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Highlander II - The ZEIST Collection (Released)

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 (Edited)

Special Zeist Edition -

This version is basically the “Special Edition 2006 DVD”. The reason why we named it the 'Special Zeist Edition" is because it is the <span style=“text-decoration: underline;”>2006 DVD</span> but edited to add the Planet Zeist, Quickening and the Prize references back in the film. All these references were cut when they came up with this future “Renegade Version” idea. The 2006 DVD has the new special effects and the new “Blue Shield” so we wanted to make clear that it is an edit of the “Special Edition” not the “Renegade Version” of the film.   IMHO, this is my favorite name for all of the Highlander 2 DVDs.  A ton of work went into this version. Note: This is the reason why it does not include the fairytale ending because it follow the “Special Edition” 2006 release to a T. The fairytale ending was never intended for the “Renegade/ Special Edition”

Extended Zeist Version -

This verison was created with the idea of adding the “kitchen sink” to the "Renegade Version of the film. This version is basically an extended version which follows the story line of the “Renegade Version” but adds and extends scenes. This edit retains the “orange shield effects”  trying to make it clear that is is an extended renegade based version. We have added all the Planet Zeist, Quickening and Prize dialog and footage back into the film.  This version even included the_Cannes footage_ and all the deleted scenes back in the film. Yes, there is alternate footage in the Cannes 10 minute trailer(take a look, it’s cool) some of the footage is really cool- includes some extened quickening explosions, cars exploding, an extended scene were Connor pulls out his sword in the warehouse when the cab driver drops from the ceiling, extended Brenda, etc.  (take a look)

At first this was a full blown DL DVD -9 with commentary from us about the edit as well as the original score, soundtrack, deleted scenes, enhanced deleted scenes, TV spot , two trailers (including a restored French trailer) and the “To be or not to be” documentary. We also even had a text commentary ( like the Superman II RIC DVD) breaking down each added scene since there was over 20 minutes that was added to the film. This version would have been released with the European scenes in 1:85.1 (this was because wee used the old Japanese DVD footage) So NOW we were ready to go and release it to all of you!  RIGHT? WRONG! When were were getting set to put the film on that demon place a guy by the name of TRACK100 (who is credited on the SDDVD-5 ) found an old <span style=“text-decoration: underline;”>widescreen</span> transfer of the European version from a laserdisc (In Italian only) in not to bad quality.  This version had the opening credits and endning credits in Italian (becuase this was the way it was released in Italy in theatres)  but keep in mind we needed only the alternate footage that didn’t exist in the other versions only. So now we postponed the release and had to add in all these widescreen scenes, not to mention color correct, enhance, etc.  When we finished we decided that more people would download the film if it was a SLDVD-5 so we cut all the extra features except, the restored trailer, enhanced deleted scenes and the ever popular recreation of the extended script version of the “fairytale” ending. (which was now possible because of the officially released deleted scenes on the 2006 DVD SE)

Restored Early European Version -

This version is actually an alternate Highlander II version which was created with alternate funding from an outside group. (Nigel Entertainment) This is my favorite version of the film as it actually had input from the director and producers. This is the version of the film they used to create the Renegade Version.  In 1995 at a sci-fi geek convention I came across a bootleg version of this film. This version was in poor shape and had Japanese burned in subtitles and it was fullscreen.

The funny thing was is that this was the version that was common on U.S. television, namely TBS. In the past I had not taped that cut and it was no longer played on TV so I had no copies of this version until that time.

Anyways, in 1998 I came across yet another poor quality version of this film but in widescreen. Then in 2006 I came across this message board and the rest is history. I wanted a clean version of this film and the stuff I collected over the years could make that happen, so I found people to help put it together.

It was named “The Restored Early European Version” because it is based on the Euro version of the film (explained above) Actually, this version was released first in Europe and then pulled because fans hated the “fairytale ending” so much that it was quickly edited from the film and re-released in Europe a month later wthout the “Fairytale” ending (hence the word EARLY European Version). I do not think people realize how much work had to go into this version to create it. In the end this was the version we needed to be able to create the others.

Restored American Cut -

This one we decided to create just for Phineasbg and me only. I got a copy of the TF1 video and I was quickly dis-heartended because of the bad 5.1 audio that TF1 created - it has a horrible hissing noise and half way through the video it is off dialog (out of sync) (not matching the lips) with the film. So quicky we decided to fix that problem but when we attempted to clean the existing 5.1 audio you can still hear that damn hissing noise (and we hated it) We also even tried to match the sync problems but there seemed to be problems with speed of the film  (this one is a wired speed as it drops several frames). In the end EVRYTHING was tried  but all failed. We decided the best thing to do was to restore the 2.0 soundtrack from a OOP laserdisc transfer - this matched up perfectly and we were on our way.

