logo Sign In

STAR TOURS (1987) Restoration and Saving of the Original Movie Attraction (Released)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ORIGINAL MESSAGE

Hello everybody !

I came here to ask you a little question. Did you know if someone at OrignalTrilogy planned to restore/preserve the Original 1987 STAR TOURS film attraction movie made for The Walt Disney Company
(At its debut at Disneyland in 1987, it was the first attraction based on a non-Disney produced film)

The film is front projected onto the screen from a 70mm film projector located beneath the cockpit barrier.
On the internet /YouTube/DailyMotion, there is always very poor copies of this incredible film.
The majority of theses videos are 'On Ride" films as this one (the most clear and detailed I found):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nED36n2lVO0

However there is a very interesting test footage searchable on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9CWq5JmGOs
This is a post production copy of the STAR TOURS ride film before it was sent to Disney for further visual and sound editing. Two of the most noticible things that confirm this is the bright tint and shade of yellow on the objects that show up on the screen as well as the dialouge in the video is different than what is played on the ride.

Since some years now, the original 1987 film attraction (with the “old vintage special effects”) is more and more replaced by a totally new uninspired Star Wars tour made with CGI.
(It does not remind you a famous original trilogy?) ^^
I wanted to know if someone at originaltrilogy planned to protect the original 1987 film in the same way as Harmy did for the three Star Wars movies (Preserve a scanned HD copy).

DisneyLand Paris in France is always the only one to have this 1987 movie in his STAR TOURS attraction…but it was announced that they will receive the updated ride and will open in 2017. The Ride will be closed during his update in 2016, which will mark the original ride’s final closure.
I think it could be an incredible project to restore and preserve this short incredible movie…
…if someone can find a copy of it

Many thanks again everybody for your incredible work at Original Trilogy.
I wish you a good luck on all of your projects ! You’re saving great pieces of Cinema History !

SEPTEMBER 2022 UPDATE

Beyond all expectations, the film made a surprising appearence during Star Wars Celebration, Anaheim (2022) with D23 a celebration of the 35 Years of Star Tours Adventures. This event was very well handled, full of interesting interviews, making of and behind the scenes of the the original (now lost) attraction.

If you’re curious to see more and want to learn about Star Tours creation, you’ll find a replay of the full event here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij9EUs4QRzc

Now regarding Star Tours original footage, the 70mm film was presented full length in a quality never seen before in its original screen format. However, even if the footage was sharp quality, this was not a new restoration. This is literally the original film as it was playing during the attraction which explains some dust and film artefacts can be spotted from time to time on the screen and these elements were already visible during the ride. Also, the main issue I have with the presentation is the livestream banners remained present throughout the duration of the sequence. It breaks quite a lot the immersion. It blocks the view of a lower part of the footage, which is quite unfortunate as it’s the first time that we have complete information on each side of the screen in such quality. In simple words, it is not a simple 16:9 zoom like the Trench Run clip that surfaced on YouTube a few years ago for the closing on the DisneyLand Paris Star Tours Ride.

The “Star Wars Celebration with D23” Star Tours footage is now the best visual element that we have from the original 1987 film to this date. It is not perfect but it’s quite close to be perfect and was quite unexpected to see the film projected during a Star Wars event… after all these years, and the audience and fans like all of us were so excited to see that piece of Star Wars history again.

Three versions are now available online since few months:

The 1080p Version presented during the 35 Years event:
Video Title: “35 Years of Star Tours Adventures With D23 - Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022”
Video Link : https://youtu.be/ij9EUs4QRzc?t=2198

  • With the bottom of the footage hidden by livestream banners

The 4K Upscale & Widescreen (16:9) Version 35 Years of Star Tours:
Video Title: “STAR TOURS 1987 | 70mm Ride Film”
Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7zy82LtYU

  • A cropped 16:9 version of the footage with the bottom hidden by livestream banners
  • Also featuring inserts of droids, and x-wing pilots screens for a more immersive view

The 1080p CinemaScope Version of Star Tours:
Video Title: “Star Tours (1987) - Original Simulator Film”
Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meXu9mAaDBQ

  • Livestream banners are hidden under the bottom of the screen
  • A flickering effect can be noticed on the screen

As a final word about all of this, I still deeply hope we’ll be able to have a better footage without livestream banners, with the full visible image.
As I said it’s close to be perfect but it’s truely a major step in the preservation of the original ride film.

Author
Time

I don’t know how anyone would get ahold of the prints Disney used for that ride. They weren’t exactly widely distributed. Unfortunately, those YouTube videos are probably the best it’s gonna get.

Author
Time

A 70mm Captain Eo print popped up on Ebay a few years back, so anything is possible. The asking price on that was insane, unfortunately.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

Yeah, your best hope is that–now that Disney owns the rights to Star Wars–they release the footage themselves. Maybe as a bonus feature on a hypothetical OOT release for maximum nostalgia. Or maybe as an internet upload. That’s probably more realistic than someone finding, buying, and restoring a print.

