A New Hope: Retouched Edition (ANH:RTE) (FINALLY RELEASED!)

Being inspired by Adywan and other specific fan-editors, I decided to do my own take on Star Wars Episode IV. The base of this is gonna be the GOUT DVD (2008 printing). Before you guys go crazy on me, I do wanna say that the coloring on the GOUT is actually pretty okay. It has this really vibrant feeling to itself. Anyways, I’m gonna list down changes I have done so far at the time of this writing.

The opening titles have been updated to a significant extent. The 20th Century Fox logo has been switched from the old Rocky Longo painting from the '50s to a more modern logo that began use in 2009, more specifically, the 2013 revision. I extracted the Fox logo from a DVD of “How To Train Your Dragon 2”. The fanfare score has also been swapped out from the original 1953 recording that A New Hope used, to the 1980 recording used on The Empire Strikes Back and the first two Prequels. I’m gonna have to admit that the 1953 fanfare was low quality, so I had to do something about it. It is possible I may replace the 1980 recording with another recording entirely though. The Lucasfilm logo has been changed to a custom opening reminiscent of the version seen on “Willow”. I used Blender to achieve this.

Using my own Custom Crawl Creator Template, I redid the entire crawl (obviously including the “New Hope” subtitle and Episode number). An alternate take of the main Star Wars theme is used here, specifically, “Take 19”. Obviously, the soundscape had to be redone for the first shot with the Rebel Blockade Runner being chased by the Imperial Ship, since I was using an alternate score mix. I utilized a video of the opening scene without music to put in SFX.

Here’s a video showcasing the changes implemented so far in action: https://streamable.com/d534x5

There’s gonna be some changes I will try to implement soon, such as axing “Princess Leia” from C3PO’s “No Escape” line, and maybe some new visual effects.

UPDATE 1/28/22:
Version 1.0 is nearing completion, and soon, release! I just got through the battle of Yavin and the Throne Room!

ANOTHER UPDATE
It’s finally completed! Expect a release soon.

UPDATE 2/1/22
Finally released! PM me for a link!

I think I recognize Take 19 of the SW theme from the opening to the 2004 DVD (where they have the SW logo with the little ANH clips going back slowly and the IV and the ANH title coming up with a flare and lightsaber sound).

Cool stuff!

NEW ALTERATIONS

There will be no escape this time. https://streamable.com/3ys5ln
Artoo Canyon shot from the Special Edition included. https://streamable.com/h8n851
The dewback scene from the Special Edition has been implemented and color-corrected to resemble GOUT. https://streamable.com/gebf9a
Obi-Wan’s house got a refined look and as a little touch of detail, a stormtrooper lurking around in the deserts… https://streamable.com/67l4il

A few minor changes I’d like to address:

Fade in / fade out transitions are being replaced with wipes and irises.

NEW CHANGE

The first ever proper CUSTOM VFX shot has been made.
https://streamable.com/p9wwdm

I attempted at this. https://streamable.com/6fd8vr

Also swapped out the Fox fanfare for the John Morris recording made for “History Of The World Part 1”, a 1981 Mel Brooks movie.

Looking good! However, the Morris version of the Fox Fanfare sounds odd and doesn’t seem to correlate with the grandiose feel of the following SW theme.

After hearing it multiple times, I can kinda get it now. It feels a little wacky, especially considering the fact that the recording was made for a Mel Brooks comedy.

I’ll try finding another recording that sounds more grand.

alexp120 said:

Why don’t you audition this recording of the Fox-Fanfare made by the National Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Gerhardt, conductor for their album of ‘ESB’ released by Varese Sarabande.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz5iu_rI6M0

That is, if a 2-channel audio-mix is what you are going for.

I tried this out. https://streamable.com/x1g81w

Works nicely!

Some other things I’ll be worth mentioning.

I imported some, but not all Special Edition Mos Eisley shots.
And I imported my own version of the subtitles for the Greedo Scene.

The Greedo Scene: Here’s how it looks right now.
https://streamable.com/iig6tc

I’ll try doing the color regrading when I finish all custom VFX shots and color match them.

NEW INTRO UPDATE: Since the franchise is purely a Disney-owned thing now, I thought of replacing the Fox logo with a Walt Disney Studios logo in a Fox style, much like DigiModification’s fan-edit intros, using my newer custom Fox logo template (which you can find here: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/New-20th-Century-Fox-Intro-Templates-For-Star-Wars-Fan-Edits/id/91559/page/1#1466141). The Lucasfilm logo however is staying the same for now.

INTRO UPDATE: Clashing ideas of my own mind has resulted in myself doing a faux-retro version of the opening logo combo. I switched back to the Empire Strikes Back recording for now, too. The FOX logo was switched out for a recreation of the 1956 version done by my friend Puz, modified to read the company’s current name: 20th Century Studios. The Lucasfilm logo has, for the first time ever, been swapped, for I decided to use the faux-retro old green logo seen on The Clone Wars Siege Of Mandalore. https://streamable.com/mn4gqm

Pretty good!

So I’ve finally made it to the scene where the Death Star is being tested.

I really have no idea how to execute a custom VFX shot from this that could be proper, but I digress. . .

What are you trying to go for?

Perhaps I should pull an Adywan.

I have a few “Artbeats” explosion VFX collections laying around on my computer, so I’ll try to find a good one.

So I was thinking: why not just use Krypton (Man Of Steel, 2013) as an Alderaan?

The way the explosion looks is fitting for the asteroid field scene that happens moments later.

I tested the whole thing. Looks good IMO. Also gonna trying to utilize shots from Rogue One because, well, why not?

https://streamable.com/ogtkhm

Here’s a new feature that I’ve been planning to include: SC38! Albeit recut (using the ForceGhostRecon cut of it) and cropped and recolored to match my base of Episode IV.