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| Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn,
Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield, Lance Henrikson, Earl Boen |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Kyle
Reese (Michael Biehn): Listen! And understand! That terminator is
out there. It can't be bargained with! It can't be reasoned with! It
doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop,
ever, until you are dead!
A
cyborg from the year 2029 is sent back to the present to eliminate the
woman who will one day be the mother of a son who will lead a rebellion
against the powerful robots in the future.
 When
The Terminator was released in 1984 it was targeted at an audience
of young thrill-seeking boys, the kind that favor big guns and explosions.
It turned out that a far larger audience than that particular demographic
was able to relate to the story. James Cameron had created a fast-paced
science-fiction action flick with clearly defined characters (even the
terminator comes across perfectly, although he only has about seven
lines of dialogue) and it struck a nerve by showing what might happen
when technology eventually does take over everything in our lives.
The storyline as presented on screen is deceptively straightforward,
and the ideas about the way the future and the present intertwining
are both complex and consistent (see the murky waters that T2
tended to drown in). As it stands, The Terminator has a lot going
for it with the exciting action pieces and its unrelenting, superbly
handled build-up being the most impressive. The sequence in the police
station
is both brutal and beautiful to look at while the scene in the disco
never fails to astonish with each viewing: the classic image of the
terminator's laser-guided weapon on Sarah Connor's forehead has an immediacy
that never fails to make an impact. Cameron worked nothing short of
miracles out of a limited budget and manages to cram the movie full
of what we can now recognize as his trademark flourishes. And lucky
for him that whatever he'll do in the future, the past cannot be undone. |
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A
non-anamorphic movie-only edition from Image Entertainment went out
of print in Region 1 some time ago. A Special Edition has since been
released by MGM/UA. A similar release had appeared in Europe and Australia
nine months earlier, which ended up giving DVD producer Van Ling opportunity
to reconsider the over-the-top 5.1 audio mix, which was remixed to provide
an audio experience more in line with the original soundtrack. James
Cameron also found the time to provide audio commentary additions to
the deleted scenes section, and over 40 minutes of interview footage
has also been hidden around the Region 1 release in the form of Easter
Eggs. Another minor difference between the two versions is that the
captions that appear on-screen throughout the film (eg. indications
of time and place, etc.) are language-specific player-generated white
captions on the Region 2/4 release, whereas the Region 1 version boasts
the original optical prints of these captions as they appeared in the
film's original release. The Region 1 Special Edition release served
as a basis for this review.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and
looks astonishing. The compression is very well done with the bit rate
constantly hovering around the 9Mb/s. As a result there's no low-level
noise or other distracting patterns in the transfer. The grain inherent
in the original picture is there, as is minor damage to the source material,
but this isn't too distracting and is the one thing that betrays its origins
as a relatively low-budget action flick. Colors and shadow detail are
very much improved from previous versions, resulting in a sharp and detailed
picture.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix featured on the Region 2/4 release
(which preceded the R1 release by about nine months) was impressive but
somewhat over-the-top, with the extreme use of directional effects and
split surround leading to a distracting ping-pong effect. I read in an
interview with DVD producer Van Ling that he took the time to tweak some
things for the new R1 version that he hadn't got around too with the R2
/ R4 from earlier this year (he refers to the new R1 version as the 2.0).
It seemed he was mainly talking about the documentary and the new commentary
during the deleted scenes by Cameron. Now It seems they also had another
go at the sound mix. All in all the R1 mix is more in line with the original
movie soundtrack with a more anchored sound design that doesn't jump all
over the place at the cost of the original dialogue. There's also the
original mono track but that is more of nice bonus than a genuine pleasure.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the new 5.1 mix:
- The use of LFE is severely brought down in the entire movie, for
example in the Future War sequences which were a constant throbbing
of deep bass on the R2/R4 to the point of overkill but on the R1 has
a far more subtle use. The opening white light entrance scenes on
the R2/R4 came with some of the loudest LFE I ever heard, the new
R1 has absolutely zero LFE in this scene (which does bring it more
in line with the sound effect in T2, which also has no LFE
during that moment)
- The center channel is a lot more up in the mix, making dialogue
sound more naturally integrated than on the R2/R4 disc, where it tended
to sound out of whack with the enormous amount of effects going on
(for example in the first car chase when Reese has rescued Sarah).
