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

[James Luckard]

Just to be clear, this is the Bond 50 set I have, the very first one, from Sept 25, 2012:


The same disc was released on its own a week later, on Oct 2, 2012:


Which edition are you saying is the remastered one?

[koberulz]

If GoldenEye had got a remastered Blu-ray, it would've been widely-shared news.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by koberulz

If GoldenEye had got a remastered Blu-ray, it would've been widely-shared news.

I agree, I never heard about it, and it seems unlikely, but I'm trying to stay open minded, in case it somehow got a silent repressing of some sort that very few people ever noticed.

[LMFAObros]

Goldeneye remaster on streaming looks really good, have any of the others been remastered for streaming

[BNex99]

Originally Posted by LMFAObros

Goldeneye remaster on streaming looks really good, have any of the others been remastered for streaming

There are 4K masters for all the films out there, though I think some may be the old Lowry versions repurposed. They're all available on most of the digital rental/sale platforms, but not sure how widely they've been distributed to streaming services.

GOLDENEYE in particular looked horrendous on the Blu-ray, so its remaster is more of a noticeable upgrade than most of the others. I am also curious about this alleged remastered Blu-ray, as I feel that would have been big news on here.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by BNex99

GOLDENEYE in particular looked horrendous on the Blu-ray, so its remaster is more of a noticeable upgrade than most of the others. I am also curious about this alleged remastered Blu-ray, as I feel that would have been big news on here.

So far we only have one member saying they have a copy.

I've never heard anything before about a stealth remaster of GoldenEye. I would think that with the power of James Bond fandom, somebody else would have caught it.

However, I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, since a UHD seems unlikely in the near future.

[Riddler95]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

I stand corrected on Spectre. It was a combination of digital photography ranging from 3.4K to 6.5K, Super 35, and VistaVision, with a 4K DI. So there’s two native 4K UHDs out there.

As for Goldeneye, there were rumors for years about a remastered Blu-ray, with most saying there was only one disc. Considering the first disc was similar to Predator, I was actually shocked to see the grain on the transfer. It wasn’t that heavy, just a light veneer of grain. (This isn’t shocking considering this was sourced from the negative; barring a stylistic move where the negative has heavy grain, there’s usually very little grain with a negative but it’s still there.)

As someone who has this remastered disc, I can confirm that Goldeneye has two Blu-ray discs.

I can confirm this too.

I own the Pierce Brosnan James Bond Collection Blu-Ray set that Warner Bros released a few years ago and the Video Presentation for GoldenEye does feature some "Light Film Grain" in the image.

I was shocked because I was expecting my Blu-Ray copy of GoldenEye to be the same disc with the awful transfer that was released way back in 2012 but the transfer on my copy is no where near as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is actually quite nice and is a significant improvement over my Ultimate Edition DVD copy which no longer plays.

I think that MGM quietly created a new Video Master for GoldenEye and repressed the Blu-Ray with the superior transfer.

[jdw89]

Originally Posted by Riddler95

I can confirm this too.

I own the Pierce Brosnan James Bond Collection Blu-Ray set that Warner Bros released a few years ago and the Video Presentation for GoldenEye does feature some "Light Film Grain" in the image.

I was shocked because I was expecting my Blu-Ray copy of GoldenEye to be the same disc with the awful transfer that was released way back in 2012 but the transfer on my copy is no where near as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is actually quite nice and is a significant improvement over my Ultimate Edition DVD copy which no longer plays.

I think that MGM quietly created a new Video Master for GoldenEye and repressed the Blu-Ray with the superior transfer.

You've piqued my interest now! I may need to procure a copy of Goldeneye now...

[Riddler95]

Originally Posted by jdw89

You've piqued my interest now! I may need to procure a copy of Goldeneye now...

Good luck!

20th Century Fox Home Video handled the video distribution of MGM movies. But after Disney bought the assets from Fox in 2019 Warner Bros has been handling the video distribution of MGM movie.

During the past few years lots of MGM movies have been quietly re-released on Blu-Ray and DVD from Warner Bros and they usually have the WB logo on bottom right corner on the back of the case.

July of 2020 was when Warner Bros began releasing the older James Bond movies on Blu-Ray and DVD under the WB label.

This is probably why the GoldenEye Blu-Ray from Warner Bros uses the newer transfer.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by jdw89

You've piqued my interest now! I may need to procure a copy of Goldeneye now...

It doesn't look like there are any standalone releases of GoldenEye still in print. I think the only way to get it might be to buy the Pierce Brosnan Bond BD boxset, and hope it's a post-2020 copy.

