Terminator 2 Diary - Back To The Past


	In this exclusive section we will follow the development of Artisan Entertainment’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day Special Edition.” In irregular updates we will keep you informed whenever new developments occur and new information becomes available, so make sure to check by frequently to keep up with the latest development on this highly anticipated title.

by Guido Henkel
March 3, 2000


	s we had already pointed out in our ongoing Production Diary of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s “The Abyss,” yet another film by acclaimed director James Cameron is currently making its way to DVD in a spectacular special edition.

Noted as the first dual-layer DVD released in history, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was already released on DVD about two years ago. Now, the folks at Artisan Entertainment, together with producer Van Ling, are busy at workcreating a special edition of this action-packed movie that will have “Terminator” fans salivating in anticipation.


	The idea to create an elaborate special edition release of the movie on DVD was already on the table in late 1996, at a time when DVD was a mere spec and had not yet made it to market. With their foresight, Artisan Home Entertainment recognized the opportunities DVD would offer and approached Van Ling for the project. “It was kinda funny,” Ling remembers, “because DVD was still a nascent format, where people

were just trying to get it working consistently on a basic level. But the folks in Artisan’s post-production department were looking ahead, since the company had the rights to Carolco's library of films, including T2. They were fans of the T2 Special Edition laserdisc that I had done while at Lightstorm, and felt that I was the right person to do the DVD. We talked a lot about the project, and shared general ideas. I told them what I personally wanted to do with the project, and also what I thought Lightstorm would like to see in such a project. We all felt that since the laserdisc was considered somewhat of a benchmark for the laserdisc medium, the DVD needed to match it.


	nfortunately DVD had its share of technical problems as it quickly turned out after the format’s introduction. The high level of interactivity and flexibility of a non-linear medium like DVD was prone to many errors and problems, and many early DVD

players supported only the most basic functionality of the format’s specifications. It became obvious that DVD as a medium needed to mature a little more for the elaborate ideas Van and Artisan had thought up. “We ended up waiting,” he tells me. “But every year we would talk about it again, and found every time that DVD was still not ready. Last year we finally got to the point where we could actually do this and the Artisan DVD team was instrumental in championing both the project and me as the right producer for the project.


	Considering that Van was the original creative supervisor and visual effects coordinator on the movie itself, and also responsible for the “Terminator 2 Special Edition” Laserdisc box set, it must have been clear to everyone that he was really the only person they should consider for the job.


	Two different versions are available of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”. The first one is the 137-minute long original cut of the movie as it was shown in theaters, and then there is the 154-minute special edition cut that was done by James Cameron in 1993, two years after the film’s theatrical run. Artisan Home Entertainment has long been on the cutting edge of DVD technology, as it was they who were releasing the first dual-layer disc (DVD-9) in the market with the theatrical version of “Terminator 2” in early 1998. It was also Artisan that released the first double-sided dual-layer disc (DVD-18) in the market with “Stephen King’s The Stand” in late 1999. And in creating a number of titles utilizing DVD’s advanced branching capabilities, such as the special edition of Roland Emmerich’s “Stargate,” Artisan Entertainment has once again proven its leadership position on the forefront of DVD technology since the format’s inception. With that in mind it is hardly surprising that the special edition DVD Artisan is preparing for release later this year will feature both cuts of the film, using DVD’s branching capabilities.


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