We also color corected, enhanced footage, and used the best possible footage from several other version to have the best possible quality prints. So we named it the “Restored American Cut” because it was the AMERICAN edited version of the version first released in Europe that failed miserably in the spring of 1991.

I don’t think people realize how much I like this film. As it stands I have about 24 different releases of this film in various edits.

I love your uniformity ideas but the menus and the DVDs are done and created already. Poeple are already downloading so to change the names at this time would be hell, lol!!!

I am a fan of Highlanderf - the SOURCE also, and we know that story! It is almost the same story, wierd! Released in Europe and then recut for American audiences.

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

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I for one would like to see all the above cuts released, whether or not they are rough or unfinished.

I would also really like to hear your commentary with PhineasBg!

Basically, I want the lot lol
What are the chances of a multi disc special edition, possibly with an accompanying booklet to explain what is what? I would be more than happy to design anything you need. Here are a few of my fake Criterion DVD covers (that I design just for fun)
http://movie-memorabilia-emporium.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Criterion

https://www.deviantart.com/pineapples101/gallery?catpath=/

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Quick question - what is the Cannes footage?
(I know there is an extensive previous thread on your Highlander II work - but it's 15 pages long!)
Is it additional film footage or footage of the film at the Cannes film festival?

Side note: I actually saw HL2 theatrically in Britain - Chester Cineworld to be precise and while I'm not 100% sure, I do not remember ever seeing the fairy tale ending prior to it's release on the Lions Gate DVD SE?

I was always under the impression that we in Britain waited longer for certain films as we had to wait for the film to be showed in the US and then sent over to us? I know this cannot be true of all films, but I just assumed that with the high cost of producing film for projection (back in the day) this would account for the staggered US / British release dates?

Is there anyone here that also saw this film the the UK and remembers the fairy tale ending? Could it be that the British fairy tale version was shown in major British cities only and as Chester is quite a small city, could we have gotten a recycled US print?

https://www.deviantart.com/pineapples101/gallery?catpath=/

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One other thing... The R1 US - Republic - Renegade Version DVD - has a 'production photo gallery', which is, IIRC a port of the US Renegade Version laserdisc supplement - A series of pages detailing the films production (script excerpts, production photos, production design etc)

The version on the DVD is presented as a video that you can pause and step through and is - to my memory - so low in quality, that you pretty much cannot read the text.

However, I once read that the laserdisc version is a step by step presentation (like the Alien and Aliens laserdisc supplement)

I don't have the US Renegade Version laserdisc myself, but I'm assuming someone here does.

Has anyone ever attempted to capture all these pages? I would be very curious to see how they compare to the low quality DVD version? Plus there could be some very interesting information within these pages.

https://www.deviantart.com/pineapples101/gallery?catpath=/

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Is there a site that lists all the changes?

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 (Edited)

I really like your covers Pineapple101

a Criterion of the Rough cut with all the extras would be cool. It could be three discs with the Special Zeist Edition included. 

Disc One - Dual layerwith never before seen rough cut

Disc Two- Special Zeist Edition

could be fun

This was the trailer for the Extended Zeist Edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyRX5kSviS4

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

Author
Time

Here is a break down on why we came to these names and some other info on the edits.

Special Zeist Edition -

This version is basically the "Special Edition 2006 DVD". The reason why we named it the 'Special Zeist Edition" is because it is the 2006 DVD but edited to add the Planet Zeist, Quickening and the Prize references back in the film. All these references were cut when they came up with this future "Renegade Version" idea. The 2006 DVD has the new special effects and the new "Blue Shield" so we wanted to make clear that it is an edit of the "Special Edition" not the "Renegade Version" of the film.   IMHO, this is my favorite name for all of the Highlander 2 DVDs.  A ton of work went into this version. Note: This is the reason why it does not include the fairytale ending because it follow the "Special Edition" 2006 release to a T. The fairytale ending was never intended for the "Renegade/ Special Edition"

 

Extended Zeist Version -

This verison was created with the idea of adding the "kitchen sink" to the "Renegade Version of the film. This version is basically an extended version which follows the story line of the "Renegade Version" but adds and extends scenes. This edit retains the "orange shield effects"  trying to make it clear that is is an extended renegade based version. We have added all the Planet Zeist, Quickening and Prize dialog and footage back into the film.  This version even included theCannes footage and all the deleted scenes back in the film. Yes, there is alternate footage in the Cannes 10 minute trailer(take a look, it's cool) some of the footage is really cool- includes some extened quickening explosions, cars exploding, an extended scene were Connor pulls out his sword in the warehouse when the cab driver drops from the ceiling, extended Brenda, etc.  (take a look) 

