GoboFraggle1983

I even did a comparison of the two versions that you can see on Dailymotion.

OK, here it is:

Spaced Ranger said:

I originally thought Knick Knack was a fullscreen production (thanks, VHS) and the later update was a rework in widescreen.  [Wrong about that bit of info]  Simply repairing the boobs damage (from the best quality source, laserdisc) on the later widescreen version made it a boobs restoration (hence this project's title).

I also thought the next immediate project would be a preservation of that best quality fullscreen laserdisc.  [Again, wrong about that info]

A later project might be an update-remake -- basically the preservation in widescreen.  [Wrong info again]  That would be tougher to do because the update required reprocessing the entire film (because of the new, boob-less animation models) on different equipment with different software (which took Pixar months to sort out). Side effect? It altered (however small) things like camera and character placement. Also I noticed the leaves/hair of Sunny Jamaica look as if they were rotated to clump differently (see pictures below). That would be a much bigger project.

And the last, topper, project? Why ... a 3D (or more accurately stereographics) reconstruction ... of course. With every object already independently layered for the previous project, this is would an easy final step. Except for snow flakes in the snow dome.

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So, scratch the old, wrong info and let's add one more thing to this project. Color correction. The laserdisc source has boobs and original color (and should match the freeze-frame snapshots from Toy Story 2). The updated, superior resolution HD source for Knick Knack then must be color-corrected to match, before the boobs restoration onto it.

In lieu of a laserdisc snapshot , the picture below is trimmed out from the Toy Story 2 in-story TV screen ..

    

It is geometrically distorted (like an old glass-tube TV set), contrast reduced, and color de-saturated  (from the rest of the shot). To clarify it back into a real picture, it's luminance is spread back out (Low, & High) across the spectrum, strengthen by lightness (Gamma) and contrast (Midtones). I normally use RGB adjustments, but haven't figured out saturation yet. So, another tool was used to increase the color strength (Saturation). All values changed from their defaults are high-lighted as shown ..

Wow (on the left), that looks nice! It makes the update picture beside it (resized & TV-cropped to match, from the Finding Nemo extras) look dark, dingy, and just plain wrong. Note it's commentary subtitles, and no boobs ..

    

                                                                                              As you can see in the R-G-B adjustments, the
                                                                                              compressed highs were pulled back up
                                                                                              (High), the contrasts increased (Midtones),
                                                                                              and the lightnesses increased (Gamma).
                                                                                              In that process, the over-riding green tint
                                                                                              was less increased to let the normal color
                                                                                              come out. The red graph-overlays show
                                                                                              resulting spectrums ..

                                                                                             

And the resulting color-corrected picture? Astounding! Well, almost astounding. Just two things missing ... and we'll take care of that, too. 

    

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I hope you liked this demonstration. And in keeping with this project's subject matter, I presented it as ... well ... boobs.

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Now this Knick Knack is original widescreen, original color, and original boobs ready!

I just finished a more comprehensive pic (without the subtitles) I edited on Photoshop that includes the boobs from the original. However, I don't know how to add images here yet.

This topic is dedicated to “The Muppet Show” ending credit variants that were used throughout the years, before the season DVD box sets were released.

To start with, the original UK and US broadcasts of “The Muppet Show” used two different styles: in the US, the credits were centered, while in the UK, they rolled on the left side of the screen and mentioned the guest star. Some DVD releases in the US have recently contained the UK-style credits for most episodes of season 1.

As for the Zoot ending shots, if anybody has any of the following below, feel free to PM me!

-Higher quality editions of the 1980s “hit!” variants of the Zoot shots

-The unaltered ATV/ITC alternate ending variants to the Kaye Ballard, Harry Belafonte, Roger Miller, Dudley Moore, and Mac Davis episodes

Also, does anybody have the TV version of the U.S. dub, with the Smurfs' party sequence moved to the beginning of the film (along with Johan being called "Yohan" and Papa Smurf voiced by a different voice actor)? If so, would whoever has it send it to me via a private message?

If I decide to make a 2nd version, by the way, it would be very helpful if someone can create a fully instrumental version of the 2011 restoration (with the sound effects still intact). 

Possible you can recreate the specific screenshot without the commentary subtitles and with the boobs added?

Here are some of my personal pros and cons between the UK and U.S. versions of this film. If anybody wants to do their own "pros/cons" list, please feel free to do so! Cheers! :-)

-UK version:

*Pros: The voices and songs are pretty decent. My favorite characters here are Peewit (re-named William), Homnibus, 

*Cons: Some scenes have inaudible dialogue, in which the characters are supposed to be talking, but somehow, the actors probably forgot to dub those parts. (Ex. the Smurfs' party sequence with Brainy giving a lecture to Greedy, the flute battle with two background ladies talking and the Smurfs cheering for Peewit, the working song with a bored Johan and Peewit briefly conversing, and a Smurf laughing at Peewit trying to cross a bridge) Also, there's no denying that some of the Smurfs during the "Personality" song number have extremely uncomfortable deep voices, notably Greedy, Grouchy, Hefty, and especially Lazy. My biggest peeve is obviously the fact that this is the only version released on DVD, which is thankfully the reason I made this project.

