4K restoration on Star Wars — Page 214

poita said:

I bit the bullet and contacted everyone I know at Disney, that is in any way related to film restoration. The answer every time wasn’t a ‘can’t say’ or ‘no comment’ but more a baffled “Original Versions? No, no-one is assigned to anything like that” or variations on that theme.
I don’t think they have any plans at all for an original release, or at least nothing in the next five years, things could always change, but nothing appears to be even vaguely on the drawing board.

With that in mind, and the awful feeling in my gut that the SE of Star Wars has now been around for longer than the time between the first screening of Star Wars in 1977 and the Special Edition of ANH being released, I am putting together a team of professional restoration people from companies I work for and have worked for in the past, to restore the damn thing from the available prints, in 4K at a much higher quality level than we have been able to do before. The fan base has achieved amazing things, but so much more can be done now.
Starting with Empire as it is the one about to disappear due to print fade, and then Star Wars, and finally Jedi.
There are places in the world where the Star Wars copyright runs out within the next decade, I feel it is important that a proper, professional restoration takes place now, and is held until the copyright expires, to ensure that the original theatrical versions are not lost. Also that the originals are available, and restored for anyone studying film history, or researchers to be able to use as a definitive version, representative of the films as they were in 1977, 1980 and 1983.
I know many love the Special Editions, and I don’t begrudge their existence, but film history is also important to preserve.

I also have a personal health deadline that is approaching slowly, and I want to ensure this gets done, even if I can’t continue. I have registered an official archive, which lets us hold prints and restore them, I am getting some help to get the online side of things up and running, but hopefully by the end of next month, we will have it all up and running.
More news soon.

I completely missed this post of yours Poita. I’m sad to hear about your health, I hope it improves. Can’t wait for more updates on your project. May the force be with you.

TV’s Frink said:

^I agree completely.

+1

ray_afraid said:

Random thought on this subject:
I deal with and converse with many many people all day everyday. All ages, all types. Finding out that the person I’m talking with is a Star Wars fan is rarely a surprise and it comes up in conversations fairly often.
However, I NEVER come across anybody who knows what I’m talking about when I bring up the OUT/SE issue. And even after explaining my stance most don’t seem to care AT ALL. At most they find it interesting that I’m so passionate about this subject. Usually they just find my stance on it “eccentric” like the rest of my interests.

I really don’t think there’s much public interest in a restored OT. Harmy’s editions have rallied the faithful, but I think it’s easy to forget how outnumbered we are. Even people who grew up with the originals (and even people who were adults in 1977) are all too willing to believe that the latest thing offered is the best and renders the other versions “outdated”.
Your average person isn’t interested in “cultural history” or “good movies”.

Having said all that, I think fan-made restorations are the only way we will ever get the OUT and I’m just so damned happy that people with the time and skills are creating versions I can watch and love.

I guess it depends what crowd you’re in. A lot of people I talk to know of the changes at least to some degree. For instance most people if I ask ‘who shot first?’ most will say Han. Me and my stepdad make fun of Vader’s ‘Nooooo’ all the time while at the same time he loves that McDiarmid was added to Empire. So I guess it really depends on what crowd you’re in. Just because some areas are populated with people who don’t care doesn’t mean it’s the same everywhere.

All the more reason to have a release similar to the Blade Runner Final Cut with all versions, but until someone important enough to be noticed speaks up, I’m afraid it looks like business as usual. Get ready for Greedo shooting first in 4K.

I just see it as an inevitability when plenty of other, less-popular movies are preserved alongside their revisions.

Just yesterday I was reading the breakdown for Kino Lorber’s blu-ray of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and it literally felt like I was reading the first post of a thread in our fan restoration forum.

poita said:

Fang Zei said:

poita said:

Yeah, without the original Director/Producer/Writer (GL) on board, it makes it more unlikely for a third party like Criterion to have a go at it.

