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Info: How Many Versions are there of the AOTC? — Page 2

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Nope. My VHS tape was pretty different from the cam bootleg I have, I listed the differences above

Would you be able to upload the cam bootleg? I’m interested to check it out.

The user formerly known as “Trillary Dump” (it was the 2016 election…)

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Unlike The Phantom Menace which came out on DVD a year or so after the VHS and included many changes, Attack of the Clones was released on DVD and VHS at the same time, so the transfer on the VHS should be the exact same one as the Full Screen DVD, and would have exactly the same changes compared to the theatrical release.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Why? I own one version and already that’s too much.

I second that.

Fang Zei said:

I’ve accepted that the theatrical prequels will probably never be officially released on modern formats and will likely become a historical curiosity. That’s what places like this are for.

Honestly, as long as they exist in some form to serve as said historical curiosity, that’s all that matters. Aside from replacing CPY, none of the changes are significant enough to notice without careful comparison. I guess having CPY in HD would kinda neat, but that’s about it.

I can’t believe we’re discussing how many slightly different official versions of AotC there are. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with, that; it’s just kinda funny.

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I own one of the original AOTC 35 mm film reels, so if I get in touch with one of my local theaters, I’ll do a capture for you guys to find the differences.

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…

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Sishyo512 said:

I own one of the original AOTC 35 mm film reels, so if I get in touch with one of my local theaters, I’ll do a capture for you guys to find the differences.

Oh wow how’d you acquire that?! Do you think you’d be able to get it scanned?

The user formerly known as “Trillary Dump” (it was the 2016 election…)

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trillary dump said:

Sishyo512 said:

I own one of the original AOTC 35 mm film reels, so if I get in touch with one of my local theaters, I’ll do a capture for you guys to find the differences.

Oh wow how’d you acquire that?! Do you think you’d be able to get it scanned?

This old guy ran this theater for a few decades and died a couple years ago, and his belongings were sold by his family. I bought the reel because I thought it would make a fine addition to my collection, but I never opened it mainly because I don’t have the technology to use it.

When I find it, if it’s in a usable condition then I will certainly scan and share the film with you guys.

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…

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Scanning a 35 mm feature length film is a huge task man

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trillary dump said:

Sishyo512 said:

I own one of the original AOTC 35 mm film reels, so if I get in touch with one of my local theaters, I’ll do a capture for you guys to find the differences.

Oh wow how’d you acquire that?! Do you think you’d be able to get it scanned?

Aw crap man, this is just one sixteenth of the film, with most of it being crusty and ruined. I’ll see if I could get this bit restored and I’ll try to scan whatever I have.

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…

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Possessed said:

Scanning a 35 mm feature length film is a huge task man

It was barely 9 minutes of film, but I still suck when it comes to scanning.

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…

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Ah gotcha. Do you know which section of the movie it is? Hopefully one that has the changes.

The user formerly known as “Trillary Dump” (it was the 2016 election…)

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trillary dump said:

Ah gotcha. Do you know which section of the movie it is? Hopefully one that has the changes.

I believe it is the second 8 minute segment. I’ll check the Wiki to see if it has any changes.

Edit: The only change besides color grading would be several speeders being removed in the bounty hunter chase.

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…

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Oh cool! It’s not a big change but certainly one that should be preserved. If you look into how much it would cost to clean and scan that reel I might just have to help fund it 😃

The user formerly known as “Trillary Dump” (it was the 2016 election…)

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trillary dump said:

Oh cool! It’s not a big change but certainly one that should be preserved. If you look into how much it would cost to clean and scan that reel I might just have to help fund it 😃

I have a bit of a strange update with you, but I still have a way to preserve the change. Throughout the past few day I was trying to see if I could get some restoration done on the reel, and I first went to a small theater to see if I could get my can played.

And, it was pretty bad. A lot of damage was done to the physical film, with most of the film having this weird marble effect. Fortunately, I could still see the order of all the sequences, and using that I can take scenes from the theatrical trailers to recreate that change.

I will try to do some digging into finding better reels of AOTC, but for now I can splice up the trailers to make the original scene. Also, I’m really sorry for the late reply, life got in the way of things but I should be free for a while now.

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…

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AndrewTheMan said:

The VHS version was not altered a bit from the theatrical release

Uhg. No. Excuse the incoming long post but prequel preservations are my thing.

There were two theatrical versions of the film during its initial run: film and digital.

The film version and the digital version are basically identical from a sound design perspective (this is important later), but visually they are different. Give or take a few minor altercations, the digital theatrical print is visually identical to the home video release, whereas the film print of AOTC includes multiple visual additions/subtractions that are well documented on this site and in other places (Anakin’s robotic hand being the prime example).

The home video release of AOTC is across the board (on DVD/VHS/VCD), identical to the digital theatrical release on a visual level, as aforementioned. However, the initial home video release changes a few audio cues, the most notable being Padme’s “Yes” being changed to a more natural “Uh-huh” after falling out of the Republic Gunship.

