Meteor (1979) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (2 Viewers)

[Dr Griffin]

That's a shame, because that stereo track sounds fantastic.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Music is almost always recorded in Stereo whether the movie is in stereo or not since the soundtrack albums are released in stereo. The Laserdisc had the music in stereo yes but the dialog and effects were artificially panned and the whole track lacked bass. The music sounded better but the overall experience was poor. I had around 2500 Laserdisc and this was one of the poorest stereo Laserdiscs I had. I never believed it was the original sound as it did not sound that way when I saw it in theaters. I seem to remember bad flange like sound on the meteor pieces coming down on the laserdisc.

 

[Andre Dursin]

Plenty of '70s stereo soundtracks often had obvious separation "effects" and artificial panning. The music was in full stereo at least. Either way, I will agree to disagree with you that it was a "poor experience." That track is infinitely more satisfying than what's on this Blu-Ray, with its damaged and embarrassing end credits audio. It certainly does not favors for Laurence Rosenthal's score that's for sure.

In an earlier thread linked below, someone indicated the film had "4-track mag/optic combined prints as well as standard optical mono prints." In the thread at Blu-Ray.com another poster who claims they worked on the laserdisc said they were working from that 4-track mag. To me, that's what the Youtube video sounds like as well. It does not sound like a cheap fake-stereo remix to my ears.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/178433-meteor-why-is-the-dvd-mono/

 

[Darren Gross]

Very interesting- that youtube clip certainly sounds like genuine stereo.
While released in mono in the states, clearly it had a stereo release internationally.
I stand corrected.

 

[Andre Dursin]

Very interesting- that youtube clip certainly sounds like genuine stereo.
While released in mono in the states, clearly it had a stereo release internationally.
I stand corrected.

It kind of makes sense AIP cheapened out for the U.S. release, doesn't it? What's too bad is someone at MGM didn't look into this when they made this HD master a few years ago

 

[andySu]

Well I'm passing on the bluray and going for the rare Laserdisc release I want my monies worth. The seats was vibrating.

Its got a bit a phasy quesy on some scenes.

Wow the final with rockets blowing it rumbled tracked down low enough to vibrate the seats and extra deep one where it shows the total destruction. 36Hz.

From the mixes that brought LOGAN'S RUN, ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL, BASIC INSTINCT and THE DEER HUNTER

Michael J. Kohut (retired)
William L. McCaughey (passed away 2000)
Aaron Rochin (retired)


Monitored the mono mix on youtube has the same BOOM 35Hz so the other language version must be PAL speed-up.

 

[Eastmancolor]

Regarding the picture quality of the new Blu-ray, it looks nice overall, though I noticed the color is slightly off, leaning a bit towards the yellow/brown side of things. Reds don't reproduce well. Notice the red in the American flag behind Henry Fonda in the news conference scene looks more orange than red.

I suspect an IP was used for the transfer, possibly one that has a little bit of fade to it.

Still, I'm glad to have the Blu-ray. I've always enjoyed the film for what it is. And I prefer it to ARMAGEDDON.

 

[Dr Griffin]

METEOR was never released in 4-track MAG or Dolby Stereo- it was a mono release all the way. Mono is the original mix and the way it's supposed to sound.

The laserdisc claims stereo, but I haven't listened to it in years. It could easily be a misprint. If not, it's a faux upmix.
Not unusual, as it was like the wild west in the 90s when it came to faux laserdisc soundtrack upmixes, with laserdisc producers monkeying around with the original mixes, or inserting sections from a stereo music score albums (sometimes with totally different takes).

I'm glad the original mono is on the disc, and in a high res DTS MA format, to boot.

Pretty disappointing as a movie, but it still has one of my favorite quotable Sean Connery lines... one that has to be an ad lib.

