A Plea To Warner Bros: Please Properly Restore The James Bond Films for 4K UHD (I’ll help!)

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Further information: My Thunderball audio mix documentary: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmKZh3yYnrCpqaMsi=g-HehnuC3IbY9jyo Bluray.com forum thread: forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=22647301#post22647301 La La Land soundtrack restorations: lalalandrecords.com/search.php?search_query=James%20Bond&section=product Further information and sound comparisons: Dr. No: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Dr.%20No%20%281962%29?m=0 FRWL: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Russia%20with%20Love%20%281963%29?m=0 Goldfinger: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Goldfinger%20%281964%29?m=0 Thunderball: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Thunderball%20%281965%29?m=0 You Only Live Twice: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/You%20Only%20Live%20Twice%20%281967%29?m=0 Diamonds Are Forever: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Diamonds%20Are%20Forever%20%281971%29?m=0

[@protips__]

It's sad that every 4k announcement now feels like a threat. Why is it a horror movie that cost $5000 to make can get a beautiful remaster through someone like Vinegar Syndrome but the big guys can't help but take a 35mm print and remove every spec of life from it and then run it through an AI upscaling filter until everyone on screen looks trapped in TikTok hell.

[@jungleboy1]

i think they will do this to cheap out, then in a few years it will be another 4k UHD remaster and charge another $40

[@protips__]

@@jungleboy1 I don't think the executives at these companies are smart (or at least aware) enough to understand that the people left buying physical media are buying it BECAUSE it offers picture and sound significantly above what streaming can offer. They'll just chalk it up to low interest, throw that slop on MGM Max Plus Now and move on.

[@Riddler95]

I too am an extremely huge James Bond fan and I do think that it is time for the first twenty movies (Dr. No to Die Another Day) to be given new restorations using modern digital systems but I too think that the current masters are what will be used to transfer the movies to 4K Disc. During the last few years Warner Bros has not done a good job bringing many catalogue titles to 4K Disc and I think they would prefer to save time and money by just going back to the current masters and using those. It is unfortunate because Warner Bros does not seem to care about us "Cinephiles" who love to be able to see classic movies properly restored to look and sound as close to their original releases in the highest quality currently available. I don't know what has happened to Warner Bros because as I have said before they did a fantastic job bringing so many movies to LaserDisc, DVD, and even Blu-Ray in it's early years. But during the last few years Warner Bros has become sloppy.

[@InstruMentalCase]

WB: “What? Did you say you want us to use AI to remove all remaining film grain AND add terrible blown out HDR?”

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@InstruMentalCase insert “oh my god” Troll 2 gif here.

[@matheus5230]

To be fair, WB has never used AI, outside of the UHDs of Friends.

[@JimAllder11]

LOL yeah, their translation of this will be an EPIC fail, for sure.

[@OldmovieMike]

I see it now Spencer! They will contact you and make a special feature about you and all the years of research, but it WON'T be til they put them ALL out in 4K in a special $500 box set!! LOL I'm glad I kept those doubles and triples on laserdisc! Great video sir!

[@iakona23]

You really could help these studios and disc publishers bring out high quality 4K disc releases, as a consultant. The level of thoughtlessness and ignorance involved with many of these restorations and physical disc releases is shocking, almost unbelievable

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@iakona23 hence why I started doing reviews in the first place. I really wish I could help in any way possible. Even if it meant just getting a test disc to scrub through to do quality control checks. I’d gladly do that in a heartbeat.

[@iakona23]

@ Thank you.

[@hiair]

Just what I thought since I found this channel; which is the best of its kind. The industry needs people like him, people who really care for delivering the best and knows what is needed to do it. Remasters are not only about re-selling enterainment, they are about for preserving history too, and it should be preserved the most accurate way possible as it originally was or preservation looses its purpose and value.

[@iakona23]

@ very well said Hiar. I agree with you.

[@knownpleasures]

It genuinely sounds like Arrow or Warners should hire you do the 4k releases of the Bond series!

[@general1362]

How can a single person know so much about this stuff? How? This man is a national treasure.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@general1362 Aw shucks, thanks! I know quite a bit about film, but admittedly Bond is my life’s obsession…You can’t tell it was also the subject of my college thesis can you?😂

[@general1362]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I definitely can!

[@knownpleasures]

He obviously doesn’t know that Warner bros don’t own the DVD rights to the James Bond 😅 . Thats danjaq and Eon . It would cost an unknown fortune for Warner bros to buy the rights.

[@LILGHETTI]

The daniel craig 4k collection is just slightly upscaled Blu-ray as well

[@LordDementus1987]

No Time To Die was shot on film, I think that one looks pretty good on both 4K and BD.

[@mistermailroom]

Daniel Craig's Bond films? Who cares? 🥱

[@robinanwaldt]

That’s not accurate. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are 2K Upscales (which is a higher resolution than Blu-ray still) but Skyfall, Spectre and No Time to Die are all genuine 4K masters.

[@robinanwaldt]

@mistermailroomSome of the best films in the series. Of course, who cares?

[@mistermailroom]

@@robinanwaldt A Craig film could be one of the best in the series...provided no other Bond film had ever been made before. Sadly enough, it's too late for that.

[@Deanhughes5707]

I have always noticed how the gunbarrels sounded different compared to the original versions. Especially YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, OHMSS, DIAMONDS, LALD, MWTGG, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, LICENCE TO KILL. But of course the biggest change was the YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE gunbarrel. They lost the oriental sound.

[@dr.impossibleofcounterpunc1984]

I find it deeply tragic that in 2024, media corporations can't be arsed to do the research and take the time to respect cinematic work that has a significant cultural and iconic position in film history. As to whether Warner's will take their time on each of the Connery Bonds and restore them the way the fans want will be a 50/50. Another bone of contention is the original artwork for the Bond films. Ever since the advent of VHS rental, none of that great artwork has been used on DVD or Blu-Ray. Totally criminal and just unforgivable. I used to look at my VHS rental tapes and admire the artwork on Moonraker, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun etc. Brian Bysouth's artwork for The Living Daylights was just mindblowing. Bysouth altered the artwork for the Warner VHS rental release, but that quad poster was flipping unbelievable. You have the knowledge Damn Fool, so lets hope some genius at Warner takes note. The Bond's deserve the full treatment, and done well.

[@MarCuseus]

they still think 2160p is 4k too.

[@stuarnott]

I love your passion. If Warners cared a damn they’d be sending a private jet to your house and beg you to help. For Warners to not make the very best possible restoration of this cinematic crown jewel franchise would be utter madness.

[@segaboy128]

Hey wb warner these bond films deserve proper 4k video and audio remasters! Great video!

[@rickyamato1447]

Entire movie series just always getting fucked up on home video is so endlessly depressing

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@rickyamato1447 sadly with the Bond series we’ve seen releases basically from 1982 until now…and not a single one of them is perfect.

[@Spider-Man1408]

​@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader They screwed up the Lord of the rings 4k release and the Batman the animated series on blu-ray . You really think they are going to give those flims a proper transfer. I don't think so.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ as I mentioned in the video, there are continual issues with a lot of of warner studio label releases due to various oversight and other practices, but I’m hoping to get people aware of how much work the series needs. I made this video to hopefully get some sort of positive movement going before there’s an actual release.

