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ORIGINAL STAR WARS TRILOGY OUT 09/2006 BY LUCASFILM — Page 4

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Originally posted by: ocpmovie
Doesn't matter now. I was never into pre-release hype, unlike some releases.




Unable to find alcohol, I lay down and thought about this.


I fought to get At Last the 1948 Show on DVD for a long time (and Do Not Adjust Your Set). Finally they released a DVD set, and it was indeed At Last the 1948 Show (and Do Not Adjust Your Set) and it was wonderful ... but it was none of the episodes I had, or had seen. It was all new to me. I loved it, but they hadn't released what I'd expected. And they still haven't. They released other stuff.


I fought to get the rather crap Rutles 2 released actually, and when it came out no one cared including me.

I fought to get Rutland Weekend Television released, and now it's been announced.

I wanted the Frighteners extended LD released - Alex was working on a version of it - then it came out, which was nice.


All this is nice.


But, y'know, you spend so much time fighting these battles, you're not a regular consumer anymore. Somehow you can't share in the joy in the same way. Or it takes a minute to.

When my rough cut of the Thief and the Cobbler was released on GBS.TV, somebody posted, really happily, at IMDB saying, we won! It's restored! We are the champions! We've defeated Disney, etc ...

Well ... no. No one defeated anyone. I restored a movie, the fight goes on.


It was like at the end of the Seven Samurai ... a film I haven't seen in a few years so pardon if I misquote. At the end, as I recall anyway, there's been a great victory won, but the old, experienced samurai just say to each other, it's been another battle lost.

Because so many died fighting, y'know?


We were fighting a war here, and we've won it, but we'll never be thanked for it. We, the fans, will never be thanked for our part in that. The joy we get is from the film itself, on its little picture disc.


We know, on some level, that we've been duped again. That George got us to freak out again, and buy his things over and over and over again, again.


Like when he wouldn't release Star Wars on video. Like when he wouldn't release it on DVD. Like when he wouldn't release the original versions.




It's like a cosmic joke on some level. He always hurts the ones who love him.


I feel a fool.





LOL US!


he's still not fooling me. I'll buy RotJ right of the bat and put the other two on my christmas list. I feel that is a nice comprimise as he'll make back the money he lost when I purchased OCP's Classic editions. no more, no less.

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Citizen
edit: HELL HAS FROZEN OVER!!
Um, you did notice an April 1st posting date didn't you?

You know the dumping thing of the '04's could be right. Does anyone have any whiff of what is planned for '07?
That date won't go by without some huge release. We do know he planned on redoing the CG Yoda in Ep.1 so there has to be at least one more release coming.

ALSO, do not forget, by releasing an OT DVD, it now meets the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and probably the Library Of Congress film preservation critera.
Before what we did here was vaguely legal because we were preserving something that did not exist in a digital format. That is no longer the case, no matter how bad the official release may be.
Prepare for a lot of legal notices to be mailed to preservationists....

Dr. M

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Originally posted by: Number20
If I read correctly, the DVDs will have the O-OT, and then a second disc that has the '04 SSE DVDs. Why? Why not restore the old making ofs or something? some sort of bonus disc? Why are they continually repackaging the '04 SSEs?


To Bleed Us Dry, plain and simple.

TBH, I'm not surprised, this seems like a compromise by Georgie, it keeps us OT'ers happy but to everyone else who isn't bothered, it makes him look like he is still standing by his view that the SE versions ('97 & now the '04 edition) are the definitive versions and the theatrical releases are just things only worthy of throwing in as a bonus disc, like it is nothing better than a work print. Whatever, he'll screw us for a few more bux forcing us to buy the '04 editions (again for some ppl) but all that matters is we are gonna get a full DVD release of the films we have been fighting to get for these last couple years, so either way, we win

As far as talk of the OT editions not being up to the quality of the '04 DVD's, I couldn't be happier with that info thank you very much. After the rubbish "remastering" work done on the '04 DVD's, all I want is a nice clean transfer of the same print that was used for the 93 DC/Faces sets. The "quality" they are talking about is the over polished, nasty digital colour compressed rubbish that your average Joe Consumer wants from DVD's these days. Star Wars is 25-30 years old, I see no problem in that it isn't screwed around with to make it look like the new trilogy thanks very much. Leave the mistakes/Shoddy FX/Rubbish looking lightsabers & Dodgy Frames of manakin Greedo ALONE cos THAT'S HOW I REMEMBER IT, if ppl here are till bothered by that after it comes out, we can mess around with that ourselves afterwards. If Jim Ward oversees that a nice clean transfer is made, that basically looks like a DC/faces transfer, but with the kinda clarity we were looking at with the XO Project (or most probably even better), that will be fantastic, that's all I want. After that has been released, let the Fan Edit video remastering, FX remastering & soundtrack remastering and inserting DVD editions BEGIN!

