CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 27

CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 27 • 7/5/1997
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 00:50:54 -0600 (MDT)
From: GLAHE FRED R 
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: CED

I am seeking CED Videodisk version of Blade Runner.
fred.glahe@colorado.edu

Please post on CED Digest.  Many thanks.

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Date: Tue, 01 Jul 1997 15:58:29 -0600
From: David Potochick 
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject:  DVD vs LD & CED

In a previous letter, I spoke about DVD being pixellated and the fact that it
advertises itself as having better pictures than a Laser disc... Well,
actually, in the long run DVD will have a better picture than Laserdisc or
CED...... Because the DVD uses MPEG2 digital technology, it will never
have lines or specks or dots go through the picture the way that LD's
and CED's do...... So, DVD is one up on having the longest lasting
pixellated picture without dots or lines.....  However, for DVD picture
quality..... I still have to say, "BLECCCH!!" 

Later,

Dave.

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From: "Robert Brown" 
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: Followup to previous Phantasm post
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 1997 12:11:34 PDT

Since I had a few requests, here are the differences between the 
Phantasm CED and the tape version.  I was working solely from memory 
when I did the last post, and, after rewatching my disc, I discovered 
that there is only one audio "misplacement."  The scene that is missing 
from the tape and is on the CED disc is, I have been informed, also on 
the deluxe laserdisc pressing.  But--for those of you (like me) who 
don't have the laserdisc, I've got a transcript of the missing scene. 

First, the misplaced audio.  It occurs on Side 1 of the disc, right as 
the time counter turns from 24 to 25.  It occurs at the end of Mike's 
nightmare--there is about one second of the sound of a car screeching to 
a halt instead of the screams of the ghouls in the nightmare.  This 
scene is immediately followed by a scene of Jody's car screeching into 
the parking lot of a bar, accompanied by the same audio from the end of 
the previous scene.  So it's not, as one reader suggested, the RCA 
technicians forgeting to turn down a carry-over audio track from the 
master--it looks instead to be a mistake made when editing the RCA 
master.  It seems that this is a likely time for a reel break, and the 
audio from the next reel was inadvertantly put at the end of the 
previous reel.  Just a guess.  By the way, this problem does not exist 
on my pre-recorded copy of the Embassy tape.

Now, on to the CED extra.  On Side 2, right as the counter hits the 29 
minute mark, a twenty-eight second scene occurs that is not on the tape 
versions of the film.  What follows is a transcript of the extra 
footage:

Over a black screen, we hear:

Jody:  Okay, stay together.

Mike:  Wait a sec.  I think I gotta lighter.

Jody:  Quick, light it up.

Mike lights the lighter, revealing one of the dwarf creatures in front 
of him.  Mike screams as the creature leaps on him, knocking the lighter 
from his hand.  The screen goes black again as sounds of their struggle 
continue for a few seconds.  Then we hear:

Jody:  Over here--follow me.  

We hear the sound of footsteps, followed by the sound of a door 
slamming.  After a beat we hear:

Reggie:  Jody, where are ya?   Mike?

A growl fills the darkness.

Reggie:  Oh, shit!

Thus ends "the dark scene."  For those of you who have only a tape copy, 
it occurs about 72 minutes into the film, right after the lights go out 
in the gateway room.  Immediately after the scene, the film cuts to a 
shot of Jody outside the mortuary, calling for Mike.

I hope this hasn't been too long-winded, but it's always a plus to find 
extra things on your CEDs--and due to your responses, I know there are 
apparently several Phantasm fans out there.  

Rob

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Date: Fri, 04 Jul 1997 09:39:42 -0700
From: Tom Howe 
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: Expanded Vaporware Listing

Fellow CED Collectors:

Going through some early 80's publications I've recently acquired, I found
about 70 more titles announced for release on CED that appear to never have made
it into production. These are mostly from the late '83 - early '84 time frame,
and were probably canceled when RCA abandoned the system in April '84. The
complete list can be found at the web site:

http://www.teleport.com/~ceds/selectavision.html

--Tom Howe

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Date: Fri, 4 Jul 1997 23:11:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jesse Skeen 
To: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 26

The scene in "Phantasm" that is missing in some versions was edited out 
by mistake by a rushed telcine job, they thought that it was just black 
space that was just a leader or something, not part of the movie. The 
current laserdisc version has director's running commentary that mentions 
this when it comes on. I have this plus the CED and a copy of one of the 
later Embassy VHS tapes, I'll have to run all 3 simultaneously sometime 
to check out the sound discrepancies.
BTW has anyone seen/heard the Magnetic Video laserdisc of this movie? 
It's "electronically re-channeled" for stereo, the new disc was remixed 
for stereo so it'd be interesting to see how it compares to the old disc. 
(I kinda don't like stereo-ized versions of mono soundtracks, but that's 
another story.) I did see this movie on TV a few years ago, slightly 
edited, and it was in some kind of weird-sounding stereo. It sounded fake 
but the dialogue stayed in the center so it wasn't the result of those 
annoying "synthesized stereo" processors that a lot of TV stations used 
when stereo TV first came out (thankfully most stations here stopped 
using them a long time ago!)
On another note, does anyone else have the CED of "Scrooge" that is in 
stereo only on side 2? Side 1 has a stereo signal but the sound is 
completely mono, when I first watched it last Christmas I thought that 
was how the whole movie probably was, as there were a few older movies on 
CBS/FOX video tapes that were in "electronically re-channeled" stereo 
that produced very little stereo effect, but there was a dramatic 
difference in seperation once side 2 started.
I find it pretty amusing that my 14 1/2 year old player produces decent 
surround sound while there are people out there watching recent movies on 
MONO VHS machines! Who's -really- nuts here?
"Our list of favorites will grow and grow- in stereo!"
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