|  Author | Topic: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions (Read 1,309 times) |
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
![[avatar]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/mbe25/Board/pb-files.gif)
"I am an Artist"
![[homepage]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/www_sm.gif)
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female 
Posts: 7,354
|  | Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Thread Started on Apr 30, 2006, 6:10pm » | |
The Ultimate editions will be released July 17 in the UK (already up for sale on UK Amazon) but I don't have any info when they will be released in the US or wlsewhere. All the Bond DVDs including Pierce's have been remastered visually and audibly and are now in 2 disc editions with added extras.
Alas. there is no added Pierce commentary (for obvious reasons) and there isn't as of yet a list of the extras that are being added. If anyone stumbles across a list I'd love to see it because they'll have to be something for me to re-buy all his DVDs.
![[image]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000FI9OUY.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
| |
|
sparklingblue
Secret Agent
Retired Jewel Thief
member is offline
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,670
Location: Germany
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #1 on Apr 30, 2006, 6:46pm » | |
If I were being really wicked, I'd say they are already hedging against potential losses at the B.O. by releasing these. 
| |
|
Barbara
Detective
member is offline
![[avatar]](http://img19.photobucket.com/albums/v56/mbe25/Board/t-pb69.jpg)
Lady Bond, Amanda Hightower returns in "Gray Shadows" coming 2005
![[msn]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/msn.gif) ![[aim]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/aim.gif)
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 438
Location: New York City
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #2 on May 1, 2006, 2:19pm » | |
I am going to shoot myself.
I bought the UK edition four years ago, to get the gun metal tin box. If I knew a briefcase was coming, I would have held out for that. :-D
Love...B
|
Professional hazard |
|
Myrtle Groggins
Secret Agent
member is offline
![[avatar]](http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u234/Myrtle_Groggins/LH_Licence_3av-1.jpg)
"He's the most generous, understanding, supportive man I could imagine."
![[yim]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/yim.gif)
Joined: Jun 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 558
Location: Watching JERICHO and RS on DVD
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #3 on May 21, 2006, 2:48am » | |
Oooooh, it does look tempting, considering that most of my Bonds are on tape. I don't even think I own all of PB's on DVD. I do know that I have both Dalton's on tape and DVD (or should that be "Daltons"?).
Are they going to sell this set in the USA, too?
Me thinks you might be right, Blue. I think they are promoting the series in anticipation of the next movie release AND that they are certainly hoping to recoup some of the financing they've already shelled out for CR.  From the looks of the teaser, it isn't going to be something to write home about. 
|
Myrtle Groggins, PI
Some of the world's most powerful people have met me.
"Cash? I never carry cash. It's so bulky."
"Never carry change. Too noisy."
http://animalrescueneworleans.org/
|
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #4 on May 21, 2006, 12:31pm » | |
I own all PB's Bond DVDs and since most were bought during on of the moritorium periods they were hard getting! I really have to see what the specific extras are on each of them to buy them again. For instance with GE, I could care less about more info from the egomaniac hack Director Michael Campell though every extra seems to have his name on it. 
I specifically want to know what exact deleted scenes are included. I looked at the DAD DVD specs and didn't see any included for that film when we already know they have them and that they'd actually planned to put them on the 2003 release before they pulled them. So why are they still not added? I want that hot springs scene, damnit!
They should be released in the US later in the year to tie in with the film but no date has been set yet.
| |
|
sparklingblue
Secret Agent
Retired Jewel Thief
member is offline
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,670
Location: Germany
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #5 on May 21, 2006, 12:50pm » | |
Does Amazon US also offer DVDs for rent? I believe one might always be able to check them out this way before buying them.
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #6 on Jul 12, 2006, 9:42pm » | |
The editions still don't have a U.S. release date but it's suppossedly around Nov/December. They will be issued in 5 boxes of 4 films or 4 boxes of 5 films -- not in order. No word yet if they'll be issued individually. The Ultimate Editions are suppossed to have the same content worldwide.
Here are reviews from Michaels DVD.
