Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition in June (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Clifton]

Yes, because MORE is always BETTER. Always.

 

[CraigL]

As someone who is a huge fan of the original mono mix, i have a question:

would we all still be complaining as much if they had remixed the original track with all the same sound effects?

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

The gunshots in the 5.1 are unrepresentative of the type of rifle Quint used. And the whale song is nowhere near as spooky as the original AWARD-WINNING mono mix. Does the American edition have a Spanish dub mono track like the UK edition? If it does, check out the differences. The first time I heard the whale song in the 5.1 mix, I about fell out of my chair, as it stuck out so badly. The Dolby and DTS 5.1 mixes on the Duel DVD have practically all-new foley effects, probably due to the original tracks and stems being missing. And the new sound effects stick out a fair bit, but on the mono track, they are much more organic and naturalistic.

Worse crimes have been commited on 5.1 remixes. MGM's Terminator Special Edition being the worst, perhaps. The gunshots at the opening of the restored version of Vertigo are horrendous, imho. Sorry, Robert Harris, if you are reading this, but they stick out like a cockroach on a white shagpile carpet. I understand that the original tracks were lost or missing, but surely library tracks of 50s handguns exist? Why use modern recordings of a modern gun firing?

Geez, how many times have I got off-topic on this thread?! :b

 

[Ernest Rister]

So if you're very familiar with the movie (as I and a ton of others are), it's very obvious and distracting.

Plus, there are new sound f/x - the shark practically says "Rarr!" as it swims by the camera in one shot late in the movie and there are new "whooshes" and splash noises throughout. Newbies probably take this all in stride, but if you've studied Jaws like many of my generation, the new foley f/x stand out like James Earl Jones wearing a bullet bra.

 

[TravisR]

"would we all still be complaining as much if they had remixed the original track with all the same sound effects?"

Assuming there was no weird audio problems, I would love to have had a 5.1 mix with the original sound effects. That being said, I would also want the original mono track too on the disc.

And I can confirm that Ernest is absolutely correct about his James Earl Jones comment.

In a perfect world we'd have the original and a 5.1 remix. That way the people who wanted an 'upgrade' could have it and the people who wanted the original had it. Granted that's just my opinion...

 

[BrettGallman]

Hell, I'm not even of Ernest's generation and I notice the sound effects differences. This was my first favorite film, along with Return of the Jedi. In fact, I still have the VHS copy I received for my 4th birthday. The whale song is now a completely different sound effect, as some have mentioned. It certainly is a jarring soundtrack for any of us who have seen this movie hundreds of times. The fact that this was an award-winning soundtrack along warrants inclusion on any and all versions of this film. Now, this is not to say that I don't enjoy the DTS soundtrack a little bit--I'd just like to have the choice to hear the film as I did for the 15 years prior to the current DVD release.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Ha-haaaah!

 

[Iain Quinn]

The Vertigo effects are hideous, in particular those right speaker to left gunshot effects that sound like they were taken from last years blockbuster and also the gratuitous bone breaking effects that were added when Madeleine falls from the tower.

yuk...

 

[Paul McElligott]

Universal's 10th Anniversary Edition of Apollo 13 includes a 1st class new transfer (accord to the 'Bits review). Hopefully, this bodes well for the new Jaws DVD.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Uh... I had forgotten about those. Ugh. What were they thinking? The annoying thing is, the Laserdisc apparently had the original, albeit raggedy mono track. I hope that Universal revisit Vertigo (and Psycho - 210 minutes of video on a DVD-9?) with a new anamorphic transfer and the original mono and a more critical commentary.

 

[Elias A.]

Well, I'm torn about this one. On the one hand, it's exciting to finally get a two-disc version of my favorite move with the mono track included. On the other hand, we don't know yet if the picture is going to be remastered, or if the original two-hour documentary will be included. Also, as RH points out, the HD version is presumably not too far off. We know there's an HD master ready to go, since ABC aired a HD version of Jaws in 2000 just before the DVD was released. So even though I'm excited that Universal is apparently finally correcting their errors and releasing a version that seems to have what the fans really want, it's too early to say whether I'll actually pick it up. Unless the new version has dramatically better picture quality, the original mono track, and perhaps the longer documentary (although I already have that on tape, so that's negotiable), I'll probably hold onto my 25th Anniversary DTS version until the HD release rolls around.

 

[Ernest Rister]

In fact, I still have the VHS copy I received for my 4th birthday.

What sadist gave you Jaws for your fourth birthday? Did you also get Halloween and The Exorcist for Christmas that year?

 

[BrettGallman]

It was from my aunt, actually. Now that I think about it, I wonder how I ever watched this movie. It never really bothered me that much. In fact, I was fascinated by sharks because of this movie, and I've never been afraid of the water.

For what it's worth, I saw "A Nightmare on Elm Street" when I was about five, and that never bothered me too much, either.

 

[Dave Mack]

eeek......!

 

[Jaxon's Dad]

Brett,

That's cool, man... Yeah. That's great...

[King Arthur]Run away![/King Arthur]

 

[Jaxon's Dad]

Back on topic, I love this film and the DTS DVD rocks! But I'm going to wait and see what, if any, improvement is made to PQ before I double dip. The Extras on my current DVD are great, but I've only watched them one time. The film, on the other hand, gets played a lot. Make the picture look better and you'be got my sale.

 

[Jordan_E]

Damn you, Universal! You're going to cause my wife to roll her eyes again when I announce that I will be picking up yet ANOTHER version of JAWS! I have/had the VHS, WS VHS, LD, Collector's LD box set, DD & DTS DVDs.

My name is Jordan...and I am a JAWS junkie.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Hello, Jordon.

 

[Jake Gove]

I run JAWSmovie.com and we have submitted a petition to Universal many times in the last five years regarding the DVD:



Universal has not responded at all, any of the times the petition was submitted.

We have over 6000 signatures. Universal does not care what the fans want, they just want to cash in on the 30th Anniversary.

It's good that the new DVD set will have the mono track, but I'm not too optimistic for anything else beyond what the 25th Anniversary DVD had.

FYI - There is a 30th Anniversary celebration on Martha's Vineyard June 3-5, with lots of cool events and guests. Here is some info: http://www.mvy.com/jaws/

Finally, there is a documentary in progress about JAWS, JAWS fans, the 30th Anniversary, the impact of JAWS, etc. I am just about to join the effort as a producer.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Has it ever ocurred to anyone else that the reason the full documentary is not included on the $19 DVD is because *maybe* Universal doesn't wan't to piss people off who paid the $100 price tag for the Jaws box set? Same thing with the E.T. DVD versus the incredible feature-packed Universal box set, same thing with the Amadeus DVD versus the Amadeus LD box set, and the list goes on and on.