JAMES BOND ULTIMATE COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[brioni]

I haven't read, heard or seen anything to suggest Campbell or any of the directors approved the transfers. They were involved with features, presumably working with John Cork but that was no doubt at a completely different time to the restoration and certainly at a different location.

With MGM's home video track record I find it impossible to believe Campbell would opt for a TV print knowing the film that came out of the actual camera would yield the best results. Besides these new transfers are not just meant for the UE DVD's, this has also been a preservation project, if the films are ever going to be re-released it will probably be from a digital projector. it makes no sense to spend money scanning a print other than the final cut knowing u'd have to do it again at a later date. MGM handing over the wrong reels is the only logical explanation.

 

[Frank@N]

The Goldeneye UE needs to be recalled and replaced.

BttF and Superman DVDs were replaced for less invasive issues.

The UE is an abomination.

 

[Lyle_JP]

It's hardly precedent setting. This is only one shot, but in Demolition Man they had to replace every reference to Taco Bell with Pizza Hut for international audiences. Then of course there's the first Harry Potter film, where any shot that mentioned the Philosopher's Stone had to be re-shot for the American version in which it is called the Sorcerer's Stone.

As to why they used this cut of Die Another Day for the UE, as I understand it, they were trying to standardize the various versions of the Bond films so that the US and UK no longer have ratings-censored cuts. Licence to Kill and Die Another Day both suffered trims to get a PG-13 rating in the US, and Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies both underwent significant cutting in the UK to get a 12 certificate. The UEs in both countries now present the most uncut version of all four films.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Its actually the shot of the table that tilts up to see Bond's back as he stands at the mirror. They may have used a double for that shot.

I don't know for sure that Campbell approved the transfer. I had heard that because he was in the Eon offices at the time working on Casino Royale, that he was involved in some way with the transfer. It could very well be that he looked at it quickly and didn't notice the that it was cropped slightly. I mean you really do have to A/B the two different prints to see the difference.

Doug

 

[captainjoe]

Someone needs to contact Campbell about the UE, and fast!!!

 

[brioni]

Well i’ll even admit that as well. Having received my 4 box set from Amazon this week I flicked through some titles and was hard pressed to notice a difference on GoldenEye even though I knew the cropping was there. As others have said, no critical info has been lost so the story telling isn’t affected. It struck me as being a little dark right from the off with the UA logo but as I’m not a fan of the SE’s in terms of DVD encoding, I’ll no doubt accept all of the UE’s as my preferred choice.

 

[John H Ross]

Surely you can say the exact same thing about "pan and scan"?

 

[Edward Schatz]

I don't disagree with you John or your point, but I think perpetuating this subject is beating a dead horse. It's cropped. We all know it. Whether or not it was intentional is debatable (I agree with the idea it is the television print). Some people don't care and some people. I talked to a friend today who asked me if he should buy the sets. I told him no and to hold out. People can make up their own minds and spend their money as they see fit - for better or worse.

 

[CraigF]

I hope this isn't an idiotic question (I've read the thread gradually over the months and didn't want to read it all again, I'm sure you can imagine)... I recently finished watching all the 4 box sets. I had the same little issues with dropout/stutter in the places that most people did, and a few other niggles.

But what I'm wondering about is this: you know in the beginning where we look down the gun barrel and then it opens up into the opening scene: when that gun barrel is not round (and it isn't in lots of the films, to different degrees), does that translate to the whole film being slightly wrongly proportioned? Thanks.

 

[IanS]

regarding the various gunbarrels filmed...they may not be perfectly circular in the Panavision Bond films as these films were shot with anamorphic lenses. Only a hunch though.

 

[cafink]

It's my understanding that, in many of the films, the opening title sequences were intentionally "squeezed" horizontally to ensure that the titles did not disappear off the sides of the screen due to overscan. This was done specifically for the title sequences, so no, it doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of the film is similarly distorted.

 

[brioni]

Although it's frustrating the problem exists, it seems the framing is consistent throughout. I'm not aware of any actual P&S.

 

[MielR]

I think the remaining Bond films will be released as singles before the hi-def versions are released. Only six have been released so far, and I've heard nothing about when the remaining 14 are coming out.

I have a feeling that once all 20 are out as singles, the boxed sets won't be produced anymore, and then the HD versions will be released.

 

[Jeff Willis]

"Q-Branch" in

Here's some Region-Free Std DVD Player info regarding the Japanese Menu's on the "Extra" discs in the UE's.

I checked the Extra disc in the Goldfinger UE set on 2 Region-Free players.

My player: PIONEER DV-578A : Menus all in English; no problems.
Family membr's player: JVC XV-NP10 : Menus in Japanese.

For those who have encountered this issue, is there a fix available from the DVD player menu (ie language selection, etc) that clears this up? Fortunately for me, I'd guess that since the GF Extra disc is ok in my player, the other Extra discs from the UE set will be ok, and vice versa in the JVC player. The family member isn't a Bond fan ("shocking", as 007 said in....which movie? Thunderball?)

I'm wondering if a HD R-free player would have this issue with the menus (curious if during the down-conversion playback of a Std DVD in a HD player "masks" the issue or clears it up somehow).

"Q-Branch Out"

[edit] I checked an earlier post and read about the alternate "cards", etc. I'll check the JVC's player settings to see if that fixes the Asian language issue. [end_edit]

 

[TravisR]

They will want to tie the HD versions of the Bond movies in with a new Bond movie so you won't see them until another Bond movie hits theaters or video.

 

[Frank@N]

I just got a new DVD player and I'm now seeing Asian text when UE discs are starting up.

Anyone know what this is, some kind of disclaimer?

 

[Shawn DuHast]

Bond 22 pre-production will start when all the techies finish on The Dark Knight in a month or two, and will be released early November 2008.

 

[Yumbo]

Is there a script for Bond 22? Locations?

ps. how come the DTS tracks play through my TV speakers? I thought one needed a decoder, as in no downconverting ala DD?

 

[SilverWook]

Anyone notice on the opening menu animation for the You Only Live Twice bonus disc there's a shot of Connery that really shouldn't be there?

 

[WadeM]

Despite the problems reported I finally gave in to buy this set, since who knows how long this format war will continue.

I wish someone could interview Lowry to get their take on this and their other work. I mean, look at Live and Let Die. We're not talking about "oh, the color's a little off", we're talking about what seems to be a conscious decision to say "hey, I don't like that black background in the opening credits, let's change it to red. Let's see how many fans we can upset by altering this British Icon." I would like to know their thought process behind a decision like that. And I'd like to know why they think they have to alter the colors in the Disney films.

It's one thing to restore, but it's another to change.