Info Wanted: OT DVD Preservation Release Questions

Author: Trooperman
Date: 11-Sep-2005, 3:23 PM

Author: Trooperman
Time: 11-Sep-2005 3:23 PM (Edited)
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Hello, everyone- I have not visited here as much as I have in the past, and so I’m somewhat unaware of which transfers exist and which ones are still being worked on at the moment. Since I’m planning to purchase some of these, I had a couple questions.

1. Remember the first EditDroid disc, the one with a mono audio track, stereo audio track, and 6-track matrixed stereo? My question is…what are these, exactly? My guesses are …

6-track=THX mix
mono=audio from ’77 bootleg
The stereo is lifted from an ‘82-’84 LD (so it doesn’t have the tractor beam line and other changes).

Can anyone verify this? (I’m particularly interested in the original stereo track).

2. I’d like to get the RowMan remixes of the original TR47 trilogy and also the EditDroid trilogy. In addition, I’m getting the 4-disc Rowman supplementals (containing the 4 full-length documentaries, trailers, and audio commentaries). My question is- is there any reason to get the Dr. Gonzo set as well? Any film in particular where this version is the best? Also, how does the Cowclops v.2 stand up against the others? According to Jim Prillaman, it’s the best transfer ever done, better than the original set. Should I forego the original in favor of this new set?

3. My head is swimming after hearing of all the different DVD transfers of the SW Holiday Special. Which one is best, based solely on video/audio quality rather than extras? The Rowman edition, perhaps?

Thanks so much! I don’t want to come across as lazy- I just figure that it’s smart to get the opinions of people who actually own the discs before I get them myself.

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

“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

Author: russs15
Time: 11-Sep-2005 3:52 PM
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The EditDroid ANH Version 1

First, to clarify that there are two versions of "our" pre-ANH disc. The
first has a recreated crawl and three sound mixes: mono (from a VHS boot),
matrixed Dolby stereo (from the late 90's widescreen laserdisc), and the
Definitive Edition mix, which we believe to be a mixdown of the 1977
six-track 70mm mix. At the time we were unaware of Burtt's 1995 home video
remix, so we thought the widescreen LD track was identical to the 1977
stereo and labeled it as such. This first disc was encoded straight from
the Beta tapes using the multipass feature of the Sonic and thus retained
the not-quite-black letterbox bars w/ burned-in subtitles and did not enjoy
frame-by-frame cleanup of film and video artifacts. Whenever we encountered
a dropout on the tape, we'd have to re-transfer the affected portion from
the LD to another tape, lay down new timecode to match the master with the
error on it, and reencode that section. Quite a laborious process.

That is from an e-mail posted on the Editdroid thread from the DVD creators.

If you have the 4 Rowman extra's disks there is not a lot of point in getting the Dr Gonzo discs too unless you are a completist.

The Cowclops version has been getting mixed reviews with some people hardly liking it at all.

As far as the Holiday Special, the best (in my opinion) is any derivative of this......

- Source - alleged 1st/2nd generation "broadcast" tape from KCCI Channel 8 Des Moines, Iowa

Apart from the Holiday Special, there is a bit of info and menu shots of all the other titles you mentioned on a site I have been working on.

I think that it covers all the known versions of the OT and SE as well as a few of the projects mentioned here on ot.com. Any I have missed out, please let me know.

4 - 5 - 3 - 1 - 6 - 2

Discuss…

Author: Trooperman
Time: 11-Sep-2005 4:22 PM
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Thank you- so the stereo mix on the EditDroid is not the original.

In fact, I don't think there's any transfer out there with the original stereo mix- that would make a good project. I am EXTREMELY interested in getting this mix. Also, I'm not sure, but I don't believe there's a transfer of the original '77 bootleg- this would also be of very high interest to me.

Holiday Special- excellent. The RowMan edition is in fact the Des Moines version, so that's the version I'll get.

That's an excellent site, by the way- thank you!

Oh, and one more question- in terms of A/V quality, what is the best DVD transfer of the 4 "making of" documentaries?

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Author: Trooperman
Time: 11-Sep-2005 7:50 PM
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Or (more specifically), are there any sets out there that are sourced from the LD but don't have burned-in Japanese subtitles?

Another question is- there were two different audio tracks for "Making of Star Wars", I believe. Which transfer has which audio track?

Thanks for the help.

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Author: RowMan
Time: 11-Sep-2005 8:55 PM
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Originally posted by: Trooperman
Or (more specifically), are there any sets out there that are sourced from the LD but don't have burned-in Japanese subtitles?

Another question is- there were two different audio tracks for "Making of Star Wars", I believe. Which transfer has which audio track?

The Making of SW and SP FX: TESB on my bonus discs are sourced from laserdisc without subtitles. Both From Star Wars to Jedi and Classic Creatures were never released on laserdisc in the US so the versions without subtitles can only be sourced from VHS. There was an idea being kicked around the board of using the VHS video to mask the subtitled portion of the Japanese LDs. Sounds possible, but I have no way of doing that myself. I used original VHS tapes of these two docs that were in very good condition for my bonus discs. Unfortunately, the source material itself for both is not that great in general.

You are correct. There are two different audio tracks for The Making of Star Wars. When it was re-released as a promo video from Kellog's Cereals in 1997, actor William Conrad's original voice-over narration was replaced by someone else using the exact same script. Other than that, the soundtrack is the same.

Author: Trooperman
Time: 11-Sep-2005 10:04 PM
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Thank you, RowMan! Extremely nice to hear from the actual guy behind this set

So Making of SW and TESB was released on U.S. laserdisc, but not Classic Creatures and From SW to Jedi. OK- I'll get your set, and then I'll get the Dr. Gonzo edition of Classic Creatures and From SW to Jedi, and I will use your VHS captures to mask out the subtitles on the LD set (which I'll be able to do pretty easily) for the best version of these 2 documentaries.

The only other issue is the 2 versions of Making of SW. I'm probably going to do a VHS capture of the '97 rerelease (which I can borrow for free through inter-library loan), because it contains the alternate audio track and it's also THX remastered. When I get some free time, I will make this version available (if nobody else has).

Thank you for your help!

So here are my eventual DVD plans:

Edited prequel trilogy:
-Episode I: Star Wars
-Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side
-Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

-"The Ewok Adventure" restored
-Classic Creatures and From Star Wars to Jedi- LD with VHS masking
-"The Making of Star Wars" 1997 rerelease version
-The Empire Strikes Back- the 70mm version

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side