Bond on Laserdisc

quantumofsolace

Anyone else remember good old Laserdisc, the forgotten format? It was the father of DVD and subsequently the grandfather of BluRay. The picture quality was variable (sometimes superior to VHS, sometimes inferior), the discs were big and bulky (same size as a LP but considerably heavier) and certainly here in the UK they were very hard to get hold of. But what really scuppered the format was the staggering cost. Leaving aside the price of the player itself (£500-£600 - a heck of a lot of bread back in the 80's/90's) the discs generally cost at least £35-£40... and often a lot more. In fact I got this 'Thunderball' US box set for "only" £60 in a sale. Other box sets I collected ('Seven', 'Evita', Branagh's 'Hamlet', etc.) set me back a whopping £130-£140. And when I say box set we're talking about just ONE film! Nevertheless, back in those pre-DVD days getting a film you loved in it's correct widescreen ratio and complete with bonus materials was so damn cool!

X3MSonicX

I didn't even heard about that Laserdisc. Of course, i'm a NewGen guy

But did it worked well on its time? Or it was any failure?

00Beast

I've heard of LaserDisc but never actually have seen it before, or a LaserDisc player for that matter. I'd love to find one though, and a Bond LaserDisc to go with it!

bondsum

I bought exactly the same one but I paid about £80 for the Thunderball box set. I still have it but got rid of the player as it took up too much space. They also produced a Goldfinger and FRWL laserdisc set aswell.

Virage

Wasn't that the illegitimate love child between a LP and a VHS? or should i get back to by blu-rays?

myworldisenough

I think the biggest drawback for the laser disc was that it was too big. Not at all practical and not a step forward enough on the VHS format. Thankfully along came DVD which until Blu-ray was the only way to then collect movies.

Chevron

I can remember seeing the big LP sized disks in shops like the Virgin Megastore, but the price of the technology ensured my lack of interest, especially as you could pick up a video tape in the sale for a fiver.

quantumofsolace

It certainly never took off here in the UK. It was only hardcore film buffs like myself who were seduced by the format. It seemed to do better in the US and Japan. The final nail in Laserdisc's coffin was "disc rot". It was discovered that some element used in the discs caused them to deteriorate months or even years after manufacture resulting in speckles across the picture that swiftly increased to the point that they were completely unwatchable.

Jarrod

I actually used to have all the Bond films in widescreen on Laserdisc! I sold them all around 2004, when I worked at Amoeba records in San Francisco (they sold used laserdiscs there) so that I could upgrade to DVD. Before DVD, this was really the only way to see the Bond films letterboxed. I distinctly remember that Man With The Golden Gun was the last to be released in widescreen, and because of this it had a different illustration on the cover from the others. I remember that MGM released two different Connery collections that had just the Connery Bond films. Believe it or not, the Criterion Collection released the first three Bond films, and I had those as well. I never got around to buying the Thunderball deluxe collection, because it was so expensive, but I remember renting it from a video store and I taped all the extras on a VHS tape (which I can no longer find). I think the last Bond film that was released on LD was Tomorrow Never Dies, which I think was a very limited pressing, due to the beginning rise of DVD. I know that The World Is Not Enough never had a release, because I had to buy that one on VHS (I had not yet made the leap to DVD). Laserdiscs were the first format to contain extras for the Bond films, and because of this, you were usually able to get the trailers for the films. Sadly, some of the versions of the LD trailers actually look better than the DVD trailers. I'm not sure why? But some of the exact Bond trailers look more beat up on the DVD version than the LD??? After all these years I kind of regret selling my Bond LD collection, for I really like the gatefold and art packaging. I actually still have a working Laserdisc player!

quantumofsolace

My Laserdisc player is still alive and kicking too. The only LD's I buy nowadays are rare music ones. I've still got all my old discs but never play them. Whilst most have been superceded by DVD 'Seven' has got some terrific bonus material that has never appeared on DVD or Blu and none of the 'Evita' extras made it onto the DVD which is shamefully vanilla. I think the only other Bond's I've got are LTK and GE. At the time they were the only way to see the uncut versions of both films here in the UK, being US releases.

thelordflasheart

I remember renting a laserdisc player for my birthday when I was about 13 and being blown away...but there was one huge drawback that kept it from being popular. Aside from the cost, you couldn't use them to record TV shows like you could with a VCR. To me that was the real problem with them.

Some of the younger members here probably can't imagine what a gigantic leap forward VCRs were - to be able to watch a show any time you wanted to, and to be able to see a movie anytime that you wanted to (as long as it was about a year after it left theatres!). Suddenly we could do so many more things outside the house; we weren't tethered to our TVs and a slave to the schedule anymore!

quantumofsolace

Whenever I bought a Laserdisc from the US the seller would include a glossy booklet detailing all the new LD releases and I remember at the bottom of one of the pages at the back they started mentioning this new fangled format called DVD. It'll never take off, I declared confidently. Um...

Rambiritch

Still have my LaserDisc player with a good 30 odd titles including the GF Boxset, GE SE, TND.Powered it up a couple of weeks and it still works. Still a marvel to see an LP like disc being swallowed up with better than VHS picture quality and Dolby Digital Sound.The THX certified copies were superior than the norm but the format was an expensive hobby. Wanted to part with it, but it's worth more in sentiment than hardware / software value.

Sam90

Snap I have this box set as well but bought many years ago when I was on holday in Tel Aviv. I have two working laserdisc players, an epic Pioneer CLD 1450 and a Sony MDP850. just over 200 discs - got quite a few Bonds, including TND (I thought there was a release of TWINE in Japan on Laser?) - I remember Hong Kong in the early'90's Laserdisc heaven! - DVD is great but loading a Laser and hear it spin is just magic!

mikeninja008

Had them all on Laser back in the day
the inner gate fold of my OHMSS cover is signed by George Lazenby and hanging on my wall

Kananga

Sam90 said:
Snap I have this box set as well but bought many years ago when I was on holday in Tel Aviv. I have two working laserdisc players, an epic Pioneer CLD 1450 and a Sony MDP850. just over 200 discs - got quite a few Bonds, including TND (I thought there was a release of TWINE in Japan on Laser?) - I remember Hong Kong in the early'90's Laserdisc heaven! - DVD is great but loading a Laser and hear it spin is just magic!

TWINE was released on LD. Good luck finding a copy!

mikeninja008

I had Tomorrow Never Dies but not TWINE

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