Today is a great day in the history of Star Wars!

www.bardothodol.net

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This is just fantastic news. It's going to be real interesting to see what these look and sound like.

The downside is of course, treating the OTs as bonus features. The PT movies all got a two-disc set with tons of bonus goodies.

And when the 2004 OT was released, we got 3 movie discs and 1 bonus disc. 4 discs as opposed to the 6 disc PT.

So, now, with this great opportunity to redress the balance with each OT movie getting its own bonus disc, LFL goes and screws it up by making the OT the bonus. Aaaaaarrrghghhh!!! What about all of those great BTS features that the fantastic people on this board have done amazing jobs of preserving. Everything from the Executor boxset and beyond. Why don't they offer heaps of money to OCPMovie and Jambe for the rights to Deleted Magic, Building Empire, and Returning to Jedi ?

A wasted opportunity.

Yayy. I get the 2004 discs again !!!!

Nevermind. I don't know why I'm surprised.

Still, glad to get an official release of the OT on DVD - better than nothing. But I am glad the preservationists on this board do what they do.
where have i been all this time ?
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heres the problem. These brand new DVDs will be using ancient video masters. Jim Ward, of Lucasfilms, comments: "The original films' video quality will not match up to that of the restored versions. 'It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006,' Ward says." That quote can be found in this article from USA Today.


I don't care if the video is only 1993 quality. as long as it is sharper than the LD that gives me the basis to still do what I am doing. only it will allow me to produce the Best SE non crap version that can exist and that is all I care about. I will still have my beloved trilogy as it was originally but I will still finish my own project purely because it will be visually better.

and it'll have 5.1 sound.

stroll on later this year.
When a woman says yes, she means no - when she says maybe, she means no.

http://www.auky37.dsl.pipex.com/falconlogo_web.jpg
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Maybe someone's got a good memory, but there was at least one video clip last year, where George said he would not rerelease the OT. Anyone know where to find a copy of that clip? I think it might have been in an interview during the AFI tribute.

Also please post any old articles which state that George will not release the OT on DVD. I think there we're some articles in early 2003.
none
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Am I the only one that was surprised and then completely ecstatic when I saw this news? I pesonally never bought the 04 DVDs because I was tired of the changes (most notably Anakin at the end of ROTJ). I will gladly buy this set since it will FINALLY have the originals. I've told everybody I know "I'll buy Star Wars on DVD when they release the originals". The transfer might not be the best, but it's finally the original version that so many have been asking for. I don't care if it does include the 04 DVDs. I don't have to watch them if I don't want to.

It seems like a lot of you will never be completely satisfied until you have the O-OT on DVD just the way you want it. As long as it doesn't look like that insanely old copy that was posted to usenet a few months back, I'll be happy.

I am completely ecstatic and look forward to being first in line on Sept 12th to buy these.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Originally posted by: tellan
heres the problem. These brand new DVDs will be using ancient video masters. Jim Ward, of Lucasfilms, comments: "The original films' video quality will not match up to that of the restored versions. 'It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006,' Ward says." That quote can be found in this article from USA Today.


I don't care if the video is only 1993 quality. as long as it is sharper than the LD that gives me the basis to still do what I am doing. only it will allow me to produce the Best SE non crap version that can exist and that is all I care about. I will still have my beloved trilogy as it was originally but I will still finish my own project purely because it will be visually better.

and it'll have 5.1 sound.

stroll on later this year.


EXACTLY tellan!

George is giving us a High Quality Raw Capture of the OT, better than any LaserDisc player (even the sacred X0) could ever give us. The X0 Project (and everyone else's projects) will now have a much better master to work from to create a myriad of editions for us all to trade. You want a version with frames painlessly cleaned up individually, a version with every sound mix you can ever imagine included, a version with lightsabers/garbage mattes/dodgy compositing all fixed up and Hayden effing Christensen at the end of ROTJ, NO PROBS! You will now be able to do this working with the best clean master yet. Short of Georgie releasing it in raw AVI sold on a HardDisk, this is the best thing we could have hoped for!

Be positive people, this isn't the end, it is only a new exciting beginning of what we can work on! And you get 3 nice shiny '04 DVD beer mats included as well.

www.bardothodol.net

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED... so it would seem.

