John Carpenter's The Thing (Region A and Region B UPDATED

[Oliver_Wicks]

I have some corrections to submit the Region A Shout Factory and Region B Turbine Bluray releases of "John Carpenter's The Thing" .

1: Here's a link from movie-censorship that explains exactly what was cut from the John Carpenter and Kurt Russell Commentary and the likely reasons as to why: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=427855

2: There's an Easter Egg on Disc 2 of the German Region B Turbine Release: Highlight the "Archiv" menu, then press right to reveal a hidden helicopter icon - press it to view a featurette on Peter Abbott 'The Thing'' Collector (8mins 55 secs - 1080i). This Easter Egg is in English with Optional German Subs (the subs default to "On" but can turned off via your remote).

3: Also note that Disc 4 of German Region B Turbine Release is held in a separate cardboard sleeve, not in the main Digipack with the Discs 1-3.

4: The following Extras on Discs 1 and 2 of the German Region B Turbine Release are in HD:

Disc 1:

- US Teaser (1080p)
- US Trailer 1 (1080p)
- US Trailer 2 (1080p)
- German Trailer (1080p)
- TV Spots (1080p)
- Radio Spots (1080p)

Disc 2:

- "John Carpenter's The Thing: Terror Takes Shape" (1080I)
- "The Men of Outpost 31" (1080p)
- "Behind the Chameleon: Sights of the Thing" (1080p) (incorrectly listed as just "Behind the Chameleon" in both the Shout Factory and Turbine comparisons)
- Requiem for a Shape Shifter with John Carpenter in conversation with Mick Garris (1080p) (incorrectly listed as "Requiem of a Director: John Carpenter with Mick Garris" in the comparison)
- "Between the Lines" interview with novelization author Alan Dean Foster (1080p)
- "Assembling & Assimilation" interview with editor Todd Ramsay (1080p) (Incorrectly listed as ""Assembling And Assimilation" interview with editor Todd Ramsay" in both the Shout Factory and Turbine comparisons)
- "Sounds From the Cold: The sound design of "The Thing" (1080p) (incorrectly listed as just "Sounds From the Cold" in both the Shout Factory and Turbine comparisons)
- Storyboard to Film Comparison (1080i) - This has dubbed German Audio for the film portion but English text for the Storyboards.
- Trailers From Hell "The Thing" (1982) (1080p) (incorrectly listed in the comparison as "Trailer of "The Thing" (1982)")
- Trailers From Hell "The Thing" (2011) (1080p) (incorrectly listed in the comparison as "Trailer of "The Thing" (2011)")
- Outtakes (1080p)
- Promo Clip Tape (1080i)
- "The Making of The Thing" (1080i)
- "The Making of a Chilling Tale" (1080i)
- Behind the Scenes (1080i)
- Promo Scenes Tape (1080i)
- Text and Image Archive (1080p)

All other extras are in MPEG 2 480i SD and most of the 1080i materials look to be upscaled from either VHS tapes or Laserdiscs.

5: This is only a minor point but there are some slight differences between the TV Cut that is found on the Shout Factory Bluray and the one found on the Turbine Bluray. The Shout Factory version is in upscaled 1080i with the AVC Codec but has lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The Turbine version is in MPEG 2 480i SD but has lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo so it's a case of choose your poison as to which you would prefer. I don't know if you want to include this but I thought I'd include it anyway in case you did .

6: The "Annotated Production Archive" found on the Shout Factory release, was ripped wholesale from the HD-DVD release of the film. I know this, because towards the end of it, there is a glitch whereby a HD-DVD menu is visible for approx 2secs, before disappearing again. This glitch isn't present on any other release of the film, because those versions of the "Annotated Production Archive" are presented as individually selectable sections, instead of 1 long continuous program. I don't know if you want to include this but I thought I'd include it anyway in case you did .

7: Shout Factory released a Steelbook version of "The Thing" last year that adds a 3rd disc containing the same 4K transfer approved by John Carpenter and Dean Cundy, which was used for the Arrow and Turbine Blurays. I don't know what the actual specs are for this release but it's worth mentioning in the Overall that it exists.

8: The Classic Artwork Edition of the Turbine Bluray is limited to 3,000 Copies and the Modern Artwork Edition is limited to 2,000 Copies.

I sourced the info for points 2-6, from my personal copies of the respective Blurays .

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

4: The following Extras on Discs 1 and 2 of the German Region B Turbine Release are in HD:


All other extras are in MPEG 2 480i SD and most of the 1080i materials look to be upscaled from either VHS tapes or Laserdiscs.

1080i 50hz or 60hz for the extras?

5: This is only a minor point but there are some slight differences between the TV Cut that is found on the Shout Factory Bluray and the one found on the Turbine Bluray. The Shout Factory version is in upscaled 1080i with the AVC Codec but has lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The Turbine version is in MPEG 2 480i SD but has lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo so it's a case of choose your poison as to which you would prefer. I don't know if you want to include this but I thought I'd include it anyway in case you did .

Shout Factory TV cut is in 480i.

7: Shout Factory released a Steelbook version of "The Thing" last year that adds a 3rd disc containing the same 4K transfer approved by John Carpenter and Dead Cundy, which was used for the Arrow and Turbine Blurays. I don't know what the actual specs are for this release but it's worth mentioning in the Overall that it exists.

Added that one.

[Oliver_Wicks]

1: The 1080i extras are in 60hz .
2: Also, the US trailer 3 on Disc 1 of the Turbine release is in 480i but all the other trailers are 1080p.
3: I've just noticed a typo in both of the Arrow Bluray releases i.e. the word "background" in "Production Bacground Archive" is mis-spelled.
4: I've just remembered something. The Turbine Bluray has English Subtitles for the Theatrical Cut of the film but the extras on discs 1 & 2 only have optional German Subtitles.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

OK. Updated