John Ottman recorded a commentary track for the DVD, and I am assuming that Bryan Singers and Chris McQuarrie's commentary from the second DVD will be ported and used here as well. There will also be extended scenes and deleted scenes. I'm a happy camper

Info from www.johnottman.com

--Brian
Gryffindor Seeker

I wish I had snapped a pic of Singer's face when a few of us at Fox told him the domestic Region 1 disc wasn't anamorphic... True Kodak moment (with the odd swear word here and there).

MGM are starting to make good DVDs again.

Dan (UK)

In case you didn't know.

Due to some stuff getting lost in the his move, it seems that the extended rough cut VHS Ottman let me copy for the website is (currently) the ONLY source of the deleted/extended scenes on the DVD. So I finally got to contribute to a film I really enjoy! (Yay!)

Also, Brian, don't forget that Ottman was interviewed for the new documentary on the film.... (something you left out in your original post).

I also have more info on the DVD, but will wait until later to reveal it all. (Can't spill all the beans just yet, ya know?)

Look for video clips and stills from the commentary/interview session later....

Dan

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...it seems that the extended rough cut VHS Ottman let me copy for the website is (currently) the ONLY source of the deleted/extended scenes on the DVD. So I finally got to contribute to a film I really enjoy! (Yay!)

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That is too cool! Are they still planning on Splicing in Ottman's comments with the existing commentary or are they just running it as one seperate track now?

There's a lot of retrospective stuff being done for this disc that I am really looking forward to. I'm still waiting to know if they've managed to secure the rights to add a British Documentary made about the film.

Still, new transfer is all I need, and as long as MGM retain burned in subtitles and not go with their ugly player generated ones, I can't wait.

Dan (UK)

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
That is too cool! Are they still planning on Splicing in Ottman's comments with the existing commentary or are they just running it as one seperate track now?

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John got his very own commentary track which he filled with great info and tidbits about the editing and music. Singer and McQuarrie's track is intact, and was pretty insightful to begin with - I would have hated to see anyone edit it up just to squeeze another person into it!!

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There's a lot of retrospective stuff being done for this disc that I am really looking forward to. I'm still waiting to know if they've managed to secure the rights to add a British Documentary made about the film.

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Dunno about a British documentary; I know that a new one is being produced for this DVD though....

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I would have hated to see anyone edit it up just to squeeze another person into it!!

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I agree, but this is MGM we're dealing with here. This is great news, though, thanks.

Re: The Documentaries

I heard, along with the new one with all the new interviews, they wanted to add 2 already produced ones and, hopefully, a forth in the form of the British doc. I can see this all making the release spread over two discs. It'd be nice...

When I was at Fox for the X-Men DVD launch last Nov, it was round about the time a lot of places were rolling out rumours and even more feature packed DVD release would be out within the following 18 months.
When some of us met Singer, he was quick to put that story to rest, stating he feels time is needed in order to put so much thought into these things. I could not agree with him more!

He said it's much better to let some time pass thus alowing for a better retrospective look back over the film after they hype is dead and buried (although he said he found the experience of doing the Suspects commentary and odd one and one he didnt know if he liked or not).

In discussions with DVD producer David Prior (who also did the X-Men disc), he's just about wrapping on the Planet of the Apes DVD (Burton's) for Fox. They're churning these SEs out so fast now soon the DVD will be done before the screenplay I swear to god! Singers aproach to full blown SEs is great, let some time pass, there will be more to talk about. The new interviews, and Ottman commentary, should therefore be a real treat!

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
The new interviews, and Ottman commentary, should therefore be a real treat!

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....along with a few other goodies.

Yes, it should be a great disc!

Dan

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
The Japanese NTSC R2 is, the PAL R2 over here, apart from being bloody awful, I believe is actually 4:3, it's that or it's widescreen

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....along with a few other goodies.

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Indeed, sir. Another bloody DVD to pick up before the years end.

Marian,

Forgive me, it's late. My point there was, in Japan, the NTSC region 2 release uses a fairly good anamorphic transfer. The UK PAL R2 DVD release of the movie is, from what I can gather, one of the worst out there in terms of quality and presentation according to those I know who had it.

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
Mmmm, yes, good signs that point to faked 16x9.

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Well, the good news is that this upcoming DVD will have a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 remix, 2 commentaries (the older one, plus Ottman's new one) multiple NEW documentaries (no British one), NEW featurettes on different things, Easter Eggs, and MORE!!

Dan

The real problem is with DVD regions outside of the US, there's less money to put into DVD production, many PAL transfers for instance will be struck from a low quality interpositive instead of a Region 1 negative transfer, a good example of this is Fifth Element. Still, I'm rambling on again, without a doubt, (providing MGM dont side with player generated subtitles for the subtitles scenes) the upcoming SE is the one to own.

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
Dan, naturally, I wasnt pointing the finger at region 1 for adopting the fake 16x9 approach, to date I am unaware of any that has.

The real problem is with DVD regions outside of the US, there's less money to put into DVD production, many PAL transfers for instance will be struck from a low quality interpositive instead of a Region 1 negative transfer, a good example of this is Fifth Element. Still, I'm rambling on again, without a doubt, (providing MGM dont side with player generated subtitles for the subtitles scenes) the upcoming SE is the one to own.

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Well, the good news is that MGM is planning on doing an international release of this special edition (I would imagine Region 2) - whether they use the new transfer or not is something I don't know. But they will use all the documentaries, etc.... which is why everything has to be completed for the DVD in 3 weeks, even though the DVD isn't coming out until April.

Since I hate the PAL Region2 DVD format, it's region1 all the way on this one.

Like I said above about how qick these things are done and produced before their release, it's incredible. Progressing at a rapid rate as if to say one day the DVD will be done before the script is written. I await the DVD of 'Indiana Jones 4: So Very Tired', next week!