Seconded. The color timing is great, too; you can see all those blues and pinks in the explosion. Ginge, who saw the Technicolor screening, will know what I'm talking about. Look at Peter Gaultney's camcorder clip of the DS explosion scene, or even the Moth3r widescreen telecine, you can see tones that aren't usually apparent in the explosion because of the different timing of the various video releases.

Yup, all those little details seem to be there. If you were tell me that shot was lifted and restored from the technicolor print... I'd believe it. It's above and beyond what I expected was possible with that shot given the materials Harmy has to to work with. This was always one of the more offensive shots in the SE for me. It's such a crucial shot in the film and for it to be re-arranged and hampered with digital nonsense is just criminal. The SE made it look like the explosion of Praxis (the Klingon moon) at the beginning of Star Trek VI (not surprisingly, the same guy who did the explosion effect worked on both films). Now, this shot is restored to it's former glory and looks even better than in V1... thanks Harmy!

The Megaupload link doesn't work for me right now. Am I alone in that? Would love to see the DS explosion with all the nice stuff you guys are saying about it.

doubleofive said:

canofhumdingers said:

I think it looks great Harmy! Oh, any chance someone could post what it looks like in the SE, as I don't even know what was changed for that shot!

Everything. Which is why this article upset me so much:

Fixed! :)

Anyway, the death star explosion looks very good. Good job!

Harmy,

Thank you so much for all of the hard work. Your versions almost brought tears to my eyes the first time I watched them. I have been looking for something like this for literally years.

You probably know this already, but I wanted to tell you I noticed (after seeing it pointed out in some YouTube comments) some SE effects at about 51:23, just after the door-knock scene. While Ben and Luke sell the speeder, birds can be seen flying around in the background through the archway. In the original version, this is just a solid blue area.

This may already be on a list of fixes somewhere, but I couldn't find one, so I apologize. If such a list exists, I'd be thankful if you could point me to it so I don't bother you needlessly again.

Thanks again, and take care.

Darth T.

https://picasaweb.google.com/109609428403596349302/HarmySStarWarsDespecializedEditionComparisons#5615986825652673058

In 2.0, will you do anything with Luke's lightsaber in this scene to match all the other shots (which you say came from Adywan's version)? From looking at various sources like the Technidisc SWE, the Moth3r telecine, talking with mverta, etc., I think it's supposed to be a more saturated blue than it is in 1.0. I'm pretty sure that the color variation from shot to shot was almost negligible on the original prints, so even though no official transfer has every shot looking the same shade, I'd think it would be closer to how it looked in cinemas originally if it were the same shade of blue as all the other shots in DE 1.0.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I had it in my head after watching the YouTube clip that the ships were still in there. I just rewatched it, and saw they were indeed gone already. Your new matte is a definite improvement. The shade of blue does not bother me nearly as much as the ships flying around. Thanks again for your work and for taking the time to get back to me, and sorry for the confusion.

Is there a list somewhere of the stuff you're planning to do for 2.0? I'm a little late to the party.

Darth T.

P.S.- In addition to your awesome edits, it is also awesome that you are so accessible for questions. Thank you.

All of your recently released shots look mind-blowingly good Harmy. You're certainly taking the idea of a hybrid to its fullest potential. Fantastic job! I can't wait to see 2.0.

Hey Harmy, that megaupload link is just of the new Death Star shot, not the five shots.