Just to cover a few things that have been angrying up my blood in the last couple of days:
- FOX has announced that they're not releasing any further seasons of the Simpsons on DVD, instead only putting content on Simpsons World. Now, this is fine if you live in the US and are one of the limited customer base that actually can get FXX and thus subscribe to the service, but everyone else in the world is boned. Like really, they couldn't even release 18 and 19 to fill in the gap between 17 and 20 so they could be done with it?
- Speaking of digital distribution, Star Wars releases today...again. This time on digital, which is fine, but at $20 per movie!? You can get the Blu Ray set for less than $100, which has all six plus another disc of extras! Not to mention that they've managed to find another bunch of "bonus content" for the movies to go with all the bonus content on the VHS, laser disc, DVD (twice) and Blu Ray editions they've already released. And really, all anyone wants is the original movies released in original form, which we're still not getting. No buys.
- This will probably kill the anal retentive collectors out there, but I did another great DVD purge from my collection this morning, so I could make room for my Blu Rays. This basically involved moving all the WWE and ROH DVD sets into folders and tossing out the cases, which hurt a little. Took 2 96-disc folders to pull it off, as well. But we're in the Network era anyway so I have little use for keeping the DVD versions of all those PPVs, even if the original release of X-7 is worth a couple of bucks on Ebay. i did keep the 3-disc sets in their original cases, because I'm not a monster.
I wish more people would see the Star Wars Despecialized Editions. It is the original trilogy in altered form in glorious HD.
ReplyDeleteFuck the digital future when all it really caters to is one country.
ReplyDeleteFirst world nerd problems.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, Disney is in the process of turning the original SW cuts into Blu-Ray (a difficult process as most of the original cels were destroyed so they're polishing it off the Laserdisc versions they could find), so I hope that turns into a reality.
ReplyDeleteI really don't get the angst over them altering Star Wars. I couldn't give a good god damn whether Solo or Greedo shot first, nor about a few extra scenes being added. It doesn't ruin the movies for me at all. So what exactly IS all the shouting about?
ReplyDeleteIt probably will. They have 4 billion reasons to try and monetize Star Wars as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of DVD's, has anyone here gotten the Jim Cornette Mid Atlantic set? I'm considering adding it for my collection but I'd love to hear from someone who's seen it if it's watchable or just a series of clips.
ReplyDeleteOnly one country matters.
ReplyDeleteThe CG effects look jarring and out of place, Vader now does the NOOOOOOOOO when he tosses Palpatine, and goddammit Han shot first. The SEs are just a death of a thousand cuts, just a lot of little annoyances when the originals were perfectly fine as is.
ReplyDeleteHow ham fisted it all is sours a lot of people. No effort was put into anything but hey good for you for having your preferences.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy fucking money. Glad Disney is doing what Lucas wouldn't
ReplyDeleteI'm still keeping all of my old dvd's of ppvs just so I can have the original entrances and no ghost Finkel.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a bluray burner, but I saw instructions on how to watch from a ps3 hard drive. I'll have to try that.
ReplyDeleteAbout 2 years ago, I went all-digital with my movie, TV, and wrestling collection. It was simply too big with no place to put them. I would've needed a giant custom display case. Now I just have a NAS connected to my router, giving me instant access anywhere in the house. Best decision I ever made.
ReplyDeleteHad no idea any of the dvds were worth anything. I'll have to see if I still have X-7. I bought a ton of dvds around that time.
ReplyDeleteAlmost none of the new effects are seamlessly integrated into the movies, so they make you suddenly aware of how fake it all looks. The musical number from ROTJ is just cringe-inducingly bad (and breaks the 4th wall), and replacing the older actor with Hayden Christiansen at the end of Jedi is completely ridiculous from a visual and thematic standpoint. Instead of seeing what Darth Vader would have become, he reverts back to the whiny twat that turned to the dark side in the first place. Instead of seeing his father, Luke sees someone younger than him (which kills the Joseph Campbell 'journey of the hero' stage known as 'vision of the father').
ReplyDeleteAs far as all the modifications are concerned, Greedo shooting first is pretty far down the list for me.
Oh, and if you listen in Empire, when Luke sacrifices himself rather than turn evil, they apparently added Jim Carrey doing the 'most annoying sound in the world' while he falls.
"And really, all anyone wants is the original movies released in original form, which we're still not getting. No buys."
ReplyDeleteYep. No buys. The special editions suck balls. The sarlacc does not need a beak, and Jabba's Palace does not need Monsters Inc. rejects on lead vocals
Obviously recording Star Wars off HBO in 1983 was a really good idea since that's the only way anyone can watch the movie in its original form anymore.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the 3 disc sets survived the purge.
ReplyDeleteJesus, did you rip all those disks?
ReplyDeleteI have actual Blu Ray R copies of them that I bought online.
ReplyDeleteI did this last year with a Raspberry Pi I got for Christmas and some old laptop hard drives from a customer with a dead motherboard (the display went into my custom PS3 portable system ). Love having my stuff on just about any device, but I also added a VPN (my router gives me a free dynamic dns ) so I can get my stuff anywhere I can get internet access. So much better than dealing with discs all the time.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find those?
