V the series on dvd (1 Viewer)

[Ethan Riley]

They'd probably have to recompose the tv series from scratch. I thought it was edited on video. Who knows; maybe if Kenneth Johnson ever gets his V movie series off the ground, they'll want to revisit all this.

 

[Scott511]

those recaps appeared on the V/V: The Final Battle syndication package (the version that was sold to local stations as 5 x 120mins, covering both mini-series, to play over five consecutive nights), so that's probably why some of us are thinking they're not beyond the realm of possibility.

Then I say there's always a chance. I've never watched the mini series in syndication, I had no idea the recaps were intact.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

They'd probably have to recompose the tv series from scratch. I thought it was edited on video. Who knows; maybe if Kenneth Johnson ever gets his V movie series off the ground, they'll want to revisit all this.

I dunno about that. I think it was edited on film. Certainly, the on-screen titles are of the optical sort, rather than machine-generated, as is the case with most edited-on-tape shows.

V: The Series was produced at a time when some stuff was still being edited on film, and some other stuff on tape. In 1984, I think it was mostly cable series (like The Hitchhiker) and lower-budget stuff that was being edited on tape. This was from a major studio for one of the major networks, and was one of the most expensive shows on TV at the time. I think Dallas was still being edited on film at this time, too.

I believe V missed being edited on tape by about year or two.

It probably doesn't matter anyway. Warner Archive is unlikely to spend the money it would likely take to clean all those episodes up. The Final Battle? Sure. Though not as widely-acclaimed as the original, it was still fairly well-received. The Series, on the other hand, was almost universally panned, and got clobbered in the TV ratings at the time, so is less well-remembered than either mini-series.

 

[Scott511]

It gets my vote for appearing like it was edited on film.

 

[ScottRE]

I dunno about that. I think it was edited on film. Certainly, the on-screen titles are of the optical sort, rather than machine-generated, as is the case with most edited-on-tape shows.

V: The Series was produced at a time when some stuff was still being edited on film, and some other stuff on tape. In 1984, I think it was mostly cable series (like The Hitchhiker) and lower-budget stuff that was being edited on tape. This was from a major studio for one of the major networks, and was one of the most expensive shows on TV at the time. I think Dallas was still being edited on film at this time, too.

I believe V missed being edited on tape by about year or two.

Yes, I agree. I think the 1986-87 season was the beginning of that. I remember Dallas suddenly looking extremely cheap after Bobby stepped out of the shower. V was shot and edited on film, so the only issue would be whether or not it would be worth their time to restore the series.

Never say never. Kino Lorber just redid Lee Van Cleef's The Master on Blu, which boggles my mind.

BTW, the most difficult TV series to search for on the internet was always V. I mean, it's one damned letter!

 

[Ethan Riley]

They should recompose the series. They can look for alternate shot from episode 4 that fix the continuity mess between than and episode 3. They can redo that other episode that was sped up for time (the people sound like Chipmunks.)

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Never say never. Kino Lorber just redid Lee Van Cleef's The Master on Blu, which boggles my mind.

Mine, too! If memory serves, V inherited the same crappy timeslot that was occupied the previous season by The Master. CBS was just unbeatable on Fridays at that time.

BTW, the most difficult TV series to search for on the internet was always V. I mean, it's one damned letter!

Yeah, I know, very frustrating!

 

[AndyMcKinney]

They should recompose the series. They can look for alternate shot from episode 4 that fix the continuity mess between than and episode 3.

It would take more than a single alternate shot to fix the continuity problems that were created by having Kyle introduced to the resistance twice!

It's probably best to just leave everything alone. What's done is done. Remember, NBC had decided to abandon episode 3 for being too violent for the original 8pm timeslot, then during the late-season reruns (by which time the series was in the 9pm death-slot), they went back and decided to show it after all.

They can redo that other episode that was sped up for time (the people sound like Chipmunks.)

Which episode is that? Are you saying an episode was time-sped on the original NBC broadcasts, or did it happen sometime later?

 

[ScottRE]

Which episode is that? Are you saying an episode was time-sped on the original NBC broadcasts, or did it happen sometime later?

That was The Deception, the 3rd originally aired. It's fine on DVD, actually.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I'm sure we've already gone over this but 1.78:1 is Kenneth Johnson's preferred ratio for the original V miniseries, since it was made under the impression that the two parts would shown in theaters overseas. One only needs to watch the original VHS release to see that it was clearly composed with a common top.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I'm sure we've already gone over this but 1.78:1 is Kenneth Johnson's preferred ratio for the original V miniseries, since it was made under the impression that the two parts would shown in theaters overseas. One only needs to watch the original VHS release to see that it was clearly composed with a common top.

I know that's what he says, but there is really no reason why Warner can't (and shouldn't) at least also give us the original 4:3 presentation with original sound mix as an alternative, at least, especially since there is no evidence that the mini-series was ever exhibited theatrically. I think there was just a phone call that Japan might be interested, and nothing ever came of it.

By the time he was shooting V, I think Johnson was composing for multiple aspect ratios as a default (at least for pilot movies), since he previously got burned with the pilot film for Incredible Hulk (I think), which was chopped and looked horrible. Understandably, he probably thought it best to be widescreen-safe in case the studio shopped his work as a feature overseas.

I don't think this is a valid enough reason to "throw away" the original aspect ratio. 4:3 is how it was always exhibited during its original run, and I'd dare say that apart from Kenneth Johnson's statements years after the fact, no one else probably considered the widescreen version as anything other than an alternative aspect ratio. I seriously doubt any widescreen prints were ever struck! I'm sure the widescreen version didn't physically exist until the DVD release.

