764 replies to this topic

[MR. BOND 93]

Not sure if it's been posted yet (apologies if it has), but here're reviews of the first two box sets from IGN:

James Bond Collection Volume 1 - Review

James Bond Collection Volume 2 - Review

...um, wow.

And IGN are usually pretty finicky when it comes to Double Dips.

Wow, this definately boosts my opinion on how bad I want this.

[DLibrasnow]

BUt anyway Has anyone watched the Happy Anniversary 007, the titles of it look so cheap but does anyone notice that Moore seems to look younger in this than he did in A View To A Kill.

I watched it tonight. It's about 50 minutes long, with about 40 of those pretty much just being clips from the films. Nothing that casual Bond fans probably don't already know, but fun enough for what it is. Moore looked the same to me as he did in A View to a Kill.

I remember it from its initial broadcast on British television back in 1987.

At the time I was upset that Roger was being replaced by this upstart Timothy Dalton but when I saw him in this one-hour special (it included adverts when it was broadcast) I realized that he really was beginning to show his age and I was better able to accept his replacement by Dalton.

[carddoug]

i really enjoyed the living daylights special features. and also thursday was my birthday.

[Double-0-7]

i really enjoyed the living daylights special features. and also thursday was my birthday.

Happy Birthday carddoug! Watching TLD is a great way to celebrate the occassion.

Edited by Double-0-7, 12 November 2006 - 05:03 PM.

[Qwerty]

i really enjoyed the living daylights special features. and also thursday was my birthday.

Happy Birthday.

[MrBond690]

I just got one of the sets yesterday, it is nice to see James Bond back on the shelves after it being so scarce for so long at least where I live, the Special Editions are impossible to get, so I just had to get them online. I will be keeping them though because I still want to keep the original picture quality films. I got volume 2 because it has thunderball and I was anxious to see that one, it being my favorite. This will give me a chance to go through and watch all the special features etc. while saving up the money for volume 1 when I am ready for it.

Was there any enhancing to Die Another Day, or was there a cut off for what movies needed restoring? I don't see how some would need it.

[DarkDevil]

Was there any enhancing to Die Another Day, or was there a cut off for what movies needed restoring? I don't see how some would need it.

For whatever reason, the DAD booklet doesn't have the little blurb about being restored by lowry, but the film was indeed enhanced (all 20 were)

Here are R1 SE/UE screencaps to compare!

http://www.bulletsnb...opic.php?t=2787

[MrBond690]

Was there any enhancing to Die Another Day, or was there a cut off for what movies needed restoring? I don't see how some would need it.

For whatever reason, the DAD booklet doesn't have the little blurb about being restored by lowry, but the film was indeed enhanced (all 20 were)

Here are R1 SE/UE screencaps to compare!

http://www.bulletsnb...opic.php?t=2787

aaah, very good, I thought I saw a difference in the subtitles, thanks for the reply.

[Qwerty]

Nice to see the Die Another Day comparison. I thought the SE and UE would look identical (although they pretty much do.)

[Gobi-1]

IMO DAD has been digitally restored. I've watched the film many times and the new UE transfer is incredible and the audio sounds so much better then the old version. A major improvement.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

So...

I bought Volume 1 on Saturday and instead of watching the film I had seen dozens of times already (GF), I decided to watch the one I hadn't seen in ages: TMWTGG.

Er...blimey.

Not only did I get a kick out of remembering how gleefully daft the film is (as if one could forget), but I also sat in awe of the fact that Roger's safari suits and plaid jacket at the end of the film never looked so gloriously tacky as they do now with the spectacular digital restoration.

Can't wait to give the equally campy DAF a spin next weekend.

[Brock Samson]

Sorry to add an echo, but the transfers I watched over the weekend were nothing short of spectacular. The packaging with the booklets floating loose in the box is atrocious though.
Loving the menus.

[stamper]

You guys should point out what DVDs you got, either R1 or R2, I have a feeling the R1 are much better looking... as usual

[killkenny kid]

IMO DAD has been digitally restored. I've watched the film many times and the new UE transfer is incredible and the audio sounds so much better then the old version. A major improvement.

indeed, along with DAF.

