AUDIO SYNC

One of the other tasks to achieve with this project was preservation of the original German stereo (Dolby Surround) sound. The problem was that since the DVDs, the German audio had been remixed in 5.1. The quality of these mixes was somehow underwhelming: Part 1 had almost no surround activity, for instance. Therefore, one of the tasks would be to obtain and sync up the original theatrical audio (in German and English).

I could obtain the PCM LD audio (PAL) from Pinheadraiser. These of course needed to be synchronized with the BluRay, especially as they included a side change. Parts I and III were quite straightforward and no problem at all.

However, Part II proved to be the most tedious work. After several attempts I found out that the DVD/BluRay 5.1 German audio that I used for reference, just wouldn’t do. The voices on it were definitely out of sync in the first 45 minutes or so. For Part II, the Cinefacts user DVD Schweizer offered his help. So he resynched the German audio for Part II for me.
Additionally, fan 5.1 mixes by the NIMA4K enthusiasts are provided optionally.

As for English Stereo audio, there already were 4K-synched tracks which were provided to me by PDB from this forum. These needed to be adjusted in delay, but other then that, they were very very fine.

So what this projects will include, is:

• German FLAC 2.0 (German LD audio)
• English FLAC 2.0 (English LD audio)
  And, as separate files:
• German DTS 5.1 (German fan mix by NIMA4K, based on new Atmos mix & old BR DTS-HDMA)
• English DTS-HDMA 5.1 (from the 2020 BluRay)

Nope, 2.0 mono would be also reproduced from the center. In a Dolby Surround system, if L and R are identical, they are routed to the center.

Location/time titles for Part 2 and 3:
I decided to create both English and German location titles as softsubs. The ASS format offers very good flexibility in terms of placement, size and font of the subtitles, and also supports animation like fade in/out.

The font used for the credits is AvantGarde Gothic. However, the numerals in the digital version of Century Gothic do not match the numerals from the movie version (left: movie version, right: AvantGarde Gothic font)

Therefore, I made a custom version of the font which contains the modified numerals (to the right).

I originally planned to use the original video (with English-language intertitles) and block it out by black rectangles (via ASS means). However, after all, I decided against it. First of all, while it looked okay in MPC (my player of choice), some players showed artefacts at fadein/out effects. And second of all, I was going to be editing the video anyway.

PART III: THINGS TO DO

1. Title

Part 3 was quite unique, as the German titles initially seen in theatres and on video actually NEVER was aired on TV. All the TV airings I had seen used either the original English transfer, or a custom-made German title translation made by the TV station. However, the LD did have a German title sequence, and it did look as spectacular as the original, albeit a bit soft.

2. THE END

The German theatrical version actually had a localized THE END title which also looked quite spectacular. and hadn’t been seen since the home video release.

Also noteworthy: the ENDE title has been scanned AND placed in 4:3 as opposed to the 1.85:1 aspect ratio of the rest of the movie. At least, it hasn’t been squeezed.

3. LD audio

As with the previous parts, the LD audio needed to be synched up to the BluRay.

4. Subtitles

Part 3 had the same style location/time intertitles as Part 2. However, these had not been translated for the German theatrical (and video) version, and remained in English. This looked rather odd, considering the lengths they went to animate the German logos. I decided to leave it to the viewer what language he wants to see them in.

Additionally, German and English subtitles needed to be provided as well.

PART II: THINGS TO DO

With Part 2, there was considerably more work to do apart from two instances of logo replacement.

1. German title.

The German title is shown not over black this time, but actually over an animated background (sky). This needed to be also addressed in terms of color correction, as the sky needed to be transitioned +/- seamlessly into the credit sequence.

Here is the logo in question:

On a side note: the design of the logo is once again slightly different from both the poster and Part 1 film versions. The dots over “Ü” have been moved higher. The “C” and “K” have been, unfortunately, separated. However, the R in ZURÜCK has more similarity to the film version from Part 1.

