Info: James Bond - Laserdisc Preservations: 1962-1971 — Page 18

I now own The Connery Collection volume 1 and volume 2 as well as Never Say Never Again. All from the same seller, too!

Sir Sean Connery is James Bond to me, so it doesn't make much sense for me to own the other movies.

Should I watch them all back-to-back?

Krycek87 said:

So, people are crazy on eBay. I figured I'd buy "Never Say Never Again" on blu-ray but damn... People are crazy.

Welcome to a couple of pages ago ;)

SilverWook said:

Yeah, the LALD SE looks like a VCD at times. :(

The THX DVD of Dr. No has noticeably more compression artifacts seen in ocean waves.

Is it possible some of the earlier 5.1 mixes were derived from 70mm releases? (At least the Moore and Dalton entries.) I'm thinking some of these ought to be preserved. They could certainly co exist with a PCM track synched up to the Blu Rays. Maybe preserve the SE menus too? ;)

I've got the THX Moonraker DVD on the way, and more factory sealed Bond LD's in my future. There is no cure for Laserdisc fever!

DN also has heavy, heavy noise that is not grain.

The early 5.1 mixes should be derived from the original stems as you're indicating, but all are straightforward 4 channel single surround masters. Being always on the technological forefront was never the intent of Cubby Broccoli, and Spy was the first film to not be mono. It is a stereo surround mix, but nowhere is Dolby listed as being applied so I can't say for sure if it was a Dolby release. Moonraker is Dolby stereo, as is everything through TLD, with LTK being Dolby Stereo SR. 70mm was used for some of the films in this era, but not all and it wasn't a primary concern as far as I can tell, so the mixes should be identical to the 35mm.

SilverWook said:

captainsolo said:

These 5.1 mixes will almost certainly trump anything from later on simply due to better compression and greater detail. Better practices because they were made for LD 5.1 which avoids the typical down conversions built into DVD audio. But the UE is the only release of LTK that is fully uncut in Region 1. The others are a rumored PAL German LD and a NTSC Japanese LD but both are full screen.

Is it feasible to patch the missing scenes using the UE? There is a VCD on Yesasia.com, but it's probably full frame...

Yes it would be indeed. The best would be to use the UE video and PCM audio from one of these rumored uncut LDs to patch into the PCM from the US one. The cuts are very minor, but once you know them you notice if they're gone. Primarily it's some body hits and violence, Krest in the depressurization chamber, the cocaine shredder, and a few little dialogue tweaks on cursing IIRC. All in all it's only a minute or two total. The worst is how they re-cut the ending of the tanker scene in order to remove a few seconds of burning. It makes no logical or cinematic sense in the 1989 theatrical version as Bond magically jumps back and forth from the explosion and is very disconcerting as for a brief moment you can't even tell which way is which, which of course detracts from the major climactic moment of the entire film.

This is basically what we're looking at: http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=3129

http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/bbfc_cuts_licence_to_kill.htm

I saw Skyfall the other day. I wouldn't say it's the "best Bond ever", but it was good. It'll be interesting to see where it leads (no spoilers).

Still haven't watched Quantum of Solace, though.

I was sorely tempted on a few of those marked down single BDs, but decided to save up as I'm trying to get a nice pair of Sennheiser headphones. (Though it didn't stop me from grabbing some heavily marked down TCM 4pack collections sadly)

Also, why would anyone but one of us spend $70 on 007 LDs? I am so tired of being outbid at the last second on a Bond lot.

The TB surround mix is very well done, IMO the best you can do with upmixing mono. Music and effects in front channels, dialogue in center, and occasional surround usage. The 5.1 is uneccessary.

Nah, it was just a huge lot with the ones I needed included that all of a sudden shot up by $40 in the last minute.

I'm only in need of LALD, Moonraker, Octopussy, the MGM LTK, DTS Brosnans and the 3 Criterion CAVs. Of course the inner completist and Bond fanatic in me is also saying NSNA, Casino Royale '67, the THX series and the Goldfinger CAV boxset.

TWINE is indeed at crazy prices. It would be nice to have but not essential. Except that is has the original Dolby 5.1 EX soundtrack which isn't on the UE. Is it on the original SE disc?

I do highly recommend the Brosnan discs however. I have the Goldeneye THX edition and it is one of the best ever issued LDs. Both soundtracks are stellar with huge LFE bass.

EDIT: Dammit, what is up with these last second ebay bids? Nowadays I usually have wait for the last 30 seconds to start, but even then there are bids that come in immediately thereafter that almost seem generated to be just above your maximum. This is what I get for throwing my hat in the ring on a Criterion FRWL CAV at the end.

captainsolo said:

TWINE is indeed at crazy prices. It would be nice to have but not essential. Except that is has the original Dolby 5.1 EX soundtrack which isn't on the UE. Is it on the original SE disc?

I have the SE, but I wouldn't know how to tell you if it's the original soundtrack or not.

In the language options, it only lets you turn on one of two audio commentaries, doesn't say anything about the main audio. I could see what PowerDVD says, but I don't have a DVD-ROM drive plugged in at the moment.

The back of the box just says "Dolby Digital English: 5.1 Surround".

I have bought on LDDB, but it's the el-cheapo lots and bargains on ebay that always drag me back in.

I'd get them (Brosnans) anyway. Pretty cheap too. The surround downmix on Goldeneye is outstanding.

If anybody has a reciever that can do Dolby EX and has the SE disc then if the track is flagged as EX we know for sure. But I doubt it to be honest.

I suppose you could go the hi-res route and try 24/96, but would that be overkill on LD analog audio?