[Qwerty]

You guys should point out what DVDs you got, either R1 or R2, I have a feeling the R1 are much better looking... as usual

Why?

[stamper]

Because there are quite obviously, some differences between R1 and R2, I heard R1 had the mono original tracks for instance, and according to screencaps I have seen, some of the R1 looks better than their R2 counterpart. I'm dying to see if YOLT is better than the R2 washed out of the colors version.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

Yup, it certainly seems that way. From the same site that DarkDevil posted the link to, here're a couple of comparisons with the DAF DVDs (Mods, please feel free to remove the images; I thought it just might be easier aesthetically to compare them this way):

R2 SE:

http://img252.images...fr2se007wu8.jpg

R2 UE:

http://img252.images...fr2ue007mf3.jpg

R1 UE:

http://img145.images...forever0lp0.jpg

[DarkDevil]

Yes There have been some significant changes in the R1 dvds. (as they include Mono, Burned in subs, DAF (as seen above) and TB fixes (with blood color in water)

I can only hope that YOLT has better color then what i've seen - Goldeneye maybe fixed? and OHMSS is not a night pre-titles anymore.
One can hope.

[K1Bond007]

Well in the comparison here the UEs look much cleaner, but in the R2 he looks like he's going to pop R1 looks much more realistic.

[Bon-san]

I purchased the two available Region 1 UE boxsets when they were released last week. When these were first announced, I had thought, 'do I really need any improvement?' I had been pretty happy with my SE's. But a few months ago I invested in a large-screen Plasma HD television. And I was awakened to the realities. My SE's were not so brilliant anymore. Compared to some of the HD programming, some of the SE's were downright primitive (I exaggerate, but only a little).

Then, when the UE's were released in Europe I began to hear some gripes about the quality. Even some whispers that in more than one case, the SE quality was better. I had caution lights in my head.

But I've read more and more good things on this board to reassure me (thanks, especially to Loomis and dee-bee-five for their assurances of UE quality).

So I took the plunge. And my how wonderful these UE's are. The image quality is stunningly good. So good, that at first I was a bit thrown--too much detail perhaps? Too many visible wrinkles on Roger circa 1977! But after that intial day in which I quickly browsed all ten of the films I had, I have been completely won over by the glory of the Lowry remasters. They are so excellent, that I have found myself sitting down to just catch a few moments of a film, and invariably ending up watching the whole thing.

Goldfinger is just glory, glory, glory.

Thunderball is wonderful, too. The color is a touch underdone, but bumping up the 'color' setting on the tv is an instant and perfect fix.

DAF is vibrant, colourful. Vegas used to look so seedy, and now it's got life!

TMWTGG, I've seen only glimpses of, but it looks amazing.

TSWLM, holy , this is good. I have no adjectives.

AVTAK, AVTAK!, the film invariably at the bottom of my 1-20 lists, looked so good, I watched it cover to cover in one sitting, and loved it all.

TLD. Amazing

LTK is hugely, hugely improved and the video-tapish 'look' of the film no longer reminds me of a TV movie. It looks like a damn fine, film.

TWINE. One would have thought there wasn't much restoring to be done with this one, but it is noticeably more colourful, more vibrant, more crisp. Thanks.

Even DAD has a touch of added sheen.

I cannot say enough about the visual improvements, across the board.

And I haven't even commented yet on the sound. Three letters: dts. It's really incredible how much the sound mix adds to the experience of watching the film. Esp. when one has a home theatre system (to those who don't, they're not that expensive--invest now). The sound on DAF I found a bit disappointing. I guess there wasn't much they could do, but it's so flat and center channel. GF and TB are much better than DAF re the sound. I watched TSWLM and TLD last night with the sound cranked, and I was in heaven.

I urge anyone who has even remotely considered the Ultimate Editions, go for it. You won't be disappointed. I guarantee it. I sold off all 20 of my SE's and I have zero regrets. The only downside is I have to wait a bit for the other 10 UE's to be released in Region 1.

But there's lots of fun to be had with the ten I already have, while I'm waiting.

Last note: At the Hong Kong press conference for TWINE, Brosnan has the coolest haircut I've ever seen him in. Perhaps too 'hip' for Bond. Would have been perfect for a baddie or a rascally hero.

