Differences among releases?

[Redstar]

So as far as I can tell, there have been three releases of the SMB movie (so far ): the VHS, and two DVDs. I already own the VHS and would like to have one of the DVDs, but Amazon isn't being too informative on the differences between the two DVD releases and I can't find any sites that discuss them. Even our own site here doesn't have that page filled out yet. So I was hoping that anyone here with experience of all three could help me decide which DVD to get. Obviously, I'm looking for quality. Which satisfies the most?

[Phlibbit]

As far as I know, there has only been one US DVD release. And it sucks. It's completely bare bones, and it's NOT optimized correctly for widescreen displays. The quality is the best available at the moment, however.

[Zack]

I have seen a few different DVD covers on Ebay...in addition to this different one. It looks like theres the normal one with "ITS A BLAST" in orange and another one in like a purple color

http://cgi.ebay.com/DVD-SUPER-MARIO-BRO ... 56370b51f5

EDIT NEVERMIND: I guess that's the PAL format, Australia...covers kinda cool though.

[Redstar]

Well there's several different DVD covers, which implies to me different releases. I know they all obviously weren't meant for specific regional release, but there may or may not be a difference outside of the box art in terms of video quality, screen format, and menus. Here's the three covers of the different releases:

(US release; Region 1)
(Region 2)
(Region 4)

It's certainly something to look into, if you want to fill out the Video Releases section.

[ultimateemail5000]

Those other PAL DVDs deserve to be bought just because the US cover sucks. Used to have a Chinese bootleg of the movie years ago, it was 4:3, and the end credits cut off durring the list of songs. The cover looked like the regin 4 version, only fire or somwthing in the background. It's a shame I sold it years ago.

[incognitus]

I have a bootleg edition of the movie, the cover is in german and the front is like the region 2 edition

[Zack]

I keep putting off buying a big poster on ebay. I'd love to get the most well known poster with the guys in the big M. It's normally pretty cheap.

The Region 2 one I love, very colorful and vibrant.

[Serum]

I keep putting off buying a big poster on ebay. I'd love to get the most well known poster with the guys in the big M. It's normally pretty cheap.

The Region 2 one I love, very colorful and vibrant.

I actually have a really big framed poster of it hanging in my room, check it out...



...that's a twenty-five inch monitor, mofo.

[Redstar]

Nice poster.

I actually like the US release (Region 1) DVD art the most because it's simple and gets the job done. Region 4 is simple, but badly put-together, and Region 2 looks good but is too "busy" in my opinion. We need a new cover.

[Serum]

Nice poster.

Thanks, interesting story behind it.

In early 2001 my Dad was laid off by the corporation he was working for and needed work. At the time, he lived in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, which, if you've ever been there, you know it's the most godforsaken place on the planet. However, there is an exception to that, in the center of town was a movie theater, one of the old, single-screeners. One day my Dad and I were out on a walk, when we saw the old woman who owned the place inside, getting ready for the showing of a movie. We waved to her and she invited us inside, we all talked for a bit and she said that sadly the theater was going under and she needed to find a way to make money fast. My Dad offered to sell all the old movie memorabilia she had in the backrooms of the theater, the woman, Ellie, agreed to this and we raised enough money for one last movie to be played at the Sauconia Theatre, the original "Producers," it was played right after 9/11, with a tribute to the people working and living in the World Trade Center played before it. Unfortunately, the screening didn't raise enough money to save Ellie's theater and we she was behind on rent, so she asked my Dad to sell all the posters in the theater: there literally thousands of them. One day Ellie and my Dad approached me with a rolled up poster, she said 'Happy birthday!' And unrolled the poster to reveal the Super Mario Bros! I was ecstatic, it's the only poster I have that I've actually framed. Ellie passed away mysteriously a little while after that, and her theater remains standing in the center of Hellertown to this day, empty, a derelict, with no one left to watch its silver screen. But her memory lives on, even if the theater has moved on. Long live Ellie Koffler, long live the Sauconia.

That's a very long story that has nothing to do with a question you didn't ask.

[Prime Evil]

...At the time, he lived in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, which, if you've ever been there, you know it's the most godforsaken place on the planet.

Well...it's called Hellertown, after all! That should be a pretty big clue right there! It's one of those place names to run away from really quickly, right up there with Berwyn, Illinois.

By the way, that particular line I just quoted reminds me of something from an old-school, film noir detective story.

RE: Redstar

Dennis Hopper looks positively bishonen on that Region 2 cover.

[Serum]

...At the time, he lived in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, which, if you've ever been there, you know it's the most godforsaken place on the planet.

Well...it's called Hellertown, after all! That should be a pretty big clue right there! It's one of those place names to run away from really quickly, right up there with Berwyn, Illinois.

I wouldn't be surprised if I am quoting something, however it's a town run by people who think they're Dutch, but are all really some sort of Irish; this confusion makes it hard to get anything done, like restoring an old movie theater.

[Redstar]

Cool story, Merritt. I've always wanted some of those promotional props that stores usually get for new releases. I've asked on several occasions for Wal-Mart to pass on some of the giant cardboard cutouts of Mario from the video game section, but they keep those things up for well over a year and by then they either forgot or never intended to do anything more than toss them.

Getting back on topic, I think all three regional releases (is there a Region 3 release?) should be investigated for the site. I'm not sure there's much to offer in terms of quality or special features, but the technical information for comparison is plenty important and I wouldn't mind a clean scan of the covers. Most of us already have the US DVD release, so that's one down, but the other two may be both difficult to track down and expensive.

