From the Earth to the Moon on Blu?

What a coincidence, I was going to post a related question! Must be because this weekend is the 40th Anniversary of the manned Moon landing. I agree, it's a great series covering that great time of the space program's early days to the last man to walk on the Moon.

I'd be interested in a BD version too. But my question was in regards to a re-issue box set that came out a few years ago. I have the original DVD boxset which is in standard 4x3 fullframe. But this re-issue was supposed to be letterboxed. As I recall at the time of the re-issue, it was window boxed(?) to create a faux 1:85 image?

I can look this up, but I'd be curious if that was the case for the re-issue. If it came out on Blu, it will be interesting to see if they left it full frame or not.

Also can't wait to see Apollo 13 on blu!

I have both of the older DVD sets.  The re-issue is 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with DTS 5.1 sound.

It's been a while, but IIUC the original set was not full-frame but pan&scan.  IIRC this series was originally shot in 16:9.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120570/dvd 

My understanding is the opposite: the series was designed and shot 4:3, being a TV mini-series, and the later "Signature Edition" was a tilt-and-scan edit, which is why I decided not to buy it.

It was also my understanding that the original set had the original aspect ratio.

If that is not correct, I would be very interested in knowing that.

I did some research and From the Earth To The Moon was definitely 4:3 originally, according to what I read.

This sparked my interest to pull out my set and watch last night. I saw the first 2 episodes and the opening shots of the first episode where the NASA management guys and Kennedy administration people are meeting in the White House. These shots are composed with close-ups on each actor as they discuss the events of the Russians getting a man into orbit and what they can do. If they crop those shots, the tops of the heads would be cut off!

I heard that term tilt and scan, but I've never seen the results. I'll have to read up on that too. But it sounds like it alters the composition negatively.

IMDB isn't helpful here.  Under tech specs it gives 1.78:1 AR, but under alt versions it says the reissue DVD was cropped.  I know it was a TV series on HBO, BUT it was released in 1998 and by that time the handwriting was on the wall that future TVs would all be 16:9.  For example, Band of Brothers was released in 2001 and it was certainly shot in 1.78:1 AR.

I bought the original 4:3 DVD release and watched all of it, then bought the 16:9 SE version when the price got cheap in April 2007. Sadly, I've never had a chance to watch it yet so I can't comment on differences. However, I remember reading a lot of discussion and reviews at the time where there seemed to be concensus that 4:3 was the true OAR, but that the 16:9 did a good job of framing things without it looking "wrong" or losing anything important.

EDIT: I checked a few online reviews. This one has some discussion and a few small comparison shots. Seems that some things were better with the original and some better with the SE.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/17788/from-the-earth-to-the-moon-the-signature-edition/



Edited by GlennH - 7/20/2009 at 04:31 pm GMT

Thanks for that link to DVD Talk. Interesting to read and see the images. The price on Amazon for this set has now dropped to $10 bucks! Tempting to get this version now. But I would be interested in a BD version.

The 16:9 version (I've got the US Signature set) does occasionally look a little cramped, but for the most part the cropping works fine. It's a great piece of work regardless of how you watch it though. :)

Just a thought re: a BD version: Was it even post-produced in HD?

The CG effects were done in SD, so Warner/HBO would have to pony up some coin to redo those shots for Blu-ray.

Plus most of the historical footage (e.g. in the 1968 episode) would have been in low-res.

If you're interested in a good series with lots of this kind of footage, might I recommend Discovery Channel's, When We Left Earth, The NASA Missions. No, it's not the same, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

 As this was shot here in Florida, I used to know one of the camera operators. It was filmed with both 4:3 and 16:9 in mind. Like most TV productions of the time, they shot it for regular TVs with an eye towards the future. So you could say either version is "correct".

This thread, and the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, inspired me to pull out my 4x3 copy of this title last night, and I watched the first two episodes. Interestingly, the opening titles are in widescreen, and I can see where the framing of the actual film could work with either 1.33:1 or 1.78:1. There were some shots that may look too tight in widescreen, but overall it would probably look okay in that ratio.

The picture quality was watchable upconverted to 1080p, but a good HD transfer would be a noticeable improvement, IMO.

Any word on this coming to Blu-Ray? It's been a while since there has even been a suggestion of it. Just opened my original set to find that two discs are missing! No idea when that happened. I must have loaned it out years ago and got it back that way. No more loaning DVDs!

 

Anyway, before I buy the Signature set, any word on the BD? This year?