Goldeneye: Ultimate Edition
Plot Synopsis
Goldeneye was the first Pierce Brosnan Bond film in 1995 and quite possibly the best of them. Some even consider it the best Bond film ever. Goldeneye was a stunning return to form for the series, both critically and at the box office, coming as it did after the Timothy Dalton films and a 6 year break due to a disagreement between Danjaq and United Artists. It has previously been released twice in Region 4, once in 1999 and then as part of the special editions in 2001.The reviews of the previous versions can be found here and here, the second one containing an excellent plot summary. This new version is significantly different to both previous releases. The main differences can be summarised as follows:
Very clean from a film artefacts perspective but I have some problems with it (See below).
Audio Transfer Reduced bitrate Dolby Digital 5.1 (384 Kb/s) Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) and DTS 5.1 (768 Kb/s).
Features:
Everything from the previous edition plus many new extras on a separate disc
It's a bit of a toss up whether or not an upgrade to this new version (from the SE) would be advisable as the video quality seems to have gone backwards in some areas, however, there is a marked increase in audio quality and extras. If you only have the original version then this is definitely worth purchasing.
This is a top flight Bond film featuring excellent villains including probably the first one who could be described as both sexy and completely evil, some fantastic action sequences and stunts, a great new Bond, excellent casting (even Minnie Driver strangling her cat), and the usual cars, girls, gambling and humour.
In the Bond series, this film is notable due to the first appearance of Dame Judi Dench as 'M' and also the first (for a long time) without titles by Maurice Binder as he died in 1991. The title sequence used, however, certainly keeps to the pattern he developed. One element of this new film which got some of the fans jumping up and down was the different style of score from what had previously been used. Eric Serra's score is more modern than previous scores but to my mind does an excellent job. Another interesting change for this film is that the team created their own new movie studio on the site of an old Rolls Royce factory, thereby moving away from Pinewood.
Great Bond film.
Video
The video quality is disappointing considering the excellent reviews given to previous versions.
The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.
The Lowry restoration process has certainly resulted in a very clean and clear image throughout. The sharpness, however, was somewhat variable with the occasional scene such as the one around 44:00 featuring M and Bond having an argument being a little soft and showing some grain and even mild macro-blocking in backgrounds. Generally, however, the transfer was very sharp. The shadow detail was excellent.
The colour was excellent and, to my eyes, natural throughout.
The main problem I have with this transfer is the introduction of quite noticeable aliasing and jagged edges which occur regularly. Most occurrences are mild, however considering that this was not present on previous versions of this film (based on the previous reviews) this is quite disappointing. Examples can be seen on the Aston Martin grille at 12:30, 14:00 and 16:40, buildings at 16:20, a roof at 21:01, buildings at 25:15, a grille at 33:38, a computer at 49:25 and a plane at 91:25. Additionally, the dam in the opening sequence has quite a few jagged edges and shimmering. This list is not exhaustive but indicates a level of aliasing and shimmering which is not acceptable when this is marketed as an Ultimate Edition. If this was just a normal release of a 10 year old film, I would not make such a big deal out of this problem, but considering this was not a problem on the other film in this new edition which I have reviewed, Octopussy, and was not a problem on previous releases of this film, I think my disappointment is justified.
There are 11 subtitle streams including English & English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read but a little summarised. Two of the other streams are commentary subtitles.
The layer change occurs at 61:04 and was not noticeable during playback.
========================================
(Note how Campbells name is in the title of every feature and Pierce's name is not -- not even for his own Press Conference -- Dalton's name is on that feature for TLD -- and it's only "featurette" -- feh )
Disc 1
Commentary - Director Martin Campbell & Producer Michael G Wilson.
This commentary appeared on the previous versions of the disc and I found it quite enjoyable compared to other more recent commentaries I have heard.
Credits
DVD Production Credits
Disc 2
Declassified : MI6 Vault -Deleted Scenes with introductions by Director, Martin Campbell **NEW**
Four cut scenes are included in this section, all of which are non-essential but some are good for a laugh. 16x9 enhanced. The scenes are
* Dodging the Guards (1:47) - Scene from the opening showing how he gets onto the dam before jumping off it.
* No Deal (1:34) - Amusing scene involving Robbie Coltrane and an incompetent arms dealer.
