Dinotopia (2002) Miniseries, Mill Creek Blu-Ray October 2016

[scallenger]

Comes out October 4th 2016 from Mill Creek.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dinot...lu-ray/159132/

Grew up on this miniseries (and to a lesser extent the failed "series" version), and as goofy and bad as it is at times, there are still fond memories to be had. Some great visuals, and gotta love the score, too!

High retail price at the moment, but sure to go down since it is Mill Creek. Love how they got the guy from Prison Break as the central "head" on the cover now, lol.

The big question is: widescreen or full? Which way was it really shot? Will this be another lucky transfer like the 10th Kingdom got?

[rdodolak]

Never thought this one would find its way to Blu-ray.

[RodChester]

I was a big fan of the books and the gorgeous artwork they were filled with. I vaguely remember seeing this when it first aired and came away disappointed. If the price gets low enough I'll consider revisiting it.

Since there was a lot of cgi work it'll be interesting to see if it was done in HD or SD. If it's the later, a bluray release may not be that much of an improvement over the DVDs.

[scallenger]

Never thought it would be released either, lol. Part of me wonders if it will be a mere upconvert. But either way it'll be better than prior releases in terms of quality. The DVD I had featured a audio dropout glitch during a scene in the climax. And the other DVD releases appear to be terribly compressed to a single DVD disc, sometimes with another feature.

Now the miniseries that I really wish would get a Blu upgrade, even if it is a upconvert, would be Walking With Dinosaurs. In 2013 there was a DVD remaster (with 5.1 audio!) but it could still look better, I hope.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by scallenger

Now the miniseries that I really wish would get a Blu upgrade, even if it is a upconvert, would be Walking With Dinosaurs. In 2013 there was a DVD remaster (with 5.1 audio!) but it could still look better, I hope.

Per the Mill Creek web site it has a new HD restoration.

The epic miniseries event is presented for the first time in brilliant high definition having undergone an all-new HD restoration.

[scallenger]

Interesting! Here is the Mill Creek info link featuring your quote:

http://www.millcreekent.com/dinotopi...t-blu-ray.html

From the package details, it also appears to be a 2 disc set. I wonder if the film is split, like it was on the original DVD, or if the second disc is all the bonus features it originally had? Still no mention of aspect ratio.

[Cougartiger]

Originally Posted by scallenger

The big question is: widescreen or full? Which way was it really shot? Will this be another lucky transfer like the 10th Kingdom got?

The DVD release last year from Mill Creek was widescreen and presented in it's original three parts with complete beginning and end credits for each. Both the miniseries and TV series were shot wide and cropped to 4:3.

The miniseries looks more natural in widescreen. I always thought it looked cramped in 4:3. Likely, it was shot wide but protected for 4:3.

The TV series actually is worse in 4:3 as many FX shots are heavily panned and scanned. Unlike the miniseries it seems no thought was given to the 4:3 ratio for the series.

Also, a 125 minute cutdown version played in Australian theaters. That version, while a bit choppy in parts, is actually very good. It also has one scene not in the miniseries and a lenghty end credit crawl.

[scallenger]

Very interesting! Well since it is a new transfer, I am sure we will get the full picture now! Awesome! Probably 5.1 surround sound, too, I hope (since apparently some non-US releases had it). Here's hoping!

I notice 10th Kingdom had an isolated score as a bonus feature. I hope they also do this for Dinotopia, since it never had an official soundtrack release. If you know where to go, you can actually find an album and even a lengthy recording session leak of all the music, but it should be more readily available at least in some form for people.

[Jobla]

This is great news! I loved the James Gurney books, and loved the four hour miniseries. I didn't care for the longer TV series, however.

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by Cougartiger

The DVD release last year from Mill Creek was widescreen and presented in it's original three parts with complete beginning and end credits for each. Both the miniseries and TV series were shot wide and cropped to 4:3.

The miniseries looks more natural in widescreen. I always thought it looked cramped in 4:3. Likely, it was shot wide but protected for 4:3.

The TV series actually is worse in 4:3 as many FX shots are heavily panned and scanned. Unlike the miniseries it seems no thought was given to the 4:3 ratio for the series.

Also, a 125 minute cutdown version played in Australian theaters. That version, while a bit choppy in parts, is actually very good. It also has one scene not in the miniseries and a lenghty end credit crawl.

Was that 125 minute version the same one included on Mill Creek's "Jurassic Adventures" DVD set from 2015? I always assumed MC trimmed that themselves.

[kevin87]

I saw this the other day, I liked it from what I remember but I only ever saw it on TV... they're also releasing it and the TV series as a set, but only the miniseries is getting a BD release.

[scallenger]

Originally Posted by starsteam

Was that 125 minute version the same one included on Mill Creek's "Jurassic Adventures" DVD set from 2015? I always assumed MC trimmed that themselves.

Yeah, I didn't know about this. And what is the extra scene that version has that the full miniseries does not?

