DVD_O_Rama -- you seem to be making an incredible number of assumptions about me (and others in this thread). Just FYI... I have been a film fan (not 'DVD fan') for quite some time and have had a large laserdisc collection since the start of the format, 20+ years ago. I have purchased dozens of editions of my favorite films on multiple formats and have no issue with upgrading and double-/triple-dipping, etc.

I just don't see why it is so unreasonable for someone to choose to wait on a preorder (no one but you has used the word "boycott") for a title that may have problems. Especially when it is being released by a company that has a known reputation for releasing multiple versions of the same film. Why pay $20 for a potentially botched release when you can wait a year and get the Boomstick version or whatever?

Again, I don't see anyone advocating a boycott here or discussing 'polish on the package'... just people who are unwilling to preorder a title that may have audio defects (and ones that may be potentially corrected, ala the audio issues on other Anchor Bay titles like The Black Hole and A Better Tomorrow).

Yeah, I love how one negative remark out of two overwhelmingly positive reviews can throw everyone into fits of Anchor Bay bashing and pre-order canceling. It sounds like a few words and sound effects are taken from an inferior dub. Does anyone even bother to consider that maybe there are legitimate reasons for this being done? We're all just armchair quarterbacks when it comes to this stuff. Unless you were in the transfer studio when this was done, then we can't really know what happened or why. But I guess it's easier to just post our uninformed knee-jerk reactions about how Anchor Bay is screwing us over. We can't proclaim it defective and demand a recall without first knowing the whole story. At the very least, we should rely on more than two advance reviews before blowing our stacks.

Actually, they have a reputation for repackaging the same versions of the same films, not for releasing multiple versions of the same film. I could be wrong, but I think Manhunter is actually the only time that a title was revisited in an all new version. The Army of Darkness discs are all just various repackagings of the original 2-disc set. Nothing was fixed or changed with the film itself.

Apparently only diseased spider monkeys were in the transfer studio as these flaws were picked up by the reviewers right away. How the hell hard could it be to take their old master, pull the audio for these scenes, and slap it with the new video?

Along with Sleuth, Halloween, Hellraiser, Hellraiser II, the upcoming Dawn of the Dead... and the very title we're discussing now.

My point is that I don't think that the responses in this thread -- dismay that Anchor Bay may have dropped theatrical dialog for a TV dub & the 'wait and see' attitude of canceling a preorder -- are unreasonable. Anchor Bay has a history of both re-releasing titles and also fixing issues when they make audio screwups... which this could very well be.

I'd rather cancel a preorder and buy a corrected disc in 6 months than buy the disc now and have to deal with mailing it back to them for a replacement.

How hard could it be? I have no idea because I have no working knowledge of the technical details or the rights issues involved.

You insist on calling the dubbed sections flaws and calling the people involved with the disc incompetent. All I'm saying is that there may be a legitimate reason for these changes. If Anchor Bay does a remaster, then I'll trade in my old one, but this isn't going to stop me from pre-ordering, and I'm certainly not going to jump to any conclusions about whether or not this was done in error, on purpose or out of necessity.

We just have to wait and see what AB says. Maybe it will be fixed like bboisvert says. I will not preorder until then.

Little update: Over at the Mobius forum, Don May Jr. mentioned that he got a copy of the disc a couple days ago. He says the problem is minor, a matter of one or two changed words in three or four places. Of course its not an ideal situation but its not the end of the world either. Apparently the audio given to Anchor Bay for the disc was on a set of mag audio tracks given to them directly from the vault of the licensors and no one noticed the slight difference.

At any rate, Michael Felsher from AB posts to that forum at times, so everyone is waiting to see if he addresses this there.

