James Bond: The Ultimate Collection (1962-2012) + Volume Collections

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Very cool!

Only one tiny quibble, your discs are chronological, I respect that. However, NSNA came out before AVTAK, not after it.

At least it's there... CR '67 gets dissed again.

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by travisbickle

My Bond collection...

That looks exactly like my shelf except for the
5 films at the end plus steelbooks and some
related titles.

See here:

James Bond 007 on blu-ray

[travisbickle]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

At least it's there... CR '67 gets dissed again.

Still haven't seen it. I think the idea of it being more of a spoof is why I haven't gotten around to it yet.

[JudgeJuryExecutioner]

The White Box 24-Film Bond Collection is currently $51.19 at Amazon.

Same price at Target

I’m really tempted to pick this set up.

[suspiciouscoffee]

Go for it. That’s about $2 a movie. When I got it it was closer to $4 per movie and a piece of cardboard in the last slot saying “This space reserved for SPECTRE and I thought that was a great deal then.

[erixon20]

Originally Posted by JudgeJuryExecutioner

The White Box 24-Film Bond Collection is currently $51.19 at Amazon.

Same price at Target

I’m really tempted to pick this set up.

I have some on blu-ray and all Craig's 4K's. SO I am trying to figure out if getting this is worth it since I need about 10 to have everything. I assume they are the same discs/extras on the individual ones sold separately?

[Shane Rollins]

For what it’s worth, Goldeneye was remastered at some point. I was expecting something like Predator and it wound up being solid. Not super grainy, but you could tell it had grain and wasn’t DNR’d. Considering Goldeneye and all of the official movies from 1962-2002 were sourced from negatives, there wouldn’t be much grain anyway, but it certainly wasn’t the old waxy disc.

While the fairly low price makes me think 4Ks are around the corner, I wonder whether they’d use the old 4K transfers (which aren’t exactly ready for prime time), or do new ones.

[Member-839946]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

While the fairly low price makes me think 4Ks are around the corner,

That would be great, but (and this is JUST a guess) the initial 4k releases will all be individual titles. It's what I'd do, to maximize profit. Then.. a year or two? later do a boxed set.

I have this box set and it looks fine. It may be the cheapest way to get Bond on Blu for a while, still, even if 4k's are imminent.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by ReedSolomon

That would be great, but (and this is JUST a guess) the initial 4k releases will all be individual titles. It's what I'd do, to maximize profit. Then.. a year or two? later do a boxed set.

I have this box set and it looks fine. It may be the cheapest way to get Bond on Blu for a while, still, even if 4k's are imminent.

I think both the DVDs and the BDs were first released in separate waves of individual titles, each a few months apart, simply because there are so many titles in the franchise. I'd expect the same thing if they ever choose to do UHDs of the whole franchise.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by ReedSolomon

That would be great, but (and this is JUST a guess) the initial 4k releases will all be individual titles. It's what I'd do, to maximize profit. Then.. a year or two? later do a boxed set.

I have this box set and it looks fine. It may be the cheapest way to get Bond on Blu for a while, still, even if 4k's are imminent.

As controversial as this may be, I actually support individual releases, one by one, over months if not years. It gives them more time to get it right. The Lowry masters, taken from 4K scans, restorations, and masters of the negatives of the 20 official Bond films made between 1962 and 2002, are fairly weak. They’ve always been weak. They have many issues with picture and sound quality, most of the OG tracks are lossy (until you get to Goldeneye), several of the OG tracks are actually missing things that were supposed to be there, the remixes are revisionist, and many of the images resembled DVDs, most notably the first press of Goldeneye, which was a disaster.

If they slowly go one by one, doing one film at a time, perfecting every little thing about every single film, we will have some of the best discs ever on our hands. If they just jam dozens of separate projects into one like they did before, it will be just as bad as it was before.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

If they slowly go one by one, doing one film at a time, perfecting every little thing about every single film, we will have some of the best discs ever on our hands. If they just jam dozens of separate projects into one like they did before, it will be just as bad as it was before.

