William Morgan Sheppard Blu-rays

William Morgan Sheppard

7 Films

William Morgan Sheppard

7 Included Films

William Morgan Sheppard (August 24, 1932 - January 6, 2019), sometimes credited as W. Morgan Sheppard, was a British actor. In film, he appeared in supporting roles in The Duellists (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), The Keep (1983), Cry Freedom (1987), Wild at Heart (1990), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Needful Things (1993), Gettysburg (1993), The Prestige (2006), Transformers (2007), and Star Trek (2009). On television, Sheppard appeared in multiple episodes of Shōgun (1980), Max Headroom (1987-1988), MacGyver (1989-1990), and seaQuest DSV (1993-1994), among others. He also was a voice actor with roles in Biker Mice from Mars (1993-1996), Iron Man (1994-1996), Gargoyles (1995-1996), Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), Atlantis: Milo's Return (2003), and Prep & Landing (2009). Sheppard voiced several characters in video games, including narration for the Medal of Honor video game series and Civilization V. Sheppard and his wife Regina are the parents of actor Mark Sheppard.

4.3

The Elephant Man (1980)

Director: David Lynch

UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion or StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is SDR
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray is HDR

The DV/HDR grade is tasteful and not overdone. SC has better compression, though not flawless; encoded by FiM, but Criterion also holds up quite well. Both releases claim to be approved by Lynch.

SC has a missing fade that Criterion reinstated.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix: 2001 R1 Paramount US NTSC DVD/2008 R2 Optimum UK PAL or 1999 Pioneer JP LaserDisc

Restored stereo mix: Criterion / StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

The film was originally mixed in Dolby Stereo (matrixed LCRS). For the 4K restoration, this mix has been transferred from the original magnetic elements and remastered with Lynch's supervision. Unfortunately, the fidelity suffered in the process, with many sections ending up significantly less detailed due to a noise reduction pass. This track has been altered compared to the original, with reverb added to some dialogue, different ambient sound effects, changed panning, and extended bass.

For the unrestored mix, there are two major options, each with its own merits and flaws. The 2001 Paramount DVD, which I would say is the best well-rounded mastering, and the 1999 Japanese LaserDisc, which has noticeably better clarity and high-end detail, as well as better dynamics, but suffers from occasional distortion and has less bass than the DVD.

The LD also has some ambiance buried too low in the mix, and some dialogue panned more to the centre than the DVD. There are no content changes I was able to find. Unfortunately, I don't know what accounts for those differences.

The other available tracks all have more significant flaws. The Italian and Japanese BDs use the same base mastering as the DVD, but with some patching in a few shots. HD-DVD is sourced from an inferior transfer, the same as the Momentum DVD.

The 5.1 remix, originally introduced on the 2002 DVD, and carried over without changes to the 2009 BD is a light and mostly faithful remix, with fairly minimal LFE and surround use, but still potentially worthwhile as the only discrete track.