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Info: OT 'master prints' question & Lucas' claims it no longer exists

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Hey gang-

Sorry if this has been covered but I didn’t see it.

GL (or LFL) claims that there are no existing masters of the OOT, right? Does any know or has anyone investigated who/where the remastering was done for the ‘Faces’ release? To get the most simple DVD release we want, wouldn’t LFL just need to do a standard dual-layer transfer of those same masters? I would think these are just sitting somewhere. Anyone know which company did the production of the actual VHS and LDs?

This probably sounds dumb I know. I was just thinking that all the work everyone is doing trying to transfer from the SW DE box and/or the ‘Faces’ LDs and wondering if there wouldn’t be another way.

On a similar note, IMHO the idea that GL puts forth about how ‘expensive’ it would be to re-master the OOT for DVD is utter crap- minus the SE inclusions there has to be what- like 90% or so of the OOT ALREADY re-mastered so they could do the crappy SE’s on DVD??? So how ‘expensive’ does he realy think it is to master the other 10%? Grrr…

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I agree....I never bought that line about him being unwilling to spend the money to remaster the OT. It was already done when he did the SE. So, it shouldn't be a stretch to get the OOT in presentable shape for DVD.

Many things that I hear LucASS say are out and out-right lies.

Just read that Gary Kurtz interview that is floating around here. There was never any plans to have Greedo shoot first. Kurtz said that while shooting the scene...it was intended to have Han shoot first and that's that. Now, 20 years later, LucASS claims that was his intention all along to have Greedo shoot first.

So, IMHO, take anything he says with a large grain of salt. Cuz it's probably complete bullshit.
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There is a link to an article somewhere on this forum that indicates that Lucas and Kurtz received British Dye-Transfer prints (at least of Ep IV). I have never seen a dye-transfer print of Star Wars, but I have seen a couple of other movies and let me tell you, they blow away the regular prints for color reproduction. One of the best things about these prints is that they do not deteriorate in the same way as regular prints, but retain their truer colors for longer. There's no way these prints would have been used for the SE process in '97 (though the original negatives could have been), so they are probably the best source in existence. Getting one on the other hand...

As far as LD tape masters are concerned, that's an interesting idea, but:
1) what tape format were they telecined onto, and is it:
a) higher-res (extremely unlikely) than the LD?
b) significantly less soft/noisy (possibly) than LD?
c) less deterioration prone (possibly) than LD?
2) the tape masters would almopst certainly have been retained by LFL after the pressings.
I suppose there's always hope that an LD mastering employee would have run off an extra master for personal use...
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My capture of the trilogy is completely free of LD deterioration. Not one spec of rot. So that's something achievable from LD, regardless of whether the master tapes are available. In fact, the master tapes had various dropouts that would need to be fixed.
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Originally posted by: Karyudo
My capture of the trilogy is completely free of LD deterioration. Not one spec of rot. So that's something achievable from LD, regardless of whether the master tapes are available. In fact, the master tapes had various dropouts that would need to be fixed.


Interesting! Which set did you make your transfers from, as I'd assume the 'Faces' set has a technically better 'source' than the DE box?
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Doesn't matter what set; only matters how many copies you have. If you make caps of three separate copies of the same disc, and then run them through AviSynth with a filter I commissioned, you remove 100% of the random rot or other crap specific to any one LD.
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Originally posted by: Karyudo
Doesn't matter what set; only matters how many copies you have. If you make caps of three separate copies of the same disc, and then run them through AviSynth with a filter I commissioned, you remove 100% of the random rot or other crap specific to any one LD.

I would think it does make a difference of which LD you 'mastered' from, unless you're telling me the DE box set is recorded from exactly the same source as the 'Faces' set. I'm not trying to belittle your work and hope you don't think so- I was just under the impression that the LFL source that the DE discs were created from was a different quality 'master' than the 'Faces' set rather than just the exact same source with different packaging- or are you saying that both sets are the same LDs?

EDIT: Nevermind- found the answer to my question elsewhere. They ARE the same set: "Uses the same letterbox transfer as the "Definitive Collection" CAV box set, only with the noise reduction greatly reduced. Presented on two CLV discs (with a gatefold jacket)"
That's all I was asking. Sorry to bother you.

But going back to my original question of sorts- does anyone know which duplication houses produced either of those releases?