John Carpenter's Dark Star- Does it Have to be this Bad?

"the original elements are likely quite beat up"

not so, my guess is a film student looks after his beloved film unlike some fat rich turd like Lucas.

UK digital satellite channel Film 4 show this film regularly in 1:85 anamorphic and it loks great no print damage, nothing, so DVD has normal crappy transfer nothing to do with the elements.

 

Oh Christ, let's not start in with this Lucas shit here..okay?
I have seen a print of Dark Star less than two years ago at a midnight show that was 100% better than the old VHS tape transfer they quickly threw on this DVD. It's a shame.

 

I guess he lied about that here

the version that plays here on TV about once every other month looks better than the current DVD
that would be my guess anyway

 

l agree that Dark Star looks kind of cruddy, but the VCI Mario Bava films I've seen (Blood and Black Lace, The Whip & The Body) look terrific.

 

Tim, it's quite possibly a regional thing. While VCI haven't always managed to get all the extras for their titles, in the main I've found their discs to be of excellent image quality with a lot of thought put into them.

It's worth noting, however, that I've only ever seen them produce Film Four movies and Channel 4 TV series over here. Your statement's probably true, Stateside...

There is a R2 version of Dark Star so if someone has it I guess you could find out what that print is like...

 

The print is exactly the same (from what I remember) except the Region 1 comes with a 5.1 soundtrack instead of 2.0 (will it make that much difference though? ) and there's the better, shorter version on the Region 1 via (some pretty dodgy) "branching".
The liner notes are a little weird though (paraphrase "Can you spot which actor played nine roles in the film?" or something similar and: "can you spot the scene where one of the actors is high on LSD?") never heard of these bits of trivia before!
I'm sure someone could do a better DVD but I don't expect Bannon and Carpenter to be on the same commentary track: Bannon took the idea for Alien from Dark Star (which he co-wrote with Carpenter) and then Carpenter tried to take the idea back with The Thing!
It'd be great if they assembled the original cast though!
~ John

 

I'll ask Dan O'Bannon about "Dark Star" the next time we speak.

 

I have the old VHS letterboxed version of Dark Star as well as the DVD. The transfers look quite a bit different. The main difference is that the DVD version is quite a bit darker, though a lot cleaner than the VHS (of course, my VHS copy may be wearing out since I've had it since about 1983, so a newer VHS copy might look a lot different). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I really don't think they used the same transfer for the DVD that they did for the VHS.

I was actually sort of impressed with the 5.1 soundtrack on the DVD in certain parts. A couple of scenes have some pretty deep bass, and the surrounds are used quite a bit in a during a few scenes too. It does sound kind of "gimmicky", but I don't mind that for a film like Dark Star.,

 

Are VCI in the UK the same comapny as VCI in the US?

Although VCI USA did put out the stunning 2:35 anamorphic Bird with Crystal Plumage so that's one star, although I though Blood & Black lace was sub VHS quality, Spaced 1 & 2 from VCI UK are just about the best discs I own on every level and I have T2 & Fight Club in my collection.

Does Geoge really need people standing up for him, also what's this 'if' Film 4's Dark Star quality is good, am I lying?

Re the Oscar comments, this is a valueless (well not comercially but as a guide to something being any good) anyway, look at some of the winners and tell me if you thing Oscar is a sign of quality:

cuba gooding,jnr

julia roberts

nic cage

billy bob thornton

In that company I'm rather proud not to have one!

 

IMHO, the movie was crap anyway!!

 

Thanks for that, Keith.
In any case, I'd love to see a new anamorphic transfer with genuine seamless branching (the shorter version is superior), and perhaps separate commentaries by Dan O'Bannon and John Carpenter?
A true midnight cult classic - brilliantly funny, but in quite a sad and isolated way.
VCI have also done the knockout special edition of The City of the Dead (aka Horror Hotel), an unintentionally hilarious B-movie. I bought it as I heard claims it was a lost classic of spine-chilling horror - it was certainly entertaining, but so damned funny!