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I thought this was interesting - sound differences in OT releases

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 (Edited)

I was reviewing my VHS copies of Star Wars, when I noticed this. There may be more, but I noticed two scenes with sound differences.

#1. Right after Tarkin says “…with one swift stroke.” The next shot, the slaughtered Jawa sequence. As the shot begins, it pans up with the droids. Now, in my 198?FS, 1990FS, 1992WS, 1993LDWS copies, R2 makes no sound. However, in my 1995 faces FS & WS, he does.

#2. The same goes for the scene in the cantina, after the stormtroopers walk by Han & Chewbacca. The close-up shot of Chewie’s face. Again, only in the 1995 faces WS & FS does he make a sound.

Does anyone know of these or any other sound ‘differences’?

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Originally posted by: 20th Century Mark
I was reviewing my VHS copies of Star Wars, when I noticed this. There may be more, but I noticed two scenes with sound differences.

#1. Right after Tarkin says "...with one swift stroke." The next shot, the slaughtered Jawa sequence. As the shot begins, it pans up with the droids. Now, in my 198?FS, 1990FS, 1992WS, 1993LDWS copies, R2 makes no sound. However, in my 1995 faces FS & WS, he does.

#2. The same goes for the scene in the cantina, after the stormtroopers walk by Han & Chewbacca. The close-up shot of Chewie's face. Again, only in the 1995 faces WS & FS does he make a sound.

Does anyone know of these or any other sound 'differences'?

Could be alterations in the new remastered THX sound. If you take the original VHS sound of the unaltered ESB during the asteroid scene and compare the sounds of the explosions and TIE fighters being clobbered by asteroids the exact sounds are different than in the 1997 or 2004 editions, as do the sounds of the spaceships swooshing through space sound different.

I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/greencapt/hansolovsindy.jpg
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Huh, maybe EVERYBODY knows this but I just noticed that Luke says something in trash compacter just after Leia says "could be worse" and just before Han says "it is worse". But you don't hear him say anything, you only see his mouth move.
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Theres TONS of sound differences in the releases.

The original 77 stereo mix had a different voice for Beru. It was redubed for the mono mix which was released a month or so later. The mono mix also had the "close the blastdoors" line, plus i believe 3p0 tractor beam voice over. The mono mix added a bunch of sound effects and such, and i think it also included all the "video game" type noises on the screens when Luke and Han are shooting TIES in the falcon. Mark Hamill also relooped some of his lines in ADR so that they are cleaner.

The first Home Video releases swapped between the two versions but the original Beru voice has never been heard since 77 i believe (although there is a recording of it via the 1977 bootleg). The stereo version was quickly settled on as stereo replaced mono in the early 80's--but the new Beru voice of course was included. I'm not sure what exactly the situation is here--it seems Hamill's additional ADR and Beru's new voice were included but none of the other SFX additons were. I'm sure someone out there knows more than me what exactly was in what version.

Then in 1989 Ben Burtt completely remixed the trilogy for the Laserdisk release, now accounting for home video sound setup rather than theatrical. I'm not sure the details of this mix and if it contained any new additions--it may have.

Then of course in 1995 the films were remastered yet again for the THX release, but I don't think there was any additions or subtractions since the 1989 remix.

Then in 1997 there was the SE which remixed the films yet again, this time in 5.1 surround, and combined all the sound elements from the various mixes, in effect giving a mix which contained more sound effects than ever before, such as the "close the blastdoors" line and 3p0 tractor beam voice over, which hadn't been heard since the early 80's.

The 2004 mix is slightly different again, but contains a large number of infamous errors due to poor authoring of the disks, such as the music score being drowned out. This mix will likely be corrected for the next release.

Did i miss any? I think there is a website out there that has kept track of all the different mixes--there are quite a few! Add to the whole "Episode" insertion and the fact that most had never seen the films in widescreen before 1997, its interesting when fans demand the want the SW films "they remember"--the question is, which version do they remember??
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They've remixed it so many times that nobody knows what they originally sounded like anymore! But I know that what you hear in the 1997 and 2004 special editions is not what audiences heard back in 1977...
I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/greencapt/hansolovsindy.jpg