[Proposal] The Abyss (1989) BD

[spoRv]

WEB DL

[Beber]

Guys, I just bought a ticket for a 70mm showing of The Abyss theatrical cut in Paris, France, on July 27.
I also bought one for 2001, also in 70mm on July 25, and The Hateful Eight Roadshow cut, also in 70mm on July 26.

[Bigrob]

Guys, I just bought a ticket for a 70mm showing of The Abyss theatrical cut in Paris, France, on July 27.
I also bought one for 2001, also in 70mm on July 25, and The Eightful Eight Roadshow cut, also in 70mm on July 26.

Packing my suitcase now...

I wish! Enjoy and look forward to your report back!

[Beber]

Well, guys. I've just come back from my 70mm screening of The Abyss, theatrical cut. The print was in excellent condition, except for the very last reel that suddenly had like a yellow veil over it. It might have suited the exterior shots, giving them a dusk look that could try to convey some passage of time, but it was also applied to the scenes down below in Deepcore, so I don't think this last reel should have looked like that.

However, the rest was near mint condition, and... brace yourselves, the color timing most people have loved to hate ever since the Cinemax remastered capture appeared in 2014 is in fact very much faithfull to the look of the 70mm print. So much that I was shocked. The cyan is very much there, it's just a tad bluer and prettier shade of it, being photochemically timed. So forget about Cameron's so called revisionism. He was actually aiming for authenticity on that one.

And the magnetic sound was grrrrrreat! Funny thing: the movie was preceded by 2 THX jingles, "The audience is listening". I had never seen them in a theater before.

[zoidberg]

Great write-up Beber. When you say there was a yellow veil over the final reel, how did this affect the Deepcore scenes exactly, was the blue still blue or did it turn green? Or was it mostly the skintones and highlights that were affected? Considering the huge expense of printing 70mm mag prints (and the relatively few numbers that would have been struck) I'm inclined to think that the yellow tint was intentional, maybe not exactly what Cameron wanted but what he was stuck with in order to make release date. Most of the expense was in the striping/recording the mag track so you would presume (perhaps incorrectly) that the reels were QC'd before proceeding to striping. But without seeing the print myself I couldn't say for sure.

I think with these new Cameron regrades there is a bunch of stuff going on. For the most part there is an effort to match the release prints but this exists within the limits of the grading equipment/colourist. If the colourist says 'this is as close as you're going to get it' then short of performing the grade yourself then you just have to accept the work that's being done. So the laserdisc releases look the way they do within the limits of the old telecine equipment, the early HD masters likewise leading up to the most recent DI graded masters/restorations.

[Stamper]

Beber, does your subtitles match the sync of the SE on the spleen?

Because the subs on that release are totally unreadable you need a magnifying lens to read them.

I think the colorists do a fine job to match, but Cameron F it up like he did with T2.

The guy as gone power crazy there is no turning back.

[Beber]

When you say there was a yellow veil over the final reel, how did this affect the Deepcore scenes exactly, was the blue still blue or did it turn green? Or was it mostly the skintones and highlights that were affected? Considering the huge expense of printing 70mm mag prints (and the relatively few numbers that would have been struck) I'm inclined to think that the yellow tint was intentional, maybe not exactly what Cameron wanted but what he was stuck with in order to make release date. Most of the expense was in the striping/recording the mag track so you would presume (perhaps incorrectly) that the reels were QC'd before proceeding to striping. But without seeing the print myself I couldn't say for sure.

Yeah, I'd say it turned into some kind of green. But mostly it turned ugly. I couldn't tell you in detail regarding skintones and highlights. It shifted so abruptly at the reel change that I was like: "Ew! That's not pretty! What the hell happened there? We were in the same place just a few seconds ago and that didn't look like that. How weird?" And then you get used to it for the few moments it lasted. 'Cause in the very end, when Lins, Cat and Hip come out of Deepcore on the surface and Bud joining them, it looked fine under the daylight. If it was intended, like maybe to convey the passage of time accompanying the fade-into the next scene that occurs near the end, when the surface guys try to figure out a way to save those below in Deepcore, then it was poorly done, 'cause I seem to remember the shift occurring too soon, before the fade-in. That plus the fact that it was applied to Deepcore scenes don't add up. That weird yellow veil lasted from maybe 30 seconds before the fade-in until the gang come out of Deepcore. It was there even on the Chris Elliott shots on the surface with all of them going out to watch those giant alien pillars coming out of the ocean.

Beber, does your subtitles match the sync of the SE on the spleen?
 think the colorists do a fine job to match, but Cameron F it up like he did with T2.

My subs match the v2.1 HD "SE recreation" on the Spleen.
What are you talking about Cameron F-ing it up like he did with T2 ? The Abyss remaster looks great. What is F-ed up here?

[Beber]

It's funny, Sporv 35mm clip starts just about before that reel change and ends when they come out of Deepcore. That's exactly that sequence.

[Stamper]

Thanks. The current Abyss we have was done for HDTV and from a top colorist.

I'm afraid the control JC will exercice will results in some weird stuff like on T2 where he asked for the walls to be green which affected whole sections of the master.

[zoidberg]

I'm pretty certain Cameron has used the same colourist for all his recent remasters.