I do admit to cheering and whooping ecstatically early this morning when I heard the news.

But it's not over yet. There are plenty of other projects to work on, plenty of making-of specials, cartoons, oddball footage and audio tracks to be restored. And still to be released is...

The HOLIDAY SPECIAL.

Well, with the minor miracle of the OOT being released now, I gotta have *something* to wish for. My hope for this actually happening has risen a notch or two today.

In the meantime... get back to work!!

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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Well, I am happy that he is releasing the OT version finally. That's what drew me to this forum and to sign the petition.

However, after collecting numerous versions (OCPMovie, Dr. Gonzo, Editdroid, TR47, Cowclops V2, etc) from various sources (most notably Rikter - thanks man!!!).... and printing the labels, buying a R300 printer, etc..... it's kind of ... not so happy. We've all invested time and $$$ on our collections. This was a 'love' versus a 'hobby' where we would anxiously await the next transfer from the forum/board members, and spend time analyzing screen shots and discussing the best way to transfer off the LD sources. So do we keep the transfers on our bookshelves? Or make way for the new?
I say keep them both. Sure OCPmovie, TR47, Rikter, Editdroid, and numerous others spent a LOT of time on their transfers. And Citizen's transfer will be a must-have for me as well. I hope he finishes it with the same attention to detail he gave us in the first two.
Either way, we win. We got Lucas to release the OT. We will have new source material for fan edits.
But..
Now what to do with the lasers???? I spent big $$$ and paid full retail when they came out. Yep - even the Ep1 Jap laser ($125). Ouch!!!
I hear they make great clocks....
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This is great news! Our ultimate goal was to get the OT, and now we will! If only I had a time machine to jump ahead to Sep 12th.

I see this as a new opportunity for us. Regardless of what we get, it will probably be the best basis for new edits/recreations of Star Wars. Please don't think I'm slighting in any way the many, many wonderful efforts from you guys. Your efforts will never be obsolete. Each creation has been unique, and will never be exactly duplicated. YOU'VE MADE GREAT THINGS, AND NO ONE CAN TAKE THAT AWAY.

In reality, anything based on DVD (not to mention Laserdisc) will soon be "obsolete" once HD becomes standard. Once that happens, I certainly hope you wouldn't feel like you've wasted your time with all this DVD stuff.

I bet this release will have some changes. I don't see how coloration won't be an issue, due to the age of any original film or remastered copy they may use. So there's that issue that can be tweaked. And I know we'd all love different audio options, but I doubt we'll get them. (I get the impression this will be a "bare bones" release.) For all we know, this may have a new audio mix as well.

In the end, I'm sure someone will find something that doesn't fit with their vision of Star Wars, something they'd like to fix. And that's a good thing.

(I can't wait to see what happens to the "deliberate creative decision".)

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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I am just as happy with my Star Wars LDs as I was before. I don't regret buying them (and my LD player). I don't think there value will drop. Besides, I doubt the 2.0 DD audio of the september oot release will be as good as the LPCM LD audio.

Edit: How about a fan edit with the video of the september oot and LPCM LD audio????
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Actually, I think there is a very good chance that the transfer they provide as a "bonus" feature will be utter garbage. There's that quote mentioned several times here about the quality being state of the art as of 1993. Well let's think about this for a minute:

1) Fact, GL regards the 2004 releases as canon.
2) Fact, these new releases are all about money.
3) Fact, the fan released LD transfers were painstakingly worked on by some very talented people.

I believe that the OT "bonus" tracks will definitely, perhaps purposefully, look very poor compared to the 2004 release tracks for two reasons:

1) GL wants it that way
2) They will not spend any money trying to get a good LD transfer.

So, my point is that we may already have better releases than what is coming from Lucasfilm in the fall.
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I'll back arnie.d on that. The '06 SW with LPCM audio would be fan-frickin-tastic (if digitally extracted of course).

Dr. M

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Originally posted by: ocpmovie
Will Tasker writes:

heres the problem. These brand new DVDs will be using ancient video masters. Jim Ward, of Lucasfilms, comments: "The original films' video quality will not match up to that of the restored versions. 'It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006,' Ward says." That quote can be found in this article from USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-05-03-star-wars_x.htm


Who is "Will Tasker" and why is he ripping off word-for-word what I wrote in this thread?

And not to rain on everyones parade but I've written some more about this news here.

Neil

Well at least the reversed surround channels have been addressed.