[@farmasingh]

Last Samurai is another movie that is in dire need of a 4K

[@midcoastJB007]

Fellow James Bond super fan here, I honestly had no idea that the 2006 Ultimate Edition DVD releases had the changes made to each movie you mentioned here. Really hope that Warner Brothers does get the message and bring back the older sound mixes along with the other changes need to restore the movies to how they were originally.

[@sebastianfitzptraick7395]

Now that you mention it, there is a distinct lack of grain in the films on bluray. It would be nice to bring out more of their filmic look on a 4k transfer. I would much rather the collections be a mix of films for variety’s sake.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@sebastianfitzptraick7395 thankfully some of the Blu-rays are from newer masters with TSWLM being easily the best of them as it had a brand new master done years later. But even those newer scans have some issues and aren’t perfect. But the majority of the Blu-rays are still HD versions of the Lowry masters. Worst of all are the ones that utilized all of their destructive processing and added layers of false grain after the fact to try and cover it up. Rendering that in HD, and now upscaling that to 4K all these years later just magnify all of the glaring issues they caused.

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

It sucks how the Daniel Craig era gets the 4K treament (a very rushed and poor treatment I might add) but yet the classic Bond films get dated and repackaged Blu-Rays with messy and sporadically bad transfers. Real shame, but what can I expect from current home media lol

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r It is my greatest and most deeply felt video pain.

[@just_delightful]

The re-color grading on those is insane- I'm glad I have the 4K streaming SDR versions of Casino Royal and Skyfall.

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

@@just_delightfulI only have Quantum of Solace. I like the original filmic look of that film compared to the new stuff

[@GenX_in_the_wild]

They all got nice 4k remaster, but no disc release. You can buy them digitally.

[@wcp21]

I commend you and continue to be amazed with your passion, crusade for perfection and amazing technical and content knowledge regarding the James Bond movies. I have been a lifelong James Bond film fan, having seen my first one in the theaters in 1969 and by now have watched movies like Goldfinger over 100 times. I also have a huge 007 film book collection (including a few of the very rare ones). As a new subscriber to your channel, I am thoroughly enjoying the bingeing on your content right now. Regarding this video and while I wholeheartedly agree that the original movies need the very best video and sound implementations on the next generation of home video production to solve all of their historical issues, I wonder if now is also the time to address a lot of the early film's special effects. Similar to the Star Wars Special Editions of the original trilogy where the special effects were enhanced, however unlike the Star Wars SE, not changing parts of the story (e.g. who shot first, etc.) and but also continuing to make the original intact versions available for historical purposes. It would be like Star Trek TOS where the special effects were enhanced, but everything else is the same. They are now an overall better viewing experience for both fans and new viewers to the series. To name just a few, YOLT comes to mind first where a lot of the SPECTRE rocket and space sequences could easily be enhanced and like many other early 007 films' rear projection (DN, FRWL, GF, TB, OHMSS) could be replaced with better and more realistic visuals. By doing this, younger audiences that expect a certain level of quality in special effects will not be as easily turned off by the early films and subsequently lose interest on what is truly great about all of them. The latter 007 movies have diminishing issues with the special effects as the technology became better over time, but there are certain places where some of them could also benefit from a little visual upgrade, where appropriate. All of this would need to be done with great care as to select which segments to enhance and which to not so that the original brilliance of what was created at the time is not negatively impacted (stunts, special effects that still look/work well today, etc.).

[@LordDementus1987]

I'm curious to see if they actually put money and effort into the Connery 4K BD set.

[@ChuckM0503]

Doing collections by actor doesn't make a lot of sense to me. What are they going to do for Lazenby and Dalton? lol I wish it was similar to the ultimate edition dvd sets in the sense that it would be a mix of all the actor's films.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@ChuckM0503 from a marketing and sales standpoint focusing on Connery and Moore first makes the most sense. That’s what happened going all the way back to the VHS era. Personally I think the best method is to do chronological sets so that way you get all the films out and they’re in chronological order. It’s also easier for people to be able to get the specific films they want if you’re not going to do individual releases. There have been a couple actor based repackaging sets over the past 15 years or so that saw a two film Dalton set and hysterically a single film Lazenby set.

[@gotthefeelin]

Really surprised WB might be releasing these as they’ve not handled them since the 80s! I’ve seen EVERY EON produced Bond movie in the cinema in digital 4K. Goldfinger in 2008 and FRWL in 2009, Spy and FYEO in 2017. Then them all including the above again in 2022 (amazing experience). You’re putting down the Lowry scans a bit too far here. It was a huge project and they had a deadline. Granted some titles look much better than others, but they’re a huge step up from what had gone before. The detail especially is a tremendous leap forward. A lot of mistakes from the Ultimate DVDs where also later corrected. Some films I can’t ever see improving in detail unless AI is used. Only certain movies were chosen for the full 4K treatment though, not all were 4K from the negs. Dr. No, FRWL, Goldfinger, Thunderball, YOLT, OHMSS, DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, Moonraker I know where chosen. The non-panavision movies that were 4K scanned by Lowry are easily the best, they’re stunning and the first three movies especially look utterly amazing, LALD was noisier than TMWTGG though even though they were shot on the same film. The quality took a dip once they got to Thunderball, but I think it’s more down to the original negs. Out of all the 4K scanned panavision titles, Moonraker was the best. Some others seem to have missed artefacts when it came to digital removal of dirt and lines appear from top to bottom. OHMSS and Spy look too desaturated in places. For Spy the scan is different from Lowrys and I believe it was done in 2012. You can identify it as it still has the United Artists Transamerica ident at the beginning. FYEO was also scanned in 4K after Lowry for the 2017 release. Once it comes to Octopussy there was a definite change in quality and I believe all 1980s films past FYEO where done by Lowry, but in 2K, but not sure what the processing was. They do look more film-print-like than the best 4K scans though, so have a certain charm to them. The 90s movies look similar, but not sure who did the scans. They look vintage from the 90s (not such a bad thing, took me back to back then). I won’t discuss newer films as they all looked fine, but slightly different from each other. When it comes to sound, it’s a minefield. In the cinema I noticed the surround effects added quite clearly in YOLT and they were BAD. Spy seemed to use an old recording as there was noticeable noise on the theme song, the whole soundtrack had much more dynamic range than what went before as well. It seemed authentic to 1977. Surround native to the original movies only really kicked in for LTK and after for me, nothing stood out before. Disclaimer here though on my opinions: Even though I’m a huge Bond fan when I saw Goldfinger in the cinema in 2008 I was so blown away by the picture I decided to wait and see if the rest of the films played in the cinema, I never saw the Blu-Rays or most of the Ultimate DVDs (only had OHMSS, LTK and TWINE). Long time to abstain! So I’ve not had a chance to go through them with a fine tooth comb. Graham Rye, president at the James Bond 007 Magazine wrote a piece on the mistakes found in the Ultimate editions though, so I do remember the issues raised and I remember an article on Lowrys’ work when they were released. I feel your plea for someone to hear you at Warner, but speaking with some well known Bond people, it will most likely fall on deaf ears as it’s EON who pull the strings and they won’t care what fans have to say.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@gotthefeelin I wish I had been able to see all of the 4K SDR masters as DCPs. They’ve been so sporadic here in the US that I don’t even know if all 20 have been shown. I wish somebody would officially say what scans were done when and by who. That would really help to explain which version is which and what’s made things much more difficult is that they kept the Lowry credits on different versions and sometimes I think it’s on masters that had nothing to do with Lowry. The streaming 4K SDR masters also show marked improvements over the 2006 Lowry Masters and what exists on Blu-ray so I figured they were all completely new work. Everything Lowry did that wasn’t from a new scan was simply working from video masters that MGM gave them. And some of the Blu-rays already reverted to older versions or newer scans. The other thing is the first iteration of the Lowry Masters came out as the region two ultimate edition DVDs, and they had a whole host of issues, especially color timing problems. These were quickly fixed for the later region one releases, but unfortunately not everything was addressed.