On the R1 there is much more of the original distortion and brittleness
audible in the dialogues, the R2/R4 seemed to have brought down the
audio level of the center channel and thereby maybe used a limiter
to edge out these distortions which in turn made the overall speech
volume somewhat disjointed: not so in the new R1 version where dialogue
is relatively louder, although the distortion you hear can hear now
again is slightly irritating.
- The surround channelss are far more back in the mix on the R1, playing
at a lower volume. Effects and music sound the same in the mix with
agressive split surrounds but decidedly less overwhelming than on
the R2/R4.
- The overall volume level is also less on the new r1 version, just
pop in the R2/R4 and it'll be immediately clear the increased impact
there due to the increase in volume level and the overwhelming presence
of LFE.
The most important extra is the all-new documentary 'Other Voices'
which runs for 59 minutes and includes interviews with James Cameron (taken
from an older source), Gale Anne Hurd (producer), Bill Wisher (Cameron
Collaborator), Stan Winston (Make-up and Effects Creator), Gene Warren
Jr (Fantasy II VFX Supervisor), Arnold Schwarzenegger (from older source),
Linda Hamilton (from the same source as the T2 interview), Michael Biehn
(actor) and Brad Fiedel (Music Composer). All aspects of the production
are touched upon, from conception to its release in the theaters. It's
an excellent documentary that easily makes up for the lack of any audio
commentary on the first disc.
The featurette 'Terminator: A Retrospective' (18 minutes) dates
back to 1992 and has James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger talking together
informally about the movie and the days when they (*gulp*) still had to
drive themselves to the set (imagine that!). Cameron also provides
more background on the concepts he had in mind and the effect Schwarzenegger
had on the eventual outcome.
The 'Terminated Scenes' section consists of nearly 10 minutes of deleted
scenes, all of them in excellent (but non-anamorphic) widescreen quality.
All scenes are preceded by a short text introduction explaining what the
reason for the cut was. They mostly involve fleshing out of characters
but two of them were cut because of conflicting story lines (the seeds
for T2 were indeed already there). Good stuff, especially with
James Cameron's newly recorded optional director's commentary.
The original theatrical trailers are of excellent quality and presented
in anamorphic widescreen, the TV spots are full-frame of course.
The
stills section has James Cameron's Original 1982 Treatment, various
artwork and illustrations by James Cameron, production photographs,
makeup effects (Stan Winston), visual effects and publicity
material. The first disc holds some excellent DVD-ROM material
(for once made available for both Windows and Macintosh users). This consists
of the Screenplay (4th Draft), the Original Treatment and the Final Shooting
Script. The final script is laid out in an especially nice way as you
can have the script on the right hand side of the screen while you watch
the corresponding scene in a small window on the left. This is very cool
and it reminds me of the similar feature on The Matrix DVD.
The Region 1 release also has nearly 40 minutes of additional interview
material hidden as Easter Eggs on the movie side of the disc. The
interviews consist of still images and audio, left over from the Other
Voices documentary. Insert the side of the DVD that contains the actual
movie, not the supplements, and from the main menu, go to 'Special Features.'
Once there, highlight the 'Resume Film' menu entry and then press the
'Down' arrow key on your remote control to highlight a small block at
the top of the screen. Now, press 'Enter' and you will get to see one
of four interview featurettes that are hidden here.
Repeat the exact same procedure to see them all as they are randomly
selected every time you activate this Easter Egg.
Another one can be found in the 'Languages' submenu. Go there and select
the 'Français' menu entry for 'Spoken Language.' Then, press the
'Right'
arrow key to highlight a small block, which will give you access to
another set of five interview featurettes that are randomly selected
every time you activate this Easter Egg.
Next up are easter eggs in the 'Scene Selections.' Select the chapter
stops for chapter 13-16, and then highlight the 'Main Menu' entry at the
bottom of the screen. Now, press the 'Down' arrow key on your remote
control to highlight another box on the screen, which will give you
access to another five interview segments that are randomly selected
every time you activate this Easter Egg, so make sure to keep visiting
it repeatedly.
More such hidden interview segments can be found in the chapter
selection '21-24' and '25-29' and the DVD-Rom section.
 3D
animated menus open both discs, slightly similar to those on T2: Ultimate
Edition DVD but moving outward from the CPU in the terminator's head
instead of inward from a more elaborate exterior. Music from the movie
is in the background with an endoskeleton head slowly rotating on the
screen with images and details from the movie incorporated in the menus.
Gerard
Castelein
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Terminator .
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