Any rumors about Buffy the Vampire Slayer show coming out on Blu-ray?

[Drewbee87]

Buffdale, how did the vamp Dustings VFX in "When She Was Bad" & "Prophecy Girl"(the one she kills in the beginning of the episode) look? Re-done or cropped + upscaled?

[Nico Darko]

All the vamp dustings were redone. I'll post a video soon

[Drewbee87]

Originally Posted by Nico Darko

All the vamp dustings were redone. I'll post a video soon

Thanks! Am I going to have to find out how they turned out when you put up the video, or can you tell me if they look good or bad now? lol

[mayorofsmpleton]

I doubt I would upgrade to BD if it were 16/9 widescreen. I will keep my DVDs. The framing is all over the place and that there's so much zoomed there's no easy way to mask my TV screen myself to fix it. etc. I shouldn't have to either way. I get making a wide version for broadcast. Joe 6Pack needs his TV screen filled. If I'm paying premium for something on Blu-ray I want the artistic integrity preserved.

I hope any BD keeps the series 4/3. Then again... if FOX doesn't I'll save a lot of money...

[NL197]

I've lost interest in this discussion for one simple reason:

Too many screencaps with no reliable way to just sit and watch the episodes without a crappy internet streaming option for three minutes at a time...shame these were never torrented or put on the iTunes store for those of us who have no access to Pivot.

Okay, maybe lost interest isn't the right term. Too frustrating is more appropriate.

[NileQT87]

NL197... You don't have to watch for 3 minutes at a time. You can sign up on FilmOn, look up the schedule, push record and then you can download the entire episodes in Standard Def. That's not 3 minutes at a time if you just record them and download them as .mp4s for free.

As for the green stuff... There's another cap posted above of the Master about to drop Buffy into the water where there is also that green light/goop on the wall in the lair. That's not a mistake. It's part of the set where green goop is dripping that we just didn't see before.

If there's a Master blooper where he's visible when he's not supposed to be, the easy fix is blacking him out with shadow. I looked at all the Marcie invisibility scenes... I don't see any mistakes there.

*edit* Not a blooper.

*edit* Look for a certain kind of torrential file at a certain piratical bay.

[NL197]

Originally Posted by NileQT87

NL197... You don't have to watch for 3 minutes at a time. You can sign up on FilmOn, look up the schedule, push record and then you can download the entire episodes in Standard Def. That's not 3 minutes at a time if you just record them and download them as .mp4s for free.

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Nico Darko]

Here for the new CGI effects. They look more redone than re-rendered.

Some match the originals okay but some are far too different. I'm really not a fan of the second vamp dusting from ep 2x01 (which is also in the opening credits). The turning into dust kinda looks like a combination of smoke and water
I also think they started to incorporate the vamp bone structure at the time of S2. You can see the skull in ep 2x01, which I'm not seeing in HD.

I thought the Master's death had been upscalled, but it looks redone. You'll also notice they used the wrong shot of Giles in that sequence. Sloppy sloppy !

I also included the scene with the Master talking, hiding in the shadow, that you're not suppose to see, but is very visible in the opened-up 16:9.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHXoooo12M

[Panemlights]

I'm glad that they're redoing the effects, but I agree that the vampire dust look too much like mist & smoke.

[Nico Darko]

As for the picture quality, the DNR impression was the same for me (on all 4 eps), I'm waiting to see some HD screenshots.

Eps 1.11 and 1.12 were still too bright, the color balance wasn't always right (but not terrible either). You still had those washed-out colors :




Season 2 seemed better in terms of brightness and contrast. I noticed that the scenes which were supposed to be dark were still dark. "When she was bad" looks pretty good in fact. The colors are still richer on the dvd though, except for a couple of scenes, like this one which looks a lot nicer in HD :





I noticed a few instances of slight cropping, but nothing serious. I would think they were trying to hide a "goof" but they didn't bother for S1, so probably not. Unless they started fixing with S2 ? that'd be swell. Anyone notice any "goof" in eps 2.01/2.02 ?

