TMP- director's cut or HD?
- Thread starter Captain_Koloth
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If memory serves, Daren Dochterman still has the original files from his work on the film.
The issue is that releasing the Director's Edition on Blu-ray would require Paramount to want to spend money on doing so, and given that Blu-ray Disc is already a niche format, I'm not sure they would see a return on investment (considering the first ten movies are already red-headed stepchildren to them).
There's always iTunes and other assorted streaming...HD doesn't only mean Blu-ray.
As a long-standing fan of the film going way back to it's original release, I'd have to say the DE. I have the BD of the theatrical cut and it looks terrific, but, every time I watch it I keep wishing I could see the DE in the same quality.
The DE isn't perfect, but I think it's a more "finished" version of the film.
What I really, REALLY wish is that the DE could be remastered in BD and restored, with all the matte lines and other visual flaws fixed. The studio will never pay for that but I have hope that someday technology will develop to the point that some creative fan will create such a version on their own.
The DE isn't perfect, but I think it's a more "finished" version of the film.
What I really, REALLY wish is that the DE could be remastered in BD and restored, with all the matte lines and other visual flaws fixed. The studio will never pay for that but I have hope that someday technology will develop to the point that some creative fan will create such a version on their own.
I've never understood this. I find it particularly annoying for B5 as a big fan of that show. Why do the VFX HAVE To be remastered in HD for an HD release? Why can't HD releases of this type have the original "actor footage" in HD and just upscale the existing SD images for the VFX? Or even just keep the VFX shots in SD? It's better than nothing.... why are the studios so terrified of doing this?
Because upscaling is not true HD.
You doubt me? Take those old shitty standard definition ST:TNG discs (or the DS9 & Voyager ones, for that matter) and look at them on a HDTV. You want upscaling? There it is.
Most of the B5 sets looked really cheap in SD, not sure giving it any kind of HD makeover would help it. Besides, are there that many people that are chomping at the bit to have B5 on Blu-ray? Seems like that would make less money (and sense) than doing DS9.
One of the reasons that older politicians hate High Definition is because it brings out their age...their visible flaws. It makes them less "tv friendly"....harder to sell.
Same thing with upscaling SD for just plain ol' television and movies in a lot of cases. In the case of trying to upscale the SD CG footage from the DE of TMP (jeez, these are a lot of initials!) without using the original negatives and/or CG data is that the images might look blurry, or pixelated even. You might even see "jaggies".
When I did CG animation using a program called iClone, I tried upscaling some standard definition footage I'd initially made by using an external video editor. (From 480p to 1080p). The results were less than pretty. Even upscaling from HD to HD, in this case, 720p to 1080p, the difference was pretty striking. Color and border artifacts abound...and even some jaggies, although not as bad as when I upscaled from SD to HD.
Same thing with upscaling SD for just plain ol' television and movies in a lot of cases. In the case of trying to upscale the SD CG footage from the DE of TMP (jeez, these are a lot of initials!) without using the original negatives and/or CG data is that the images might look blurry, or pixelated even. You might even see "jaggies".
When I did CG animation using a program called iClone, I tried upscaling some standard definition footage I'd initially made by using an external video editor. (From 480p to 1080p). The results were less than pretty. Even upscaling from HD to HD, in this case, 720p to 1080p, the difference was pretty striking. Color and border artifacts abound...and even some jaggies, although not as bad as when I upscaled from SD to HD.
Sadly, that makes sense from a financial standpoint.
It's interesting that at some point in recent years somebody was willing to have every single special effect in the whole of TOS re-done in HD CGI. Re-rendering the TMP: DE new effects in HD seems like a smaller project in comparison (though I realize the series and films are under different corporate control). I wonder if crowdfunding could finance it... too bad the big companies don't go for that.
Because upscaling looks horrible. For example, Enterprise on blu ray, as well as the occasional shot in the TNG blu rays where they couldn't find the film source, so they had to upscale from video tape.
Kor
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Remember, any time you are watching ANY standard definition image on a HDTV, that by definition is upscaling.
(If this didn't happen, you'd see a tiny postage-stamp-sized image in the center of the screen, surrounded by oodles of black.)
Even the shittiest SD image is always upscaled when viewed on a HDTV. You can't get around it. And while some DVD players do a fair job of upscaling, best to disable this option (if you can) and let the HDTV itself do it; most decent HDTVs are better at upscaling than DVD players are.