From a post over at Blu-ray.com by Robert Siegel:

You are absolutely correct, I am a very big movie memorabilia collector and have the pressbook with ad supplements and am digging for it so I can post the supplemental ads. The pressbook actually has ad mat tags that say "in 4 channel stereophonic sound". If I am correct there is a notation in the pressbook supplement that says "For those theaters using 4-channel stereophonic sound, use these ad mats", and they are small mats to be attached to the main ads.I have over 10,000 pressbooks so it may take a while but I will post it when I find it. I am so disappointed about the audio, especially for a disaster movie. To me, stereo sound creates a realism in these types of films. I am still debating whether to purchase it, or just stick with my mono recording off of MGM HD.Anyone who has the laserdisc: Have you listened to the sound lately? How good is the separation? I remember seeing this in Minneapolis when it first came out and it was in stereo. I remember because at that time I was really into stereo sound and was excited to be seeing Meteor with stereo.

 

[Will Krupp]

I saw that, too, and while it's possible he may find and post them, by his own admission he has 10,000 pressbooks so there is a CHANCE he's confusing something. I have no dog in this fight as I saw METEOR in the theater in 1979 when I was a kid and once was enough but I'm finding this mono or mag stereo debate interesting. I'm dying to see how it all turns out!

I'm pulling for the pressbook guy to find mag stereo proof but...well, until we see it we don't see it, if you know what I mean.

 

[Dr Griffin]

Yeah, it's certainly more of a mystery than it deserves to be. I mainly find it interesting how they both say they saw the movie in the theater and one claims it was mono and the other stereo. I found a couple references on the net that support the 4 track stereo audio, while there are others that simply list it as mono. I'm hoping for some concrete proof, not that it'll do us any good at this point.

 

[Andre Dursin]

Or you could just listen to the Youtube video above. That's definitely not a "faux upmix", there's legitimate separation for music and effects as there is on the laserdisc.

 

[Worth]

Yeah, it's certainly more of a mystery than it deserves to be. I mainly find it interesting how they both say they saw the movie in the theater and one claims it was mono and the other stereo.

If it was a 4-channel mag track, it's not that surprising. Most theatres wouldn't have been equipped to play that back. It doesn't appear it was a Dolby film, so the optical track just would have been mono.

 

[Mark-P]

Or you could just listen to the Youtube video above. That's definitely not a "faux upmix", there's legitimate separation for music and effects as there is on the laserdisc.

There are plenty of movies that were originally mono, that have been re-mixed into real stereo. I'm not saying Meteor wasn't released theatrically in 4-track mag, but that a remix for laserdisc wouldn't necessarily be "fake" stereo.

 

[Stephen PI]

There are plenty of movies that were originally mono, that have been re-mixed into real stereo. I'm not saying Meteor wasn't released theatrically in 4-track mag, but that a remix for laserdisc wouldn't necessarily be "fake" stereo.

For those interested, I did the audio track transfer for the Image Laserdisc release. The source supplied, can't remember from who, was an Lt Rt two-track print master on 35mm 3-track fullcoat magnetic film (the third track is blank). Transferring from a two-track print master requires absolute precision alignment in preparing the transfer. Having had the experience of working in a sound transfer enviroment it was easy as the condition of the track was in great shape and had all the necessary alignment tones to do a proper job. Whatever audio problems remain are inherent in the mix itself.

I was debating whether to purchase the blu-ray and I am glad I read this thread first!

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Some Brief Notes By Brad About: Meteor (1979) Blu-ray.

Well folks, here's to the first time I actually watched this movie thru to the end. Brought back some memories for Mann's Chinese Theater in late 1979 as that young, single U.S. Marine.

Viewed on: Vizio 70 E-Series with a Sony S590 Blu-ray player.

The Movie: Oh the memories. One can see now how just how much you had to suspend rational belief while watching this film. No we never had and still don't have a manned spaceship headed to Mars that we could redirect instantly to the asteroid belt (and the speed of that spaceship far exceeded anything we have now considering the distance from Mars to the asteroid belt (they were almost there instantly in the film). And while we and the Russians were capable of producing a 100 megaton nuclear warhead, one was never produced. The size of such a warhead would make it rather difficult to get into orbit, especially a platform of 14 of them.
It was good to see some stars on-screen who sadly are no longer with us (Brian Keith, Karl Malden, Natalie Wood). And of course stars like Sean Connery in a post-Bond role. Star Trek fans might catch a glimpse of Bibi Besch (Carol Marcus from Star Trek II, The Wrath Of Khan (1982)). Overall a rather pleasant disaster flick where the producers were looking to re-create successes like The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1976). Unfortunately Meteor didn't quite live up to the box office successes of those two as we all well know.

