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'Babylon 5' is finally coming to Blu-ray
(www.engadget.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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Eh, sorta. It’s possible that the CGI files may have finally been located, but I’m not sure. As far as I know, the Blu-Rays will be 4x3 instead of the originally-intended 16x9 aspect ratio. The show was filmed in 16x9 and J. Michael Stracznski intended to have the CGI re-rendered at some point when it could be done faster and cheaper, but the files were lost before that could be done.
Yeah, the DVDs kinda were widescreen, but that’s because they were cropped from 4x3 to 16x9.
Remastered CGI and 16:9 would be nice, but I’ll be plenty happy with the original 4:3 presentation. Assuming this release is cut from the new masters made for streaming (and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t), it will look pretty damn good.
Later DS9 seasons were also shot for 16:9 with a 4:3 safe zone, but I would still be fine with keeping that whole show 4:3 as well.
The expanded frame wouldn’t add a whole lot to the experience, because they still shot to capture everything in the viewable 4:3 area. I doubt much effort was put into actually composing the shots for widescreen beyond making sure crew and equipment were not visible in frame.
The problem CBS has with DS9 is the extensive use of CGI throughout live action scenes (like Odo shapeshifting). It’s a lot easier to get away with just upscaling old CGI when most of the relevant shots are 100% CGI and don’t need to be composited back in to the original photography.