REVIEW ON THE NEW I LOVE LUCY CHRISTMAS COLORIZED DVD!

[Jack77]

Well kids of all ages, the excitement is all over! Saw the episodes and was slightly dissapointed!! The color is nothing to write home about. They used a "vintage color" look to it and I know they could of done much better especially when you have fans on this very site who have done an excellent job colorizing all the images/screen captures. You want to know what you're getting, look no further than The Munsters "Family Portrait" episode that Universal colorized a few years ago. Still slightly better than the Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie colorized episodes which they colorized in 2000 but the same look as The Munsters colorized episode! While it's a treat to see Lucy & friends in color, I'm just not digging this "vintage" look. If that's the best CBS/Paramount has to offer, I'll stick to watching I Love Lucy in B&W! But don't let my opinion deter you from buying this rare gem! It's available for sale at Target now and it will definitely be a collector's item! Have fun kids....

[lucy&vivfan]

The I Love Lucy Christmas Special aired in color first back in 1990. It has been available on various DVD releases since. But I am interested to see how "Lucy's Italian Movie" will look.

[Jack77]

Lucy's Italian Movie is no different than the other two episodes. It's a very dull vintage color look and Fred Mertz's face is so white, he looks like a ghost! I was disappointed in this DVD because they really have the technology in 2013 to make any B&W production look it's best. Perhaps CBS/Paramount took the millions of loyal Lucy fans who love her in B&W into consideration to go easy on the eyes but sadly it turned into a failure and it's too bad because this really had the potential to be incredible!

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Jack77

Lucy's Italian Movie is no different than the other two episodes. It's a very dull vintage color look and Fred Mertz's face is so white, he looks like a ghost! I was disappointed in this DVD because they really have the technology in 2013 to make any B&W production look it's best. Perhaps CBS/Paramount took the millions of loyal Lucy fans who love her in B&W into consideration to go easy on the eyes but sadly it turned into a failure and it's too bad because this really had the potential to be incredible!

What exactly do they mean when they call this look "vintage"? Their use of that term implied to me that they were going to make it look like the kind of color you would see in films in the 1950s. In other words, vibrant, eye-popping Technicolor. But if that Munsters episode is an example of what you're talking about then it's quite the opposite. Color movies did NOT look that way in the '50s, so it seems inappropriate to call it vintage. Unless what they mean is the kind of look you would get from an old piece of film that's been left to neglect and had faded over the years.

Incidentally, I think the colorized Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie look fantastic, and that's the way I was hoping this would look.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by lucy&vivfan

The I Love Lucy Christmas Special aired in color first back in 1990. It has been available on various DVD releases since. But I am interested to see how "Lucy's Italian Movie" will look.

I just saw some stills from the newly colorized Christmas episode. This is not the same colorization that was done in 1990. The picture below is a comparison of the 1990 version (left) and the new 2013 version (right). And below that is an actual color still from 1954. The 2013 colors look much more accurate.

[Jack77]

You know I re-watched the Italian episode again and we all know that Lucy is a red head and they always mention it on the show but I don't think I can ever get used to seeing her botched colorized red hair. Lucy was so pale in real life and was lit a certain way for B&W and it really is an eye sore looking at her in this new way. Her hair is so bright and fake looking and looks like it's going to melt right off her head! For someone who has never watched I Love Lucy, I suppose the colorized episodes would be fine, but for the millions of fans who grew up watching her in B&W, this is going to be an issue and I was all for colorizing I Love Lucy but not like this! Some people may not mind, but the rest are going to find themselves switching back and fourth and preferring to watch her in B&W!

[Jack77]

I knew that they redid the Christmas episode! I agree it looks much better than the 1990 version and in my opinion looks better than the Italian episode on this new DVD, but keep in mind a colorized still photo looks great on the PC than the actual colorized episode you're watching!

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Jack77

You know I re-watched the Italian episode again and we all know that Lucy is a red head and they always mention it on the show but I don't think I can ever get used to seeing her botched colorized red hair. Lucy was so pale in real life and was lit a certain way for B&W and it really is an eye sore looking at her in this new way. Her hair is so bright and fake looking and looks like it's going to melt right off her head! For someone who has never watched I Love Lucy, I suppose the colorized episodes would be fine, but for the millions of fans who grew up watching her in B&W, this is going to be an issue and I was all for colorizing I Love Lucy but not like this! Some people may not mind, but the rest are going to find themselves switching back and fourth and preferring to watch her in B&W!

I don't have the DVD yet, but from the captures I've seen posted, including the one I re-posted above, I think they did a wonderful job and have to disagree with your assessment. Perhaps you're not accustomed to what Lucille Ball's hair color really looked like? Back in the '50s, it was very bright. She toned it down a lot in later years. But for what it looked like in the '50s, I think they got it right for these DVDs. The picture below is a couple captures from the new DVD. Below that are some actual color shots from around the same time period. I think they're pretty similar.

