The only way the mouse will do any work on the OT is when they finally adopt 4kUHD. Otherwise they will continue to flog the bds endlessly.
Hardest: Adventures of B&R on Sega Genesis. Completely impossible difficulty.
Worst is probably Dark Tomorrow since it was unfinished and not even ported to ps2.
Returns and Forever on Genesis were impossible and frustrating.
Arkham Asylum is the finest game imo, City refined the gameplay but had a lesser story, Origins was a cheap reskin and Knight was a massive disappointment.
I grew up playing every Batman and Star Wars game I could get my hands on without realizing they are two of the worst game licensed properties ever.
When I finish TOS I plan to dive right into the film series but I made sure to track down all six lds first. I had gotten the bds bundled with TOS and popped some in to see for myself…oh dear…
From my research notes it appears the initial DVDs were ports of the ld masters: some with 5.1 remixes of the 2.0 and the sequels were non anamorphic. The SE reissues cleaned all of these up and some may have 70mm derived 5.1 tracks but this is unconfirmed. Also the contrast may have been tweaked on some but without seeing for myself I can’t say for sure.
Anybody have both DVD runs?
The only thing to add is that official records indicate a seperate mono for ROTJ was done alongside 35mm and 70mm Dolby mixes. When Puggo finishes ROTP hopefully it will have a mono mix.
Sorry guys I meant the redone theme music for S2. I had to go look it up and make sure I wasn’t hearing the rerecorded theme or something. I’m more used to it now but still vastly prefer the S1 version.
The S2 theme dials up the vocal performance and drums, and there’s also apparently a different mix for S3 as well. All this is seemingly tied to Alexander Courage leaving the series.
Can I say that I truly hate what happened to the opening and closing theme for TOS S2?
I get adding the vocal and extending the credits but the mix isn’t very good and I LOVED the feel of the S1 opening. This one just feels…weird…every episode.
I’m seeing this on my phone during a break but right off the bat I can tell you that there is blue in the concrete garage not found previously, the contrast is similar to the BD but not as overdone, the color is a richer version of the LD and the night photography looks correct. I don’t quite think the desert sky in the garage exit has been so blue before!
I will compare directly at home later. Excellent work as always!
The worst case scenario is if Disney just half heartedly jumps into uhd with lackluster 4K upres discs of outdated masters like some studios have done.
Imagine the bds merely on a BD-66 with slightly greater file sizes.
What is this crap about digital being bad? Digital medium is by far superior in terms of storage and preservation. Unlike analogue recording (film), which starts to degrade/change from the point it is being recorded, the digital recording is basically time-invariant. For example, the colour encoding of digital video is strictly defined, while in analogue film it varies based on the current conditions.
Of course, you might still want to use analogue film camera for some reason to shoot the film, but in any case you should digitalise the film as soon as it shot (in highest possible resolution).
Who here has lobbied for not preserving film elements digitally? As far as I can tell this conversation is all about capture mediums.
Still, I do not see why wouldn’t you immediately record it digitally. If you use analogue film to record a scene, by the time you transfer it to digital medium it will not be the same as it was originally recorded. Not to mention conditions of transformation process which requires projector (use different lighting during the projection and you have different results, etc.)
If you originally record it digitally, you have it completely preserved. You carve that digital recording into stone inside a cave and aliens will still be able to read it tens of thousands of years after we will destroy each other in the exact form as it was originally recorded.
Digital storage is intensely unreliable and is extremely prone to failure-so much so that many things from even the early 2000’s and beyond are now unsalvageable. Nearly every digital restoration is even printed back to film for storage.
Film v Digital are two different processes. Film is natural photography which involves changes in capturing the image, processing, lab work, printings and dupes and so on. Digital is fully controllable and does not involve any in-between steps.
Digital allows for greater flexibility and accuracy in restoration compared to analogue work, but of course like anything in life is not perfect.