* Bond rides with Wade (1:34) - Fairly pointless scene with CIA agent Wade.
* No Bugs in the Program (1:12) - Short transitional scene.
Anatomy of a Car Chase : Remy Julienne (2:55) **NEW**
Short featurette about the opening car chase between Bond and Onatopp featuring interview footage with the stunt co-ordinator for the chase. 4x3
Anatomy of a Stunt: Tank Vs Perrier (6:07) **NEW**
Interesting featurette hosted by the director and featuring footage of the stunt being filmed on their studio lot and interview footage with the second unit director. 4x3.
Building a Better Bond : Pre-production Featurette (9:01) **NEW**
A featurette made before production started to raise media interest in the project. Includes footage of the announcement of the new James Bond and details of the new studio built especially for the project. 4x3.
Goldeneye : The Secret Files (28:30) **NEW**
A worthwhile and reasonably interesting making of featurette which covers the new studio, Pierce Brosnan, budgets, effects, miniatures, props, locations and how specific scenes were put together. Includes interviews with important cast and crew members.
Goldeneye : The Secret Files : The Cast (12:20) **NEW**
Featurette focusing on the supporting cast showing behind the scenes footage and interviews. Includes coverage of Dame Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Famke Janssen, Sean Bean, Isabella Scurupco, Alan Cummins & Desmond Llewellyn.
Location Scouting with Peter Lamont (12:32) **NEW**
Another interesting extra which consists of film taken by production designer Peter Lamont as he scouts locations all over the world. It is accompanied by his commentary.
Making It Small in Pictures : Derek Meddings (2:38) **NEW**
A short tribute to miniature maker Derek Meddings who died just after production wrapped, featuring the work he did for the film.
The Return of Bond : The Start of Production Press Event (5:28) **NEW**
This is footage of the press event to launch the production featuring the cast and crew plus backstage footage. OK.
Pre-title Storyboard Sequence (1:32) **NEW**
Introduced by the director, this shows the opening sequence in storyboards.
Directing Bond - The Martin Chronicles (10:17) **NEW**
Featurette on the director including a lot of behind the scenes footage of him spitting the dummy about things going wrong. Quite amusing and certainly refreshing to see something which is shown warts and all. Includes interviews with cast, crew and the man himself.
Optional Commentary Segments by Martin Campbell (1:04 & 0:52) **NEW**
Two segments of the previous featurette with Martin Campbell commentating over them. In one he discusses why he was so annoyed and in the other talks about his DOP, Phil Meheux.
007 Mission Control **NEW**
This fairly pointless set of extras consists of highlights from the film separated into small segments and categorised into 007, Opening Titles, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch & Exotic Locations. The only thing I noticed that wasn't in the film was a version of the title sequence with text.
Mission Dossier
This sub-menu includes a number of quality featurettes which all appeared on the special edition. Specifically they are:
* World of 007 - A Documentary (41:43) - Very worthwhile show made for television and hosted by Liz Hurley. It is a retrospective of the Bond films and includes sections on Ian Fleming, the various Bond actors, the girls, the films, stunts, accidents, cars, villains, gadgets, music and more. Only goes up to Goldeneye.
* The Goldeneye Video Journal (14:15) - Short making of featurette with cast & crew interviews, behind the scenes footage and stunt details. There is some crossover between these and the new featurettes.
* Promotional Featurette (5:08) - Exactly what it says - a glossy promo featurette. Very poor video quality.
* 'Goldeneye' Music Video (3:25) - Original music video for the theme song. 4x3.
Ministry of Propaganda
This sub-menu includes two trailers and 12 TV spots for the film, all of which were included on the special edition.
Image Database **NEW**
This is a large selection of image galleries on various topics. The photos included are stills from the film, publicity material and behind-the-scenes shots. The galleries are presented with one text page each describing the topic and are timed rather than requiring you to click through each photo. There are segments on the stars plus scenes, girls, extras and publicity.
Censorship
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
R4 vs R1
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
These new Ultimate Editions are the same globally except for colour system differences and subtitles. Draw.
Summary:
A great entry in the Bond canon.
The video quality is disappointing.
The audio quality is excellent.
