Thunderbirds: Complete Series [Blu-ray]: Amazon.ca: DVD

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Amazon.com: 3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Word of warning! Aspect ratio shenanigans!, Feb 20 2009

By the Matt from Oz - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Thunderbirds: Complete Series [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Just a warning - if this is the same as the English release (and logic would dictate it is), then it has had the top and bottom chopped off to fill widescreen tvs. It was 4:3, so on a widescreen set there should be black space at the sides, or "pillarboxing".

When will these people learn? Original. Aspect. Ratio!

All that said, buy the SD DVDs instead. Thunderbirds is still one of the greatest sci-fi action shows ever! I can wait 'til they get their OAR blu-ray act together. When they do that, I'll buy it in a heartbeat. My dad loved Thunderbirds, I love it, and my boy loves it too. F.A.B.! O.A.R.!

I know people will slag me off for writng this before it's out (the British version IS already out and people ARE already upset), but I think it's better that I write this before it's perpetrated on more unsuspecting customers. And besides, everyone thinks my reviews are snobby anyway...

Repeat: If they restore the original aspect ratio, I'll buy it in a heartbeat!

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Quality, Oct 20 2009

By Scott M. Bosco "DVD Consultant/Reviewer/Writer" - Published on Amazon.com

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Thunderbirds: Complete Series [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Even thought the origianl sereis was filmed in the 1.33:1 ratio and this release is has been re-formated to fill a 1.85:1 widescreen TV I can't really complain. I know Granada did 2 Hi-Def transfers, 1.33:1 and this 1.85:1, both really should have been included for the viewer to choose. However, when dealing with puppets and since I own the previous DVD release the amount of visual information cut off in order to make a widescreen presentation isn't really all that much. In fact, the top part of the origianl picture being cut off just mean less wires to be seen.
The 5.1 soundtrack is the same that was previously released on DVD but it's a bit more cleaner in tone now. I live in the US and since most Blu-rays are region free I was happy to get this release have be able to play in on my Panasonic player. The downside it that the bonus materials won't play. I don't understand why, I've purchased Blu-rays released in the UK before and they all play fine. My guess is the bonus material on this release are NOT in HD.
The elements used for this release have been cleaned up and color corrected a bit and it shows off for the better in HD. I was surprised that the grain level was so low, especially since the image was blow-up in order to fill the widescreen monitor for 1.85:1.
Fans the series, as with most of the Gerry Anderson sereies tend to be a bit hyper and will put down any release if it isn't up to their standards. They need to cut-the strings and get with life in the real world and open their minds a bit. After all Gerry Anderson has been given all the credit over the years while his wife Sylvia played a major role in the look and construction of these series - probably much more than anyone has given her credit. Every sereis the man has produced without her has failed.
If you enjoyed the series I'd say go out and get this Blu-ray release. Unless you sit side-by-side and do a comparsion of the two aspect ratios, I doubt you'll miss anything. In a perfect world it would have been nice to have a choice, but I'd rather have this release than anything by A&E.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thunderbirds in Bluray, July 10 2009

By John Blackhall - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Thunderbirds: Complete Series [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Well, I recently bought the three disc set of The Thunderbirds on bluray without knowing that the show had been re-formatted to 16:9 widescreen and what do you know? I loved it! Someone is at last caring about the fact that people like us have actually spent large amounts of money to buy Hi Def Wide Screen plasmas and LCDs and therefore should be looked after wherever possible.

Knowing a bit about Gerry Anderson's career I wonder (though I admit I don't really know) if he while shooting the show in 4:3, was in fact composing the footage to accomodate a wide screen format in later years? I know that's asking a bit too much but I love the way they have done it here...I have a wide screen TV. I bought it so I could watch wide screen movies, and to see one of my favourite TV shows as a child in wide screen (and I really don't give a damn about some minor cropping of image, I can't really point to it and say 'hey where's that bit at the bottom gone?') is just wonderful.

TV when first introduced, adopted the 4:3 ratio primarily because square tubed TVs were comparitavly easy to produce, while bulkier 16:9 tubes were just technologically too difficult. It's also worth pointing out that the majority of movies made prior to the early 1950s were all shot on 35mm film stock in 4:3 ratio and this must have influenced the type of screen aspect ratio TV would use. Yes no 16:9 'Wizard of OZ', 'Gone With The Wind' or 'Metropolis'. I believe that a re-formatted version of 'Gone with the Wind' was released in 1959 in 16:9 to celebrate it's 20th aniversary, whether it still exists is anyone's guess, but at least we know that the DVD era is not the first time film makers have tried to 're-do' films.

While the limitations of sound for 60s TV is evident here in this edition (you just have to accept that Thunderbirds original soundtrack is a monural mix) some phasing of sound to the rear speakers is evident however the audio is mostly channeled to the centre and front speakers.

All that aside, Thunderbirds is definatley 'GO' in widescreen.

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