Product Description

SPECIAL EXTENDED EDITION! Peter Benchley, the master of sea terror, returns with another tale of aquatic mayhem in this three hour uncut version. With almost 80 minutes of restored scenes previously edited from earlier release, this is the original version, nominated for two Prime Time Emmys. Stars William L. Petersen (CSI).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9886 in DVD
• Brand: TIMELESS MEDIA GROUP
• Released on: 2008-06-03
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Surround Sound, THX, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 180 minutes

Customer Reviews

Peter Benchley's The Beast
Wow, waited a long time for this one, and finally it is here. This is the complete unedited Mini-Series that was first broadcast on NBC. Time to get rid of the short VHS and previous DVD releases as this one is the real deal. If you bought the first DVD release I'm sure you found out it was severely edited, missing about 64 previous minutes from the original mini-series. Rejoice it is all restored here in a very nice package for a very good price. This is one of the classic rubber monster flicks of the late 1990's and is terrific fun to watch, just buy it.

This dvd version I rated 3 stars because it in cut and not the entire movie
I really loved this movie in its original TV mini series form which was played in two days when it was first shown on TV. This dvd shows that is it 120 mins, which means it is the direct transfer from the vhs version and has some really good scenes cut out of it. Like when William Petersen's character Whip Dalton gets drunk. They also cut out most of the relationship between Whip Dalton and Lt. Kathryn Marcus played by Karen Sillas which added to the story to make it well rounded. Thus, my rating of 3 stars instead of 5 stars. It is more choppy and you can see something is missing from the story.

**** To Those who distrabute and own the rights to the movie please release the UNCUT version for those of us who enjoy a well rounded story. ****

Thank you. I hope this review helps.

A long awaited uncut now on DVD..
This release is not an official version by Universal, but under licence to a company that release rare titles called TIMELESS MEDIA GROUP. Originally they released the edit version of this 2 part mini-series of the `The Beast' . Now here is the uncut version.

Universal originally released the 2 Disc Laserdisc (2hrs 56mins Complete 2 part mini-series Uncut version) commercially in the US in 1996.

What I like about this production are the unique cast, the familiar faces; Look out for two former Australian's Soap `Home & Away' stars Les Hill and Andrew Hill (The two young divers). The drama in between especially the relationships and the blend of mild terror of the deep make this production enjoyable. The special effects are pretty impressive. The giant squid, I thought was really realistic and terrifying especially when it opens it's beak.

This was a made for TV Drama based on the book by Peter Benchley.
It was first shown on TV, Christmas 1996 here in the UK over two nights.

Now for the 2 DVD Discs itself. Firstly this was digitally recorded, both picture and stereo sound. I have the uncut version on Laserdisc released by Universal back in 1996, and as far as I can see no scenes are missing in this 2008 release. It is UNCUT. In comparison the picture quality is better than the laserdisc and is DVD quality. The original broadcast of `The Beast' was in stereo as well as the video (Edit) and Laserdiscs releases. For some reason this 2 Disc set has a mono-mix sound. Why?? If you are not bothered about the sound, this is still and enjoyable watch considering the low cost of this DVD set. It has a good menu system on both discs, but is bare bones, with no extras whatsoever. The DVD cover is quite nice, though the back cover is similar to the earlier edit version DVD release. It also come in an outer cardboard sleeve.

Fans and people who like this TV production have been waiting for this uncut version to surface on DVD for a long time and will no doubt welcome this release.

Perhaps Universal or this `TIMELESS MEDIA GROUP' may release the original stereo version with extras on the discs in the future. But it is great to see this fantastic TV mini-series on DVD.