[Shane Rollins]

I can confirm that, yes, the disc is remastered.

I had initially heard what a disaster the disc was, popped it in, and said "this is nothing like anyone described." It wasn't even a case where the DNR wasn't that bad, it was literally a transfer nothing like anyone described.

I started looking, and other people said the disc was remastered.

It truly looks like a 4K scan/restoration/master of the OCN. While there's not a lot of grain, it's certainly not because the image got waxed. It's also not because they used the superior version of DNR, which actually removes grain without making the disc look like Predator. The only way I could make my disc look even remotely close to the original Blu-ray was to crank the DNR on my TV up to 11, and even then it was only mildly waxy, still not even close to the original disc.

There truly are two different discs. There's no possible way these could be the same disc.

Where the initial disc went so frickin' wrong is a problem that began before Blu-ray even existed. There's a Special Edition DVD listed here as being from 1999 and 2002, that disc had the initial waxy transfer. While I'm sure that looks beautiful on a DVD theater in a box hooked up to a Trinitron, it looks like ass on real equipment.

(As a disclaimer, I have no clue what was on the original snapper disc from 1997.)

Then Lowry did their 4K restoration, which apparently showed up on DVD in 2007. I didn't know the Blu-ray debut of Goldeneye was in 2012, so that's news to me.

Somewhere along the lines, the earlier Special Edition transfer got dropped on the Blu-ray. So in a tradition we're sadly all familiar with in this community, you had a DVD that was better than a Blu-ray, but with 22 other "solid" discs in the box, could you really complain about one?

Eventually, while still maintaining that the Blu-ray was, is, and had always been perfect, someone just quietly switched the master from the Special Edition transfer to the Lowry transfer.

I can say right now that the disc is in the white set, which is going for no more than $60 everywhere. (I think that means something's on the horizon and they're burning off old stock, but you can take my opinion for whatever you will.) I will attempt to excavate my set today, but no guarantees.

I'm 100% sure though that there are two different discs. That first disc was like Predator. This second one looks like it came from Criterion.

[Shane Rollins]

Success!

I'll give you a detailed packaging and disc description, so you can pick this up if you want:

[Show spoiler]It's the white case edition of The James Bond Collection, with a sticker on the front that says "24 BOND FILMS INCLUDING SPECTRE 007 4000072096". I don't know what's on the back because I never removed the shrink or the J-card (more of a U-card), nor do I intend to.

It has a 2016 year on the case, but also mentions "In the USA, distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment." It also has the newer WB shield (off the top of my head, it's on the spines of Willy Wonka, A Clockwork Orange, and Barbie), so this set most likely dropped way after 2016.

The bar code is 8 83904 34670 8 and the number under the bar code is 3000084154.

Inside the white slipcover is...wait for it...another slipcover, this time a black one with the titles of the first 24 official movies written in dark gray repeatedly wrapping around the slip. Inside that slip is fortunately not a third slip, but three massive flipper cases which are unsurprisingly broken. (I think mine were broke at the plant and sealed in there anyway.) The first one, numbered 3000084149, says 1962-1977 on the front and side, and has the first ten official films. The second case, numbered 3000084150, says 1979-2002 and has the next ten official films, and the third, numbered 3000084151, says 2006-2015 and has Casino Royale 06, Quantum Of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre. Also, all three cases say 2015, but have the same WB disclaimer and the same WB logo as the U-card.

There's not one mention of NTTD anywhere, despite this set likely being manufactured and distributed well after NTTD was released.

(I also think whoever invented flippers should be charged with crimes against humanity. Ten discs is way too damn many to have on a flipper. But that's besides the point.)

The disc itself says:

GOLDENEYE

007

Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer
ARS GRATIA ARTIS
TRADE MARK
ENTERTAINMENT

THIS DISC IS
COPY PROTECTED

b)™
Blu-ray Disc

2000157015 007 Gun Logo and related James Bond Trademarks © 1962-2015 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. 007 and related James Bond Trademarks are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC. All Rights Reserved. © 1995 Danjaq, LLC and Seventeen Leasing Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The inner ring, visible from the front, either says "IFPI KKON" or IFPI KK0N".

On the back, the outer ring says "IFPI LV78" and "(1129960) 7000090928
06E 010001".

The inner ring says "IFPI LV79" and "(1129961) 7000090928 04E 010001".

The innermost ring only has the same eight characters I mentioned earlier as being visible from the front.

That description out of the way, I'll play the disc now.

