Is remastering the '87 series in HD feasible?

[cyberweasel]

My apologies if this has been discussed... searching for "HD" didn't work so well. :tsmile:

Does anyone know if the series was produced in a way that would allow for a high definition remaster? Old cartoons like the '67 Spider-Man cartoon were successfully remastered because 35mm film existed. But I wonder if the frames were shot to tape instead in the late 80's.

I don't know that there would be a huge pull to do the whole series... but I'd love to see season 1 in HD.

[Spitfire]

Even if it can't be converted to full HD it can at least be upconverted, which it is anyway when you watch it on an HDTV. Most importantly They could fit the entire series on a few bluray disks instead of a bunch of DVDs. A bluray disk is about 5 times the size of a DVD. So if 13 episodes fit per normal DVD then you could do 65 per Bluray. You could do the whole series in 3 disks with plenty of room for special features, or what of them there were.

[Kendamu]

It would entirely depend on what sort of film masters exist as for remastering it in HD. Also, the show has a LOT of things to clean up and would be a super expensive to do.

[LeoNerdo]

I dunno about TMNT specifically but most animated shows and a lot of live action tv shows up until the last decade or so were recorded on tape. If so the elements aren't really there to make the image noticeably better although they could be cleaned up a little. A nice TV set will make them look about as good as it's gonna get.

And it's doubtful that any dvd licensor thinks any 20-something year old Saturday Morning/Syndicated cartoon show has a large enough market for a HD release.

[Andrew NDB]

In theory various filters and algorithms could be applied to the footage to upscale it to whatever. It wouldn't be perfect, but then neither is the actual material itself.

[CyberCubed]

And it's doubtful that any dvd licensor thinks any 20-something year old Saturday Morning/Syndicated cartoon show has a large enough market for a HD release.

Considering this series was one of the most popular cartoons of its time, you'd think it would be considered.

But since even the classic Simpsons seasons aren't on blu-ray, I guess its no surprise TMNT isn't.

[gobo]

Possible? Yes. Likely? Shell no.

[cyberweasel]

Yeah, I'm most interested if anyone knows if the material available will even allow it.

There's been some pull to remaster things in HD just to keep things appealing to newer audiences. It's just a matter of the ROI justifying the time/money spent to do it. It's been interesting to see shows like Star Trek: TNG and That 70's Show going back and bringing things to high definition.

[Zany Orange Dude]

I believe it is possible. Think about how they remaster the old Looney Tunes cartoons on Bluray and that is what I think can be done with the OT.

[LeoNerdo]

I believe it is possible. Think about how they remaster the old Looney Tunes cartoons on Bluray and that is what I think can be done with the OT.

That's a completely different situation. Looney Tunes were shot on film, 'cause that's all that was available then, so it's relatively simple for them to clean up and restore them so they look awesome. That 70s show is being upgraded to Blu cause it was shot on film. TNG was originally shot on film and transferred to tape for editing, which is why it's such a process for them to get the hi-def transfers out.

I can pretty much guarantee TMNT is on tape. Tape was a heck of a lot cheaper than film and is what pretty much every cartoon of the period that isn't theatrical has been stored on.

[gobo]

A few eps at the Library Of Congress are stored on reels.

[Jephael]

Why does every film and TV show ever done since the beginning of film suddenly have to be in HD?! I don't understand what the big hairy deal is!

[Stingray69]

I think its fine they way it is. I wouldn't even want it in hd.

[Zany Orange Dude]

I certainly want an upgrade. I think a nice touch up would do the OT nicely. I'd like to be able to see the picture slightly more clearly than it is presently.

That's a completely different situation. Looney Tunes were shot on film, 'cause that's all that was available then, so it's relatively simple for them to clean up and restore them so they look awesome. That 70s show is being upgraded to Blu cause it was shot on film. TNG was originally shot on film and transferred to tape for editing, which is why it's such a process for them to get the hi-def transfers out.

I can pretty much guarantee TMNT is on tape. Tape was a heck of a lot cheaper than film and is what pretty much every cartoon of the period that isn't theatrical has been stored on.

Oh okay, I understand. Thanks for explaining that to me!:tsmile:

[TurtleTitan97]

I certainly want an upgrade. I think a nice touch up would do the OT nicely. I'd like to be able to see the picture slightly more clearly than it is presently.

Same here. I'd love to see that.:tsmile:

[cyberweasel]

Why does every film and TV show ever done since the beginning of film suddenly have to be in HD?! I don't understand what the big hairy deal is!Honestly? I love art and eye-candy. :tcool:

[Killer Moth]

These days, you can pull it off more easier (I want to get the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" Season DVDs, because they look so goregous), but, no, I'm not opposed to an upgrade. Besides viewing the DVDs for obvious reasons, I want to screencap them for future icons, so. My biggest gripe with the 87 DVDs would be the way the first intro was done with all that blurring. The series' first opening animation is a treat for the eyes, so it shouldn't be formatted like that.