Author
Time

Universal released the original Back to the Future ride as a bonus feature on their DVDs/Blu-rays. One can only hope…

Forum Moderator
Author
Time

It’s been years since I saw the Star Tours DVD that was made by someone here, didn’t it include the ride footage or was it just the same test footage as in Youtube? I’m downloading it again since it seems to have been vanished from my HDD.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

Author
Time

It included the ride footage, I saw it forever ago but it was on there. Unfortunately it was fairly low quality.

Author
Time

Sadly it’s the same “yellow” poor quality video… =/

Author
Time

Oh, too bad. 😦 Would be great if someone found the film then.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

Author
Time

I’m hoping somebody among us knows someone who works at Disneyland and can hook us up with the footage.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

Author
Time

Well I know people who work both at Disneyland (which is useless in this endeavor) and Walt Disney Imagineering. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as find the film, walk out with it. There is so much security and scrutiny on your every move. They call that place Mouseschwitz for a reason. Haha

Author
Time

Maybe they could just ask.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

Author
Time

Somehow I doubt they would let them borrow it for non professional purposes. Besides, the person I know in imagineering is in their financial department, so it would be strange and suspect for her to ask either way. Haha

However, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask if she knows what’s going on with the original version. I’ll ask next time I see her and let u guy know what she says.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

That’s sounds very great, Thanks! =)
The other question I’m thinking about is if they substituted all the old rides by the CGI films…
(…soon the last in DisneyLand Paris, I don’t know if the ride is already close
http://www.disneylandparis.fr/attractions/parc-disneyland/star-tours/ but it seems always open…)
I don’t know what will happen to the original 1987 footage. Just hope they will not destroy it!

This very short movie has the magic of the Orignal Trilogy’s Soul. That’s why I created this topic…
I just don’t want that the only available copies will be simple “on ride” or terrible quality videos on YouTube =/

The story of this amazing ride footage remind me too much the story of the STAR WARS Original Trilogy replaced with CGI effects…even in this case ALL the 1987 STAR TOURS footages will disappear next year.

Author
Time

You know, I’m pretty bummed out about it now. I knew it was going to happen one day. This is a great loss to our society! Now all three versions of Star Tours have Jar Jar in them! You’d think they’d give us some kind of choice?

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

darth ender did some work with the star tours. it can be found on myspleen.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I did do a restoration from a VHS tape many, many years ago. It would be great if the original film from the ride ever turned up.
It was cheesy, but a fun ride.

Donations welcome: paypal.me/poit
bitcoin:13QDjXjt7w7BFiQc4Q7wpRGPtYKYchnm8x
Help get The Original Trilogy preserved!

Author
Time

alextheburger said:

I have been restoring the WIP ride video as well for a while (on and off), I just found this forum and I am new
sorry about having the video bars at the bottom but it is a good compare contrast
(i know that poita made one but im not on the myspleen so idk)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rwK_e8I4rLeWdsaFh4cG5CLWM/view?usp=sharing

Hello again, after some months/a year and searching again and again any kind of new materials…I contacted someone named Kris Van de Sande who has some good quality footage of the 1987 film. Sadly, as he told me he doesn’t have the entire ride. However he has the complete footage of the attack on Death Star including the Trench Run, the light-speed exit and the arrival at the astroport (the end of the ride). The footage is actually in a very very good quality however it’s sadly cropped to 16/9 and there is lot of the picture missing. It’s actually the most preserved footage I saw of the ride. I’m desperately searching missing video parts to complete the film and maybe find the complete video in his original format (not cropped to 16/9)

Here are some screenshots I did to show you a comparison of this amazing great quality version with the common “terrible low quality yellow” WIP ride video. I hope you’ll enjoy. I asked gently to Kris Van de Sande to share me all the videos he has about the ride. I’m actually waiting his answer.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9s6iwfs4a6pb72a/Ride V1.png?dl=0

If you have some news about the STAR TOURS Original film…feel free to reply! =)

Author
Time

Nice! Do you know where he got it/why it was cropped? Does he have the film or know someone who has it?

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

Author
Time

LexX said:

Nice! Do you know where he got it/why it was cropped? Does he have the film or know someone who has it?

As I said I really don’t know ^^", I simply asked gently to him all the footage he has, if I have this material I’ll be maybe able to start a good restoration. I’ll ask him more details about where he found the video after he replied to me.
For now, you can see the amazing footage he uploaded on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IMebc9F8Odo?t=4m20s

When I saw it for the first time in a such glorious quality I had goosebumps ^^

Author
Time

As benduwan mentioned, I did make a pretty thorough DVD of Star Tours. I had several sources, but none was as good as these brief snippets. Check out MySpleen if you want to see it. Thanks for sharing the links!