* * * This message was from Joseph DeMartino to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
         * * * and has been forwarded to you by Lord Time * * *         
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{at}REPLY: 
Hendrik Boom wrote:

> I imagine the hard part would be to get Warner Brothers to *find* the
> film.

As far as I konw Warner Bros. has all of the original film except for
those portions of the negative for "The Gathering" that were damaged
due to poor storage.  The original film was used to source the
widescreen digital masters that were apparently used to create both the
Sci-Fi Channel widescreen letterboxed broadcast masters and the
anamorphic widescreen DVD masters.  (Although it is possible that they
had to do new transfers for the DVDs if they didn't do the SFC masters
at high enough resolution.)

Depending on exactly how the widescreen masters were created WB may
already *have* HD copies of all the filmed material on hand.  (Since
thwy were going to the expense and trouble of re-telecineing everything
to widescreen WB may have gone with hi-res D1 masters which could then
be downconverted to NTSC resolution for the SFC copies, 480p for the
DVDs and held in reserve for eventual HD use.  Certainly that's what I
and others urged them to do before the widescreen version was produced.
 But that would still leave the issue of the CGI and comp shots, which
would look even worse in comparison to HD live action footage than they
do now.)

Only the CGI files were actually lost and/or destroyed, because the
digital discs, back-up tapes etc. were evidently handled differently at
Warner Bros. than filmed materials and audio tracks.  

Regards, 

Joe
                                                                                     
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