Films that should be digitally mucked around with

[Stumpy Pepys]

Everyone's rightly narked about George Lucas's continual mucking about with the Star Wars series. But that's not to say that a bit of retrospective touching up is always a bad thing. Which films would benefit from some work?

Jaws: The appearance of the actual shark mid-way through the film is the only thing wrong with this film. I wouldn't object to Spielberg making his rubbery contraption look more like a real shark.

Das Boot: Of course, the whole point of this film is the fear, misery and claustrophobia of being stuck in a WWII U-boat. However, some of the exterior shots look like they were done in a swimming pool with a Super-8 camera.

[Purves Grundy]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

The Piano - could do with some dinosaurs and ninjas.

[Ginger Yellow]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Titanic: enhance the film by digitally changing every frame to a black screen.

[Sean of the Shed]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Stumpy Pepys wrote:

Jaws: The appearance of the actual shark mid-way through the film is the only thing wrong with this film. I wouldn't object to Spielberg making his rubbery contraption look more like a real shark.

Exactly the same thing for the original Terminator. That rubber head cutting it's own eye out isn't remotely convincing, a bit of digital enhancement with the Governor of California's head would improve this no end.

[Ginger Yellow]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

I'm kind of surprised Cameron hasn't, with his love of all things CGI. Then again, maybe there are rights issues.

[Sam]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Ginger Yellow wrote:

I'm kind of surprised Cameron hasn't, with his love of all things CGI.

Clegg & Co. would go along with it, at least.

[ian.64]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Every Adam Sandler movie where the star is digitally rubbed out and replaced by someone genuinely funny.

CGI work on the script may be a tougher job, though.

[Ginger Yellow]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

On the plus side, maybe this means that the Enterprise will visit more different planets than the three or so sets they had for TOS.

[ian.64]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Superman II - Loads of effects that could be redone in that. It's still ticklishly good fun (Cockney Zod: "'Ooh is this Soopermayne?") but some effects house can spruce up such items as the lame, cheap animation Phantom Zone explosion after the Eiffel Tower sequence, and the tatty Airfix helicopter gubbins in the first small-town trash-up by the Krypton baddies.

[Reed John]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Good call on Superman.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

It's testament to the skill and creativity of the puppeteers behind ET that nowadays they probably would have done that in CGI, but I don't think in doing so ET would have retained anything like the charm or indeed "reality" of the waddling rubber puppet.

[tracteurgarcon]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

It's testament to the skill and creativity of the puppeteers behind ET that nowadays they probably would have done that in CGI, but I don't think in doing so ET would have retained anything like the charm or indeed "reality" of the waddling rubber puppet.

Spielberg did release a "remastered" version of E.T for it's 20th anniversary which included some dodgy CGI which certainly didn't add anything to the original.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Well, it goes without saying that they should make a decent job of it. Not that they necessarily will.

[Reed John]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

I just saw It's a Wonderful Life on the big screen. That first bit where the camera goes past the moon to show the angels talking as blinking galaxies looks weak. Something better, but not flashy, could be done with that.

[De Geas Clean Linen]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Carnivorous Vulgaris wrote:

Paramount have, kind of, been doing this with several episodes of Star Trek The Original Series, most notably The Doomsday Machine. The 60's FX shots have been replaced with CGI models. Good idea in theory, a bad idea given the evidently limited budget available. The graphics aren't terribly more advanced than what you'd expect from a PS3 game and don't really add anything to the episodes. Plus, as episode author Norman Spinrad says, the Machine still looks like "a giant windsock dipped in cement".

They remastered all three seasons of the original series and gave the effects an overhaul. I can safely say that it looks absolutely stunning on Blu-Ray...

They also did something similar for the DVD release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and some of the changes were welcome while a lot of the V'Ger exterior/interior shots they did looked out of place. I find it odd that Paramount found enough cash to have some of the effects cleaned up but refused to remaster the films transfer from the original negative. The film is grainy and soft in a lot of places and the black levels are all over the place.

[De Geas Clean Linen]

Films that should be digitally mucked around with

Sean of the Shed wrote:

Stumpy Pepys wrote:

Jaws: The appearance of the actual shark mid-way through the film is the only thing wrong with this film. I wouldn't object to Spielberg making his rubbery contraption look more like a real shark.

Exactly the same thing for the original Terminator. That rubber head cutting it's own eye out isn't remotely convincing, a bit of digital enhancement with the Governor of California's head would improve this no end.

Cameron normally doesn't re-release his movies with additional or remastered effects. He might release extended cuts but he has never gone back and changed the SFX on any of his films, to my knowledge...