Got to go. Have to watch TMWTGG tonight.

[Genrewriter]

I'm in the same boat, Bon-San in terms of having to wait on the next set of ten but yeah, it's definitely worth it. My fave is the upgrade for License to Kill. What I dig about the LTK disc is the transfer, just amazingly good. The extras are just my cup of tea (Go cheesy 80's graphics!) and a nice little addition is the correction of the audio error from the 1999 edition. It comes towards the end with the exchange "What are you waiting for? Get in!" "Yes sir." I'm also thrilled that it plays just fine on my computer now. A great upgrade to an already great special edition dvd.

[Qwerty]

Because there are quite obviously, some differences between R1 and R2, I heard R1 had the mono original tracks for instance, and according to screencaps I have seen, some of the R1 looks better than their R2 counterpart. I'm dying to see if YOLT is better than the R2 washed out of the colors version.

Yup, it certainly seems that way. From the same site that DarkDevil posted the link to, here're a couple of comparisons with the DAF DVDs (Mods, please feel free to remove the images; I thought it just might be easier aesthetically to compare them this way):

R2 SE:

http://img252.images...fr2se007wu8.jpg

R2 UE:

http://img252.images...fr2ue007mf3.jpg

R1 UE:

http://img145.images...forever0lp0.jpg

Ah. So I see. Interesting to see the comparison between the two different regions. I hadn't noticed those before.

[K1Bond007]

I purchased the two available Region 1 UE boxsets when they were released last week. When these were first announced, I had thought, 'do I really need any improvement?' I had been pretty happy with my SE's. But a few months ago I invested in a large-screen Plasma HD television. And I was awakened to the realities. My SE's were not so brilliant anymore. Compared to some of the HD programming, some of the SE's were downright primitive (I exaggerate, but only a little).

It doesn't really matter how you view it, the SEs were truly terrible transfers for DVD. They were. They were fine at the time because that's all that was available and far be it for most fans to gripe, but it really becomes obvious how bad they were when you see them on better TVs or when you compared them to newer DVDs coming out all the time. The early Connery SE ones were absolutely terrible, especially Dr. No which looked almost VHS quality.

[stamper]

Looks like the DAF problem (some people looks like they are pissed red in some shots) was fixed for R1. If the Thunderball red blood in the pool is back, it means the R2 were just hastily trown out work in progress versions, sadly. Once again Europe gets inferior, low grade versions of the real thing...

[dee-bee-five]

Looks like the DAF problem (some people looks like they are pissed red in some shots) was fixed for R1. If the Thunderball red blood in the pool is back, it means the R2 were just hastily trown out work in progress versions, sadly. Once again Europe gets inferior, low grade versions of the real thing...

Well, I'm more than pleased with my R2 UE and would hardly call them inferior or low grade. And the case they came in is a thing of beauty.

[jl151080]

Can anyone help me with the best price for the complete Bond 'Ultimate Collection' DVD set?

It seems the attache case has now been deleted, and a new cardboard - style box is about to be released.

The lowest price I've seen so far is

[Count Balthazar de Bleauchamp]

Why doesnt the Ultimate Edition of Die Another Day have any of the documentaries from the 2003 edition? It is the only film to not have the original special features.

[Bon-san]

Why doesnt the Ultimate Edition of Die Another Day have any of the documentaries from the 2003 edition? It is the only film to not have the original special features.

I guess because someone messed up big. I'm wanting to write a letter lodging a complaint (not sure to whom I'd address it). I got rid of my original DAD dvd on the premise that the UE had all the same features, and more. I would think they'll have to correct this on later pressings of the UE. I'd like one, gratis, if they do.

[00Twelve]

I cannot wait for the 3rd set. If Bon-san's experience with the first 2 sets means anything, this one is gonna be unbelievable. I absolutely can't wait to see From Russia With Love or OHMSS, much less GoldenEye (which got a good treatment, I hope...it was in great need.), LALD, or FYEO.

[Qwerty]

I guess because someone messed up big.

Sounds like it. I can't imagine why they would forget about all of that from their most recent release.