MovieChat Forums > Merlin (1998) Discussion > Widescreen DVD?

Widescreen DVD?

posted 17 years ago by AlexJTaylor
3 replies | jump to latest

I've never seen this film, and was never particularly interested in seeing it until I learned quite recently that its score was composed by Trevor Jones (one of my very favorite living film composers), and that Alan Lee (probably my single favorite living illustrator) served as conceptual designer – so quite naturally, I have to see it now (the ecstatic reviews helped, too!). :-)

I just ordered a copy of the "Merlin Special Edition" DVD at Amazon.com (ASIN #B0002235PS). Amazon has it listed as "fullscreen" (although they're often wrong about details like that), and since the film was produced for television nearly a decade ago, I didn't think anything of it. However, I've just seen a comment on this message board regarding a widescreen version of the film – is there, indeed, such a version? If so, is that what's on this "Special Edition" DVD I've ordered, and if not, is it available elsewhere? I'd really like to know, as I'm something of a fanatic wherein the "preservation of the director's original vision" is concerned. If anyone could help in answering this question for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,
–Alex

[–] sintancos_empress 17 years ago

As far as I remember from my own Special Edition, there is no widescreen edition- it was filmed for TV, and was thus never available in anything other than 4:3 ratio, as far as I understand it- the director's "original vision", as you say, is likely this shape ;)

Widescreen DVDs do piss me off a bit, to be honest- I'd like to watch a film that fills my TV screens, and increasingly these days, there's less and less option to buy films in full screen. But enough of that rant- tis not applicable in this case anyway.

Try not to panic. Just think of it as landing a little more vertically than usual

[–] aleronives 17 years ago

Yes I believe empress is correct, this is a made for TV movie, so the correct aspect ratio is 4:3. A widescreen version could only be achieved by chopping off the top and bottom of each frame, similar to how movies were converted to 4:3 on VHS by chopping off the left and right of each frame ("pan and scan", I believe). A widescreen version would be losing content. I just bought the Special Edition DVD myself, it says Fullscreen on the case and the disc, so I don't think there is a widescreen version of the film as like most TV shows of the 90s, it was filmed in the 4:3 ratio to begin with.

@ empress

I don't enjoy letterbox either, however I think it is better to watch a film in its original aspect ratio, whatever that may be. Neither 4:3 nor 16:9 is superior or inferior really, it's just a different frame shape. While letterbox is annoying, the only way to make films 4:3 is to lose information on the left and right of each frame, which is I think undesirable.

[–] AlexJTaylor 17 years ago

Thanks for the responses, both of you! This is just what I was hoping to hear. I have a widescreen television, so I feel much more kindly toward widescreen DVDs than either of you do (that is to say, I vastly prefer them over what some humorously call "foolscreen"), but in any case, my desire is always to see any film in its original aspect ratio. In this particular case, I'll end up with the reverse effect of what you two experience when watching widescreen DVDs (i.e. I get black bars on either side, rather than on the top and bottom), but I don't mind. Plus, I can always watch it on my laptop, which is 4:3. :-)

My copy of the DVD arrived today, and I've watched a few minutes here and there preliminarily, to see what it's like. I'm very impressed with what I've seen! It looks like a lot of fun, and has surprisingly high production values – I can definitely see Alan Lee's influence on the costume and set designs.

–Alex