The new, 4K version of Mad Men on HBO Max was supposed to deliver the ground-breaking AMC series with near-perfect visual fidelity.
Instead, it was a debacle.
Not only were a number of episodes mislabeled, but in a crucial scene early in the period series—the infamous moment when an inebriated Roger Sterling tosses up the oysters he ate for lunch—a pair of crew members in modern-day street clothes were clearly visible, with one of them holding the hose required for the throw-up gag.
In other words, the 4K remaster that was supposed to make Mad Men even better managed to make it worse.
The good news, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is that the 4K Mad Men blunder stems from a simple mix-up: Lionsgate, the show’s distributor, apparently gave the wrong 4K files to HBO Max, and the correct files should be swapped in soon (if they haven’t been already).
Still, it was an embarrassing flub for HBO Max, which had touted the arrival of Mad Men onto its streaming catalog in 4K. This is the first time that Mad Men has been available in the format, with previous streaming releases all being in HD.
Then again, Mad Men’s HD and DVD releases had gone mostly without a hitch, and the Blu-ray version has been highly praised. Hopefully the newly delivered 4K files will bring Roger, Don Draper, Peggy Olsen, and the rest of the Sterling Cooper crew back in eye-popping 4K glory.
The bungled 4K Mad Men stream is just the latest example of a remastered release that’s arrived with errors or controversy.
Last year saw new 4K releases of Aliens, The Abyss, and True Lies that all got dinged to one degree or another for overly aggressive AI optimization that erased much of the film grain, while other remasters of older films have noticeable tinkered with the audio. And let’s not get started with the original Star Wars trilogy.
In some cases, the changes are coming directly from the top, with the likes of James Cameron and George Lucas dictating the questionable alterations. In others, mistakes similar to those made with the Mad Men 4K stream are to blame, such as miscues during the remastering process or mixed-up video files.
In any event, we should be getting the corrected version of Mad Men in 4K soon—and who knows, maybe that Roger Sterling scene with the vomit tube will survive as a behind-the-scenes extra.
Author: Ben Patterson
Source: PCWorld
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