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Originally posted by: ocpmovie
> I think a lot of people need to take a step back and think about this for a second. A lot of you are asking some very valid questions. A couple of you can't seem to handle the news and have reverted to posting like a 3rd grader on AOL for the first time.



I believe that IS a symptom of stepping back and thinking about this for a second. In all its forms.

I seem to be a form of all three people you referred to there, but I won't take it personally.


Anyway, shit - clearly they DID read this forum. They're stealing our fucking ideas! Original crawl and now this:

http://starwars.com/collecting/shop/shopnews/news20060503.html

WHAT? That's not their shirt! That's an OT shirt! Legacy edition, right?

They should be sued for that ... except they own Han and OT doesn't.


Hm.


Citizen ... Tequila Mockingbird and I are doing something with Howard the Duck probably, a widescreen version of it .... and also an extended pan & scan cut of The Muppet Movie.

Well, er, he's doing em cos he's got em. I'll be ... looking at em. And getting em.



ROTFLMAO!!!!!

That shirt is Lucasfilms way of flippin you the bird! You should feel both furious and honored atthe same time.

As far as I'm concerned, that is DEFINITIVE proof that this site made the OOT release happen.

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Hey folks,

It's been a long time since I've posted anything and even then I wasn't overly participatory. However, the minute I read the news this was the first place I thought of coming.

Why?

Because for many years, this website has been the place to find people who are so dedicated to their love of these films that a good many of them have taken it upon themselves to spend their time, talents and money to make sure that anyone who wanted to see these films in the form they were meant to be seen could do so.

To all of the fine people who now feel as if their time has been for naught I say now is the time for a well-deserved rest, not a time for mourning. All of your work has allowed these films to live on through a dark time. Kind of like the monks who kept literature alive during the Dark Ages.

I am but one of the many who wish to say, "Well done. Thank you."
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Drat that last post! Hit enter, before typing anything!


Anyway, even if this is just a reuse of the 1993 transfers, at least there won't be dot-crawl and other artifacts like in many fan-versions!

And the colors/contrast will be what we remember, as opposed to the pumped-up versions on the 2004 DVDs.


And with the other comments, it seems likely that these won't just be straight transfers-to-DVD of the laserdiscs. The pre-ANH crawl is confirmed, that much is certain.

And thus, it's likely that the sound mixes won't be the ones from various laserdisc versions, either. If they're going true to their statement, they'll probably use the original-ORIGINAL mixes (although, multiple audio tracks with different mizes would be icing on the cake).
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Originally posted by: Gregatron
The pre-ANH crawl is confirmed, that much is certain.


Please show me the official page that confirms this.

Neil

Well at least the reversed surround channels have been addressed.

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Not an "official" page, but an official quote:

http://www.homemediaretailing.com/index.cfm?sec_id=2&newsid=9067


“See the title crawl to Star Wars before it was known as Episode IV — A New Hope; see the pioneering, if dated, motion-control model work on the attack on the Death Star; groove to 'Lapti Nek' or the Ewok celebration song like you did when you were a kid; and, yes, see Han Solo shoot first,” according to Lucasfilm.


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Everything that came to my mind when I saw that news had been previously stated.
I am very sceptical about this release though:
So OK, we convinced him, we finally are gonna be getting what we asked for, what we so politely signed the petition for, WE DID IT!
but wait a minute:

Let's suppose that this realease is real crap: No money spent on preserving quality and stuff, just a plain LD transfer with maybe a 1977 crawl re-incorporated.
What does Lucas gain?
1) money from all that will run to buy the release.
2) He makes us illlegal for sharing our preservation progects.

I surely hope this is not the case, only time will tell I quess...

Anyway, I put some real thought about whether I should upload arne.d's preservation project (as I have promised) after this news.
I really don't know what to do, I look foreward to your opinion on the matter.
And now, for your feature presentation:
The Classic Re-re-re-release of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back.
In this version the word "WOOKIE" has been changed to "HAIR CHALLENGED ANIMAL" and the entire cast has been digitally replaced by Ewoks.
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To echo geekza and others, thank you everyone who has ever worked on a preservation project. Thanks especially to ocpmovie. Until your Classic Editions came along, having the originals in DVD quality was nothing but a dream for me. I had always wanted to do something similar (I may still one day) and just never had the resources.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that will pick these new DVDs up and keep the fan projects on my shelf. I'm just happy to hear that Lucas has finally done it.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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2) He makes us illlegal for sharing our preservation progects.


Has it ever been legal?

David