The key to all this is that Disney has to have something ready for 4K and beyond. As-is they have nothing that is up to date. They have a history of completing restorations or title updates and simply returning them to the shelf with little or no fanfare. (20,000 Leagues) The real question is: what do people refer to when they say “negative conformed to SE”. No one in their right mind would recut the o-negs that way, unless you were a studio back in the old days butchering films for quick theatrical releases or later reissues. And there still should be IPs on hold. Something will have to be scanned from a high generation-and essentially no SE material outside the 97 source is high enough-and even that is outdated and in need of a complete overhaul ala what was done to Lawrence of Arabia in modern times versus its original 1989 analog based restoration.
Not letting go of SW in the sense of how it became a project to generate funds and abandoning the general ideas of why he started making films in the first place.
But moreover selling to disney if I’m perfectly honest.
Jay said:
The HD effects in TNG are for the most part very tasteful representations of the original effects and integrate nicely with the remastered live action; they didn’t set out to “improve” them, just make them look like they got a detail upgrade so they blended well. Many of the effects were done on film, so they technically are the originals. I never felt while watching that I was missing out by not seeing the NTSC effects.The NTSC transfers were horrendous and the tests they did with upscaled effects looked truly awful. Had every 480i effects shot been deinterlaced to 480p, upscaled to 1080p, and spliced in with the new film transfers, they would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb and taken the viewer out of the experience many times per episode. Even though it only happens in a few episodes, I know instantly when they switch to an upscaled shot because they couldn’t find the original film. Takes me out of it every time.
Thanks for the explanation, that makes a lot more sense.
Wonder why all the old transfers are so bad for both series? They’re contrasty and in comparison almost colorless.
Also check MGM hd on demand titles. Currently they have DN FYEO LTK and Goldeneye of which the latter may be the Lowry master-I didn’t get much chance to check before work.
This would be an interesting source. I’m trying to figure out what exactly it could be. My first instinct was to say it was likely the BD transfer minus the brightness but now I’m not so sure. If it is fully uncut who’s to say where exactly it came from.
Just finished season 1 of TOS as a complete newbie.
Loved every damn minute.
Every one…except for “The Alternative Factor”. What the heck happened with the writing on that one?
Sure it may not be perfect as a series, and there are times it is obvious the running time is padded to 50 mins but this is largely old fashioned S/F which is actually about IDEAS. I’m a complete sucker for this stuff. What in the world took me so long. This is NOTHING like I always thought Trek was. I realized very quickly my childhood and early experiences seeing Trek was simply bits of TNG reruns which had all kinds of people and aliens talking on a bridge leaving me extremely confused as to what was going on.
The BD is very well done, despite some minor things where very rarely the mono may be a fold of the multichannel. The restoration is clearly not as new as the one done for Batman '66, but it looks stunning on my HDCRT screen and I was surprised at just how colorful a series this was-right down to the Enterprise set. And gosh the old transfers look horribly washed out in comparison.
I LOVED the mostly untouched SFX ship shots that are repeated ad nauseum. I loved the score, the camaraderie on screen, the spirit of the production which correct me if I’m wrong was on the low budget side of things.
I’ve watched in airing order as the discs are made that way, but it somehow seems to work in some strange fashion. My favorite episode so far is probably “Corbomite Maneuver”.
Again, what took me so long? ARGH! I already loved doing bad Shatner impressions without even knowing Trek-this has increased indefinitely.
When I get through S2 and3 I’ll tun the films on LD before plowing into the animated series and TNG. I have the BD set for the latter and the purist in me is already saying “couldn’t they have branched the effects there as well despite being native NTSC? I wouldn’t mind the old ones!”
I will ask though: Is TOS S3 as bad as the indicators would have me expect? (Roddenberry leaving due to time slot change etc.)
Too many 70’s-80’s era 007 post to quote.