At first this was a full blown DL DVD -9 with commentary from us about the edit as well as the original score, soundtrack, deleted scenes, enhanced deleted scenes, TV spot , two trailers (including a restored French trailer) and the "To be or not to be" documentary. We also even had a text commentary ( like the Superman II RIC DVD) breaking down each added scene since there was over 20 minutes that was added to the film. This version would have been released with the European scenes in 1:85.1 (this was because wee used the old Japanese DVD footage) So NOW we were ready to go and release it to all of you!  RIGHT? WRONG! When were were getting set to put the film on that demon place a guy by the name of TRACK100 (who is credited on the SDDVD-5 ) found an old widescreen transfer of the European version from a laserdisc (In Italian only) in not to bad quality.  This version had the opening credits and endning credits in Italian (becuase this was the way it was released in Italy in theatres)  but keep in mind we needed only the alternate footage that didn't exist in the other versions only. So now we postponed the release and had to add in all these widescreen scenes, not to mention color correct, enhance, etc.  When we finished we decided that more people would download the film if it was a SLDVD-5 so we cut all the extra features except, the restored trailer, enhanced deleted scenes and the ever popular recreation of the extended script version of the "fairytale" ending. (which was now possible because of the officially released deleted scenes on the 2006 DVD SE)

 

Restored Early European Version -

This version is actually an alternate Highlander II version which was created with alternate funding from an outside group. (Nigel Entertainment) This is my favorite version of the film as it actually had input from the director and producers. This is the version of the film they used to create the Renegade Version.  In 1995 at a sci-fi geek convention I came across a bootleg version of this film. This version was in poor shape and had Japanese burned in subtitles and it was fullscreen.

The funny thing was is that this was the version that was common on U.S. television, namely TBS. In the past I had not taped that cut and it was no longer played on TV so I had no copies of this version until that time.

Anyways, in 1998 I came across yet another poor quality version of this film but in widescreen. Then in 2006 I came across this message board and the rest is history. I wanted a clean version of this film and the stuff I collected over the years could make that happen, so I found people to help put it together.

It was named "The Restored Early European Version" because it is based on the Euro version of the film (explained above) Actually, this version was released first in Europe and then pulled because fans hated the "fairytale ending" so much that it was quickly edited from the film and re-released in Europe a month later wthout the "Fairytale" ending (hence the word EARLY European Version). I do not think people realize how much work had to go into this version to create it. In the end this was the version we needed to be able to create the others.

 

Restored American Cut -

 

This one we decided to create just for Phineasbg and me only. I got a copy of the TF1 video and I was quickly dis-heartended because of the bad 5.1 audio that TF1 created - it has a horrible hissing noise and half way through the video it is off dialog (out of sync) (not matching the lips) with the film. So quicky we decided to fix that problem but when we attempted to clean the existing 5.1 audio you can still hear that damn hissing noise (and we hated it) We also even tried to match the sync problems but there seemed to be problems with speed of the film  (this one is a wired speed as it drops several frames). In the end EVRYTHING was tried  but all failed. We decided the best thing to do was to restore the 2.0 soundtrack from a OOP laserdisc transfer - this matched up perfectly and we were on our way.

We also color corected, enhanced footage, and used the best possible footage from several other version to have the best possible quality prints. So we named it the "Restored American Cut" because it was the AMERICAN edited version of the version first released in Europe that failed miserably in the spring of 1991.

I don't think people realize how much I like this film. As it stands I have about 24 different releases of this film in various edits.

I love your uniformity ideas but the menus and the DVDs are done and created already. Poeple are already downloading so to change the names at this time would be hell, lol!!!

I am a fan of Highlanderf - the SOURCE also, and we know that story! It is almost the same story, wierd! Released in Europe and then recut for American audiences.

 

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

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Time

Mitch said:

Here is a break down on why we came to these names and some other info on the edits.


 

 This is an amazing list of work Mitch. Thanks for providing this community with some truly excellent work. I have one of these versions (SZE), but would love to view some of the others. As you know, I love "Highlander II".

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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 (Edited)

Thanks man! 

A lot of it we owe to you. You created that rough cut of the British Cut. Without that rough unfinished version this all would not have happened. All of these cut snowballed from that. You of all people should have the Early European Version restoration.  I need to get that to you.

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

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Mitch said:

Thanks man! 

A lot of it we owe to you. You created that rough cut of the British Cut. Without that rough unfinished version this all would not have happened. All of these cut snowballed from that. You of all people should have the Early European Version restoration.  I need to get that to you.

 That is very kind of you Mitch, thanks! I look forward to seeing that.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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Thank you Mitch, would love to see all versions of H2

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Ooooh, I've never heard of these Cannes scenes of which you speak (and I thought I already knew too much about this film. More research needed). And I would love, love, love to be able to get a remastered US cut. Honestly, I think your previous releases of this movie are excellent, and watch each one several times per year. In fact, scarily, I'd wager I've now seen the sequel more than the first one.