[Jack77]

You do realize that it looks natural in those color photos because they actually shot it in color but when you see how she looks in the new colorized DVD on your TV screen, you will see how terrible and fake it looks! The DVD is now available for sale at your local Target! You really can't see the result of the colorization from a high resolution still image on the PC because it's not the same as watching it on a TV screen.

[ajgenard]

Jack77, with all due respect, I think your expectations for this colorization were set too high based on incorrect assumptions you have. While the technology has certainly come a long way since Ted Turner started coloring classics back in the 80s, it's still faaaaar from perfect. Adding color to a film source that was lit specifically for black & white is literally trying to make something out of nothing. In fact, it may be impossible to colorize B&W film to the point it truly looks like it was filmed in color.

After seeing the screencaps I'm reasonably certain this will be on par with other recent efforts. It's very unfortunate they choose to call this a "vintage" color scheme because LittleRicky is dead right - vintage in the sense of 1956 would mean brilliant technicolor with eye-popping colors like many films of the era. Instead they are using vintage to mean a minimalist approach, with an almost faded or washed out look. Nearly all modern colorizations employ this technique and I'm led to believe it's much easier and cost effective.

[Willbo]

I have not seen the latest Lucy color episodes yet. However, I do own the color Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie episodes. I thought they did a really good job on the Bewitched episodes, not so much for IDOJ. Although I still prefer the original episodes that were intended to be in BW to be in BW.

[McGillicuddy]

I don't see what the hubbaloo is about this. I'll stick to B&W

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by ajgenard

Jack77, with all due respect, I think your expectations for this colorization were set too high based on incorrect assumptions you have. While the technology has certainly come a long way since Ted Turner started coloring classics back in the 80s, it's still faaaaar from perfect. Adding color to a film source that was lit specifically for black & white is literally trying to make something out of nothing. In fact, it may be impossible to colorize B&W film to the point it truly looks like it was filmed in color.

After seeing the screencaps I'm reasonably certain this will be on par with other recent efforts. It's very unfortunate they choose to call this a "vintage" color scheme because LittleRicky is dead right - vintage in the sense of 1956 would mean brilliant technicolor with eye-popping colors like many films of the era. Instead they are using vintage to mean a minimalist approach, with an almost faded or washed out look. Nearly all modern colorizations employ this technique and I'm led to believe it's much easier and cost effective.

Thank you for your comments and insights about the colorization technique. You hit the nail on the head about unrealistic expectations. This show was filmed in black and white using lighting techniques specifically designed for black and white film. That alone might always be a difficult obstacle to overcome when colorizing film. It's trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. There is only so much they can do to make it work. And yes, for this particular show, there's going to be the problem of Lucy's hair. The hair color she had in the '50s was not a color found in nature. As long they are attempting to colorize accurately, her hair is never going to look realistic when colorized because it didn't look realistic in real life! But I think they've done a commendable job trying to be as authentic as possible. I'm posting again the pictures I had above of the 1990 version versus the 2013 version, along with an actual color picture to illustrate not only how far they have come with this technology, but also their attempts to be accurate.

[folbartman]

I think everyone is complaining too much...... I think it looks great..... besides.... if it weren't soooo expensive back in the 50s the whole series would have been shot in color. The audience saw it in color...... black and white has no appeal to younger generations....... I think its great what they are doing and also...... may help attract a newer generation...... besides..

Greg Oppenheimer stated they had a difficult time colorizing the train scene in the Italian movie because the lights were soooooo bright. They left some characters faces in b and w to make it appear better..

I'm happy for colorization.

[Benno123]

Originally Posted by folbartman

The audience saw it in color...... black and white has no appeal to younger generations....... I think its great what they are doing and also...... may help attract a newer generation......

I am throwing down the bulls**t flag on this. Where has anyone ever said that black and white has no appeal to younger generations? I want the cited proof and links to any professional articles or studies on this. For a show that still brings in over $20million+ per year to owner CBS (http://www.today.com/entertainment/c...y-20-1B6030586) this could not be done without crossing over generations. Younger people buy and watch as much as older folks, and you can't tell me that the 50+ crowd is the only group spending $20million per year on I Love Lucy alone. If the fact that Lucy is still on over 60 years later ... then apparently she has never had a problem attracting viewers young and old.

For a novelty, colorizing a couple of episodes (especially the Christmas episode because it is Christmas and that time of year) is all fun, but why not just leave things has is? The show was produced, lighted, filmed for black and white. I am getting to the point to say that if people don't like it the way it is, then just don't watch - plain and simple. Last time I checked I had an off/on button on my TV, so I'm sure others do, too. If they don't like black and white, turn the TV off.