[@gotthefeelin]

@ I wrote up my feelings about each movie of my Facebook page and talked about the picture quality. I checked all the Blu-Rays to see which ones had what Lowry credits at the end of the movies, and in the cinema many where removed. I’d have to get back to those write-ups (think I also have notes somewhere) and see what still had Lowry credits. At the time I just assumed it was a mistake, but could be they were new masters. FRWL and Goldfinger didn’t look any different to me from 2008/9 though. I’d love to know your thoughts if you ever do see these in the cinema, as I honestly can’t see picture scans being redone for at least Dr. No, FRWL, Goldfinger, LALD, TMWTGG, Moonraker and FYEO. In terms of detail it would be diminishing returns. Can’t quite remember what DAF was like, but didn’t notice anything untoward (SE DVDs had obvious dirt in places).

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ they certainly need to be redone as those masters were severely processed and are not representative of what would be on the original negative. I have unfortunately seen the Lowry remasters when they were printed as brand new 35mm prints and that just magnified every problem on a grand scale. The only difference was that you had some things covered up a little bit because it had been printed to film, but everything else was just magnified being blown up to a theater screen.

[@chrisr5975]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Is it me obviously having limited knowledge but when i first saw thunderball the image seems far worse than the others as if someone had projected the image then filmed that image of the screen akin to a 2nd or third generation reminded me of watching star trek the next generation before they found all the original 35mm film and reassembled it as it was edited and put out originally in video quality . When you look at a restoration such as ben hur which cost 1 million dollars the results are spectacular .my only concern with time is will the demand for the older films still be there . My great uncle was an extra working on 200 films he played snaggle tooth in the original star wars as well as working with stanley kubrick who he said was a very intelligent man . When i watch what lucas has done with all the tweaks over the years i feel we are now stuck with the changes maybe will be the same with bond.

[@MosesWine]

I really hope Warners reaches out to you. Proper presentations of these films is complicated given all the iterations over the years. And while I have no doubt the folks at Warners are working hard and are well intentioned, they could certainly benefit from someone who knows the films as well as you do, even if you're just a "fan". Fact is, super fans like yourself know these films more than anyone and could be real asset to the home video team. Best of luck!

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@MosesWine I eat, drink and sleep this subject which hopefully would be of some assistance to anyone working on mastering the series. You’re right that most people are very well intentioned but are usually without extreme and specific knowledge on particular subjects.

[@youknowmyname5695]

1:28 Very true. Now most older movies that get remixed get worse. As a sound guy, I don't get it. Why is it so difficult to get the sound right? The main problem they have is super high dynamic range.

[@Spider-Man1408]

@youknowmyname5695 None of the studios can do anything right!! Nor do they care to.

[@joes9954]

@@Spider-Man1408 it’s shocking because all you have to look at is Criterion and Arrow. They know how to do it right and willing to put the time in. If the studios don’t want to do it, farm the work out to boutique labels. Shout did a great job with JFK as did arrow with House. If these sort of titles can get the sweetheart treatment, the Bond movies should be a no- brainer. Criterion had Bond in the LD era. Give them a chance now.

[@stujoker]

I admire your passion and work on this franchise and hopefully Warner will listen

[@FVD]

Arrow Films really should head a new Bond project! I really dig what they did with the Bruce Lee films last year (with the exception of Enter the Dragon though they didn't have exclusive rights to that film). I wonder if there are fan editors out there currently working on a restoration of the series like Team Negative1 did with the Star Wars Original Trilogy (4K77/4K80/4K83)...

[@StefanHomberger]

Very informative! Well done. Gets at why I never preorder 4k releases in general. I always wait until all the info. about the release is out, along with reviews, and I honestly end up skipping the 4k most of the time.

[@hdmoviesource]

Great video. I'm surprised you didn't come out singing for this one, LOL Oh, Warner Bros, what have you done? Your transfers for Bond, they’re not the one! Grain’s all crushed, the colors are wrong, The charm of 4K? You’re stringing us along! Haha...

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@hdmoviesource I hope I don’t have to get to that point if they do eventually make releases and they don’t turn out well…😂

[@cableroyson9992]

Yes I’ve been waiting for this video and I hope the powers that be see this.. here’s hoping they do it correctly and get you on the team if possible.

[@anthonycondon5303]

Warner's should release The Devils uncut..they never will, hate Warners

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@anthonycondon5303 they definitely have to at some point. The moratorium that someone at Warner has imposed for all these years is just ludicrous. Especially since they will very rarely allow for a perfectly preserved scope print to be sent to theaters for repertory screenings. I saw one of those a number of years ago and it underlined how ridiculous this scenario is.

[@anthonycondon5303]

@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Mark Kermode organised a screening of the full version back in 2011 and Criterion were all ready for a release but Warner's pulled the plug and it's been in prison ever since.. BFI were going to release blu ray of the "compromised' directors cut but Warner said no, only the DVD ... that's why I know that it's personal hatred for the film on their part as they'd make a fortune if they released The Devils uncut on blu

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ i’ve been tempted to get that pal DVD myself but it’s ridiculous that we’re in this situation. Warner has the elements and they have absolutely perfect scope prints that they’ll loan out.

[@CHEERSMEOW]

Did you know that ever since 2006 Licence To Kill yes it is spelled that way in the movie, has been the R-rated cut of the movie and not the pg-13 version. There are quite a few differences and it's awesome. There are videos about it too showing whats different and i even compared my own versions to each other. Love that movie and best bond song and beginning is The Living Daylights but Sean Connery will always be the Best Bond. 😺🎥

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@CHEERSMEOW yes it was certainly something in 2006 to finally get the uncut version in its original aspect ratio. Before that, the only versions were pan and scanned various international video releases.

[@_wave___]

these are the type of videos i love. this is why i follow the channel. you always care about preserving the moving art first and above all else. another great video sir! Warner bring this man on to help please 🙏

[@LordDementus1987]

Well if we're paying good money for these, they should preserve the original instead of changing things a bunch. It reminds me alot of Star Wars. If they want to put out edited versions, fine; but they shouldn't crap on fans who want the originals.

[@onkelfabs6408]

I mean, I can't play 4k Blurays and I don't even have a better than 720p TV, but even I can see a great remaster if I get my hands on one. And we need quality remasters. I might add that I have a 4k computer monitor though.

[@FatherJoe--NLO]

If Warners doesn't hire you after this magnificent video, there's no hope for them. Fantastic job. You've got my vote!

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@FatherJoe--NLO Thank you!!

[@GenX_in_the_wild]

I saw the 4k moonraker version and that one looked phantastic..No disc release, but digital release.

[@444chroma]

I hope the right person will see this and hire you to assist with QC. It would easily be worth it I know you would leave no stone unturned

[@unclesporkums]

Man, my head was practically exploding from all that info. It's a shame that companies are so lazy that these cinematic masterpieces don't get the treatment they so richly deserve. It's getting so that there'll have to be the equivalent of "Mild Mannered Edition" edits for each of these.

