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22-06-2006 18:45 | 22677 views | Dave Foster | My Other Content

Today we received check discs for each and every one of the forthcoming James Bond Ultimate Edition DVDs set to arrive on 17th July 2006. Over the next 24hrs I aim to bring you menus and screen caps from all 20 titles, with screen cap comparisons to the original releases for selected films (mainly from the Connery era, as these are all I have available from the original releases).

Of course we'll be bringing you full reviews in the coming weeks, but for now here are menus and a couple of screen caps to demonstrate the transfers of the first four titles. Please note we did not receive the extras discs for 6 of the 20, so we'll only have menus from the main feature discs on those...

Dr. No

From Russia With Love

Goldfinger

Thunderball

For today's second update we have menus and screen caps for the next five titles...

You Only Live Twice

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Diamonds Are Forever

Live And Let Die

The Man With The Golden Gun

In the third update we have another four sets of menu screens and screen caps, and the first comparison...

The Spy Who Loved Me

Moonraker

For Your Eyes Only

Octopussy

Dr. No - Visual Comparison

For today's first update I've added three more visual comparisons (with two more to come later today, Diamonds Are Forever and You Only Live Twice)...

From Russia With Love - Visual Comparison

Goldfinger - Visual Comparison

Thunderball - Visual Comparison

And for today's second update I've skipped forward to the Brosnan era and have menus and screencaps for the last four films in the franchise...

Goldeneye

Tomorrow Never Dies

The World Is Not Enough

Die Another Day

Here are the last lot of menus/screencaps...

A View To A Kill

The Living Daylights

Licence To Kill

For those interested in subtitle options, we’ve already confirmed them for the main features in the main announcement and now based on the first four discs I’ve sampled I can confirm the following subtitles for the extras:

Video Extras: English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish.

Commentaries: English and Dutch.

#1 Posted: 22-06-2006 15:05
bradavon Banned Posts: 2907	What's a screem capture? ;) Are the reviews pencilled in before the release date? Will the reviews contain capture comparisons for all films, by the time they're written? Ursula is still looking lovely as ever :eek: Cheers Dave as usual The “Mission Control” section of the extras disc is essentially a glorified chapter selection, only it’s found on Disc 2. ???

#2 Posted: 22-06-2006 15:18
Joppers Member Posts: 10	Mmmm, those menus don't look half as good as the original DVD releases. I guess the most important thing for me is the restoration, which is a little hard to tell from those screenshots.

#3 Posted: 22-06-2006 15:24
DaveF Administrator Posts: 2318	Fixed that typo. Yay (with a time permitting clause) and Nay to your questions bradavon. AV comparisons in the reviews will be entirely down to the individual reviewing the title, and our team has already discussed this and is split down the middle over the necessity to include such comparisons (that and its doubtful everyone has the originals, as it isI'm borrowing what I can get off my brother for the comparisons I'll be posting later as I don't own any Bond on DVD).

#4 Posted: 22-06-2006 15:33
oliraceking Member Posts: 39	Thanks for the effort. Are the images in the menus static or is that rolling film of Bond et al? Looking at the Goldfinger screenshots it looks as though there's an intro to the menu screen. Is that the case with all of them? I too prefer the old menu screens and I really hate the navigation icons - you'd have thought they'd have changed them wouldn't you! Look forward to the rest. Cheers Dave.

#5 Posted: 22-06-2006 15:45
bradavon Banned Posts: 2907	Cheers Dave. I'm not interested to hear if the AV for GE, TND and TWINE is any better/much better.

#6 Posted: 22-06-2006 15:53
DaveF Administrator Posts: 2318	oliraceking - Each main feature disc opens with the UE Trailer you posted on the announcement page (at Play.com). You can only skip this using the Chapter Forward button. Then you're quite right, there is a 30second animated intro before the menu options appear, and the main menu animates with the main theme music behind it. Each menu transition is roughly 10-15 seconds. It all looks rather nice IMO with the bond girl style silhouettes, and the 3D mesh style gun animation that takes you to the commentary pages is particularly nice. That said I've been through 5 of the discs now and I'm finding the transitions quite laborious, so it's a shame you can't skip them. And yes, those navigation icons are awful. I have to re-learn what they mean every time I put a disc in that uses them!

