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Idea -- Original Theatrical Prequels — Page 2

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I would like to give the theatrical version of Phantom Menace a shot. I own the widescreen DVD and a pan-scan theatrical VHS for reference. When I began looking for changes, I found that a couple scenes in the theatrical release have been deleted in the DVD release. There is one little clip in the Podrace where Watto cheers for Sebulba before the race that was deleted. However, that's no problem because I found it in the extended cut of the opening on the Special Features disc. There is still one shot, though, that I'm missing in widescreen. It is the shot directly after Qui-Gon's line: "The situation has become more complicated." Then, we have a transition to an establishing shot of Palpatine's building on Coruscant, immediately followed by Palpatine's speech about greedy senators to Amidala. The establishing shot is missing from the DVD.

Does anyone know if a small torrent or straight download exists (or could be created) containing the establishing shot and also the shot before and the shot after, so as to have the transition? It could be ripped from a theatrical widescreen VHS (OK) or the Japanese LD (better). Then I could have the film in its theatrical state for archive purposes.

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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That would be awesome, Troopeman.

I dont know of any way to get the footage, aside from ripping from the Japanese LDs.

I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently.

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If you're real desperate to get that scene you could rip it off the Phantom Re-Edit 1.2 MagnoliaFan Remix. He put a link in the menu to show the differences from the original copy to his remasterd version using the DVD. It has the establishing shot of the building on it. It is poor quality being that it is from a VHS source, but if you can't get it anywhere else you could try there.
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Great- I'll try that.

Do you know the name of the specific .vob that contains this? That way, I could just get this instead of having to download the whole thing (I have limited Internet access).

Thanks!

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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The exact .vob file is VTS_03_1.VOB. I actually like the original scene better than the restored scene George put on the DVD.
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Originally posted by: eros
Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"Rikter has a LD rip of TPM I got from him and apart from the soundtrack it is inferior to the vhs in picture quality."

If the LD rip looks worse than the VHS, then it wasn't a very good LD rip.


Correct. I think it was done by those clowns at LOOK. Rikter should be able to clarify that, or not.



Yep - I think that the Transfer I have IS from LOOK or some other Asian Bootleg factory - It was ripped from the Laserdisc but VERY badly...

I have the Japanese Laserdisc - Did someone wanna rip it again?



“My skill are no longer as Mad as the once were” RiK

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Unfortunately, I don't own the Japanese LD (and it would be kind of a shame to buy it for about 5 seconds of footage). Perhaps someone who does could recapture it for better results (because it sounds like the one in the comparison section of the Phantom Re-edit is no good for splicing into DVD quality footage).

I can try it, though, if all else fails.

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Would anyone be interested in recreating the AOTC Imax edit?

That'd be the perfect edit to AOTC, if you ask me. Episode II is the longest Star Wars film and the hardest to sit through without longing to press pause and go see what's going on elsewhere.
This would get AOTC back to a decent running time of about 2 hours. And what it cuts out really wouldn't be missed anyway, IMHO.

Just another idea. I still am trying to learn how to edit video myself, so we'll see how that goes. But this would be a great project to undertake!

I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently.

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I Don't like Attack Of the Clowns. sorry
"A Jedi can feel the force flow through him".
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I actually tried making recreating the IMAX edit of AOTC a few weeks ago working off of the info about it around the net. Unfortunately, the results weren't very good. I didn't know how to make the wipes, etc. and of course I didn't know how to edit the audio so music cues just sporatically cut off. Pretty jarring. I just ended up deleting the files.

I'd love to see someone with editing skills try it though.
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I'd dig a Theatrical version of TPM and AOTC.

A split-screen version of TPM (in the great Wookiee Groomer tradition) would be cool too. The DTS vs. the Dolby Digital tracks would be fun to flip between. Although i'd wait with this one and see if there isn't a subsequent change in the TPM DVD (like the removal of the clunky Yoda puppet as the rumors go) on an inevitable future re-release.
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I have been wanting origianal theatrical DVD versions of TPM and AOTC as well... if only for comparison and history's sake.

Back in the days following TPM's release, copies of the film surfaced on the net. First there were tripod-mounted camera recordings from the audience, usually in very poor quality, one of which I acquired and still have. Then, shortly after that, an amazing actual transfer from celluloid appeared, with Thai subtitles. I still have the second half of this version saved. Unfortunately, I was only ever able to get the first few minutes of the first half. Being on dial-up at the time, it literally took a week or two of constant downloading just to get what I do have. But what a fantastic artifact! And what I wouldn't do to get hold of the first half of that film transfer... but of course, there's zero demand for it now. So how do you find something nobody wants?

I snapped up the VHS version the moment it was released. And I guarantee, or at least I should say I am 99.99% certain, that there were changes made to TPM when it hit VHS. Some extra bit during the pod races seems to stick out in my mind. And then when the DVD came out, I grabbed that too, and of course there were even further changes there.

Versions of TPM: 3
- Original theatrical version
- VHS version
- DVD version

I have no idea which version of TPM the laserdisc corresponds to, but I always assumed it matched the VHS version.

Then AOTC came out. I saw the theatrical version, and wound up afterwards with a fuzzy copy made from a tripod camera. Unfortunately, I never managed to find better. No celluloid transfers. But at least I can verify what was and wasn't there. Next, there was the digital version... subtle differences there. I drove the 4 hours from Houston to Dallas to see it in a digital theater. I would love to have a copy of this particular version, but no dice to this day. Then, the IMAX version. Different, but only because it was cropped and chopped to fit IMAX format. Having a copy of this would be nice, but is of negligible importance to me. Finally, the DVD version, which I again bought immediately.

Versions of AOTC: 4
- Original theatrical version
- Digital theatrical version
- IMAX version
- DVD version

PM me if you have any info on the unreleased-on-DVD versions that might interest me.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]