82 / BD 20 Ikarie XB 1

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#26 Post by MichaelB » Tue Aug 06, 2013 4:12 am

I got my hands on a test pressing over the weekend, and am running the Second Run and Filmexport discs one above the other on the same monitor (Scope films are particularly well suited to this kind of treatment).

Both films are clearly sourced from the same materials (during the credit sequence, there's a very very faint tramline down the right-hand side), but it looks very much as though the Second Run transfer is from a more recent scan: it's appreciably sharper and more detailed (at one point, a character relaxes in a dressing gown patterned with thin black and white stripes - the Filmexport disc has moiré shimmer, the Second Run doesn't). It's also been cleaned up - the Filmexport transfer has plenty of white dust spots, which have been almost entirely banished from the Second Run disc. There's also a very slight colour cast on the Filmexport disc, over and above the fact that the subtitles are very pale yellow rather than white (although, to be fair, you probably wouldn't notice it outside a direct comparison situation like this).

The subtitles are broadly similar, but curiously it's the Second Run disc that's truer to the film's Czech roots - a character named Štefa (Second Run) is rendered as 'Stephie' on the Filmexport disc. There are also some subtle differences in translation - when a character talks to his wife about his return years hence and whether they can rekindle their relationship, on the Czech disc he says "You won't like me", but Second Run has it as "You'll no longer desire me", which seems more situationally appropriate.

Basically, the Filmexport DVD was and is pretty good, especially given the age of both film and disc, but the Second Run transfer is appreciably superior on all counts. In other words, exactly as I'd hoped.

petoluk
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 7:31 am
Location: Czech Republic

Re: Ikarie XB1

#27 Post by petoluk » Tue Aug 06, 2013 6:52 am

Thanks for the info, Michael! Love this film, hence looking forward to seeing it again in a (slightly) better presentation! :) (I wonder if this had the new scan made in HD - Man from the First Century had, and there the diff. compared to the FEX disc was HUGE (admittedly, that disc was one of the crappiest to come out from FEX, transfer-wise).)

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Re: Ikarie XB1

#28 Post by antnield » Thu Aug 08, 2013 6:24 am

Kim Newman on Twitter:
I've just filmed an introduction to Czech sf classic Ikarie XB-1 for a forthcoming Second Run DVD release.

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MichaelB
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#29 Post by MichaelB » Thu Aug 08, 2013 6:43 am

Blimey, that was quick - Kim was only approached last Sunday! (I was at the same party).

Still, excellent news: he's admirably qualified for this kind of thing.

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: Ikarie XB1

#30 Post by Bikey » Fri Aug 09, 2013 6:56 am

Michael Brooke's review at MovieMail

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#31 Post by Bikey » Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:42 am

"The film is shot in immaculate widescreen black-and-white, and Polak takes advantage of spacious, well-finished sets to experiment with wide-angled lenses, handheld cameras and zooms. You can't help but suspect that the resulting look had a big influence on Kubrick, not just on 2001 but on the War Room scenes in Dr Strangelove... It's an absolute treat, offering all the kitsch pleasures of vintage SF while still bearing up remarkably well to modern scrutiny. Anyone brave enough to check it out will be very glad they did"
Ikarie reviewed at Starburst

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Forrest Taft
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:34 pm
Location: Stavanger, Norway

Re: Ikarie XB1

#32 Post by Forrest Taft » Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:37 am

Received an e-mail from amazon yesterday, and the release date for this has been bumped once again: it is now coming out september 23. Hopefully.

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#33 Post by Bikey » Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:57 am

It's DEFINITELY coming September 23. We just had to delay slightly to accommodate a last-minute extra...

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#34 Post by Forrest Taft » Thu Aug 15, 2013 12:25 pm

Good to know! I'm eagerly awaiting this. I assume the Kim Newman intro is the last minute extra?

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#35 Post by Bikey » Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:44 pm

It is indeed.

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#36 Post by Bikey » Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:43 am

See our new IKARIE XB 1 teaser trailer here

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#37 Post by Bikey » Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:25 am

Scalarama kicks off next week - a whole slew of Ikarie XB 1 screenings lined up across the UK:

Wednesday 4th September 7.30pm Newcastle Star and Shadow www.starandshadow.org.uk
Thursday 5th September 8pm London, Riverside Studios www.riversidestudios.co.uk
Thursday 12th September London, Stratford East Picturehouse 6.30pm www.picturehouses.co.uk
Friday 13th September 8.45pm Leicester, Phoenix Cinema www.phoenix.org.uk
Friday 13th September 8.45pm Derby, QUAD www.derbyquad.co.uk
Saturday 14th September 6.20pm Derby, QUAD www.derbyquad.co.uk
Wednesday 18th September Manchester, Kino at Black Lion Salford (time TBC)
Tuesday 24th September 8.30pm Canterbury, Gulbenkian www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian/

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#38 Post by Bikey » Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:17 am

Reviewed in today's The Guardian

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#39 Post by Bikey » Mon Sep 02, 2013 4:31 am

Full details of the Ikarie XB 1 release now at our website

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#40 Post by Bikey » Wed Sep 04, 2013 5:34 am

REMINDER!
Ikarie XB 1 screen tonight as part of Scalarama at Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne at 7.30pm, and tomorrow Thursday 5th September at 8pm at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith.

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#41 Post by Bikey » Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:26 am

"A rather wonderful trailblazing sci-fi from 1963...
Reviewed at The Skinny

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#42 Post by Bikey » Mon Sep 09, 2013 4:58 am

Lots of interest at the moment in the music of Zdeněk Liška as we approach what would have been his 90th birthday.
Hear the sounds of IKARIE XB 1 here

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#43 Post by Bikey » Thu Sep 12, 2013 4:25 am

IKARIE reviewed in the latest Uncut Magazine

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#44 Post by Bikey » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:56 am

Ikarie screens TONIGHT at Phoenix Cinema Leicester at 8.45pm and at QUAD Cinema Derby at 8:50pm. Take your pick!
(Also screens again tomorrow at 6.20pm at QUAD Derby)

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#45 Post by Bikey » Sun Sep 15, 2013 4:20 am


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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#46 Post by Bikey » Mon Sep 16, 2013 4:56 am

"These are the voyages of the starship Icarus – this fascinating, seminal 1963 Czech sci-fi was plundered wholesale by Star Trek, including the philosophical homilies by a verbose captain."
London Evening Standard by Steve Morrissey

... and a fuller review here at MovieSteve

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#47 Post by Bikey » Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:37 am

"Ikarie XB 1 emerges as a vital staging post in the development of modern SF cinema, exerting incalculable influence on multiple strands of the genre and worth remembering for its invaluable contribution to so much of what we now take for granted. Polák’s film on DVD is a mesmerising expedition to a forgotten foreign corner of the fantastic, here presented in a near immaculate transfer from Second Run."
A wonderful, expansive review at Horrorview

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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#48 Post by Bikey » Wed Sep 18, 2013 7:40 am

"Ikarie XB 1 is a genuinely remarkable achievement on a number of fronts. Its production design, model work and special effects are extraordinary for their day, its characters engaging and quickly defined, its science, when discussed, theoretically sound... It also makes for a gripping, entertaining and character-driven drama"
CineOutsider

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#49 Post by manicsounds » Fri Sep 20, 2013 7:49 pm


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Bikey
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Re: Ikarie XB1

#50 Post by Bikey » Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:43 am


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