logo Sign In

Fox France confirms the French OOT release >NOT< to be anamorphic

Author
Time
Everyone go back, we are getting shoddy OOT releases in September.

Move along...
Author
Time
Can someone translate and post the article please? I've seen the link to this site before, but have no idea if they are as reputable as Digital Bits or others.

I have...A New Hope...

Perhaps it was George's last laugh at us before caving in? His final jab? Wind us up with a press release that implies we get a third rate release, let us do all the talking and spreading the news across every site we can, let the dvd sites fill their screens with blurbs about Star Wars and how much it means to everyone .... then let it be known it will be a decent release ?

If that is indeed the case, I guess it got far more press than it would have otherwise. If they had said right from the start it was going to be anamorphic, then we would have just focused our bitching about the lack of extras, or any number of other gripes.


I said before I'd wait and see what was released before making a call on buying or not. I stand by that.


Ebay is having a 10 cent listing day, so I'm flatout listing a couple of hundred SW figures to sell anyway.
Author
Time
Originally posted by: SpecialEditionSaboteur
Or maybe the French dvd will be different, as dvds sometimes are.


Hmm, but not from major distributors which have the worldwide rights. Not to count the embarassment for Lucasfilm and Fox that the French subsidiary has made a better DVD on their own. I personally think that if this is true, this is planned for the worldwide release, but Fox France were the first to spread the news.
Author
Time
Ooooooooh!

Guys!

Is anyone else excited?
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
Author
Time
I've e-mailed both Lucasfilm and Fox France regarding this news and hopefully I'll get a response soon. Man, I hope this is true. Then I would bloody move to France!
peace,

Rebelscum
Author
Time
Lucky France people if its true then the others must be the same !! anamorphic in uk and usa
May the force be wth you .........
Author
Time
That deserves a Headbutt!
"Among many things I have to be thankful for are you, the fans. I know that some of you haven't liked every single thing that I've done with the saga, and that you have a strong sense of ownership over all things Star Wars. But take that passion and devotion and channel it into a creative project of your own."
-George Lucas
Author
Time
Using Google translator:

To comfort you defeat of the team of France yesterday evening (and which made it possible the author of these lines to win its bet), our beautiful territory another type of victory gained! The original assemblies of the first trilogy Star Wars soon available in zone 2 will profit from a compatible transfer 16/9ème! It from now on certain, is confirmed by Fox France who would perhaps have, knows one never, heard and retransmitted with the authorities concerned the laments justified of the fans throughout the world to see films only announced into 4/3. And to remain chauvinistic until the end, also let us add that the American discs are not yet very some to profit from the same preferential treatment.

Announced for September 13 in France, these editions will propose each one two DVD: one for the version 2004, the other for the version of origin (1977-1980-1983 respectively). The DVD of the version 2004 will begin again with identical that available in the left box there are one year and half, proposing film approved THX in a compatible transfer 16/9 4/3 to format 2.35, accompanied by tracks Dolby DIGITAL 5.1 EX in French and English, and subtitles in the same languages.
Author
Time
Restructured by me:

To comfort the defeat of our France soccer team yesterday evening (which made it possible that the author of these lines won a bet), another type of victory has been brought to our beautiful territory ! The original versions of the first Star Wars trilogy, soon available in RC2, will profit from a 16:9 transfer! We are certain about it, because Fox France confirmed it who perhaps, one may never now, were concerned about the justified fan protests all over the world regarding the 4:3 transfer, and contacted the authorities. And to remain chauvinistic until the end, also let us add that the American discs are not yet scheduled to profit from the same preferential treatment.

Announced for September 13 in France, these editions will each have two DVD's: one for the 2004 versions, the other for the original versions (1977-1980-1983 respectively). The DVD's of the 2004 versions will be again identical to the version which has been released one and a half year ago, proposing a THX approved film in a 16/9 & 4/3 compatible transfer in the 2.35 format, accompanied Dolby DIGITAL 5.1 EX audio tracks in French and English, and subtitles in the same languages
Author
Time
Who cares. Anamorphic schmanamorphic. Its still the 1993 Laserdisk telecine and until they correct this nothing at all has changed.
Author
Time
If this is true then we've finally won - how cool would that be?

I've written to Bill Hunt at the digital bits to see if they've heard anything official yet... it looks good though :-)

Zombie84: I appreciate your sentiments, but even if it IS from the laserdisc masters, they will still look pretty good being D1 digital masters (confirmed on another site) - certainly alot better than the LDs.

IFFFF this is true I would imagine Lucasfilm have done a new transfer however.... we shall see.....
Author
Time
Originally posted by: zombie84
Who cares. Anamorphic schmanamorphic. Its still the 1993 Laserdisk telecine and until they correct this nothing at all has changed.


Patience, young Padawan. If this is true, all cards could have been remixed in the game. Being anamorphic may be the best indicator that they made a new transfer. What we need now is an official statement. Perhaps someone at thedigitalbits should be informed about it, to create he publicity. At least it will focus the public attention on the non anamorphic issue once again, and if Lucasfilm is again, so stupid and denying this, it will be like ripping open the wounds again.
Author
Time
Here's a slightly more readable version of the translation (I don't have my French dictionary with me, but I've got some experience with translating):

To console you after the defeat of the France's team yesterday evening (which made it possible for the author of these lines to win his bet), our beautiful country gained another type of victory! The original cuts of the first Star Wars trilogy soon available in Region 2 will benefit from a 16:9 compatible transfer! It is certain from now on, confirmed by Fox France who perhaps have, one never knows, heard and passed on to the powers that be the justified laments of fans throughout the world to see the films announced only in 4:3. And to remain chauvinistic until the end, let us also add that the American discs are not yet certain to benefit from the same preferential treatment as well.

