T2

[steishigh]

With the release of terminator on blu ray here in blighty i looked around the net and noticed nost countrys have there own high def version of terminator 2 but all differ slighty either by transfer, audio or extras. Just wondered if anyone had any idea which is the best version to buy or if its just worth waiting for a balls to the walls re-release (maybe around terminator 4 time???)

[Maxx_75]

I have held off getting T2 as I want the extended edition in the US. They will release it again. This one always gets 3 or 4 releases on every format.

[Devil N]

The UK Blu-ray version of T2 (which is the Director's Cut) uses the same transfer as the earlier Studio Canal and Optimum HD DVD releases, which is the best video transfer I know of, but without any extras. (Note that only the French HD DVD release contained both the Theatrical and Director cuts.)

Then there's Kinowelt's Ultimate HD Edition on HD DVD (also the Director's Cut), which is absolutely loaded with extra features, and has a 7.1 surround track. I don't see this one getting a release on Blu-ray anytime soon though, and if it will, then it'll still be Germany only release.

As for the US Blu-ray release (Theatrical Cut only), don't bother. It has been made utterly redundant by the two aforementioned versions.

So in short, the best option on Blu-ray at the moment is the recently released UK version. It has the best video transfer IMHO and a great audio transfer as well, but it is a bare-bones package otherwise.

[ruckus81]

actually the UK, French, and German releases of T2 on were all the Director's Cut which is longer than the theatrical release but shorter in run-time than the Extended Cut.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by ruckus81

actually the UK, French, and German releases of T2 on were all the Director's Cut which is longer than the theatrical release but shorter in run-time than the Extended Cut.

Let's try to clear this up. There are really only two officially sanctioned versions of Terminator 2:

Theatrical Cut - 137 min.
"Special Edition" aka "Director's Cut" - 153 min.

The "Ultimate Edition" DVD also had an easter egg feature where you could play a third version of the movie, called the "Extended Special Edition", which added back in a couple of deleted scenes and tacked on an incredibly cheesy flash-forward ending, but that was done strictly as a gag. It was not intended to be taken seriously or considered a valid "canonical" version of the film. There's a reason it was hidden as an easter egg on the disc and has never appeared again on any subsequent home video edition of the movie.