Also, the Season 1 DVD sometimes had a weird transparent bar at the screen's bottom, whenever it did a jump cut through scene to scene. (You might notice it best whenever Mike points to the concrete truck they used against Bebop and Rocksteady.) Except, I don't know if that's the frame-by-frame formatting or animation issues or a third thing.

Unless the fanbase is that particular and vocal, like, possibly the Star Trek or Star Wars fandom, "you'll get the DVD as formatted, and that's it!"

[Spitfire]

Why does every film and TV show ever done since the beginning of film suddenly have to be in HD?! I don't understand what the big hairy deal is!

Maybe because HD is, and has been, the standard format for years now. It also looks 100X better then DVD and it still floors there's people who claim they can't tell the difference. Course I know some people who think watching a Bluray player on tube TV will give them an HD image so that might be why.

[Lampy]

I would love to see the series in high def. like many here have mentioned, the intro is too awesome... and now very hard to find in good quality. so seeing the series in HD would definitely be something well worth it for a TMNT fan.

[Zany Orange Dude]

If they ever do release the series in HD, I hope the Bluray comes with some bonus features. Maybe a commentary for an episode or something? I think that would be pretty cool. But I'd be happy if they just release the thing in this formate at all.

[pannoni1]

Unlike film, videotape is difficult to format to HD resolution and is designed for viewing on a tube TV. Thus, this is why so many classic TV shows are DVD only, since Blu-Ray, despite having much more space, isn't practical to view non-HD content. There's no Cheers, Cosby Show, Miami Vice, or Seinfeld Blu-Rays because all those shows were shot on 4:3 tapes, not HD 16:9!

I'm afraid the best option is a limited edition if we're VERY lucky, and just be glad that we can at least watch most of the series on DVD that can also be viewed on a hard drive unlike VHS!

[Archon_Turtle]

I think converting the OT to HD is kinda like watching porn in HD. Sure...you COULD...but do you really want to? Just seems like there would be a lot of work to be done to not make it look WORSE than in SD.

[Spitfire]

Unlike film, videotape is difficult to format to HD resolution and is designed for viewing on a tube TV. Thus, this is why so many classic TV shows are DVD only, since Blu-Ray, despite having much more space, isn't practical to view non-HD content. There's no Cheers, Cosby Show, Miami Vice, or Seinfeld Blu-Rays because all those shows were shot on 4:3 tapes, not HD 16:9!

I'm afraid the best option is a limited edition if we're VERY lucky, and just be glad that we can at least watch most of the series on DVD that can also be viewed on a hard drive unlike VHS!

There is full screen stuff in HD. Like Star Trek for example. Course back then they still filmed shows on film. Point I make is they could fit a lot more episodes on one disk with a bluray then a DVD. One small 3 disc bluray set could cover the entire series at regular quality. It doesn't need to be processed to HD but it would serve to save a good bit of shelf space.

[GodzFire]

Anything is better than the sh*t that Lionsgate put out.

[Drose18]

My apologies if this has been discussed... searching for "HD" didn't work so well. :tsmile:

Does anyone know if the series was produced in a way that would allow for a high definition remaster? Old cartoons like the '67 Spider-Man cartoon were successfully remastered because 35mm film existed. But I wonder if the frames were shot to tape instead in the late 80's.

I don't know that there would be a huge pull to do the whole series... but I'd love to see season 1 in HD.

Are you going to try if so I'd love to see it. CG animation for it wouldnt be half bad.

[shezcrafti]

I think converting the OT to HD is kinda like watching porn in HD. Sure...you COULD...but do you really want to? Just seems like there would be a lot of work to be done to not make it look WORSE than in SD.

Are you kidding? HD was practically invented for porn.

[Abnormal Freak]

There's no Cheers, Cosby Show, Miami Vice, or Seinfeld Blu-Rays because all those shows were shot on 4:3 tapes, not HD 16:9!

I don't know about the rest of those shows, but I'm certain that Seinfeld was shot on film. (IMDb says 35mm.) To have proper HD versions would require filming the original camera negatives.

Film is automatically 4:3, by the way. There is no natively widescreen film; you either have to crop or matte the image, or shoot using anamorphic lenses which basically captures all of what the camera sees, scrunches it, and is widescreen when you "un-squish" it—to say it all in non-technical terms, heh.

The original TMNT cartoon, whether it was shot on film or not, it was almost without a doubt edited on tape, so proper HD versions would require re-editing the film and re-compositing the effects from scratch, like what they're doing with Star Trek: The Next Generation (though obviously redoing that is a much larger task than handling TMNT).

Even if all that exist of TMNT are standard definition masters, however, if those masters were scanned fresh and given the proper touch-up treatment and given some nice encodes for the video to breathe, they'd look pretty nice and way better than the junky Lionsgate DVDs, which I highly doubt were transferred from the original masters.

And everything should be on Blu-ray and done properly. EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING! :D