ReplyDeleteYep. Took months.
ReplyDeleteThey released the original unaltered ones about 10 years ago on dvd, but the transfers are shit.
ReplyDeleteI admire your dedication. I thought it was a pain just audio ripping my cds to FLAC.
ReplyDeleteI can give you instructions on how I got them. I don't know if Scott would mind from the internet gods if I explained how I got them since it involves $$$, Star Wars, The Mouse and well illegal copies of a copyrighted film. It's rather simple actually in how I got them. I can email you everything if you'd wish.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you have to do so you could access your files from anywhere? I travel for work so I use a VPN on the road, but I never thought of using it to watch my files while away from home.
ReplyDeleteFirstly because it majorly alters movies we've grown up with, loved and watched dozens of times. Secondly, because 90% of the alterations are outright terrible.
ReplyDeleteThey were altered. Pray I do not alter them any further.
ReplyDelete-George Lucas.
I work from home and had both a desktop and laptop so I used my desktop for ripping and nothing else. Frankly I'm surprised it didn't explode.
ReplyDeleteBoba Fett's voice change, whilst minor, also annoys the crap out of me.
ReplyDeletempb020479@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks Brah!
Well the Pi is a dumbed down Linux box, so if you can do any shell type stuff, it's not too hard. The real key is making sure your router uses an internal ip that won't likely conflict with the ip you're connecting from (ie, something other than 192.168 etc ). I use OpenVPN on the Pi, there a windows version to generate certificates for your device, and the OpenVPN app for Android.
ReplyDeleteI had a VHS set from the 90s (before the rereleases) that I believe are the real deal.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
ReplyDeleteI'd say most people stopped buying them after around season 12 or so, and I'm assuming the recent ones didn't sell very well. All guess work on my part, but if they were making money on them they wouldn't stop releasing them.
ReplyDeleteI had two CD burners on my old computer, so I could do two at a time, and even THAT took too damn long. And CDs rip WAY faster than movies.
ReplyDeleteThose are altered.
ReplyDeleteSent my instructions brah!
ReplyDeleteYou are on the nose with all your reasons why the Anakin swap is ridiculous. Plus you see Old Yoda and Old Ben....why Young Anakin?
ReplyDeleteSo I somehow never got around to checking out Simpsonsworld until now (I recorded the episodes I wanted during the first marathon), and holy shit- they don't support Dish Network?! What the holy fuck? The plus side is, I'm in the long arduous process of switching to Time Warner, so by 2016 I should be good to go.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone else is interested in obtaining copies of the Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Editions on actual blu ray discs. Let me know and I can tell you what to do.
ReplyDeleteI always find this line of thinking funny. You're asking what all the shouting over these Star Wars changes is about...on a WRESTLING BLOG?
ReplyDeleteI really have no idea. Lucas with CGI is like a newbie graphic designer with a new photoshop plugin. He's just dying to use it whether it serves the project or not.
ReplyDeleteExplanation I've seen is that's how they looked when their light side died. When Yoda and Obi-Wan died, neither ever went to the dark side so their look stayed the same. But Anakin died in Episode 3 while Vader didn't die until Episode 6.
ReplyDeleteEven on fast machines, something like Handbrake seems to take forever to rip a movie. I eventually gave up about a quarter of the way through my collection.
ReplyDeleteWere they? I thought they were pretty clean. Were they the first THX cleanups or something?
ReplyDeleteI have an old VHS set with the originals
ReplyDeleteI've got the set right before the first THX cleanup release, but I don't have a VCR anymore.
ReplyDeleteThat still doesn't make any sense to me, but if other people like the changes, that's cool. I just want an option to watch the original version with a good transfer.
ReplyDeleteThey released the originals as "bonus" discs on the back of the special editions, but not cleaned up and in non-anamorphic widescreen.
ReplyDeleteOh I don't agree with the changes. I can see what he was going for (assuming what I've heard is accurate), but it's still stupid and jarring. Like has been mentioned, none of the changes are seamless. It's immediately obvious when they appear.
ReplyDeleteI should note that a Pi is not necessary for this work; the Windows 7 VPN works fine too, but this is the setup that works for me. I have a 500wt power supply in my tower because of a ginormous ATI card, and it didn't make too much sense to keep it on 24/7 for simple file serving.
ReplyDeleteThey were not the originals. They were altered. This has been documented to death. Google is at your finger tips.
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to ask you to do it for me.
ReplyDeleteWho wants later Simpsons seasons?!! I bet they can't wait for the Ted McGinley seasons of Happy Days too
ReplyDeleteHarmy's is a wizard.
ReplyDeleteOh? What is this? Anything like his MX box set?
ReplyDeleteSadly, 20th Century Fox still owns distribution rights to, at least, the first film.
ReplyDeleteFor now.
And it doesn't help that HC is so untalented, he can't convincingly do a silent role!
ReplyDeleteHow? Besides the Episode IV thing?
