Class316

I have the MGM DVD of the first Terminator movie should I upgrade to the BR? I heard the BR version isn't that good. How does it compare to the DVD?

islandclaws

I hope someone here knows because there are no useful review sites or other resources!

davidh777

I have it and it's pretty mediocre.

Class316

Honestly I checked and couldn't find a concrete answer.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

The price is cheap enough and it's nothing awful like Predator awfulness.

islandclaws

Didn't they just do a new 4K for this in the last year or two? I'm sure a double dip is on the horizon.

Spottedfeather

I wanted a copy of the movie that had the Other Voices documentary on it, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. It's not on the blu-ray, that I'm aware of.

Solid Snake

Don't get it. It's crap.

Iron_Giant

I picked it up on the cheap ($6.99 or something like that).

Thought it looked much better than the DVD, which may not be saying much because the DVD was terrible.

The extra was cool, one of the deleted scenes talked about going to the Company, kill the creator and blow the whole thing up - witch is what they do in the 2nd movie.

ScissorPuppy

It's also missing a good deal of extra features from the MGM S.E. release.
(Which the current MGM DVD is missing as well).

Josh-da-man

I'm holding out for a proper blu-ray SE. One that carries over all of the DVD SE features (at the least) and has a better transfer.

This has to happen eventually, right?

ScissorPuppy

Yeah, it's going to happen and almost already happened in 2010.
A few months back I did some research for a thread on "unreleased commentary tracks". Terminator was one of them.

The Terminator
Lance Hendrikson and Gale Ann Hurd
Circa 2009, Hendrikson mentioned the track in an interview. It was later stated on the HTF that the track would be mixed with several other tracks recorded. It was not said what other participants were to be included. Evidently a full blown updated special edition was planned for 2010, but was put on hold for some reason.

I have since learned the reason it was put on hold was because Cameron requested he supervise a new transfer of the film. Like The Abyss and True Lies, who knows if that has happened or when it will be released.

TomOpus

Yeah, who knows when they'll happen. After he finishes up with the deep sea diving he's jumping into Avatar 2/3. Right now I'd be happy with just a nice version of "The Abyss" on blu.

emachine12

The new James Cameron approved master is done. The reason this commentary was never completed was due to MGM's finances falling apart around that time. Several projects including films like Red Dawn's remake were shelved and Bond 23 was held back. Now that there is some stabilty at MGM, perhaps production on Tge Terminator: Skynet Edition can resume.

Matthew Chmiel

I'm assuming since Fox controls all of Cameron's titles, except Terminator 2, we will be seeing an onslaught of his films on Blu-ray within the next year. I wouldn't be surprised if we see them all at once either.

The Terminator is in dire need of a new release, Titanic is getting a theatrical re-release in a few weeks, and The Abyss and True Lies were both released non-anamorphic on DVD.

Julie Walker

The blu ray lacks the original mono mix which is a huge omission in my opinion. The remixed soundtrack with new audio effects is awful and lacks the punch the mono mix has. So that is one reason to keep the S.E. dvd release if you have it. A re-release of the film better contain the mono mix. But it appears MGM is not bothering with them if various releases like Straw Dogs and Dressed To Kill among others are anything to go by. It's a shame studios are so quick to throw out the original audio mixes in favor of 5.1+ mixes only, especially when there is more than enough space for both mixes on a release.

Alan Smithee

I've refused to buy the Blu-Ray even at a low price because it doesn't include the original mono track. The special edition DVD includes a somewhat hidden extra about why this movie was released in mono in the first place.

zyzzle

Why was it released in Mono? Don't have the original DVD anymore and can't remember that extra.

Yes, I've refused to buy Blus because the original Mono audio isn't included. It's not a matter of space issues, either. When you've got 3 to 5 Gigabyte 7.1 remix uncompressed audio tracks, adding a 0.5 GB original mono track is trivial!

K&AJones

Can't comment on "T1" but "T2 Skynet Edition" is worth it and even more so since most places have it around $10-$13

But if you want some review(s) then over at Blu-Ray.com they have one on both releases, 2006 and 2009. Both didn't get much high marks on the video transfer.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Te...3/#UserReviews ....2009

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Te...ay/117/#Review .....2006

Alan Smithee

In 1984 not every movie was released in stereo (I think the last 'major' movie with a mono soundtrack was The Naked Gun, which of course is only available on Blu-Ray and DVD with a 5.1 remix!) Many theaters at the time were still only equipped to play mono sound. Since The Terminator had such a low budget, they decided to spend what they had on the special effects rather than the sound mix.

It is kind of funny that a few special-effects movies were produced in mono while stuff like Up The Academy and The Last American Virgin were in Dolby Stereo.

Trevor

Very few BD releases carry over ALL of the special features. On a title like Terminator with multiple DVD releases, this will especially be true.

Julie Walker

Where is that hidden feature? I finally watched the easter eggs last night after figuring out how to access them. And I didn't run across a clip that mentioned the soundtrack yet. It was a bit annoying since the same clips would play repeatedly whenever I selected the box to access the clips. Eventually a new clip would play, but I never ran into the audio discussion clip yet and gave up after awhile. So far, some clips were hidden in the chapter listings on three different pages, and in the audio listings and some clips on the dvd-rom page. So if it was narrowed down which section had the audio feature clip, I'll give it another spin. It was pretty cool seeing these clips though since they were actually pretty interesting. It'd be nice if they were more accessible however, and even trying to use the 'title' function won't access them. So it's all up to hoping the random clip plays once selecting the box.

Josh Z

MGM controls the first Terminator. Although Fox distributes MGM titles on home video, MGM still controls its own catalog to decide what gets released and when.

Egon's Ghost

Great, teal-and-orange Terminator!! Woo-hoo

Josh Z

Yup, now even Titanic has been teal-ified, so that's pretty much a given.