BACK TO THE FUTURE 2-Disc Special Edition DVD coming in February (1 Viewer)

[GuruAskew]

Has anyone seen these yet? Via street date break or review?

To look at the specs it looks like all 3 movie discs are the same as the 3 in the box set but now there's a "Disc 2" on the first film. I seem to remember reading that they were "remastered" though.

So what's the verdict?

 

[Derek Miner]

I saw these in a store yesterday, however I decided to wait for Blu-Ray.

I did find it strange, however, that the "Power Of Love" music video was on the Part II disc. Then I looked at my trilogy set and found that's where it is in there. That leads me to believe that disc wasn't remastered (other than being the second version with corrected framing, I assume).

 

[Patrick H.]

After some digging, I found confirmation on another forum that these are, in fact, the EXACT same discs as the (corrected) original trilogy set, right down to the VOB files. So the only thing new is the cover art and the bonus disc for part one. I'm not opposed to double-dipping if it's truly an upgrade, but can't really justify these.

 

[Curtis F]

What was wrong with the framing on Part II?

 

[Greg_S_H]

Back To The Future - BTTF DVD Framing Fiasco FAQ

 

[MielR]

I saw these advertised with a film-cel included. Has anyone gotten one of those?

 

[Haden]

Watching the "Back to the Future Night" special with Leslie Nielsen again sure brings back memories of watching it with my parents when it originally aired. I was so hyped up about seeing BTTF2 and those brief glimpses of it in the special were so exciting to see.

I like how they included the last scene of the movie edited into this special on DVD, which gives us the alternate TV version of Marty's like to Doc about becoming "jerks" instead of "assholes". Nice little bonus there.

Getting this and the BTTF Ride footage made this DVD totally worth a double dip.

 

[Stephen_Clark]

The Back to the Future™ Senitypes are a Best Buy limited-edition exclusive. Reportedly, only 9,999 for each film were made.

Here's a look at one:

BTTF Special Edition DVDs - Page 3 - BTTF.com — Your Daily Jolt of 1.21 Jigowatts!

 

[John Stuart]

Just to clarify something for good, since I already saw both 4:3 and 16:9 versions from BTTF and I have some people arguing with me the director's intent was to shot this movie to be presented in 4:3 somehow. Can you confirm how BTTF (all movies) were originally filmed and the original's intention from the producers? Did they planned even for a second for us to watch these movies in any aspect-ratio or way other than Widescreen/1.85 for all entire movies?

 

[Vinprakash]

BACK TO THE FUTURE 2-Disc Special Edition DVD coming in February

 

[Jack Theakston]

The one and only aspect ratio for the BTTF films (all three) is 1.85-1. All three films are extensively hard matted and therefore cannot be shown in any other ratio.

 

[Rickymittalh]

Universal Studios will be releasing a 2-Disc Special

 

[Derek Miner]

Where are these people? I'm half kidding, as people who don't understand about matting of "flat" films drive me crazy.

 

[IshantNidhi]

Well, as the captures show, some scenes

 

[Jack Theakston]

As is typical with many films from that era (and before), hard mattes jump in and out based on the camera they were using, or if there was an optical with a 1.85 plate in the printer.

Telecine operators get around hard mattes by hemming in the picture and basically pan 'n scanning the hard matted area, which is why if you look at most of the clips above, there's lots of information missing from the sides compared to the widescreen versions.

Anyone who thinks any of the BTTF films are 1.37 have no clue as to what they're talking about.

 

[Brian Borst]

Only the special effects were hard matted, the rest was open matted. And anyone who has seen these movies in 4:3 must have noticed the extreme amounts of head space in a lot of shots. It's painfully obvious that it's supposed to be in 1.85:1.

 

[GuruAskew]

If you were around for the original DVD release (I think it was in '02) and all the V2 craziness you'll remember that the regular black-bar-hating crowd was a lot bigger.

I remember constantly seeing these people clinging to the fact that their fullscreen DVDs weren't part of the recall/exchange. They didn't understand that what they bought was inherently incorrect and thus not worth fixing in the first place. All they could see was "black bars = bad" and that they didn't have to return THEIR DVDs.

Odds are these are the same people who maintain that the fullscreen framing is "correct" because I've never seen anyone say that in a way that isn't soaked in ignorance. I certainly don't think anyone involved in the movie has said anything to support it.

 

[Brian Borst]

I only wish that were true. There are still a lot of people who would rather zoom in on their HDTV's than to watch something with black bars, only the argument has now switched from open matted films to super35 films (black bars on a standard screen and black bars on a widescreen tv). I've had arguments with people who would want that all directors shoot in 16:9 just to fill their screens, or just shoot everything in IMAX (because of The Dark Knight).
But anyway, BTTF's aspect ratio is all too clear, no matter if you watch it matted or not.

 

[WillG]

There's some unawareness too. For example I have friends who have gotten 16:9 sets but had no idea that there was a 4:3/16:9 monitor setting on their DVD players. Truthfully, it's not entirely their faults as these types of settings are not spelled out very well. HDTV's should come with a tag or something on the screen that says, "Hey Dummy, set your DVD player's monitor settings to 16:9 and if you still plan on using the yellow cable to connect call this number and we'll have someone come over and choke you with it" (probably should be worded a little nicer though)

Also, while on the subject of open matte, it is important to note that even if a film was not hard matted, Pan and Scan is still often employed on 4:3 transfers (especially with Super 35) I've done some comparisons on 1:85 films in non effects scenes and have seen examples of significant cropping.

 

[MielR]

Too bad there's no Stoltz footage. Being the crazy completist I am, I would also like if they included the "Johnny B. Goode" music video that ended with a deleted clip of Marty coining the term "rock and roll"

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but it led me to finally finding a decent copy of this:

There are quite a few shots not used in the film (mostly of MJF playing the guitar) and the ending, of course, but there's a shot or two of Huey Lewis and of the piano player that also weren't used.