Hi!
A couple years ago I made some YouTube videos about the changes to the Star Wars films. Generally, people liked the videos… but I always knew I could do better and have become increasingly embarrassed by them. So I’m rebooting the project!
The plan is to put absolutely everything (all rounds of changes to every single Star Wars film) into one massive video so that it can hopefully be the definitive source on the subject. (Definitive VIDEO source anyway — not to take anything away from the stellar work on the Star Wars Visual Comparisons site and elsewhere… I hope my project can be a supplemental resource to stuff like that)
So, I’ve divided my video into seven sections (plus an introduction and conclusion) that are broken down like this:
(1) Pre-Special Edition Changes
(2) Special Edition Changes
(3) The Prequels in Theaters and on DVD
(4) Original Trilogy DVDs
(5) Blu-Rays
(6) The Sequel Trilogy
(7) Disney+/4K Ultra-HD
Each chapter consists of a bit of history/explanation for how and why that round of changes was made, followed by a direct comparison of the changes with the original.
Work is at various stages of completion on all seven chapters and the plan is to share WIP versions of each of them here as I go along for feedback.
So here is a rough draft of Section 1 (Pre-Special Edition Changes): https://youtu.be/E5T3e89VCY4 [Runtime: 38:33] (EDIT: Just realized the VO audio rendered a little wonky, which I’ve already fixed in Premiere for the eventual finalized version)
This WIP is about 90% where I want it to be right now — there are a couple of temporary graphics and bits of editing remaining, plus a few pieces of narration I plan to re-record (especially toward the end where you might notice I sorta started to phone it in). I’ll also do one more pass to level the audio throughout.
I’m interested mostly in factual feedback at this stage, since this era in Star Wars history is the least well-documented online. Did I get anything wrong or leave anything out? (I also would really appreciate someone pointing me to exactly where that 1993 audio change to ESB is… I know it’s a missing snowspeeder crash sound but I was having a hard time finding it myself)
I guess general presentational feedback is welcome too. Is the video too jokey? Is the information conveyed effectively? Are any explanations rushed or overly drawn out?
Looking forward to hearing what you all think, and hopefully collaborating even further on this project!