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Preserving the...cringe...Star Wars Holiday Special (Released) — Page 39

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The EditDroid release is based on a broadcast master. The best possible quality one could hope for or obtain short of raiding the LFL vault.

The way that auction is worded sounds like it’s just a recording.

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 (Edited)

Original U-matic resolution specs lie somewhere between VHS and S-VHS in quality anyway. Later refinements like SP improved on it, but that wasn’t available in the late 70’s.

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Where were you in '77?

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Tobar said:

A couple of new videos that might be of interest:
The Troubled History & Overview of the Star Wars Holiday Special
Star Wars’ infamous Holiday Special, explained

Thanks, Tobar, they are definitely of interest.

Unfortunately, my Firefox YouTube download utility won’t work on the second clip!

Anyone have a suggestion for how to snag it, or willing to do the grabbing? I’d definitely appreciate either one!

Relatedly, “Honest Trailers” just published a SWHS edition:

Honest Trailers - Star Wars Spinoffs (Holiday Special & More!)

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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jDownloader 2 has never failed me when I needed to download a YT video

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pittrek – I had no idea that Jdownloader2 could download video from YouTube.

Thank you – it performed beautifully, even grabbing the 1080p that I’ve never had access to before.

Of course, now I have to see about updating a few downloads…

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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Tobar said:

short of raiding the LFL vault.

Do we even think an original master still exists? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Lucas personally used it for bonfire fuel.

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They kept the 1993 Laserdisc masters around. And Fox may actually own the video master. It’s technically not even a Lucasfilm production.

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Where were you in '77?

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Thankyou to the folks in this thread for pointing out the Editdroid version, it’s great.

Love the 2004 DVD style menus as well!

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Tobar said:

The EditDroid release is based on a broadcast master. The best possible quality one could hope for or obtain short of raiding the LFL vault.

The way that auction is worded sounds like it’s just a recording.

I contacted the seller, and unfortunately they weren’t much help. It sounded like it was likely a recording, but they couldn’t tell me for sure. Didn’t give me warm fuzzies, so I gave it a miss.

In the meantime, somebody bought it…and at the BIN price of $399!! Guess they really wanted it and had cash to burn. Anybody know who picked this up? Even if it is a broadcast recording, it would be great to know what station it originated from.

–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]

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SilverWook said:

They kept the 1993 Laserdisc masters around. And Fox may actually own the video master. It’s technically not even a Lucasfilm production.

Lucasfilm does own it outright now, since May 1989 at least. They bought the rights from CBS and transferred the copyright over. But while they probably have at least one master copy, the condition of that copy is unknown - it may not be in great shape after all this time. I’m assuming they took the Boba Fett cartoon that’s on the Blu-rays from a master copy and cleaned it up as best they could.

–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]

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SKot said:

SilverWook said:

They kept the 1993 Laserdisc masters around. And Fox may actually own the video master. It’s technically not even a Lucasfilm production.

Lucasfilm does own it outright now, since May 1989 at least. They bought the rights from CBS and transferred the copyright over. But while they probably have at least one master copy, the condition of that copy is unknown - it may not be in great shape after all this time. I’m assuming they took the Boba Fett cartoon that’s on the Blu-rays from a master copy and cleaned it up as best they could.

–SKot

Haven’t watched the Blu-Ray version in a while, but I swear it looked like it was taken from something s few generations down from a broadcast master? (They also windowboxed it into a smaller image?) The vintage documentaries look even worse, and those could have been transferred off the original film elements had they been willing to spend some money.
I still wonder if the film for the Boba Fett cartoon even exists anymore. Nelvana lost a bunch of stuff in a fire that also destroyed the alternate version of Rock and Rule. A surviving video tape copy was used on the DVD and Blu-Ray extras.

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:
Haven’t watched the Blu-Ray version in a while, but I swear it looked like it was taken from something s few generations down from a broadcast master? (They also windowboxed it into a smaller image?) The vintage documentaries look even worse, and those could have been transferred off the original film elements had they been willing to spend some money.

Yes, they made the decision to windowbox everything that was sourced from videotape in the Blu-ray. Definitely an irritating decision for purists and people who care about quality. But I don’t know if that says anything in particular about their source for the Fett cartoon, besides the fact that it came from video. It did seem to be not the most stunning quality, but I do think it was probably taken from one of the U-matic 3/4" master tapes that they were supposed to get when CBS transferred rights over to them.

I still wonder if the film for the Boba Fett cartoon even exists anymore. Nelvana lost a bunch of stuff in a fire that also destroyed the alternate version of Rock and Rule. A surviving video tape copy was used on the DVD and Blu-Ray extras.

What a shame. Although I have to wonder if they would have kept the Fett cartoon film or turned it over to Lucasfilm. Seems more likely it would be in LFL’s archives, and maybe they just didn’t bother to do a transfer from celluloid. Note also that LFL had that full Leica reel of pencil tests/animatics for the cartoon that they put up on StarWars.com back in 2008 (but which is now sadly gone, along with tons of other great content). That should have been on the Blu-ray as well.

–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]

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Are there any high quality subs done for the HS in English? For the latest TV master release I mean. I’d like to try to translate it. Would be fun to have a project Threepio type of thing for this one too.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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Oh wow, congrats on the panel Scott! Do you know if it will be recorded? I’m sad I’m gonna miss this.

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Tobar said:

Oh wow, congrats on the panel Scott! Do you know if it will be recorded? I’m sad I’m gonna miss this.

