This is on UK TV right now, and looks miles better than DVD but I cannot find a version online of it at all and only 1 or 2 DVDs worldwide.
Anyone have access to an HD version?
Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 vampire opus NEAR DARK is a film that's been horribly mistreated over the years. On its theatrical release, it basically tanked in the presence of its big budget brother THE LOST BOYS, the DVD releases were kinda hit and miss, and the Blu-ray options are all pretty horrendous even compared to the DVDs we got nearly 20 years ago. I put this custom version together mostly for my own purposes, but I may as well make it available to the rest of those who consider this a worthwhile "cult film" and would appreciate being able to watch it in the best quality currently possible, until a decent official release hopefully appears one day. As of today (the 2nd of May 2020), I understand the UK (2009), US (2009), Canada (2009), Spain (2013), Japan (2018), France (2018), and limited edition Germany (2019) releases all to be out of print, and the only one due out is a non-limited re-release of the German version toward the end of this month which (according to its distributor) has identical content to the 2019 discs.
This is a custom, painstakingly re-synchronised remux of NEAR DARK, using the best available video (high bitrate 1080p AVC), audio (DTS and Dolby), and subtitle (PGS) tracks available from various out of print official releases. All audio tracks are English, but subtitles are included in English, English SDH, Spanish, French and German (including a German one translating the English director commentary). This includes all 4 audio tracks from the special edition 2002 Anchor Bay DVD with the old StudioCanal logo music switched for the new version to precisely match the video track from the 2018 French Blu-ray Disc. This was done without re-encoding any of the main audio (the 2018 StudioCanal logo music was encoded from lossless DTS-HD Master Audio to several target codecs to match the main audio tracks it was being appended to the start of).
THIS IS A FAN-MADE PRESERVATION OF A FILM I CARE DEEPLY ABOUT, AND HAVE SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY ON BY BUYING ALMOST EVERY OFFICIAL RELEASE OF IT SINCE 2002. IT MUST NOT BE REPRODUCED FOR PROFIT. I DO NOT ENDORSE PIRACY.
If I know you and/or you're an active contributor around these parts, PM me for details (I do have the BD25 ISO but am not making that quite as readily available as the MKV). If you're interested to know how I put this custom preservation together, I have a very (painfully) detailed .nfo file that explains the whole thing from start to finish, command line instructions and all. Otherwise, just enjoy the film!
Thanks to Stamper and schorman for their help while I was working my way through this.
-
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
For my own purposes, I made this disc compliant and put it on a BD-R SL (BD25) so that I could stick it inside one of the boxes of my many retail copies of the film. This is much more likely to be reproduced for nefarious purposes, however, and people seem to largely prefer the flexibility of MKV, so this upload is in an MKV container instead.
VIDEO: H.264 AVC @ 31.9 Mbps from 2018 French Blu-ray Disc CHAPTERS: 13 chapters, from 2019 German BD but very slightly tweaked (e.g. chapter 13 now starts in time with the end credits music) AUDIO 1: DTS 5.1 @ 754 kbps from 2002 US DVD* AUDIO 2: Dolby Digital 5.1 @ 448 kbps from 2002 US DVD* AUDIO 3: Dolby Surround 2.0 @ 192 kbps from 2002 US DVD* AUDIO 4: Dolby Surround 2.0 director commentary @ 192 kbps from 2002 US DVD* SUBTITLE 1: English, PGS from 2009 US BD SUBTITLE 2: English SDH, PGS from 2009 US BD SUBTITLE 3: Spanish, PGS from 2009 US BD SUBTITLE 4: French, PGS from 2018 FR BD SUBTITLE 5: German, PGS from 2019 DE BD SUBTITLE 6: German translation of English commentary, PGS from 2019 DE BD
* 2002 StudioCanal logo music removed and 2018 StudioCanal logo music added from 2018 FR BD (without re-encoding the main audio)
Hello everyone! I'm Aaron and I'm so glad I stumbled upon this message board. I've been lurking for about a year now and just recently decided to make the jump to owning a laserdisc player.
