I bought another copy on dvd yesterday.. I really enjoy this movie.. In case my old copy burns out.. When I looked at the one I bought.. It says disc made in Germany? Thats weird.. it is region 1.. Made in 2017 I was curious about this.. I watched it last night.. It's new tranfer.. better sound and clearer picture.. a lot more things are more clear. It almost feels like a blu ray transfer..? My old one is dated 2003.
I'm assuming the DVD has the VistaSonic mix* and the BluRay's a remix. *Paramount's attempt at competing with Dolby Stereo. What happened? Well, to quote someone on the LDDB forum, ""Raiders sound was mixed to be played in the VistaSonic Sound system that Paramount had previously used on Popeye and Dragonslayer. Unlike Dolby Stereo that used a matrix to encode 4 channels to 2 optical tracks, VistaSonic used 4 discrete optical tracks in the place of the normal 2. Since they were much smaller tracks, they were noisier, so a noise reduction system was used to improve fidelity. Stereo surrounds could also be employed by use of the SQ Quadraphonic matrix system - the stereo surrounds were encoded onto the Left and Right front channels with SQ - the discrete mono surround track then wasn't used. The playback head used a CCD based reader instead of a photodetector to keep the tracks and their phase response aligned better. The system was invented by Terry Beard who is also the inventor of the theatrical DTS system - while he owned NuOptix, a company that built much of the equipment used to record optical soundtracks, he also worked for Paramount's sound department as a technician in charge of research. There were many problems with VistaSonic during the Popeye and Dragonslayer showings (it had to be turned off during Popeye's premiere at the Chineese theater), so Raiders was switched to Dolby Stereo at the last minute - some minor remixing had to be done to accommodate the limitations of the Dolby logic decoding. The 70mm prints used the 4-track discrete VistaSonic mix unaltered except for the addition of Baby Boom subs. The DVD's 5.1 mix is the original VistaSonic mix** so it's slightly different than the Dolby Stereo mix used on LaserDisc. The VistaSonic system was never used again - it had a nice logo though." As you can see... **Not sure about the BluRay and 4k
The great Dragonslayer from 1981. I remember this movie and tv ads, excellent cast brilliantly played. The dragon was one awesome looking mean mother------! I bought a dvd from mid 2000's and while I was happy to get it, the transfer were a ton full of artifacts. You could literally see like dust on certain parts of viewing the dvd. It was horrible, with that said I was wondering when a re-release in 4k would come? It finally did come as I will buy it down the line. Dragonslayer 4K Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Digital HD) Dragonslayer (Steelbook) (4K UHD Review)
It looks marvelous on the whole. There is some grain management, some matte work has been cleaned up a bit.
Have to give a shout-out for the excellent Caitlin Clarke, who played Valerian, and died way too young from ovarian cancer.
Well, he is wrong about grain management. There’s some mild grain management particularly during the visual effects sequences. It’s not heavy handed but it is there and done tastefully not in the form of DNR but making the grain as consistent as possible.
I bought the 4K. It looks stunning. I love this movie (among other reasons) for grounding the fantasy in a place that feels lived-in, not generic. It's set in England of the sixth century, within the real culture of that time and place (ie., the divine right of kings, which takes precedence at the end of the movie). Great film.
The dragon is certainly remarkable, but as a youngster this movie traumatized me for an entirely different reason. Spoiler The sequence near the beginning where the sorcerer Ulrich allows himself to be killed. First time I saw this, I only saw the first half of the movie, and never got the payoff explaining that it was part of his plan. For years, I thought things had gone horribly wrong for him.