ReplyDeleteI think Lucas put the Big No in ROTJ to troll us, like how GUNGANS were in the revisionist version of the revisionist version of the celebration.
ReplyDeleteI digitized my entire Coliseum/WWF Home Video collection & made DVDs out of them. I even scanned the box art & made menus out of them, including chapter breaks, for posterity's sake.
ReplyDeleteTook 2 years on an old eMachine with a Hauppauge PVR-150 video card. Painstaking.
No, they are not. On the 2nd release of the OT on DVD, the theatrical releases were included as special features on a second disc. However, they are straight letterboxed, non-anamorphic transfers from old workprints, or something similar. You have to zoom in on your TV to get them to fill the screen, and it doesn't look great, since they were burned on DVD5s.
ReplyDeleteThe only alterations may be that they used prints that had already added "episode iv" to the opening crawl of Star Wars. I don't know where you're getting your information on the interweb, but there is no CGI or altered music, etc. on the bonus discs.
ReplyDeleteI don't know who the fuck is downloading those Star Wars movies.
ReplyDeleteFriend of mine bought it. Definitely watchable, but no commentary from what I've seen, some endings cut (pretty sure he had to salvage it from reels) and it may not be totally chronological, but if you want a real piece of wrestling history Id recommend it.
ReplyDeleteOh man. I have had nothing but bad experiences with Time Warner. Just a heads up.
ReplyDeleteIve already got all the good Simpsons seasons but I imagine the lack of commentaries queers the deal a little. Part of me imagines that ifb I went back and told my young childhood self that in the future, you could pick any Simpsons episode and any wrestling ppv on TV to watch whenever you want, and for the most part I'd be blase and uninterested, I'd have thought I was crazy.
ReplyDeleteDating back to WCW and the Braves.
ReplyDeleteAlso I really think you oughta throw us a random ROH rant here n there. Might be interesting to get some modern perspective on what the top guys in the industry were doing a decade ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of nice to have digital copies of films now rather than discs, which clutter up my house. I'm not saying I'm going to double dip, but if you're trying to eliminate physical media, it's nice to have the option.
ReplyDeleteMost lost value the minute the network launched but a few still have value.
ReplyDeleteThe extras on the SW blu-rays suck.
ReplyDeleteThey said they were going to add commentaries for the later seasons on Simpsons World.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering the same, but without commentary I'm wondering how I'd get into it.
ReplyDeleteI've got Simpsons seasons 3-11 on DVD. I might pick up season 2, and maybe season 12, but other than that, I'm good.
ReplyDeleteGot Happy Days seasons 1-4. All I need. I liked Ted McGinley on ...Married With Children, was pretty indifferent to him on Happy Days.
ReplyDeleteOnly official one I'd get is S1; that is, before CBS (Constantly Butchering Shows) took over and cut any music that might cost a penny or more, as well as the vintage Paramount closings.
ReplyDeletealmost every current tv can play files from usb.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the three pack with Vader on the front it's the real deal.
ReplyDeletebut hasn't anyone who wanted to have a digital copy so bad downloaded them otherwise by now?
ReplyDeleterumors are they still make money on them. but not enough for them not to try and use this as a way to push their website.
ReplyDeleteYep. http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTU0NFgxNTAx/$T2eC16Z,!)sE9swm,1DVBQtngELKJ!~~60_35.JPG
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought those 'bonus' discs were supposed to be the original cuts.
ReplyDeleteI did a similar project, although taking it to a pretty meticulous level, performing some additional restoration and correction on the footage both automatically and by hand to fix any problems with the VHS footage.
ReplyDeleteTook a few years, I burned myself out on it though.
Eh. Plenty of people either don't know how or are unwilling to pirate stuff, so I'm sure there's some type of market. I'm not going to download them but I'm sure they'll make plenty of money.
ReplyDeleteSimpsons commentary I'd most like to hear, just because I haven't picked up the season sets yet: That episode around Season 15-17 where they decided to lampoon "Cosmic Wars" and suddenly pretend Star Wars was never mentioned on the show, even though they went so far as to have Mark Hamill on a few seasons before that. I mean...why?
ReplyDeleteOnly one country thinks that only one country matters, everyone else has the humility to look at it with pity.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're wrong.
ReplyDeletePeople who aren't elitist enough to blindly think the last few years of the show haven't been very good, when really they have?
ReplyDeleteU mad third worlder?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thedigitalbits.com/site_archive/reviews3/spinsheet091406.html
ReplyDeleteI prefer the McGinley Married With Children episodes.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with that.
I'll trade you a VCR for those tapes.
ReplyDeleteBoba Fett macking on the dancer was an OK addition.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Homer spoiling Empire Strikes Back in season 3 or 4. . . .
ReplyDeleteThe lack of commentary didn't bother me as much, I was more worried about the endings being cut-- some I can deal with and as a rarity it just seems like a cool thing to throw on as a collector's item. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLooks like it, similar idea but the story is pretty great if you hadn't heard/read it yet: http://jimcornette.com/store/mid-atlantic-wrestling-films-lost-classics
ReplyDelete