[@eddylex4921]

Very informative look at the differences and releases of each film. Excellent 👍 No body does it better, better than all the rest.

[@LordDementus1987]

Spencer, OHMSS is my favorite Bond film and unfortunately I have just never liked the UE DVD, BD or digital 4K. I have kept my SE DVD all these years and that one has the most accurate colors to me, and I like the mono mix on that one. They brought back the mono for the BD.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@LordDementus1987 The SE DVDs are still nice to look at but do suffer from boosted color levels in some films as they are from the 1995 THX mastered revamps of the sources first used on the letterboxed LDs. Plus the SE DVD has some missing dialog. The BD has boosted contrast but otherwise is solid with some color quibbles except that the mono track there is ridiculously overprocessed. The best hands off transfer and first uncut one is the MGMUA letterboxed laserdisc. There you have solid color without the boosting of the later versions, a complete uncut presentation and the best quality of the mono mix BY FAR.

[@LordDementus1987]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Fair points. It's too bad MGM never licensed these out to a boutique like Kino Lorber when they had a deal with them. It seems like if they got Criterion or someone to do them, they would hunt down the original sources and do them right. I'd probably not buy them all in a big, expensive box set; but would likely rebuy my favorites.

[@davidosborn6714]

Obviously the optimal scenario would be for Warners to turn over all audio and film elements over to George Feltenstein and his team of miracle workers at the Archive Division (which means of course it will never happen). Failing that, If they are smart the Powers That Be will take advantage of your expertise and will be contacting you immediately (see previous sentence). Unfortunately they'll probably end up blowing it like always...

[@unconditionalprong]

I will give credit where it's due with the audio. Warner has improved on getting original audio on releases such as Blazing Saddles, the Rocky movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, and even The Terminator. They aren't Paramount on that front like they were even a few years ago.

[@andrewbrown3070]

I'm not saying that in the future, it will have a direct corelation, but I plan on supporting the Warner Archive release of John Wayne's the Seachers. If enough people support the good work they do, perhaps that will open some eyes on other releases. Just my hope. I have the Bond 50 bluray set.

[@juliusmaloney]

I don’t know how to break this to fans of any of the WB archive, while David Zaslav is CEO (where he is selling off their library of properties at cents on the dollar) you aren’t going to see any investment like this into anything archival. Perhaps as has been hinted WB/ Discovery is being skinned for sell off with Universal being touted as the prospective purchaser, I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything of any merit being invested into the 4K upscale of anything. 😔

[@pferreira1983]

I wonder if Warner has got anyone like John Cork behind the new releases? Certainly it's not just the movies that need a picture upgrade, the extras are stuck in dated SD and need some remastering. Also, do you know whether the negatives for cartoon series James Bond Jr survive? The series is impossible to get on any format and it should get a remaster as well.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@pferreira1983 one would hope that he and other experts would be consulted. The legacy extras do need to be properly transferred, but I think they were shot and finished on video. At the very least they need to be re-transferred in properly encoded so they look as good as possible with the age limitations in mind. I’m not a fan of attempts to try and modernize them with upscaling and re-cutting them with new footage. James Bond Junior is an odd thing to discuss as EON tries to pretend it doesn’t exist. I don’t know how it was made or finished but at the very least there should be a complete series DVD release made from the best existing video master. And it would be nice to be able to get all of the extremely rare tie in books plus comics.

[@pferreira1983]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader "At the very least they need to be re-transferred in properly encoded so they look as good as possible with the age limitations in mind." That's what I think should be done definitely. "I don’t know how it was made or finished" I am also puzzled why Eon are so embarrassed by the cartoon series. Like most 80's and 90's cartoons it was broadcast via video masters. It's possible the film negatives survive however the cartoon series was done through Fred Wolf and like TMNT it's possible the negatives might not exist. If the negatives for James Bond Jr don't exist they should definitely do a remaster via AI upcaling. Same goes for TMNT.

[@austinwillcut4919]

I definitely want to get your thoughts on The Terminator and Nightmare on Elm Street 4Ks in a future video.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@austinwillcut4919 i’m working on the Terminator right now, which is a whole new can of worms.

[@erictal19]

Which are the best updated BluRays in your opinion?

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@erictal19 In terms of Bond its Spy. That’s the only one that doesn’t have a gigantic issue and is from a newer scan. It’s not perfect and needs both original audio tracks restored but that’s the one that fares best.

[@ALBHOY66]

Hi , how much do you think a 4k box set like this will cost , and do you think we will get individual releases ? The first release of From Russia with love i owned here in the UK was a warner vhs , when we meet Tatiana for the first time in the film she leaves the embassy with 2 women and then asks a policeman for directions , on my vhs all this dialogue had onscreen english subtitles , no home media since has had the onscreen subtitles , any thoughts ? I've posted a link to your video on James Bond 007 MI6 forum blu ray / 4k thread

[@LeonardoJJardim]

I'd love to see in the WB 4K: Gone with the Wind (1939) The Big Sleep (1946) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Quo Vadis (1951) Ben-Hur (1959) Doctor Zhivago (1965) Barry Lyndon (1975) Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@LeonardoJJardim those are all very likely to be in the pipeline in the next couple of years. The bigger titles are confirmed to be in some sort of status for future release but are merely awaiting the budget to get approved. That’s why GWTW hasn’t been done yet. It’s on their radar, but it’s a very big project that has to get greenlit in terms of intensive restoration.

[@matheus5230]

​​@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderI think that some of those titles are getting released by Criterion and/or WAC instead of the studio label. WAC handling them definitely wouldn't be a bad thing.

[@matthewgaudet4064]

I want the Connery films in 4K, I've waited long enough. Though I want all of them except Daniel Craig.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@matthewgaudet4064 i’ve been waiting since we heard the first inklings of 4K DCP screenings between 2012 and 2014.

[@TokuAndAnimationNewsNetwork]

I'd rather have all of Craig than Roger Moore.

[@jordanmartel2937]

My favorite bond film is you only live twice. How has that one fared in terms of transfers over the years?

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@jordanmartel2937 Thankfully Freddie Young’s gorgeous photography has translated pretty well, but the film has had a number of transfer issues over the years. The old releases were unfortunately pan and scanned and not the greatest transfers. The initial letterbox release was very solid for the time, but the audio was a bit filtered. When they did the THX remasters in the mid 90s that resulted in the new VHS and eventually the letterbox special edition DVD. That DVD still has the best version of the original mono mix, but unfortunately that master had severe color boosting resulting in a real prevalence of reds oranges and yellows which isn’t accurate to the original color timing. The Lowry digital master for the ultimate edition DVD was reportedly a new scan of the original negative so the perceived detail was a lot higher. But in their color timing, they seem to have desaturated and gone for a more somber appearance, which doesn’t really suit the film either. The Blu-ray update is an improvement, but I still don’t think the color timing is quite right and that disc also suffers some from the elevated brightness and contrast issues of some of the Blu-rays. The original mono option on the North American 2006 DVD and Blu-ray is OK but not nearly as good as the special edition DVD mono. In terms of overall video transfer appearance personally I’m most happy with the old 1989 letterbox Laserdisc video master. Outside of format limitations, and when viewed on a good CRT, it looks remarkably good for the time.