-U.S. version:

*Pros: Cam Clarke is awesome as Peewit; he's very mischievous, but also very lovable. All of the songs are done perfectly, notably "Peewit Wants a Smurf", "Life is a Voyage", and "Just Like Their Names". I especially love how the Smurfs' working song is half instrumental, unlike the UK version, which uses repetitive lyrics throughout the entire song. The rest of the characters are also performed very decently, notably Johan, Brainy Smurf, Matthew McCreep, and the King.

*Cons: I actually really don't have many problems here, but if I have to nitpick, I will admit that some of the Smurf voices can become pretty squawky and jarring at times. Also, I don't know why, but for some reason, they not only forgot to dub a line from the Smurf that Johan and Peewit first meet in the forest, but this dub even left out the brief music that plays when Matthew McCreep's men walk into Earl Flatbroke's castle to show the amount of money McCreep has. 

OK, I now have the link available on Mediafire for viewing and downloading. If anybody wants to see my edit, please feel free to PM me.

Can someone do another screenshot comparison of "Dumbo", comparing the 1982, 1985 (VHS), 1991, and 1995 laserdiscs with the 2001, 2006, and Blu-Ray releases?

Can someone please provide some Mediafire download links to the laserdisc editions of the original version of "Knick Knack"?

The French DVD does contain its original French credits, also untouched.

Also, does anybody have the Televista DVD of this film from 2008?

What about the audio on the 35mm print? Does it have the other version I mentioned with Johan being called "Johan" instead of "John" and Papa Smurf's deep voice?

satanika said:

A quick comparison between the rutracker rip and an r1 dvd rip - the pal dvd they used is indeed way better than the us one.

I'd say it was worth it trying to track an r2 dvd down if you're really looking for a better version. They don't specify on rutracker what specific r2 dvd was used though, as far as I can see.

There are German (der tapfere kleine toaster) and Polish (dzielny maly toster) dvds that can be had quite cheap(ish), however they may be a different transfer.

 What are the differences between the German and Polish transfers?

togedu said:

GoboFraggle1983 said:

togedu said:

I have already started a restoration of this film based on upscaling the superior PAL transfer and removing de-interlacing and ghosting artifacts. I am converting to 25fps progressive then applying slowdown to get back to the appropriate 24fps and remixing the soundtrack in 6.1 EX using the original theatrical stereo track and the original soundtrack album that was released Fairly recently. After that I am doing spot and dirt reduction using the German restoration software Diamant. Should be done hopefully by March. 

 Cool! How far have you gotten? 

I'm actually fairly far along with it, still using the DIAMANT dustbusting software to remove dirt frame by frame. The main thing that is taking so long is stabilizing the image. So much telecine wobble. I am digitally redoing the titles and correcting several issues. Should have it done in the fall. The images I posted above pale in comparison to what will be the final product. Also was able to create a 6.1 DTS discrete EX mix using the original theatrical audio, the 5.1 DVD mix and the soundtrack CD to create some separation. Artwork is coming together as well.  

Sounds pretty intriguing. Aside from the soundtrack CD, where did you get your audio sources from (i.e. the original theatrical audio and the 5.1 DVD mix)? 

The DVD restoration is not cropped; it's the original widescreen master, restored. The only thing cropped on the DVD, however, is the beginning half of the credit sequence (starting with Peewit/William whining at the end, "I gave them back the magic flute!"). In fact, the entire credit sequence starting at point, remains unrestored and choppy.

I heard that there are also supposed to be two versions of the U.S. dub: both versions have different voice actors for Papa Smurf, while in one of the versions, Johan is called John. The version I have uses "John" and has Papa Smurf's voice sounding like a parrot. (I haven't seen the other version, but I heard that Papa's voice there is supposed to sound deeper.)

By the way, do you think you can send me a converted mp4 download link to your bootleg copy of the film, so I can compare my version with yours?

To any Smurf fan on the web, I have created a remastered edit of the United States English dub of “The Smurfs and the Magic Flute”, as seen in 1983. I used elements from the 2011 DVD (containing the UK English dub), a rare limited and unofficial DVD release of the U.S. English dub, unrestored (which I used the original opening titles and closing credits from), and the original French soundtrack as provided by sinituuke on YouTube. The link to my remastered edit should be available soon and if anybody has any other ideas on how to improve it, please feel free to let me know!

togedu said:

I have already started a restoration of this film based on upscaling the superior PAL transfer and removing de-interlacing and ghosting artifacts. I am converting to 25fps progressive then applying slowdown to get back to the appropriate 24fps and remixing the soundtrack in 6.1 EX using the original theatrical stereo track and the original soundtrack album that was released Fairly recently. After that I am doing spot and dirt reduction using the German restoration software Diamant. Should be done hopefully by March. 

 Cool! How far have you gotten?