(If this didn't happen, you'd see a tiny postage-stamp-sized image in the center of the screen, surrounded by oodles of black.)
Even the shittiest SD image is always upscaled when viewed on a HDTV. You can't get around it. And while some DVD players do a fair job of upscaling, best to disable this option (if you can) and let the HDTV itself do it; most decent HDTVs are better at upscaling than DVD players are.
I prefer the Director's Cut version of the film.
While it would take some money, it would be great to have a Blu ray version with the new shots rebuilt/rerendered available for the big anniversary...
While it would take some money, it would be great to have a Blu ray version with the new shots rebuilt/rerendered available for the big anniversary...
And an iTunes copy isn't going to have nearly the amount of fidelity that a properly mastered Blu-ray disc will, no matter how good the compression is.
That and Paramount would still have to spend the money to rerender the CGI shots and clean up the print. The pressing of discs would be small change compared to that.
I get it, my point is just that between upscale DVD that's all in sd and a blu Ray that has all the footage scanned in from the film and in HD except the vfx- so that they'll look exactly like they do on the DVD anyway- I'll take the blu Ray option every single time, and I suspect I'm not the only one.
I'd settle for upscaled FX dropped in amongst the HD film scans, if there's no other way.
Amongst my Doctor Who collection are the Blu ray releases of New Series 1-4, which are upscaled. They didn't go High Definition until the Specials and Series 5. And Enterprise could be described as not true HD, with its mixture of source definitions... given what was around 10 years ago, the highest of which was 720p I should think.
It's not just about whether it's true HD or not for me. There's also MPEG compression used to get The Motion Picture onto the disc space capacity of DVD. So the combination of more data you can get on a BD, plus carefully upscaling and combining the Director's Edition shots with the 1080p ones, would still be an improvement of sorts. If they could fix the sound mix to include the proper sound effects, lacking back in 2001, so much the better.
Amongst my Doctor Who collection are the Blu ray releases of New Series 1-4, which are upscaled. They didn't go High Definition until the Specials and Series 5. And Enterprise could be described as not true HD, with its mixture of source definitions... given what was around 10 years ago, the highest of which was 720p I should think.
It's not just about whether it's true HD or not for me. There's also MPEG compression used to get The Motion Picture onto the disc space capacity of DVD. So the combination of more data you can get on a BD, plus carefully upscaling and combining the Director's Edition shots with the 1080p ones, would still be an improvement of sorts. If they could fix the sound mix to include the proper sound effects, lacking back in 2001, so much the better.
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Same.I doubt Director's Cut in HD will happen because the CG effects were shot in SD.
But, one can dream.
I still prefer the Director's Cut.
I grew up with the special longer version, so when the director's cut came out, I thought it was a vast improvement. I only saw the theatrical cut for the first time recently -- in HD. As has been said above, watching it in HD helps tremendously. I also found it tighter than I was expecting. Right now, I'd probably give my vote to the theatrical. If the director's edition came out in HD, I'd have a tougher time deciding.
Both have pros and cons. I hate the new sounds in the director's edition. And I like most of the trims and additions, but the added part just before McCoy beams up was a mistake. (It's too light=hearted after two people just died in there.) The revised Vulcan, window, and saucer walk SFX shots help a lot, but I'm not really a fan of the rest.
What do people think about the added scene near the end with Spock crying? I can't decide whether or not it needs to be in there. It adds a nice emotional element, but does it slow the film down? The countdown to Earth's destruction is on and they're sort of just sitting around on the bridge. And when I first saw the theatrical cut, it seemed to flow so well without it that I didn't even notice it was missing.
Both have pros and cons. I hate the new sounds in the director's edition. And I like most of the trims and additions, but the added part just before McCoy beams up was a mistake. (It's too light=hearted after two people just died in there.) The revised Vulcan, window, and saucer walk SFX shots help a lot, but I'm not really a fan of the rest.
What do people think about the added scene near the end with Spock crying? I can't decide whether or not it needs to be in there. It adds a nice emotional element, but does it slow the film down? The countdown to Earth's destruction is on and they're sort of just sitting around on the bridge. And when I first saw the theatrical cut, it seemed to flow so well without it that I didn't even notice it was missing.
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