2. TO BE CONCLUDED

The logo for To Be Concluded was localized for the German theatrical release. Here, the LD took a rather odd approach to it. One has to know that for the most parts of the LD, original video was used, and only the German elements were rescanned and cut in. And while the title logo was scanned in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the To Be Concluded sequence was actually scanned in 4:3 and then SQUEEZED to fit the 1.85:1 frame, effectively losing vertical resolution. Very weird.

Also noteworthy: the German text actually translates as “TO BE CONTINUED” (not “CONCLUDED”).

3. BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III logo.

At the end of the preview for Part III, we have the German ZIDZ3 logo appearing over a photo of Marty & Doc. Here, we have the same problem as in TO BE CONCLUDED: the 4:3 frame was scanned from German elements and then squeezed to 1.85:1.

4. Audio

The English and German LD audio needed to be included.

5. Subtitles

Here the task was a bit more daunting. The German theatrical version used on-screen subtitles in order to translate 1) the intro intertitle (Saturday…) and the newspaper headings. Also it used blending effects to translate changing newspaper headlines.
The LD re-created those translations digitally, as did the VHS.

Other than that, regular English & German subtitles needed to be included.

PART 1: WHAT WAS TO DO

The amount of work that went into BACK TO THE FUTURE was the following.

1. Title replacement

The original English title (which appeared over black) needed to be replaced by the German logo from the laserdisc:

One notice a slightly difference to the logo from the posters: the “R” has a different tail. Also, it looks rather simple compared to the original English title which was more elaborate. However, this was the only source I had, so I had to go with it.

2. To Be Continued

The initial theatrical version (as well as the DVD and BluRay versions) did not contain the “To Be Continued” title. As a matter of fact, the filmmakers created it retroactively for the home video release (as they already knew BTTF2 was happening), and it was contained in the video and TV versions until, well, the DVD came out.

Actually, the TBC logo was never translated into German on home video. The German VHS and LD contain the original English-language version:

Fun comment: when BTTF aired on German TV, the TV station did in fact create an own German version of “TO BE CONTINUED”. However, this is an unofficial body of work, so I stuck with the original English logo. So the image below is just for the sake of information.

3. Audio
   The LD audio needed to be synched with the BluRay (2020) video.

4. Subtitles
   English & German Subtitles needed to be included.

SOURCES USED

Localized video:

• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT: PAL Laserdisc (PHILIPS 14.03.003)
• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT TEIL II: PAL Laserdisc (PHILIPS 14.03.008)
• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT TEIL III: PAL Laserdisc (PHILIPS 14.03.009)
• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT TEIL II: PAL VHS (CIC VIDEO)
  Rips provided by Pinheadraiser.

German LD audio (PCM):

• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT: PAL Laserdisc (PHILIPS 14.03.003)
• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT TEIL II: PAL Laserdisc (PHILIPS 14.03.008)
• ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT TEIL III: PAL Laserdisc (PHILIPS 14.03.009)
  Rips provided by Pinheadraiser.

English LD audio (PCM):

• This forum, courtesy of PDB.

English DTS-HDMA 5.1 audio (optional):

• BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY: UHD-4K & BLU-RAY (Universal, 2020)

German DTS-HDMA 5.1 audio (optional):

• Fan mixes by NIMA4K

Subtitles

• BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY: UHD-4K & BLU-RAY (Universal, 2020)

At least a generation of viewers has experienced Back To The Future in localized form in Germany. There, the movie was called ZURÜCK IN DIE ZUKUNFT and had the following logo.

Personally, I think this logo was the best design adaptation of the original English-language logo. It retained both the last letter “K” combined with the backwards arrow and the “CK” connection (as in “BACK”).

Although the movie logos, indeed, had some variations of it.

Since the DVDs (and then the BluRays) came out, the localized logos basically disappeared. TV stations switched to newer HD sources, thus retaining the English-language logo (or even constructing some custom design abominations). So far, German localization was retained on old Universal VHS & LD copies and TV recordings.

