|
|
|
Water Margin (The): The Complete Series AKA Suikoden (TV)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Fabulous Films Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (19th August 2016). |
|
The Show
 ***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the show from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** The Water Margin finally gets its FULLY RESTORED release. The Japanese producers made a full HD restoration of the Japanese materials and these were then merged with the UK titles and soundtrack. The restoration includes many deleted and shortened scenes never ever seen before. This is as good as it gets for Water Margin fans! The ancient sages said, “Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?” So may one just man become an army. Nearly a thousand years ago in ancient China,at the time of the Song Dynasty, there was a cruel and corrupt government. These men riding are outlaws, heroes who have been driven to live in the water margins of Liang Shan Po, far to the south of the capital city. Each fights tyranny with a price on his head, in a world very different from our own. The story starts in legend even then, for our heroes, it was said, were perhaps the souls reborn of other, earlier knights.
Video
Independent British distributor Fabulous Films gives the seventies Japanese television show "The Water Margin" it's first outing in high definition in the United Kingdom, having previously been available in a rather poor DVD set over ten years ago. The difference between the previous DVD transfer, and this Blu-ray transfer, is night and day. However, it still suffers from a very poor source. Fabulous have presented the show in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and given it an AVC encode. The 26 episodes are spread over eight discs, with each disc holding three episodes a piece, apart from discs one and five which each house four episodes. Previous releases in the UK have been the trimmed down family friendly versions which originally aired on the BBC, but in this instance, Fabulous have taken the Japanese remaster performed by the shows owners which includes additional violence and more, with English titles. Anyone who has viewed the show previously on DVD will know this has always looked pretty poor, and unfortunately, the Blu-ray doesn't even come close to being reference quality. Whilst the upgrade is obvious, it still feels little better than standard definition. Details are certainly more refined, but still clunky, and colours are still washed out, but with much more clarity than ever before. There is also some crush in the deeper blacks which does affect the level of noticeable detail. The opening credits aren't in as good a condition as the actual episodes, but this seems to be a regular occurrence for older shows. Light damage can be seen throughout, with specks of dirt and small scratches frequent. However, the damage is far from bad enough to make the show unwatchable. Compression artefacts can also be spotted at times. At the time of writing, this has also been released in Germany. Posts in a few forums leads me to believe the picture quality is comparable between the German and UK releases. I guess overall, fans will find this a step up from what has previously been available, but it will be hard to avoid disappointment. Unfortunately, I get the feeling this is the best source available, and bar some kind of miracle, it is extremely unlikely we will see a better transfer. As an additional note, our interview with Fabulous Films included this information: The BBC bought in The Water Margin in the mid 70's and set about creating their own classic version narrated by the late Bert Kwok. They would have been given clean beginning and end titles to create their own version. The BBC junked tens of thousands of masters they held about 8 years ago and they only kept BBC owned titles. From my understanding they did little job of tracking down the ownership of certain assets and these have now been lost forever, unless someone starts mining landfills! So there were no clean titles in the UK and Japan could not locate theirs. The owners in Japan had restored the original Japanese version, and we had the original English Digibeta tapes. We had to lift the audio and place it on the Japanese version, restore the beginning and end credits and attach those too. We found the Japanese version was a lot more violent than the English due to the early evening time slot. Also some Japanese scenes had some lengthy dialogue sections that were not necessary to the English version. We have included every single bit that we could, that had been cut from the English version.
Audio
To my knowledge, "The Water Margin" has never been available in the United Kingdom in the original Japanese language, and this Blu-ray continues that stance, which is a shame, but not a washout. As far as dubs go, this is pretty good, and Burt Kwouk's narration is clear throughout. Originally made by the BBC, this dub doesn't have a huge amount of depth to it. The dialogue can sound a little flat (it is sourced from the original English digibeta tapes), and fight scenes could have done with a little more emphasis in the hits. However, the lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono is decent and leaves us with no cause for concern. There is the occasional little crackle and hiss here and there, but it has survived the test of time and low amount of care given by the license holders much better than the picture has. Unfortunately, no subtitles are included.
Extras
None.
Overall
The Water Margin holds up really well and is a fun show to watch. Don't be put off by the A/V score I have given if you're a fan, as although you'll be far from impressed, it is easily the best it has looked and sounded. I'm excited for Fabulous' release of Monkey on Blu-ray, due hopefully in 2017.
|
|||||
|