Thanks for the caps, SilverWook. I'm actually surprised how good it all looks. Ok, there's some edge enhancement and dirt and it looks a little washed out sometimes but I think this is overall very good for a transfer that old. Now, I'm really excited! Ok, anyone qualified and willing to step up and help out with this? Please!

SilverWook said:

I was also thinking it would be nice to restore the proper WB logo for the era. The LD has the usual 90's logo plastered on. One thing the DVD got right was to use this...

This is actually from the Dirty Harry DVD, but I believe it's the same logo I saw on the Director's cut. Maybe I should have held onto it. ;)

You read my mind. :) I actually tried to post that earlier today but imagehack didn't let me somehow, it's the same logo on the new DC but with black background. A small detail perhaps but it would make this preservation even more beautiful. I got it but you'll almost need to degrade the quality of it to fit the Laserdisc footage. ;)

I also listened to the soundtrack for the first time in a long time, and the first track of the CD is: Logo, and it's a very short fanfare done by Lalo Schifrin that I don't recognise at all, I wonder if it was part of the original 1971 release somehow or if it was dropped entirely and just restored for this CD.

SilverWook said:

But which logo did he score, the WB or American Zoetrope one? Can you time it to the DC?

There ought to be a way to degrade the logo a bit to fit in better. Play it out of an old DVD player set for a non-anamorphic tv and record it to tape perhaps? I'm still analog in my thinking. ;)

I'm not sure, it's a 8 second piece and it fit the WB logos length, but I noticed that the film versions we are used to have the main title theme playing under the logos so it was either dropped or maybe used for the '71 theatrical cut. Maybe there is some info on the original CD, I have only a rip of it.

I'll try to degrade the original logo somehow.

SilverWook said:

I found out how to contact the LDDB seller, and sent him an email. Cross your fingers!

That's great! :)

I think the original version was on TCM in the nineties when recording equipment was not very good.  I caught only the end of the movie and did not tape it with my vcr, who cares since laserdisc is better anyways.  Also it was a letterbox version not anamorphic.  They also showed the student version as a bonus which i missed and was mad about it at the time.

I was hoping someone here would pick up this project again!  I have the Blacksvn disc, and it's better than having a videotape but it could indeed really use improving on.  A well-done laserdisc capture, sweetened up and converted to 16:9 would be a real treat...I'm really glad you've got the LD and the capping ability to get it started, SilverWook.

I caught a Portland screening of THX-1138 a few years before the director's cut came out.  The print was in really bad shape, but man was it great to see it in a theater!  I had intended to see the director's cut in the theater when it came out as well, but it was a 3-hour drive from Houston to Austin at the time, and I didn't make it.  Oh well.  Now I own it on DVD.

I actually like the director's cut on one level, but again...hate that the original has now been suppressed because of it.  If Lucas makes the original pre-digital THX-1138 available on Blu-ray, you'll never hear any more complaints from me about that film.  And if I may be allowed to dream, all 3 versions of the film (WB cut, restored Lucas cut, and director's cut) on Blu-ray, Blade Runner-style.

And while we're at it, Uncle George, how about the same for a little movie called Star Wars?

--SKot

Did someone on this board actually see the original theatrical run of THX 1138 in '71 that was 5 minutes shorter in lenght? I'm really curious to know what scenes was actually reinserted after '77. But it would be hard to remember, I guess.

I'm currently making an English subtitle stream for this, in the hope to sync it up to this cut when it's ready, I can also help out with making cover art for it but we'll need someone more technically experienced to actually help out authoring this beauty in the best way possible, SilverWook's capture looks really promising for a great looking DVD. Anyone?

dark_jedi said:

msycamore, when you get this would you mind sending it to me? I have never seen this movie.

So who is cleaning it up and making it anamorphic for you?

If he just sends you the raw recorded DVD's then I will help you if you want.

I havn't actually talked to him about this yet.