[Phlibbit]

Awesome story, Merritt. You're full of interesting schtuff. And Redstar--that "Region 2" cover art you've posted is a fan-made DVD cover; I vividly remember when some guy created it a few years back and I downloaded it and made my own box out of it. So it's not legit. However, see that DVD menu screen grab he has on the back cover? I believe that's from the Thailand release or whatever--one that I do have. Gah, I really need to complete that section.

Hopefully a Blu-Ray release would make most of this moot though. If Street Fighter can get a freaking special edition, then SMB HAS to get a release eventually. Keep this in mind, it took six years after the introduction of the DVD format for SMB to be released on it. If you apply that same general timeframe to Blu Ray, I think you'd come at the perfect time for a nifty 20th anniversary edition

[Redstar]

And Redstar--that "Region 2" cover art you've posted is a fan-made DVD cover; I vividly remember when some guy created it a few years back and I downloaded it and made my own box out of it. So it's not legit. However, see that DVD menu screen grab he has on the back cover? I believe that's from the Thailand release or whatever--one that I do have.

The entire cover is fan-made, or only the back-side? The front, at least, is what's shown on the Region 2 release on Amazon and other order sites.

Gah, I really need to complete that section.

Yep, that'd be nice. Is most of the necessary work getting the media up, or just writing up information?

[Redstar]

Oh crap, yes, the front IS part of a regular release, I have it. The dude took that cover (the best one) and made that back cover. And as far as the section goes, it's both. Just finding the time to do it.

You edited my post rather than creating your own, so I nearly missed it. Yeah, I like that cover. I think it would have been better if they didn't pixellate it, though, since it gives off too much a cartoony feel.

I've wanted a custom cover myself so I did a look around to see if any more besides the above Region 2 were done, and I found this:



Unfortunately, I can't get a better look without donating to the site. But it looks good. Cleans up the US cover by removing the quotes, so the focus is more on Mario and Luigi. The back looks like it shows just the right pictures: Koopa wielding the de-evolution gun, and what might be Koopa's tower.

[Redstar]

So I've been posting on FanEdit.org for some time and talked about SMB several times before, but I figured I'd bring up this whole "new package, same shit" issue in the hopes of getting some help in contacting Disney. Of course, I brought up the anamorphic/aspect ratio issue and was surprisingly told that the UK (Region 2) and Australia (Region 4) releases apparently don't have this problem.

I'm wondering what this means as far as an American release... The UK version was released in 2007 and the Australia version in 2008, which means that at some point they actually did a somewhat proper transfer. So why couldn't/can't they do that for us?

[Phlibbit]

I have that region 2 release. Since all this new release stuff happened, I went back through my catalog to check on this stuff. Yes, it seems to be anamorphic, but I can't tell if there's any noticeable change in quality...perhaps they just "cut out" the black bars from the region 1 and turned that into an "anamorphic" transfer? Not sure.

Something else I've noticed while going through these...lots of times the sound is a bit off, like it's up a couple of octaves. Does it have something to do with the "speed" of playback in my region or something? Or perhaps that's just what the region conversion process does to the film? Either way, it's a noticeable (and distracting) difference.

[Redstar]

How about the Holland release? According to dvdcompare.net, the Holland release is both anamorphic and has 5.1 sound (the site also lists the American release as 5.1 which I thought was 2.0).

[Phlibbit]

Holland version....sounds interesting. Anyone have a screenshot? I may have to pick this one up.

[Redstar]

I have that region 2 release. Since all this new release stuff happened, I went back through my catalog to check on this stuff. Yes, it seems to be anamorphic, but I can't tell if there's any noticeable change in quality...perhaps they just "cut out" the black bars from the region 1 and turned that into an "anamorphic" transfer? Not sure.

Something else I've noticed while going through these...lots of times the sound is a bit off, like it's up a couple of octaves. Does it have something to do with the "speed" of playback in my region or something? Or perhaps that's just what the region conversion process does to the film? Either way, it's a noticeable (and distracting) difference.

From Cactus on the FanEdit forums:

"I'd be very, very surprised if there was just an upscale of a non-anamorphic transfer. I'll try to find it and check the quality.

Regarding the audio, basically yes. A PAL DVD is sped up by 4%, which is very noticeable if you're used to the original pitch. Imagine the difference of playing a C note on a piano and then a C#. Sometimes, though rarely, PAL DVDs have the audio track pitched down to compensate - however it will still be too fast.

With Blu-ray this is not the case as all (well, at least the absolute majority) of discs are in the proper framerate, since NTSC and PAL have no relation to HD at all."

Holland version....sounds interesting. Anyone have a screenshot? I may have to pick this one up.

This is definitely something to look into. We could overlap the English-language sound track over the Holland version's (potentially) superior quality. This was my intention with the UK or AUS releases, but those don't seem to succeed in any of the areas the American release fails.

[Phlibbit]

From Cactus on the FanEdit forums:

Regarding the audio, basically yes. A PAL DVD is sped up by 4%, which is very noticeable if you're used to the original pitch. Imagine the difference of playing a C note on a piano and then a C#. Sometimes, though rarely, PAL DVDs have the audio track pitched down to compensate - however it will still be too fast.

With Blu-ray this is not the case as all (well, at least the absolute majority) of discs are in the proper framerate, since NTSC and PAL have no relation to HD at all."

Aha, I knew it! I guess it's extremely apparent when you can hear every voice and sound in the film by heart

Good to hear that this isn't an issue with Blu-Rays. A blu-ray release of this film is exactly what we need--it would fix everything. We could finally have a definitive version of this film.

[Redstar]

Cactus responded again:

Looks pretty good to me.

Any way you can explain the problem in more detail so I can elaborate for Cactus?