I’ll echo that. Very much want to see it! And my wife tells me there’s no way I’m traveling from Seattle … which in fairness I did already know.

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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Quite a few years ago there was a bonus DVD for the SWHS. It collected all the worthwhile clips I could find that somehow related to the program.

And since then there’s been a small explosion of potential content – enough that the raw video collection could fill a single-layer Blu-ray.

So I plan to pick the best of it and create a second edition. A dual-layer DVD this time to accommodate the additional material, and also so I can include a few guilty pleasures (four SW Galaxies Christmas videos I found on YouTube years ago).

The thing is, it’s been years since I religiously searched YouTube for new content. My life went through some major changes, and that was one ritual that got dropped.

So if you have a favourite bit of video, especially if it wasn’t on the first edition of the disc, could you please message me so that I can take a look?

Many thanks to all of you for keeping the memory of the SWHS alive,

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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LexX said:

Are there any high quality subs done for the HS in English? For the latest TV master release I mean. I’d like to try to translate it. Would be fun to have a project Threepio type of thing for this one too.

I’ve got a set of subtitles, but I don’t know how great they are. Also don’t know which version of the Special they’re timed for, but they go through an hour, 50 minutes, and 32 seconds.

Original site says they’re for The.Star.Wars.Holiday.Special.1978.VHSRip.XviD-DaPOO.

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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MattMahdi said:

Tobar said:

Oh wow, congrats on the panel Scott! Do you know if it will be recorded? I’m sad I’m gonna miss this.

I’ll echo that. Very much want to see it! And my wife tells me there’s no way I’m traveling from Seattle … which in fairness I did already know.

I wish everyone here could be there for it; it’s bound to be interesting and a lot of fun. I religiously attended every previous Tom Spina Cantina or Jabba’s Palace panel at Celebrations because they are not to be missed. This time Tom will be putting his focus on the Holiday Special’s Cantina, while I’ll be speaking on the overall show and Pablo Hidalgo will be there providing official insider info (or so I hope!).

Of course we’d love to take this to Celebration next year, so maybe some of you who are going will be able to see it there if we get approval (crossing my fingers!).

Oh, and I don’t know if the venue/event films the panel at FanX, but someone did film the whole Tom Spina panel from last year there…so it will likely turn up on YouTube like that one did.

–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]

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MattMahdi said:

LexX said:

Are there any high quality subs done for the HS in English? For the latest TV master release I mean. I’d like to try to translate it. Would be fun to have a project Threepio type of thing for this one too.

I’ve got a set of subtitles, but I don’t know how great they are. Also don’t know which version of the Special they’re timed for, but they go through an hour, 50 minutes, and 32 seconds.

Original site says they’re for The.Star.Wars.Holiday.Special.1978.VHSRip.XviD-DaPOO.

I have not seen any English subtitles myself, but there are official subtitles in Swedish for the version that played over there. That one’s slightly edited down…but it’s a start. There is a rumored Norwegian version that is probably subtitled as well, but it has yet to turn up. The official French and Spanish versions I’ve seen are dubbed. It supposedly aired in Belgium with Dutch subtitles, but I’ve yet to see that either.

–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]

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SKot said:

MattMahdi said:

LexX said:

Are there any high quality subs done for the HS in English? For the latest TV master release I mean. I’d like to try to translate it. Would be fun to have a project Threepio type of thing for this one too.

I’ve got a set of subtitles, but I don’t know how great they are. Also don’t know which version of the Special they’re timed for, but they go through an hour, 50 minutes, and 32 seconds.

Original site says they’re for The.Star.Wars.Holiday.Special.1978.VHSRip.XviD-DaPOO.

I have not seen any English subtitles myself, but there are official subtitles in Swedish for the version that played over there. That one’s slightly edited down…but it’s a start. There is a rumored Norwegian version that is probably subtitled as well, but it has yet to turn up. The official French and Spanish versions I’ve seen are dubbed. It supposedly aired in Belgium with Dutch subtitles, but I’ve yet to see that either.

–SKot

I actually found the English subs around the web but the timing is off. Still, I’ll use it as my base for translation.

Would there be any interest in creating a multi-language version of this using the Editdroid version as the base? Getting different dubs and subs for it etc. I don’t know if any dubbed releases are around fully but it could be a fun project for 40th anniversary beside the bonus disc if it’s happening, too.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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LexX said:
I actually found the English subs around the web but the timing is off. Still, I’ll use it as my base for translation.

Yeah, I imagine the timing is probably off depending on the version they used to create it.

Would there be any interest in creating a multi-language version of this using the Editdroid version as the base? Getting different dubs and subs for it etc. I don’t know if any dubbed releases are around fully but it could be a fun project for 40th anniversary beside the bonus disc if it’s happening, too.

I think that would be great. EditDroid has the official Spanish dub available as an alternate audio track. The French version is out there, but that airing was edited down quite a bit so you’d have to create an alternate cut of the film for it to fit.

–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]

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Stumbled upon a treasure trove of high res promotional stills from the Special:

https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459462
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459456
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459448
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459450
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459636
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459466
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459654
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459464
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459650
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459656
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459634
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459626
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459618
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459620
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459632
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459662
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459660
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459630
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459658
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459624
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459592
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459478

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Tobar said:

Stumbled upon a treasure trove of high res promotional stills from the Special:

https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459462
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459456
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459448
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459450
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459636
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459466
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459654
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459464
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459650
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459656
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459634
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459626
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459618
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459620
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459632
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459662
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459660
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459630
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459658
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459624
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459592
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/476459478

Incredible find!

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

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