Conan the Barbarian (1982) / Conan the Destroyer (1984)

[Jeff B]

Holy smoke! That looks brilliant. The picture in which Conan is holding the sword with both hands rocks.

[billyearle]

I was combing this thread and wasn't sure if the audio issues that needed to be fixed also include the French release. Just got the French 2 pack last week from Amazon.fr. Is there any reason to think something could still be wrong with it? I haven't seen the movie since the remastered DVD some years ago, so I wouln't notice any changes unless they sounded horrendously wrong. The movie seemed great, watching it last night, the most I've ever enjoyed it.
One strange thing about the French disc is most of the special features play out in the upper left corner in a kind of thumbnail "picture in picture" size, where on the US disc they play windowboxed, which is OK. The French disc does add the excellent new HD featurette "Rise of a Legend" however.

[JimDiGriz]

Watched the newer UK one last night. PQ and AQ are up and down as I expected really. PQ can look very good at times but quite ropey in places - especially at night/dark indoors of course.

AQ was...changeable. It sounded rather tinny earlier on but seems to get better as it goes along. I didnt notice much surround activity at all which is strange because the blu-ray.com review of the US version goes on about how good the surround activity is? The music is fantastic of course. There is some slightly odd editing at times but all the different tracks are great anyway. I had the DTS track on naturally but I did notice the mono track listed - not sure what its like.

[Xenonas]

Isn't the UK version edited because of the horse falls or something? Anyway - if I was to buy Conan the Barbarian is there a version out there (UK or US doesn't matter) without edits and audio glitches? And if there is could someone be kind enough to provide an amazon link?

[Philly Q]

Originally Posted by billyearle

I was combing this thread and wasn't sure if the audio issues that needed to be fixed also include the French release.

The French disc is the same as the original UK version, the Hong Kong version etc... so yes, it has the audio issues.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Originally Posted by Xenonas

Isn't the UK version edited because of the horse falls or something? Anyway - if I was to buy Conan the Barbarian is there a version out there (UK or US doesn't matter) without edits and audio glitches? And if there is could someone be kind enough to provide an amazon link?

Nope, all Blu-ray versions of CONAN THE BARBARIAN are either edited or have faulty audio or both.

However you could contact vidjunkie by PM and he might be able to help you out.

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by Xenonas

Isn't the UK version edited because of the horse falls or something? Anyway - if I was to buy Conan the Barbarian is there a version out there (UK or US doesn't matter) without edits and audio glitches? And if there is could someone be kind enough to provide an amazon link?

Yeah the horse fall is missing I think but it has extra bits compared to the US one. I love the extra ending bit.

[billyearle]

Originally Posted by JimDiGriz

Yeah the horse fall is missing I think but it has extra bits compared to the US one. I love the extra ending bit.

I've read the UK disc plays cencored or uncencored depending "on your players settings" so I did a check on my French BD. When my player is set to region B you don't see the horses falling, but when I set it to region A you do! That was a nice surprise. I do wonder if the audio issues have been fixed, because not having seen the film in another version like 50 times in the last year, it seemed totally fine to me. (It's been at least 5 years since I saw it) I can understand if you have the film ingraned in your memory these alterations could stand out like a sore thumb, but if you are not one of those people I think you can enjoy, at least the current French BD, without worry.
It's not the same for reference, as music editors typically make changes in the film mix, but I listen to the various soundtrack album editions pretty frequently, but still didn't notice anything radically wrong with the music in the film. So maybe the French disc has been fixed??? Or it's like I said before, the changes are not a problem unless you have this movie's audio pretty well memorized.
PS, I hope I don't sound like I'm mocking anyone who does watch Conan over and over, I love the movie.

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by billyearle

I've read the UK disc plays cencored or uncencored depending "on your players settings" so I did a check on my French BD. When my player is set to region B you don't see the horses falling, but when I set it to region A you do! That was a nice surprise. I do wonder if the audio issues have been fixed, because not having seen the film in another version like 50 times in the last year, it seemed totally fine to me. (It's been at least 5 years since I saw it) I can understand if you have the film ingraned in your memory these alterations could stand out like a sore thumb, but if you are not one of those people I think you can enjoy, at least the current French BD, without worry.
It's not the same for reference, as music editors typically make changes in the film mix, but I listen to the various soundtrack album editions pretty frequently, but still didn't notice anything radically wrong with the music in the film. So maybe the French disc has been fixed??? Or it's like I said before, the changes are not a problem unless you have this movie's audio pretty well memorized.
PS, I hope I don't sound like I'm mocking anyone who does watch Conan over and over, I love the movie.

Read the thread!

Ive got the newer UK one which doesnt let you pick the region etc but has fixed audio apparently. I deliberately got this one as Im not bothered about seeing a horse fall for a couple of seconds or not. I would be bothered about missing the extra footage that the US one doesnt have though.

[billyearle]

Originally Posted by JimDiGriz

Read the thread!

Ive got the newer UK one which doesnt let you pick the region etc but has fixed audio apparently. I deliberately got this one as Im not bothered about seeing a horse fall for a couple of seconds or not. I would be bothered about missing the extra footage that the US one doesnt have though.

