Millennium Season 1 in July! (1 Viewer)

[JonZ]

You know,I completely forgot Millennium season2 was in widescreen.

I CANT WAIT to have this!!

I was hoping we'd get it in Oct. Every Halloween for the past few years I watch "The Curse Of Frank Black". Once the DVDs were announced I taped over my Millennium tapes. Now Halloween is coming up and Im not gonna be able to watch it this year. :frowning:

I adore this show.

 

[JulianK]

Ok - here's a page with a few screen-grabs from the R2 DVDs.

They're quite big images, so the page might take a while to load (especially if you're on dialup!)

The images (from the last three episodes of the season) contain spoilers - nothing specific, but images that might hint of things that will happen, or things that might be better as a surprise!

I've picked images that I thought would look worse if they were in 4:3 ratio.

Millennium - Season 2 screen grabs

 

[Joshua_W]

Those widescreen caps look good.

With the exception of the last picture, they all look like they were composed for widescreen.

 

[Mike Graham]

The shots look perfect in widescreen.

 

[Dalvis]

The Digital Bits is reporting that Millennium Season 2 will be presented in full frame even though it was filmed in Widescreen and was released that way in Region 2. Anyone else know anything about this?

From The Digital Bits:
In other news today, we've got details on the extras to look for on Fox's 6-disc Millennium: The Complete Second Season (1/4 - SRP $59.98). The episodes will be presented in full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround audio. Bonus material will include audio commentary on The Hand of Saint Sebastian by Tom Wright, audio commentary on The Mikado by Michael R. Perry and a pair of documentaries - The Turn of the Tide: Making of Season 2 (33 mins) and Academy Group: Victimology (24 mins).

 

[PaulP]

I'm sure that's just an oversight. Millennium's second season and The X-Files' fifth (or was it sixth; it's been a while) were shot concurrently, and both were shot widescreen. That X-Files season is widescreen on DVD so it stands to reason Millennium will be as well, moreso that it's already available in widescreen in R2.

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

I'd say it's an oversight.

I just picked up the first season from WalMart.com for $14.88. Which means I'll be buying Season 2, not renting, when it's released.

I rented Harsh Realm too. NOT buying that.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

It's entirely possible that the producers of Millenium would prefer Season 2 in 4:3 over widescreen. Just because a show was shot protected for 16:9 doesn't mean it will look best that way. Look at season one of "The Sopranos". The DVDs are 16:9, but the show was obviously shot composed for 4:3 in the center of the frame and looks a lot better that way. Season three and beyond of The Sopranos look a lot better in 16:9 because they composed rather than protected for that ratio.

Some shows which air both in 4:3 and 16:9, like Alias, don't seem to suffer from this since they still use the extreme edges of the frame in some widescreen shots and the 4:3 versions are not apparently simple extractions of the center of a 16:9 frame.

As X-Files progressed from Season 5 to Season 9, they seemed to consider the 16:9 framing more and more. I don't know if they completely moved away from composing for a center extraction for 4:3 presentation (I haven't looked that closely), but they definitely started making the 4:3 framing much tighter horizontally, which made the 16:9 versions look a lot better in the later seasons.

Long story short, I will be buying Millenium Season 2 whether or not it has the 16:9 versions.

Regards,

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

Strange they didn't go for open matte on these shows. I remember later seasons of X Files felt very cropped in 4:3. Close ups looked way too tight for example.

The only letterbox show I know that went open matte was Justice League. They would air one night in 4:3 and repeate it later in widescreen. The cost of animation must force them to use open matte. It's easier to draw more legs and crop them than draw characters on the edges that would just disappear.

 

[HowardPaul]

"I just picked up the first season from WalMart.com for $14.88. Which means I'll be buying Season 2, not renting, when it's released"

I don't see it anywhere on their site. Could you post the link? How could they be selling the entire seaon for only 15 bucks?!

How786

 

[GuruAskew]

If widescreen versions are available (which they are) Fox will release them like that, composition be damned.

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=214160

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Not in the case of Buffy in R1.

Regards,

 

[PaulP]

Very cool cover art posted: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?...4981&n=1&burl=

 

[Jim Pattison]

Harsh Realm was 16:9, even though the back of the package said it was 4:3. So I wouldn't be surprised if the specs for Millennium Season 2 give the wrong aspect ratio.

 

[Mike Graham]

The X-Files Season 5 and Harsh Realm were both quoted as being full frame initially, but both were eventually released in widescreen. We'll see on January 4th anyway...

I heartily disagree with the idea these shows are fine in 4x3. Whenever there is a tight close up, the image is completely filled with the face, while the 1:78 framing gives the compositon more perspective. Check out the screen shots provided by a UK fan showing off the show in widescreen if anyone is uncertain.

I hope they can sit down Morgan and Wong for the extras, instead of just hearing from Carter and Spotnitz, who apparently had nothing to do with year two.

 

[Joshua_W]

Buffy was released in 4:3 at the request of Joss Whedon himself, and he even included a note in the fourth season set explaining his decision.

 

[GuruAskew]

Fox released "Harsh Realm" between the first and second seasons of "Millennium". What do you think the odds are that "The Lone Gunmen" will be released between the second and third seasons?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

My point was that Millenium Season 2 and X-Files Season 5 look fine in 4:3, but the later seasons of X-Files start looking uncomfortably cropped. I honestly don't remember enough about season 3 of "Millenium" to tell you if it looked uncomfortably cropped or not, but I know season 2 looked very good in 4:3.

Regards,

 

[HowardPaul]

I've got several of these sealed if anyone is interested.
Got them at the local Walmart 'cause they were so cheap.
Best
Howard