'X-Files: Fight the Future' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

'X-Files: Fight the Future' - High-Def Digest Review

Josh has reviewed 'Fight the Future.' While he says the film isn't perfect, it did do a good job bringing 'The X-Files' into the world of feature films. This Blu-ray has disappointing video, pretty good audio, and some decent extras. Recommended for fans, newcomers may want to rent it first.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1624...thefuture.html

[cheez avenger]

I don't think the picture looks "awful" by any stretch. The sound does bump, and keeps you focused.


I did notice, I don't know if the studio tinkered with, "enhanced visual effects". In the very begininng when the boy falls into the cave--the oil on his face, I don't remember those particular shades of color on him. The other scene is when the bomb explodes in front of the agen in the building--as he is blown to bits, that scene looks way smoother than the "blob" that was there before.

IMO

[BostonMA]

wow the first ever sunday reviewed movie by the hdd team i believe.

[crazzeto]

I disagree with the PQ rating, I won't say it's top notch demo material but it's very pleasing for sure. It'd be nice if it was a bit less processed, but I'd give this at least 4*.

Besides that, this film was great! It really reminded me of why I loved the x-files series. It really makes me long for the bluray release of the entire series.

[joshschw]

No, the PQ at 3 is pretty good. Personally I'd go 3.5, but what he describes is 100% accurate.

[Super-VHS]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

It really makes me long for the bluray release of the entire series.

Most likely won't happen. Shot on film but edited and mastered on SD videotape.

Entire series would need to be re-editied, re-rendered effects-wise and entirely redone to be ready for HD. This of course would all hinge on the fact that the original raw negatives still exist.... which I doubt.


As for the view.... about what I expected. FtF was never a tour-de-force video-wise..... always gritty, grainy and dark. And I didn't really expect the post-processing (EE, etc) to be entirely eradicated. From what I gather, while certainly not great, the BD completely destroys the piece of shit DVD (both of them).

[crazzeto]

^^^
It'll happen eventually, this is the same logic used for star trek yet re-mastering work with CG has already happend there. I don't think that fox (like paramount) is giong to let some SD post production get in the way of a potential (likely) gold mine.

[Super-VHS]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

^^^
It'll happen eventually, this is the same logic used for star trek yet re-mastering work with CG has already happend there. I don't think that fox (like paramount) is giong to let some SD post production get in the way of a potential (likely) gold mine.

TOS remastering = remastering of tangible film elements that are known to exist.

X-Files and TNG = master tapes that may or may not have a film negative to back up them up.

This kind of work has never been redone.... if/when a TV series that was effects heavy and mastered, edited on NTSC video gets released we'll see if it works out. As of now, and for the forseeable feature, the cost is just too great.

If the costs and amount of time/labor wasn't so monumental HD remastering would have already begun for HDTV syndication (like Seinfeld). The costs/labor do not seem profitable at the moment - hence FOX and Paramount have not taken the time.

[MrAngles]

I think it looks fantastic. Not every movie needs to have popping bright colors and high contrast, this transfer reminds me of how it looked in the theater. In my opinion the movies that are dark and muddied to begin with are the ones that benefit the most from a Blu-ray release, not to mention that upscaling does nothing for them.

As far as the show on BD, I wouldn't mind if they cleaned up the video and released it in high-bitrate SD (like 5-10 mbps AVC) that would look a lot better than the DVD releases, and they could fit 14+ episodes on a disc. Having 2 discs per season instead of 7 plus the quality increase and perhaps a new 5.1 sound mix would be plenty of incentive for me to double-dip.

[crazzeto]

The above would be acceptable providing they ensure proper scaling... Didn't they eventually release WS versions? If so that's what I want lol. Still, I think it's completely silly to say "yeah nope sorry... none of these shows edited in 480i will ever make it to bluray"... I've already had films *shot* on VT make it to bluray for crying out loud!

[Dave Mack]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

^^^
It'll happen eventually, this is the same logic used for star trek yet re-mastering work with CG has already happend there.

Very different scenario.
There are no HD ready edited versions of the series. All the masters, (edited shows) are on 480i sd video. Trek TOS had film masters.
They would have to re-edit from SCRATCH every episode. Do you know how long it would take to find and re-assemble all the footage? And what if several segments were trashed, lost, missing? How many eps? 200?

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by Dave Mack

Very different scenario.
There are no HD ready edited versions of the series. All the masters, (edited shows) are on 480i sd video. Trek TOS had film masters.
They would have to re-edit from SCRATCH every episode. Do you know how long it would take to find and re-assemble all the footage? And what if several segments were trashed, lost, missing? How many eps? 200?

TNG had film masters, editing was done in 480i... You know what when you get right down to it considering the amount of stuff they changed in TOS it really wouldn't be all that much work to do TNG (or x-files for that matter) the same way.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by crazzeto

TNG had film masters, editing was done in 480i... You know what when you get right down to it considering the amount of stuff they changed in TOS it really wouldn't be all that much work to do TNG (or x-files for that matter) the same way.

Being shot on film doesn't mean that they had a film master. A "master" is a completed version of the episode, with all final editing and visual effects. Star Trek TNG does not have that. The original camera negatives are on film, but the editing was done on video and all visual effects were rendered for Standard Definition.

To remaster for HD, Paramount would have to dig up the camera negatives and re-edit every episode from scratch, then re-do every single visual effect. And that's assuming that they have every scrap of film and kept the original editing notes. That's not to say that it couldn't ever be done, but it would be tremendously expensive and time-consuming, especially considering the number of seasons the show ran for.

But this isn't the Star Trek thread, now is it?

[thedude]

i watched this movie last week and i must say that i was impressed. i've never watched the show before but the movie was good. gotta send my other movies back 2 netflix and get the 2nd

[crazzeto]

Second movie is nothing like Fight the Future, it's actually very much a way for the producers to finalize the story... It's Mulder and Scully's last time out in the field, and they're not even FBI agents this time around. It works as a stand alone story pretty well, but just to warn you the entire premise is completely different.

I enjoyed both movies very much, I liked fight the future more as it was a bridge between seasons 5 & 6.