[Drewbee87]

Yeah, for maybe one or two of them the new vfx works, but the rest just doesn't look good. I did like the one from the beginning of "Prophecy Girl" more than the original.

EDIT: OK, I just watched that VFX comparison on my TV, I'm not liking the "Prophecy Girl" one now. lol I didn't see the part where the color of his clothes blends in with the dust like Darla's dusting in "Angel" when I watched it on my computer.

[Nico Darko]

The new vamp dusting is actually what bothers me the most in those two first eps of S2. It's a pretty big part of the show, you just don't mess with it.

They really should contact Loni Peristere (VFX superviser) :

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

[NileQT87]

That wrong shot of Giles is probably the worst mistake they've made yet. They really need to run these episodes frame-by-frame next to each other, because they're frequently way off on which frame they're cutting on. I, Robot... You, Jane has a lot of frames that don't match in that Moloch scene, but using entirely the wrong shot of Giles is a far worse crime.

As for the Master's side-frame appearance... Actually, it doesn't irritate me as much as others, as I imagine him saying that, then moving faster than the human eye (Angel does this trick in Lilah's car). The Master's voice moves to coming from a completely different direction after this sequence.

And the special effects desperately need to be matched way better than they're being done. If they're all going to be this far off, might as well start putting skeletons on the early ones. Or just redo them with effects that actually match the originals on the correct frames. We're going to be in trouble if this is how far off they're doing the effects with so little regard for the originals.

Imagine some of the ones such as in The Wish/Doppelgängland where vamp!Willow's face lingers. The unique falling ones done for main characters that linger on facial features such as both of Angel's in Surprise and The Wish are also going to need a bit more effort in trying to match the originals as much as possible. The Mayor and Turok-Han are also shots that are going to have to be matched frame-by-frame. The electricity on Moloch is also completely wrong with no regard for the original animation. Gwendolyn Post's demise (not to mention Balthazar's) is going to need a frame-by-frame recreation or, better yet, the original files.

Don't the original computer files still exist? Can they be found? It might be 10-17 years, but you'd think they'd have every single computer file backed up somewhere.

They've got to fix these to look more like dust than smoke. It's a way too important effect to be getting this wrong. There is actual dialog that talks about mistaking piles of dust (Cordy mistaking dust she forgot to sweep for Angel in I Will Remember You). Darla's dust doesn't even stay on the floor anymore... And she's a far too important character to screw up a dramatic death scene for.

The smoke poofs are also getting much bigger than the original dust poofs, such as the opening teaser vamp in Prophecy Girl. Pay attention to what the original looked like, guys!

[Drewbee87]

I'm going to be really pissed if they do this to the season 7 dusting's. Those were the best IMO. Especially the Turok-Han ones, the slow-mo scene of Buffy cutting off the head of that Turok-Han in Chosen would be completely ruined if they re-done the dusting like this.

[Nico Darko]

Originally Posted by NileQT87

They've got to fix these to look more like dust than smoke. It's a way too important effect to be getting this wrong. There is actual dialog that talks about mistaking piles of dust (Cordy mistaking dust she forgot to sweep for Angel in I Will Remember You). Darla's dust doesn't even stay on the floor anymore... And she's a far too important character to screw up a dramatic death scene for.

I feel the same way, those special effects are like a big signature for the show. The new ones really don't feel right.

I'm sure they have the original computer files, but like the night filter or color mistakes in S1, they don't seem to be using what they have correctly.


One thing that the remaster is doing right is giving us more height at the top of the frame. I always felt like the framing at the top was too tight on the dvds. The new masters show more of the negative at the top and less at the bottom, which feels more right in terms of framing :

[Nico Darko]

I noticed another nice thing in the HD version. There is one shot (in ep 2.02) where you can see the lighting equipment (in the 4:3 OAR) and the shot has been re-framed in the Pivot version so we don't see it.

