Noel's Fantastic Trip (LD Version)

As I mentioned in my post on the DVD version of Noel's Fantastic Trip, the movie was originally released to home video on VHS tape and Laserdisc. There were considerable differences between the Laserdisc and DVD releases. The Laserdisc was full-frame (4:3); the DVD was wide-screen (1.85:1). The Laserdisc had a stereo soundtrack; the DVD had a mono soundtrack with stereo songs from the OST. The Laserdisc was very shaky; the DVD release was remastered, with image stabilization and better colors.

At first, I thought that Noel's Fantastic Trip had been released as Open Matte, a system in which a movie or anime is made in 4:3 but shown, in theaters, with a matte to create a wide-screen appearance. However, that doesn't appear to be the case. The Laserdisc has much more information at the top and bottom of the frame; but the DVD has more information at the sides. The differences are illustrated in these two screencaps. First, the Laserdisc:

Next, the DVD:

The Laserdisc has more information at the top and bottom; the DVD cuts off most of Kinnosuke's head. However, the DVD has more information on the sides, as illustrated by the door on the left. And the DVD colors are much better; the DVD is distinctly green-ish

Here's the Yellow Submarine sequence. Laserdisc:

DVD:

Again, the DVD loses a lot of information at the top and bottom, but the Laserdisc is cut off at the sides, and the Yellow Submarine is distinctly chartreuse. Pick your poison.

For this release, I shifted the subs and redid the signs; ninjacloud fine-timed the dialog and songs. Orphan's media specialist encoded. Otherwise, the credits are unchanged.

It's a shame that neither the Laserdisc nor the DVD provide a full picture of Noel's Fantastic Trip. I suspect it was originally made in a 5:3 (Vista) aspect ratio, which was the Japanese wide-screen standard at that time.. The Laserdisc chops off the sides to get to 4:3. The DVD chops off the top and the bottom to get to 5:2.7 (1.85:1). Perhaps someday there will be a web stream or Blu-ray release in the proper ratio, with pillarboxing, but I'm not holding my breath. Meanwhile, here's Noel's Fantastic Trip, Laserdisc version. You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.