It would be great if you could help out with this, but I guess it's SilverWook who has the final word on this. I'm just a guy who requested a transfer of this film. SilverWook is the one you should talk to. He is also waiting for some response from a seller of the Jap LD...

Anyway, thank you dark_jedi, for showing the interest to help out with this.

skyjedi2005 said:

I think the original version was on TCM in the nineties when recording equipment was not very good.  I caught only the end of the movie and did not tape it with my vcr, who cares since laserdisc is better anyways.  Also it was a letterbox version not anamorphic.  They also showed the student version as a bonus which i missed and was mad about it at the time.

This is how I first saw THX-1138. I stayed up late one school night just to see George Lucas's first movie. I think I was about 8 or 9 at the time. I have never forgotten it, and after buying and seeing the DC DVD I felt betrayed yet again. Altering THX was the final straw. It was the complete acceptance of what he had so despised in 1971.

I really want to thank you guys for doing this new transfer. I know I've watched the current LD transfer at least 4 or 5 times in the past couple of months just for the fact that it is the real THX.

Lucas is now the exec who would say: "Put the monkeys up front."

msycamore said:

Did someone on this board actually see the original theatrical run of THX 1138 in '71 that was 5 minutes shorter in lenght? I'm really curious to know what scenes was actually reinserted after '77. But it would be hard to remember, I guess.

I'm currently making an English subtitle stream for this, in the hope to sync it up to this cut when it's ready, I can also help out with making cover art for it but we'll need someone more technically experienced to actually help out authoring this beauty in the best way possible, SilverWook's capture looks really promising for a great looking DVD. Anyone?

 

Have you seen this yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJBxlIFRDKM

The original, WB-edited alternate opening of the film--complete with Blade Runner-style voiceover narrative.  Sadly, it's in Italian only...but you can get the idea.

--SKot

SKot said:

Have you seen this yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJBxlIFRDKM

The original, WB-edited alternate opening of the film--complete with Blade Runner-style voiceover narrative.  Sadly, it's in Italian only...but you can get the idea.

--SKot

Yes, I've seen it. It's really cool, you also have the narration translated in the description of the clip.

It would be great to know what else was different in it.

dark_jedi said:

restoring the WB logo should be pretty easy also.

That's great, have not find a good way to degrade the quality of video footage yet. Any suggestion on how to do this d_j?

I hope you get an answer from the seller, SilverWook. It would indeed be great to know if the Japanese LD includes a better transfer or not. If that's the case, I would be happy to help fund the purchase. ;) It would also be fantastic if you can make the uncompressed PCM audio track available, please. :)

Same here.

When in doubt-go with PCM.

ChainsawAsh said:

If I may be so bold, I don't think the THX 1138 "Director's Cut" is nearly as offensive as the Star Wars and Jedi SE's.  It's more on par with the 1997 SE of Empire, which never bothered me all that much.  My only major problem with the THX DC is the CG monkey things at the end.

However, I still prefer the pre-DC cut, myself.  I've never seen the true "theatrical" cut, though.  Has anyone here seen it?

Nope.  Existing prints for the Warner studio cut are very hard to come by, most have the excised scenes restored from a re-release i think that came out after the success of star wars?

Other than the original images and color timing, the best thing in my opinion about the original version is the Walter Murch mono mix.

He did not supervise the 5.1 for the bad cgi version.

Same problem with American Graffiti on the odd chance you come across a film print, itis either the intended version or the studio cut the prints are all red or pink.

The thing is even though the DVD's are better quality like the star wars special edition 2004 they don't make a good source to make a fan restored version by the virtue of the different color timing, and DVNR that removed a lot of the grainyness that was intended from the techniscope film.

They did the same horrible thing on the sergio leone spaghetti western trilogy they all but erased the grain structure from a fistful of dollars on the American release, the italian release is pretty much unaffected and came from a different source.

For those of you who don't know how much a different experience the original film is to Lucas' revision cut, I recommend you to take a look at this comparison page:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=541751

It's not even close to being the same movie anymore.