I think still having to argue with people over why the original should be on Blu-Ray and 4K and Han why Han shooting second is stupid, 20 years after we signed a petition to the get the original released just to get Lynn Hale’s spiel, kind of makes me think it’s a lost cause.
I have 4K77 and I’m reasonably happy with it.
It won’t be lost because the British Film Archive and Library of Congress have the original. Its just not available to the general public. Unless you have out of print DVD, VHS or laserdisc. Yeah none of those is theatrically accurate but whatever.
Does that mean that the original negatives are archived in a place where they are available for scanning at any time today? From what source do you get this information? It is really very interesting
Not negatives no, but LOC do have 35mm prints they have scanned and archived. I’m almost 100% certain BFI has done the same. But I don’t have some inside knowledge.
Lucasfilm has the negatives, and it is true that the O-neg is conformed to the 1997 edit. But they saved all the trims. What is lost is the original color reversal negative, all the wipes and dissolves. Anyone who says they can’t do a restoration is being foolish. It’s not about the money, it’s not about can it be done. It is all about George, he hates the original and does not want it restored.
This has never been confirmed, some say that George tossed those trimmings. Why would he keep them?
It has indeed been confirmed, mate. Back in 2017…
‘20th Century Fox’s Senior Vice President of Library and Technical Services, Shawn Belston, confirmed that all of the “trims” removed from the original cut negative (in the mid-1990s, to create the SEs) still exist as well.’
^ Source here: http://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/022417-0100 (screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/kjtbx74.png)(there are probably other sources for Belston’s quotes from the time - and probably appears in a thread somewhere on here…)
Also worth a read…
From 2010 (though always worth a visit): http://fd.noneinc.com/savestarwarscom/savestarwars.info/filmpreservation.html
2011 for TSHoSW book: http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistoryofstarwarscom/secrethistoryofstarwars.com/savingstarwars.html
From 2020 (from doubleofive; who also knows his stuff): https://starwarsviscomp.wordpress.com/2020/08/21/what-we-want
Oh wow. I’ve been doing a lot of research the past two years writing a script for a video essay, this is the first time I’ve seen confirmation! thanks oojason! This and your other “unreliable narrator” thread have been very helpful to me. I’ll make sure to correctcmy script. thanks again.