Therefore the idea for this project, using the newest 4K restorations from 2020.

The German elements were taken from various sources, as will be described below.

Update: Project is finished.

MediaInfos:
Back to the Future
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III

The new 4K picture scan has been already used on Netflix for Part II. Though it’s still heavily filtered (by Netflix itself), it shows much more details and has better colors than the old master.

https://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/4585/picture:0

I would like a copy of a link as well.

Yay! An uncut Fantasia would be just the thing.

Die Despecialized gibt’s doch nur in 720p.

Hier gibt’s aber keine Links. Außer per PM.

Now that would be not just fanediting, not preservation.

When I watched a 35mm copy of Indy 3 some years ago, it already had “Jewish” omitted (English-language copy, watched in Germany at the beginning of 2000s).

Thanks for this work!

I would be happy if they finally included all the theatrical trailers in HD. The international ROTJ trailere is only available as a mediocre copy with StarWarsTrilogy.com watermark popping up periodically.

Looks very promising!

Mine would be the 1995 THX VHS edition. Though mine was not the ‘faces’ one: the one with the faces on the cover was the 4:3 pan & scan edition. I had to search around all of Cologne, Germany until I found a shop carrying UK-imported widescreen editions. They cost me a pretty penny, back in 1995. Still having them stored away in my parents’ attic.

Side remark: the German-dubbed local versions of the 1995 VHS editions did not have the original German textcrawls but some really cheap-looking CGI recreations instead. But I wouldn’t get them anyway.

Thank you for this useful documentation! I really enjoyed the ride down memory lane. I still have the first DVDs sourced from LD somewhere, I think Laserschwert gave me a copy. 😃

That sounds damn fine! I am curious what can be achieved.

Dr. Cooper said:

The old German VHS of „Nightmare on Elm Street“ contained the Unrated Version with some extended footage of Tina‘s death (blood splashing when she falls from the ceiling and an additional shot of her body).

The German VHS of Hitchcock‘s „Psycho“ also had some alternate/additional material: A shot where Marion takes off her bra, alternate footage of Norman‘s bloody hands after he cleaned up the mess in the bathroom and Arbogast is stabbed three or four times instead of just once. It also has an alternate shot of Sam‘s letter to Marion where the text is written in German.
Unfortunately the shower scene is cut in these German tapes, only old TV-airings included the full uncut version.

Now this uncut version is available (only) in Germany on Blu-Ray.

Tantive3+1 said:

schorman13 said:

schorman13 said:

The US theatrical cut of “Yellow Submarine” has not been released in a digital format. It appears on VHS and LD only.

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1064

I think this says the Theatrical Cut was released on a German DVD.
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1064

No, that is just the same version released everywhere since 1999. It matches the UK version of the film as it premiered. Upon international release, the film was shortened, with some alternate footage during the final battle. That was the widely available version of the film before the 1999 restoration released on dvd at the time.

OK, added.

The entry for Yellow Submarine is not exactly accurate. The theatrical version featured a short excerpt from the song “Baby You’re a Rich Man” and a battle with Blue Meanies, whereus the DVD version features an entire song “Hey Bulldog” which is missing from the theatrical version.

Nice!
The aliasing from the crawl letters - is it the vimeo compression?

Tack said:
Again, my main problem with ESB is the fact that his casual dispatching of his underlings is almost played as a running gag.

No problem with that at all. It shows the complexity of Vader’s character, in fact. What TESB does is establishing how Vader punishes Imperial officers for failure (Admiral Ozzel, Captain Needa). However, when the Falcon flies off to hyperspace at the end, despite the hyperdrive being disabled by Piett’s order, he actually does NOT punish Piett. By doing so Vader reveals his own emotional turmoil from the confrontation with Luke. I daresay, this is the first sign we see of Vader’s redemption which is developed in ROTJ.