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Terminator (1984) - Foreign versions! (now just Italian) (* unfinished project *)

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 (Edited)

Me and Leonardo are working on recreating the Italian version of Terminator with fully localized titles, credits and Terminator POV HUD.

Most of our reference material is based on the Italian Laserdisc and a version that comes from a tape for TV broadcasting which had even higher details than the LD - both containing the theatrical release) and we plan on making use of the already existing “1080p regraded” version by substituting all the localized text with a process similar to that used by Harmy for his Star Wars preservation.

We thought this would be a good occasion to work on other foreign releases of the same film, since we are at work to remove all the text.

Am I right to guess that at least Germany and France had their own localized versions on Laserdisc?
 

We are looking for owners of foreign releases of Terminator on Laserdisc who would like to add their Country’s version to our preservation project.
 

Leonardo will add some of the screengrabs from the TV broadcast, just to give you an idea. These will be redone in 1080p to match the regraded version, obviously. Currently we are working on recreating the font (which for most parts is different from the American one).

**ADDED NOTE:

We found out that Terminator in 1984 was never localised in any other languages other than Italian so this preservation will be limited to Italian.

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"That's right, Jay!"

As he just said, we were initially using the LD as a reference, but then got our hands on a copy of a tv broadcast. This master apparently came from a Umatic and, surprisingly, looks better than the LD. Both seem to come from the same telecine.

Here's an example. LD on top, TV master below:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/luckydog21/pQ3IqyxapffvEtgdGpglh70cYSLAvdODOSVYZIQUV-U_zpse7ipysh2.png~original

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/luckydog21/Terminator%20ITA/Composizione%205%200-03-50-01_zpsey4v19jr.png~original

Notice how the LD looks blown out and in general seems to resolve less lines.

Interestingly, when this scene was localized, it appears a clean plate of the shot wasn't available, so the camera pan actually stops earlier, before the english text is supposed to appear, and the italian text appears on a freeze frame. As you can see, the door isn't in the center of the shot.

Here's a couple more screengrabs, to give an idea of what the rest looks like:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/luckydog21/Terminator%20ITA/Composizione%205%200-00-49-01_zps6xq4pe7d.png~original

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/luckydog21/Terminator%20ITA/Composizione%205%200-01-38-12_zpsdorbyijo.png~original

Now, I've run several comparisons, first with the LD and now with this new master, but both sources seem to indicate one thing: the typeface used for these italian titles does belong to the same family as the typeface used in the original title cards, but it is in a different weight. In other words, I've found an exact replica (or really close to it) of the original font used for the movie, and it doesn't match with this one. Like, at all. At first I thought the LD being blown out might account for it. Nope, different weight. So I've been burning my retinas lately trying to make a custom font.

For further reference, here's all the title cards

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/luckydog21/library/Terminator%20ITA

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Hi, nice idea! As from Germany, seeing localized Versions dimish with upcoming of DVD and BD from the home cinema market, I really would love to see more movies with intact German localization.

I don't know, if terminator was localized in theatres, but the LD only has english opening credits.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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That's odd. VHS and LDs here in Italy generally came with the theatrical version, so if the film was localized one can always verify that by checking the VHS tape.

Surely France had a localized version! Any French owner of Terminator on LD/VHS?

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MrBrown said:

Hi, nice idea! As from Germany, seeing localized Versions dimish with upcoming of DVD and BD from the home cinema market, I really would love to see more movies with intact German localization.

I don't know, if terminator was localized in theatres, but the LD only has english opening credits.

Do you know what release date does the German LD have?

According to this website ( http://www.lddb.com/search.php?search=the+terminator&sort=title&format=ld ), there are two German versions: one has an unknown release date and another is from 1995 (possibly a later release).
France also has two releases, one from 1985 and another with unknown date.

Perhaps later releases from the 90s made use of the original US master while earlier ones came from the "regional" versions?

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thxita said:

Surely France had a localized version! Any French owner of Terminator on LD/VHS?

 As a kid, I've always seen The Terminator with English opening text and time and place informations such as "Los Angeles, 2029 AD" and "Los Angeles, 1984" plus the time that I don't remember (something like 1:22 AM or whatever). Actually, the original French dub even put a voice-over to translate all that. That's almost still the case now on Blu-ray, except for the "Los Angeles, 1984" that's now mute.

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I own the French Widescreen second release which uses the same master as the first P&S edition.

Everything is in English, we even have one channel for the English mono track and another for the French mono track.

I've never seen any localized version of that movie which is pretty weird since we generally do that a lot.

The project is interesting, I've recently made my own localized French version of Back to the Future in HD :-)

“English, motherf***er! Do you speak it!?”

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Well, I'm surprised but not entirely. Judging from the Italian version, localizing this film seem to have been more of an afterthought than anything. In fact, most of the alteration made to localize it are half-assed or at least they were made as cheaply as possible: freezeframing the panning of the terminator before the English text appears, cutting out "THE" from the title in the most unconvincing way (since here it is distribuited simply as "Terminator"), remaking the entire end credits with generic font and fading-out before the original credits start and so on... 