I'm not saying take the widescreen version away from the widescreen advocates. I'm saying at least give us the original presentation, too. There's no reason why they couldn't have remastered the original 4:3 version, and created the remastered widescreen from that, giving two versions from one mastering job.

Of course, we're probably finding out about this far too late in the process to change any plans they might already have made, but who knows...

All that aside, there's definitely no justification for V: The Final Battle being only available in widescreen on DVD (other than the studio just wanting it). There was no "director intent" on that one. When/if there's a blu-ray on that, there is really no good excuse (other than studio apathy) for not giving it to us in 4:3.

 

[Worth]

...I'm not saying take the widescreen version away from the widescreen advocates. I'm saying at least give us the original presentation, too. There's no reason why they couldn't have remastered the original 4:3 version, and created the remastered widescreen from that, giving two versions from one mastering job...

You're going to lose resolution if you do that. That's the same as using your set's "zoom" button. That's actually what they did for the Battlestar Galactica widescreen versions, and the results aren't very good.

 

[ScottRE]

You're going to lose resolution if you do that. That's the same as using your set's "zoom" button. That's actually what they did for the Battlestar Galactica widescreen versions, and the results aren't very good.

Are you sure about BSG? They look different. The widescreen episodes have a bluish tint and the pilot episode has commercial breaks in the widescreen, but full screen has them edited out.

 

[Worth]

Are you sure about BSG? They look different. The widescreen episodes have a bluish tint and the pilot episode has commercial breaks in the widescreen, but full screen has them edited out.

I don't know that it was ever officially confirmed, but it was something that was mentioned in a number of reviews of the blu-ray set, including the HTF one:

These 16:9 recomps are a bit soft, mostly due to the fact that I suspect the technicians zoomed in on the 2k scan of the original 1.33:1 frames, as due exhibit some minor aliasing issues that show up on a few rare occasions (the most obvious is the “A Glen A. Larson Production” title card at the beginning of the pilot episode.

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/posts/4244140/

There was additional colour-correction and other digital clean-up done to the widescreen versions, but the 4:3 set looks much sharper.

 

[ScottRE]

I agree with the fuzziness and I get that can definitely be due to blowing up the image, but the differences in the commercial breaks for the pilot are what give me pause. Actually, the dramatic beats work much better with the smash cuts to black. I was disappointed that the full screen version of the pilot had them edited out. No other episode was like that.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

You're going to lose resolution if you do that. That's the same as using your set's "zoom" button. That's actually what they did for the Battlestar Galactica widescreen versions, and the results aren't very good.

It was shot full frame/open matte, so I don't really see why they'd have to make two scans. If they scanned it in high enough resolution, I don't see any reason why they couldn't do both a full-frame and a widescreen version from the same HD scan.

I think that's what BBC Resources did when they remastered Year One of Space: 1999 in high definition. They did one scan, but did it full frame (actually, 16:9 with black pillarboxes burnt in) and did a cropped widescreen for television.

so, I guess I was using the wrong terminology. They should be able to create two masters from one HD scan: a full-frame one (or, full frame image centred in a 16:9 frame with pillarboxes), and a cropped widescreen one.

 

[jcroy]

Something like this also appears to be done with Star Trek TOS. The daily reruns on a scifi basic cable channel are in 16:9 widescreen, while the bluray versions are in 4:3

Both the 16:9 and 4:3 versions I've seen in HD resolution, have the newer redone cgi special effects.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Well, someone over on Roobarb's wrote to Johnson and he replied. No word on whether the original 4:3 version will be on there as an alternative, but we now know for sure the widescreen version and revised sound mix are definitely on there. Here is what Johnson had to say:

The way that V was presented on the DVD is the way I intended it to be seen. Although we protected for the 4 x 3 Aspect ratio that was current in television at the time, we framed ideally for the 1:1.85 theatrical aspect ratio because I anticipated the originals would be seen in Europe on theater screens and I wanted it to look its best. Fortunately* Warner Bros. never released it properly until the DVD which was the first time it was seen properly. Also the original soundtrack was only dubbed in mono because Warner Bros. did not want to spend the money in 1983 for me to dub it in stereo, since the networks were not yet broadcasting and stereo – although I knew everyone would be… And they were… Within the next few years.

When I remastered the soundtrack into five channel stereo surround for the DVD — which will also be on the Blu-ray — I had more time to do the proper dub that I had not been able to do originally.

The 2001 DVD and new Blu-ray are the way that I always wanted the movie to be seen at its best. And the newly scanned 4K Blu-ray video is stunning.

Thanks for caring…

Kenny

(* presumably, Kenny meant to write UNfortunately there rather than fortunately.)

Here's hoping the studio will give us the OAR with original sound mix as a bonus feature, then.

 

[ScottRE]

Welp, going by that, I see no reason to upgrade. The sound mix is ass. The new sound effects are much louder than the dialog.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Really hope someone from Warner is lurking here and can see that we do have some valid points about including the original TV version on this set (beyond the OAR vs. director's intent argument).

Scott, are you like me and not using a surround system? Those of us using soundbars and/or built-in speakers have to listen in stereo, and some of these 7.1 and 5.1 soundtracks don't down-mix to stereo all that nice. As you say, FX and/or music way too loud compared to the voices.

Still holding out hope that the original TV version is at least included as an extra (and not just a rip of the old VHS/Laser master, but a proper HD version).