This place is incredibly inspiring to me. I've always wondered why people are not an advocate for original theatrical mixes to the same degree as original aspect ratios. In a perfect world, my home theater would always present a film in the same quality that would happen if I could time travel back to opening night.
I'm very much looking forward to finding where to acquire rips so I can do my own syncing BUT I also plan on contributing as much as I get back. I hope to bring to this forum as much as I get from it. I just ordered my very first laserdisc player. I've been entranced by them since the early 90s when a 10-year old.
I'm trying to decide what my first rip should be. Is there a list of wants? I know I saw this one:
I see it is from 2016 though and so I wanted to make sure it wasn't out-of-date. I'm definitely interested in helping with WILLY WONKA, SORCERER, and ENTER THE DRAGON. I would have to buy all three but all three deserve to be preserved.
As long as the laserdisc is reasonably priced (sub-$20), I'm down for whatever. I'm considering starting with a rip of the analog surround version of PURPLE RAIN. I'm also looking to rip the LETHAL WEAPON films although I imagine someone might have ripped those.
So excited to be here and to contribute! Thank you for reading this!
So I'm thinking about putting together a collection of Alien related material / bonus features that aren't available on the official discs, a bit like what was done with the Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition. This is what I can think of so far - I wondered if anyone else can add to it? Any TV Specials or Interviews?
Alien with the laserdisc Sensurround audio
Alien Makers Discs 1-5
2 x H R Giger Documentaries
Aliens Electronic Press Kit
Aliens Ride Footage
Alien 3 Workprint
Alien Vs Predator Fox TV Special
6 x Alien 40th Anniversary Shorts
I spent the last weeks putting together the most Disney commentaries I could find. They're all .ac3 and seem to be untouched. You can download them to use in projects or just for completeness sake. In some cases (The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) I had to use DVD sources from previous editions because Disney changed the original logo in the BD.
Here's the list of each audio commentary uploaded (the source is in the file name):
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - animation historian John Canemaker, with archival audio excerpts by Walt Disney
Pinocchio - film critic Leonard Maltin, Disney animator Eric Goldberg, and Disney historian J.B. Kaufman, with archival audio excerpts by animators Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Eric Larson
Fantasia - animation historian John Canemaker, with archival audio excerpts by Walt Disney Fantasia - Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and restoration supervisor Scott MacQueen Fantasia - Disney historian Brian Sibley
Dumbo - animation historian John Canemaker Dumbo - Pixar director Pete Docter, Disney historian Paula Sigman, and Disney animator Andreas Deja, with archival audio excerpts by writers Dick Huemer and Joe Grant, animators Ward Kimball, and Wolfgang Reitherman, sound designer Jim MacDonald, and layout artist Ken O’Conner
Peter Pan - Roy E. Disney, animation historian Jeff Kurtti, with archival audio excerpts by Walt Disney, animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, and Ward Kimball, live-action reference model Margaret Kerry, voice actor/live-action reference model Kathryn Beaumont, film historian Leonard Maltin, and animation historian John Canemaker
Sleeping Beauty - Disney historian Leonard Maltin, Pixar director John Lasseter, Disney animator Andreas Deja, with archival audio excerpts by Walt Disney, production designer Eyvind Earle, and supervising animators Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, and Frank Thomas
The Jungle Book - composer/song-writer Richard M. Sherman, supervising pencil animator Andreas Deja and voice actor Bruce Reitherman, with archival audio excerpts by director Wolfgang Reitherman, directing animators Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas, and co-screenwriter Larry Clemmons
The Little Mermaid - writers/directors Ron Clements and John Musker, and composer Alan Menken