#7 Posted: 22-06-2006 20:10
oliraceking Member Posts: 39	Looking good, although I could do without all the spy-related menu mumbo jumbo - just give me Play Feature, Scene Selection, etc! Also, I love the various build ups to the ...photo galleries! I'm quite anxious about viewing a "Death defying" or a "Hair raising" photo gallery! I wonder if each description is somehow related to the Bond film featured? If so, Die Another Day must read, "Experience the world of Bond in 2002 in this crap photo gallery." Look forward to the rest of the menus, if only to wish that I could afford this set!

#8 Posted: 22-06-2006 22:45
hiram.k.hackenbacker I am an agent of chaos! Posts: 408	Is there any news as to whether OHMSS still has the "omissions" the old R2 disc had? Also do we know about the cuts to Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies? ------ http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcollection.aspx/hiram.k.hackenbacker

#9 Posted: 22-06-2006 23:40
MLAM Member Posts: 24	Originally Posted by hiram.k.hackenbacker: Is there any news as to whether OHMSS still has the "omissions" the old R2 disc had? Also do we know about the cuts to Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies? No idea about OHMSS yet but Both Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies HAVE BEEN confirmed as UNCUT :)

#10 Posted: 23-06-2006 00:45
oliraceking Member Posts: 39	I read that OHMSS is going to be the correct cut now. And Licence To Kill is also going to be fully uncut apparently. Those Dr No. comparisons are amazing - you need the split screen to fully appreciate it I think. I wonder when the contrast between old and new becomes obsolete?

#11 Posted: 23-06-2006 01:27

DaveF
Administrator
Posts: 2318

Using what the IMDB have up in their 'alternate versions' I can confirm the following for OHMSS:

The DVD R2 release differs slightly from the most recent (complete) VHS version. Notably:

* the shot of the shadow of a cable car moving across a cliff side when Bond's helper (Bernard Horsfall) is climbing a cliff is missing.
* The music starts differently when Herr Gumbold leaves his office prior to Bond breaks into the office's safe.
* When Bond speaks the line "I told you the crowd would discourage them" after the stock car race, he was previously shown saying so in close up, now the line is only heard as Bond and Tracy speeds away.

The first and last have been corrected, so you can see the shot of the shadow of a cable car, and you see the close-up of Bond saying "I told you the crowd would discourage them" (he's not facing the camera, he's facing the girl, but it is in closeup).

I can't say either way on the second point though, as I wouldn't know where to begin looking or how to tell what music is right.

The film was edited by the BBFC to change a single line for theatrical exhibition.

* After Bond says "I feel a slight stiffness coming on" the line "... in my shoulder" has been badly added, ruining the joke totally.

This is still present in the audio.

#12 Posted: 23-06-2006 01:47
007 James Bond Secret Agent Posts: 25	Strange that there change The Spy Who Loved Me maintitle format,because the hole movie whas 2:35:1 on the SE. Have it something to do with copyright. I think a lot of (Dutch) people going to complane about that 4:3 and mabey some people think that all movie´s have that. For the reviews i hope there looking good to the extra´s or there are realy new and don´t take over the pres news,because those that pres news saying that some extra´s are new,but there aren´t. For example Die Another Day have only 2 extra´s who aren´t on the 2 disc SE (But showd on MTV),but missing 7 of the 8 future´s from the making of,Peter Lamont interview is the only thing what take with them on this not new dvd. Refresh you Die Another Day dvd is not realy needed,you missing then those 2 news things,but those look similar to the London future who is one of the 8 future´s. But why i doing so dificult and telling you this,i don´t buy them. :o

#13 Posted: 23-06-2006 02:36
MLAM Member Posts: 24	Originally Posted by 007 James Bond: Strange that there change The Spy Who Loved Me maintitle format,because the hole movie whas 2:35:1 on the SE. Have it something to do with copyright. Isn't it because the Credits for those 2 films are window boxed slightly? Because those caps of the credits are still in 16:9 ratio (1:77.1) but the caps from the film have had the black bars removed to simulate the 2:35.1 ratio. If you crop away the black bits from the credits then it will look fine despite the minor black bars on teh side, its like this on the existing Thunderball DVD. Unless those caps are showing it with the black bars removed, can you show us a picture of it unedited so we can see?

