When Johnny Mnemonic was released in Japan it was as an extended version called JM. This was released on VCD, Laserdisc and DVD but to date there has been no HD release. There are blu ray releases from Japan and Germany that include the extended version but only in SD. 

This project is an attempt to recreate the extended version frame for frame, using the Japanese Blu Ray where possible and upscaled inserts from the DVD extended version. The extended version contains a lot of differences, ranging from some longer scenes (some of which are in Japanese and feature Takashi Kitano) to shots that are only a few frames longer. The color timing is different and it is missing some visual effects and on screen graphics. 

I knew this project was going to be a nightmare due to the number of differences so I approached it in a different way, I took both versions into Premiere and split them into individual shots using scene detect. I would then click on three shots from Version A, making a note of the number of frames in each shot, then click on the same three shots from Version B and compare the number of frames. If the frame numbers matched I used the blu ray, if they didn’t match then that indicated a difference, I would check it and if it was a difference I used the DVD. 

The upscaling of the DVD was done partly with AVIsynth and partly with Topaz. As I mentioned the color timing is completely different so all of the blu ray footage was regraded to match the DVD. This was an absolute nightmare and is probably the worst one I have ever done. I was lucky if one LUT matched two or three shots, sometimes I was doing a LUT per shot. This really tested me! 330 LUTs all in.

I tried to get the LD audio but the only LD that contains it is the Japanese release and that seems to be quite rare, so I could only include the AC3 from the DVD.

It's not perfect, the DVD is not great quality and neither is the blu ray to be honest, the audio is lossy, but overall I think I've done the best I could.

Massive thanks to PDB and Hippie Dalek for testing.

• BD25 with animated menus, background video, pop up menus and resume function
  
• 1080P AVC Video with scene by scene colour correction
  
• English AC3 2.0 384 KBPS from the DVD
  
• Japanese AC3 2.0 192 KBPS from the DVD
  
• English (during Japanese dialogue parts only) Subtitles
  
• English Full SDH Subtitles
  
• Behind The Scenes
  
• Making Of
  
• Interviews
  
• Music Video
  
• Theatrical Trailer
  

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. Contributing means active members of the forum who post and/or make their own projects.

High Resolution cover and disc art available from @Pineapples101 Here.


Upscaled Example:



Upscaled Example:



Upscaled Example:




Visual Effect:



Non Visual Effect:




Visual Effect:



Non Visual Effect:




Color Correction (Old/New):




Color Correction (Old/New):




Color Correction (Old/New):




Color Correction (Old/New):




Color Correction (Old/New):




Color Correction (Old/New):




The photos below of the menu aren't great as the only way I could get them is from my phone while the disc is playing, as software players disabled the screenshot function:





Just to clarify this is a project that I have made for myself which I am choosing to share. If you don't like the project, if you think it should have been done differently then feel free to keep that to yourself and consider doing your own project.

Great to see this project done, alleycat. It was a fun watch.

I have to be honest and say I've never actually watched this film.

Have two copies of the German version (I have an issue with this movie) and not watched the extended yet due to the subtitles issues

Are the shots where you show 'visual effect' and 'non visual effect' mean that the JM cut of the movie had missing (or possibly unfinished) effects shots that you mimicked in the reconstruction?

(2021-11-05, 09:59 AM)Doctor M Wrote: Are the shots where you show 'visual effect' and 'non visual effect' mean that the JM cut of the movie had missing (or possibly unfinished) effects shots that you mimicked in the reconstruction?

No the blu ray / theatrical version introduced effects that weren't in the Japanese Version so for those shots I used the DVD.

Well done with this! I enjoyed your preview version recently and looking forward to seeing this final version. I was really impressed with how seamlessly you merged all the different sources.

I hear that the Japanese cut is far better than the original cut, is this true?

(2022-01-21, 06:27 AM)SamFinisher Wrote: I hear that the Japanese cut is far better than the original cut, is this true?

It's definitely more accurate to the original script which had an official print publication.
I prefer this version... except the hacking scene at the end which has effects shots out of order.

I always felt the extended cut might need a hybrid edit.

This sounds like an awesome edit. Your color grading presents the movie way better than the official release. I'd love a link to this edit if possible. I've always wanted to see the Japanese cut and with this fan edit, it makes it totally worth it!!!