msycamore said:

The Griff said:

AFAIK, the 5.1 remix has been the only available English-language option on all DVD and BD releases. The LDs were mono.

If you wanna sample the difference, perhaps try playing one of the other languages for the first five minutes (until the credits finish) and during the rooftop shoot-out (under the 'Jesus Saves' sign). That should give you an idea of the overall differences between the original and remixed tracks.

I see, modern gun shots sound effects I presume, I actually own it on LD and haven't upgraded yet, so I haven't been exposed to the re-mix. But I can imagine how unfitting the new sound effects may be. I absolutely don't care if they make these unnecessary re-mixes, it's when they replace the original mix it becomes a rewriting of film history. There's no single reason why they cannot include the original mixes alongside the re-mix, are the guys who do the re-mixes afraid to get their work compared with the originals or what!? It's damn tiring.

Did they replace the iconic .44 Magnum sound effect, the same one that Leia's gun makes in the mono mix of ANH? Or is it iconic enough to have been retained? (I know that in the hijacking scene in Magnum Force, they replaced it to fix a blooper where the sound came out of a gun that wasn't a Magnum.)

That stock Magnum gunshot is one of my favorite sound effects, and it's one of the biggest casualties of 5.1 remixes. It was replaced in Superman, The Terminator, and who knows what else.

Way back when Superman first came out on DVD, one critic said that the new gunshots sounded like they had silencers on them - that person basically hit it on the nose. The modern gunshot sounds are often less powerful and less punchy than the ones in the original mixes - even if they use the original effects, they're often buried in aural mush.