[scallenger]

Now part of me is confused still on the actual aspect ratio of Dinotopia. Now, Cougartiger, you mentioned that last year's Dinotopia DVD from Mill Creek was in Widescreen, and claimed it is the original aspect ratio. Which DVD of this do you mean? The Mill Creek DVD I have of Dinotopia also contains a Journey to the Center of the Earth miniseries (each on separate discs). Dinotopia is indeed presented in widescreen, but look here:

Forgive me, but I just quickly took these shots with my phone while watching the TV. The first image is a full-frame shot from the original DVD. The second is a widescreen shot from the Mill Creek DVD I spoke of. By comparing these, the full-frame shot DEFINITELY shows more image, whereas the widescreen does not at all.

So was it really shot in widescreen? This so far appears to not be.

[jlk5844]

Wow! 2016 is kicking ass! I loved this miniseries as a kid, it did have its cheesy moments but some solid drama too. I really got into the story and characters. For someone who loves dinosaurs and Jurassic Park this is worth the watch. Definitely getting this. It never crossed my mind this would come to Blu-ray, Mill Creek's been doing some solid work lately.

[Cougartiger]

Originally Posted by starsteam

Was that 125 minute version the same one included on Mill Creek's "Jurassic Adventures" DVD set from 2015? I always assumed MC trimmed that themselves.

Correct on Jurassic Adventures. I've never known MC to do custom edits.

The very long end title crawl that credits everyone who worked on Dinotopia wouldn't be something MC would do, nor the revised title.

The long end credits have a Dolby Digital logo as well as giving proper credit to the original director, Herbert Wise who died early into production, with an "Additional Scenes Directed By" credit.

The miniseries just gives Wise a lame "Special Thanks" credit.

If MC just did a custom edit, they would've taken the easy route and just used the short miniseries end titles. Ditto the revised "Adventures In..." main title.

Originally Posted by scallenger

Yeah, I didn't know about this. And what is the extra scene that version has that the full miniseries does not?

Been a while since I've watched it. I was mistaken, there are at least two alternate versions of existing scenes:

Miniseries: Rosemary tells Marion that Karl and David are outsiders and do not yet know Dinotopian ways.

Theatrical: Rosemary tells Marion the boys are outsiders and to be careful of them.

Miniseries: When Marion asks David why Karl dropped out of her class, David explains that Karl never finishes anything and has been that way his whole life. Marion interrupts him, wanting to know if he wants to see the prime sunstone.

Theatrical: David tells Marion that she is a good teacher and starts to list her attractive features (eyes, hair, etc.) but she is clueless about what he is talking about and interrupts him, asking if he wants to see the prime sunstone.

It's possible there might be more but those two stood out to me.

Originally Posted by scallenger

Now part of me is confused still on the actual aspect ratio of Dinotopia. Now, Cougartiger, you mentioned that last year's Dinotopia DVD from Mill Creek was in Widescreen, and claimed it is the original aspect ratio. Which DVD of this do you mean? The Mill Creek DVD I have of Dinotopia also contains a Journey to the Center of the Earth miniseries (each on separate discs). Dinotopia is indeed presented in widescreen, but look here:

Forgive me, but I just quickly took these shots with my phone while watching the TV. The first image is a full-frame shot from the original DVD. The second is a widescreen shot from the Mill Creek DVD I spoke of. By comparing these, the full-frame shot DEFINITELY shows more image, whereas the widescreen does not at all.

So was it really shot in widescreen? This so far appears to not be.

OK. Based on those pics, and some viewing on my end, it looks as if Dinotopia was possibly shot 4:3 and protected for 1:78 cropping.

Still, the Blu will be from a new HD scan and likely widescreen.

[scallenger]

Interesting details of those alternate scenes! I know the original Dinotopia DVD has some deleted scenes, but I don't recall it having those alternate ones. Will have to pick up that version for the sake of them!

Yeah, it does seem likely now it was filmed full-frame, or maybe "open matte" is a better term? The widescreen look didn't appear to damn the film, but I will have to compare effects scenes now to see if a lot gets cut off or whatnot. Or maybe their DVD releases just simply cropped the full frame video, whereas there IS a true widescreen version from the original scan? Does the "Adventures of Dinotopia" version also crop the same shot the same way?

[Cougartiger]

Adventures In Dinotopia does look to be cropped the same in the scenes I looked at.

The few FX scenes I looked at didn't look anymore cropped than the non FX scenes.

[goofystitch]

I LOVED this miniseries (and the short lived TV series that it inspired). I'll definitely be upgrading my old double-sided DVD when this comes out.

[Jimmy Smith]

While I can't find anything definitive on what the CGI was rendered at I would bet money it was a standard definition render. This was a television program made in 2002. Back then 1080i and 720p televisions were about as common as 2160p televisions are today and 1080p televisions were almost non-existent. Given that 75% of the this movies 4 hour run time had some kind of visual effect its hard to believe an HD rendering would have been possible on a television budget. The dinosaurs/pterosaurs got more screen time in this series than Danny's dragons got in all of Game of Thrones so far

Maybe the Blu-Ray will be like Firefly and the live action stuff will be truly HD and the animation upconverted

[scallenger]

Yeah and then there's the whole framing issue here, whether it was really shot in widescreen or not (so far the likely case is no, since all widescreen versions we know of so far were cropped from full frame). I think this is one of those cases where we just gotta wait and see, unfortunately.