Voyage of Time (2016) - overseas versions

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'm a bit confused, the Variety article makes it sound like the Ultra Widescreen version dropped the narration. Are you saying there was also a regular IMAX version that dropped the narration? Where did that version run?

The 'Director's Cut' screening I saw (in IMAX-laser) was a one off screening at the Lockheed Martin Air & Space screenwith Malick in attendance - I thought it did get a release, maybe not ... it's my favourite of the cuts as the music only aspect, makes the whole movie much more majestic.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by BluCollector13

I saw the 70mm IMAX version with narration and the Ultra-widescreen version when it played for a week leading up to the release of "Rogue One". As a big Malick fan, I kept track of the different edits of the film.

I keep track of the stuff, not only because I am a Malick fan, but everything related to IMAX, and other premium big screen exhibition is my thing.

... and waiting for this to come out in the first place was literally years in distribution hell.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by inderweltsein

The Japanese disc has some ratio problems for example on some of the early universe shots (first stars glowing in the darkness for example); those are - from some mysterious reason - presented in narrow IMAX format.

Also there are some other minor imperfections throughout the movie for example overlooked lights from the modern human settlement in one brief storm shot in the late part of the movie.
As if (maybe) they used an unfinished master by error.

For the German vs French disc, the thing is really minor, but the bitrate difference slightly appear on screen (in minor detalis often, but sometimes more visible, for example in colour gradation from black to colour where there are more bad blocks on the German one).
These are my own comparisons (helped also by some finds of a friend for the Japanese one)

Disclaimer: I'm French, but my preference for the French edition has nothing to do with this...

Good to know, the Japanese disc sounds like it should be avoided for those reasons, in addition to its high price.

Do either the German or French discs have any opening titles or onscreen text not in English? I bought a German BD of Code 46, and a key onscreen text card was in German on the film print they used for the transfer.

[AaronJ]

Hmmm. I've been trying to decide what to choose. I'm not sure whether this thread has made my choice simpler or more difficult. Or both?

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Hmmm. I've been trying to decide what to choose. I'm not sure whether this thread has made my choice simpler or more difficult. Or both?

At least it sounds like the Japanese BD can be avoided, and the German and French sound exceptionally similar.

[inderweltsein]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Good to know, the Japanese disc sounds like it should be avoided for those reasons, in addition to its high price.

Do either the German or French discs have any opening titles or onscreen text not in English? I bought a German BD of Code 46, and a key onscreen text card was in German on the film print they used for the transfer.

For both, this is the international master without any alteration, so all the text (in fact credits) are in English.
(Obviously the menus are localized, but this is not important nor what you asked)

I forgot another alteration of the Japanese version: the closing credits are slowed down (probably to make them easier to read to Japanase people, as while it might be used sometimes in Japan, this not their main alphabet)

If I have to sum up: the French edition is perfect (or at least the best for now), the German has some slight blocks problem (probably because the inferior bitrate - you might not see them if you have not seen the French edition*). And the Japanese version has way bigger problems.


*: this is similar than the case of The Tree of Life: the French version seems great at first sight, or if you see it alone, but when you compare it the Fox one, with a slightly better encoding, you see that in the French one the flame sequences have block problems in the grey/black grading around the flame ... Well it is still a really great release but inferior to the Fox. And way better than the worst of the worst, the German one.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by inderweltsein

For both, this is the international master without any alteration, so all the text (in fact credits) are in English.
(Obviously the menus are localized, but this is not important nor what you asked)

I forgot another alteration of the Japanese version: the closing credits are slowed down (probably to make them easier to read to Japanase people, as while it might be used sometimes in Japan, this not their main alphabet)

If I have to sum up: the French edition is perfect (or at least the best for now), the German has some slight blocks problem (probably because the inferior bitrate - you might not see them if you have not seen the French edition*). And the Japanese version has way bigger problems.


*: this is similar than the case of The Tree of Life: the French version seems great at first sight, or if you see it alone, but when you compare it the Fox one, with a slightly better encoding, you see that in the French one the flame sequences have block problems in the grey/black grading around the flame ... Well it is still a really great release but inferior to the Fox. And way better than the worst of the worst, the German one.

