Dragon Ball Movie 4 Pack Discussion

[Mountain]

Well, you could definitely watch them in 4:3 or widescreen and be fine but, the errors are only visible in 4:3 which always made me think widescreen is how they intended them to be viewed. That's just my way of thinking though.

So then how many do such errors exist? I think errors like above are just common errors, and cannot be the proof of how Toei intended them to be viewed. If all DB movies had been meant to be viewed only in 16:9, they even would've not drawn top and bottom of the screen in every scene. Back in those days, it was normal to produce anime movies in 4:3 and show them in 16:9 at theatres, and most of them were released on VHS in 4:3. They were all meant to be viewed in both 4:3 and 16:9. Thinking the DB movies must be watched in 16:9 is not proper.

Still, I disagree. It's a personal choice whether or not one wants to watch the films in either 4:3 or 16:9. However, they were all shown theatrically in widescreen (most probably 1.85), so case closed.

[kei17]

However, they were all shown theatrically in widescreen (most probably 1.85), so case closed.

No, there were many theatres showed DB movies in 4:3 here, in Japan. I watched it.

[Mountain]

However, they were all shown theatrically in widescreen (most probably 1.85), so case closed.

No, there were many theatres showed DB movies in 4:3 here, in Japan. I watched it.

Do you have any source to support that? I'm not trying to be rude, but I'd like a definitive answer. I can generally find out accurate information on nearly any other film and/or television series except DragonBall, simply by searching the web. Why is this? Argh...

[Tanooki Kuribo]

No, there were many theatres showed DB movies in 4:3 here, in Japan. I watched it.

Hmm, cool. Well I guess I should say, I rather watch these movies in widescreen. If it's how it was intended or not, I guess that's just how I like them. Maybe Wasted Wisher could give us some information about this.

When Movie 12 was shown in theaters here in the USA, FUNimation used their DVD which was 4:3, so I guess you could say our theatrical release of movie 12 wasn't widescreen.... but that's being a little technical.

[kei17]

However, they were all shown theatrically in widescreen (most probably 1.85), so case closed.

No, there were many theatres showed DB movies in 4:3 here, in Japan. I watched it.

Do you have any source to support that? I'm not trying to be rude, but I'd like a definitive answer. I can generally find out accurate information on nearly any other film and/or television series except DragonBall, simply by searching the web. Why is this? Argh...

Well, I don't have the source. My elder brother and I just remember it. Back in those days, it was a very common sight that a man distributing discount tickets of Toei Anime Fair at the school gate. You could use that ticket at a nearby citizen hall or a music centre. Since such local centres tended to have a small 4:3 screen only and the movie film itself has the full screen image, they showed the movies in 4:3 format.



All the distributed films were in 4:3. Big theatres that have a wide screen just covered top and bottom to show it in 16:9.

[Gozar]

Well, wouldn't that be the same case as Live Action theatrical movies? For example, before Widescreen TV's were the norm, DVD's came out with both Fullscreen and Widescreen versions. In addition, the Movies would air on TV in 4:3. The Movies were still intended to be viewed in 16:9, just having an alternate of 4:3.

I think the same concept applies to the DB Movies. Personally I don't care which way I watch the Movies in. But...er...yeah.

[Kaboom]

Now that we've been enlightened, I'll ask again. Can anyone demonstrate just how bad these reported video and audio quality issues for Movie 2 really are? I'm planning to purchase the set sometime this week and I'd like to know what I'll be getting.

[VegettoEX]

Very different. Live-action theatrical movies in America that were screened as widescreen (usually ~2.35:1) and later released on home video as "full screen" had their left and right sides cropped off -- basically the opposite of FUNimation's orange bricks. They would even occasionally shift the focus of the screen a little bit with artificial panning, creating something new called "Pan & Scan".

So no, they were never "intended" to be shown in 4:3, and in a few cases (such as The Insider), you had instances where the film's producers/directors insisted the home release be ONLY letterboxed, with no "full screen" version available at all.

(You've, of course, got a few cases where it's originally filmed and captured at vertically larger than 2.35:1 and framed for widescreen and then when making the 4:3 home release still having that visual data in the original version so you don't have to double-crop it... but we'll ignore that.)

[Adamant]

For example, before Widescreen TV's were the norm, DVD's came out with both Fullscreen and Widescreen versions. In addition, the Movies would air on TV in 4:3. The Movies were still intended to be viewed in 16:9, just having an alternate of 4:3.

That was mostly an American thing, because that place has enough idiots to support such terrible releases.

