Fox’s Special Edition is the director’s cut of the 2019 American fantasy series Fox: Season IV. It presents the final season as director Monroe Hayden had intended it before interference with investors. Hayden oversaw the original versions of Fox’s Seasons 3 and 4’s in accordance with a mandate from the show’s investors with a more traditional score, abandoning Season 2’s musical platform that featured original compositions from four composers, including Hayden.
The switch was not taken lightly, but she proceeded anyway. However, in the event of 365: Season 2’s flop, investors pressured her to take the season down within 24 hours. Less than a year later, she re-released the season on the site only to receive backlash from fans, as well as the same investors. The decision to take it down for good inspired her to buy the investors out with interest. By January 2021, she had bought them out, in full, and now has complete control, particularly with the Fox franchise. Although it’s unknown if 365’s second season will return to the site, this change is in hopes that opinions from outside forces do not pressure future and current filmmakers from presenting their work on SkySoft the way it was intended to be seen. This also ensures that deadlines, however important, are not more important than the quality of the work, providing more options to improve films that may need a little extra time.
The Special Edition of Fox’s final season does not feature new or extended scenes, with the belief that the original cut stays close to Hayden's vision; however, along with SkySoft’s in-house editor, Kevin Miller, both did cut down some scenes by seconds to fix pacing issues that the original had presented. Other changes incorporate a darker tone, lighting, and grading with visual and sound effects, all of which were initially turned down according to the mandate. However, more humor has also been added in lighter episodes to heavily contrast the darker ones, better represent the characters, and showcase the true dynamic between cast members. Minor changes include fixing goofs and mistakes.
The main change with the Special Edition is the score. The new version presents the original score intended for the series, created by both Hayden and Thomas Galashiels, with guest composers Sara Oxford-Smith and Martin Hernandez, matching Season 1 and 2’s award-winning compositions. Another prominent change is that the season is available now in Dolby Atmos, adding a new and different way to experience the final season.
Season III is currently undergoing similar changes. However, the exact changes are not yet known, with the exception that it will be released in Dolby Atmos and feature the intended score. For fans of the franchise, this presents a new way to experience the series, with hopes it will gather the same love and respect the originals did.
Due to SkySoft Premium's service, most of Stream’s content will be taken down due to copyright agreements that did not initially include Premium on SkySoft’s menu. This also leads to a change in Season IV: the song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers has been removed from the special edition until negotiations can be agreed for Premium.
For now, the only two Stream productions secured to stay on the free platform after the merge are Sherwood and Mayari.
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