MCA/Universal’s original movie-only release of 'Apollo 13' is a terrific disc -- powerful THX sound and a crisp image. Despite what I refer to as a "rolling distortion," a pesky, inconsistent manufacturing flaw that infested every THX-approved disc I reviewed last November (including 'Pulp Fiction', 'Top Gun' and 'Crimson Tide'), the overall quality of the disc was superb.
MCA’s deluxe Signature Collection Edition of 'Apollo 13' boasts the exact image and sound quality as the movie-only version. To boot, I encountered no visual artifacts or manufacturing defects. Chapter stops and titles are identical, as are the side/platter breaks.
It’s the extras on this new disc that will make owners of the cheaper 'Apollo 13' opt to trade-up. And if you held out since last year waiting for this much-anticipated deluxe edition, you’ll feel it was well worth the wait.
After the movie on side 3 is the theatrical trailer (the shorter advance teaser trailer has not been presented, though there was plenty of room available on side 3 for its inclusion).
Side 4 features the 53-minute laser-exclusive documentary 'Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13'. This behind-the-scenes exploration of the making of 'Apollo 13' is rich with on-camera anecdotes from cast and crew members (including interviews with Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan, Ed Harris, producer Brian Grazer), and brimming with historical perspective, offered by the real Jim and Marilyn Lovell themselves, as well as other key members of the NASA team. The special effects wizards at Digital Domain are also on hand to demonstrate the miraculously-lifelike effects (so realistic, in fact, that astronaut Buzz Aldrin thought the film’s effects sequences were comprised of seldom-seen stock footage). And Bill Paxton’s home movies offer a vertiginous peek at the joys and nauseation of filming in a zero-gravity environment.
There are two separate audio commentary tracks, both running for the duration of the movie. On analog track 1, Ron Howard speaks about the technical challenges and never-before-tried filmmaking techniques employed to give 'Apollo 13' a distinct, undisputed verisimilitude. Analog track 2 features a play-by-play commentary by Jim and Marilyn Lovell. Their participation on this laserdisc audio supplement is unprecedented, because, as far as I can tell, never before have laser viewers been able to listen to a narration track spoken by the actual people who lived through the true events depicted onscreen. Captain Lovell offers a no-B.S. account of the chronology of his failed mission, and occasionally refutes some of the goings on within the movie, conceding that various technical inaccuracies and narrative inconsistencies were the result of the filmmakers’ "artistic license." But Lovell is also equally quick to praise the filmmakers, and especially the lead actors, for faithfully and flawlessly recreating events and dialogue as they actually occurred.
For a more lengthy explanation of the movie portion of 'Apollo 13', readers can read my original review of the movie-only disc. Within that review is a detailed explanation of the Super 35 format in which 'Apollo 13' was photographed. During the documentary on side 4 (Chapter 2, at the 5:10 mark), there’s a visual aid that clearly illustrates the difference between the fake anamorphic 2.35:1 image seen in theaters (and replicated on both letterboxed discs) and the 1.33:1 image of the "full-frame" videocassette transfer. One look at this graphic and you’ll see just how much picture information is compromised when a Super 35 image like this one is cropped for a widescreen transfer.
Lastly, James Horner’s majestic score is isolated on both analog tracks (in stereo) of the documentary on side 4. Like Horner’s isolated score on the recent 'Field of Dreams' Signature Collection package, there are no chapter stops programmed for easy-access of the individual music tracks. But on the plus side, we’re treated to an expanded version of the musical score, with several orchestrations that did not make it onto the soundtrack CD. Plus, this isolated musical program does not include the dialogue bytes that were unwisely integrated onto the soundtrack CD.
Vital statistics: MCA/Universal Home Video; 4 sides; CLV; Widescreen (2.35:1, masked from a Super 35 image of roughly 1.85:1); Stereo Surround; THX; Chapter stops; Closed captioned; $99.95.
S. Damien Segal.
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