Back to the Future = Bilingual in Canada? (1 Viewer)

[Christian Preischl]

Hi,

No additional French tracks need to be added so it seems logical that the rest of the content will remain unchanged.

Yup.

Chris

 

[JasonRH]

For anyone interested, there is a site that posts information on bilingual releases, has a forum, and outlines studio policies on this issue. Here's the link :
http://www.canadiandvdgroup.com/bili...vers/index.htm

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Now, I would like it if more titles were released w/reversible covers, but I suspect the economics of this are poor, due to the demographics of the country.

Because some idiotic morons (5 of them I heard) who are apparently too lazy to flip their covers to the french side have requested Aliance to include all specs and movie summaries in both languages.

And now with all the people complaining about the uglyness of those covers, why they haven't figured out that only a handful of people complaining about having to go through the effort of reversing the insert after unpacking the DVD is better than having everyone else complain is beyond me...

And the Universal Movies that were mentionned (Time Machine, Scorpion King and I think Spy Game was affected too) are even worst that Aliance because they put the french title in the same font as the english one instead of the tiny one under the proper title.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I'm very wary now of buying any DVDs sourced from Canada. The bilingual covers look awful. I was never one to really have any vocal viewpoint on such things, but these look bloody terrible.
Anything with a bilingual cover I just order from Amazon US. I get it within a week, and while it's a little more expensive, it looks nicer on my shelf

 

[Yee-Ming]

"merde"
bleh, looks like another round of watching carefully for the outcome of the dreaded "bilingual cover" watch before I finally order BTTF.
same thing with the FOTR:EE, which is why I still don't have it; it's somewhere en-route between Canada and Singapore now, I just hope it gets here in time so that I can watch FOTR again before going to see TTT (opends Dec 20).

 

[Dave Simpson]

Got my copy today (Im in Toronto). Both the slip-case and keep-case (triple-alpha, in fact) are bi-lingual. The French title is in the same BTTF font, 'tho smaller than the English (the keep-case also has a small red maple leaf on the spine). The back of the slip is typical of what we've been seeing from Universal lately; a paragraph of descriptive hype, followed by the feature list, and the Uni grid on the bottom. All this is on the left-hand side in English, and is in French on the right. And to really add insult, the artwork for the keep-case is indeed reversible, but the only difference is that the reverse side features the title in French in the larger font, and the English is smaller. Duhh!! I understand why they may need to feature both languages on the slip, for this is what consumers will see on display in the store. But if they're going to go to the trouble of making a friggin' reversible insert in the first place, then why not make each side exclusive to each fuckin' language, and let the customer decide (sorry, I'm getting pissed here as I type)?!?
Audio tracks include DD in both English and French. As well, per the slip-case's listed specs that I read in English(!!), each film is accompanied by a commentary track, but I've only listened to about five minutes of the commentary on part 1.
Cheers.

DS.

 

[Justin Lane]

I really hope the covers are not bilingual because I ordered this from Amazon.ca for the same price as the american site which means it is about a 3rd less in US dollars. If the covers are wacked out I will just bite the bullet, pay a few bucks more and buy it locally at Best Buy or Circuit City.

J

 

[Aaryn Chan]

I dont know but when you look at a movie, you recognize it with the poster, not the letters.

Why translate E.T. The Extra Terrestrial to "E.T. L'Extra-Terrestre"

Or Monster Inc, then Monstres, Inc just below it, same size.

are people that dumb?

 

[Andy_MT]

are people that dumb?

no, just the people who come up with these ideas.

 

[Jeff]

I think all the people who normally order DVD's from Canada, should email the vendor you would have bought this from and tell them why you will be ordering this from the U.S. instead...Assuming you are, of course.

Canadian DVD vendors need to get in on this if we want studios to stop this idiotic practice.


Jeff

 

[Lance Nichols]

Ok, sorry about the rant earlier. Yes, I know no one had complained, and I was probably thread farting to a degree. I guess I am tired of the complaints in other threads.

I do agree that overall, the covers lack "balance", but it is something we have to take up with the manufacturers, and pressure them to release "flip covers". However, with some packaging (like some boxsets) this is entirely impractical.

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Thanks for the info on the bilinguality. Now, could we get a screenshot or two? And secondly, are the extras indeed identical to those on the U.S. release?

 

[Jeremy Allin]

I really do wish the studios would adopt a policy that would see bilingual covers completely English/French reversible. In mainly English-speaking areas, a small sticker (in French) attached to the shrinkwrap would inform a French-speaking person that there is a French language track and the packaging is reversible. In mainly French-speaking areas, the exact opposite would apply.
As much as I do not like the current methods employed by Alliance/Universal/Paramount in particular, they have me in a difficult position. Can I order a highly anticipated release such as BTTF from the US to alleviate the bilingual packaging? Sure I can. However, with the way our dollar is, the extra cash that I'd have to shell out to do it just isn't worth it.
It is my hope that things will change, but the fact is that the majority of the population just doesn't care so studios will see little need to change their methods. For now, I'll buy bilingual releases (ugh, it almost hurts to say that). :frowning:

 

[Mark Palermo]

 

[Gui A]

Does someone have the Amazon.CA link to the import WS version? I see 4 different selections.
Is it the one with the same ASIN as the one in the amazon.com site? I want to make sure!

 

[JasonRH]

Lance,
I, for one, appreciate your follow up post.

 

[Trevor Harrison]

David,
Can you confirm the Canadian Specs for the DVD are identical to the US version? click here for the Official US specs.
My sister is getting for X-mas for me (from Futureshop $40), but there site specs say it has DTS etc, I hope those are the out of date specs.
Please Please comfirm that the specs are Identical for the Canadian version, I don't care about the Bi-linguel cover. I just care that the Canadian version gets all the same specs the US version has.

 

[Dave Simpson]

Trevor,

The only things I see listed on the link you provided that are not listed in the booklet of my Canadian set are 'cast and filmaker'. Talent files, I 'spose. Kindly note that I've not gone through the discs proper, only 5 minutes of the first feature film, owing to work and other scheduling conflicts (I'll be right there, Honey!!). Also, the provided booklet does not include the titles of the deleted scenes, as seen on your link. If I were you, I'd buy the Canadian set with confidence, and save a couple of bucks.
Cheers!

DS.

 

[Trevor Harrison]

Thanks Dave,

Since I will be watching this movie no less then 20-40+ times/year, I want to make sure the Canadian DVD's has all the same extra's as the American one.

When you have a chance, from now through the 17th (or even the 21st since I don't think it will sell out), look through the extra's menu's By reading what extra's are on each DVD, that should settle this once and for all, also is there DTS? if not, then that pretty much confirms the US and Canadian versions are the same (excluding the box). I am brand new to DVD, This is the DVD (and Music of the Heart Collecters Edition) that got me to get a DVD player. So I want the BTTF DVD to be top notch,

 

[Dave Simpson]

Absolutely no DTS on these discs. As stated, DD English, and DD French!

DS.