SilverWook

When I saw Brainstorm in a theater, it was totally messed up. Apparently the projectionist was clueless as to the fact the movie had multiple aspect ratios. The screen was set for 1:85:1, and the 2:35:1 seqeunces spilled out over the curtains! This same theater did get things like Fantasia projected right, so I guess it was a fluke.

At home, we're often seeing more picture information that anybody ever saw at a theater. On one of my old Laserdiscs of 2001, a tiny bit of the lens hood on the camera can be seen at the bottom of the frame during Gary Lockwood's jogging scene.

Someone has outbid me on the 16mm print. It's going to be a long sleepless night!

You guys might find this auction interesting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/16mm-Film-HER-MAJESTYS-SECRET-SERVICE-James-Bond-/270676803410?pt=US_Film&hash=item3f05983f52

I don't think it will be possible, short of taking pictures of my monitor. The video rolls very badly. I even tried straight in through the RF inputs, and the image still skews badly even when it doesn't roll.

I'm pretty sure it's an early, overly aggressive anti-copy signal similar to Macrovision, but I don't have anything handy to deal with it. Being a Laserdisc guy, I never had that many prerecorded tapes to begin with.

I'm confident enough now to say the green of the DC titles is "correct" based on current evidence. So this wasn't a total dead end! Perhaps this fellow with the UK tapes would be able to tell us what color the credits are...

I tried to watch the Beta tape. It's got a really bad vertical rolling problem with the video. Not sure if I'm running afoul of some really old macrovision anti-copying signal or not. Gave me a headache trying to watch for very long!

Warners slapped the late 70's logo on it, rats! However, there was another surprise! The opening credits are green! It seems a tad brighter than the green of the DC, but this is quite a revelation. Could the print used for later versions have faded, or did someone simply screw it up?

No obvious editorial differences, and no extended SEN scene. What I saw of the computer displays were squeezed to remain legible in pan and scan, yet the "Officers in Service" screen does not pan to the right show the number count go down. Then I saw the mother of all bad pan and scan decisions in known home video history...

The final scene of THX on the surface is not squeezed, letterboxed, nor does it pan over to show the final credits. It stays parked on the left side of the frame for the duration. You never see the credits! Did the telecine operator pass out in a drunken stupor by this point? Or did he simply leave the room to take a leak? We will probably never know! :P

You should have seen the angry letters Cinefantastique magazine got late in 1977, accusing Lucas of ripping off everything from Lensman to Dune. Some also questioned what happened to that promising young man who made THX-1138. ;)

I could have sworn I read somewhere the robots in Silent Running were an influence on Artoo. He was originally going to walk in a fashion similar to a man walking on crutches, hence the third leg.

The Beta tape finally arrived today. It's dated 1982, and seems to be in good shape for an old rental. The large cardboard box it comes in has very little wear.

I'll try to hook the betamax back up tonight and have a look, time permitting.

This is probably the best known "faux" astro droid. ;)

More here:

http://theswca.com/images-cocacola.html

Lucas has been known to borrow from things, such as the source of my avatar, which is from an SF magazine cover printed in 1975.

http://binarybonsai.com/2010/09/18/george-lucas-stole-chewbacca-but-its-okay/

However, there were a lot of unauthorized Artoo clones doing promos at trade shows and even malls in the late 70's. Without more specifics on when the pics were taken, it's hard to say.

If the Warner logo is anything to go by, that Betamax tape I'm waiting for is of similar vintage.

Bumping to mention all the TMP stuff in the latest Profiles in History auction.

Don't know if any of the photos are things not seen before elsewhere, but still cool to see!

http://www.profilesinhistory.com/items/hollywood-memorabilia-auction-43/page-184-5.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52_vprNk0M0

There is at least one gag that is relevant to our interests. ;)

I suspect it really depends on the model of tv. My current Samsung won't let me zoom in a 4:3 letterbox image through the HDMI inputs. I can do it on non-HD channels though. I need to try the component inputs on this though. My five year old Sony DVD player has a nice zoom mode, but the onscreen "zoom" icon won't go away.

What I miss from my older LCD is the ability to do picture in picture side by side from two video inputs. It would make comparing two different copies of the same movie a lot easier. The current set can only do PIP from the tuner. That's progress?

I think the green tint is a 2004 change. Lucas might have been trying to match the computer displays elsewhere in the film, most of which were redone.

As for my avatar, it comes from the July 1975 issue of Analog Magazine. More than a few people think it heavily influenced the design of Chewbacca.

http://binarybonsai.com/2010/09/18/george-lucas-stole-chewbacca-but-its-okay/

I suspect I saw that cover at some point in the 70's, as it seems to have subliminally influenced a character I created back in college!

