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Info Wanted: Highest quality version or reconstruction of 1997 SE of ROTJ?

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 (Edited)

So, for ANH we have (among others) Harmy’s ‘respecialized’ edition, and for ESB we have Adywan’s reconstruction of the '97 special edition. Is there a high definition version of the '97 Return of the Jedi? Or is the laser disc the best version available?

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There were several broadcasts of the 97 SE in Europe. The GKAR and TB versions are out there and far superior to the LD version. GKAR tends to be sharper, but has some missing frames. TB tends to be more complete, but not quite as sharp. I am currently working on a remastering/reconstruction of the 1981 title/crawl/flyover for A New Hope in HD (the best sources are a 35 mm print with super crushed blacks and the various LD sources - none of which is equal to the 35 mm print scans of the rest of the film). My next project is to combine the GKAR and TB versions to maximize the picture quality and use the AC3 audio from the LD and the DTS tracks from the theatrical audio. At the moment I’m not sure what level of color correction I will attempt (faithful to the 97 SE choices or closer to the original theatrical colors). The main purpose is to use it to help guide my choices in color correcting and restoring the DVD/blu-ray version. GKAR and TB are out there, I think spleen might have them. Barring that, althor1138 just put up on spleen his preservation of the SE LD with the AC3 and DTS audio that I intend to use. It is surprisingly high quality considering the source, but it isn’t as good as GKAR or TB.

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^ Yep, that’s pretty much the state of things. There is no reconstructed 97SE for Jedi as there are with the other two. And actually, as far as I know, ESB didn’t get the same level of attention as Harmy’s ANH. I believe it is just a color adjusted 2004 version with the Emperor shots replaced with GOUT, and correct audio track.

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One thing to note about the TB us that it has been slightly sped up for its PAL conversion.

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 (Edited)

I would also like to add, that the TB broadcast for A New Hope is missing the end credits, which have been replaced with a laserdisc version of notably lower quality. The Reivax A New Hope was taken directly from the digital master, I believe, and features the highest quality of any of the 1997 films available. It has the original English crawl (the GKar are German), but have French subtitles during the crawl, and for Greedo’s and Jabba’s lines.

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Wazzles said:

One thing to note about the TB us that it has been slightly sped up for its PAL conversion.

Yes, the original 24 fps is is preserved in the 25 fps PAL, same for GKAR. Same for any PAL laserdisc. PAL sources are actually the best for preserving and restoring the original 24 fps. It is a simple matter to slow them back down to the 23.976 fps video standard that is used for movies. The audio usually suffers a bit, but the picture benefits greatly.

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DrDre said:

I would also like to add, that the TB broadcast for A New Hope is missing the end credits, which have been replaced with a laserdisc version of notably lower quality. The Reivax A New Hope was taken directly from the digital master, I believe, and features the highest quality of any of the 1997 films available. It has the original English crawl (the GKar are German), but have French subtitles during the crawl, and for Greedo’s and Jabba’s lines.

I don’t have the Reivax version and with it only being ANH, I’m not that interested. I’d prefer all three films have the same quality, even if it is slightly inferior. And there isn’t much to do about the subtitled scenes except take them from the TB version which has no subtitles. The better quality the rest of it is the more jarring switching sources would be. Still, I might have to get it just because I have become a bit obsessed with having every source I can find.

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yotsuya said:

DrDre said:

I would also like to add, that the TB broadcast for A New Hope is missing the end credits, which have been replaced with a laserdisc version of notably lower quality. The Reivax A New Hope was taken directly from the digital master, I believe, and features the highest quality of any of the 1997 films available. It has the original English crawl (the GKar are German), but have French subtitles during the crawl, and for Greedo’s and Jabba’s lines.

I don’t have the Reivax version and with it only being ANH, I’m not that interested. I’d prefer all three films have the same quality, even if it is slightly inferior. And there isn’t much to do about the subtitled scenes except take them from the TB version which has no subtitles. The better quality the rest of it is the more jarring switching sources would be. Still, I might have to get it just because I have become a bit obsessed with having every source I can find.

I understand, but the TB ROTJ has much worse picture quality than the other two films. So, the only one with consistent quality is GKar, which sadly is incomplete for ANH. 😦

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Honestly it’s a little shocking that there aren’t a lot more 97 film prints to scan.

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Dreamaster said:

Honestly it’s a little shocking that there aren’t a lot more 97 film prints to scan.

I know, right?

Despecialization would be easier with all versions in true HD, and AFAICT, the 97 SE is the only one where we don’t have at least some sort of HD version.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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Dreamaster said:

Honestly it’s a little shocking that there aren’t a lot more 97 film prints to scan.

The ones with the money and skill to do that have put the OT as the first priority.

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 (Edited)

Thanks for the information. So I guess if I can find the GKAR or TB versions, that’s probably the best bet.

So, I guess this means that these are the only HD versions that have the Victory Celebration (rather than Ewok Celebration), but also have Sebastian Shaw as the ghost, is that right? I’m a little bit surprised that there hasn’t been more interest in the '97 RotJ, simply because in my experience the Victory Celebration is one of the few semi-popular SE changes, while Christiensen replacing Shaw is rather reviled.

Does anyone know of any fan edits that have the Victory Celebration montage (from the DVD or BD), but replace Christiensen with Shaw?

Edit: Looks like I’ve found one - ADigitalMan’s fan edit.

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There will be scans of all the SE versions at some point in time. Star Wars will be the first.
The Prequels will also be addressed eventually too.