BOX-ART
-_-_-_-_-
The film is labeled as part on the, "Paul Newman Collection." The three main character are featured with some images from the film below. The tagline reads, "Caught in the game of power." I personally like the theatrical tagline better which was, "They were all having fun.." (When time ran out..)
MENUS
-_-_-
Language options of English or French subtitles and, "Play."
AUDIO
-_-_-
The only audio track is Dolby Digital Mono, at 192 KB/s. As far as I'm aware this isn't Warner begin cheap and/or lazy, the film was mixed in Mono.
VIDEO
-_-_-
With an average bit-rate of about 5.6 MB/s, the video looks free of artifacts, almost no major compression noise to be seen. On the downside however, there is some edge enhancement that is bothersome. Sharpness and colors are decent. Presented in anamorphic theatrical aspect ratio; which is always a plus.
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
This DVD was released in 2009 and was the only DVD release of the film up until the 2017 re-release under the Warner Archives Collection. Reports say that the 2017 version is just a copy-paste of this film on a DVD-R. Some people see DVD-R releases as inferior because they tend to be finicky with some DVD players. They're also said to have a lower longevity however, I personally don't mind DVD-R's.
Now, the film itself has a two different cuts. The original theatrical cut, which is what is present here, and the extended TV cut. The televised version added in scenes that weren't in the theatrical cut and was renamed, "Earth's Final Fury." This version was never released on any home medium other than VHS to date. (10/21/17)
Finally, zero special features is kind of a bummer but, considering the cult classic-y status of the film it's understandable it's releases are bare bones. I remember reading somewhere that the, supposed, reason the TV cut was never released on DVD was because the new sequences were only on analogue tape, and it would have been too costly to remaster from film elements. This also means that a high definition remaster of the film on Blu-Ray could be out of the question. However Warner is always releasing obscure films on in it's Warner Archive Collection, so maybe there's hope that one day it will get proper a proper release.
*Update: As of 2024 Several Irwin Allen films has been released in one big, expensive, box set. This includes both the theatrical version in remastered HD, but also the TV cut. The TV cut is unfortunately in SD, which furthers my theory that they either no longer have the film or don't want to remaster the deleted scenes.
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
ASPECT RATIO: 2.35:1 (Original Widescreen)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DISC SIZE: Dual-Layer
REGION CODE: 1 / NTSC
AUDIO: English 1.0 (192 KB/s)
SUBTITLES: English, French
RUN-TIME: 1 Hours 49 Minutes
