A few words about...™ The Wizard of Oz -- in Blu-ray - Page 12

No, but they could easily have gone to an earlier generation tape. Or one that wasn't recorded with rabbit ears from a station 100 miles away.

Douglas, I'm guessing you haven't looked at "Dreamer of Oz" on this blu-ray. Trust me, Seasons 1 and 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation look like high definition by comparison.

Agreed the TV movie looks curiously bad - like it's from some fan's poor quality VCR taping. In contrast, the TV movie on the Gone with the Wind set looks pretty good.

My copy of The Dreamer of Oz, taped from the original broadcast, still looks better than the version on the blu-ray set. This release has been a disappointment for me, with most of the extras carry overs from the last release, the transfer containing "the glitch", the mono track missing part of a line, and no full-length commentary from John Fricke (just a patchwork commentary from the last release.) Even the transition from sepia to Technicolor looks very dark. You can hardly make out details in the shot. The wire removal is something I'm on the fence about. I'm not devastated over these things, but after purchasing this title several times over the past 23 years, I would like to finally have a "definitive edition." Maybe on the next release they can also focus a bit more on the television legacy of the film by including CBS promos and bumpers (remember the rainbow bumper from the late '70's and early '80's?-it's on youtube.) I would like the next release to maybe have a virtual tour of Oz with extras in each section of the land (i.e. art direction, special effects, casting, deleted scenes, etc.)
Edited by eric scott richard - 3/21/10 at 10:04pm

Uhm...  REALLY?  There is literally one visual flaw that lasts for one frame that has been found on this Blu-ray, and you REALLY think your "tape" of an old broadcast "looks better"?


REALLY????

Vincent

I'm talking about my broadcast tape of The Dreamer of Oz.

phew, that was a little scary there for a minute.

No I have to admit I haven't seen Dreamer of Oz on the blu-ray. The discription just sounded like what you see in the early years of TV edited on video. The uprez of the Trials and Tribulations episode of DS9 on the TOS second season blu-ray looks like garbage.

Doug

The thing with Dreamer is that it looks like reception interference running through the picture.

Anyone know who produced the "Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz" featurette? I'm writing a thesis on digital film restoration and I'm planning to use this featurette as one of my sources. That's why it would be good to know who produced it.

First of all let me say that The Wizard of Oz on blu-ray is a marvel and everyone should buy a copy. My so-called “complaints” about The Dreamer of Oz are simply out of curiosity as to the reason for its poor quality and by all means NOT a call to arms against Warner. As the picture shimmers with what looks like poor reception, and has video drop-outs like when a VHS tape has been played so many times that the oxide particles are wearing off, I can guarantee you that this is not the master broadcast tape from 1990. May I speculate as to what might have happened?

 

Warner Legal Department: Guess what guys? We just acquired the rights to include “The Dreamer of Oz” on the blu-ray!

 

Warner Home Video: Terrific! Add that to the press release.

 

A week later…

 

A sad-faced young lackey from materials: Bad news fellas, Entity X can’t locate the master tapes for “The Dreamer of Oz”

 

Or

 

Bad news fellas, Entity X refuses to hand over the master tapes for “The Dreamer of Oz.”

 

Warner Home Video: WHAT??? But, but, but… We’ve already announced it! We can’t take it back now! Somebody has to have a recording of this somewhere. Find one!

If only this exchange had been concluded this way:

HaHa! I was thinking the same thing!

You could be the proverbial "private collector" who could loan your rare "good condition" item to the studio for the purpose of making a new "dub master" for inclusion on some future release! 

Possibly...I sure wouldn't pull a Star is Born on WB!

Yes, its too bad this person who has three copies of the full print of a Star Is Born - (according to Joe Caps) could not loan one of them to WB without the legal problems that would occur.

In my best Bones voice, "I don't know what that means."

I didn't either Johnny...until I went over and read a six page thread in software about a 6k resolution transfer of A Star is Born.