[Innagadadavida]

I wouldn't call it idiocy. More like ignorance. Hollywood didn't do a good enough job explaining it when DVDs came out, and in fact contributed to the problem by releasing the two versions.

[Mountain]

For example, before Widescreen TV's were the norm, DVD's came out with both Fullscreen and Widescreen versions. In addition, the Movies would air on TV in 4:3. The Movies were still intended to be viewed in 16:9, just having an alternate of 4:3.

That was mostly an American thing, because that place has enough idiots to support such terrible releases.

Though that seems a tad bit harsh, nevertheless, it is true. In the beginning, people ate up fullscreen releases, and even some people still do today. On the other hand, the marketing of 'widescreen' and 'fullscreen' was/is a little confusing to the masses. Some people thought, "it says 'fullscreen', so it must be the entire picture!" Others don't care and, yes, many don't even know about aspect ratios. The truth of the matter is that there are plenty of uneducated individuals where technology is concerned, so it affects those who do give a damn, too. Luckily, that is all behind us, as I am about 99% sure that no Blu-ray has been released outside of its original aspect ratio; let's hope it stays this way.

Back on topic:

I'm curious to see how bad these A/V quality issues are for movie 2, as well.

[Cipher]

Got this yesterday and have been going through it. A few questions:

I've never actually seen the 10th anniversary movie before. It looks great on this disc, but there are a few shots here and there that have an extremely dark blue/purple tint. It's kind of jarring. Do these appear in either the Dragon Box or first FUNimation release?

Also, I just watched movie #2, and it seems like it has ... a lower framerate than the first film? I don't know. It's really minimal and hard to notice. I'm not sure if I was imagining it, if the movie actually isn't animated as well as the first one, or if this is some bizarre problem specific to this release.

[LeprikanGT]

This sucks! I went to TWO different BestBuys where it said they were in stock and both had zero copies, so now I have ot wait until either Monday or Tuesday for it to get shipped to me. Although, how in the hell can you order something on a Tuesday on a TWO DAY SHIPPING and it arrive the NEXT tuesday? Where I come from thats FIVE day shipping.

[Kaboom]

I had to venture into the dark depths of FUNimation's forums, but I finally got an adequate comparison for Movie 2's video quality.


Left: Old FUNi single(?), Right: FUNi Remastered

Other than some color saturation differences, it looks okay, which is a relief. With how I remember the old release from FUNi looks, I was dreading to discover tons of film damage and what-not.

[Gaffer Tape]

Hmm, does look like FUNimation did its usual routine of pumping up the blues, though.

[Kaboom]

So, I got myself the set. I could have a basic dissection done by the weekend, unless anyone's already working on one who could definitely do it better than me (i.e. Tanooki, etc). I have the original 3-pack from FUNi too, so if somebody wants to point out specific moments or shots for me to make comparison with, I could do that. Just go easy on me.

First impressions:
- The packaging is really no better or worse in structure than other similar sets, but it looks very nice. We've already seen earlier in the thread how they used new art for the front cover, and old poster art for the back, and such.
- The JP audio quality differs from movie to movie, but it can definitely be said that all 4 movies LOOK quite nice, video-wise. Much better in that department than the old single releases.
- Anything that needs saying about Movie 1's long-in-coming release has already been said in Mike's review on the main site. The new dub has the excellent Kai cast, but takes a blow in quality by using a script based off the old edited release.

[Echo64]

I got this set today, I had already bought movie one separately, but at least now have a backup! I have to admit that I have never watched any of these movies before, so you can imagine how impressed I was when watching The Path to Power, the dub and picture quality is great. No negative comments except I'm not really impressed with the generic DVD menus, but that doesn't matter that much.

For $25, this was definitely worth every penny.

[LeprikanGT]

Hopefully my copy comes in Monday-Tuesday, I own the OLD 3 slimcase set but I'm excited to watch Movie 1 since it was terrible on that Saga of Goku 2 pack.

[Gozar]

Wow oh wow. I popped in Movie 2 last night. The first 3 minutes or so of the Movie look god awful. The intro and first couple of scenes are insanely grainy and dirt filled. Also, the Japanese Audio in the first few minutes sound like utter garbage. On the level of some Lupin III Fansubs from the First TV series (1971) that I've seen. It clears up after the first few minutes, but boy oh boy was it awful. I'm not sure if the Single was this bad, I can't check as I sold mine once this set was announced.

I'm at school right now, but later tonight I'll post up a Video showing you guys just how bad it is.

[Cipher]

So, the jerkiness of Movie 2's video. It's really subtle, but after a second skimming, I'm sure it's there. Anyone else notice this? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Overall though, this set is still handily worth its price.