joetunon

I don't know if this was pointed out anywhere else in the forum, but as I mentioned above, there is no alternate footage on these clips. The first three cartridges - "May the Force Be With You", "Destroy Death Star", and "Battle in Hyperspace" - contain horizontally flipped but otherwise familiar footage, while the final two - "Danger at the Cantina" and "Assault on Death Star" - are also familiar footage but with the correct orientation. The opening logos on all 5 are correct, so Kenner must have copied or mounted the footage backwards on the first three before adding the logos, and must not have caught on until they made the 4th and 5th sequences! 

Puggo's restoration of the first cartridge - "May the Force Be With You" - flipped the footage back to its original theatrical orientation. Anyone who owns the toy with the included cartridge can confirm this. The footage on the toy is not alternate footage, but horizontally flipped footage! Hence the childhood memories of "alternate" footage!

I'm almost done with all 5 restorations, and they will be true to Kenner's cropping choices and horizontal anomolies :-)

Thanks, AntcuFaalb. I LOVE that Avatar, btw! LOL!!!

Good points. The original films were many other people's "babies" as well, not just George Lucas's, but in the end, they got paid for their work, and George has the rights. 

More importantly, my main point is still that the petition takes a tone that I believe undermines its goal. If we make a new one, we should ask, not demand. I'm aware that a more pleading petition may not gain as much attention as a more dramatic demanding one, but given George's defensiveness, which approach is more likely to elicit a positive response?

My 2 cents:

I am an artist myself (musician) who would not appreciate fans telling me what I can and cannot do with my own songs (even if they have a perfectly valid cultural point, mind you). I read the online petition and I find a glaring problem with it that nobody seems to have addressed (or maybe they did but I can't search the forums for it): the fact that you get more flies with honey than with a stick.

The tone of the petition to George Lucas (i.e., "you have the responsibility...") can only elicit the response "Excuse me?" It really undermines any chance of convincing any serious artist from changing his or her mind about something they themselves hold near and dear to their heart. (Again, I know because I can totally identify with George's defensiveness for his creations). Why not something more like this:

"Mr. Lucas, we acknowledge that these are your creations - and yours alone, and that anyone who doesn't acknowledge this is sadly mistaken. Please understand that many of us grew up watching the original versions for 2 decades, which has burned these images and sounds into our psyche, making them a part of us. Think of your own favorite movie growing up and imagine them no longer being available in their original glory. This is why many have been so disappointed. This is not about the changes made to the original movies, and people's anger will incorrectly make this about the changes. Newer fans will naturally adopt the movies in the format they first see them in, but the number of people who have grown up with the original versions - flaws and all - plead only for the chance to have them preserved as they remember them growing up - not in place of - but in addition to - the current iterations of the films..."

etc, etc...

Yes, I said plead because if I ever saw him in person my first and possibly only reaction would be "Thank you George!!! Thank you for Star Wars!!!". Not "How could you!" I think we need a little more perspective, and I hope not to have offended anyone here with my viewpoint (though if I did, I don't care. It's my honest and heartfelt conviction that George changed my life for the better with those movies, even if I don't like that he stopped making them available).

Star Wars OOT fan to the end,

Joe Tunon

I would love to see a Give-a-Show restoration too! I loved that toy.

I'm sure this has been asked a billion times: there's no search feature in these forums, is there? It's awful hard to find stuff.

Upon re-reading this thread it occurred to me I still might be on my own in enjoying this restoration, as I was referring to digital, not physical, restoration of this toy viewer and its cartridges. Sorry if I unintentionally got anyone's hopes up. Please let me know if you're still interested in a digital restoration of these sequences. 

Wow, that was a fast response! I'm glad to see this thread is still alive! I didn't think I'd ever find anyone who would appreciate it! 

This is actually my second iteration of this restoration (I did the first one's with VHS footage before there were any DVDs). 99% of the work is already done for this newer iteration. Here's what I did:

- ripped the appropriate scenes from the theatrical DVDs (using the viewer and cartridges as a reference)

- edited the sequences to match the cartridges' scenes, frame by frame (very painstaking, and for the second time!)

- cropped each scene to the exact dimensions of the same scene on the cartridges (again, very painstaking, but wasn't possible the first time since the VHS versions had their own cropping that didn't match the cartridges)

- flipped 3 of the 5 resulting sequences horizontally (which is how Kenner made them for some reason, adding to the charm of these sequences)

- emulated the opening logo for each of the cartridges 

I'll post on YouTube when I'm done (should be in just a couple of weeks).

To answer the other question, there are no alternate takes, but the horizontally flipped scenes make them look like different footage, and most likely contributed to the memory of "alternate footage" ;-)

Between collecting the cartridges again on eBay, ripping from VHS and then ripping again from DVD, I probably spent a good 2 years of my life recreating my favorite childhood toy! I did this for my own pleasure so that I could once again scroll through the sequences I grew up with by recreating them digitally and playing them on a PDA or smartphone with software that would allow me to play the sequences forwards and backwards, and frame by frame, just like I could on the toy.

I just can't believe there's anyone else who cares! I definitely though this would be something I would only be able to enjoy without sharing it with anyone.

Stay tuned!  

MTFBWY

Sorry I'm 4 years late to this thread! I'll have restored versions of all 5 cartridges soon :-)