There are a huge array of high quality extras on this 2 disc set.
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #7 on Jul 12, 2006, 9:48pm » | |
Tommorow Never Dies: Ultimate Edition
Plot Synopsis
The second of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films, Tomorrow Never Dies, is quite arguably his best. Freed from the PG-13 constraints of his first attempt at the role, Brosnan puts in an outstanding performance as a more mature and suave Bond, out to avert World War III at the instigation of media fanatic Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce).
Starring alongside Teri Hatcher as the beautiful Paris Carver and Michelle Yeoh as the impressive Wei Lin, Tomorrow Never Dies just hangs together perfectly, running far smoother than any of the other Brosnan Bond films, with the chemistry just right the whole way. Its humour is right on the ball, and it contains some of the best action sequences of that era, including a car chase in a multi-level parking lot that set a new bar for car chases in the 1990s (arguably only bested by the extensive car chase sequence of The Matrix: Reloaded), and a motorcycle chase through downtown Saigon that cracks me up every time I see it. Only the ludicrous final sequence of M.I.:II managed to best that, and it only managed to do so by descending into farce.
We also get to see a slightly darker more violent side of Bond in this film which, while not quite to the same level as Licence To Kill, really sets it up for the darker side of the British secret Agent to come out in The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Only few Bond films ever really try to deal with the character of Bond himself, and this one does its best to avoid the subject with admirable results.
Nearly ten years on now, and Tomorrow Never Dies has stood the test of time as a quality Bond film. Amazing action sequences, a great score, fantastic locations, skilled direction and photography - there is very little to criticise in this film. Certainly, Bond’s nemesis in this film comes across as a little weak, but this is more than made up for by his evil associates, especially Gotz Otto as the lean German killing machine Stamper.
Humorous, violent, full of spectacle, this is great entertainment.
Video
This new Ultimate Edition of Tomorrow Never Dies is presented in its original 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced aspect ratio, mastered from a new high definition transfer. I saw this film twice at the cinema and numerous times on VHS and then DVD, but I’ve never seen it look this good.
Where this transfer really stands out from earlier releases is in its image definition. Much like Sony’s Superbit releases, this transfer has a much finer image detail. Although you are unlikely to notice a substantial difference on a smaller TV (I can still see a fine difference on my old 32 inch CRT screen), you will notice the difference on a bigger monitor – 60 inches and above. My comparisons were with the R1 release, which does not suffer from the film-to-video artefacts that plague the original R4 release. Once you get to 100 inches and above, though, you really appreciate the remastering. Mostly it’s little things, like background detail and foreground sharpness, but the difference is there.
The other major difference is the colour saturation and colour balance, which is remarkably different to the earlier releases, in a positive way. Things just look so naturally real-to-life. Shadow detail is far more pronounced and less murky than it was for the original R4 release or even the R1 release.
Film-to-video transfer artefacts are limited to some very minor background aliasing. This was rare, and I really had to strain to find it, so I doubt anybody is going to be perturbed by it.
There are subtitles available in a raft of languages as outlined above. I checked the English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles. They are quite accurate.
The dual layer pause is at 61:01. It occurs during a scene change and is barely noticeable.
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #8 on Jul 12, 2006, 9:55pm » | |
Extras
Menus
All menus are 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, and most have a 2.0 Dolby Surround audio track. Some of the submenus are static and silent. All menus are uniformly clear and well presented.
Disc 1
Audio Commentary – Vic Armstrong and Michael G Wilson
Presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is a decent if technical commentary.
Isolated Music Score Track
Presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround.
Audio Commentary – Roger Spottiswoode and Dan Petrie Jr
Presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is a fairly conversant commentary. Scene Selections
Presented 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with 2.0 Dolby Surround, each chapter has about a 10 second motion segment to choose from.
