The Thing Limited Edition ( Arrow Video)

Yeah, no less than @Steve Hoffman told me a few years ago that the filmed episodes of The Avengers were shot at 24fps for worldwide broadcast (knowing the importance of the U.S. market). I believe most of the Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" shows were shot the same way. I can say that the music for these shows sounds better to me at 24fps than 25fps.

 

I recently rewatched the Battlestar Galactica original series from 1978/79 on BD and these are at 24 fps and I think it's its native frame rate. Being an American T.V. series could have been shot at 29.97 fps but it wasn't, shooting at 24 fps makes sense for selling the series overseas with little artifacts because of different frame rates at different countries, even more in the 70's when converting from 29.97 to 25 fps wasn't easy back then and transparent.

 

Some Notes on Restoring The Thing
The Video Deck: Some Notes on Restoring The Thing

 

All of the Universal TV shows were shot at 24fps. All the film shows I personally worked on (Simon & Simon, Magnum P.I., Miami Vice, Incredible Hulk, Murder She Wrote, etc.) were all definitely 24fps. But we redid them all at 25fps for PAL countries.

That's interesting that they did do the scanning at Universal DVS in North Hollywood, some of the color-correction in London, but then the final color-correction at Deluxe/Culver City (the latter of which is now closed).

 

How did you redo these shows for PAL countries? By speeding them up? I remember Knight Rider or Miami Vice to have jerky motion at times viewed on PAL.

 

Yes, all PAL transfers were done at 25fps, which is about 4.1% faster than they were intended. In some cases (particularly Magnum P.I. and Get Smart), I used an Eventide Harmonizer on the dialogue track to shift the pitch back down so the people didn't sound like Donald Duck. Everything else (music, sound effects, etc.) stayed at the 25fps pitch.

The motion does not become more jerky in PAL, but the action is faster, which definitely throws off the pace and movement to a degree. I don't like it because it's effectively changing the edit in terms of timing: a 10-second walk becomes almost a 9-second walk (as an example).

 

That's why even living in Spain never owned a Region 2 DVD player or disc. That changed with Blu ray, fortunately. I hate PAL speed-up and I hated its flicker on CRT T.V. sets.

 

I saw the Shout! Factory blu-ray of THE THING and the picture was fantastic. The film was in much, much better shape than the Criterion of HEAVEN'S GATE, to pick a roughly contemporaneous film I recently viewed. I was also impressed how well the practical special and makeup effects -- and the movie in general -- stood up. Nowadays most of those effects would be performed on a hard drive.

I might argue that the limitations of physical effects (and stunts) lend the viewing experience more gravitas, as the filmmakers are limited by many of the same constraints that an analogous real-life scenario would. With CGI anything is possible and we get things like videogame camera moves that, IMO, take you right out of the movie.

 

I received my LE and steelbook copies last weekend. Lovely job from Arrow on both. Only had a chance to watch the main feature so far, and it looks great. I’ll go through the extras at some point.

 

That’s in that movie’s cinematography though, if I’m not mistaken. Intentionally dusty and grainy to evoke the time period, with a lot of in-camera soft focus. Though it probably would look a little better if they could use the original negative, which they didn’t because it was edited down severely with the cut portions discarded.

 

Is it better than the Criterion edition I just picked up?

 

I feel there should be a college level course to explain all the subtleties in plot of The Thing. Can anyone chime in with any little known or easily overlooked plot points in this film?

For example, during the beginning of the film, which team member did the infected dog visit? We only see the team member's shadow on the wall in this scene.

Anything else I need to know to fully enjoy this movie? I'm watching it right now.

 

Sorry I have not seen the Criterion release so can't comment.

The only comparison I can find is between the Arrow & Lionsgate releases:

Cinema Paradiso • US Theatrical Cut Blu-ray vs. UK Theatrical Cut Blu-ray

 

There's no Criterion Blu-ray - or DVD - for "Cinema Paradiso"...

 

My bad! I meant the 2 disc Special Edition Arrow DVD. The director extended features have peculiar titles with no lead-in or synopsis (like the Criterion SE chapters) save the back cover. So you have to click on to the feature before you discover what it's about. Not complaining. I may not have otherwise bothered to peruse them immediately.

And the main feature does look great.

 

I think the whole point of the film is the paranoia the characters and the viewer experience in not knowing who is who. I think it's created that way so you never know who is who. Even after the blood test it reverts to the unknown after.

I'm sure someone has spent hours trying to plot it out but you simply can't.

 

without reading the entire thread has anyone compared the Shout and Arrow Blu rays?

 

These guys did and Arrow's is better: The Thing - Limited Edition | Film @ The Digital Fix

 

thanks for the link... : )
so Arrow is releasing a regular BD of this on 11/17/17 will it be a US reg 1 as well or just Reg 2?

 

Region B locked

 

too bad! oh well...i guess Shout has something to do with it. thanks...

 

Depends on what you expect:

The Thing, John Carpenter's 1982 now showing

 

I expect the Arrow transfer to be the best, no EE, or DNR as is the case with the Shout release, unfortunately. Just looking how the DP and those that worked on it envisaged how it should look.

 

I won't argue with anyone who's actually seen both, but the Shout! Factory disc is one of the best I've seen from this era. It may be the difference between an A and an A+. No reason to duck the Shout! Factory disc . . .

 

OK, thanks Ron...have you compared the Shout BD to the regular edition BD?