Colorized Movies...Your Opinions...

[Pyrrho]

Originally Posted by starcycle

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Hell, I think it's outrageous that they even "computerized" the original Star Trek series with gaudy CGI. Retouching some skin blotches and flaws in the film and that kind of thing to RESTORE the original is one thing, but adding something completely new and different is way out of line, in my opinion. Not to mention presumptuous. Like I said, if we had taken that approach with Shakespeare's plays or other art work, a lot of it wouldn't even be recognizable today. I think that does a massive disservice to the historical record as well as to the artist.

In the case of Star Trek, you can buy it either with or without the new CGI. I saw some of the episodes in HD on TV, and decided I did not like the new effects, so I bought the DVDs that have the original effects. I can tell you, however, why they did the CGI and that is because the original effects do not have the same picture clarity as the normal picture. You see, the original was filmed, so it can be made into true HD, but when the effects were originally made, they planned on just showing it on TV, not at a cinema, so the clarity and so forth of the effects were done to be good enough for analog NTSC TV only.

Now, I do agree that they should have tried to make the new effects more like the original, but, still, in this case, you can buy the original if you want the original. (Actually, you get the original picture, but you don't get the original sound, which annoys me. It is fine that they remastered the sound in surround sound, but I wish they also included the original mono track. Since DVDs allow for multiple soundtracks, there is no good reason for them to have left it off.)

[Pyrrho]

Originally Posted by Urchinn

I agree with alot of your statements, Pyrrho, but I really feel that if any director re-imagines a book (which vastly differs from the movies that leave out part of the source...lets face it, it is difficult to be faithful to any book in 90 minutes of screen time) to suit his fancy (or commercial viability), then that director cannot complain if his financing company decides to alter the film in any way. I'm guessing that my major beef here is that one of my fave literary series (Hobbit/Lord of the Rings) was re-imagined into stupidity. If Miramax wanted to release a 30 minute non-violent version for kids, I cannot see how the Jackson camp could complain. Wow, I'm really getting off the subject here!

Do you think that it is okay to print copies of the book in altered form without the author's consent? If not, why feel differently about films?

As for the director versus the production company, that will get us into a very sticky kind of problem. Is it "art" or a business commodity? What kind of contract was signed? This will get us too far away from the subject of this thread, so I will not presently pursue this aspect.

By the way, I am not as unsympathetic to your thoughts about making movies from books as may appear from what I have said so far. I am a big Jane Austen fan, and no one has ever done any of her books properly on film. In Pride and Prejudice, usually they make Jane less intelligent than she is in the book. The best version I have seen of it is in:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...dvdpricesearch

But they do some changes that I don't like (like making Jane less intelligent).

[Urchinn]

No, I don't think its okay to alter without author's consent...still, if the publishing company wants to do it, and they own the rights, there is little for me to do but complain/pontificate (just like we are doing here).
I am WAY IN AGREEMENT with you over the Jane Austin problem. The BBC does (again, I agree) it best...but it is just not good enough. I'm not crazy about ANY of the Austin films...but I'll keep seeing 'em when they appear.

[jetblack]

I'm ok with colorized movies. For those that don't care for them, they can remove the color with the tv controls. Everybody's happy........................

[starcycle]

Originally Posted by jetblack

I'm ok with colorized movies. For those that don't care for them, they can remove the color with the tv controls. Everybody's happy........................

[Brian]

Or better yet gat a b&w set. FWIW, sometimes I'll even view color broadcasts with the controls on B&W and like them better. Never got used to color cowboy (person?) movies. Also, prefer M.A.S.H. and some others in B&W.

[Pyrrho]

Originally Posted by jetblack

I'm ok with colorized movies. For those that don't care for them, they can remove the color with the tv controls. Everybody's happy........................

No, not everyone will be happy that way. When they add color, they also play with things like contrast and brightness, which is necessary for making the color look halfway decent. How much those things are adjusted varies from scene to scene. So turning down the color does not restore the film to the original look. In fact, once it is colorized, there is no possible way to adjust one's set to get it back to the original look.