Robocop related to the Reagan era??? huh??

Well back to the point, the colors are still wrong on the MGM discs. Too vibrant.

I'm not biting. You know how I feel about the washed-out colours of the Criterion edition.

Sorry, I really don't. I don't keep track of your preferences.

Learn more about the Reagan Years (1980-1988): http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/1THE_REAGAN_YEARs.htm

Which RoboCop would you rather watch?



or



(On top: the MGM Region 1 transfer; bottom: the Criterion)

I'll take the MGM release please

More vibrant colors means absolutely nothing. The entire color scheme of Robocop dating from when it was in theaters, was a metallic look. Those pictures (check out that funky wall) just prove how bad the MGM disc is.

Its the same problem with the Halloween Divimax disc - sure it looks more vibrant, but the original color scheme is gone

I'll take the "better looking" picture on a dvd any day.

Gee, I thought that the Clinton Dot-Com bubble made corporate greed easier, only to be brought to light and justice under the "iron fist" of John Ashcroft.

And as far as downgrading government services a virtue, I think it was Reagan who once said, "Government is NOT the answer to our problems, Government IS the problem."

I know this concept my be hard for you, as a Canadian to understand, but Capitalist America believes that an over-bearing, over-regulatory government is the biggest threat to freedom and change. Many of Bush' opponents suggest that Bush has relaxed the so-called "clean-ar" standards. Well, to some extent that is correct. The problem was that the previous highly regalatory standards were as such that the industries that produced the majority of pollutants couldn't upgrade their equipment (due to an arbitrary dollar figure attached) to in effect reduce the polluntats. Bush's deregulation of the standards allowed the industries to upgrade their equipment that were more efficient and less polluting. But you wouldn't know that from the left-wing press and Democratic politicians.

Real funny. The only problem is that each 'scenario' depicted in the comic has a "greater" purpose or reason for enactment.

For example, Reagan supported Saddam during the Iran-Iraq War because he didn't want a Islamic Fundalmentalist regime to gain control of Iraq. See modern-day Iran for proof of what 20 years of that gets you.

Another example, Reagan crushed worker's rights? Hmm, sounds like reference to his firings of the air-traffic controllers. First of all, with crucial jobs such as those not being occupied, a crucial service, air travel, would have been devastated. Air traffic was shut down for over a week after 9/11, and it about bankrupted several airlines. Imagine several weeks or months of no air travel back then. Actually I applaud Reagan for standing up to the labor unions. The economy can't strive without people working. Let's use the Robocop example, a cop strike. Left Old Detroit a mess. Every thug was out on the streets vandalizing, stealing, raping, and killing everything.

Oh, with regards to the national debt, Reagan doubled tax revenues by lowering taxes from $500 Billion to $1 Trillion. The problem was that the Democratic-led Congress spend $1.80 for every dollar brought in. Of course a lot of that was defense spending that was needed to rebuild the military after the massive defense cutbacks during the Carter years. Hey, sounds like what Bush is doing after the military decimation of the Clinton years.

Reagan supported Apartheid? WRONG. He absolutely did not. He just didn't speak on it every other day just as he didn't speak on AIDS every other day. He had bigger fish to fry, like defeating Communism. Much like Bush as bigger fish to fry in defeating terrorism.

The MGM transfer is better. I atribute the whole so called "metallic" look to older prints like the Criterion to the lack of cleaning up in the transfer, not an attempt to preserve the color and look of the film. Regardless, i'm holding on to my Criterion disc, but still

I guess Criterion had a role in how it looked in the theaters as well then.

Of course not, Criterion simply took a grainy and washed out theater print and preserved it for us to behold in all its glory. Thank the Gods of restoration that we can improve the image quality of movies old. (one smart ass comment deserves another)

How funky do you want the shiny, high-tech, ultra-clean, imported Prussian blue Italian porcelain wall of a highgrade executive washroom in a futuristic movie to be? As piggish as the characters are, they don't actually piss on the walls. And as despicably greedy and evil as the (Reaganite) Jones character is supposed to be, his face doesn't have to be greenish to make that point.

Is it worth while to keep the CC version?

Even though the Criterion film looks like it's been left in the trunk of a parked Volkswagen in a sun-drenched California parking lot for a month or so before being rescued by concerned passersby, it is reputedly the director-approved version, 1.66 ratio and all. Superstitious fear - and the only existing commentary actually pertaining to the uncut version - keep me from giving it away.

The one with the transfer approved by the man who directed it, which is the Criterion.

okay, so how's the audio?

The only video incarnation where the audio is top notch is the OOP Image laserdisc, with tremendous bass. The Criterion DVD couldn't match it. How is the new 5.1 soundmix compared to past versions?

DVD Beaver compares the 3 versions of the film:
http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/

Gary Tooze, the guy that runs the site says the following on HTF:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...=&pagenumber=3

Every version of this film is basically the same. The dialogue is centered front and the left-right-and-surrounds only come into play during (1) the musical accompaniment, (2) the mechanical noises of various machines, including ED209 and Robo himself and (3) the very numerous explosions, gun reports and car screeches. Whether you watch this in Dolby Surround (2 channel) or 5.1 doesn't make much difference, except, of course, the latter is supposed to have a dedicated sub-woofer channel, which is, by definition, inaudible but may or may not cause your neighbours to file a petition for your eviction.

but for the remixed 5.1 soundmixes, are there 'discrete' rear channel soundeffects or does it all sound mono in the rear.

I can say there is definitely atmospheric sound effect rear action but I can't say if it's mono or stereo. In a 5.1 remix, it is very easy for the engineer to predominantly reassign a mono rear noise to either the left or the right surround channel so I don't see why it wouldn't have been done. The effects in that department certainly don't attract attention to themselves. The film is so good, you don't pay attention to details like that anyway.

He certainly did: (Miami Herald)

After checking the screen caps on the DVD Beaver site, its clear that the Criterion transfer is the superior version.

New definition of "superior": adj. (videography, electronic imaging): covered in a fine, grayish coat of dust or flour.