ANA's Star Wars project - actual flight has begun

Back in April, ANA announced "Star Wars Project" with SW-themed airplanes.

Recently they held a "Fan Appreciation Flight event"
which is reported here on a Japanese news show.

According to the report, ANA actually use these planes in commercial flights.

Flight schedule can be fouund at the official site.
(click "EN" at the top to see it in English.)

Rainbow's 1984 show coming to DVD in Japan

On Oct. 21, 2015, Japan's Ward Records is going to release
Rainbow's "Live in Japan 1984" on DVD.

Recorded on Mar. 14, 1984 at Budokan, Tokyo,
Rainbow's "final" show backed by a symphony orchestra
was once released on VHS/LD in 1984 but long time OOP.

On the new DVD, video is restored from
the recently discovered original 1-inch master videotape.
Audio is also restored.

The DVD also includes archival interview with the members of the band
except Blackmore.

DVD specs

• Main feature: 104 mins
• Extras (Interview): 8 mins
• AR: 4:3
• Audio: DD 2.0 / DD 5.1 / dts surround
• Subtitles: Japanese

Editions

On the same day they also release Eagle Rock Entertainment's
"The Richie Blackmore Story",
and there are sevral different editions with and without it.

• "Live in Japan" DVDx1
  
• "Live in Japan" DVDx1 + CDx2
  
• "Live in Japan" DVDx1 + CDx2 + "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" DVDx1 (limited to 5,000 copies)
  
• "Live in Japan" DVDx1 + CDx2 + "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" BDx1 (limited to 5,000 copies)
  
• "Super Premium Box" (limited to 500 copies)
  
  • "Live in Japan" DVDx1 + CDx2 + LPx3
  • "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" DVDx1
  • 2 T-shirts
  • 1 hardbck photobook (60 pages, 30x30cm, import)
  • 1 Japan-exclusive photobook
  This set seems to be only available at Ward Records website.

The Band

• Ritchie Blackmore (g)
• Joe Lynn Turner (vo)
• Roger Glover (bs)
• David Rosenthal (kb)
• Chuck Burgi (ds)

Tracklist

1. Intro: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor / Over the Rainbow
2. Spotlight Kid
3. Miss Mistreated
4. I Surrender
5. Can't Happen Here
6. Catch the Rainbow
7. Power
8. David Rosenthal solo
9. Street of Dreams
10. Fool for the Night
11. Difficult to Cure
12. Ritchie Blackmore solo
13. Chuck Burgi solo
14. Blues
15. Stranded / Hey Joe / Stranded
16. Death Alley Driver
17. Fire Dance
18. Vielleicht das Nächste Mal (Maybe Next Time)
19. 19. All Night Long / Woman from Tokyo / All Night Long
20. Lazy
21. Since You Been Gone
22. Smoke on the Water

(Tracklist is same for DVD, CDs and LPs.)

Capricorn One - UK BD (2014 edition)

Recently I got the 2014 edition of "Capricorn One" BD from UK.

Before this edition, there was another BD released in 2007 in UK,
which was reviewed by DVDBeaver
in comparison with US DVD from LionsGate.

While 2007 BD was barebone,
2014 BD has some notable special features,
which I will describe below.

I don't know if 2014 BD has difference in A/V quality from 2007 BD.

Basic specs

Disc: BDx1
Region code: B
Runtime: 123 mins
AR: 2.35:1
Audio: English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Publisher: Network

Package

Menu

Main Menu

Background is animated.

Popup Menu

It has the same design as the main menu.

Scene Selection

Subtitles

Special Features

• Original theatrical trailer (3 mins)

• What If...?: The Making of "Caprocorn One" (7 mins)

  More like EPK than making-of.
  Main actors, director, and producer briefly talk about the premise.
  Some behind-the-scenes footages are included.
  
  
  
  

• On Set with Capricorn One

  These rough-looking footages have no narration or text to explain when, where, who, etc.

  • Desert Filming (38 mins)

    At an abandoned gas station and Telly Savalas's airfield.
    
    
    

  • Studio Filming (4 mins)

    On the set of "Mars."
    
    

• Gallery (4 mins)

  Slideshow (no sound) of various stills, such as posters, lobby cards, publicity photos, etc.

Brief comparison with US DVD and BD

US DVD from LionsGate
has audio commentary with Peter Hyams and
a featurette on the zeitgeist of the USA at the time.

They are not found in both UK BDs and
US BD from Shout! Factory, which is essentially barebone.