Congrats on scoring an MIB AG-1980. (Also one of the best Super VHS decks too.) I actually wore out the first one I bought in 1996. Did a lot of editing with it back in the day.

I'll bet you got yours from the same seller I got my second one from on Ebay a few years back. Nobody else has them brand new anymore!

No worries on the anamorphic issue, msycamore. I was hoping the end result would be resizing the LD transfer to 16:9 eventually. I would experiment with recording the 4:3 analog video output of a DVD player, except macrovision would prevent it.

I am just amazed at how leads keep popping up on this.

I'm also intrigued that this Ebay seller mentions the Italian THX poster as being from 1976.

http://cgi.ebay.com/THX-1138-Italian-1p-76-George-Lucas-different-art-/350420271912?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5196ad0328

The IMDB has no info on when the movie opened in Italy though.

I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between these two. Maybe when I've gotten some sleep. I'm already seeing this logo with my eyes closed!

I found the DC in a bargain bin for six bucks, so I have it again for reference purposes. The time between the Buck Rogers clip fade out, and the AZ logo fading up is the same for the LD and DVD, about 14 seconds. I can see a tiny bit of weave on the LD at the AZ logo.

I also blew my ears out with that pesky THX thunderstorm logo on the DVD, as I couldn't find the amplifier remote in time, and you can't skip over it either! Darn you George! ;)

After a little A/B comparison, the opening credits on the DC does appear to be the original with a green tint.

I think I like the levels on #4 better. Is there a way to sharpen the logo slightly without changing anything else?

And it that improvised Italian dub does appear to be from the PAL VHS, which is essentially the same master as the LD. I was sort of hoping some HD remaster of THX had somehow been done, before the DC was in the works and escaped onto European television.

Thanks for making the effort in getting a hold of that, erri_wan. It was worth a shot. :)

The extended SEN scene is really puzzling me. Given Lucas' long history of keeping "lost" footage to himself, I really can't see him making any extra footage available to the people who were about to take a hatchet to his baby.

erri_wan, can you compare it to the screencaps I posted a few pages back? If the white fleck is stuck on the left side of the frame, beginning where THX and hologram guy are alone in that creepy room full of blue jars, it's the LD master. If there is no fleck, then we have a whole new mystery transfer.

msycamore, I'll look at the new test in a bit. I don't think blending it in will be a problem.

Very exciting indeed! And at first glance, it seems to have a bit more picture area than the Laserdiscs do. It also appears to be anamorphic, or does Youtube resize images to 16:9 on the fly now?

msycamore, the grain/noise on #4 looks more analog and natural now. :)

Clips 2 and 3 are much better than #1. I'll try to rewatch the credits tonight and see if there's any noticeable gateweave going on.

Ok, I had a look at it. The grain is bit too much. It's like the slightly snowy analog cable tv that I used to be plagued by! If the screencaps are still visible a few pages back, that will give you a better idea of the grain and video noise levels.

The WB/Kinney Logo is all we really need, as the AZ logo is intact on the original. Some of the computer text screens was redone for the DC, so even the opening credits are slightly suspect.

The 16mm print has been relisted. And I'm still waiting on that pesky beta tape to show up!

Edit: Going to look at the other clips now.

Sure, go ahead.

Could have sworn I linked to it at the time...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=270647193771&si=x3ytb%252FEKHv4QDdctJOmbgmnM5AY%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AX%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A1123

Puggo has a lot of work to do already. However, I might be able to borrow a 16mm projector from someone else that's been modified for telecine purposes, and do it the cheap nasty way. (Pointing a camcorder at the screen.) This ought to suffice for capturing the logo if nothing else.

Unless I hear back from the seller, it's all hypothetical anyway. I won't commit to anything until I see what's on the betamax tape.

And speaking of videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPTyNDqOzpM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXr1gB0KXnQ

This is turning into quite a mystery!

I sent a message to the seller of that 16mm print I passed on back in October. It's full frame and had fading issues, but it's got the original logo. I'm even more curious as to what cut it is now.

These guys were literally inventing the wheel, so there's probably tons of test footage we've never seen. Several of the explosions seen in the Making of Star Wars appear to be test shots.

I find the revelation about the LED engine lights on the TIE's really neat, as the original Kenner toys had them to simulate laser fire. LED's are so ubiquitous now, it's hard to recall how cool they were having them on a kid's toy in the 70's.