Planet of the Apes (1968) Restoration details. (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

"Fox asked us to make the film spotless, which was a huge undertaking."

"The sheer volume of dirt made it a big job"

Whoa was it that filthy? I'll have to watch my blu-ray again and look for the muck and dirt.


"A team of restoration artists spent in excess of 2,000 hours bringing the film back to it's original quality."

I have much curiosity Bond-san.

 

[Paul_Scott]

still haven't sat down to watch any of the films in their entirety yet, but when I first got the set I extensively A/B'd it with the anamorphic DVD set and the practical differences were distressingly minimal. This was with a 1080p front projector (Sony VW 50 at the time) on an 8' wide screen.

Because of this thread, I pulled the set out again the other night (God, the design of this set is so annoyingly form over function- wish these studios would let people that actually use these things regularly design the packaging). This time I'm watching on a Pioneer (JVC RS2 clone). It's a very underwhelming image with what looks like too much filtering/DNR. It may not be Patton bad, but when the camera is stationary and a figure moves, I can see the slur of detail that is usually a tell-tale sign of DNR.
Also, if you check out the scene with Zira, Cornelius, and Taylor- right after Taylor reveals that he can write, there is some faint vertical striations throughout the frame . It's VERY faint- but this could be one reason why the image was as filtered as much as it is.
I don't know how good this film is capable of looking, but the current disc just isn't anything special. The improvement going from the anamorphic DVD set to this, is nowhere near as huge a leap as going from the non-anamorphic first release to the 16:9 remaster.

But I also have to laugh (nervously) when I hear Fox touting how many man hours they've put into restoring something. I always flash back to the restoration demo on Blood And Sand, a beautiful looking film that is a real eye-sore on DVD. You can see in the split screen demo how much detail is lost in the image after they get through 'fixing' it. It's appalling, really.

 

[joshEH]

WHAT.

I just bought the damn Blu-Ray boxed set not that long ago.

 

[Charles Smith]

Okay, at least I'm not the only person who might be totally nuts.

(Thank you, Paul Scott.)

 

[Rory*M]

Well, I'm very happy to hear about this. "Planet of the Apes" has been my favorite film since I saw it in its original 1968 release when I was a kid. I wasn't at all satisfied with its Blu-ray release from Fox. While most of the film looks OK, it isn't the kind of job that has been performed on the sixties Bond movies, but apparently Fox has corrected that, but as mentioned above, the current 5.1 audio remix is hardly that. Fox has the stereo recording masters to the classic Jerry Goldsmith score and could easily do a true 5.1 remix that would rival their 4-channel stereo soundtracks from their fifties and early sixties CinemaScope films. Also, Fox promised an isolated score track and it WAS NOT delivered for the original film (all the sequels on Blu-ray have this feature, though). "Planet of the Apes" also deserves a couple new commentary tracks, especially one devoted to the score and its importance. Hopefully Fox is preparing all this for a new Blu-ray Edition to tie in with the release of the reboot/prequel "Rise of the Apes" in June 2011. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Bryan^H]

Hmmm...when is Fox supposed to release this?

 

I hope soon, as I have held off buying the current set...or maybe I should get the set and add this film when it comes out? So confused!

 

[Dave H]

Interesting the restoration scan was only done at 2K vs 4K that is done on other movie restorations.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Yes interesting read indeed.
Thanks for the link

 

[Bryan^H]

Wondering what happened to this? Maybe the new sequel next year will see the re-release of all films on Blu in a new mega collectors set. Come on Fox(nudge, nudge!)

EDIT:
The link from the first page got lost, this should help.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/community/communitydetails?UserStoryId=9085

 

[Alan Tully]

Thanks for the new link, I remember reading it years back. There probably wasn't that many wet-gate HD scanners then. I'm sure they're used a lot more now (saves a lot of despotting & doesn't introduce any digital artifacts). Things are moving so fast these days, could it be that a 3-4 year old restoration is already out of date? I suppose just becouse they've re-done it, it doesn't mean they will release it on Blu. I remember reading here that there was a new scan of Die Hard (& I think they had a showing of it), & no sight of a new Blu-ray (yet).

 

[moviebuff75]

I bought the smaller boxed set, not the original one, and the first film looks great. I looked for dirt, but there wasn't hardly any at all.

 

[Charles Smith]

That smaller boxed set, at least during the recent B&N 40%-off sale, has to be one of the great deals around. I was half tempted to pick it up and sell my Big Book set, which I view as one of the packaging debacles of recent years with its absolutely bullshit disc hubs and awkward book construction. Then I remembered I got that practically for a song on some promotion from FoxConnect, and I have really nothing tied up in it, so why bother. Oh, and in spite of my original comments about the first film looking scrubbed...now I watch it and think it looks pretty spectacular. Go figure. But I'll be delighted to see any later improvements.

 

[Mark Anthony]

Any news on this being released on Blu yet, i'm surprised they've missed the 45th Anniversary, given the love of 5 year re-issues, if they wait for the 50th they'll probably have to do it again in 4K!

 

[Rory*M]

The next APES sequel, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, comes out next summer, and by this time next year I expect that Fox will have a new Blu-ray release of the entire franchise, and most probably it will included a 4K scan transfer of the classic original from 1968. I have no insider info, this is just strongly suspected. There have been many recent price slashings of the current BDs, so I think Fox is trying to clear out as much of the old stock as possible. I also believe that the digital work mentioned at the beginning of this thread started with a 4K scan, then the digital restoration work was done in 2K. Recent Fox BD releases of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, and FANTASTIC VOYAGE are 4K scans. I can't imagine Fox wouldn't do the same for the original PLANET OF THE APES. Their 2008 Blu-ray is merely the same transfer used for the 2004 DVD, only scanned in HD and digitally cleaned up a bit, but it is not what's talked about in the restoration link above. I believe the newer restoration has already been shown on HD cable and satellite, though cropped to 16X9. I've seen it, have it recorded on my DVR, and the image is perfectly clean, the colors boosted more, but I thought the image a little too bright. Hopefully a Blu-ray transfer will be darker. I also think the stereo sound has been improved.

