logo Sign In

***The "Darth Editous" Episode V DVD Info and Feedback Thread*** - a work in progress

Author
Time
Here's a new thread to discuss my ongoing re-edit of ESB, in much the same style as my already completed edit of ANH.

Continuing the discussion that began in that thread:

2. If possible, a larger walker attack. Can you do comps Editous?

Another interesting idea, but it's not a necessary "correction" and unless I could do it perfectly, I wouldn't even begin to contemplate doing such a thing.

3. Recomp that shot where the rebel transports are in the background and Joe Johnston talks about the shield to a rebel officer.

Not sure how I'd go about it, but it is a dodgy shot.

4. Restore the "bring my shuttle" line of Vader
5. Take out following SE shot of shuttle on landing pad.
6. Yake out the SE podcar flying through cloud city just prior to showing Leia inside her quarters.
7. Take out Vader landing aboard death st....uhh, star destroyer at the end.
8. Take out shot of Vader's shuttle leaving bespin

The first three, yes, the last two, maybe, if the soundtrack can take it.

9. Take out the elevator moving up in the window shot at could city as Lando takes Han/Leia to dinner, but leave other part of matte vista.


Hmm, that's another slightly dodgy shot... I'll think about it. I'm more concerned with the amount of work I'll have to do putting in that window out just before they find Vader.

10.put back in "lucky you don't taste very good." Luke to R2.


Ah, nuts... I forgot to grab that piece of audio when I was grabbing Boba Fett's lines from my NTSC Laserdiscs. Does anyone have the ESB soundtrack in AC3 with that line included?

(picture of Wampa's arm with puppeteer's arm showing)

Fix this please!!


Already done

DE
Author
Time
I can't stress enough how much I abhore the new Wampa footage. I loved how little you saw of the creature in the original cut of the film, and the newer shots 1) take away the mystery and 2) dillute the tension significantly.

Please please please, cut out these new shots. They are horrid!
Author
Time
While we are on the subject of comps, the Special Editions fixed most of the transparent speeder cockpit shots, but not all. Would you be able to matte over the fixed shots on to the scenes that were still transparent?
Author
Time
Editous, thanks for your reply. It's great you're doing this edit to follow in the footsteps of your trailblazing Star Wars cut. Thanks, from one fan to another.

Now back to ESB:

About the walker attack. Okay, maybe what I wrote sounded too ambitious but hear me out. Would it be possible to just isolate a few walkers in the background of earlier footage from the attack, don't even need movement, and put them into the background? You know the shots I'm talking about. There's walkers in the the background doing one thing or another. because they're so massive, they don't need really any movement at all. You could even possibly cut and paste stills into the footage and blend the edges in adn it might work.

The idea for this is that the walker attack is massive and larger than what ESB showed us. The rebels take down a walker, but more keep coming.

Do you have a list put together? I'd be curious to see what you have in mind.
Author
Time
I love the idea with more walkers-
I can imagen shots with Luke looking out the window, seeinf MORE walkers than ever before, and shots (like the one that shows the 3 walkers picking off rebel troops) with more walkers.
There is also a shot of when Luke attempts to tow-cable a walker, but fails and just flys under it, then a shot appears of the speeder going tword what seems like empty land, just snow going on for miles-its a quick shot, but I'd love to see abunch of walkers in the background, looking like a huge, massive offensive, more than just a little attack-
Author
Time
The stuff that you guys suggested is cool, but nearly impossible to pull off. That would require a LOT of frame-by-frame movement and masking with only fan-available elements. Even if Editous did use stills for the background walkers, he'd still have to motion-track them to match the shot, which would require very much ridiculous work.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

Author
Time
Tis true. besides, it seems that Darth Editous isn't about changing the plot of the movie, but rather cleaning up bad effects and bloopers and the like. Not that I can speak for the awesome DE. I'd love to see talk of the Battle of Hoth in the Starkiller Ranch thread.
Author
Time
I'm so excited to see this once it's completed.

What I'm most eager to see:

Emperor scene un-prequelized

What I'm most eager to hear:

Boba Fett Un-prequelized

those are my biggest gripes with esb. besides that and the wampa scene seeming out of sync with the new footage and something about the cropping of the millenium falcon's cockpit, oh and of course the terrible sabers, not much else comes to my mind about what needs polishing and such.
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
Author
Time
he'd still have to motion-track them to match the shot, which would require very much ridiculous work.


2D motion tracking is a cinch, but 3D is beyond me, so that shot from Luke's speeder would be out. I could add walkers in simpler shots, but then they would be inconsistent with the more complex ones where I wouldn't be able to add walkers.
Lightsabres... to be honest I haven't found them to be a massive problem in ESB. So far all I've done is extend Vader's lightsabre so that it actually slices through Luke's wrist, and made Luke's retract rather than fade as he drops it.
Boba Fett will, of course, be returned to his original voice.

