Twentieth Century Fox presents Zardoz

Preface

01/09/01

For fans of Zardoz, a decent home video presentation has been a long time coming. Subjected to pan and scan VHS releases, and a good but improperly framed laserdisc release, the time has now come where this film can be seen properly framed, and presented in stunning detail and clarity.

Let me preface this review by saying that it is not an easy thing to be sitting with this disc in my hand. My dreams of how this disc could and should be presented really went into high gear last year when Fox confirmed they were adopting an all anamorphic policy, which meant that any new releases on their label would be getting a new transfer. Although my discovery of the widescreen laserdisc version of Zardoz was a revelation in terms of what I had been missing for decades with panned and scanned images, the laser was far from perfect, with very distracting splice and glue marks evident during the entire opening sequence, and a fairly soft transfer throughout. The aspect ratio was also incorrect, with the sides chopped off.

So, with Fox now in a position to deliver a new transfer of the film, the problem was convincing them to do so, after all Zardoz is not exactly their highest grossing property, and is a film that has a very polarized response from viewers. Fortunately, after some campaigning, Fox agreed to give Zardoz a shot, and you would have thought that this news would have been a relief, but it wasn't. Now that the studio had comitted to the project, there came the even bigger fear that although the film would be released on DVD, the form it took would probably the last time for a decade or more that we would have an opportunity to get it done correctly. What condition were the elements in? How much attention could we expect Fox to give a 26 year old cult film? With the amount of advertising materials floating around, could we expect to see any supplemental material? Would John Boorman even be interested in contributing to the DVD, and if so, would Fox be willing to invest in any supplemental material? With one shot at finally getting a definitive version of the film on disc, I was getting very nervous.

I was also worried about how the disc contents would be handled, and began trying to imagine suitable menu concepts. The packaging was also a concern, since the previous home video releases had been less than spectacular. With a hundred things that could go wrong with the disc (which don't even touch on any rights issues or other legal entanglements know to delay releases indefinately), the odds were against having this turn out anywhere near as good as I could have hoped for – would I be stuck with a mediocre transfer on a bare bones disc after all this time?

Thankfully, Fox was receptive to the idea of adding extra content, especially after John Boorman indicated he was willing to participate. I was contacted to provide what supplemental materials I could (although I wish I had more on hand in time for production), and was also encouraged to submit my concerns about the project in detail, which I did at length, from materials that could be available for inclusion to comments on the transfer (like the splice lines and aspect ratio) to the packaging. Although I won't go into detail about exactly what was discussed, I was very impressed that Fox took these issues seriously, and actually reworked some elements in order to address things that could possibly disappoint the fans. This was a level of attention to detail I hadn't expected.

So the day finally comes when sitting in my mailbox is a check disc of the project I have been anticipating for well over a year. Would it be a dismal dissappointment? Was all the worrying about the project worth it? Would Fox really deliver the film as, in my mind, it should be? In a word, yes! Fox has presented Zardoz better than many would have felt possible (or deserving!). The transfer is light years beyond anything previously available, and the extras, while not as numerous as some of Fox's recent releases, are certainly appropriately plentiful and well presented. I can finally breath a sigh of relief and know that Fox has delivered the goods. Praise be to Zardoz!

Region 1 review
Region 2 review

Review ©2001 by Jeff Ulmer. All rights reserved.