That's like the first great thing they did ! Hopefully that means they'll be fixing all the "goofs" from now on.





The worst thing about the remaster has now become the vampire dusting !

I could be pretty happy if they could match the original effect, and adjust the DNR and contrast !

Fingers crossed

[theprestige85]

A big thank you to those who have been posting screen caps of the last few episodes.

The vampire dusting is atrocious, as others have said, it's a fundamental aspect of the show and to change it to look like smoke really suggests that these people have no respect for the show that they are working on. I'd honestly rather they just upscaled the effects rather than turn it into something that it's not supposed to be.

The cropping is also atrocious. I don't like it and it actually puts me off the idea of seasons 4-7 being in widescreen, even though I have only known to watch those seasons like that. It's really silly to mess with that as, we know, we mess with the mise-en-scene too. Not cool and really makes the show look amateur. I'm very disappointed and I PRAY these issues will be rectified for the blu ray release. Boo Pivot/FOX

[samukas]

Oh, that's nice to hear! I literally just finished watching 2x02 and couldn't spot any 'widescreen goof'. If they fixed that one, hopefully they are now more careful about those things. Will be nice when they get to season 4 to see if they fixed the ones we had already seen all these years.

Regarding the dusting, mostly it doesn't really bother me. I thought they only started adding the bone structure in Season 3? But maybe I was wrong...

That dusting in 2x01 (and the opening credit sequence, unfortunately) is really really weird though. Isn't it out of sync as well? Something's not right there, the effect, the framing, it doesn't seem to go together at all.

Edit: Is it me or does the text "Sarah Michelle Gellar" in the credits seems to move way too high? All the other names seem to have an animation closer to the original. I know I'm being picky here, but it annoys me :/

[Nico Darko]

Originally Posted by theprestige85

The vampire dusting is atrocious, as others have said, it's a fundamental aspect of the show and to change it to look like smoke really suggests that these people have no respect for the show that they are working on. I'd honestly rather they just upscaled the effects rather than turn it into something that it's not supposed to be.

I totally agree, I was happy that they were re-rendering the effects, but they're not, they're making totally different ones ! That is a big waste of money. If they won't re-render the original effects, I'd also rather have them upscaled.

Originally Posted by theprestige85

The cropping is also atrocious. I don't like it and it actually puts me off the idea of seasons 4-7 being in widescreen, even though I have only known to watch those seasons like that.

The cropping is only for a few shots and it's pretty minor. I'm actually okay with it if it means that the 16:9 framing looks better and without goofs. I'd still prefer the OAR but I'd rather have a few slightly cropped shots than a bunch of goofs and a weird composition.

[Buffdale]

Originally Posted by NileQT87

If there's a Master blooper where he's visible when he's not supposed to be, the easy fix is blacking him out with shadow.

They can fix it. But are they going to ? We should do an article with all the errors of this kind. Maybe Fox would correct them all...

Originally Posted by Nico Darko

Some match the originals okay but some are far too different. I'm really not a fan of the second vamp dusting from ep 2x01 (which is also in the opening credits). The turning into dust kinda looks like a combination of smoke and water

Thank you for the video ! Being true to the original vision is really not their thing. Too bad. Because it is much worse their way... I don't understand how they can not manage to recreate the special effects 15 years later. They just don't care I suppose.

Originally Posted by theprestige85

The cropping is also atrocious. I don't like it and it actually puts me off the idea of seasons 4-7 being in widescreen, even though I have only known to watch those seasons like that. It's really silly to mess with that as, we know, we mess with the mise-en-scene too. Not cool and really makes the show look amateur. I'm very disappointed and I PRAY these issues will be rectified for the blu ray release. Boo Pivot/FOX

Like you, I'm getting sick of our widescreen versions ! At this point, Fox should release two Blu-Ray versions. I don't think it will be a big waste of money. Since everyone will be happy.