[@jasonwhiton174]

Agreed! I struggled with the sound mixes especially and I hope they get it all right. Thunderball stands out for me as one of the harshest -the pumped up sound fx are an assault.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@jasonwhiton174 thankfully the Blu-ray of Thunderball reverted to a new mastering of the 1995 MGM stereo remix that used the 1965 mix B mono as its base source. But the way they mixed John Barry score in full stereo it overwhelms a lot of the original mono stems. Plus, the mastering on the Blu-ray is a bit louder and EQd differently not to mention it has the gun barrel error. The worst offender was the Mi Casa Studios 5.1 remix on the ultimate edition DVD. That one was a completely revisionist mix and was thrown out for the Blu-ray because it had the wrong music in one scene. Somehow they got an alternate music cue so that makes that particular track important just to have that wrong piece of music.

[@ShaneC2788]

Arrow would be a dream

[@davidbrown1532]

Amazing work. Thank you for your attention to detail. Will never understand how the greatest film series in history has such a sordid transfer history. Have you seen and heard the Kaleidescape versions? You can select Mono on all, but I do not know if they represent anything special. These films do look quite good. All original aspect ratios and look as good as I have seen. I assume they are the newer digital masters and in SDR. Not perfect, but the best I have until full scale restorations are done. Thank you for your hard work. Cheers!

[@CmputrBlu]

Hmm. Didn't now WB had anything to do with the James Bond films releases on home video. Was The Right Stuff on that list. There's a movie that WB needs to release on 4K before anything else IMHO

[@joes9954]

There is SO much they could do if someone had the will and the studio was willing to spend the money. Some would be easy such as the original sound mixes, others would take work, such as finding the missing frames from the end of From Russia With Love. ( I've heard mixed stories that they do or do not still exist.) There was a similar odd jump cut in The Living Daylights as well. I have a sunking feeling a lot of the work is well under way, especially if they are resuing existing elements. If MGM was smart, they would hire you to lead the project.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@joes9954 I have dreamed my whole life of searching archives to find all the lost Bond elements. From the FRWL credits to Thunderball credits and cut scenes to now all the alternate sound mixes.

[@phydicollscormain]

Instead of Warner Bros. encodes the entire Bond movies (aside for the Craig era ones), I rather have Arrow Video (by Fidelity in Motion encoding) do the releases by themselves. Rescaning without Lowry nor AI upscaling/DNR is very demanding and really worthy for most of the Bond movies for the long history of butchered "restorations". Also for Brosnan era, they need to place the untampered (no EQ adjustments), unfiltered (NEVER place noise reduction) and far fielded theatrical mixes of the films (like it's theatrical screenings); especially for GoldenEye (reduced bass), Tomorrow Never Dies (near-fielded) and the rest of two (TWINE and DAD remains stuck on LD Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES CD-ROM for the former; DTS-ES on the Cinema CD-ROM or the butchered DVD release on the latter).

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@phydicollscormain absolutely agreed. Especially on ensuring that the untouched versions of the Brosnan era audio mixes get preserved. I’m amazed the Blu-ray sound as good as they do, but they’re never quite as good as what we’ve had on media releases before. Plus I really want to get both theatrical mixes of Goldeneye restored to get that heavy bass Dolby mix available again.

[@sayitwithhellhounds]

Is there any Bonf equivalent to Star Wars 4k77?

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ Some fan projects are floating around but there’s nothing comprehensive like 4K77.

[@sayitwithhellhounds]

​@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader thanks for the info!

[@1165mac]

Arrow or Indicator would certainly do these films justice. One day perhaps…

[@MosesWine]

As an aside, I must say that I am one of those weirdos that has a soft spot for Never Say Never Again. I had the VHS as a kid and ran that tape ragged. Although Octopussy is generally considered the better film, I actually think Connery gives the better performance between the two Bond films that year. He seems to be having fun with the character again, unlike Diamonds are Forever which looks more like a paycheck performance. I would buy a 4k or even remastered blu with some extras in a heartbeat.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@MosesWine there’s definitely a market and NSNA needs a new scan badly. I still think Octopussy is the better film but enjoy NSNA for what it is. Connery does seem more engaged than he had in a while in regards to finding a new element to play in the role. I hate that EON has quietly let both unofficial films go out of print as if to make people forget them. That’s why I made sure to mention them needing the same restoration help.

[@mattneilson1824]

“Your brother is dead. Keep dancing.” That line cracks me up every time. :D

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ EVERY TIME!! It’s the delivery and staging in particular that cracks me up. I think I even mentioned that in the audio commentary I made because I couldn’t help it.

[@1165mac]

I can only imagine what will happen if Warner “effs” this up. Coming to a theater near you… 007: The Wrath of Spencer

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@1165mac oh boy… I’ve been thinking about that. If it ever came to pass, and that was the end result… All of the frustration I’ve expressed in reviews before combined, would not even begin to equal my wrath.😂

[@tyjuarez]

just saying, you and williarob would be a powerful duo to lead a team of restorationists for the 007 films.

[@matheus5230]

It is possible to do a good HDR grade of an SDR master, but that requires great care. That's not what happens in most cases, such as in the Capelight UHDs. Still, brand new masters should be used, and Warner at least has a history of redoing 4K masters. For Wizard of Oz, Casablanca and Singin' In The Rain, they did new scans and restorations for UHD even though the blu-rays were from 4K restorations.

[@Chrisratata]

What's the process for SDR to HDR look like? As I understand, the former is 8-bit data while the latter is 12-bit...so making such an upconversion, you have no choice but to essentially interpolate and extrapolate the missing data. This is of course possible, but ultimately it'd just be a guess as to what the original source would've been had it been HDR from the start. Even if the SDR to HDR turns out to look great, it still runs the risk of being revisionist as a result of the tinkering needed to add data on top of the 8-bit source. Seems like the great care needed could be avoided by just doing a rescan. Thi has been on my mind lately since BFI's HDR/DV encoding of Seven Samurai apparently came from an SDR master. How can they pull out detail that isn't present in the provided 8-bit master? In situations like this, I presume that the whole reason the SDR master exists is because the only film elements avaiable are high-generation dupes whose dynamic range is too shallow to get much benefit from HDR (from a cost-benefit analysis standpoint).

[@matheus5230]

​@@ChrisratataThere is such a thing as SDR with 10-bit depth or more. Every SDR UHD is like that. Though SDR video is generally downgraded to 8-bit for consumers, that's not the case for the masters. The fact that you are treating SDR and bit-depth as almost the same thing shows that you really don't understand what HDR truly is.

[@Chrisratata]

@@matheus5230 that's why I was asking questions. That said, would you provide a source that talks about SDR being 10-bit or more? Literally everything I've read speaks of SDR having 8-bit bitdepth but I'd be happy to read up on what the exceptions are and why... I'm aware of the fact that there's more to SDR and HDR than just their bitdepth. In either case, I still wish we could know what BFI's specific set of source material and end-to-end process was for Seven Samurai.

[@matheus5230]

​@@ChrisratataI assure you that all these studio masters, whether they are SDR or HDR, are not only 8-bit. I think they are 12-bit at least, if not 16-bit. Any SDR UHD will be 10-bit. There's no such thing as an 8-bit 4K blu-ray. If you have any SDR UHD, it is 10-bit. HDR UHDs will be 10-bit or 12-bit.

