International Colossus - The Forbin Project, Released April 29 in Germany (1 Viewer)

[Brent Avery]

If it was already posted I missed it - released April 29 in Germany as a widescreen "Limited Edition " by Ostalgica it appears to be based on an older master from Universal but after viewing a few screen caps online decided to purchase a copy through Grooves.and hopefully it will not take too long to receive it - after three weeks finally got The Last Wagon and ordered A Man Called Sledge shortly after. For those interested I will definitely pass on what I see, and as I use a projector any comments will be a bit more critical.

 

[Brent Avery]

Dang - that should read Colossus - need to be more alert!

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I have the region 2 dvd released in 2008 by MediumRare in a widescreen anamorphic format and it looks better then my widescreen laserdisc. The region 1 released by Universal in 2004 was a pan and scan and a big disappointment. This is one of my favorite sci fi films of all time and very underrated one too and surprised nobody made a sequel out of it.

 

[RMajidi]

If it was already posted I missed it - released April 29 in Germany as a widescreen "Limited Edition " by Ostalgica it appears to be based on an older master from Universal but after viewing a few screen caps online decided to purchase a copy through Grooves.and hopefully it will not take too long to receive it - after three weeks finally got The Last Wagon and ordered A Man Called Sledge shortly after. For those interested I will definitely pass on what I see, and as I use a projector any comments will be a bit more critical.

The timing of this is uncanny, Brent. Just last night, I was going to post an enquiry about this title, after viewing my recently arrived, beautiful Blu-ray of Gog.

The Forbin Project was a popular TV staple in the late-70s on UK TV. I haven't seen it since those days, but remember it fondly as a tense and tight sci-fi thriller. Many elements of Terminator's SkyNet reminded me of this film, although I have no idea if this was a deliberate nod on James Cameron's part.

Please post again with your assessment of this disc, although I'll no doubt buy it even if it is sub-par.

Thanks again, Brent!

 

[Johnny Angell]

BTW, the author wrote a trilogy of books, of which the movie is based on the first. The later two books go in unexpected directions. Been a long time since I've read them.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I wonder if anybody knows what extras are on this new Blu-ray?

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Just ordered it too so when it arrives I will compare it to the region 2 dvd release.

 

[David Weicker]

Please also let us know if the Blu-Ray is Region 'B' locked

Thanks

 

[Dick]

Who said anything about Blu-ray? It's posted under the Blu-ray header, but I'd be surprised if this didn't turn out to be yet another (3 total by my count) European DVD. I can find no information about it on Amazon.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Both Grooves & Amazon in Germany have this listed as a Blu-ray + dvd and it does say that on the cover too.
Also a German site called Blueray-Disc has it listed as a Special Edition Blu-ray.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

 

[Dr Griffin]

Nice!
This one was high up there on my wishlist.

 

[Paul Tilburgs]

It is indeed a blu-ray plus a dvd. I watched the blu-ray yesterday: it looked very good to me.

 

[Wade Sowers]

It is indeed a blu-ray plus a dvd. I watched the blu-ray yesterday: it looked very good to me.

Can you advise regarding the Region Code? Hopefully, it is Region Free.

 

[Dick]

Both Grooves & Amazon in Germany have this listed as a Blu-ray + dvd and it does say that on the cover too.
Also a German site called Blueray-Disc has it listed as a Special Edition Blu-ray.

This is great news...thank you, sir!

 

[Angelo Colombus]

As soon as I get it I will compare it to the dvd released a few years ago. I do have a all region Blu-ray player but will try it first on my Panasonic player which only plays region A and if it does not work I will play it on my Sony player that plays the discs from Europe. Love that cover art work....

 

[Dick]

As soon as I get it I will compare it to the dvd released a few years ago. I do have a all region Blu-ray player but will try it first on my Panasonic player which only plays region A and if it does not work I will play it on my Sony player that plays the discs from Europe. Love that cover art work....

There seems to be a bit of a contradiction in the Amazon listing. The header says it's a combo, but below that are three purchasing options, and all of them are for DVD (although one is a two-disc set). I don't really trust stuff like that from overseas, so I await your opinion.

I might add that there is a second German edition of THIS ISLAND EARTH coming out also, with vastly superior cover art to the earlier Blu. They are calling this "The Final Edition," and here is the description translated from German:

"Completely Revised version. 3 different inflection Cover, comment Joe Dante, Super 8 version , trailer, photo gallery, Chapter Mortal rays, mutant monsters hypnotized atomic scientists and a visit to Island Earth - all that happens in this film, which is considered the original science fiction film of the fifties today . A pair of rocket scientists is kidnapped by the mysterious aliens Exeter from Earth to assist in the defense of his planet Island Earth against the warlike Zahgons [sic] . But the two romantically inclined scientists are determined to escape - even if this means that they must be made a fight to the death against sinister creatures , a flight through a meteor storm and a race through space in Exeter flying saucer . Alone at the incredible special effects worked to 2 1/2 years - was filmed in magnificent Technicolor." (Bold print mine).

I've no idea whether or not the transfer will be an improvement, or whether the "Super 8 Version," completely useless on the disc I own, will be watchable. "Comment Joe Dante" is promising at first glance, but the earlier edition features a Trailers From Hell episode with a Dante commentary, so that many be all it is. It'll be hard to determine (thanks to Amazon's stupid policy of lumping the reviews of every edition into one basket) if this will be worth re-purchasing, unless some kind soul among us decides to give it a shot.

 

[Paul Tilburgs]

I wonder if anybody knows what extras are on this new Blu-ray?

nothing really special, to be honest:

photo gallery for the film
photo gallery of the "original colossus" (the WWII Bletchey Park computer designed to decode the German Lorenz cipher)
some 4 minutes of the pan&scan version of the movie
"trailers from hell"-trailer
video impression of the "original colossus" (just a minute or 2)
trailers for another bunch of films (in bad to terrible quality)

extra's on the dvd differ slightly with as most "significant extra" extra: a not too good sounding audio version of a short science fiction robot story by Robert Shea (The Helpful Robots) accompanied by some weird pictures.

Still and most importantly, the movie itself looks and sounds fine to me. Sound is DTS-HD Master 2.0 English (and German and German subtitiels). Not sure about region coding: can't check now as I am at work.

 

[stevenHa]

I hope these will also be released in the States soon along with Cobra Woman.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Great news...just received my copy of the Blu-ray from Germany and did a comparison to the 2008 region 2 dvd release and this Blu-ray has a better sharper picture with very little film damage. Looks like they use a better print of the film so I do recommended this to anybody who likes the film but must have a player that can play region B discs.