The picture is mostly very good most of the time, with just a few picture
flecks and a slightly soft look to it to mar your viewing. The film is
presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic.
The average bitrate is a medicore 4.42Mb/s, often hovering around that mark
but once peaking over 8Mb/s.
The sound is in Dolby Pro Logic, which has its moments, but these are only
when the stunts kick in. The rest of the time it remains fairly quiet with
little to excite the speakers.
Extras :
Chapters :
The usual 32 chapters for an MGM, which is an excellent amount. If only some other DVD
companies could take a lesson from this one.
Languages & Subtitles :
English is the only language on the disc - in Dolby Surround - and there are subtitles
in 12 languages: English (and hard of hearing), Dutch, Swedish, Finnish,
Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian and Turkish.
And there's more... :
There's not as many extras this time round as with some of the earlier
discs in the series.
Featurette: Inside Octopussy (33 mins): Another
documentary narrated by Patrick MacNee, with chat from many
stars and crew members such as co-screenwriter Michael G. Wilson,
director John Glen, production designer Peter Lamont and
its stars, Maud Adams, Vijay Armitraj and Roger Moore.
It was doubtful at first whether Moore would return to the role for this film,
so screentests were shot for potential alternatives such as Michael
Billington and James Brolin.
Featurette: Designing Bond - Peter Lamont (21 mins):
A look at the production designer and his work in this film, with chat
from many of the same people as above plus friends and relatives.
Storyboard sequences (7 mins): Two available for the taxi chase and
where Bond rescues Octopussy.
Music Video (3 mins): Rita Coolidge singing All Time High,
written by Tim Rice.
Four Trailers (8 mins): In order, presented in: non-anamorphic
16:9, non-anamorphic 2.35:1, a 4:3 picture 'squashed' down to a 16:9 ratio and
anamorphic 16:9. They look a bit iffy, but are worth a look nonetheless.
Audio Commentary: from director John Glen.
Some of the content, particularly the TV spots, isn't exactly first-rate
in terms of picture quality and sound, but it adds to the nostalgic quality
and all the interviews are clear enough.
Menu :
An animated and scored main menu, plus similar treatment given to the swipes
between menus, as we've come to expect from these Bond releases, this DVD
having a lush blue look to it.
The initial screen offers you the choice to start the film, select a scene,
choose a language or watch the extras.
I don't actually remember this film in the series being as lacklustre as it
turned out to be, compared to some of Moore's other Bond performances and it
also appears that as the series proceeds, so does the number of extras dwindle.
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL
The following is a list of all the Bond films now available in production order
with their dates of release, followed by the unofficial movies:
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
