p HDTV version, as in white areas show less heavy grain and the color balance seems more accurate (no major pink hue). I recorded it back in the 2012 onto my UPC DVR, unfortunately only from the night before the Podrace onwards and there is no way converting that stupid UPC codec to save it as a proper video on my computer without breaking the box open and causing the warranty to expire (it's only a rental).

Next time it's on I will ask someone to save it for me proper.

Hate to be that guy, but I cannot understand the notion that you started all over again, making a contemporary yet traditionally shot film look more contemporary.  Bringing it closer to this over-used color palette kind of defeats the purpose, since SW films have a classic, timeless cinematography that never succumbed to the flavour of the month (or decade in this case). The footage and the screenshots both feel dominated by orange and teal to the point it is somewhat distracting.

That said, the Battle of Coruscant clip was an interesting alternative viewing experience. I especially liked the contrast and the grain. I can't help but wish you had stuck to the style you had gradually perfected in the months prior, though.

*You will post these fan edits on MySpleen.*

;)

Always nice to see action in this thread.

This is the first time I really thought about it, but a couple of the trailer narrator's lines sound like Harrison Ford to me. Could it be him, intentionally trying not to sound too much like himself? "Coming to your Galaxy next Summer." especially.

Sweet, can't wait.
I watched the opening again today. The grain is very subtle most of the time, but it really does wonders to bringing back lost detail.

Forth'd.

tehparadox and my wifi don't agree and it keeps dropping the longer downloads. However, from the first segment of TPM, I could already see that the subtle grain did bring back the surface detail.

I concur with the others, this image has the perfect blend of all elements. Before, the blue of the leather bench had turned too turquoise in the grading process.
I'm glued to this thread for any further progress! :)

Harmy said:

Check out this sample of Schorman's preservation (pretty much the highest quality of the DVD master available), the BD and a quick adjustment of the BD I made - the BD, while it quite obviously had much more detail before the scrubbing of the grain, still has more detail than the DVD master even after the DVNR.

 Great work on that tweaked Blu-Ray shot also, Harmy.

emanswfan said:

Opening text 4K cropped shot:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/79768

Looks excellent! Personally I have the fondest connection the more golden-orange SW Logo and text crawl from TPM, which this setting closely resembles. IMO it looks more harmonious than the original yellow one, which is now back in every Episode's BD release.

Yep, it's in its original widescreen ratio, save for the edge areas that weren't visible until the Blu-Ray release).

I really have no idea where this HDTV version came, since even back at Celebration IV's Saga Marathon in 2007 Lucasfilm's only digital viewing copy of TPM was based on the DVD Director's Cut (without alien subtitles).

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=123195

^ Oh that would rock my world.

I so wish I could somehow rip the Austrian HDTV airing of the THEATRICAL CUT of TPM off my UPC DVR, but it is encoded in a way that I've read time and time again can't be salvaged into another format without loss in quality and the machine's warranty (no USB hubs and rental only).

Yes, you heard me right, there is an HD version of the theatrical cut available to TV stations and it looks less grainy (in the white areas especially) than any of the other HD sources. It is light on film grain, but strong on detail (no waxy visuals like the BD). Usually it's always the DVD cut airing, so I was taken by surprise to see the film the way I used to see it in theatres and on VHS again.

I hope they will air it again soon, so I can ask someone with a sat dish and a good receiver to rip it.

emanswfan said:

So I'm thinking about releasing two versions: an oldified film version (like I have been working on most recently) and the closest recreation of what a 35mm theatre print would have looked like in 4K.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/78535  (comparison is in between untouched 1080p image and 4K upscaled w. filmic adjustments)

It would be the best of both worlds, one that keeps relatively pure to the original theatrical look, but having a 35mm appearance, and one that aims to look the same age or older than the OT film look.  ROTS is already complete for its theatrical print recreation.  I went through a lot of research to get the movie to have the same look as the film stocks it was printed on for movie theatres. 

 I am very happy to hear you are going with both versions. The screenshot looks splendid. :)
I can't wait to see watch all three the way I remember them looking back in theaters in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively.

Will you be going with the theatrical cuts or the Blu-Ray releases? The reason I ask is because I really can't wrap my head around the Blu-Ray edit to Dooku's escape in AOTC. It had the perfect flow until 2011. On the same page I feel Shmi's tortured cries for help really enhanced Anakin's nightmare scene.