 

[Nelson Au]

I thought I'd revive this thread. It's the summer of 2014 and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is out. I haven't seen any news of the remastered/restored/sparkling new transfer of the 1968 classic. Is this not out?Like you all, I have the blu ray box set of all 5 films. The fancy one with the Icarus ship on the box edge and an angry Cornelius on the inner part that pulls out.I'll have to revisit this first disc because like you, I thought it still looked good.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Nelson,

We have no informaton on a possible remaster of the series.

It's kind of hard to gauge.

I have the same set you do. The films look very, very good.

Is it worth Fox to go back and do further work on them? Hard to say.

In the meantime, I would fully expect Fox to eventually release a mega set
with all the Apes films from the 60s-70s, Tim Burton and today.

 

[Sam Favate]

While I love the Apes films, and enjoy the current blu-ray box - and might consider upgrading to a new box set if one came out - they ought to bury all copies of the 2001 Tim Burton movie in the deepest, darkest hole on earth. When the apes discover those copies in a few thousand years, they will conclude that humans must never again be allowed to rule the earth.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Very odd, I think the current blu looks fantastic! What more could they do with this title?

I remember Torsten Kaiser saying it looked poor, compared to how it could look, when i asked the question and, he works in the business so should know. I have kept off purchasing it for that reason and hopefully this new release will come soon.

Talking about Mr Kaiser i was reading a great interview from him, some quotes below, i'd post a link to the full interview but unfortunately it is at a rival site so i don't think i am allowed so i will just pull out a few questions only.

Torsten confirms my thoughts on the UK release of Zulu, i always thought The Dark Knight was edge enhanced sharpening but he says it's contrast changes that cause the edge halo's so i now have learned something new today, Warner Bros should redo The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, i can't understand why they messed up The Dark Knight the way they did.

KB: Scanning, in and of itself, doesn't solve many of the issues you might encounter.

TK: Correct. On the scanner, you are limited. On the telecine, you are limited. But with photo-chemical processing, you at least have a fighting chance. When people say, "oh, we only need to go and scan the whole negative at 6k and everything will be beautiful," that's all a bunch of baloney. It's very nice and, yes, scanning the negative is absolutely wonderful, but simply scanning the negative doesn't necessarily help you. The best way to do it is to make a completely new answer print that exhibits the proper color-processing. If, for instance, you have a Deluxe picture, the Deluxe colors should already be on the positive; it should be on an IP level so that you don't have an overly contrasted picture. To time it exactly right takes a long time and is awfully expensive. However, once you have that material, and scan that material, you have far less problems with color registration, sharpness and more. If it's all timed properly, it should run smoothly, like a charm. You also have exactly what you need for theatrical projection and continual preservation. It gives you everything. But if something on the positive doesn't register perfectly while it does on the negative scan, then you can select the negative scan, use the color registration from the positive, and adjust on the negative. It may not be perfect on the negative, or hit the nail on its head as it were, but you will get something like 95, 96% correct and that's much better than using the negative the entire time. It may be the digital domain, but it has limits. The color space is limited. It isn't on the photo-chemical side; you can do things you wouldn't dream of in the digital domain. The Dark Knight Blu-ray transfer has certainly raised a lot of questions and debate. Have you been involved in those discussions?

KB: Some. I certainly have my opinions on the transfer, and many of them are negative.

TK: On the web, a lot of people have been saying, "oh, it's way too contrast-y" and so on and so forth. And that is correct. Others have said there is a lot of edge enhancement present. And, yes, it is, mainly because of the changes in contrast; specifically changes made to whites and in the lower grayscale. Many of the edge halos or pixel breakups, as they are being called, that appear are present due to contrast changes, not necessarily by way of what people call edge enhancement. On The Dark Knight Blu-ray transfer, the biggest error – by far the biggest error – its producers committed was the complete change of the film's original color timing. The Dark Knight was not copied with an optical printer. The original material – I held it in my hands – it was gorgeous. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was… I fell flat off my chair. (Laughs) The colors are so different compared to those that appear in the Blu-ray transfer. I've seen the Blu-ray once, and I've never looked at it again. It's very unfortunate too because it makes the Blu-ray image exactly what it is. And this is something that is hugely important. It also unfortunately happened, albeit in a different way, to North By Northwest. When I saw North by Northwest, I talked to Robert Harris about it – specifically about the opening being de-grained to a level that you begin to see line twitter. It's a side effect from a de-graining tool which causes the layers to wobble a little. It's a weird thing that should have never made it past the quality control stage. They should have known exactly what caused it and should have changed it.

KB: Others assume that if a studio tosses everything into a super-computer, taps a few keys, and gives it enough time, a gorgeous transfer will produce itself.
TK: I know clients and customers who assume exactly the same thing. But in reality there is still no such thing, nor is it on the horizon. Automatic tools can do a lot, but merely on the surface. If you look closely, automatic tools can do also a lot of damage. As we have seen with the first issue of Gladiator, or the Star Trek boxed sets, Patton, Zulu or The Longest Day, automatic tools make things done fast, and often cheaper, but the outcome - especially on HE media such as Blu-ray - can be (far) less than appealing. In the end, it all comes down to the right choices, knowledge and the people who who know what they are doing (well).

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Ron for chiming in and updating us on what the latest developments are, or are not. I thought I might have missed a release.