The only effects that are properly done are the names and roles of the cast in the intro. From the US they must have provided a blank version only of the intro where each foreign country would have added their own localization, so I expected at least that intro in the French and German versions.

Considering that it was perceived as a cheap B-movie, probably distributors in other foreign countries never bothered spending more money to substitute any text (except for Italy).

We also had T2 with Italian localization but unfortunately it can only be found on VHS... and 35mm obviously :/

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thxita said:

MrBrown said:

Hi, nice idea! As from Germany, seeing localized Versions dimish with upcoming of DVD and BD from the home cinema market, I really would love to see more movies with intact German localization.

I don't know, if terminator was localized in theatres, but the LD only has english opening credits.

Do you know what release date does the German LD have?

According to this website ( http://www.lddb.com/search.php?search=the+terminator&sort=title&format=ld ), there are two German versions: one has an unknown release date and another is from 1995 (possibly a later release).
France also has two releases, one from 1985 and another with unknown date.

Perhaps later releases from the 90s made use of the original US master while earlier ones came from the "regional" versions?

 I have the 1995 release. Because the other release is a strong censored Version.

The Orion Logo on the Disc is, as with the first German DVD release, the localised one.

But as with the french Version the introduction text is voiced. Maybe it was such a B-Movie back then, that it never got a complete localisation.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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Since we are here asking... Do T2 foreign home releases ever got the localised opening credits in French or German?

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Great project; happy you have found a better source than the bad laserdisc!

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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Your laserdisc was still the best source for audio (even if it has to be cleaned up and it will be)! Couldn't have even started without your help

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Come on, you make me blush... (^^,)

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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 (Edited)

A DVD release without the imprinted introduction Text about the rised Machines, and the two time and place inserts "Los Angeles 2029 A.D." and "Now" exits.

If you want to make the inserts yourself, maybe the DVD may help.

Edit: The Scene with the possible answers is not clean. It is in english.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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Which DVD is that? It would DEFINITELY help!

do you own it?

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It was a 2001 MGM DVD release from at least Spain and Germany. (German release contains spanish, englisch and german audio).

It was the first true uncut german languaged release. (Even the theatrical release missed the scene with the Eye and the scalpell.)

Yeah, it is one of the different DVD releases of the movies I purchased.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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I have a MGM version but it's from 2007, called definitive edition, and it's the same master that you would find on the bluray.

Could we ask you a help for this project? I'll PM you

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RU.08 said:

This is the DVD he means (or a localised version of it):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Terminator-Special-DVD-Arnold-Schwarzenegger/dp/B000056IFJ/ref=sr_1_7?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1438429181&sr=1-7&keywords=terminator

"Special Edition" with the silver coloured cover. Dirt cheap to get a used one.

 The UK only has english audio, and I do not really know if they got the european clean master. Also I don't know if the french DVD from that time has a clean master, even if it is stated to have along french and spanisch audio english and german one two.

So I only can tell for sure with the german and spanish release.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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The English release has the subtitles instead of the burned in text for "The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire ..." as noted here. It is missing the original mono soundtrack, and only has the 5.1 remix. It's a physically different transfer to the one used on the USA/Canada MGM release being that it is a PAL transfer and the US/CA one is a NTSC transfer.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]

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I've just checked and my DVD version is this one without the English titles at the beginning. I can send you the scenes if you want, thxita :-)

“English, motherf***er! Do you speak it!?”

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RU.08 said:

The English release has the subtitles instead of the burned in text for "The machines rose from the ashes of the nuclear fire ..." as noted here. It is missing the original mono soundtrack, and only has the 5.1 remix. It's a physically different transfer to the one used on the USA/Canada MGM release being that it is a PAL transfer and the US/CA one is a NTSC transfer.

 So it is the same, as the spanish and german. I think it will also be the same with the french release from 2001.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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Thanks goodness for the existance of this otherwise atrocious 2001 MGM release!

It's strange that the 2007 DVD from the same company (at least the one released for the Italian market) is different from the 2001 DVD. People must have complained for the lack of the original text, or they were preparing a bluray release already.

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thxita said:

Thanks goodness for the existance of this otherwise atrocious 2001 MGM release!

It's strange that the 2007 DVD from the same company (at least the one released for the Italian market) is different from the 2001 DVD. People must have complained for the lack of the original text, or they were preparing a bluray release already.

 The 2007 release from GErmany and other european countries hat the text inserts back again. As I read, it was due to the complaints, that the soft subtitles text was... not liked. Also the narrative voice was, at least in the gemran version, missed.

Fans seemed not to like that.

Maybe it is the same master that the italian distributor used for localisation, because of the not clean Temrinator point of view shot they hat tro freeze the image in that scene.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower