logo Sign In

4K restoration on Star Wars — Page 118

Author
Time

The 4K restoration indicates that they have scanned the original elements of the film. He didn’t say anything about wishing or hoping. You are the one who is acting more than anybody as though you actually know what you’re talking about.

The Person in Question

Author
Time

moviefreakedmind said:

The 4K restoration indicates that they have scanned the original elements of the film.

There is nothing to indicate this. Absolutely nothing. The only thing that is public information and known for certain–via Gareth Edwards–is that Disney had a fresh 4K restoration print when he was hired. He did not say whether it was a restoration of the 1977 version or the Special Edition. It could be either one, but it is more than likely the latter. Even if they already did a restoration of the original theatrical releases, but they withhold them for internal use only, that alone would be sufficient cause to criticize them to no end.

Author
Time

Alderaan said:

moviefreakedmind said:

The 4K restoration indicates that they have scanned the original elements of the film.

There is nothing to indicate this. Absolutely nothing. The only thing that is public information and known for certain–via Gareth Edwards–is that Disney had a fresh 4K restoration print when he was hired. He did not say whether it was a restoration of the 1977 version or the Special Edition. It could be either one, but it is more than likely the latter. Even if they already did a restoration of the original theatrical releases, but they withhold them for internal use only, that alone would be sufficient cause to criticize them to no end.

The original negative are conformed to the SE, so even if it is the SE it can be called the “original elements”.

Robert Harris is quoted as saying the entire restoration of films like My Fair Lady took less than one year.

That also isn’t as nearly a high-profile a restoration that requires careful timing and consideration.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Wazzles said:

Robert Harris is quoted as saying the entire restoration of films like My Fair Lady took less than one year.

That also isn’t as nearly a high-profile a restoration that requires careful timing and consideration.

Eh… just because the masses don’t necessarily pay attention doesn’t make it any less valuable or careful. That restoration was pretty high-profile.

Robert Harris said:
“They knew they needed to bring me back in, because this is by far the most valuable of their feature-film assets.”

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Wazzles said:
The original negative are conformed to the SE, so even if it is the SE it can be called the “original elements”.

Except it would be the Special Edition in 4k, and large sections of the theatrical releases would be missing and/or altered.

Wazzles said:
That also isn’t as nearly a high-profile a restoration that requires careful timing and consideration.

It was a very high profile restoration. But I’ll give you a more difficult example: The Godfather negative was missing 20 minutes and in such bad shape that Harris and his team stood ready to halt the scan at every moment for fear that frames would be ripped apart. That restoration took 18 months (for both films altogether, IIRC).

Again, 5 years is way more than enough time to come to the realization that Disney has no plans to release the OOT now or ever. It takes a very important person to greenlight and assign the funds for restoration projects. The only people with that power are Lucas, the execs that are loyal to him at LFL, and the absolute top top people at Disney. Mike Verta has connections at LFL and it took him a long time to even get an appointment, and apparently his pitch was dead on arrival. I don’t want to speak for him, I know he posts on here or used to, but that was my impression.

Lucas hired Kennedy and all the rest at Lucasfilm. He has worked with them and he knows their minds. Given what we know about how he made the prequels and the sycophants he surrounded himself with over the years, there should be no doubt that LFL is populated with people who are very loyal to George and like-minded. Our only hope was that the Disney execs would override the LFL lifers, but that seems to have been misguided. Given what we have learned about other restoration projects over the years, it’s doubtful if the Disney suits are even aware of the alterations in the first place.

Author
Time

It was people inside Lucasfilm that lobbied to get the OT on DVD in the first place. Unfortunately, Lucas responded by dusting off the 1993 Laserdisc masters.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

Handman said:

Alderaan said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Five years is the cutoff? So you have experience as a professional film restorer and seasoned, profit-driven studio executive then?

No, five years is way past the cutoff. Anyone who gave them five years was more than generous or, more likely, just plain delusional. Robert Harris is quoted as saying the entire restoration of films like My Fair Lady took less than one year. He called that “a lot of time”. And sure, that is a lot of time and hard work, but it’s less than a year.

I laughed. Well done.

Author
Time

We should also remember that George changed his tune circa 2010 from “the original versions aren’t my vision for the saga” to “they’re too expensive to restore right now.” Ridiculous a statement as that was, it’s at least from before George sold everything to Disney. It’s not his money being spent anymore, it’s a humongous mega-corporation’s.

Plus there’s got to be something to that story John Landis told back in 2015.

Author
Time

Until LF/Disney releases an official statement saying it won’t happen, let the speculation continue. The fact is studios always want excuses to sell their movies again so the OUT is gonna have to be in the cards at some point. I’m not saying it’ll be out this year but sooner or later selling the same SE’s won’t be enough of a selling point.

Author
Time

The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.

真実

Author
Time

imperialscum said:

The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.

Except he wasn’t. He released it two years later, albeit in shitty quality.

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

Author
Time

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

imperialscum said:

The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.

Except he wasn’t. He released it two years later, albeit in shitty quality.

Yes but he changed his mind again by the time the BDs were being done. There was an article that was published after the BDs came out about a fan at I believe a Q&A thing who politely asked Lucas why the original cuts hadn’t been included in the BD set. Keep in mind they had preceded the question by complimenting Mr. Lucas’ work and saying they were fans. According to the article Lucas rudely responded with ‘Grow up. They’re my movies’.

Author
Time

Wasn’t the validity of that quote disputed?

Author
Time

crissrudd4554 said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

imperialscum said:

The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.

Except he wasn’t. He released it two years later, albeit in shitty quality.

Yes but he changed his mind again by the time the BDs were being done. There was an article that was published after the BDs came out about a fan at I believe a Q&A thing who politely asked Lucas why the original cuts hadn’t been included in the BD set. Keep in mind they had preceded the question by complimenting Mr. Lucas’ work and saying they were fans. According to the article Lucas rudely responded with ‘Grow up. They’re my movies’.

That quote’s validity was questionable IIRC. George did also say right around the same time “the original versions are too expensive to restore right now,” whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

Author
Time

Too bad there isn’t any big convention coming up where the OT question could be asked. 😉

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

Fang Zei said:

crissrudd4554 said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

imperialscum said:

The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.

Except he wasn’t. He released it two years later, albeit in shitty quality.

Yes but he changed his mind again by the time the BDs were being done. There was an article that was published after the BDs came out about a fan at I believe a Q&A thing who politely asked Lucas why the original cuts hadn’t been included in the BD set. Keep in mind they had preceded the question by complimenting Mr. Lucas’ work and saying they were fans. According to the article Lucas rudely responded with ‘Grow up. They’re my movies’.

That quote’s validity was questionable IIRC. George did also say right around the same time “the original versions are too expensive to restore right now,” whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

Lucas speak for “I don’t want to spend any money on it.” 😉

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

SilverWook said:

Too bad there isn’t any big convention coming up where the OT question could be asked. 😉

I thought I remembered hearing about someone asking Kathleen Kennedy about it at one of the conventions after the Disney buy-out. But IIRC her answer was very neutral and diplomatic.

Author
Time

That’s a slight improvement over when Lucas would only answer pre-screened softball questions.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Women are more diplomatic in general, but that’s even more true in high profile jobs. Sometimes men can get away with being confrontational, but if a woman has that personality, you know what she gets labeled as and she would never last in that kind of public role.

I would definitely expect someone like Kathleen Kennedy to be naturally diplomatic with her responses, especially compared to George.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

@ Fang Zei
I remember watching her Interview via Youtube Celebration Stream in 2015. She said they know that there’re things the fans want but they cannot do it/them right now. Very sure those were her words.

Author
Time

From 2012-2015 the main goal of Lucasfilm was getting the ST and Anthology movies up and running. This is a huge undertaking, and a lot of man hours and work. Now they’ve got 2 hits, The Last Jedi is coming along and Han Solo is going into production. They have a system down and its working. Now Kennedy and co can focus on other areas.

It seems like people are really embracing the new characters. In fact, the big question people ask me now about Star Wars is, “Are Finn and Poe gay lovers?” And really how the f*ck would I know? My second husband left me for a man, so my gaydar isn’t exactly what you’d call Death Star level quality. ----Carrie Fisher

Author
Time
 (Edited)

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

imperialscum said:

The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.

Except he wasn’t. He released it two years later, albeit in shitty quality.

He was clear with “the other versions will disappear” statement. Everything else was just trolling… including the release of a shitty quality up-scale of already released version that most definitely does not count as “releasing it”.

真実

Author
Time

Alderaan said:

Wazzles said:
That also isn’t as nearly a high-profile a restoration that requires careful timing and consideration.

It was a very high profile restoration.

Timing in the sense of a release, rather than the time it takes to restore. My fair Lady isn’t a cult film that needs a sixth months of marketing and a specifically planned release, and it’s not part of an on-going series of movies. It’s more or less a catalog release.