DVD Credits
Disc 2
Declassified: MI6 Vault
Presented in a mix of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, and 1.33:1 Full Frame, most with 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this segment contains the following:
* Deleted And Extended Scenes (Introduced By Director Roger Spottiswoode) (9 Scenes)
* Extended Angles (Introduced By Director Roger Spottiswoode) (2 Scenes)
* Highly Classified: The World Of 007 (57:43)
* Music Video: The James Bond Theme (Moby’s Re-Version) (3:24)
007 Mission Control
Presented in 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced, and 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this contains a series of snippets from the movie on each of the following topics:
* 007
* Women
* Allies
* Villains
* Mission Combat Manual
* Q Branch
* Exotic Locations
Mission Dossier
Presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, non-16x9 enhanced (often with a 2.35:1 inset, so you get black bars at the top and bottom), and 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this submenu contains the following:
* Featurette: The Secrets Of 007 (42:44)
* Featurette: Interview With David Arnold (2:30)
* Featurette: Special FX Reel (2:51)
* Music Video: “Tomorrow Never Dies” by Sheryl Crow (4:16)
* Storyboard Presentations (9 Sequences)
* Featurette: Gadgets (Sea Vac, BMW, Phone)
Ministry Of Propoganda
Presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this is a collection of the marketing material for the movie:
* Theatrical Archive – “The Hands Of One Man” (0:56), “The Brink Of War” (2:16)
Image Database
Presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced with the image inset within, these are a series of stills.
Censorship
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
R4 vs R1
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
There have been a lot of attempts at getting this right on DVD, including an initial release in the wrong aspect ratio, a re-release that was censored, and a release with some very average video. Thankfully, this new Ultimate Edition corrects all that. This new Ultimate Edition picks up all the special features of the earlier releases with a few new ones and then segregates them on a separate disc to maximise space on the first disc for movie content.
As for the Ultimate Editions themselves, we are told that the content of all Ultimate Editions worldwide will be the same. I would be curious to see how an NTSC image plays, but given the pristine faultless transfer here, I doubt it will make any difference to which one I decide to buy.
Summary
Tomorrow Never Dies is arguably the best Brosnan Bond films. With this one, they just got everything right. It’s a movie for the masses, but the masses are pleased.
This DVD transfer is excellent, and much better than the various earlier releases.
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #9 on Jul 12, 2006, 10:03pm » | |
The World Is Not Enough: Ultimate Edition
Plot Synopsis
The World Is Not Enough was the third Pierce Brosnan Bond film in 1999 and to my mind the weakest of the four. It has previously been released in Region 4 as part of the special editions in 2001.The review of the previous version can be found here which contains an excellent plot summary. This new version is different to the previous release, however, the differences are not as large, especially in extras terms, as the other two of these new editions I have reviewed. The main differences can be summarised as follows:
Personally, I don't believe there is enough on offer in this edition to warrant an upgrade for this film alone. If you are thinking of buying the whole new set this one is fine but individually there is not enough new on offer here.
This is a curiously flat film punctuated by the usual excellent action scenes. Pierce Brosnan is his usual debonair and brutal self and Dench is good as M, however the rest of the cast seem to struggle. The story moves a little slowly in the first half. My personal opinion is that it comes down to the director, Michael Apted having no real experience as an action director when taking on this film. Based on some of his comments in the extras I get the impression he was out of his depth and knew it. On the positive side, there are certainly some great action sequences such as the pre-credits boat chase, the scene inside the pipeline and the final climactic submarine fight. Another element which disappointed me about this film was the music which I found fairly clichéd and ordinary in many parts. Certainly not up to the quality of other previous Bond scores. I also feel that some of the roles were miscast, including the obvious Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist (yeah, right) but also Sophie Marceau who never really looks comfortable. It was nice to see Robbie Coltrane reprising his role as Valentin Sukovsky which he first played in Goldeneye.
Sadly, this was the last appearance of Desmond Llewellyn as Q who decided to retire from the role after this film and then was killed in a car accident a few weeks after the film premiered. The title is in fact the Bond family motto, which came directly from the Ian Fleming books.
All in all this is an average Bond film being released in a new edition not that much improved over the old one.
Transfer Quality
Video
The video quality is disappointing but still very good.
The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.
The Lowry restoration process has certainly resulted in a very clean and clear image throughout. The sharpness, however, was a bit disappointing as it was never crisp. This seems to be related to a less than excellent bitrate, which averaged just 4.5 Mb/s for the video component. One assumes any future high definition release will address this issue. There was some light background grain visible in some scenes such as at 24:30.The shadow detail was very good.