Even if they release all the discs at once, they still might have remastered the actual films over a longer span.

True Lies, The Abyss and Aliens all came out on the same day, yet they all had years-long separate timelines of creating the underlying masters, and then of the new work being done for the UHDs. (Regardless of one's opinion of the end results.)

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Even if they release all the discs at once, they still might have remastered the actual films over a longer span.

True Lies, The Abyss and Aliens all came out on the same day, yet they all had years-long separate timelines of creating the underlying masters, and then of the new work being done for the UHDs. (Regardless of one's opinion of the end results.)

I somewhat agree with this.

What did them in wasn’t the long wait. There are films that took decades to jump to Blu-ray and 4K, and they’re solid. What did them in was the director putzing off with them.

As for Bond, they carried out the restoration of 20 films as if they were one. That was their first mistake. They then set about turning the films into as much of an AV spectacle as they could be, when that was the wrong way to go about it. Turning a bunch of 60s films with mono sound into demo discs to rival The Matrix makes about as much sense as remixing The Jazz Singer for Atmos, yet Lowry did it anyway.

Lowry effectively jammed 20 square pegs into one round hole, and it shows. On top of that, MGM hasn’t had their wits together in decades, so they neither noticed nor cared. They were one of the first people to farm out their home video operations in the 80s, and they’ve been more and more detached from their catalog as time goes on.

A boutique would ace this, as would the WAC team, which occasionally coordinates on WHV releases (including the 4K of Casablanca - the WHV guys overrode the WAC guys on the sound - and the eventual 4K release of Gone With The Wind), but the WHV guys and the MGM guys will completely wipe their ass with it.

[Nick Michalak]

The best way to go about the Bond films getting prepped for 4K is similar to what Paramount did with the Star Trek films. Do about four or so at a time. This is a bit easier considering you have different eras with different actors, and they've favored the actor-specific box sets before. I know it would be a little frustrating to wait if they start with Connery and you're waiting for Dalton or Brosnan era 4Ks. Still, I'd rather they do a great job to do it right than rush it again.

I know with the DVDs, they did box sets with a random variety from all eras, but I feel going era-by-era would keep a consistency in the mastering process. Still, as some have said, putting it in the inconsistent hands of Warner Bros is a gamble as it is. I so wish Sony was handling the MGM catalog instead.

[Mackattack57973]

The most recent set is only 50 dollars. Want it but holding off in case a 4K set comes next year

[erixon20]

I got this for just above 40 with all my discounts-I only have a few on 4k/BR-so that is a good deal.

[jtu128]

Originally Posted by Mackattack57973

The most recent set is only 50 dollars. Want it but holding off in case a 4K set comes next year

I can’t imagine how much a complete Bond 4k set would cost. Probably around $300, or more. The fact they’re with Amazon make me think we may never see a 4k release of the entire series.

[jdw89]

How much in special features are you missing out on compared to the ultimate set?

[Chie Satonaka]

I've been holding off on this set every time it goes on sale for a while now. I'm giving up on getting the older bonds in 4k and will just make do with this set.

I have the Craig 4 film 4k set plus NTTD 4k standalone.

If they ever do actor sets for the older movies in the future I may bite. But no chance on me getting individuals or a giant one at this point. Lost all patience waiting.

[Lum]

Originally Posted by jdw89

How much in special features are you missing out on compared to the ultimate set?

It's not a large amount. The ultimate set has just one bonus disc.
To clarify, both versions of the set were reissued to add Spectre.

(I'd have to buy the whole thing again for those special features...)

[J___T]

Do all entries in The James Bond Collection, i.e. Blu-ray set in the white box, come with the special features listed in the main pages for their individual releases?

I'm most interested in special features for the Moore, Connery and Lazenby titles, which are my favorites.

I'm sure this has been asked somewhere before, possibly even by me, but this thread is 200 pgs and there doesn't appear to be a thread for that specific set. Also, there is no review specific to that box. Also, there's no review specific to the white-covered versions of the films (at least not those I checked). This thread is linked from that set's page.

Thanks!