[Released] Highlander II - European Theatrical Cut - Preservation - Version 2!

[HippieDalek]

Version 2.1 is now available!

Consider this an early Christmas present for the niche of Highlander fans who don't hate this film.

I've managed to vastly improve the audio by using the full English language PCM soundtrack from the Hong Kong laserdisc. The laserdisc audio did have a few distortions and missing segments though so for the primary soundtrack I've patched these with higher quality sources. There's still a few minor bits I'm not entirely happy with, but they are beyond my skill for fixing, and even with these minor flaws this soundtrack is night and day better than the one I'd been using before.

As well as the restored English soundtrack I've also included the unmodified laserdisc PCM as a second audio track. This is the audio exactly as it is on the laserdisc with no tampering beyond what was required to sync the audio to the picture. As the laserdisc has been sourced from a 35mm theatrical print there are audio dropouts during the reel changes. It gives it a nice theatrical feel! The only other change that has been made to this second track is that they have been converted to 48 kHz. I used Davinci Resolve for syncing and I couldn't find a way to export the audio and retain the original 44.1 kHz.

But wait, there's more! I've also included the full German and Italian dubs! This cut of the film has never really been out of print in those countries so the soundtracks were easy to get hold of and include. The German release was heavily censored so I've patched the audio to extend it to full length. The Italian version is missing a small bit of dialogue between Ramirez and "Hamlet" so I've had to patch it using the English audio.

As well as improved audio I've also made a couple of minor visual fixes. The most noticeable changes will be right at the start; I always want to give this preservation a theatrical feel, so I've managed to include the original distributor logo and a reconstruction of the BBFC Black Card. (There is a YouTube user who recreates the Black Cards and takes requests, check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHJYFHj...YPLfnr6JYQ)

When I completed the first version of this preservation I wasn't fully happy with what I was presenting. With this update I'm not only more comfortable sharing it with you guys, but also fully happy that I've done the best I can to bring this forgotten cut of the film up to date.

Enjoy!

[deleted user]

Haven't read this thread in a while. Awesome that you managed to find the disc! Would love to see this project, have written you a PM.

I have an idea for exporting the raw laserdisc synced audio in 44.1 kHz to avoid the resampling, but I'm not certain it will work. You could export an FCPXML from Resolve and try opening it with another program like Adobe Premiere and export in 44.1 kHz from there.

Also, any chance you could do a full capture of the Laserdisc just as a pure restoration of this rare gem? In the sense of capturing video and all the digital and analog tracks on it?

[HippieDalek]

Haven't read this thread in a while. Awesome that you managed to find the disc! Would love to see this project, have written you a PM.

I have an idea for exporting the raw laserdisc synced audio in 44.1 kHz to avoid the resampling, but I'm not certain it will work. You could export an FCPXML from Resolve and try opening it with another program like Adobe Premiere and export in 44.1 kHz from there.

Also, any chance you could do a full capture of the Laserdisc just as a pure restoration of this rare gem? In the sense of capturing video and all the digital and analog tracks on it?

PM received and replied to : )

Davinci Resolve is the only video editing program I have currently. Back in the day I used Virtual Dub for a few projects and by comparison Resolve is utterly amazing! I'm not too worried about the change in sampling as the raw laserdisc PCM track is more of a bonus than anything else, and the fully restored track does use some 48 kHz elements. 

I used to have a crude method of capturing laserdiscs in semi decent quality using an RCA to USB cable, but it wasn't the best and I sadly no longer have the cable. I've been thinking about looking into a better way to do it as I agree, this disc should be preserved!

[deleted user]

Thanks!

I see. I always prefer the original sampling rate, especially since I think Resolve's resampler is probably not gonna be the best, so even exporting natively and then resampling with a good resampler (like iZotope) might be a good idea. Admittedly it's a little OCD, but that's just me, heh.

Well if you wanna try it, you could send me the project file for the LD sync along with the raw audio (I assume that's what you sent me already) and I could try it, I have Resolve, Premiere and Audition installed.

If I recall correctly, this thread here has rather extensive information about video capture cards and options: https://fanrestore.com/thread-83.html

[HippieDalek]

Yeah, I just sent you the link for the bit perfect laserdisc audio. I'll try and set up a simple project file with just the synced audio sometime over the next week or so, obviously things will be pretty busy over Christmas so not sure when I'll get it to you. Would be good to have the laserdisc track as close to the original as possible.

[Bigrob]

Checking this out now. Audio sounds amazing! Well done and thank you for this preservation!

[HippieDalek]

Checking this out now. Audio sounds amazing! Well done and thank you for this preservation!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Getting hold of that laserdisc was a real breakthrough.

[HippieDalek]

You're not going to believe this but I've just discovered the sixth version of Highlander 2!

A user here notified me that there was a Spanish DVD release of the EU cut that contained the English audio. I've been trying to track it down but sadly it's pretty rare and very expensive when it does go on sale.

I have however managed to track down a low quality AVI of it (Spanish only) and it contains a version of the film different to any of the others. I've only skipped through it but it's version similar to the second EU cut, but with additional changes. Here are the changes I've noticed:

• It removes the same short bit of dialog between Ramirez and "Hamlet" as the Italian DVD.
  
• The computer conversation with Alan is the same as the US cut, just "The Ultraviolet Radiation Above The Shield Is Normal" and no discussion of "the old Service Tunnel in Sector F" like in the other EU cuts.
  
• The scene of Connor and Louise discussing blue skies has been removed
  
• The whole above the shield sequence has been removed! 
  
• The return to Zeist ending has been removed. The visual edit is the same as the second EU cut, but there is no Ramirez voice over. 
  

This is starting to get a bit crazy. 

I'll probably make another changes video like I did for the second EU cut in the extras for this release. Would anyone be interested in seeing these sub versions restored to the same level as the full EU cut? Not sure they're worth it, but would be easy enough to do. 

Also if anyone has a copy of the Spanish DVD please get in touch : )

[deleted user]

Sounds like a possibly interesting case for trying out seamless branching with mkvs. I never tried it myself but I kinda heard of the concept.

[HippieDalek]

Sounds like a possibly interesting case for trying out seamless branching with mkvs. I never tried it myself but I kinda heard of the concept.

I've heard that it's possible, but I've never seen one. I'll take a look into it.

Once I'm don't with the US cut I was planning to take a break from Highlander 2 for a while to work on some other projects, but at this point it's looking like a Version 3 will be inevitable sometime in the future.