Screenshots with subtitles

Conclusion

With good video/audio quality and nice extras not found in the US discs,
I think this 2014 edition of UK BD is worth getting
if you can play Region B disc.

Or rather, this may be another reason for you to go region-free.

Buy at Amazon UK

Dark Star - Japanese BD

Japanese distributor TC Entertainment will release
John Carpenter's "Dark Star" on blu-ray on Apr. 3, 2015,
in 2 editions.

• 1-Disc Standard Edition (cat#: TCBD-0435) (Buy from Amazon JP)
• 2-Disc Limited Edition (cat#: TCBD-0434) (Buy from Amazon JP)

Specs

Basic Disc Specs

Region code: A
Video: VistaVision/16:9 enhanced/1080p HD *1

Audio:

• English dts-HD MA 5.1
• English dts-HD MA 2.0

Subtitles: Japanese

*1: Some of the special features are in SD,
which must be NTSC.

Main feature:

Includes 2 versions of the movie,
83mins theatrical cut and 73mins director's cut.

Special features:

1-Disc edition

• 3D Guide to the Dark Star Ship
• Written Intro by Dan O'Bannon (w/ Japanese subtitles)
• Trivia
• Posters and Stills gallery
• Original and Japanese trailers

2-Disc edition

has everything in 1-disc edition, PLUS:

• Making-of *2
• Interview with Sci-Fi Author Alan Dean Foster
• Interview with actor Brian Narelle

*2: Presumably "Let There Be Light" documentary.

Also, the 2-disc edition comes in a box packaging.
with some 20-page booklet (presumably in Japanese only),
a set of 8 postcards featuring foreign poster artwork.

Notes

The 2-disc edition seems to be a good combination of
US VCI's "Thermosteller" edition and
UK Fabulous Films and French Carlotta editions.


To my understanding,
US edition has lots of special features but doesn't have the director's cut.
Both UK/French editions have 2 versions of the movie, but
only has "Let There Be Light" documentary (117mins) as special features.

Japanese 2-disc editon has 2 versions of the movie
and most of the special feautures from VCI edition.
The only omission is
Audio Commentary by "Super Fan" Andrew Gilchrist.

As always with Japanese BDs, the price is very high.
So, not many people consider to get it
but if you are a kind of "collector", maybe?

Or, if you already have US VCI edition,
you may want to get Japanese 1-disc edition
only to see shorter director's cut.
Japanese BD is expensive but region coded A
(and SD materials are NTSC),
while UK/French BDs are region coded B
(and SD materials are likely PAL).

The Man from Earth - UK DVD

I recently got the UK DVD edition of the movie.


It's rare for me to choose DVD when BD is available,
but I did so for 2 reasons:

• Among BDs and DVDs released in US, UK and France,
  UK DVD is the only one with extras.
• It seems the movie is not much benefited from higher video resolution
  after reading the reviews of US BD on DVDBeaver and Blu-ray.com.

Disc specs

Region code: 2
Video: PAL
AR: 1.78:1
Audio: English 2.0 / English 5.1
Subtitles: None
Running time: 87
Studio: Anchor Bay UK

The Package

Standard DVD case without booklet.

Menus

Top menu is animated, with the end title song played.

Chapters

Audio setup

• 2.0 Stereo
• 5.1 Dolby
• Commentary with executive producer Emerson Boxby and author Gary Westfahl
• Commentary with producer/director Richard Schenkman and actor John Billingsley

Extras

Added to the commentaries listed above,
there are 4 brief "behind-the-scenes"pieces:

• On the Set (4:00)
• The Story of the Story (2:12)
• Jerome Bixby's Sci-Fi Legacy (3:49)
• From Script to Screen (2:11)

They are more like chapters of a single "making-of" featurette.
seemingly all shot on/around the set.

We see producer/director Richard Schenkman,
executive producer Emerson Bixby,
and all of the principal cast, talking about the project,
their links to "Star Trek", etc.

Personally, I'd like to hear more from actors
on their acting rather than "I was in this Star Trek episode."

Video quality

I have no complaints.

A few shots of nature background may look much beautiful in HD
but overall I think SD is "good enough" to enjoy this movie.
(Still, I wish BD has the same extras as DVD.)

Audio quality

No problem here too.
As expected, 5.1 and 2.0 doesn't sound much different,
as the movie is almost entirely a conversation.
I felt slightly more comfortable with 2.0, though.


Overall I'm glad that I chose this edition.