A Galaxy of Bootlegs

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Site created 12/15/97.

page created: 5/22/00

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
(Version A)

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This bootleg version of Episode I is the first such disc that I found. It was released prior to the recent Japanese laserdisc, so this disc appears to have been mastered using a poor quality film transfer of a poor quality Asian exhibition print. The disc opens with the Dolby Digital "City" trailer (in 5.1) and the Fox logo. Then you get the menu page you see below (at top). The 6 buttons correspond to the disc's 6 chapter stops. The menu isn't animated - that's a still in the background. As for the film, it's letterboxed and is of very poor quality. The image is very dark and is red-shifted in color. There's a ton of damage to the print used to make this disc, which was probably "borrowed" from a local theater (it has the "cigarette burns" which signal reel changes to projectionists). The audio is a very muddy 2.0 stereo. There are also Chinese subtitles both burned into the print itself, and in the bottom bar of the letterbox. As you can see (above), the disc's surface printing is also of poor quality, and claims that the film's title is Episode L. It also inaccurately claims that there's 5.1 sound.

You can see screen shots from the disc below. Keep in mind that when resizing them for the Internet, Photoshop tends to minimize imperfections in the picture, so the images may make the video look better than it is. The video is watchable, but is of very poor quality.

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