The colour was very good with no issues to report.
Artefacts were virtually non-existent, although I did notice a few little spots of aliasing such as at 9:05 on a grille.
There are 13 subtitle streams including English & English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read but a little summarised. Four of the other streams are commentary subtitles.
The layer change occurs at 66:44 and was not noticeable during playback.
Audio
The audio quality is very good but not in the same class as the audio on the new Goldeneye disc.
This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and an English DTS 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 768 Kb/s. There are also two commentaries encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kb/s. I started watching the film in DTS but was very disappointed by the DTS mix on this disc as it was quite flat and lifeless. I changed to the Dolby Digital which was certainly superior but not spectacular. The surround effects are there but it lacked somewhat in immersion and dynamism.
Dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times and there was no problem with audio sync.
The score of this film by David Arnold is quite clichéd and lacks the normal spark of a Bond score. He mentions in the commentary that he decided to use less of the Bond theme than previous films, but if he wanted to do this he at least could have replaced it with something ear catching.
The surround speakers are certainly well used during this film as you would expect such as during the boat jump at 9:25, explosion at 10:49, skiing at 36:00, the pipeline scene at 74:00 and during the caviar factory sequence.
The subwoofer was also well used adding significant bass to the many explosions, hand grenades and other bumps, grinds and bangs (tee hee).
There are copious extras spread over two discs. I will mark extras which did not appear on the previous release as **NEW**. Subtitles are available for nearly all the extras.
Menu
The menu was very nicely designed, reminiscent of the Bond movie opening credits style. I did find them slightly non-obvious in terms of finding all the extras. On these pages look out for the > on the bottom of the menu which leads you to extra pages of items on some menus.
Disc 1
Commentary - Director Michael Apted.
This commentary appeared on the previous versions of the disc and was fairly ordinary. He does not have a very interesting manner and seems to have little of much interest to say.
Commentary - Production Designer Peter Lamont, 2nd Unit Director Vic Armstrong & Composer David Arnold.
This commentary appeared on the previous versions of the disc and was certainly better than the first one. They are all together and bounce things off each other which makes it more interesting. They tell some anecdotes, discuss technical details, music choices and stunts. Quite decent.
Credits
DVD Production Credits
Disc 2
Declassified : MI6 Vault
James Bond Down River (25:03)
An extended making of featurette for the pre-credits boat chase sequence. Includes interviews with cast & crew, locations, wildlife issues, accidents, technical problems and testing of the boats. This was on the previous release. 4x3
Creating an Icon : Making the Teaser Trailer (4:25) **NEW**
How low have extras sunk when we need a making of for a trailer? 4x3.
Hong Kong Press Conference (9:46) **NEW**
A plainly grumpy Pierce Brosnan talks to the Hong Kong press. Reasonably interesting. 4x3.
Deleted Scenes with introductions by Director Michael Apted **NEW**
Quite a few different extended, deleted and alternate scenes are included. This is the best new extra on this new edition.16x9 enhanced. The scenes are:
* The Thames Boat Chase (1:09) - This option plays an introduction by the director which leads to a sub-menu with the following options:
o Extended Scene (8:07) - An extended version of the Thames Boat Chase featuring a lot more interaction with Police boats and more stunts.
o Expanded Angle View (6:09) - Allows for up to 5 camera angles at once
o Alternate Angle View (6:09) - Allows for the choice of three different angles
o Original Scene (6:09) - For comparison purposes the scene from the film is included. 5.1 sound.
* Deleted Scene : Meeting Renard (2:44) - An earlier introduction of the Renard character was planned for the pre-titles sequence.
* Extended Scene : Bond Tries to Stop King (3:18)
* Extended Scene : The Things We Do For England (1:47) - Re-use of a classic Bond line.
* Deleted Scene : DB5 at King's Funeral (0:28) - More Aston Martin.
* Deleted Scene : Oil & Blood (1:52) - w/optional commentary. Bond & Electra drive through an Oil Field.
* Deleted Scene : Static Charge (1:08) - w/optional commentary. More dumb ideas for the Q scene.