Thanks so much!!!

How do the extras on the French and German discs compare?

[James Luckard]

Are both the French and German discs locked to Region B?

[Ray Jackson]

Sooo...is there any Region A release in the pipeline?

[Show spoiler]

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Sooo...is there any Region A release in the pipeline?

The Japanese release is Region A, but posters above have said it has flaws in the image at certain points (see post #20) and the end credits are slowed down.

[inderweltsein]

(Sorry for the late answer, I thought I had sent my answer, but for whatever reason...)

Both have the Dan Glass Life's Journey featurette that you can watch there:
https://www.facebook.com/OneBigSoul....35128513254238

And both have the trailer (the German one bears officially two trailers, but one of them is simply the dubbed version, with absolutely no visual difference).
And.. that's all.

Both are region-B locked (I have just checked the German disc as I had not thought about it).

[Dubstar]

the sad unfortunate aspect of Broad Green Pictures shutting down its entire production division (however it still looks like it's home video department is still up and running) is that 'Voyage of Time' like 'Song to Song' might have had a chance of being released on 4K UHD; instead it's been left in limbo and little to no news if they ever plan to release it as such (if at all).

[Gambit1138]

Chances are this would be included as a bonus film in Criterion’s future Tree of Life release. Apparently it’s quite an intensive production for this disc.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by Gambit1138

Chances are this would be included as a bonus film in Criterion’s future Tree of Life release. Apparently it’s quite an intensive production for this disc.

I certainly hope that’s true. If so, they should include all the cuts of VOT, especially the ultra-wide version.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Gambit1138

Chances are this would be included as a bonus film in Criterion’s future Tree of Life release. Apparently it’s quite an intensive production for this disc.

I can't see why, Tree of Life is owned by Fox, this film by a different entity. There were even lawsuits about the financing behind it:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...voyage-of-time

I'm not sure who actually owns it now. I suspect that's why there has been no US home video release.

Obviously I'd welcome being proven wrong with a Criterion announcement in 4 days though.

[Hazel Motes]

With multiple cuts of Voyage of Time in existence, (some feature length) I doubt Criterion would sandwich it with the forthcoming Tree of Life release, especially with rumor of more than one cut of TOL being included in the set.

That is unless they are doing a straight up Malick box set and including To The Wonder, Knight of Cups and Song To Song as well.

[James Luckard]

inderwaltsein, one last question for you, to help me decide between the German and French BDs.

The French disc has both 2.0 and 5.1 English tracks, according to the comparison website, while the German just has the 5.1.

Are the two English tracks on the French disc identical? Or is the 2.0 track an alternate track of some sort?

Thanks!

[inderweltsein]

This is a similar track (except that it is in Stereo instead of 5.1 that is why I do not use "identical")
But from my understanding (from also the record of the theatrical distributor and the home video editor), this seems to be a Stereo track, *officially* produced and provided by the production (for anyone that want to hear it in Stereo without relying on a possibly bad mixing algorithm of the devices)?
So this seems for now the only way to get this official Stereo track.

[James Luckard]

inderweltsein has officially convinced be to buy the French disc.

however there are two listings, with different release dates and different prices but identical covers.

This one came out Sept 13, 2017 and is EUR 19,99:
https://www.amazon.fr/Voyage-of-Time.../dp/B0717B7HHN

This one came out Feb 12, 2018 and is EUR 14,99:
https://www.amazon.fr/Voyage-of-Time.../dp/B078X941TT

Is there any difference between the two discs? I can't figure out two releases so close together, and one that's EUR 5 less.

[inderweltsein]

Two reasons:
-they did not anticipate the first release would go beyond borders, so the first print is OOP (or almost)
-also from my search the first print used the market distribution services of Sony Pictures, while this one is distributed directly by the publisher (that is why the title is still OOP at some competing companies.. as they might be less efficient than Sony), so probably the Sony service contract expired and this is why on the same date February 12, many other titles were re-published.

Usually, a re-release like this is because the first print was a limited edition, and the second print is a cheaper version, but this time this seems to be only a matter of contract (and maybe also of a too little number of copies for first print)

So this will exactly be the same one, except the barcode number. If you wish, you will scan us your backcover to confirm