I made no assumptions, actually. The 'defects' have been made very clear. a few minor overdubs that most people wouldn't notice, anyway, if it wasn't for someone else bringing to their attention.
The 'defects' obviously pale in comparison to the plethora of positives with the new release: extra material, improved audio and video, et al, and yet the idea of canceling an order (and another film from the same company!) due to these few audio isues is what raised my hackles. Why? Because it's a ****ing knee-jerk reaction to a decideldy non-event. And I'm a huge fan of the film; I just talked to Greg Nicotero the other day, and have an interview with Tom Savini coming up, and the 'defects' won't have me thinking twice about picking this one up. YMMV.

I wonder how I was supposed to interpret the picture of an oranguatan that someone else posted? Did that bit of internet forum 'humor' mean that they were going to cancel their pre-order and wait for a fixed release or were they just jumping on the bandwagon of Anchor Bay bashing, perhaps? You decide.

SpinnerX - The point needs to made here, again, that the original Anchor Bay pressing of Day did not have these errors... The question of why AB felt the need to use an audio track from a Japanese LD is the concern, when they already had a previously released audio track for this film, sans any errors. Now, I'm not going to assume that AB has or has not this original track available for the new audio mix... But, it is an interesting question, no? Why.

Myself, I'm sure that I'll pick this up... Hell, the only copy of Day that I currently own is the LBX VHS from years ago... But this is a troubling issue when one weighs the amount of positive things that AB has done for this release. It should also be noted that there is a fanatical cult following for this film and like most that have that kind of following, the fan base can be a rabid bunch.

I took this, and the upcoming Dawn set, off my DVDAf wishlist because I have so damn many titles on there, I need any excuse to not buy one. These films were pretty low on my list anyways, this was the final nail in the coffin. If they remaster, I'll consider putting them back on my wishlist.

The significantly improved video is still without doubt reason enough for me to keep this preorder.

Some activity in the surrounds that wasn't there before is still an appeal too.

This sounds like an unfortunate but rather insignificant flaw to me and I'm still very much looking forward to it.

Here, here!

It's an interesting question, and I seem to be the only one asking it. Most everyone else is just jumping to knee-jerk conclusions or making uninformed assumptions. Like I said, there may technical or legal reasons that we have no way of knowing about.

I got the other DVD, and 2 video tape editions. I'll buy this one just for the extras. Hey, maybe anchor bay will offer a replacement

Does anyone know exactly which lines are changed? The dialogue in this movie is terrific and I for one would never be able to watch an "edited" version without going nuts. I've been quoting the obscenity-ridden original for too long. As for there being "legal or technical issues" making this the only soundtrack available for AB to use, come on, dude. That sounds pretty unlikely to me. What, the licensing of the original cusswords ran out, and they had to be replaced?

It's because Anchor Bay has a long track record of having a lack of respect for George Romero's work. There hasn't been one release that has been done right.

Bill Lustig (head of AB at the time) funded the additional footage that was shot for NOTLD 30th. AB's Dawn of the Dead US Theatrical DVD accidentally has some Director's Cut scenes left in.
Day's disc has a less than stellar transfer...with artifacts being occasionally visible. Not to mention that AB is involved with the Dawn remake directed by the director of Scooby Do.

In contrast, their Evil Dead related releases have been the best they were able to do. Not surprising since they currently own the distribution rights to all things ED related.

It is highly likely that AB will correct the problem in the subsequent press runs....in a manner similar to their Black Hole fix (as someone else mentioned).

For me, it's all about the movie.... as it was originally shown in theatres. Video/Audio quality is secondary... so the current AB disc is fine for me...unless the fix is made.

If AB corrected the problem in the next runs, how long would it take for those to hit shelves? How would these be identified?

Just wanted to post something I came across from Don May Jr. (Elite) regarding this whole overblown (big-time) audio fiasco...

