Ultraman TV and Movie Licensed to Mill Creek for North Ameri

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

I don't like the fact that the audio tracks were remixed with more modern sound effects. Since that's exactly how TPC has presented these shows on BRD in Japan, though, it seems unavoidable for these North American releases. Why would TPC do that?

[SeaHawk]

The whole audiovisual presentation of Ultraman as supplied by TPC is just an abomination. It's like they wanted it to look and sound like a modern, shot-on-video series.

[lhb412]

I'm very happy with these first two releases. Ultraman isn't perfect, but it's far superior to what's come before and, although your mileage may vary, the fact that it is an actual, official release feels like such a big moral victory.

That being said, if in a few years Tsuburaya Productions turns out a superior remaster of the 1966 series and makes it available to Mill Creek I'd be down for that, too! And hearing what Keith Aiken said on that podcast about trying to hunt down the original American dubs of not just Ultraman, but possibly Ultra Q and Ultraseven? I'd buy a 'just the dubs' set as well, if that became a thing.

Can't wait for further releases!

[Garasharp K7]

[Jinzo Ningen]

[lhb412]

^ How cool would it be if they manage to find a true 'lost dub' in Ultra Q?! Or more Hawaiin Ultraseven episodes?

[RobD]

Having watched a few Ultra Q episodes: amazing HD restoration by Tsuburaya there. It's a great release.

Ultraman-no doubt the best picture we've ever gotten and OFFICIAL. That being said, there is very pronounced "digital noise" on many of the characters or scenes that
can be jarring at times. Perhaps it's watching it through a 4k/hdr television instead of a 1080p tv that's making the noise more pronounced. I've tinkered a bit with my
television settings and certain modes like "natural" or "movie" seem to make the picture more clear but I prefer my "dynamic" setting with maximum color and
contrast on.

Apparently Tsuburaya is in the midst of mastering Ultra Q in 4k and hopefully Ultraman will follow which would help clear up the noise. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE
that we finally have official Ultra blu-rays in North America as it was a long time in coming. However, I do think Tsuburaya has plenty of room to give us a "Remaster 2.0"
for the original series in 4k.

Mill Creek has done a great job with the license so far IMO. They just didn't throw the discs in a cheap plain blu ray case and call it a day. They went the extra mile
to give us the best presentation I think they could while keeping the price very reasonable.

[H-Man]

[SeaHawk]

That's not even grain. It looks like blocking of some kind, like the Simitar Godzilla DVDs.

[Dr Kain]

[H-Man]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I finished off Ultra Q which was my first time going through the entire series. Overall I thought it was a decent show but I prefer Ultraman to Ultra Q, Ultra Q is still an amazing show.

There's only two episodes I really didn't care for and that's Goro and Goro and the final episode I also didn't care for. Some episodes I didn't think I'd like, like Metamorphisis I actually really enjoyed. Probably hold off on Ultraman for a bit.

As for the digital noise reduction I did notice it quite a bit in later episodes where there where no details on the actors faces but that could be because I use my Xbox One X for my main BD player and I left the TV on the Game mode setting which I have calibrated differently from when I normally watch movies. The updated sound effects where really annoying though. Even though I hadn't heard the original track I could tell when updated Sound Effects where used. In all honesty though the DNR isn't as bad as what some images make it out to be.

[Dr Kain]

[SeaHawk]

Dr. Kain, you are so demonstrably mistaken it's not even funny. Toho was using IDENTICAL FILM STOCKS to US film companies. So were the other Japanese majors, for the most part. So was most of the world. This has been mentioned in this thread already. Major Japanese theatrical films and US theatrical films of the '60s are equals, as far as film origination is concerned. Japanese companies had an option between Eastman color and the indigenous Fujicolor... independent producers tended to choose Fuji because it was cheaper... I could cite an academic thesis that proves this. The majors always went with Eastman, but starting in the late '60s some of them started going for Fuji, probably because the stock had improved in quality and adopted the same chemistry as Eastman, meaning it could be processed in the same bath as Eastman and that it was probably indistinguishable in quality from Eastman.

Every Toho kaiju movie of the '60s was shot on Eastman Kodak film. This isn't even a secret or obscure information, it's on the posters. And Toho DOES have access to better elements for their films and better scanners, and they could surely afford to restore everything properly and in short order... they're a freaking huge media company and real estate giant. They just won't go to the trouble with any film besides Godzilla '54 and King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Yes, it's true, Space Amoeba and Secret of the Telegian are strangely missing Toho's characteristic brown filter, so their properly balanced color does seem cooler by comparison. That doesn't mean there is a blue tint.

[Dr Kain]

[H-Man]

[SeaHawk]

[kiryugoji04]

Seahawk, that's a lot of work you're doing there to just have it all effortlessly refuted by that thing that Kain maybe read that one time at some point in the distant past. I just don't think you can compete with that kind of conviction.

[lhb412]

With films like Texas Chain Saw Massacre that were filmed in 16mm then blown up to 35mm for distribution what elements are people working from to do the HD restoration?

[Joseph Goodman]

The most recent restoration of TCM used the 16mm Ektachrome camera original.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

[Jinzo Ningen]