A Honeymooners Classic 39 Episode...has been COLORIZED

[Frank Gannucci]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyLz9WPj040

Wow!

This guy has a few other Classic 39 episodes in color too. I am NOT a fan of the guys screen name on YouTube.

[stevea]

Why does what probable amateurs do usually look better than what CBS probably spends millions to do? (Example: I've seen great looking Lucy on Youtube)

This guy probably has time on his hands as we all do. Keep it up!

[Hazel Anyday]

Wow, I'm impressed. They actually look pretty good. They look a lot better than some other amateur colorized movies I've seen on Utube. The color on those is weak and not accurate, reminds me of colorization from 1985, like Maltese Falcon looked. But professionally done now colorization is fantastic. This guy's stuff is 3 stars at least out of 4. Now that other guy from the Pop Colorture site, he does outstanding work, better than the professionals who did I Love Lucy, in my opinion. Wish the CBS people would hire that guy to colorize the Classic 39 and ALL of I Love Lucy and the first season of Lucy Show. Now that's another of my colorized dreams I'd like to see.

[Frank Gannucci]

I also posted this on Steve Hoffman Forums Message Board. Cloggedmind who posts here posts there too. This is what he said.

“This looks.. extremely bad. It's done with a program called DeOldify which produces dubious tones of orange and blue-grey. The program is still in development and, while strides have been made, the results are still, regrettably, rubbish-y.

jantic/DeOldify

The guy who did the Munsters clips and other stuff, on the other hand. got much better results with a more laborious process. Quite impressive, though impractical.”

[Hazel Anyday]

I think this opinion is way too extreme in the negative. No, it isn't perfect, but if this "expert" really wants to see lousy colorization just look at some other examples of homemade colorizing on Utube. Their color is faded out, some scenes are part b/w, color is blobbed on in whole places, hands turning gray, I mean the guy who did these Honeymooners are works of art compared to GENUINE rubbish. As I said before Pop Colorture does the real expert job of colorizing and the guys that did I Love Lucy were good too. But this guy's stuff ain't near as bad as reported. And until Pop Colorture or CBS decides to do the real job I'm more than happy with what I see.

[cloggedmind]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

I think this opinion is way too extreme in the negative. No, it isn't perfect, but if this "expert" really wants to see lousy colorization just look at some other examples of homemade colorizing on Utube. Their color is faded out, some scenes are part b/w, color is blobbed on in whole places, hands turning gray, I mean the guy who did these Honeymooners are works of art compared to GENUINE rubbish. As I said before Pop Colorture does the real expert job of colorizing and the guys that did I Love Lucy were good too. But this guy's stuff ain't near as bad as reported. And until Pop Colorture or CBS decides to do the real job I'm more than happy with what I see.

It is, still, rubbish. The DeOldify program is just not able to accurately follow motion as evidenced in the clip linked in Frank's original post. Solid objects, like Norton's hat with color added, become "blobbed", as you put it, revealing the b&w image underneath. Large areas of color, like closeups of faces with that orange pallor, are mottled and inconsistent. Even the first "professional" colorization of a Honeymooners skit, part of the Glow Worm episode touted by Gleason himself during an anniversary special, was rubbish although, admittedly, it suffered from limitations of a technology in its infancy. I could post that to DailyMotion just for reference, if necessary, but I can't guarantee how long it will last before a copyright takedown. Alas, we're more than 30 years later and the video in the OP proves that, on a consumer level or less, things have not improved.

Most of the time with this automated system, the color doesn't stay "within the lines", so to speak, making the image look blurred-- rather like watching through one of those oldy-fashioned, plastic tv screen overlays that were designed, allegedly, to reduce eye strain and replicate an assumed color balance (ie, blue strip across the top for blue skies and green strip on the bottom for green grass).

https://www.metv.com/stories/who-rem...-white-tv-sets

The DeOldify program is also not currently able to provide a color palette beyond orange and blue but, at this stage in development, I'm not sure it is supposed to have full color spectrum. Rather, I think the developer(s) intent is to perfect as system that can add color patterning to moving images using minimal intervention.

One guy on YouTube is using the same process to similar effect on The Three Stooges' short films:


Neat, but rubbish and not a patch on the Munsters test clips that were painstakingly done frame by frame and tweaked for realistic color depth and consistency.

[cloggedmind]

Oh, and Steve Hoffman Forum rules! And Frank Gannucci is a great guy and a good internet pal to have!

[Frank Gannucci]

Thank you very much cloggedmind.

[cloggedmind]

Originally Posted by Frank Gannucci

Thank you very much cloggedmind.

You are most welcome, my friend!

[cloggedmind]

Here's the Glow Worm Girl sketch, colorized, from 1985:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7tsz0a

Not great, but it has the extra shade of green with the orange and blue.

[Hazel Anyday]

Great Scott, are we really going all the way back to 1985 to complain about the quality of colorization? That was 35 years ago, of course the quality wasn't the very best back then, that's when the whole process was just beginning all the many many advances were yet to come. So don't expect me to tell you how wonderful the quality was back then. But, back then I still considered it better than b/w. But today is today and the quality that's possible today is excellent, witness Pop Colorture, Bewitched seasons 1 & 2 on DVD & I Dream Of Jeanie s.1 and of course the I Love Lucy's CBS occasionally colorizes.

All I'm humbly saying is that the Honeymooners CZ on Youtube now is not bad and certainly not "rubbish". I implore you once again to see real examples of rubbish just look at some of the other home-made colorizing jobs of movies on Youtube. I described it above already. And no, I'm not saying these Honeymooners are perfection, they're just not as bad as you and your fellow "experts" describe. 1st RULE OF THUMB: NEVER BELIEVE THE self-anointed Expert.

[cloggedmind]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

I implore you once again to see real examples of rubbish just look at some of the other home-made colorizing jobs of movies on Youtube. I described it above already. And no, I'm not saying these Honeymooners are perfection, they're just not as bad as you and your fellow "experts" describe. 1st RULE OF THUMB: NEVER BELIEVE THE self-anointed Expert.

The Honeymooners and Stooges clips linked above are home-made examples, and they are dire. Can you link to the even more dreadful ones you've seen?

[Frank Gannucci]

Colorized Honeymooners have been removed.

[Hazel Anyday]

I knew that was going to happen. Some other home made colorized TV shows and movies have disappeared too, I had bookmarked them to record later but when I last checked they were "removed". Never did get around to recording those color Honeymooners either.

I still can not figure out how to download from Utube I tried a couple different methods but they never worked like they tell you it will. So if I want something I have to record it in real time with my DVD recorder.

They had some lousy looking My Little Margie colorized eps up at one time too but they're gone now. I would have been glad though to record those too. The jack-booted Utube censors are working overtime. Aren't we lucky to be protected from ourselves?

[Frank Gannucci]

This also decreases the chances of us seeing a colorized version of ‘Twas The Night Before XMas this XMas season as well as colorized versions of lost episodes.