The Technical Overview: Definitely this movie showed its age in the technical aspects. The PQ I considered very acceptable but I did note that colors looked slightly muted. And of course grain was noticeable in this release, especially on the 70" screen. Appears no digital color enhancement or DNR was done though this film might have benefited from very moderate applications of both. But I do applaud Kino Lorber for their efforts in staying true with the original film stock.
Special effects were OK for the time period (the tidal wave sequence I thought was well done) but some of the space effects looked chincy.
Soundwise, I too noticed the mono track and have seen the discussions of such here. Funny though I do seem to remember a much better sound experience back when I saw the film at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood which lends to my belief that there was a stereophonic track made somewhere. Oh and did anyone else notice that the sound/musical effects for the space views of the meteor sounded a lot like the sound effects for the views of V'Ger in Star Trek, The Motion Picture (1979). Hhmmmm.


In summary, a nice walk down my cinematic memory lane and I thank Kino for making it possible to add this movie to my growing Blu-ray library (and my corresponding shrinking bank account).

 

[Will Krupp]

Sorry, duplicate post

 

[Will Krupp]

Sorry to revisit this at so late a date but, for what it's worth, the ad for the original run in New York lists several (but not all) theaters as playing the film in stereo... It looks like both the "I saw it 1st run in stereo" and "I saw it 1st run in mono" crowds are likely both correct. This is the newspaper ad from release day October 19, 1979:

 

[Bob Cashill]

I saw it Oct. 20, 1979, at the Rockaway Six with my family. (So many of those theaters in the ad are gone now.) While more exciting than the earlier Hurricane and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and subsequent When Time Ran Out, the last of the disaster cycle, it was no great shakes. Of course I own all of them on DVD, and this one on Blu. I hear City on Fire is coming?

 

[kriegerg69b]

METEOR was never released in 4-track MAG or Dolby Stereo- it was a mono release all the way. Mono is the original mix and the way it's supposed to sound.

The laserdisc claims stereo, but I haven't listened to it in years. It could easily be a misprint. If not, it's a faux upmix.
Not unusual, as it was like the wild west in the 90s when it came to faux laserdisc soundtrack upmixes, with laserdisc producers monkeying around with the original mixes, or inserting sections from a stereo music score albums (sometimes with totally different takes).

I'm glad the original mono is on the disc, and in a high res DTS MA format, to boot.

Pretty disappointing as a movie, but it still has one of my favorite quotable Sean Connery lines... one that has to be an ad lib.

That's hogwash.
Excuse me for replying almost 7 years after your post, but I saw Meteor in a large theater back in 1979, and made sure to find a theater showing it in stereo (even called the boxoffice to be sure). I don't know how old you are, but Meteor was most definitely released in 4-track mag...because that's how I saw it.
Incredible dynamic sound, and the laserdisc (which I sill have) is most definitely directional stereo mixed down from the original to a Dolby Surround track. The laserdisc has great directional sound and surround sound. Why in the name of all that is holy KL couldn't have just lifted the stereo audio off the laserdisc is a mystery. Meteor was an Oscar nominee for Best Sound that year.
The Connery line you mention has to be my fave too...I never considered it could be an improv line, but it's (to Karl Malden) "Why don't you stick a broom up my ***? I could sweep the carpet on the way out."

 

[kriegerg69b]

Perhaps a fail to you but I saw the film in its first run Los Angeles engagement at first rate movie house ..... it was mono! Or perhaps you're referring to Kino failing to mix a mono soundtrack into stereo.

Then you simply saw it in a theater which booked a mono print, likely because they didn't have the proper stereo setup.

I don't understand why, over the years, people have consistently mistaken Meteor as having never been released in stereo...It WAS.