Terrahawks Blu Rays
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 9:22 am
Well, I can say the Terrahawks blu-rays are fantastic.
The picture quality is far better than the DVDs, which I think were just tape transfers.
They might have baked the tape a bit first but that's all they were.
There are a few shots and scenes that are a bit fuzzy but I think that's due to the focus or depth of field of the cameras used to film it.
I'm comparing it to the Thunderbirds blu rays (which look better) and I guess Terrahawks was shot on 16mm while Thunderbirds was done on 35mm (?).
There are also lots of scenes with black backgrounds such as in space and in the credits where the black is not-at-all uniform and washes out to grey on the right-hand side.
This is pretty noticeable on a 16:9 screen where you have black space on either side.
I would have figured that it would have been fairly simple to correct that issue.
The modelwork holds up very well against 1080p scrutiny.
The panel lines; especially on Battlehawk really come out on a lot of the shots and you can see much better how much energy went into making the hero vehicles (and the enemy ones).
Zelda's saucer ship has an interesting veiny pattern on its hull that's similar to that on the Alliance Astrofighters from Star Fleet.
That comes across much clearer in the blu ray.
The series itself is better than I remember it too. I finished the Sporilla episode and there hasn't been a dud episode up to this point.
Dominique was quite surprised at 'what awful person' Ninestein was.
I think he's just there as a series of buttons for Zero to push.
In the Gold episode, Zero knows that Ninestein will *demand* rock samples as soon as Zero 'assumes' that no rock samples will be needed.
The banter between Kate and Hawkeye is great.
- Give it a try, Hawkeye
- Just say when and it's 10-10!
Hawkwing is also one of the best vehicles in any Gerry Anderson series along with Battletank.
I think Hawkwing is so awesome because there's nothing conservative about it. The launch sequence is fabulous yet still believable. It's like they came up with whatever idea would be more impressive than the Thunderbirds launch sequences.
That it can transfer the upper cockpit module between the two vehicles, which can then separate, is clever.
There are lots of realistic weapons like rocket pods and missiles on the model as well as the main red laser.
It has lots of nice details such as the wings that fold down to fit the ship into its launch tunnel and the smaller swing-wings that open out at lower speeds.
Overall, the ship looks great as well, whether it's combined or separated.
The Battletank meanwhile succeeds because it is conservative. It's low profile and a simple wedge-shape overall.
The megazoid control modules are great because their appearance (down to the eyes and the placement of their laser guns etc) co-ordinates with the Zeroids.
It's a nice detail that the Zeroids feed telemetry to the tank and relay instructions from the human commanders.
The fact that it has two 'heads' is good too because it can see (and fire guns) in two directions at once and it has 'high-availability' in case one head gets destroyed.
The missile launcher on the back is also a great idea because it can fire while moving and presumably hit targets beyond its line of sight; especially if it has a Zeroid spotting the target.
There are no dud vehicles either. They all make sense and look the way they should do given what they do.
The soundtrack is brilliant too- it's really sugary and enjoyable. Listening to it's like drinking pink Calpol.
The other thing I noticed is that the incidental launch themes are re-arranged for subsequent uses, which is unusual in TV shows.
So the same exact version of the Hawkwing launch theme never seems to get used back-to-back so far.
So, I will be getting the 2nd and 3rd volumes once I've finished this one.
I remember that there's an episode where Battletank gets destroyed but it gets brought back for the next episode.
I can't remember which episode that is.
I guess they have a ready supply of Battletanks and Hawkwing upper wings back at the base.
In episode 2, Hawkwing had a replacement wing straight away after using/loosing it episode 1.
The picture quality is far better than the DVDs, which I think were just tape transfers.
They might have baked the tape a bit first but that's all they were.
There are a few shots and scenes that are a bit fuzzy but I think that's due to the focus or depth of field of the cameras used to film it.
I'm comparing it to the Thunderbirds blu rays (which look better) and I guess Terrahawks was shot on 16mm while Thunderbirds was done on 35mm (?).
There are also lots of scenes with black backgrounds such as in space and in the credits where the black is not-at-all uniform and washes out to grey on the right-hand side.
This is pretty noticeable on a 16:9 screen where you have black space on either side.
I would have figured that it would have been fairly simple to correct that issue.
The modelwork holds up very well against 1080p scrutiny.
The panel lines; especially on Battlehawk really come out on a lot of the shots and you can see much better how much energy went into making the hero vehicles (and the enemy ones).
Zelda's saucer ship has an interesting veiny pattern on its hull that's similar to that on the Alliance Astrofighters from Star Fleet.
That comes across much clearer in the blu ray.
The series itself is better than I remember it too. I finished the Sporilla episode and there hasn't been a dud episode up to this point.
Dominique was quite surprised at 'what awful person' Ninestein was.
I think he's just there as a series of buttons for Zero to push.
In the Gold episode, Zero knows that Ninestein will *demand* rock samples as soon as Zero 'assumes' that no rock samples will be needed.
The banter between Kate and Hawkeye is great.
- Give it a try, Hawkeye
- Just say when and it's 10-10!
Hawkwing is also one of the best vehicles in any Gerry Anderson series along with Battletank.
I think Hawkwing is so awesome because there's nothing conservative about it. The launch sequence is fabulous yet still believable. It's like they came up with whatever idea would be more impressive than the Thunderbirds launch sequences.
That it can transfer the upper cockpit module between the two vehicles, which can then separate, is clever.
There are lots of realistic weapons like rocket pods and missiles on the model as well as the main red laser.
It has lots of nice details such as the wings that fold down to fit the ship into its launch tunnel and the smaller swing-wings that open out at lower speeds.
Overall, the ship looks great as well, whether it's combined or separated.
The Battletank meanwhile succeeds because it is conservative. It's low profile and a simple wedge-shape overall.
The megazoid control modules are great because their appearance (down to the eyes and the placement of their laser guns etc) co-ordinates with the Zeroids.
It's a nice detail that the Zeroids feed telemetry to the tank and relay instructions from the human commanders.
The fact that it has two 'heads' is good too because it can see (and fire guns) in two directions at once and it has 'high-availability' in case one head gets destroyed.
The missile launcher on the back is also a great idea because it can fire while moving and presumably hit targets beyond its line of sight; especially if it has a Zeroid spotting the target.
There are no dud vehicles either. They all make sense and look the way they should do given what they do.
The soundtrack is brilliant too- it's really sugary and enjoyable. Listening to it's like drinking pink Calpol.
The other thing I noticed is that the incidental launch themes are re-arranged for subsequent uses, which is unusual in TV shows.
So the same exact version of the Hawkwing launch theme never seems to get used back-to-back so far.
So, I will be getting the 2nd and 3rd volumes once I've finished this one.
I remember that there's an episode where Battletank gets destroyed but it gets brought back for the next episode.
I can't remember which episode that is.
I guess they have a ready supply of Battletanks and Hawkwing upper wings back at the base.
In episode 2, Hawkwing had a replacement wing straight away after using/loosing it episode 1.