Employing the stealth of Bruce Lee and the courage of Tommy
Gunn, I've acquired one of those highly illegal shoot-on-sight
bootlegs of that Phantom Menace movie. Is there any better way
to stick it to the Man than to spend yer hard earned shekels on
a bootleg VCD (until the Man finally gives with an official DVD
version, that is)? She's a glorious two-disc set - behold the
masterfully designed packaging:
Doubtful Paul Rand himself could've done better...
Take note, envious E1 video owners - this bad mama-jama sports
the Double Digital seal, which is, presumably, of far superior
quality than Single Digital. Actually, single digital would've
been more appropriate, since all the muffled sound stumbles out
of a single (center) channel speaker. Hey, who wants the
distractions associated with over-rated surround sound? Strictly
old-school mono in this package.
The picture is about three shades above black and white - those
soft muted colors much easier on the eyes than the bright
vibrant hues we saw in the theater. The promethean producers of
this package did, however, have the good sense to color code the
discs. Disc One a dull grey, Disc Two a brilliant orange (of
course). Very helpful when fumbling about for the proper half of
the movie...
While this version of the film isn't widescreen,
it isn't that repugnant pan-and-scan either. I'd best describe
this new type of framing as "stationary". Not unlike
the type of viewing experience you'd get if one were to simply
setup a cheap camcorder on a tripod in the middle of a movie
theater (that, however, would be wrong - path to the Dark Side
wrong). You don't need a fancy widescreen tv to enjoy it and you
don't need to worry about the frame moving left or right to keep
the actors or action in view. Helps a man appreciate all the
set-design work that went into the movie.
The VCD boot is packed full of extras like audience noises in
the opening scrawl, no closing credits, no trailers, no
commentary, no quality - the whole magilla. A must-own for any
fan of the cinema. Why bother with DVD at all when you have this
pulchritudinous package nestled in your player?
