A New Hope Technicolor Recreation v2 is available on MySpleen.

V3, which is a slightly more compact encode of V2 but otherwise identical, is also available via PM.

All requests for further changes will be directed to the trash compactor, to be used as food for the Dianoga. 😉

Downloadable Comparison Gallery (in progress)

A lightweight V1 is also available on Myspleen.

Original Post Follows:

Here it is; a shot-by-shot color corrected and slightly despecialized version of the Star Wars ANH 2011 Blu-ray!

The goal for this project is to correct the atrocious color of the blu-ray and adapt it to the look of a 1977 Technicolor film while at the same time using the 2004 German HD broadcast to remove the most baffling 2011 changes.

In addition, using other sources, I am fixing hundreds of individual color and luminance issues throughout the film including crushed highlights, miscolored lights and lasers, missing gradients, and bad individual frames. Essentially this is the Special Edition seen in the best possible light.

One reason that I am not performing a full despecialization is that this project will be the basis of Harmy’s fully Despecialized Edition version 3.0, so it makes sense to have an SE version of the film for those who want it or want to make their own semi-despecialized versions of the film. I am also interested in seeing what the added footage such as the Jabba scene will look like with '77 color.

The despecializations involve reverting the 2011 Blu-ray to the 2004 edition using the German HD broadcast, with a few exceptions. The reversions are:
-Returning R2’s jump cut roll in the Tantive IV secondary corridor
-Recreating the SE mountain removal in the '77 version of the Binary Sunset, since the Blu-ray has extremely degraded color and detail.

-Removing the ‘Ghost Luke’ homestead artifact introduced in the Special Edition
-Removing the rocks around R2-D2 in the Tusken Attack
-Returning the color of the degraded SE shots to their original color

-Replacing the 2004 recomposited Lightsaber effects with '77 film versions (The SE lightsabers often have incorrect colors and clearly use degraded elements to the point that the lightsaber effect is just a misshapen blob, making them impossible to correct without additional luminosity detail)

2011 Blu-ray changes that remain:
-The gray escape pod door is averaged with the original blue version, since the blue is over-represented in the Blu-ray
-The Han/Greedo shootout, since unlike the 2004 version they both shoot at essentially the same time, and a fully despecialized version of this scene requires Harmy’s skill and resources

Sources for this project are the photos and video of the Technicolor Star Wars projection in the Senator Theater, screenshots that Mike Verta has made available on his website, the 2004 HDTV Broadcast, Team Blu’s GOUT, Team Blu’s '97 version, Team -1’s Silver Screen Edition, Technicolor frame scans, and numerous set and costume photos.

Current status of project as of 5-25-18: Version 1 is available as a 20gb encode on the spleen and a 34gb encode through PM.

Project status as of 9-20-23: Version 3 is available via PM. Note that I consider this project complete, so there will be no further updates or any use of the 2019 digital version of the film, which has its own issues.

Questions, comments, complaints, nitpicking, over-analyzing, opinions, speculation, and wild theories are welcome.