[@Chrisratata]

@matheus5230 i was able to pop in The Others and Godzilla 4K SDR discs and confirm that those two titles at least are indeed 10-bit. That said, given the fact that you're convincing me that bitdepth is not inherently tied to SDR (neither technically nor by any official standard), it seems like a bold statement to say that "there's no such thing" as an 8-bit 4K bluray. Not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious what the source of this definitiveness is. For better or worse, if bitdepth isn't inherent to SDR then it doesn't seem out of the question that a label may choose the inferior bitdepth, even if it's an unwise choice. Case in point, people hate Criterion's tendency to release some of their 4Ks with SDR period - 4K and HDR tend to go hand in hand hence people expect it but the pairing isn't a promise. The Others, for instance, looks great in 4K SDR - its gothic aesthetic benefits from not being too punchy and there's the right amount of shadow detail imo - it being authored in 10-bit helps explain why it feels so organic. As for the masters, I have no way of confirming. I wish there was 100% transparency as to what specifically each label has done for each disc. What they tend to do, most likely do, and should do make for interesting discussion but it's no guarantee of the choices they've made. It's not unheard of for some of them to cut corners to save money or space or time, or in weighing the tradeoffs for what shape the available film elements are in. Again, I'm not saying you're wrong - just saying that without the hard data, much of it feels like conjecture to me. EDIT: more source material (articles, white papers, writeups from the labels, etc would be much appreciated) since I'm all for getting a deeper understanding.

[@JonathanRL98]

Why didn't you ever roast the Craig 4k collection? Those discs have an average bitrate of like 10mbps😂 Do you dislike those movies? Great video by the way.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@JonathanRL98 Thanks! I know all about how the Craig films are kind of a hot mess of different transfer approaches and eras of video masters. Personally I really don’t like them so that’s why I haven’t covered them. The other thing that makes it difficult is that a lot of them were only finished to a certain quality of digital intermediate so any 4K master is only going to be an upscale or having to upscale effects shots.

[@sgtpepper1138]

I hope Lethal Weapon has the directors cuts and commentaries. Oh, and they needed to have the Mel Gibson's Unauthorized Home Video Diaries to truly be complete. I know I won't get all that, but I can dream.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@sgtpepper1138 The problem is unfortunately the directors cuts of of 1-3 were merely home video editions that Donner didn’t agree with. The additions in two and three were small, but all of them were scenes that I miss. The crucial one is the extended version of the first film, which has some of my favorite scenes in the entire series. I truly hope those versions are restored as alternate options. I also hope the deleted footage we finally got on the Blu-ray set gets restored as well as there are some crucial scenes for the first film that are so good It’s baffling why they were removed in the first place. Plus, there’s still footage that is locked to the old making of documentary in standard definition that needs to be sourced and re-transferred.

[@loftlegacy]

The Lowry scans were ahead of their time, but that was some time ago. There is a really dated documentary about how many hard drives were needed that makes me smile. The Blu-Rays are as old as the hills and I think it's time, especially since there is demand for them on UHD Blu Ray. There is some hope in that the versions released at the cinema in 2022 were very much different than the "UHD" streams on Amazon. The biggest different was for OHMSS and in the pre-title sequence each grain of sand at the cinema shone like jewel. Something totally missing on the UHD and the "leaked" WB UHD files that my friend showed me. The Jonny Jordan aerial photography was jaw droppingly good. Another screening that looked 100% better was The Man With the Golden Gun. It looked like a totally different film at the cinema in 2022 and was gorgeous on the big screen. WB have done such a good job with some of their legacy releases on 4K of late, so here's hoping.

[@gotthefeelin]

@@loftlegacy Do you think some newer scans where done for the 2022 release aside from the ones done for Spy and FYEO for Park Circus in 2017? I saw them all and only certain films had Lowry credits at the end (less than the Blu-Rays) which I found strange, I wrote pieces on every movie on Facebook about the picture quality and what ones contained Lowry credits, so I’d have to look back. I have to say I’m very surprised at the bashing of the scans in this video. Dr. No, FRWL, Goldfinger, TMWTGG, Moonraker and FYEO all looked utterly wonderful in the cinema on a huge screen. Clear as a bell. The only negative was on Goldfinger, there was an artefact (red blotch) on Connery’s lips when he’s in Goldfinger’s plane! But could easily be removed. I wonder if our Bond fan here has only seen different scans. Other panavision movies, Thunderball and YOLT looked tired and out of focus on places, but if they got the same scan as Moonraker, then it’s down to the original negatives, or lack there of. I do know inter-positives where also used when negs where in bad shape, so there’s nothing than can be done in those cases. When it comes to sound, they really need to go back to their original scores. No new surround sound. It’s as bad as colourizing B&W movies. When it comes to colour timing, it’s really down to the grader and what has been approved. OHMSS and Spy both looked too desaturated in places. Poor Bernard Lee looking ill in OHMSS.

[@loftlegacy]

@ I saw TMWTGG through to LTK, plus OHMSS most at Sony certified 4K cinema but Moonraker & TLD at an Odeon. The pictures at Vue were brilliant and vibrant, whilst the Odeon screenings looked a bit washed out. Here’s hoping for some new scans.

[@savageseagaleastwoodwillis3]

I wish Warner would release the Pierce Brosnan collection on 4K

[@patwaters-actormoviereviewer]

If this becomes a reality, I am a bit worried that they might update a lot the sound effects (Cars, Guns, and Explosions) to work with Dolby Atmos speakers.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@patwaters-actormoviereviewer hopefully not!!!!

[@ScaredStraightProductions]

Batman 89 (throws up)

[@kurb1980]

Maybe it could be good thing? If warners release it on their warners archive collection. I saw they are finally getting into 4k now did you see the first warners archive 4k uhd release of the searchers is coming in December! There is a hope 🤞

[@SwatDBOverlord]

What about the Japanese LD Stereo Mix of "Licence to Kill" (1989)? The UE DVD/2009 Stereo Mix uses the PG-13 mix (especially during Sanchez's death) The 5.1 mix is a Hybrid mix between the PG-13 and Uncut Mixes (during Dario's death), if you pay attention to Bouvier rushing to look at being grinded. Ergo, the JP LD [NJL-35137] has no PAL speedup (like the Dutch LD) and is the correct mix, compared to MiCasa or MGM's treatment of the soundtrack when it came to re-inserting the BBFC/MPAA cuts.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@SwatDBOverlord Licence to kill was an issue for many years because you could only get it uncut in certain territories and then not in widescreen. The 2006 master which was ported to the Blu-ray was the first time we got the uncut version in all major territories. I think they used a version of MGM’s 5.1 remix from the DVD era which itself is missing some sound effects and has not so good EQ. What they seem to have done is patch in the restored footage audio and then tried to blend the two. I think the Fidelity difference is quite striking when you compare it to the direct PCM audio of the US letterbox laser disc releases with the PG-13 cut. Those replicate the original Dolby stereo SR and sound far better than the 5.1 up mix. I did manage to finally get a hold of the uncut Japanese LD but unfortunately, it’s in pan and scan. I would like to see if I can cobble together a hybrid track of the laser disc releases audio.

[@SwatDBOverlord]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Copy that.

[@peterbruin5154]

How can such an iconic series with so much money behind it get such scant treatment on home video? Baffles me.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@peterbruin5154 you’d think there’d be something definitive by this point or at the very least proper element handling but sadly there isn’t. Basically every major release going back to 1982 has some type of issue that’s never been ironed out fully.

