Hello! First time post here. I love this site and it’s dedication to the cult/religion/wonderfulness that is Star Wars.
Like many, I grew up with the Original VHS of the Original Trilogy (With some minor differences than the Theatrical versions of course). When the Special Edition came out I was 13. At first I loved it, but as time went by I realized it just wasn’t the same and in some cases was embarassing (Jabba in Ep. IV, Jedi Rock in VI). So naturally when I heard about the Holy Grail that is Harmy’s Despecialized, I lept for joy.
I love and respect George as he is “the maker”, but I have never agreed with his decision to ultimately change history and go so far as to try and present the '97 Special Edition cut of Star Wars to the National Registry as the original. In the words of Yoda, “How embarassing…”
Now when I read how Harmy put together his cut I was a little skeptical because I read he uses the Blu-Ray as one of the main sources among many others. While this looks amazing, it does change things quite a bit to where it’s not completely the original theatrical cut. For example, the opening shot in Ep. IV of the Tatooine planet is obviously touched up. And it was a little distracting for me as incredible as it is, because I could definitely tell there were multiple versions that the film was cut into. The GOUT DVD tatooine planet for example looks way different than the Harmy Despecialized. It was noticeable to me and distracting. Also in Ep. VI the speeder bike scene looked awful. I’m sure it’s because the original “Jedi” has never been in HD before and the effects were not very good to begin with, but it felt like something was off all of the sudden.
I guess in some ways I prefer a cleaned up GOUT because it doesn’t have any touched up scenery or changes from the Blu-Ray. I know HARMY removed all that he could and used many other sources, but sometimes it’s pretty noticable. Another example is Mos Eisley. One of the most changed scenes in the whole Special Edition Trilogy. For most of it, it looks great, but then in one scene all of the sudden it looks more grainy and you can see the orange force thing underneath the speeder. I’m sure there was no other way as the Blu-Ray probably had too much crap to erase, but again I was distracted. Empire was probably the least distracting and least notciable. But Jedi had moments that felt wonky to me as well. Especially the ending. I can’t put my finger on it but something… like the timing or something seemed weird. And that is probably the only change that I actually prefer in the Special Edition. The ending of Jedi. Because of the song. The Original song is classic, but it is very cheesy and hardly seems epic to me. However, Jedi has a lot of problems so it’s not surprising.
Anyways, I am rambling. Sorry. I just was surprised to see that no one else had commented on being able to notice the different versions in the HARMY despecialized. Now… they are BEAUTIFULLY spliced together. Don’t get me wrong! It’s a masterpiece! And GOD BLESS HARMY for doing this much needed work!
However, I think I would prefer a cleaned up GOUT that is closer to the VHS. Does anyone know what versions those would be as there are so so so many now?
Thank you for your time. Thank you for reading and being patient with me. God Bless Star Wars and may the force be with you… ALWAYS.