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Eureka Blu-ray with 4 versions |
Comparison between the reconstructed international version of T.V.P. and the British “Export Version” (= corresponds to the T.V.P. bonus version) with the British DVD from BMG and the German DVD from Atlantis. Only the German and British DVDs contain the correct, uncensored international version.
Furthermore, we have already pointed out here that the alleged “Export Cut” of Eureka is in fact neither the official international nor the official US version of the film. Instead, the TVP bonus version (extended export cut) was simply used here, in which various bits of violence and the like from the inferior Taiwanese source were quite freely added to the in-house reconstruction of the international version. It's absurd how Mike Leeder and Arne Venema emphasize the brutality in the audio commentary, but say nothing about these clear changes in the used image source and are delight instead that they would have never seen the film in such good quality - when looking at the ancient US HD master of the 2000s. Curiously enough, the Taiwan inserts were properly deinterlaced in this version by TVP though, but in a different aspect ratio, and the version itself has a few questionable editing decisions and even missing parts. At this point, to be on the safe side, we looked back further and consulted both the old German and the British DVD, which contain the international version in its original form. And here a curious circumstance emerged, because of which we also updated the report on the US version. TVP had reconstructed the international version itself on the German release by filling in the HD master of the US version with censored moments from the Hong Kong master. It was precisely this basis that was then used for the TVP extended export cut with further Taiwanese inserts. But annoyingly, TVP wasn't thorough, because there are a few more shots of a few frames (= typical American MPAA pattern) that were clearly censored for the US version and were overlooked in the reconstruction. These censorships have therefore all slipped into the “export cut” of Eureka, which, as I said, corresponds 1:1 to the TVP extended export cut. As praiseworthy as TVP's approach was in itself (which was also widely promoted on Facebook at the time with reference to the previously overlooked US censorships), in this incomplete form it once again has a bland aftertaste. The fact that Eureka delivered sloppy work on several fronts and dragged along the mistakes in this supposed “export version” is yet another unpleasant surprise. Shamrock Media has already announced in Germany that they also work on a new Blu-ray with the newer remaster of the Hong Kong version used by Eureka for the main version on disc 1. It is not yet known to what extent a reconstructed export version and an additional extended version will be included. Let's hope that things turn out better here in terms of actual proper alternatives to the Hong Kong version.
* The BMG UK DVD also corresponds 1:1 to the German Atlantis DVD in the time codes. The international version of TVP still has a company logo at the start. TVP's bonus extended export Cut (= Eureka fake Export Cut), does not have this logo.
+ 15.6 sec
15:10-15:11 / 14:18 During the scene change (pensive Tsui -> warehouse) there is a brief moment of black screen on the Blu-ray. + 0.8 sec 24:22 / 24:47 / 23:06 When Tsui jumps on the man's chest, there is a small jump cut and so the goriest moment of blood spilling out is omitted. 0.4 sec First here's this shot from the Hong Kong/Taiwan/Extended version by Eureka (= in 1.85:1, unfortunately also more matted at the top/bottom than necessary). At least all of these versions contain the moment (as with the following changes).
Due to the really noticeable color differences in the picture masters between all Asian and the US / international versions, we have also included the missing material from the UK DVD (= zoomed to full screen) and the old German DVD (1,78:1 Letterboxed and also slightly cropped).
25:34 / 25:59 / 24:16 The wound on King Kau's cheek can be seen a moment longer. In these last frames of the shot, the image is clearly sharper, which was probably the reason for the censorship. 0.6 sec
At 47:35 / 47:56 / 45:22 you can briefly mention that the British DVD had burned-in subtitles for the text on the computer screen. Unfortunately it was not subtitled on TVP and there also is no subtitle on Eureka's "export cut".
53:30-53:31 / 54:03-54:04 / 51:03-51:04 The shot starts 0.2 sec earlier and so you can still see the bloody head shot here at the beginning. It is also 0.5 sec longer and so a thick gush of blood runs out of the second guy's head. To "hide" this censorship, the short shot plays out in slow motion on the US cut and therefore on TVP's versions + the Eureka "export cut". No time difference (cut footage: 0.7 sec) .
57:31-57:33 / 58:08-58:10 / 54:55-54:57 After Tsui has fallen to the ground, he rises again here. Again, this shot was played in slow motion in the US version to cover up that it was therefore cut off earlier. There is actually a lot of blood spurting from his fresh chest wound towards the end. No time difference (edited footage: 1.2 sec) .
The credits are different.
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