New "Terminator" Transfer Availability (1 Viewer)

[MattAlbie60]

My apologies if there's a thread about this already.
Okay, so I know a TERMINATOR BD came out in the UK in October with a new transfer. My question is, does anyone know when it will be coming here? And if it may be here already?
When I was at Best Buy over the weekend, I saw a disc with identical cover art to the new UK release. It has a copyright date of 2012. However, I didn't know if that was just a repackaging of our existing disc or our version of that new release with the new transfer.
I can't find ANYTHING about this online (cue ten people finding out everything about this online in seconds). I was thinking it may be a Best Buy exclusive, which means they just released it with no fanfare at all because that's what they do.
Has anyone heard anything one way or the other?

 

[ScottJH]

I saw it @ Target about a month and half ago. Out of the 3-4 copies they had, only one of them had the new artwork and was wondering the same thing. I almost picked it up but didn't want to be stuck with it if it wasn't the new transfer.

 

[MattAlbie60]

That's exactly why I didn't pick it up. I know it'll be released here eventually, but I don't want to jump the gun necessarily. There aren't any reviews for it that I can find, so maybe it is just a repackaging if it's everywhere.

 

[cineMANIAC]

I decided not to keep playing the waiting game with this film so just got the import - it looks incredible! I have no freaking clue why there's no Region 1 counterpart for the remaster but I smell a sneaky move on the part of the studio to try to sell as much of the remaining old stock as possible before they greenlight a domestic release. I mean, going so far as using the new artwork and a 2012 copyright on an old disc is just plain greaseball-y (new word I invented ). It can't possibly be that they're holding off until the latest instalment is out, which is, what, in 3 years?
Just import this, people. It's region-free!

 

[EnricoE]

the video looks great. however the missing original mono audio is just insulting. that's the main reason i will not buy this br unless mgm get's their head right and include the original audio - lossless that is.
but maybe, just maybe, this will be added on the u.s. br. if not - no sale!!!

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

I'm sticking with my old MGM Special Edition DVD until they get their asses in gear and realize the original mono audio needs to be present on any new release. The sound effects in the remix sound like absolute dung.

 

[Lord Dalek]

^You realize most of those new sound effects won an Oscar in 1991 correct?

 

[MattAlbie60]

Are they all sound effects from TERMINATOR 2?
Regardless, I still don't like them in the context of the first movie.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

I couldn't care less whether those effects won an Oscar in 1991, Lord Dalek; besides, FORREST GUMP won an Oscar for 1994, so that wouldn't necessarily mean a thing regarding quality.
Part of the character of THE TERMINATOR is those original awesome gunshots, and the remix just can't compare. I really hope that if this film gets a badly-needed remaster over here that they come to their senses and include the original soundtrack, at proper sound levels this time because it sounds a bit anemic in the low end on the old DVD, and that has nothing to do with the fact that it's mono.

 

[Robert George]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Nelson /t/325498/new-terminator-transfer-availability#post_4006429
I couldn't care less whether those effects won an Oscar in 1991....

I can't wrap my head around this obsession with lower quality work when filmmaker approved/supervised updates are done for a film. I'm not referring to changing a story or re-editing the whole movie. I'm talking about correcting shortcomings of budget or technology, or both, when a film transfer is prepared for a new release on either video or for re-release theatrically.

Anyone that pays any attention to the comments of directors knows that filmmaking is filled with compromise of one sort or another. Most filmmakers jump at the opportunity to go back and fix something they may have never been completely satisfied with. Just because something was done a certain way when first released to the public does NOT necessarily make it the best it could be, or should be. In this case, if James Cameron feels the updated 5.1 soundtrack for The Terminator better suits his vision for what that film should be today, then fans of the film should accept that as the filmmaker's choice.

For me personally, I can't imagine preferring the original mono sound of the original Terminator theatrical and video releases over the meticulously recreated soundtrack we now have.

[/rant]

P.S.

The new transfer is, compared to the old one, spectacular. As for discs with new cover art, check the specs. If you see either MPEG video or PCM audio, it's old.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I guess some people just prefer the original mix because it fits the low-budget "hope we get it right the first time before the cops show up" feel the film had. They didn't have a "good" sound designer (Terry Porter hadn't hit his Disney-era stride yet), its pretty quick and dirty in spots, and the film often sounds muffled and thin (although I hear the old Image dvd doesn't have that problem). That being said, it has that warmer homemade quality the more refined Gary Rydstrom supervised remix lacks.

 

[DVDvision]

Actually the point of people wanting the mono mix is: the 5.1 remix doesn't sound like it was made by a competent sound designer, whereas the mono mix, with all it's limitations, does.

My feeling is that the 5.1 remix was rushed, (or artistically botched), by people who didn't bother staying faithful to the original mix spirit. No one will be bothered by 5.1 spatiality, if all the original sounds and music are there. It's all the more infuriating because the guy who did the fantastic T2 mix did this. Technically, he hammed it up. It's a hack job, sorry to say. Correct it. That's all.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Absolutely HDVision; agreed 100%. Robert George and Lord Dalek are completely missing the point. I've no problem with newfangled remixes of old mono tracks conceptually; as long as they're true to the original character of the film, and are well done, which this remix most definitely is not.

 

[MattAlbie60]

The only remix I've ever hated more than THE TERMINATOR one is the awful SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE one from the 2001 DVD.

 

[TonyD]

The older dvds of Terminator have the mono mix I think, right?

 

[DVDvision]

Yes but 192kbps mono mix is like what Lucas did by issuing the OT in 4/3. The PCM LD mix is out there and smokes both the 5.1 and mono compressed tracks on the DVDs.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I actually once watched the Blu-ray while the mono DVD was running in my other player for the sound... yeah, I'm a little nutty sometimes

 

[Douglas Monce]

The original mono mix for The Terminator was done very fast on the cheap with stock gun sound effect heard in a thousand TV shows. It was crap in 1984 and its crap now. Even the sound of the laser guns were a modified generic "laser gun" sound effect that you could buy from a sound effects library.
I'm not saying the 5.1 mix is good, just that pining for the mono mix, is kind of like hoping they bring back World War 2 K rations. I suppose the mono mix does have value as a lesson in what NOT to do.
Doug

 

[Oblivion138]

The purist in me wishes they'd included the mono track. The rest of me, however, is telling the purist in me to shut up and enjoy the incredible-looking transfer.

 

[TonyD]

Can someone post a shot of the cover of this "new" edition?