#14 Posted: 23-06-2006 09:25
R-T-C Films One of the living undead Posts: 207	Is it just more, or does the shot of Big Ben in the Dr. No comparison look like they overdid the blue-filter? I do hope that the 5.1 audio isn't too bad, because I do want to buy some of these films. ------ Mondo Esoterica - my cult film and DVD blog.

#15 Posted: 23-06-2006 10:46
bradavon Banned Posts: 2907	Hmmm while Dr. No looks better it's not as good as I was expecting. After all this hype they've made it brighter and removed some grain.

#16 Posted: 23-06-2006 11:22
brioni Member Posts: 7	Originally Posted by bradavon: Cheers Dave. I'm not interested to hear if the AV for GE, TND and TWINE is any better/much better. I do. the blacks in the GoldenEye pre-credit sequence are incredibly blocky.

#17 Posted: 23-06-2006 11:24
Douglas R Member Posts: 60	Ursula Andress looks a lot better;)

#18 Posted: 23-06-2006 11:26
bradavon Banned Posts: 2907	Originally Posted by brioni: I do. the blacks in the GoldenEye pre-credit sequence are incredibly blocky. LOL oops I meant to say: "I'm interested to hear if the AV for GE, TND and TWINE are any better/much better." :D

#19 Posted: 23-06-2006 11:34
DaveF Administrator Posts: 2318	Originally Posted by MLAM: Isn't it because the Credits for those 2 films are window boxed slightly? Because those caps of the credits are still in 16:9 ratio (1:77.1) but the caps from the film have had the black bars removed to simulate the 2:35.1 ratio. If you crop away the black bits from the credits then it will look fine despite the minor black bars on teh side, its like this on the existing Thunderball DVD. Unless those caps are showing it with the black bars removed, can you show us a picture of it unedited so we can see? Sorry if I caused any confusion. They are windowboxed as MLAM says - it's my description that is probably confusing everyone. It looks like a 4:3 Letterbox transfer stuck in a 16:9 window, which is my roundabout way of saying they're windowboxed!! In the Thunderball comparison just posted you can see that both SE and UE titles are both windowboxed. And yes, I've started cropping the black borders on the 2.35:1 ratio films as it cuts down the filesize.

#20 Posted: 23-06-2006 12:21
Phil Q Member Posts: 1817	Originally Posted by bradavon: Hmmm while Dr. No looks better it's not as good as I was expecting. After all this hype they've made it brighter and removed some grain. The big improvement on the first three films is that they're now showing the full 1.66:1 rather than cropping off big chunks at the top or bottom of the frame! They definitely seem to have over-brightened some shots (to disguise ropey bluescreen or rear-projection effects?). It's hard to tell from the captures if they've been over-zealous removing film grain - I think a lot of the visible "grain" on the old transfers is really digital noise. Overall, they look pretty good, I think. Definitely sharper, if nothing else.

#21 Posted: 23-06-2006 14:24
bradavon Banned Posts: 2907	Why are the newest Brosnan films so grainy??? My 1 Disc SE's don't look that bad.

#22 Posted: 23-06-2006 14:36
slinky_spring Member Posts: 24	I've noticed on DAD that there is no Ministry of Propaganda. Can you confirm if there really is no trailers or music videos etc. If so that is a terrible omision and means i will have to keep hold of the previous release for a full extras package.

#23 Posted: 23-06-2006 14:45

Michael Mackenzie
Contributor
Posts: 1651

Originally Posted by bradavon:
Why are the newest Brosnan films so grainy??? My 1 Disc SE's don't look that bad.

Most of that, I think, is the natural grain getting over-compressed in these captures. DVD Times now automatically compresses any images we upload to save space and bandwidth, so these grabs probably aren't really reflective of the actual image quality.
------

Reviews | DVDs | My Web Site

#24 Posted: 23-06-2006 14:48
MLAM Member Posts: 24	Originally Posted by bradavon: Why are the newest Brosnan films so grainy??? My 1 Disc SE's don't look that bad. Maybe because its that much sharper now or it's the way its mean't to look. Dave, can you confirm if the films have the original burnt on captions? Most obvious at the start of Tomorrow Never Dies and a few others such as Octopussy and The Living Daylights. Thanks

#25 Posted: 23-06-2006 14:50
slinky_spring Member Posts: 24	Yeah, i forgot to ask that abut the captions too. If they are right then i will be very happy. Still bit miffed about potential missing traielrs on Die another day tho.

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