“Ow! It`s hot in here, the butter in my pocket is melting!”

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Are any of these going to be made available?

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 (Edited)

I'd like to see it either !

And I think it's a good place to paste link to my old "Princes of the Universe" Video Clip :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVJfUt_mBVk

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For those who asked questions and WANTED results. Please check your PM.

Thanks

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

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Mitch, you are the greatest!

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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Tried to PM you Mitch, your inbox is full.

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 (Edited)

Extended Zeist Version (the one no one has except two people)

Unreleased DVD9

So the version that floats the net is the EZV in FULL Widescreen but b4 the rest of the footage surfaced we had created this DVD. 

At first this was a full blown DL DVD -9 with commentary from us about the edit as well as the original score, soundtrack, deleted scenes, enhanced deleted scenes, TV spot , two trailers (including a restored French trailer) and the "To be or not to be" documentary. We also even had a text commentary ( like the Superman II RIC DVD) breaking down each added scene since there was over 20 minutes that was added to the film. This version would have been released with the European scenes in 1:85.1 (this was because wee used the old Japanese DVD footage) So NOW we were ready to go and release it to all of you!  RIGHT? WRONG! When were were getting set to put the film on that demon place a guy by the name of TRACK100 (who is credited on the SDDVD-5 ) found an old widescreen transfer of the European version from a laserdisc (In Italian only) in not to bad quality.  This version had the opening credits and endning credits in Italian (becuase this was the way it was released in Italy in theatres)  but keep in mind we needed only the alternate footage that didn't exist in the other versions only. So now we postponed the release and had to add in all these widescreen scenes, not to mention color correct, enhance, etc.  When we finished we decided that more people would download the film if it was a SLDVD-5 so we cut all the extra features except, the restored trailer, enhanced deleted scenes and the ever popular recreation of the extended script version of the "fairytale" ending. (which was now possible because of the officially released deleted scenes on the 2006 DVD SE)

The special thing about the early DVD here was the restored deleted scenes, the Lou Gramme Music video restored, the restored deleted scenes, and more.

Also, the EXTENDED FAIRYTALE ENDING complete. Not the one that was in the final version. (the entire ball of wax)

About the Music Video - Years ago a fan made music video made it online, I thought it was so well done that I downloaded it. Years later when we did this DVD phineasbg restored it using the bluray. The original was a poorly made AVI. using some crappy software. Here you can see the video in all it's glory and HQ.

Here are the menu's.

This is truely for a diehard FAN like me.

The only bad thing is it is the early version before we finished it all in Widescreen. The Widescreen to full is very jarring but this is the kitchen sink btw complete with the Cannes footage and a ton of other deleted scenes.! 

I can tell you that Fanfiltration, Track100, OCPmovie and others plus the entire OT.com and Highlander message boards the 6 versions or restorations would have never happened. 

I apologize for keeping this all under wraps for years. Our minds were on another project which will never be talked about.

Motion Menu's

Highlander

highlansd

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

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Again, I appreciate the nice IM's and the interest.

I hope I made everyone that waited years happy!

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.

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 (Edited)

thank you mitch :)

will the extended dvd9 edition released as well?
the trailers would be sweet to have.

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 (Edited)

As requested - Info about the REEV

RESTORED EARLY EUROPEAN VERSION

A different version of HIGHLANDER II : THE QUICKENING appeared in Europe in or around 1990, the editing for this version was funded by Nigel Green of Entertainment Productions along with Panzer and Davis. This version had the input of the director and producers and is much truer to the original script. The film contains over ten minutes of additional footage which helps the story immensely (including what happened to Brenda, Conner's girlfriend from the first film) and the narrative is edited together much better than the American version. The (British) European version of HIGHLANDER II has only been seen in America on poor quality bootlegs and usually not in english so most fans are not aware of its existence. 
By far the most interesting aspect of the (BV) European Version is the fact that it contains the original ending of HIGHLANDER II as it was found in the script. Bill Panzer said that he and Peter Davis had paid out of their own pockets at the time to shoot this ending. They did this because they believed so strongly in the ending but its reception by audiences was apparently less than overwhelming. The scene takes place on the beach after Conner has destroyed the Shield and the Shield Generator burns in the distance. 

ABOUT THIS RELEASE: 
This version is a restoration of the original European version of the film which was only scene briefly to European audiences. 
Also included on the disc is a restored French trailer which was previously available on an OOP French DVD. The French trailer no longer has subtitles. 

Some notable differences - 

-Alternate Dialog 
-Alternate Musical Cues 
-Alternate Footage 
-The Original Intended Ending

H22

H2H21

Remember, Highlander, you’ve both still got your full measure of life. Use it well, and your future will be glorious.