Begins with eternal black, a firmware notice, more eternal black, lots of laser adjustments, the 201? 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Logo, an FBI Warning, then that big-ass menu.

When you hit "Initiate Mission", the movie begins. There's the 90s MGM logo, the modern UA logo with the 90s soundtrack, the gunbarrel, then the movie.

There's actually more grain when I'm staring at the screen. Somehow, I hadn't noticed that the shot from 0:02:14 to 0:02:17 was a combination of several generations of film and (weak) 90s CGI until now. The grain spikes there.

When Bond is in the storage closet, there's much more grain then I initially saw.

There's no motion smoothing whatsoever. There's also no instances of one object just randomly disappearing, like you might have seen on the absolute stunner of a 4K that was American Graffiti.

I didn't check the shot at 0:09:12-0:09:13, where the guy gets hit by the bike, closely. While it looks a bit waxy, it doesn't look as much DNR waxy as it does poor CGI waxy (think the Burly Brawl in The Matrix Reloaded). The shot from 0:10:29 to 0:10:39 looks poorly composited, possibly by a computer, but not DNR'd.

The opening credits is 90s CGI, printed out to film, and that printout is cut into the negative. Rather than go back the printout (which maybe was done at 2K?), they just scanned the negative which had the printout in it. There's definitely no DNR here. DNR would've wrecked this entire scene.

I got to 0:13:24 out of exactly 2:10:00 before I pulled the disc.

I don't have the time today to do the whole disc, but there's no possible way this is the same disc that was initially released. There's simply no possible way.

The picture on this disc is solid, and it might be the best disc in the set. The soundtrack is amazing too.

The worst I can say about this disc is that the restoration is aging, and that it's high time to do a new one. However, given the choice between finally fixing the Connery and Moore films that have weak discs at best, and redoing the Brosnan films when they're all solid, I say start with Dr. No and go from there. This disc is good. There's some issues with the scan where you can see that even though this was 4K across the board, most of the actual work was automated, and done with DVD in mind. I do think, however, that they rightly judged this film different than the 60s films. The negative was in much better shape, and so Lowry likely put less work into this than they did to the earlier films, which is why the Connery and Moore films have myriad complaints while the Dalton films onward have relatively few. In fact, aside from the disastrous first disc of Goldeneye, I can't name one complaint I've heard regarding any post-Moore disc.

While Lowry fouled up the restorations of the older films, the first Blu-ray mishap is either MGM's fault, Fox's fault, or both of their faults. Someone at one or both studios dropped the wrong transfer on the disc, and when everyone raised hell about it, they quietly switched the transfer. All the while they said the disc was stunning, and that there was never any problem with it, but that just simply isn't true.

This second, Lowry-produced master likely was a solid master in the early 2000s, but it doesn't hold up nowadays.

The second disc is definitely the lesser of the two evils (seriously, that first disc is an absolute disaster), so if you can find it cheap pull the trigger.

The first disc was literally a DNR'd DVD transfer dropped on a Blu-ray disc. The second disc just has an old restoration. A solid restoration, but an old one nonetheless.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Which edition is it that you have? It's definitely different from the earlier ones?

I have the BD that came in the first Bond 50 set in 2012, that didn't include Skyfall. I believe that was the first ever BD of GoldenEye, which got a standalone release a week later. Is that the bad early one?

I'd gladly rebuy GoldenEye if there's a superior disc out there.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=4052

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Begins with eternal black, a firmware notice, more eternal black, lots of laser adjustments, the 201? 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Logo, an FBI Warning, then that big-ass menu.

Thus proving it's not a WB remaster.

[Member-839946]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Thus proving it's not a WB remaster.

I think he's talking about everything leading up to the display of the blu ray menu. How does all of "not the movie" say anything about "movie"?

[Fat Phil]

If this disc is in circulation, wouldn't it just be easier to pick up the Pierce Brosnan collection re-pressed by Warner Bros in 2020? Rather than the jumbo Bond collection. The thing's like $14.99. Shirley it would contain the same disc as the re-pressed jumbo?

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by ReedSolomon

I think he's talking about everything leading up to the display of the blu ray menu. How does all of "not the movie" say anything about "movie"?

WB remastered the movie, reauthored the disc, and left TCF's logos intact? Not buying it.

[Dailyan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdD206eSv0

[Member-839946]

The difference between a lying and being incorrect is knowledge and intent. I don't think anyone is lying.

[koberulz]

Right. The only people claiming there's a new resto are those who have put the disc in for the first time, having never seen it on Blu-ray before, and gone "it's not as bad as I expected." Nobody has ever claimed to have seen "both versions."