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Info & Share: 'Star Wars: The Magic of Myth' documentary

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 (Edited)

Hey guys,
I’ve been following these boards a lot, and I gotta say, I think all of this stuff is really cool. I’m so impressed by what all the fans on here are capable of. I love the idea of preserving all things Star Wars, and giving every fan a chance to be a part of that, whether it’s participating or just collecting. Mad props.

Anyway, I thought I would share something I came across. As some of you might know, around 1999, a new exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC opened up. It was called “Star Wars: The Magic of Myth”. It was an exhibit that examined the connections between the Star Wars films to classical mythology and how that mythology helped inspire Star Wars and other films. I was not lucky enough to attend this exhibit, but I’ve read a few things online about it, and it seems that it was pretty neat. Apparently it had all kinds of cool information and fun stuff to do. And it housed lots of original props and costumes from the movies. I wish I could have seen it. But anyway, along with the exhibit, they showed a half-hour documentary titled, obviously enough, “Star Wars: Magic of Myth”. It basically talks about the ideas of the exhibit and also Star Wars’ impact on modern culture. It has interviews with Georgie Lucas himself, along with other actors and people involved with the films. It has clips from the films along with other mythology-influenced sci-fi films. It’s a pretty cool documentary.

So, to the point. A friend of mine has come across a video copy of this documentary. It is on Beta SP, so the quality is amazing. It is the full video with nothing cut out or added in. It is an awesome thing to come across. However, there is a catch. On this copy, there are only two channels of audio. On both of them, there is only the audio from the shown movie clips, and most of the soundtrack. But, none of the actual interview audio is on there! None of it…only silence when the people are speaking. I was so bummed when I learned that. It was like being so close to this great thing, but yet so far.

Well, a couple of things. I wanted to post this to see what you guys think about it. It’s such a cool thing to see, and my friend would love to share it. However, it seems kind of empty and pointless without that missing audio. So firstly, I thought posting this would maybe find someone who happens to have something with the audio to this documentary on it. Maybe a poor video quality version where at least we could work with the audio? Or maybe another idea to somehow maybe work with this to make it work?

Secondly, my friend does not want to get into trouble for sharing this. He obviously does not own the rights to it. And he is a little worried about treading into this legal water. So he doesn’t want to get into trouble, and I certainly don’t want him to either. If talking about this is or sharing sharing this is “too far”, then that will be that.

So what do you guys think about this. Is it worth pursuing? And how would I do that? Here are a couple of links that talk about this exhibit. The first one is a website I found, and the other one is a link from StarWars.com about the exhibit. After that, I posted an excerpt about the doc from starwars.com

http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/StarWars/start.htm

http://www.starwars.com/community/event/museum/news19990702.html

“A 30-minute documentary examines the impact of Star Wars on world culture on the late 20th century. The documentary includes interviews with George Lucas, actors Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill as well as sound effects director Ben Burtt, composer John Williams and others.”

Anyway, let me know what you think. Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to get all of the info out. Thanks.

-Jashun44

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I'd still love to see it but its not the worst thing if you cant since I went to the exhibit.
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Is it NTSC Beta SP or PAL?

It is possible the audio is still on there depending on the tape and playback unit you have, you may not be able to access all of the audio on your deck.

Is the documentary unique to the exhibit?
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Yeah true, it doesnt make sense how the special effect sounds are in the tape but not the voices, you must be missing a channel with the cables or something.
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Hey again,

The tape is NTSC. There are definitely only 2 channels of audio on this tape. They are identical, in that they only have the music and effects.
We tried everything. We played it in a couple of different Beta-SP decks and D-Beta decks. All decks show that only these two channels are on there. We tried a couple of other tapes just to make sure the decks weren't malfunctioning. Unfortunately, it appeared that they weren't.

I thought the same thing when I first watched it. Why wouldn't the full mix be on there? Maybe it was an earlier production copy and the narraton/interview mix wasn't completed? I have no idea. It was such a let down...I was so excited when my friend first showed it to me.

Also, yeah, I think the doc is unique to the exhibit. I didn't even know what it was when I first watched it. I looked it up online and found out about the exhibit. I might be wrong though. I guess it could have been a part of something else too.

-Jashun44
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What kind of video is it, a bootleg, an internal, a camera?

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It is definitely a copy/clone from the source. It had to have come from the production company that made the video.
It's not like a bootleg or camcorder version.
It appears as if there is no generation loss. (Except the little you would lose going from Beta-SP or computer back to Beta-SP...full res.)

-Jashun44
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So some company made this documentary but it's never been shown on tv or released?
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Dude, yeah, it's been released. It was released for, and only for, this National Air and Space Museum exhibit...

-Jashun44
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Originally posted by: Jashun44
Dude, yeah, it's been released. It was released for, and only for, this National Air and Space Museum exhibit...

-Jashun44


Oh... I thought you ment it was a documentary about the exhibit. Well I'm from Europe and never heard about it.

Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Originally posted by: Arnie.d
Originally posted by: Jashun44
Dude, yeah, it's been released. It was released for, and only for, this National Air and Space Museum exhibit...

-Jashun44


Oh... I thought you ment it was a documentary about the exhibit. Well I'm from Europe and never heard about it.



Sorry for the confusion. Yeah, it was a documentary for the exhibit, that they showed in the museum.
I'm from the States and I never heard of it either.. That's why it was such a crazy find!

-Jashun44
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I went to this exhibit and camcorder taped the documentary along with all the props and such. If worse comes to worse, I can send you my tape for the audio and the exhibit footage. But I will say, I did capture it from my camcorder so the audio sucks. I may have a better copy of it somewhere in my pile of star wars footage, I'll have to check and see.
Don't Make Me Destroy You!
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Originally posted by: s7en
Found this interesting tidbit:
Magic of Myth Broadcast

Hmmm...that is interesting. I wonder if anyone ever got a copy of that. I think that's pretty cool that Lucas did that though.


Originally posted by: jabberdoo
I went to this exhibit and camcorder taped the documentary along with all the props and such. If worse comes to worse, I can send you my tape for the audio and the exhibit footage. But I will say, I did capture it from my camcorder so the audio sucks. I may have a better copy of it somewhere in my pile of star wars footage, I'll have to check and see.


Hey that's cool. It's totally up to you. If you think that the audio is at all salvagable, I'd like to give it a listen. Maybe some of it is worth using?? Also, if I ever was able to convert this to DVD, it might be kind of fun to include some of your footage of the exhibit! But yeah, if you have a better copy of it somewhere, that would be cool too.

-Jashun44
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Originally posted by: Jashun44
Also, if I ever was able to convert this to DVD, it might be kind of fun to include some of your footage of the exhibit!


That would be cool, id like to see a dvd with the documentary and then also have some 'walkthrough' (footage) of the actual exhibit. I saw this cause i happened to be in DC when it was at the Smithsonian but never got to go back with my brother. and the pictures i took didnt come out. Wish it was showing now as I now live in the area, I would def go with camera in hand and get all the pictures/video I could. I think there was a book put out by them, I may have bought it, Ill have to check, it would be at my parents if i did and as it turns out im going this weekend.

-Darth Simon

Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

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*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post