Firstly, I think Moonraker is better than the sum of its parts, despite having many cringe-worthy bits and needing an overhaul before going into the second remake of a single story. (YOLT, TSWLM). It is very much the bloated Thunderball to TSWLM’s Goldfinger, but there are many great elements there, and if you look past the silliness there is some serious material which Roger handles beautifully. This is evident in Christopher Wood’s writing which actually leans more toward the Fleming style in his novelization-yet at the time the film team wanted the lighter approach. (Plus some added uncredited Mankiewicz revisions on at least TSWLM)
The effects are top notch, and for realism in pre-CG space effects it’s about as good as you can get outside 2001-yes I made that comparison. Other than the stupid laser beams, poor wire performances of some actors, and instant launch of the US shuttle it’s damn impressive.
And then the score…this is where Barry goes into epic mode and furthers his string orientation. Only issue is that the music film mix isn’t very good and the recordings in France were not in the best of halls-let alone that the master tapes have been lost and the music album master isn’t good. But all that aside, this is an epic score and the 'Flight into Space" is one of the great movie music cues that can give goosebumps.
AVTAK is a weird beast. Part nostalgic, part long in the tooth, part darker 80’s edge in the villain’s bloodlust, part silly, part underwhelming. Most will give it a cursory glance and write it off like MR. But that does what it gets right a disservice, and there are many great elements here, covered beautifully in the book “A Closer Look at A View To A Kill”. My favorite is the constant hammering of Bond’s older age, and his character convictions-primarily in his confrontations with Zorin, Roger’s angrier closeups, and Barry’s score which is again a masterpiece. The smaller bits are lovely such as Bond cooking and putting Stacey to bed alone. Zorin is Walken’s finest hour and cannot be praised enough. Again, there is much to be praised here but you have to look beneath the surface of the bad to really enjoy the what could have beens.
Also: Bond+Steed wins all arguments.
TLD is a masterpiece. It is the last great entry in the series, and the ONLY time since the 60’s both film Bond and book Bond were married perfectly. Dalton is perfection I feel, and gives one of the great lead performances. Even the lackluster seeming villains are grounded in such a reality that they are actually believable in spite of their plans. This is the key to the film’s success. In grounding the storyline in such a realistic Cold War based enviroment, the more ludicrous 007 film elements can be slotted in to provide audience entertainment without insulting intelligence. Thus you get to eat the cake too.
My only criticisms are that I feel Kara is portrayed as a bit too thick headed, and Glen’s desire to do the cello case sequence starts to break the credibility rule.
Barry’s score is arguably his finest and certainly his most musically accomplished; featuring multiple themes for the three songs, beautiful balance between his old and new style, good use of both synth and strings, and a wonderful romance motif interposed with music perfect for the revival of 007 as assassin.
But admittedly I cannot really criticize the holy 16. Only nitpick, and point out production troubles etc.
Lost Horizon (1937)
Capra’s epic that doesn’t really work. Beautiful, incomplete, haunting, yet eternally frustrating in that the story just doesn’t quite work. Too long for it’s own good most likely, but undeniably beautiful.
The More The Merrier
Wonderful George Stevens romantic comedy with elements of screwball, later remade as Walk Don’t Run. Funny, yet human and lovely.
The Talk of The Town
Probably the best picture Stevens ever made alongside Gunga Din. A beautiful Capra-esque clashing of wills between Cary Grant and Ronald Colman with elements of screwball layered in to teeter wonderfully between drama and farce. Moves wonderfully, and has a striking opening sequence where Grant is made out to be a murderer and escapes from prison. One of those gems, mostly forgotten from a bygone era.
This could be used as a BD regrade source, with the LD mono as a base audio track. It should also show how much DNR/fake grain was done by Lowry as according to folks from AVS. Personally I find the clips staggering and darn near perfect in ways that no video transfer has ever been able to fully duplicate.
I just wish I knew the vintage of the source. I’d guess 60’s era or maybe the early 70’s but of course it had to be pre-'74 when IB was stopped in the US.
I’m determined to finally start doing so…any suggestions? I really need to build a PC from scratch so I’m not huddled in front of my Sony SFP screen checking individual frames, swapping between dozens of editions and generally muttering to myself like a crazy old man.
