Thunderbirds [Blu-ray] [1964]
£72.59
Why dont Art Gallerys crop artworks that dont meet some marketing aesthetic? - How could they crop the 4:3 image to 16:9? Taking an artwork and chopping off bits for no good reason? Whoever was responsible for that decision should be fired. Its as bad as pan-n-scanning widescreen material. And whoever put this package together is so out of touch, that the character in the background of the cover, who is positioned in a mysterious pose in the top right, is actually Kirano the Tracy family s chef!? Maybe the clueless person putting the design together confused this with the character who should be there - the villian The Hood ???This title needs to be rereleased on blu-ray in proper pillar-boxed 4:3, with redone hidef supplements and corrected cover art. Cmon this is a classic art work not the Teletubbies!
THUNDERBIRDS BD - Thunderbirds [Blu-ray] [1964]Hi there!Perhaps if things were perfect we would have a 4:3 transfer in HD and a HD 4:3 TV. Sounds like that is the issue. But unfortunately those days of square TVs are numbered. We should be grateful to have ANY of Gerry s programmes in this format. Otherwise, it may be YEARS before others are released. Is that what you want? ITC will read the complaints and say Gee that was a dumb idea I have not purchased the disc as I live in Australia. No one can give me a straight answer if it is region free or not. I would love to see THUNDERBIRDS on BD even if the picture has been modified. I say well done ITC for having the guts to release an old yet classic show. Nothing is perfect.
HD brings a new lease of life to Thunderbirds - Many fanboys (myself included) were concerned about how an HD widescreen transfer of this classic series would fare. Well, prepare to be amazed. The picture has indeed been cropped to fit a 16:9 widescreen format, but it barely notices. Each shot has been carefully cropped so as not to remove any heads or key elements. In fact mostly, all that seems to have gone is the strings above the heads, which is no bad thing. It s almost like looking at the series for the first time. The colours are simply stunning in 1080p, particularly scenes in the Hood s temple where reds and golds glow with intensity.Character scenes are best, with a crystal clear image throughout and little sign of any artefacts. The model shots are a touch grainy, which is to be expected as many shots were taken with high speed cameras and slowed down. But it certainly does not spoil the enjoyment. The high definition also gives an opportunity to see more of the detail. I was watching in 1080p projected on a large screen and the model and puppetry detail is astounding when you look closely - it tends to go unnoticed on a standard TV screen.The picture has been cleaned up well- the annoying vertical line seen on stock footage when TB2 takes off has gone at last, and the 5.1 sound through a good HDMI3-based audio system is incredible...my sub-woofer expelled a satisfying blast of cold air round my legs when TB1 took off. They seem to have cured the echo effect on dialogue scenes that spoiled the 5.1 mix of the standard DVDs as well. Barry Gray s brilliant music soundtrack sounds more brassy and punchy with a little more treble/bass definition than I remember, and pumped up to a good volume, the whole soundtrack simply rocks with energy. All in all, a fantastic treatment of a groundbreaking body of work that Gerry Anderson is rightly so proud of. Purists who prefer the scratchy dirty 4:3 mono versions still have those forever (including me)- but there is definitely room for both versions and now you have a choice. I for one will be embracing any further Anderson series in this superior format.
More on the aspect ratio debarkle! - Just for your info and in case some people are misinformed... if a program was made in 4x3 (square TV ratio) you CANNOT get extra footage on the sides when DVD marketers release titles as suddenly widescreen 16x9 . What happens is they BLOW UP the image so that it fits the oblong 16 x 9 ratio - you actually lose picture information from the TOP AND BOTTOM of the screen. This is known as cropping or masking. This is what has happened here and therefore a real disappointment. AGAIN, if is was originally 4x3 then it can never be 16x9, something has to be lost in the process. SO, check what aspect ratio the original title was made in, especially pre 1955!
More picture at the sides - Yes, it s been cropped to 16:9, but this new transfer has more picture at the sides than the previous 4:3 versions. Something to consider.