[Canceled] Aliens TV Cut and Theatrical Regrade (Fox THX Laserdisc)

[Stamper]

2.0 LD would be great. Don't forget to flag it for Dolby Surround.

Well you've got several options:

- Reconstruct the TV cut as is, including possibly removed frames of violence.I don't think it's very interesting and it will be a bit of a bore to make sure everything matches.
- Match the Blu-ray master to the TV cut editorial decisions (I would then keep the Cat goodbye because it"s in the TC and everything from the TC is in the TV cut except this part. The only reason it was cut is probably that they wouldn't bother to find a voice double to dub Sigourney's line) just fill in this missing part with the TC soundtrack.

For the soundtrack, I would keep it 2.0 LD because it's the original mix, 5.1 as an option + TV soundtrack with some gaps filled (you will have to because the TV cut as fade in and out for commercials, and the sounds fade in and out also).

If the Blu-ray 2.0 is the same as the LD, but with a low bitrate, I wouldn't bother unless for sync purpose.

I wouldn't be surprised Paxton redubbed his lines, he and Cameron are close and Paxton would mow down his garden for free if Cameron asked to lol.

[PDB]

Servo, I don't think the spleen copy is hi-fi. It certainly doesn't sound like it. Let me check mono vs stereo. I don't think I'm going to get a better quality version given the rarity of its recording. That's why I consider this a bonus.

The more I think about this (and this is why I put this in the proposal section), I want to do this TV cut version as the base project instead of doing the theatrical cut first. It would make this project unique over just the color correction part.

To that end I just finished trimming down the extended cut, added the bits and pieces from the theatrical to recreate the TV cut in HD. Following your advice, Stamper I kept the cat scene, I can always remove it later if need be. Believe it or not the TV cut has all the violence only the language was altered. The temporary goal is to sync the 2.0 PCM from the LD and have that be the default and then the 5.1 space permitting.

I left the gun scene corrected since it is that way in the TV cut. I have to capture a 1080i recording I have of the old HDTV master to get the Bishop hole mistake and the scratches on the windows mistake. Hopefully, I can get them to match.

Just still need to decide the colors to use. I'm still leaning to the 95 LD but I'm worried people prefer the DVD and would want that. The 35mm experiment I might add as a bonus or some such.

[Stamper]

That's great! I would go for the 95 LD because the old DVD (from which you also have an HDTV master) was a failure with that blanket red/pink tint. The 95 LD keeps that vintage feeling, without being a twin of the BR.

Plus, you can always do a preservation of the DVD colors using the HDTV cut as reference for the TC and SE if you want. Thought I don't find that interesting since that HDTV version of the DVD master is already out on some trackers. Apart from syncing some additional soundtracks to it, I don't see the point.

Unless of course your goal was to preserve that version with the additional detail of the BR master.

The spleen copy of the TV cut is labeled oncreen as hifi stereo, but the recording isn't, it's mono. The recorder probably didn't have either hifi stereo TV or a hifi stereo vcr. or hifi stereo vhs tape.

[PDB]

Good advice, thanks Stamper. I'll preserve a copy of the TV cut in the blu-ray's colors and then move forward from there using the LD.

[TServo2049]

The spleen copy of the TV cut is labeled oncreen as hifi stereo, but the recording isn't, it's mono. The recorder probably didn't have either hifi  stereo TV or a hifi stereo vcr. or hifi stereo vhs tape.

I think it was likely recorded in EP. It seems from looking at old recordings that up until the late 90s, hi-fi VCRs could only record in hi-fi in SP mode.

I'm sure the edited-for-TV audio could be cleaned and EQ'ed and mixed with the theatrical and SE 2.0 LD tracks, right? The censored dialogue would still sound lower-quality than the rest of the film, but it COULD be done, correct?

[Lee]

Wow! This is like a big time collectors edition box set kind of thing! I can't wait to help seed this bad boy!

[DoomBot]

Very cool project indeed!

[PDB]

Tservo, I'm not sure it is worth doing that much work into repair the TV track or that I could make it worth it. I'm sure it could be done but I think the only thing of interest on the track are Hudon's lines. All the other profanity is removed or dubbed in by different actors. Its seems just the single words are changed which seems to be the standard in a censored TV track. The Hudson lines sound (and I could be wrong) like Bill Paxton. And instead of re-dubbing a word, its whole lines. You can hear the change in audio quality.

Thanks for the nice words Lee and Doombot.

I did hit a problem. I captured my 1080i DVR recording last night and the area I need for the fixes are bugged with the channel logo. For those that don't know  I was thinking about putting back the error where you can see Lance sticking up through the hole in the ground:

LD/DVD/HDTV (My Capture)/BD


Cameron had the error digitally painted out for the BD. I was hoping to re-insert the old frames but the TV logo kind of kills that. I checked the other copy of the old HDTV master but the bitrate is too low to be useful. So I have to find a better copy of those scenes, upscale the DVD or forget it.

I guess I should move this to in progress...

[spoRv]

...you could always use the BD to make a "patch" for overlay it over the logo!

[PDB]

...you could always use the BD to make a "patch" for overlay it over the logo!

You know I thought of that but I think that may be beyond my current skill set. Mind if I ask how you would do it Andrea?