Any firm specs on Muppet Christmas Carol? (1 Viewer)

[Brenton]

Read: "Dear Steve, we are sending this reply only as a formality, because we think that if a disc's aspect ratio can influence your purchase, you need to get a life, and you are lying about your family preferring widescreen because we have the statistics right here are FAMILIES HATE WIDESCREEN."

 

[DaViD Boulet]

don't be too quick to write off Disney's take on this customer input. I'm sure that if someone started bragging about their $$$ projector and how they are an HTF member the marketers will toss it off to "another one of *those*".

However, when people write well-written letter like he did, and mention their families, Disney does listen and it does impact their marketing decision.

It's because of input JUST LIKE THAT from consumers calling to complain about the black bars on their TV that Disney went towards P/S in the first place.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

DaViD Boulet, let me just say that, although your petition is good, and your ideas are good, Disney still won't listen. They know who the majority of people who buy their titles are...suburban "soccer moms" who will purchase any Disney title sight unseen, just because it's Disney...thus, they feel they have no need to cater to the more intelligent minority, except on classics and blockbusters. I even remember someone saying that Henson told Disney about the Muppet/P&S matter, and they just shrugged them off. Heck, I think they probably have 16x9 widescreen masters, and just aren't using them because they want to have "full color artwork on disc top." Heck, I remember hearing that WAS one of the reasons they didn't put OAR on these titles!

 

[DaViD Boulet]

That's why it's important to *not* sound like the elitist minority when we call. We need to sound like soccer moms and dads who happen to prefer widescreen. Forget the silly petition...just call them/email them as a consumer with a concern.

And yes...they have a bran-new 16x9 master but chose not to use it to keep color artwork on the disc (and they apparently don't know about the p/s-on-the-fly feature which would have solved the problem easily).

-dave

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

Well, DaViD, since you confirmed the fact that new 16x9 masters do exist, everyone should take a good look at the situation. If this had been WB, they would have almost immediately turned around, taken those masters, pressed them to disc, and given us OAR versions. See why people like myself often praise Warner?

And BTW, it saddens me to know that Henson is at the mercy of its owners, and the rights-holders to its films. Listening to how Henson has virtually no control over how their projects are handled on DVD just sickens me. I certainly hope Disney DOESN'T buy the Henson company, for if we do, we may never get to see the new Muppet Movie restoration on DVD in OAR (don't ask me, I just know a restoration was done, and screened at a film festival a couple months ago).

 

[MartEvans]

FYI:
i read on the dvd forums (uk based) that the german release is widescreen... i will double check but their site is down between 4 & 5 GMT.
EDIT:
Here's the link - http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...688163-6858960although there info might not be correct.. the listing on amazon's uk site does not mention ratio at all.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

we may never get to see the new Muppet Movie restoration on DVD in OAR (don't ask me, I just know a restoration was done, and screened at a film festival a couple months ago).

Restoration? Are you referring to the original "Muppet Movie" that Columbia released on DVD not too long ago?

I would LOVE to see a restored print of that find it's way to DVD. The Columbia DVDs, while OAR and 16x9, are *really* bad picture-quality-wise.

-dave

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

DaViD, I'd love to see the restored print too, and when Henson gets sold, it'll probably make its way to DVD. But we just have to hope a company that will CARE about OAR will get Henson, or we'll have the restoration on DVD...without OAR. And as I said once again, I believe thatg the actual people at Henson have no control whatsoever over Muppet/Henson discs' content...the video distributors do. They can get the Henson people to do interviews and new material, but the Henson people cannot make the decision of whether or not OAR can be on a disc (this was at least the case with the Disney films).

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

DaViD, I'd love to see the restored print too, and when Henson gets sold, it'll probably make its way to DVD. But we just have to hope a company that will CARE about OAR will get Henson, or we'll have the restoration on DVD...without OAR. And as I said once again, I believe that the actual people at Henson have no control whatsoever over Muppet/Henson discs' content...the video distributors do. They can get the Henson people to do interviews and new material, but the Henson people cannot make the decision of whether or not OAR can be on a disc (this was at least the case with the Disney films).

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The DVDs ARE the restored versions. That's why they came out over a year after the VHS did.

Unfortunately the film elements are in TERRIBLE shape

 

[Neil Joseph]

They could release Star Wars as P&S only and I would not buy. I had both Treasure Island and Christmas Carol on my list until I found out the news. The fact that any other region would have OAR on these titles is a slap in the face for R1 and a sad account of the general R1 public. If studios feel forced to bring forth P&S only for region 1 but bring OAR for other regions, this actually says more about the buying public than it does about the studios.

Sorry, I ain't buying.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

Jeff Kleist: AFAIK, this restoration that appeared at the Black Bear Film Festival in Milford, PA back in October was a NEW restoration...but I didn't see it, so I wouldn't know.

 

[Andy_MT]

The DVD "Die Muppets-Weihnachtsgeschichte" is the widescreen version.

Gute news. the german edition is definitely W I D E S C R E E N. received an email from amazon.de with the above confirmation. release date is around 21 november, i.e. NOW!!!
unsure whether 16x9+, but even if not, this surely has to be better than the pan & slice slop that got served up to the rest of the world.
ich mag Deutschland!!!!!
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...737880-2946139

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Jeffrey, I know it's a NEW restoration, it wasn't done very long ago for the DVDs, they came out in 2001.

Columbia took an extra year to release them because they were waiting for it. Had there been another restoration done to the Muppet Movies I probably would have heard about it.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

I will say, it does not look like the DVD of The Muppet Movie is restored. I think they used the same print as the VHS, and only waited a year to release the DVDs because they didn't think DVD was big enough yet. Restorations ARE NOT supposed to have excessive grain in all scenes, and if it was a real restoration, it was a shoddy one. And don't tell me that it's impossible to remove the excessive grain...LDI could have done it...

 

[James Reader]

Gute news. the german edition is definitely W I D E S C R E E N. received an email from amazon.de with the above confirmation. release date is around 21 november, i.e. NOW!!!

According to a German member of the UK based DVDForums the German version is still 4:3 - even though it was announced as widescreen.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I too must say I'm a bit dissappointed in the current Columbia Muppet movie discs. Film-grain is one thing...but these transfers look so incredibly grainy it looks like bugs crawling over the picture (and the MPEG compression makes it look even worse). Sound is also very poor on these discs. The laserdiscs sounded MUCH better.

I'm all for a future re-release of these titles. I agree that this is a job for LDI!

-dave

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

The R2 (UK at least) version is out and by all reports is not widescreen (at least according to the specs on the back of the box). :frowning:

Not only that, but the shorter version as well!
Just waiting for the laserdisc to come up on eBay again...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The Muppet Movies are being reviewed for condition concerns. There may be extensive restoration in store

Jim Henson loved film, he loved the charachteristics of film, and I don't think he'd want his film stripped of grain just because it bugs you.

 

[Josh L]

I just got my response from Di$ney this morning:



I would encourage everyone if they haven't already to write and complain about this decision.

Cheers