2018-10-18, 12:39 AM
(2018-09-30, 03:16 AM)SpaceBlackKnight Wrote: I wonder what source this Italian DVD used? I heard the Cinema Club UK DVD used a widescreen blow up of a old VHS master (nonetheless, derived from an international print sporting PSO logos and credit references instead of Walt Disney Pictures), and this looks like a film transfer of some sort... possibly the US version if it has Disney credit references. FYI, this wasn't a Disney production at first, rather being produced by Viking Films and set to be released by PSO through Tri-Star. PSO and Viking were having financial issues and scrambled to seek another company to finish the film. Disney stepped in to invest and finish the film in exchange for adding product placements (EPCOT was prominently featured to promote the new attraction) and US rights in perpetuity, though oddly enough they did have UK theatrical rights while video rights were scattered across other UK companies.
Keep in mind that this source may likely have had all the VFX shots zoomed in due to being done/hard masked in the theatrical ratio (as with most films have). I know the VHS had them zoomed in to a degree while UK DVD had those shots cropped again from it's 4:3 VHS master into 16:9.
I'm sure the Japanese laserdisc I have of Flight Of The Navigator has some of the VFX artefacts in the open matte areas. When the ship is diving back down having left the Nasa warehouse for the first time, the shadow and the ship separate in a weird way in the bottom area. You don't see it on the 16:9 version. I'll need to do a full cap of the laserdisc, as it's not readily available on my system right now.
