Image from The Digital Fix forum's Thunderbirds Blu-Ray discussion.
I have talked a bit about Blu-Ray releases recently but there is one television release where there is a cause for concern; Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds. This programme, made in the 1960s, was filmed in 5:4 ratio and all subsequent releases, VHS and DVD, have been in this format. However, the Blue-Ray version has had the picture cropped top and bottom so that it is presented widescreen in 16:9.
It is funny how things turn fill circle; not so long ago when we all had 5:4 televisions and VCRs the vast majority of cinema VHS releases were in pan and scan or, to put another way, had the sides of the pictures cut off so that the picture would fill the screen. This is because the consumer wanted to have their television screen filled. However, we were quite used to this; for many years this is how a film would be broadcast by the television stations; only on rare occasions would a film be broadcast in widescreen (showing black bars at the top and bottom of the picture). There would be special widescreen VHS releases of some blockbuster movies - my VHS copies of the original Star Wars trilogy are in this manner - but these were not the norm.
Apparently, the opposite is now true; the average consumer now has a widescreen television and they want to have this screen filled too.
At a friend's house recently, I was horrified to discover that they watched all their old television DVD releases (made in 5:4) stretched to 16:9 widescreen. He thought that seeing black bars on either side of the picture was cutting off some of the picture but couldn't see that it made all the actors look short and fat! It is a little wonder as our high-street electrical retailers had been demonstrating widescreen televisions like this for years.
Just compare the three 5:4 images below as would be seen on a widescreen television:
The first picture (above) is correct for a 5:4 programme with black bars on either side of the picture. This picture is showing as it was originally intended to be seen for when 5:4 televisions were the standard.
The second picture (above) has been cropped at the top and bottom to create a widescreen version but when compared to the first picture it is apparent that part of the picture is lost! Is this how we are going to see all future vintage television releases on Blue-Ray? If so I'll stick to DVD!
The third picture (above) is stretched to make a 5:4 picture fill a 16:9 screen but the picture is distorted. When widescreen televisions first came out this is how nearly every electrical retailer would have their displays set up.
Tagged: Commercial Release / Doctor Who