"honestly, yes, there are a few instances of audio changes on the soundtrack but they are incredibly brief (maybe one or two words here and there in around 3-4 places). And, there was one instance that I didn't even notice until I was told where it was (live sound from the set used instead of the finished film's mix).
Seems as though, (based on a few reports and online reviews I've seen in the last few weeks about this disc) there was a Japanese release somewhere that used this same audio, but it was not the audio used in the final US release. Also, the Japanese release not only used this audio, but was also trimmed of gore. Someone hinted on another message board that the ABE disc was the same cut/audio edited transfer from Japan and this is absolutely NOT true. The film is intact. There isn't any gore trimmed. I just want to dispel THAT rumor before it gets around.

These audio changes were NOT done by Anchor Bay. The audio that was given to Anchor Bay for this was on a set of mag audio tracks that were given to them right from the vault from the licensors. Perhaps this version of the audio was an earlier mix or an "almost" final mix before some minor changes were made before the finished release? I don't exactly know where this audio track fit into the scheme of things for the film's release, but it isn't a "TV" audio version either because there are plenty of profanities intact on this new DVD.

Having watched the entire DVD now, I can say that the audio ISN'T that distracting, but the changes are there. The video quality is MILES ahead of the early DVD and it is a much better presentation than the old disc. It is the best presentation of the film I have ever seen visually. The extras and packaging are pretty cool, too."

The bold emphasis is mine, as I feel it clears up this whole notion of Anchor Bay using parts of the TV version for the audio track, which was a blatant falsehood started by someone who posted his opinion without knowing the facts.

So it was a mistake which should be corrected. But I can live with it as long as Logan's and Rhodes lines aren't messed up. I think I read that over at Mobius, not sure.

Has AB responded yet?

Um, yeah, thanks, I mentioned (but didn't quote, just covered some relevant points) the same post from Don several posts up as an update. And I don't know about "blatant falsehoods" but Don does mention in the quote above about a "Japanese version" that used some of the same audio as appears on the new DVD. That Japanese version did indeed contain a never used TV print (that, as Don mentions contains more censoring of profanity as well as gore, which is not the case with the new DVD). I still stand by anything that I've posted earlier (if you are referring to my earlier posts).

Um, you're welcome. Why are you thanking me?

I did glaze over your post that mentioned Don's thoughts. Perhaps it was the picture of the monkey that threw me off the trail of anything else useful being added to the thread. My bad.

I'll make it simple: this release has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Japanese TV version of this movie, and the fact that it was even brought up was foundless and totally incorrect, and should never have been mentioned anyway.

I think that about covers it.

Ain't life grand, Mrs. D?

Interesting...

Ok whatever, I'm not going to argue about this anymore as it would be an exercise in futility. You are no more an expert on the subject than I am, but I just offered possible suggestions of what the problem might be, based on previously released versions of the film (and the TV version released in Japan was a legitimately possible explanation to incidences of censored dialogue, I didn't just pull it out of my butt). So, while I offer a possible explanation, you make a definitive pronouncement that you are in absolutely in no position to make, unless you were involved in the production of the film or DVD in some way. Anyway, I'm finished with the subject until I see the DVD firsthand.

OK, that's funny, I'll give you that.

Well, I wasn't involved with this disc firsthand, but I stay in touch with many of the talent involved, and have been for years (Tom, Greg, Taso, et al). I am not an 'expert' on this film or any of Romero's, as my so-called expertise (for lack of a better term) lies in another much-fabled horror series that wil be getting re-released soon, and that I am involved in the production of.

Perhaps I came across as harsh and blunt, but I had tried to post about three times, and was fighting with the computer in regards to the damn cookies that need to be enabled to use ths forum. My original posts were much longer, but after the third attempt to post and having it tell me I wasn't logged in and had to retype everything....anyway.

I stand by my statements as well, as assumptions are just that, and we are are all very much entitled to them. It's when people take those assumptions as the gospel truth and launch venomous tirades at the studio, when they have no clue about the facts at hand.

I meant nothing personal by my comments, and they weren't directed at you perse, cultshock. you seem like a knowledgeable fan and that's a good thing, believe me.

Cheers,
Erik