Announced for September 13 in France, these editions will each consist of two DVDs: one for the 2004 version, the other for the original version (1977-1980-1983 respectively). The 2004 version DVD will be be the same again as the one available in the box set from a year and a half ago, proposing THX approved film in a 16:9 compatible transfer 4:3 to format 2.35, accompanied by Dolby DIGITAL 5.1 EX tracks in French and English, and subtitles in the same languages.
I half-expect this to happen, but I'm not entirely sure I believe it yet. However, it's quite possible France just got to find out first. The fact is, Lucasfilm would be really foolish at this point to continue with a non-anamorphic transfer after the well-publicized outcry of the fans.

--SKot

EDIT: Oops! Vigo beat me to it. Well, between someone whose first language is English (me), and someone whose first language is French (correct me if I'm wrong, Vigo), you get the drift.

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

Author
Time
They've just created a fake-anamorphic transfer from the original non-anamorphic telecine. It can be argued that this is even harmful. Until they fix the problem of the 1993 Laserdisk telecine (yes, i know its not a straight transfer) nothing has changed. People get hungup on anamorphic but thats simply a by-product of a larger issue. Now they fix the anamorphic issue with a fake-anamorphic conversion and people forget about the larger problem. Manipulation at its best.
Author
Time
Originally posted by: SKot
EDIT: Oops! Vigo beat me to it. Well, between someone whose first language is English (me), and someone whose first language is French (correct me if I'm wrong, Vigo), you get the drift.


Actually, I´m German, but I had French in school, so I can understand quite a bit.
Author
Time
Originally posted by: Vigo
Actually, I´m German, but I had French in school, so I can understand quite a bit.
Ah... well, German is my second language (and French I suppose is my third), but I hope you never have to correct my rusty German!

zombie84:
We don't know this is a fake anamorphic transfer. In fact, we don't know anything about it yet. Wait and see before condemning it. Even a fake-anamorphic transfer would likely look better than any "fanamorphic" version any of us could produce. I know that's still not what we really want, but it's a step forward.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

Author
Time
Don't get too excited : this website has already proven itself not to be a very reliable source.
Author
Time
Originally posted by: zombie84
They've just created a fake-anamorphic transfer from the original non-anamorphic telecine. It can be argued that this is even harmful. Until they fix the problem of the 1993 Laserdisk telecine (yes, i know its not a straight transfer) nothing has changed. People get hungup on anamorphic but thats simply a by-product of a larger issue. Now they fix the anamorphic issue with a fake-anamorphic conversion and people forget about the larger problem. Manipulation at its best.


This may be a realistic scenario, BUT: would they be that stupid? They should know that everyone would find out about this, and this would create an even more negative backlash: react to the non-anamorphic issue by providing fake anamorphic transfers, trying to cheaply decieve the fans and the public on an anticipated DVD release.

Please, don´t let them be that stupid. Let this all be an ingenious marketing attempt to stir up interest in the OOT DVD release, and to make GL the winner, who has giving in to the will of he fans.
Author
Time
P.S. On page TWO of that article it says they will still be dolby surround however, which is fine by me - this is how they were released afterall. I;d prefer they didn't do any kind of remix at all.
Author
Time
Originally posted by: NDV
Don't get too excited : this website has already proven itself not to be a very reliable source.


How so?

Author
Time
You all do remember that the french version of the 2004 DVDs had the music intact during the battlke of yavin but the Region 1 & 2 discs did not. What if this is no different what if the french versions are anemorphic but the region 1 & 2 discs are not.


Author
Time
Originally posted by: Marvolo
You all do remember that the french version of the 2004 DVDs had the music intact during the battlke of yavin but the Region 1 & 2 discs did not. What if this is no different what if the french versions are anemorphic but the region 1 & 2 discs are not.


On the English or French audio track? We Germans have all the soundeffects from the 1977 mono mix in our DD5.1 soundmix, you know? Besides, French is Region 2, so if the German releases are inferior, I know where to get my DVD´s.

Author
Time
Here's the rest of the article translated (did I miss this or did they add this later?):

The DVD of the original version will include the film, THX approved, in a 16:9 and also 4:3 compatible transfer to 2.35 format (hooray for this!), accompanied by Dolby Surround tracks (the original format) in English and French, and by subtitles in the same languages. Regarding the bonus, one will have to be satisfied with an audio commentary on each film in its 2004 version, the remaining DVDs identical to those sold in the preceding box. The fourth bonus DVD available in the box set continues to be exclusive to that release.

Check back soon for confirmation - in images - in the reviews of the three films.

Release France: September 13, 2006, for a limited time until December 31, 2006
I hope they know what they're talking about.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

Author
Time
Looks like The Digital Bits just confirmed this to be the case at least in France, via an e-mail they received from dvdrama.com.

Let's hope they are planning to follow suit for the rest of the world.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]