Beauty and the Beast - producer Hahn, directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, with archival audio excerpts by composer Alan Menken
Aladdin - producer Amy Pell, directors Ron Clements and John Musker Aladdin - supervising animators Andreas Deja, Will Finn, Eric Goldberg, and Glen Keane
The Lion King - producer Don Hahn and directors Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff
Pocahontas - producer James Pentacost and directors Mike Gabriel & Eric Goldberg
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - producer Don Hahn and directors Kirk Wise & Gary Trousdale
Mulan - producer Pam Coats and directors Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook
Tarzan - producer Bonnie Arnold and directors Kevin Lima & Chris Buck
Fantasia 2000 - executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and producer Don Ernst Fantasia 2000 - directors and artists Don Hahn, Pixote Hunt, Hendel Butoy, Dean Gordon, Bill Perkins, Eric Goldberg, Susan Goldberg, Michael Humphries, Roy Disney, Gaëtan Brizzi, Paul Brizzi, and Carl Jones
The Emperor's New Groove - producer Randy Fullmer, director Mark Dindal, art director Colin Stimpson, character designer Joseph C. Moshier, story supervisor Stephen Anderson, and supervising animators Nik Ranieri and Bruce W. Smith
Atlantis: The Lost Empire - producer Don Hahn and directors Kirk Wise & Gary Trousdale
Treasure Planet - directors Ron Clements and John Musker, producer Roy Conli, supervising animators Glen Keane and John Ripa, associate art director Ian Gooding
Home on the Range - producer Alice Dewey, director Will Finn and director John Sanford
Chicken Little - director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer and visual effects supervisor Steve Goldberg
Meet the Robinsons - director Stephen J. Anderson
The Princess and the Frog - co-writers/directors Ron Clements and John Musker, producer Peter Del Vecho
Moana - directors Ron Clements and John Musker (2017 Blu-Ray)
Bonus: Tangled (from The Animation Podcast) - Amy Smeed, Adam Dykstra, Jennifer Hager, Miyuki Kanno-Long, Adam Green, Daniel Peixe, John Wong, Zach Parrish, Marlon Nowe, Doug Bennett, Joel Reid, Mark Mitchell, Kira Lehtomaki, Patrick Osborne, Darrin Butters, Becky Bresee, Chris Cordingly, Chadd Ferron, Clay Kaytis, John Kahrs, Chad Sellers, Jason Figliozi, and Malcon Pierce
In case you didn't noticed I also uploaded an unofficial commentary (in mp3) for Tangled made in 2012 by some animators who worked on it for a podcast.
Unfortunally I couldn't find every one of them, so if anyone here have it or could capture it, here's the list of missing commentaries and where to find them:
Sleeping Beauty - Disney historian Jeff Kurtti, with archival audio excerpts by production designer/background artist Eyvind Earle, voice actor Mary Costa, supervising animators Ollie Johnston and Marc Davis, background artist Frank Armitage, Pocahontas director Mike Gabriel, and Pocahontas art designer Michael Giaimo (2003 DVD)
Pocahontas - producer James Pentecost, co-directors Mike Gabriel & Eric Goldberg, composer Alan Menken, lyricist Stephen Schwartz, art director Michael Giaimo, and co-writer Carl Binder (1996 Laserdisc)
Lilo & Stitch - writers/directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and producer Clarke Spencer (2009 "Big Top Edition" DVD or 2013 "Two Movie Collection" BD)
Also, Tarzan, The Emperors New Groove and Meet The Robinsons are sourced from PAL DVDs, so a little tweak in the audio will be necessary unless someone find their NTSC DVD counterparts (or BD, on "Robinsons"' case)
I intend to collect all 35mm prints that I can find and are sold now and in the future.
Most of them come from different sellers and I will note which ones have been used alot and those that have been used better, if possible.
Everyone will probably not think that a specific movie is worth preserving, but it can be fun to see what title can get all our attention and maybe even be scanned.
*List updates when item are gone, or new sale item is available.
E.T Extra Terrestrial -"Very good condition, no scratches, very minor wear, splices are only at the head and tail as expected, color is great, a very wonderful print."
![[Image: 5LC29RvyIPxb.jpg]](https://ibin.co/5LC29RvyIPxb.jpg)