Does the new UK disc restore the choral overdubs in both the 5.1 track and the 1.0? Does it also include the version without choral overdubs?
I did some more homework and comparisons. Someone pointed out that on the French BD you get what sounds like the original music mix on the Portuguese track (I didn't bother checking the other languages). The only scene I checked was the opening village battle, as that seemed to be the part with the most noticeable difference, or at least it was the part that gets mentioned & seems to upset some fans most. Although I would like to get a version with the original mix, musically I really like the way the opening battle plays with the orchestra dominating the passage in middle. In the original dub the chorus never really stops and in some ways it diminishes it's impact. It would be like if in the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th the chorus kept singing in unison over the orchestral passages. (maybe that's a stretch). I'm all for having the original version and want it very much, but I think it's unfair to call this "screwed up" audio vs. "fixed" audio. "Revised/alternate" vs. "original" would be more fair IMO.
If you can play region A, you really should check out the French disc, as I think the cencors cuts are more damaging to the flow& logic of the battle scenes and even the witch scene.

[Behemot]

Originally Posted by billyearle

Does the new UK disc restore the choral overdubs in both the 5.1 track and the 1.0? Does it also include the version without choral overdubs?
I did some more homework and comparisons. Someone pointed out that on the French BD you get what sounds like the original music mix on the Portuguese track (I didn't bother checking the other languages). The only scene I checked was the opening village battle, as that seemed to be the part with the most noticeable difference, or at least it was the part that gets mentioned & seems to upset some fans most. Although I would like to get a version with the original mix, musically I really like the way the opening battle plays with the orchestra dominating the passage in middle. In the original dub the chorus never really stops and in some ways it diminishes it's impact. It would be like if in the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th the chorus kept singing in unison over the orchestral passages. (maybe that's a stretch). I'm all for having the original version and want it very much, but I think it's unfair to call this "screwed up" audio vs. "fixed" audio. "Revised/alternate" vs. "original" would be more fair IMO.
If you can play region A, you really should check out the French disc, as I think the cencors cuts are more damaging to the flow& logic of the battle scenes and even the witch scene.

One way to compare altered vs unaltered soundtrack is to listen to the audio commentary track, which contains the unaltered music and audio in the background.

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by billyearle

Does the new UK disc restore the choral overdubs in both the 5.1 track and the 1.0? Does it also include the version without choral overdubs?
I did some more homework and comparisons. Someone pointed out that on the French BD you get what sounds like the original music mix on the Portuguese track (I didn't bother checking the other languages). The only scene I checked was the opening village battle, as that seemed to be the part with the most noticeable difference, or at least it was the part that gets mentioned & seems to upset some fans most. Although I would like to get a version with the original mix, musically I really like the way the opening battle plays with the orchestra dominating the passage in middle. In the original dub the chorus never really stops and in some ways it diminishes it's impact. It would be like if in the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th the chorus kept singing in unison over the orchestral passages. (maybe that's a stretch). I'm all for having the original version and want it very much, but I think it's unfair to call this "screwed up" audio vs. "fixed" audio. "Revised/alternate" vs. "original" would be more fair IMO.
If you can play region A, you really should check out the French disc, as I think the cencors cuts are more damaging to the flow& logic of the battle scenes and even the witch scene.

Not that nerdy about it Im afraid!

I did notice that the sound seemed quite tinny to begin with but improved as it went along. Its still a bit odd how some of the individual sound tracks merge together at times though.

[billyearle]

Just got the UK disc to have the original audio mix in good sound quality. Unfortunately, the censors edits in the 2 battle scenes with horses falling also make pretty jarring jumps/gaps in the music. Maybe if I hadn't just watched the US and French discs, I would've thought this was just a typical awkard music edit.

[bendermac]

the u.s. and european blu-ray don't have the original mono mix and they choir in soundtrack is screwed. the hong kong blu-ray however has the choir fixed. i don't know if it has the mono mix, but i doubt that.

as for the european disc censoring: change your player to a non-english disc/player setup and you can watch conan uncut.

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by bendermac

the u.s. and european blu-ray don't have the original mono mix and they choir in soundtrack is screwed. the hong kong blu-ray however has the choir fixed. i don't know if it has the mono mix, but i doubt that.

You sure about this? All reports say the HK disc is identical to the Euro releases. Buyer beware.

[bendermac]

i read it on two different websites. so something might be on it.

[Matt C.]

I'm sure someone's already mentioned it in this lengthy thread, but if and when these two movies get combined into a 2-pk (or better yet, a Triple Feature with the reboot), then I'll probably grab them. Not quite a big enough fan to be buying them individually (if that makes any sense). Fun flicks though, which I'll eventually own some day...

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by bendermac

the u.s. and european blu-ray don't have the original mono mix and they choir in soundtrack is screwed. the hong kong blu-ray however has the choir fixed. i don't know if it has the mono mix, but i doubt that.

as for the european disc censoring: change your player to a non-english disc/player setup and you can watch conan uncut.

Not on the newer UK disc. But the audio is supposed to be "fixed" - well in a better state than it was anyway.

Upcoming French steelbook looks nice too.

[vidjunkie]

The audio on the new UK disc is fixed, but you cannot get passed the edited\censored parts on the new disc either, and the new fixed audio sounds terrible, really terrible, we all talked about this already, there is no way in hell I will ever watch that new UK BD with that "fixed" audio, it is that bad.

If you surf back in this thread and the thread in the International UK thread you can find my comments and some others.

[Ill_Be_Back]

I can see Conan the Barbarian being re released with proper audio and a new transfer once The Legend of Conan comes out.