The NeverEnding Story - Extended Cut (September 26, 2013)

[FrankV]

On September 26 a new Blu-ray will be released with the extended cut of the film.



Specs

German DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
German HoH subtitles
2.35:1 1080p
BD50

Extras

Making Of (20 min.)
Restoration featurette (10 min.)
Music video by Limahl (3 min.)
Storyboard comparisons (6 min.)

I guess this means that for the first time you can watch the longer cut with English audio.

Source: www.cinefacts.de

[manicsounds]

Japan will also get the Extended Cut BD with English audio in September

The Warner Japan set will have both theatrical and extended cuts as a 2-disc set, they advertise that the extended cut is only available in German and Japan as of 2013.

[Asiania]

They showed us this movie in grade school, back in VHS days. I think the teachers just wanted to go smoke frankly.

Anyway one of our poor classmates was baited into raising his hand to ask if it was rated 'R'.

Teacher sent him out of the room for that!

[Eeeper]

Woo-hoo! Pre-ordered. Loved the movie but stayed away from the first blu ray since Wolfgang Peterson's reaction was "Whhaaa? They released it and didn't tell me?"

Is it just going to be the extended cut on the disc? It's not a deal breaker if it is.

Sent from my AT300 using Tapatalk 2

[ryanmj1993]

I wonder why they can't release this in the US?

[VincentVinyl]

The "extended cut" was the original version of the movie as it was released in Germany in cinemas as well. I don't know exactly who forced it, but for the international market (especially the US) the studio thought the "flow" was not fast enough. So mainly they cut a few seconds here and the and edited some stuff to make the movie seem more fast paced.

German fans were quite furious when the normal German edition did not get released at first - since everyone was used to it from their childhood. I myself am a fan of the book and like the movie, too. But held off with the hope the extended / German cut of the movie might get released.

There might be some later release in the future in the US but the version included here was never shown in cinemas in the US. But I think it is great that there is now interest in the original cut in the US as well :-).

The Japanese edition should be based on the same master by the way. The guys at Constantin are restoring the original cut of the movie as we speak - as it was deemed lost before. So the new master that is being made in Germany right now will be the only one worldwide to feature the longer version.

[DarknessBDJM]

Originally Posted by ryanmj1993

I wonder why they can't release this in the US?

It's pretty different than the U.S. cut, no Moroder music or Limahl would be bad.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by VincentVinyl

The "extended cut" was the original version of the movie as it was released in Germany in cinemas as well. I don't know exactly who forced it, but for the international market (especially the US) the studio thought the "flow" was not fast enough. So mainly they cut a few seconds here and the and edited some stuff to make the movie seem more fast paced.

German fans were quite furious when the normal German edition did not get released at first - since everyone was used to it from their childhood. I myself am a fan of the book and like the movie, too. But held off with the hope the extended / German cut of the movie might get released.

There might be some later release in the future in the US but the version included here was never shown in cinemas in the US. But I think it is great that there is now interest in the original cut in the US as well :-).

The Japanese edition should be based on the same master by the way. The guys at Constantin are restoring the original cut of the movie as we speak - as it was deemed lost before. So the new master that is being made in Germany right now will be the only one worldwide to feature the longer version.

Will the longer version be in English, or are the extra scenes only in German? I remember someone claiming the German DVD of the extended/German cut didn't have English for those scenes, but I may well be wrong.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

I remember someone claiming the German DVD of the extended/German cut didn't have English for those scenes, but I may well be wrong.

The German DVDs of the longer cut is only in German from start to finish.

[Atreyu]

Had my copy on pre order for quite sometime. Cannot wait to finally see the extended cut. Needless to say my all time favorite movie!

[VincentVinyl]

Will the longer version be in English, or are the extra scenes only in German? I remember someone claiming the German DVD of the extended/German cut didn't have English for those scenes, but I may well be wrong.

Right now that is hard to tell probably. I think the new Blu-ray contains the extended version only - not the international cut. And as the studio lists English audio I would believe the whole movie should have an English audio track.

But hat is just speculation on my part right now and I think we can only tell as soon as someone has the disc in hand.

By the way here is a comparison of both cuts:

http://www.schnittberichte.com/schni...php?ID=1439182

It is in German, but you can see pictures of what was cut for the US. It amounts to about 6 minutes. As you can see there are not really any complete scenes cut. Rather it was an extensive re-cut where many scenes were shortened by a few seconds.

[FrankV]

I got the Blu-ray yesterday and the full movie can be watched in English. The opening and end titles and the text of the book and the letter Bastian leaves at the book store when he takes the book are in German and so are the menu screens and extras. The disc however is region free.

The transfer is acceptable, but could have been better. They used a little too much DNR and have overdone the color grading which results in less detail.

Details:

Extras
"Making of The Neverending Story" featurette (16:45)
Restoration featurette (8:52)
"Neverending Story" music video by Limahl (3:45)
Storyboard comparisons (4:21)
6-page booklet with notes about the restoration
Subtitles
German (optional)
Picture
2.35:1 1080p 24fps AVC MPEG-4
Soundtrack(s)
English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
German DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Running time
101:12 minutes

[Atreyu]

It seems to me all the blu editions of NES have some problems.
1) Dutch: Not as clear as the US and not really restores as spots/speckles and such can still be seen.
2) U.S.: Color and brightness problems. Though the sharpness and restoration problems seem to be fixed.
3) German-EC:Too much DNR.

Would be nice if we could get a great definitive version of both cuts of the film.

But that aside I love the extra footage. I admit no scenes have been cut and the cuts do not harm the storyline or the plot. I didn't even feel the pacing was slowed down

[Funktion]

Does anyone know how the Japanese 2-BD release compares to this new German release?

[VincentVinyl]

The Japanese edition is based on exactly the same master. The new master was just prepared by Constantin Film in Germany. So the only thing that might be marginally different is the compression. The new master is the only one that exists worldwide for the extended cut. So all future versions will have to use it for the time being.

[dullboy]

Review:
http://mondo-digital.com/neverending.html

[dullboy]

Watching the restoration featurette on this disc, I picked out of the German dialog that he said "grain management" and then I spotted this on his computer screen shortly after. I don't see all too often someone admitting to using DNR.

[Arkadin]

well there you have it--"grain management"--i.e. let's intentionally sabotage the amount of detail this blu-ray could have had and make it look less like an actual film at the same time.
true genius idea at work.

[Monroville]

Originally Posted by MondoDigital Review

Apparently the film elements for the German edition were left in substandard condition and almost lost, and with that in mind, the restoration here is a welcome one indeed with one caveat. The colors are by far the most impressive of any video transfer of the film, and it looks quite a bit fresher and brighter than the Warner disc with a notable amount of extra information on all four sides of the frame as well.

However, it's worth noting that (for reasons demonstrated in the making-of featurette), there's been a significant application of digital noise reduction, meaning some textures aren't as detailed or film-like as they could have been. (For example, compare this shot from the Warner Blu-ray with this one from the German disc.)

I say be happy we have what we have. Maybe it could have been better, but considering that up until now all you had was an inferior source... well, it could have been a lot worse.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by Monroville

I say be happy we have what we have. Maybe it could have been better, but considering that up until now all you had was an inferior source... well, it could have been a lot worse.

I don't quite understand the hatred on this transfer. Yes, there's too much DNR on there for sure, but the colors are stronger than the U.S. release at least. Certainly I can name a dozen or more German releases that are FAR worse (many that originate from a standard-def source for starters!).

If you are a fan of the film, there's no reason not to import this if you are outside Germany...