[@tompennock6369]

If the Sean Connery set comes out in 4K in June 2025 I bet they will just put out the Lowry versions. I doubt if they would spring to re-do them all over again. The general public is happy with the 4K streaming versions now. They are not purists like we are.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@tompennock6369 I certainly hope it doesn’t turn out that way, but it would be the most likely result unfortunately.

[@jaked214]

How do we get someone at Warners to see this? Should we be emailing someone?

[@FranzSanchez-ky9up]

I saw this video and immediately gave it a thumbs up, before even watching it. You know your stuff for sure. This Connery set has to work/payoff, so that we can get the other films (which I think most of us Bond fans want), but they really need to treat the films and the audience with respect. I liked the Lowry masters alot at first, but I've became more aware of what makes a good, proper film transfer over the years and I don't think they hold up... though their Goldeneye transfer was always a blatant eyesore ; the film wasn't even that old at the time! To be honest, I do appreciate that Warner seem to be releasing the films piece by piece, as a full 4K box set would have been way too expensive for me and probably a lot of other people, though I still think they missed a trick not releasing them in late 2022, after the U.K 60th anniversary theatrical re-releases had come to an end, but MGM & EON weren't quite finished with the Amazon deal at that point, so maybe it was out of the question.

[@nicholassheffo5723]

No confirmation on any TWICE 70mm blow-up, but ROYALE 67, MOONRAKER, OCTOPUSSY (4.1) and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (4.1) apparently did. If they issue the classic bonds with Dolby Vision, they might also try Dolby Atmos and/or DTS: X, but should include all previous theatrical mono, stereo or surround tracks with that. All the Bonds to DIAMONDS are originally three-strip dye transfer Technicolor and should get at least 6K master scans, though LIVE & LET DIE to the end of Brosnan should get the highest level treatment too. EON, Bezos and Warner has the money, so they should go all out. Maybe they ought to call Robert Harris in. Seems a few changes were made on those Blu-ray version after they issued them in the U.K., but only a few changes. Thank you for this excellent, important video!

[@msvideos24]

What's the best moonraker version?

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@msvideos24 I personally hate the look of the Lowry remaster so you’d have to go back to pre-2006 releases for that. In terms of audio, I prefer the original pro logic encoded matrix stereo PCM tracks of the original letterbox laser disc release, which doesn’t seem to have had any processing work done to it. The THX remaster done in the mid 90s then released on VHS, laser disc and eventually the special edition DVD has a very good rendering of the same mix in both matrix stereo and discrete 5.1. but I think it’s been processed a little bit versus how it turned up on the first laser disc. Moonraker was the first official Dolby stereo film in the series, but it’s also possible the premiere engagements were in 70 mm as a blowup, but that’s unconfirmed.

[@edbarnard4902]

I was fortunate to view a nearly pristine 1979 35mm print of Moonraker at the downtown Alamo Draft House Theater in Austin, TX in the summer of 2015. It put the Lawry version to shame.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ Wow that’s incredible! I didn’t know any original prints were circulating and most if not all Moonraker materials I’ve seen have extreme fading problems due to the nature of the film stock and it pre-dating LPP safety film.

[@samreid9106]

There has to be some way someone out there can get someone in charge of restoration at Warner to see this video. At the very least they can get the mono sources from you

[@ryanmcgivern1164]

Ideally these films would do best being released by Arrow video or dare I say Criterion. I know Arrow have released Warner owned titles in the past so hopefully have the tiniest hope the Bond films will get good treatment.

[@sebastianfitzptraick7395]

Criterion would be absolutely mega.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@ryanmcgivern1164 I don’t see EON or MGM/Amazon not to mention Warner licensing out the Bond films to a boutique label, but one can certainly hold out hope. That would be how we’d see more intensive research and workflows being done in comparison to the standard studio methodology for most titles. I would personally hope for arrow being selected as they can do all of the technical work themselves and would be receptive to all the research I’ve done over the years.

[@declangoodhall6652]

Why didn’t they give the Connery titles to Criterion again?

[@Formal_Andy]

Really want this to be the definitive way to watch the Bond films forever. They need to get it right. Doubt it'll do much, but contacted WB through social media and email to look at ya.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@Formal_Andy Thank you!! I just hope I can get somebody in charge more aware of how badly the series needs a proper overhaul. I don’t expect much, but this is my most desired and dreamed of restoration period.

[@Formal_Andy]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Welcome dude! Hoping for the best!

[@Morecheeeeese]

Diamonds Are Forever VHS looking good up there on your shelf 👍🙌 In this context those video releases weren't so bad by comparisson, especially the sound

[@joannab5837]

I was recently considering adding some Bond films to my collection but rather than buy the whole series, I would essentially pick one from each actor that has played the character. My choice was 1. Sean Connery's, From Russia With Love 2. George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3. Roger Moore's, The Spy Who Loved Me 4. Timothy Dalton's, Licence To Kill 5. Pierce Brosnan's Goldeneye and 6. Daniel Craig's, Skyfall. Having seen your video though I'm now unsure whether I should get these titles yet or should I leave it until better version's are released?

[@tonycanabal1659]

How did WB get the rights to the CONNERY bond films from MGM/UA? Was it a result of Amazon's acquisition of MGM?

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@tonycanabal1659 Warner is currently distributing the MGM library, which is how they just put out The Terminator UHD for example. I thought there would be some more red tape due to the Amazon buyout but if anyone is going to release the Bond films, it would be Warner at present.

[@emyserozzi8088]

4K SDR as the source? No, thanks. Think I will only grab Goldeneye in 4K SDR (as it had a terrible Blu-Ray to begin with) and stick to my Blu-Ray collection for the other movies. Enough of these "lazy" restorations or AI uspscales.

[@dvdmike007]

Co-signed

[@alterdres]

I hope that Bond movies wil be released as 2 Disc Bluray and 3 Disc 4K (and or mabey 2 Disc 4K without updated Bluray) . So that you get a simalar as Matrix Trilogy did for each movie but then also a separate 2 Disc Bluray and new extra's. 4K disc and Bluray for the movie + Audiocommentary / Videocommentary tracks, trailers and bonus Bluray with earlier other extra's and new ones. I whant so much subtitels as possible on Audiocommentary / Videocomnentary tracks too. Some exist but not released extra's there can at random movie, i think for example that should at Everything or Nothing on QOS Bluray with the movie. And some space of QOS Bonus Bluray can also have new extra's about Casino Royale if after moving the extra's from already exist Casino Royale 2008 bonus disc (and avaible on Disc 2&3 of 3discdvd ) to the new bonus disc and there is stil not enoug space after there at 200 minute feature James Bond Casino.

[@Tomhyde098]

Unfortunately I don’t think that will happen, WB seems to ship out releases with the singular 4K disc now. Even Se7en is getting released in January with fancy packaging but no accompanying Blu-ray Disc. They even shadow drop new Blu-Ray remasters without fanfare, the first Twister got a brand new remaster but you have to get the version from Walmart with the Iconic Moments slipcover. WB is totally bizarre with how they release things

[@kennyguyette]

please don’t use bd j java discs that don’t have resume playback on discs WB… i f***** hate it when 4kBD and BD discs reboot every time u stop a movie 🎥 like paramount forces on us to rewatch rebooted disc menus…again resume playback resume playback it’s not hard..even dvd 📀 has resumed playback

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@kennyguyette I also find discs without auto resume extremely frustrating.