Also, I think people underestimate just how much George hates the originals vs the Special Editions. There is no way he ever would have double dipped and released them. I think part of it is also tied to Marcia and their fallout.

George actually laughed with glee when shown Han stepping on Jabba’s tail for the first time, and considered it one of the best things they had ever done. He loves the vision of the SE, and that’s cool, he is allowed to, but you really have to understand just how much he doesn’t want the originals to exist anymore.

Anyway, I’m sure everyone has their own opinion on this stuff, mine is that it isn’t going to happen so we need to do it properly, others will be convinced it will happen, and honestly I hope they are right, but I don’t believe there is a shred of evidence or even a scenario where it could be vaguely probable to happen.

In regards to Marcia, are you referring to the theory that she got a cut of the OT’s sales until the SE came along and negated it? I thought that rumor was debunked. Unless you’re referring to something else.

No, not the money, the personal stuff. I’ll dig out the references.

Didn’t George have an affair with the original Lapti Nek singer? And it didn’t end well, did it? And now the original (the movie version) Lapti Nek is “lost forever”.

SilverWook said:

Too bad we can’t add a bunch of CGI crap to The Wizard of Oz just to see if anybody notices. Purely as a thought experiment of course.
If any movie is burned into the public consciousness, it’s that one.

There was an IMAX 3D version several years ago. Does that count?

poita said:

Fang Zei said:

I just see it as an inevitability when plenty of other, less-popular movies are preserved alongside their revisions.

Just yesterday I was reading the breakdown for Kino Lorber’s blu-ray of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and it literally felt like I was reading the first post of a thread in our fan restoration forum.

You mean the one Kino isn’t getting right?

Please explain how. I’m unfamiliar with whatever the issue is.

SilverWook said:

Too bad we can’t add a bunch of CGI crap to The Wizard of Oz just to see if anybody notices. Purely as a thought experiment of course.
If any movie is burned into the public consciousness, it’s that one.

Right when Dorothy breaks into “Over the Rainbow” a giant ****ing dinosaur blocks out the screen.

Brilliant.

poita said:

Fang Zei said:

I just see it as an inevitability when plenty of other, less-popular movies are preserved alongside their revisions.

Just yesterday I was reading the breakdown for Kino Lorber’s blu-ray of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and it literally felt like I was reading the first post of a thread in our fan restoration forum.

You mean the one Kino isn’t getting right?

I’m really interested in hearing what’s wrong with it, if you don’t mind elaborating I guess we could move the conversation to this thread.

ray_afraid said:
However, I NEVER come across anybody who knows what I’m talking about when I bring up the OUT/SE issue. And even after explaining my stance most don’t seem to care AT ALL. At most they find it interesting that I’m so passionate about this subject. Usually they just find my stance on it “eccentric” like the rest of my interests.

This. This is exactly my experience. Even when talking with supposed “huge” fans of Star Wars, it’s like they don’t even care that it’s a big deal to be able to see the original. I always get the “oh, that’s nice” condescending response when I talk about the projects to restore the original from 35mm.

I had a co-worker label me a “Star Wars fundamentalist”. I can’t disagree… 😃

This kind of brings me back around to what I was saying earlier about the initial blu-ray from 2011 only including the three bonus discs in the “complete saga” set.

Lucasfilm could totally put together something similar, with the “bonus discs” being the OOT this time, and could even make it an extra special SKU you’d have to pay $200* for and that they’d only press out in limited quantities. I mean, they’re oh so sure only an extreme minority of the fans even care about those rough drafts anymore, right? The “regular” I-VI set, without the OOT, would be the more commonly available / less expensive item.

I’m just brainstorming, of course. But if they really feel like they’d be “forcing” the fans to buy original versions they might not ever want to watch (irony), then that’s one way of solving the problem. Then when the OOT sells out in minutes they maybe realize they underestimated the demand.

*Although, for that price I’d also want the '97 versions, the theatrical prequels, and the Imax cut of AotC.

Lol.