Search for The Final Countdown (1 Viewer)

[Brad M]

:b I thought a "flipper" was a 2-sided dvd. My bad.

So is it better than the vhs? Should I pass?

 

[Ryan Potts]

Brad, I've been following this one for some time and the overall conclusion has been to pass. No one who got the disc seemed very happy with it. There have been several threads just on this one topic, but the verdict was the same.

It appears that the company putting this out simply copied a UK release almost to a tee.

For now, I'm just waiting to see if someone else will eventually put this title out without the problems of this current one.

 

[Todd Phillips]

What gets me is that this entry was added at DVDEmpire yesterday, and it already has a rating for a 2.25 out of 5. I can't believe anyone rated it that well, based on all the BS I've heard about it.

Dave, the rating includes the movie's rating in the total. Did you read the guy's review...it's fairly accurate.

 

[John P Grosskopf]

I just sent in the following review to DVD Empire.
The One line Summary is "The FInal Letdown."
Let's see if they actually post it.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN will never be confused with terrific cinema, but it has a place in the hearts of many sci-fi fans for it's creative premise and impressive production value on a relatively small budget. However, those hearts were collectively stabbed when this DVD release finally emerged in Region 1 on the Pacific Family label. This release could have been so sweet, but instead is little more than a bitter mess with a sad history.
Originally this DVD was available only from the Pacific Family website for about twice what is costs at DVD Empire. Pre-orders were taken, credit cards charged, then months after the promised release dates (they kept changing), those who pre-ordered finally received their discs and discovered they had been had.
Instead of a DVD containing the promised edition with a new widescreen anamorphic transfer and remastered 5.1 DD sound that Pacific Family had pre-sold on their site, customers apparantly got a shoddy PAL dub-down of the British release with picture quality closer to VHS than DVD and lackluster sound.
The picture on this DVD is non-anamorphic 2.35 widescreen not the 1.33 listed above. Compression artifacts, conversion anomolies (PAL to NTSC), and the 6% PAL speed-up make watching this disc a chore. The sound is merely adaquate at best.
I feel sorry for a friend of mine who ordered this thing for $20 plus shipping from the Pacific Family site, especially after we compared my Austalian Region 4 PAL DVD to his. The Austrailian DVD is of much better quality even though it too is non-anamorphic and has the 6% PAL speed-up. But at least it is watchable and has better quality sound in my estimation.
Avoid the PACIFIC FAMILY DVD like the plague unless you are REALLY desparate to see this film and do not have a multi-region player.
Otherwise get the Region 4 DVD from Australia or the British Region 2 release which is about $10 US delivered by post and is supposedly of better quality than the Region 4 release.

 

[Brad M]

Wow. I bet they avoid that review. I wouldn't want it on my site when I'm trying to sell dvds. Good write up. I can feel the pain.
I'll pass on this release.

 

[MikeAlletto]

So how long do we have to wait again for a possible good release of this movie?

 

[Jean-Michel]

I should point out that PAL speedup is 4%, not 6%.

 

[Larry Bevil]

Todd,

I may have been a little generous on my rating of the audio for this DVD on DVD Empire. Although, it sounded about as good as my laserdisc. Of course, that is always a subjective matter. So, I gave it an "average" rating. Naturally, the video and the extra features received the lowest possible rating for a dvd.

 

[HankM]

Maybe Anchor Bay can get the rights to this film. IMO they are the company to do the job right.

 

[John P Grosskopf]

I should point out that PAL speedup is 4%, not 6%.

Oops, my bad.

Must be becuase I'm using an old keyboard from a British computer with PAL speed up that increases numerical valuse by 2%. :b

 

[Larry Bevil]

It's interesting how people are rating this film. As I understand it, the first rating point - the Film - is the quality of the movie title itself. I believe a rating of 4 for the movie is a fair rating. For those that gave it a 1, then they must not like the movie. The ratings for the video, audio, and features are the low points, not the quality of the movie, in my opinion.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

In the latest issue of Widescreen Review (monsters inc cover), they review The Final Countdown. They gave it a 1 for picture and 2 for sound. They ripped it calling it, "worse than the first Highlander dvd" and "looks like a bootleg from a copy of a copy of a vhs."

 

[Larry Bevil]

Yes, and they gave the composite score of the film a 3, which is the quality of the title. Naturally I believe it should be closer to a 4, but that's my opinion. I generally agree with their assessment of the video and audio quality.

 

[Brad M]

I just got this email from DVDEmpire:

We have just been informed by our distributors

that the title 'Final Countdown, The' is no

longer available.

It has been removed from your order. The remainder

of your order will be processed normally. We apologize

for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Looks like this bad dream is going away. Also, funny I got this email since I never ordered it in the first place.

 

[Frank PW]

Don't companies like this realize that they'll get a bad reputation in the industry and people will stop ordering from them?

If they brought out a hard to find title in a month or so I'd be surprised if anyone around here would throw their credit card # down.

To bad, I really liked this movie. One more title on the wish list.

F