What is the most beautiful sci-fi movie you have on DVD?
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Saturday, March 28, 2026 22:16
VIEWED: 22250
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What movie do you have on dvd that simply blows you away every time you pop it in because the transfer is fantastic, and it captures or surpasses the theatrical experience?
Three come to mind for me:
Superman: The Movie
Raiders Of The Lost Arc
Legend: the Directors cut
All three take my breath away every time! Amazing cinematography brought out by outstanding digital technology!
What are your favourites?
Chrisisall, A.S.C.
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Don't know if you meant transfers from movie reel to DVD or VHS to DVD, but here are my choices:
(more Fantasy than sci-fi but whatever):
Lord of the Rings Extended Editions
Frequency
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'Transfer' refers to the process of taking a movie and making a copy of it to another medium, in this case film (or digitally shot material) to dvd.
LOTR is definitly beautiful, all right. When I think LOTR, I think rich, deep greens.
Colourful Chrisisall
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I don't think any film matches or surpasses the theater experience, regardless of the quality of the transfer.
For me nothing beats being in a big darkened theater, smell of popcorn, big screen, big sound. From buying my ticket to going to the concession stand, can't even explain it. It's been like that since I was a kid.
Now films that still look good on the small screen..Bladerunner, Fifth Element just off the top of my head. Anything Ridley Scott does always looks incredible.
Two other beautiful films, but not sci-fi, Crouching Tiger and The English Patient.
How about this?
Wide screen or full screen?
Virtually everything I own is letterboxed if I can get it.
Opus
"From the depth of your imagination comes the world in which you live."
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Quote:
Originally posted by Opus:
How about this?
Wide screen or full screen?
Virtually everything I own is letterboxed if I can get it.
The theatre experience as a whole cannot be beat. I just meant to target the visual portion (detail, if you will), and Blade Runner needs a new transfer.
I own Fifth Element (superbit), and it is amazing.
And I always pick widescreen except in one instance. I, Robot, a great looking film, but everyone's so small in the widescreen I actually bought the fullscreen! It has a high bit rate, so detail isn't sacrificed.
Tech-geek Chrisisall
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The two most beautiful films I own are non-sci-fi, although one is fantasy.
Crouching Tiger, colors are staggering throughout, holds up even on the small screen. The fight in the trees towards the end, all that pure, lush green, incredible.
English patient, once again, a lushness that holds up after transfer, mostly muted colors but some scenes are staged liked paintings.
I can't say I've come across anything I'd call a low quality transfer, although with Bladerunner some of the effects work is more visible on the small screen,(matte work and such), but it may just be my own tv settings.
Opus
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch' intrate"
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Of the sci-fi titles I have (which surprisingly is not many), the one sci-fi DVD that always gets me is CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. You see them making contact and it just takes the breath away. And on a little side note, my fave non-alien scene in the movie is when Roy begins to take apart all that he's put together, he takes off a chunk of the mound he's made, he sees that it looks like Devil's Tower, and inspiration strikes. And what makes it more sublime is that in the background on the tv, "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century" is playing, and Daffy's lines serve a an internal monologue for Roy. And then seeing him tear up the yard and the neighbors yard and the garden and start throwing stuff into the kitchen window is just so damn funny.
One other title I have is 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was lucky enough to see it in the theatre, and it's so much better seeing it on the big screen. Now I just have LAWRENCE OF ARABIA to gosee on the big screen.
As for non-sci-fi transfers, the recent 4 disc GONE WITH THE WIND dvd is one of the most incredible restorations I've ever seen. A 65 year old movie, and it looks like it was shot yesterday. That's how good it was.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?
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I only own three sci-fi movies on DVD, but they all happen to be extremely beautiful movies.
2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and The Truman Show
Re-reading the original question - ie specifying a movie that looks great on DVD, I'd have to go with Blade Runner - Director's Cut. The cinematography, the music. The 'human' drama.... Blown away is exactly the right term.
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
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SergeantX, since Blade Runner is my favourite film, I'm a little harsh on the transfer. It was one of the first ten or so titles to be put on dvd back in the nineties, so while it's okay, the new one coming out (any year, now) will show you what you've been missing.
I saw BR in the theatre at least ten times back in '82, and I've never seen a more beautifully photographed movie, maybe Clockwork Orange or Days of Heaven are equals.
On a non-sci-fi note, Die Hard 2 is one of the best transfer jobs I've ever seen. It looks WAY better than a movie like that ever needed to, makes 1 and 3 seem dark and fuzzy lookin' by comparison (and they're darn good transfers themselves).
How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice Chrisisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:
Originally posted by Opus:
How about this?
Wide screen or full screen?
Virtually everything I own is letterboxed if I can get it.
The theatre experience as a whole cannot be beat. I just meant to target the visual portion (detail, if you will), and Blade Runner needs a new transfer.
I own Fifth Element (superbit), and it is amazing.
And I always pick widescreen except in one instance. I, Robot, a great looking film, but everyone's so small in the widescreen I actually bought the fullscreen! It has a high bit rate, so detail isn't sacrificed.
Tech-geek Chrisisall
Have to agree with your choice of Fifth Element - it's damned shiny! Starship Troopers always impressed me too.
Ooh, and speaking of shiny - was blown away by C3P0's first appearance in Star Wars!
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