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Author Topic: Original run in widescreen?  (Read 9216 times)
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wowbagger

Delivery Boy
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« on: 01-05-2012 08:46 »

I just saw an advertisement for Futurama on Fox8 (Australia's Fox) which showed the scene from Three Hundred Big Boys where Zoidberg goes into the jewellery shop: " I ask for rich guy stuff and you give me shiny pebbles?"

And it was in widescreen. The original run was never in widescreen. Has someone drawn in the edges or have they just zoomed in or something? Anyone seen anything like this?

I will post a screen grab if I can get one
coldangel

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #1 on: 01-05-2012 08:54 »

Probably just stretched it. I highly doubt that anybody would have gone to the trouble of animating edges to the old episodes. Or ever will. This is just not done. Unless George Lucas was in charge.
Xanfor

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« Reply #2 on: 01-05-2012 09:18 »

I'm not sure how the animation process works for cartoons, but I do know that there was talk recently of converting the Original Series of Star Trek to widescreen by cropping just a slight bit off the top and bottom and adding more of the available side margins from the original film.
coldangel

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #3 on: 01-05-2012 09:31 »

Unless the animators had the foresight to originally create the episodes in widescreen for later conversion, then there'd be no 'margins'. It would make no real sense though, because I believe widescreen format existed during Futurama's original run. If they were going to do it, they would have. I could be wrong here.
The old Trek episodes (and other live-action shows) do have some additional picture in the original masters due to camera format differing from broadcast format. But cartoons don't use cameras (excepting stop-motion stuff).
Xanfor

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« Reply #4 on: 01-05-2012 09:48 »

Ease of conversion would also depend on the individual scenes. If the crew is just sitting on the couch watching TV, pretty much the only thing you'd need to add to obtain a widescreen aspect ratio is a bit more background. Crowd scenes, on the other hand, would require all new animation, or else some creative cropping.
coldangel

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #5 on: 01-05-2012 09:56 »

I think it's entirely unnecessary.
wowbagger

Delivery Boy
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« Reply #6 on: 01-05-2012 10:57 »

I for one would buy every season again on DVD if they re-released them in widescreen
Beanoz4

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #7 on: 01-05-2012 11:28 »

I've seen many adverts that crop the 4:3 picture into 16:9.
Was there any other clips with it from the CC era?
I for one would buy every season again on DVD if they re-released them in widescreen
Even if it was just cropped? That's kind of pointless
wowbagger

Delivery Boy
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« Reply #8 on: 01-05-2012 11:41 »

Even if it was just cropped?
No, only if was drawn in properly. Maybe a waste of everyone's time, but the animation looks so much nicer in the wide format.
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #9 on: 01-05-2012 18:22 »

They usually just stretch it. ;)
Professor Zoidy

Urban Legend
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« Reply #10 on: 01-05-2012 20:44 »

I get so many TV stations with the (now) strange 4:3 ratio it doesn't really bug me too terribly I suppose. Now widescreen or not if they remastered the first seasons and re-released 'em on Blu Ray I'd consider a repurchasing venture.
Beanoz4

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #11 on: 01-05-2012 20:54 »

I really hate when TV stations crop the show their showing. Like over here in the UK The Fresh Prince of Bel-air  is shown on Nickeldodeon and it's cropped so much it's unwatchable. :(
Solid Gold Bender

Urban Legend
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« Reply #12 on: 01-05-2012 21:18 »

They usually just stretch it. ;)

They stretch it on Netflix, so I get to watch it widescreen. :D
Beanoz4

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #13 on: 01-05-2012 21:26 »

I hate watching Tv shows stretched it just looks so wrong. :(
Dorsal Axe

Bending Unit
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« Reply #14 on: 01-05-2012 21:27 »

They just stretch the picture for the old episodes. There are also no hidden margins in Futurama. In fact, I recall some discussion on the Bender's Big Score commentary on how the animators had to redraw several scenes from old episodes (e.g. Fry in the cryogenic tube) as the original scenes lacked any animation to occupy the addtional space granted by a widescreen ratio.

My understanding is that they just traced the original scenes, then added extra detail on the side. Not too taxing for a few scenes, but it would be an absolutely mammoth undertaking to convert the entire original series in this manner. It would be totally awesome, but will never happen.

As for original aspect vs stretched, I personally prefer original aspect. Nice and sharp. ;) But each to their own.
Solid Gold Bender

Urban Legend
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« Reply #15 on: 01-05-2012 21:35 »

True, it does look weird. I can watch Futurama like that for some reason,  but not anything else. Strange. :confused:
Beanoz4

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #16 on: 01-05-2012 21:38 »

If I ever watched a show in 4:3 I can't un-watch it in 4:3 I guess it's because I'm aware that the screen is distorted, but with a show I've never watched before I'm not aware (unless it's live action) because I don't know what the charictars are supposed to look like.
DotheBartman

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #17 on: 01-05-2012 21:49 »
« Last Edit on: 01-05-2012 22:03 »

I'd prefer no cropping and no changes, period. I don't want Futurama to turn into the Star Wars reissues. Just leave them as they were intended. I wouldn't support anything other that the 4:3 versions of the old eps.

Um, that said, it's possible that the clip was just cropped/stretched for the ad and not for the actual repeats. It could be to keep it consistent with other clips in the ad if there were any. This was done on the Volume 5 music video too, so the aspect ratio wouldn't keep changing suddenly.
Xanfor

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« Reply #18 on: 01-05-2012 23:19 »

I hate watching Tv shows stretched it just looks so wrong. :(

Just imagine that Fry is sitting on the Universe's box during all the episodes.
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
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« Reply #19 on: 01-06-2012 02:54 »

Xanfor, I can't imagine how terrible that would look if they actually did that...  :cry:
Professor Zoidy

Urban Legend
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« Reply #20 on: 01-06-2012 22:51 »

You can't? You must not have an imagination at the moment. ;) I can picture it, and it's annoying...
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #21 on: 01-08-2012 12:10 »

If you watch the "Bend It Like Bender" feature on the Season 6A DVD, it has a lot of clips from the OR in widescreen. They look alirght, but you can really tell a few of them have been stretched.
Beanoz4

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #22 on: 01-08-2012 14:53 »

I think when they do clips like that they should be cropped.
meisterPOOP

Professor
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« Reply #23 on: 01-09-2012 15:45 »

I agree...I many scenes, a widescreen version can easily made.

But in the case (and other cases) like when the PE crew were at Flushing Downs, now that would be intensive.
vonboy
Bending Unit
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« Reply #24 on: 01-09-2012 18:23 »

Also, it would be incredibly hard for 3D scenes. They would basically have to remake all of the 3D models (Unless they still have the models from 10 years ago. Don't know if they'd keep something like that), set up the scenes again, and rerun them in widescreen.
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