That being said here’s my new comparison of Dr. No editions, including the P/S 1993 LD.
This pan n scan disc, though claiming to be remastered, is obviously older and perhaps a reissue of the older CBS/Fox laserdiscs. The color is different to any release, it has increased contrast throughout and loses much of the black level. The 1.33 crop loses much of the sides, more so on the right. The opening titles are mostly letterboxed, but then jump around between 1.33 and letterboxed. Sound is analog only and has low hum and print noise. I can’t tell if it’s MGM’s source print or not, but I doubt this as accurate in its transfer.
1992 remastered VHS: better 1.33 crop, color looks like the MGM letterboxed LD but very contrasty which reminds me of the way many films looked on tape when I watched them growing up. Titles are fully letterboxed, and the image zooms in on the three blind mice.
2000 VHS: same as above, but less contrasty and better image fidelity. Image cuts to 1.33 on third shot of the three blind mice.
1995 letterboxed VHS: Same as 2000 tape in regards to contrast, maintains 1.66 frame so this is a perfect copy of the Connery Collection LD.
Thanks to the fine folks at the 007 Dossier, we finally have some evidence as to how Thunderball appears from vintage IB material.
http://the007dossier.com/007dossier/post/2017/02/09/Thunderball-16mm-IB-Technicolor-print
Despite it being a 16mm segment, the saturation levels are unlike anything we’ve seen or had access to. I ran it against every copy I have and came up with this:
The closest in overall look is the 1989 laserdisc but is a tad too heavy in the reds particularly in skin tones. The 1995 master/SE DVD fixes this but is less saturated. The UE is completely washed out in color and far too bright. The BD is remarkably similar to the print sample, but it appears this was either the source scan for Lowry or a new one done where the team then tried to replicate the color via digital means. Thus it comes very close to the source but things such as Fiona’s dress are far too teal when they should be less so.
Also, the day for night shooting is noticeably off in the sample and all the video transfers have it pretty much intact. I think the original video source for 1989/1995 was a IP or protection element made sometime after the 60’s and thus it is in very good shape but lacks the Technicolor bold printing-just like the rest of the Bonds do. The only ones that seem as if they may be Tech are the Criterions and the first letterboxed MGM Dr. No (as it shares the same print source as the Criterion. I have not yet seen all the earlier pan and scan copies, but seeing as TLD’s pan n scan has vibrant color that looks like the BD palette some could be interesting.
Double post
Blade Runner is the definitive in this category. I waited in line for the stores to open on release day, skipped school and watched through the entire briefcase. Before 2007, there were only a few fan sites and Future Noir, but it was well worth the wait.
Others would include the 007 SE documentaries and far too many commentaries to count.
The major studios have cut most of their video departments back and this includes both menus and disc art.
If they just simply used theatrical artwork for cover and disc there would be no issues.
If we’re lucky it would look like this for each film as a standalone release:
Disney combo pack consisting of
Disc 1 final SE revision or hopefully just an HD scan of the 97.
Disc 2 restored original with Dolby stereo, mono and 70mm.
Bonus features on both discs and perhaps a third for space.
DVD copy or digital copy included.
29.99 retail.
Ugh…guess I should have grabbed those then…oh well more for the wantlist then. 😉
Heart and spirit existed in the EU sporadically even into the prequel era.
But it is something painfully absent in Disney’s efforts. There is little emotional involvement or investment in the stories because they are merely designed to provoke certain responses in both fanbase and general audiences much like the Marvel entries.
As much as ROTJ misses the mark, one still cares because you are invested in these characters and their ongoing struggle.
Ultimately they have to do some type of work to make the OT available at today’s standards since the 1080p master is horridly outdated and has been scribbled over with crayons ad nauseam.
The easiest thing to do would be to work with the original unaltered negative and start from scratch in 4K. Disney has done well so far in restoring live action without tampering. The issue is cost and contractual negotiations and convincing the brass that it is cost effective.