Greg_Y
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 7, 1999
- Messages
- 1,466
After picking up the new SE of The Terminator today, I was eager to see and hear what exactly MGM did to give this film the treatment it deserves. I wasn't ready for a completely different soundtrack.
The gunshots in the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix are, from what I could hear, brand new. They don't sound anything like the old gunshots. When Arnold kills the first Sarah, instead of LOUD gunshots, we get more a silenced/muffled shot sound. I don't even know how to describe it, except to say that it's not the original. I scanned back, put on the mono soundtrack (only changeable through the menus
) and listened again. There were the old gunshots. Loud and direct.
Same with the shotguns and other weapons. Instead of one big BOOM! per shot, as I can always remember hearing and is evident in the mono soundtrack, it sounds like they tried to give each different gun a more distinctive sound, plus put in sounds of the bullets hitting their targets (think a more T2-like sound.)
The new soundtrack also has alot more directionality than is even needed, I think. As DVDFile put it: "the new soundtrack often sounds very gimmicky." When the station wagon crushes the toy truck, for example, the sound glides from the center channel into the left, as the truck quickly gets smooshed out of the screen. Not really necessary.
And since they completely reworked the soundtrack, why not remove alot of the scratchiness? I suppose the only thing I enjoyed about the new mix is the way Fiedel's score is presented.
However, that doesn't mean I don't like this disc. Before you say "If you don't like the 5.1 mix, listen to the mono!" ... don't worry ... I will. It's just sad that they wasted time and space creating this new mix for the "all my speakers" crowd. Also the video quality is quite good. There is some grain, but blacks are, for the most part, spot on, which is important for a film that takes place mostly at night. When you pop this one in for the first time, you may want to give serious consideration to the soundtrack you want to listen to. I know the next time I watch it, I will be fully enjoying the mono track.
Equipment List:
Toshiba 40H80
Denon AVR-2700
Pioneer DV-434
Mirage Speakers
------------------
DVDs | CDs
"[T]he greatest films teach us to appreciate them, while lesser films simply cater to our desire for immediate gratification. Great films make audiences better; bad films make audiences worse." --- Roger Ebert
The gunshots in the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix are, from what I could hear, brand new. They don't sound anything like the old gunshots. When Arnold kills the first Sarah, instead of LOUD gunshots, we get more a silenced/muffled shot sound. I don't even know how to describe it, except to say that it's not the original. I scanned back, put on the mono soundtrack (only changeable through the menus
Same with the shotguns and other weapons. Instead of one big BOOM! per shot, as I can always remember hearing and is evident in the mono soundtrack, it sounds like they tried to give each different gun a more distinctive sound, plus put in sounds of the bullets hitting their targets (think a more T2-like sound.)
The new soundtrack also has alot more directionality than is even needed, I think. As DVDFile put it: "the new soundtrack often sounds very gimmicky." When the station wagon crushes the toy truck, for example, the sound glides from the center channel into the left, as the truck quickly gets smooshed out of the screen. Not really necessary.
And since they completely reworked the soundtrack, why not remove alot of the scratchiness? I suppose the only thing I enjoyed about the new mix is the way Fiedel's score is presented.
However, that doesn't mean I don't like this disc. Before you say "If you don't like the 5.1 mix, listen to the mono!" ... don't worry ... I will. It's just sad that they wasted time and space creating this new mix for the "all my speakers" crowd. Also the video quality is quite good. There is some grain, but blacks are, for the most part, spot on, which is important for a film that takes place mostly at night. When you pop this one in for the first time, you may want to give serious consideration to the soundtrack you want to listen to. I know the next time I watch it, I will be fully enjoying the mono track.
Equipment List:
Toshiba 40H80
Denon AVR-2700
Pioneer DV-434
Mirage Speakers
------------------
DVDs | CDs
"[T]he greatest films teach us to appreciate them, while lesser films simply cater to our desire for immediate gratification. Great films make audiences better; bad films make audiences worse." --- Roger Ebert