Well, at long last, the much talked-about Director's Cut DVD of 'Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii' has arrived stateside. Was it worth the wait, and does it whet the appetite for the rumored release of 'Pulse' in the spring of 2004? Well, overall I'd give the answers to these questions as "yes" and "yes"...though not without a few reservations. (Hey, what am I if not perpetually reserved?)

As you may or may not have heard, this is *not* simply a reissue of the old VHS or LaserDisc edition of 'Live At Pompeii' -- rather, this is a wholly separate *third* version of the film. Whether this new 'Pompeii' is indeed superior to the original cut will be a matter of debate amongst anoraks for months, kind of like the arguments between fanboys over whether the refurbished 'Star Wars' films are superior to the pre-digital age originals. While that may seem a little silly, the comparison is valid -- original director Adrian Maben has gone and pulled a George Lucas on us here -- this new cut is a newly re-assembled work brimming over with tranquil, sometimes trippy new imagery, a whole lot of borrowed computer-generated animation / NASA footage that is on the whole pretty striking in effect, though (as noted above) there are a couple of squirm-inducing missteps along the way.

As far as this new footage is concerned, the two halves of "Echoes" are the most overtly dicked-with portions of the Director's Cut by some distance. In comparison, I was pleasantly surprised with how much Maben left other old stunners like "Careful With That Axe Eugene" and "A Saucerful Of Secrets" pretty much alone (there are some minor visual tweaks here and there, but they are largely tasteful and effective). "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" still retains a lot of it's visual power in the Director's Cut as well, though the CGI shots of some lonely satellite gazing sunward struck me as rather silly in the end.

Oddly, the one song from the old version of the movie that pretty much stays as dull as it was the *first* time around is "One Of These Days." Maben admits in the accompanying interview "documentary" that "One Of These Days" didn't work so well in the original cut and needed more edits showing what Roger Waters and Richard Wright were up to (as well as David Gilmour actually using a slide on his guitar while in a standing position). Unfortunately, according to the dirtector, no other footage shot for the film exists to this day outside of the old finished version, so we are instead given more CGI tomfoolery that doesn't really make this song any easier to sit through than before.

Also a bit startling to me was the survival of those "rows" of images that duplicate themselves across the length of the screen during "One Of These Days" and "Echoes (Part 1)" -- I figured these sequences (along with the crude proto-bluescreen bits in "Echoes (Part 2)") would be the first to fall victim to the digital editor, but no such luck.

Now, aside from the predominantly space-orientated imagery we see in "Echoes, Part 1" (including a very subtle nod to '2001 A Space Odyssey' - no joke), the next surprise is the sudden integration of black-and-white sudio footage shot in Paris, ostensibly of Gilmour and Wright overdubbing (or at least *acting* like they're overdubbing) the vocal harmonies, which is certainly interesting, but ultimately a bit too jarring in effect to rate as a "thumbs-up."

There is a *lot* more where that new footage came from too, all of it interspersed throughout the familiar Abbey Road interview/behind-the-scenes segments that fall between the musical performances. Some of this new stuff is quite funny to watch, as the band are obviously in a jolly mood and are quite loath to be put on the spot by their inquisitive director. Other bits, like the shots of the band eating oysters and offering up purposefully inane commentary to piss off Maben are a bit more grating than humorous and sorely tempt use of the FFWD button.

The next noticeable difference in the new 'Pompeii' is the apparent discovery by Maben of the art of the segue sometime between 1974 and the present. Instead of stark blue-on-black title cards and a few moments of dead silence breaking up the songs and studio footage, the two separate "worlds" now bleed into each other almost seamlessly, which alters the way the movie flows (though not in an unpleasant fashion) and may be a bit disorienting to those who have seen the film's old edit more than a handful of times.

On the other side of the good/bad coin with the new alterations to the 'Pompeii' director's cut, Maben's desire to visually snazz up portions of the movie can occasionally go beyond a "whoa, what's this?" reaction and manage to rub longtime fans the wrong way. For starters, there have already been some (rightful) complaints of Maben's dicing-up of that long, hypnotic opening-and-closing zoom shot that visually bookends the movie. While Maben was almost certainly trying to heighten the eerie, creeping mood of "Echoes" in this case, I think that intercutting between these familiar long shots of the band, roadies, and camera crew and hi-tech swooping views of what looks a lot like Uranus (hur hur) damn near breaks the spell cast by the music instead of enhancing it.

A few more observational gripes...

- The credits at the end of the film are scrolled in a single unending horizontal line across more spinning computer animated planets, making them near-impossible to read.

- The original film version included as a "bonus feature" is still different from the old VHS version as the opening "Speak To Me"/ heartbeat tape sounds like an entirely different tape, and the opening credit title cards look very different indeed (the song title cards themselves look identical). It's also in evil hateful fullscreen whereas the Director's Cut is somehow in widescreen. Would it have been so hard to do them BOTH this way?

- Maben's explanation of the new opening images in "Echoes (Part 1)" had me snickering loudly in derision. Why, you say? Well, at the risk of sounding like Roger Waters, I can't repeat what Maben in this forum without making him sound crazed (and this DVD like an episode of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'). My best advice here is to not watch the interview. Trust me, you really won't miss anything.

So, is this new version worth the bucks? Overall, I'd have to say yes, though I *do* wish a few more truly "special" features had been added rather than a gallery of old ROIO titles and unreadable newspaper scans. While some of the dated-yet somehow-timeless feel and "purer" atmosphere of the original has admittedly been lost in this new translation, the Director's Cut has enough enchanting moments (visual and otherwise) to warrant the investment. Let's hope 'Pulse' gets all the fab-o extras this one didn't.

'Echoes (Part 1)'	'One of These Days'	'Echoes (Part 2)'
"Hello Mum...Hello Dad"	Oysters a Plenty	This Man Does Things He's Not Proud Of