Contrary to popular belief, the VHS is not only pan and scan; a few European releases of the film on VHS exist in Widescreen format. I know this because I own them all. However the US, UK, AUS, etc., releases of the film on VHS and VCD (VCD being Asian releases) are in pan and scan, until the very final shot of the film (the wedding scene), which jarringly cuts to widescreen before the credits crawl.

The Widescreen DVD release is identical to the digital theatrical print in every way bar the audio cues. The Fullscreen DVD release is identical to the VHS/VCD release.

The Blu Ray is again different, changing up even more audio cues and rearranging some shots here and there.

There is also an IMAX version, which has never been preserved. There are recreations, but they are not accurate to a tee.

As it stands the only true theatrical version is in the form of bootlegs, which can be found if you know where to look.
Or, obviously, if you have access to all the original film reels.

Hopefully this information is helpful to someone, and hopefully I won’t have to repeat it again, haha.

As an extra tidbit though, the comment about it being identical to the VHS release (the theatrical version, that is), is actually true for the TPM VHS release… Kind of. I’m not going to get super into it here but there are one or two minor altercations between the theatrical and VHS releases of TPM that prevent it being truly accurate, but it’s very close.

And while we’re on the topic, the ROTS VHS and VCD are the same as the full screen ROTS DVD.

As it stands the only way to see the actual theatrical releases of the prequels are in the form of original film reels, bootlegs or fan recreations. The ROTS Blu Ray does not preserve the theatrical print as there are CGI and audio enhancements; too often I see people claiming otherwise.

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I’m glad more people seem to be interested in preserving the theatrical versions of the Prequels! How easy would it be to take the HDTV (dvd) version of AOTC and fix the audio changes so it’s the digital theatrical version?

And someone on the spleen restored the theatrical version of ROTS using the HDTV version and just putting the wipe back in so there’s definitely ways to get the original versions of the Prequels recreated.

The user formerly known as “Trillary Dump” (it was the 2016 election…)

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Ryan-SWI said:

As an extra tidbit though, the comment about it being identical to the VHS release (the theatrical version, that is), is actually true for the TPM VHS release… Kind of. I’m not going to get super into it here but there are one or two minor altercations between the theatrical and VHS releases of TPM that prevent it being truly accurate, but it’s very close.

Could you elaborate on this? I always assumed theatrical TPM and VHS TPM were identical.

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I think that there was a shot in the theatrical version that was impossible to pan & scan so they just left it out or replaced it with something else. It’s not a big alteration.

The Person in Question

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moviefreakedmind said:

I think that there was a shot in the theatrical version that was impossible to pan & scan so they just left it out or replaced it with something else. It’s not a big alteration.

Bingo. It’s a shot during the final lightsaber battle, when Darth Maul jumps to another platform? If memory serves correctly.

trillary dump said:

I’m glad more people seem to be interested in preserving the theatrical versions of the Prequels!

Same here, I think it’s incredibly important to preserve everything Star Wars. Obviously the priority for most people is the OT, but it’s nice seeing some preservation love for the PT too.

How easy would it be to take the HDTV (dvd) version of AOTC and fix the audio changes so it’s the digital theatrical version?

Hm. You might be onto something there.

I’m going to do some research and see if it’s possible, that’s something I’d definitely love to do.

The biggest challenge I imagine would be cleaning the audio to insert into the mix without sounding off. Centropy’s SVCD is currently the best source for the theatrical AOTC, but the exported 2.0 audio initially captured using a camcorder isn’t exactly Dolby 5.1 quality.

I have about a dozen bootlegs of the theatrical AOTC on VCD and DVD but none of them match the quality of the official home release DVD/HDTV broadcast, obviously.

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OK, so here’s a question not for the faint of heart.

Was the dreaded headbutt reinstated for the 2008 UK Prequel DVD Box?

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m_s0 said:

OK, so here’s a question not for the faint of heart.

Was the dreaded headbutt reinstated for the 2008 UK Prequel DVD Box?

As far as I’m aware the film has never been reclassified in the UK, so all DVD releases over there regardless of the reissue should be identical; if they reinstated it the film would have to be reclassified as it’s technically a different version of the film, but I can’t find anything online about a reclassification.

I could be wrong though. I do have that box set in my collection so I’ll have a look later tonight when I get home.

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m_s0 said:

It sounded odd to me as well when I found that bit of info here:

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=683662

By now [2010], ‘Attack of the Clones’ has been released uncut on DVD in Great Britain as part of the Prequel Trilogy Box.

Thanks for checking!

I was starting to get somewhere with my film reel restoration, but as I was about to pour some of my money into it, I see this post.

Well whaddya know…

I’ve gone batshit several times over for the sake of historical preservation…