[@kennyguyette]

@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader thank you 🙏🙏.. quoting Dr Smith "the pain, the pain" seriously though 🤣

[@jivebunny3765]

It would cost Warner hundreds of millions $ to rescan and effectively "redo" the Bond movies from the ground up in 4K, which is what you seem to be suggesting. The return from retail sales would be negligible. Is the original film stock even in good enough condition? I'm immediately drawn to the short piece of footage in the "Q" shed in Tanaka's Ninja school which looks like it was from a 1980 VHS, and this is on the Blu-ray. I don't know if the original cinema release was like or if the original master was damaged, alternate footage used or what, but we all know which scene I'm talking about. It's on the original DVD release as well.

[@gotthefeelin]

@@jivebunny3765 I watched YOLT in the cinema in 2022 as part of the 60th anniversary, and it was easily the worst transfer I saw, but it was reported Lowry had to use inter-positives for certain scenes as the negs were in such bad condition. The titles looked particularly poor. Some of it was down to the original filming as quite a few shots are out of focus, nothing can be done there. I personally can’t see all the 4K scans being redone at any point. Films that never got 4K scans, then sure.

[@ReachForTheSkyVideo]

I hope Warner restores Dolly's braces in Moonraker 😂

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@ReachForTheSkyVideo ha ha! My theory for years has been that we all thought that from watching the film on VHS via CRTs for years. The screen grille effect of old CRT’s combined with the low resolution of VHS and aliasing on any sort of lines would contribute to it looking like she had braces on her teeth.

[@ReachForTheSkyVideo]

That's a good theory - but I have slightly older friends who saw it theatrically who swear she had braces on the original release prints. Of all the Mandela Effects I've heard, this is by far the weirdest one.

[@RobertK1993]

8K scans native 4K Ultra HD Blu ray discs Dolby Vision+Atmos on all 25 Films.😮

[@grimreaper4104]

I’m curious if they’ll also do “on her majesty’s secret service” seeing as that was done between Connery’s last 2 films.

[@hiair]

I bet every single disc will start with an unskippable 1 minute disclaimer for "the modern audience" apologizing for what they are about to be seen, explaining them that the movies were made on different times because "nobody can tell unless you tell them". Thought I really despise those disclaimers I prefer to have those instead of having the movies censored or changed. They will make changes in color timing/grading too, to make them more "modern"; which means that everything has to be teal and orange with heavy DNR on top. Something tells me that no matter what they promise, because of the people who owns the Bond IP and everything they have said about the franchise since the last movie, we will get all of that things I mentioned and some equally unpleasant surprises. To them I say, let the past be itself or let it be brought back by someone else, someone who respects it!

[@matheus5230]

I disagree with the idea that Warner's encodes are never very good. A Clockwork Orange, Citizen Kane and Casablanca immeditely come to mind as having flawless encodes.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@matheus5230 they can have very good encodes, but I’ve not seen one of theirs that was anything I’d consider truly excellent.

[@matheus5230]

​@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderI consider those three I mentioned to be excellent, especially A Clockwork Orange.

[@Michael64425]

I have the Blu-ray box of Bond 50 released here in the UK.While not exactly fantastic I don’t really have too much of a problem with them as paid around 40 dollars for the box.Yes there are inconsistencies from film to film and could do with a big remastered version of all but hey ho it’s just James Bond 😅

[@byronlaw6491]

I hope they let you help them. I can’t stand Warner UHD releases due to the fact I’ve had at least 20 discs of theirs break on me. They play at first then 6 months down the line they break up pixelate despite having no marks on the disc. Studio Canal also bad for this. Universal not the best either. Never had issue with Sony and Arrow.

[@nicknewman7848]

Can we not just break into the relevant buildings.. take what we need and then hire the best people for the job? This guy can supervise the project. I'm up for the mission if anyone else can provide the intelligence needed. 🤫

[@just_delightful]

The Goldeneye 4k streaming version I have is sooo much better than the blu-ray-

[@goodwood-rc4nx]

just wish were Blu rays of the dish and the taxi series with English subs and dont get me started about solider of orange or blu rays that not port over dvd extras

[@LukaDinamo]

Can you maybe make a video where you through various movies and provide examples of how these audio track(monos) are done properly. Like so the updated version compared to the original version. It’s just very hard to understand in my mind what is wrong with these audio tracks. I am not being mean or rude I am genuinely curious and I think it would make for a great video. 👍

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@LukaDinamo I try to do stuff where I can, but the problem is you very quickly run afoul of copyright strikes in spite of fair use. Thankfully, I was able to upload my entire Thunderball audio documentary, but I had to do it completely non-monetized which is fine, but not every video is allowed to be uploaded even as non-monetized. That’s why I also linked to the Blah-ray comparisons I helped on in the pinned comment.

[@LukaDinamo]

@ oh ok the audio documentary has examples like audio clips? I would love to listen to it then👍

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@ my documentary is primarily just comparing the differences in the mixes though I did show how the 2006 remix had a music error. The other links I included feature direct comparisons.

[@LukaDinamo]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Sounds good, would love to learn more thank you. Everyone has a starting point so I just wanted to get my bearing's so I could better understand your points for future videos.

[@Chronically0nline]

Not to change the subject, but if they would get one of my essential annual Christmas viewings off DVD, which is Friday After Next, that’d be great.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@Chronically0nline that’s one they could easily do, but I guess they’re treating it the way they did Rush Hour 2 for years, which was another New Line film that did not have a Blu-ray until they did the trilogy set.

[@matheus5230]

Please also make a video making a plea to Paramount and CBS to fix the bullshit they just did to I Love Lucy in the last release. At least in the first Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, around 30 minutes in, there's some horrific use of AI in out-of-focus background faces! Who knows what else they have done?!

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@matheus5230 I just saw a mention of that elsewhere and couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately it seems like the can of worms has already been firmly blown open.

[@matheus5230]

​@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderSee for yourself, there's now a video upload of the one scene thay we know so far that has been fucked up by AI. The out-of-focus faces in the background are horrendous. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g53LaIx5a7B0kJo I don't think this stuff will ever become close to being the norm, but I'm not too surprised that, outside of very special and unique cases (the Cameron UHDs, the TV cut of Duel, Jaws 3 and the UHD of The Sugarland Express, though the latter is far more restrained, it's still sad to see Spielberg allowing anything from this technology that's not even remotely ready, it's sloppy and looks bad), the releases we actually saw being victims of AI are very long TV shows (the Friends' UHDs, though in a very limited fashion and suffering far more from excessive traditional DNR, and now this). They are so tempting for laziness due to the sheer amount of footage to be restored, unlike a film. Also, TV shows are still not as respected as films in these remasters (such as the aspect ratios). I guess that TV shows, especially older ones, are still seen in a way as more disposable, as if things such as directing, composition and shot composition didn't matter for them. Still, I would be shocked if any major classic film, like Sunset Boulevard, got this treatment. And no matter what, we can't let Paramount and CBS get away with this treatment of I Love Lucy. We should have no shows or films getting treated like this. One is more than bad enough, never mind a handful.

[@incaseofsuccess]

If you love the James Bond films, "like" this video!

[@AlSumait]

If you’re a Bond fan, you would know actually the panoramic image on my profile is a filming location from The Spy Who Loved Me in Cala Di Volpe, Sardinia Italy that I took last summer. Anyway, I really want the Sean Connery films get restored properly, cause those are the only ones I care about.