* Alternate Scene : Trouble in the Pipeline (1:14) - filler.
007 Mission Control **NEW**
This fairly pointless set of extras consists of highlights from the film separated into small segments and categorised into 007, Opening Titles, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch & Exotic Locations. The only thing I noticed that wasn't in the film was a version of the title sequence with text.
Mission Dossier
This sub-menu includes a number of featurettes which all appeared on the special edition. The main difference is that the video quality is reasonable on this edition, which was roundly criticised in the previous review. Specifically they are:
* Making Of (15:06) - Very American, very promotional style making of. 4x3.
* Bond Cocktail (22:51) - Reasonable featurette about the ingredients which have made the Bond films successful.
* Tribute to Desmond Llewellyn (3:13) - Short tribute to Q which includes my favourite line in all Bond films 'I think he's attempting re-entry'.
* 'The World is Not Enough' Music Video (4:03) - Original music video for the theme song by Garbage. 4x3.
* The Secrets of 007 - Collection of storyboard comparisons and rough cut versions of scenes. OK but hardly essential.
Ministry of Propaganda
This sub-menu includes the theatrical trailer which was included on the special edition. For some reason three menus are required to get to it!
Image Database
This is a large selection of image galleries on various topics. The photos included are stills from the film, publicity material and behind-the-scenes shots. The galleries are timed rather than requiring you to click through each photo. There are segments on the stars plus scenes, girls, costumes and publicity.
R4 vs R1
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
These new Ultimate Editions are the same globally except for colour system differences and subtitles. Draw.
Summary
An average entry in the Bond canon and the weakest of the Brosnan films.
The video quality is very good but disappointing for an Ultimate Edition.
The audio quality is very good but seems a bit flat.
There are a huge array of extras on this 2 disc set, but most of them were available on the previous version.
| |
|
sparklingblue
Secret Agent
Retired Jewel Thief
member is offline
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,670
Location: Germany
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #10 on Jul 16, 2006, 2:17pm » | |
Oh, the dilemma! I have all the films in SE, hence most of the extra material. Yet I'm dying to see the deleted scenes and all that other "NEW" stuff.  They are so mean!
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #11 on Jul 16, 2006, 10:47pm » | |
I'd be more interested if there were more meaty deleted scenes and bigger extras. For instance if they gave us the entire GE press conference it would be a no brainer even though the review here and others I've read have said the video isn't as good as the older Special Edition ones. The deleted scenes of TWINE and Bond Down The River which RI didn't have before make it more appealing.
I think I'll wait until the price goes down on them as it inevitably does before I pick these up. of course there hasn't been any word of when they're coming out in the U.S. and if they're coming out individually.
But any plans to get rid of the older ones is now over with the complaints about video. DAD one I probably won't even bother getting a new one unless the price is rock bottom since the new Ultimate Edition actually has less extras than the SE does and doesn't even have any deleted scenes even though we know they have them.
| |
|
sparklingblue
Secret Agent
Retired Jewel Thief
member is offline
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,670
Location: Germany
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #12 on Jul 17, 2006, 6:45am » | |
Isn't DAD the only one we'd buy just for deleted scenes? Someone there is really sadistic the way they are withholding such precious eye candy material from the eager audience. 
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #13 on Jul 17, 2006, 12:35pm » | |
DVD Times gives a rundown of all the UE Bonds and the new special features.
Here are the links to:
Goldeneye, TND, TWINE and DAD
And the straggler review for DAD from Michael DVD.
| |
|
Ace
Taipan
member is offline
"I am an Artist"
Joined: May 2003
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,354
| | Re: Ultimate Bond DVD Editions
« Reply #14 on Jul 25, 2006, 5:23pm » | |
Screen caps from the DVD are up on Bullets & Babes
The ones from Goldeneye show that the new version is zoomed and in and cropped and the picture quality looks ... TND seems to have color issues as Pierce is now pinky-purple.
Goldeneye
TND
TWINE
| |
| |
|
![[Home]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/home.gif)
![[Help]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/help.gif)
![[Search]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/search.gif)
![[Login]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/login.gif)
![[Register]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/register.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Logged