To repeat a request from the ANH thread, does anyone have the Laserdisc soundtrack of ESB (preferably the SE) in AC3? I just need the bit where Luke says "You're lucky you don't taste [so|too] good" to Artoo.

DE
Author
Time
From looking at the DVD version of Ep IV, I've found that a gamma correction of around 1.4, applied to the whole film, makes it look much better. (Granted in some places the brightness needs to be raised as well, and then there are all the colour issues, but I don't expect you will be prepared to go through and correct the entire film scene-by-scene.)

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3592/gamma3kh.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5391/gamma23ws.jpg

Guidelines for post content and general behaviour: read announcement here

Max. allowable image sizes in signatures: reminder here

Author
Time
Originally posted by: Brimley
I can't stress enough how much I abhore the new Wampa footage. I loved how little you saw of the creature in the original cut of the film, and the newer shots 1) take away the mystery and 2) dillute the tension significantly.

Please please please, cut out these new shots. They are horrid!



agreed!

-G
Author
Time
I'm not going back into the other thread, but what about some lightsaber corrections for ESB? Especially in the Carbon Freezing chamber?

They are just plain brutal.
The Jedi are all but extinct.......
Author
Time
Editous, restoring the original Fett vocal and making the new Emperor scene darker will be cool.

These are improvements.

Are you going to return to the original dialogue for that? What are you planning for the Emps-Vader scene?

Are you still going to keep the ROTJ outtake for the Vader's arrival on the SSD?

WESHALLPRESERVE and others, you guys get the idea for the walker attack. It would be cool. Maybe someday? 8)
Author
Time
I thought OCP had already sorted all this out in his classic edition
Author
Time
OCP's classic editions leave in some SE shots as does Editious' versions, but different ones. Editious' has more "fixes" and corrections. OCP's mostly focused on the picture quality with most of the SE things removed.
Author
Time
One thing I'd like to see corrected is the explosion of the final two TIE fighters in the asteroid trench as the Millenium Falcon escapes them. It's always appeared to me as a badly composited explosion effect. The 'fireballs' (or whatever you want to call them) seem very floaty and don't seem to match well with the camera movement. This may be a hard thing to fix, but would make the explosions seem more real.

O.T. or No T., baby!

ANH:R Cover Art

ESB:R Cover Art

Author
Time
6. Yake out the SE podcar flying through cloud city just prior to showing Leia inside her quarters.


Whats wrong with that shot? DE....you should leave that in......Please?

Another thing that has always bugged me. George went and "re-did" a bunch of special effects shots, yet he left in the rickety stop motion tauntauns that look like they came out of a 50's Sinbad movie.

A Challenge for DE?


/Downloading and eagerly waiting your ANH edit.
http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/2739/lukesig029ku.jpg
Author
Time
Originally posted by: Litter
6. Yake out the SE podcar flying through cloud city just prior to showing Leia inside her quarters.

Whats wrong with that shot? DE....you should leave that in......Please?


It's horrifically superfluous, and serves no purpose other than to say "look! more special bits that weren't there the first time!" The same could be said for some of the shots of the Falcon flying through Cloud City.

he left in the rickety stop motion tauntauns that look like they came out of a 50's Sinbad movie.


I like the Taun-Tauns the way they are. It's all part of the 80s look and feel.

DE
Author
Time
Grooaoohumpf
(scuze my english)
Author
Time
oups sorry for the empty one,

Hi D.E, now that we're gonna have the OOT official DVD plus all the originaltrilogy.com members editions, i consider that your ANH edition is "THE" S.E one, hope that your work on ESB come soon..can't wait..by the way where are your progress in this ? and can we have a list of the changes made (like the ANH one) THANKS AGAIN keep going and MTFBWY.

ps:scuze my approximative english
Grooaoohumpf
(scuze my english)
Author
Time

It's horrifically superfluous, and serves no purpose other than to say "look! more special bits that weren't there the first time!" The same could be said for some of the shots of the Falcon flying through Cloud City.

DE


Ah but it does give a nice view of cloud city. As for the tauntauns. I agree, it is part of the feel. I have no problem other that George saying the movies are now "timeless" (one reasoning for his edits) Do it all. Do it right. Or don't do it at all George!

My 3 year old LOVES Empire. In fact...today's his birthday and I'm giving him the 12 inch Darth Vader I've had in a box.

http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/2739/lukesig029ku.jpg
Author
Time
I'm kind of curious as to what's being planned. Mostly what SE stuff remains. Are the Cloud City Windows going to be there? If so, could at least the one in the shot where Lando pulls Leia towards the Falcon be removed. I found that one so utterly distracting that when I watch the original I'm still staring at a wall instead of Lando and Leia. I read that the human eye drifts to stuff on the right usually. Having a big colorful window there never helped matters. Personally, I'd love to see them all gone but that's me.

I'm highly for the entire removal of Vader's shuttle. It was pointless, ruined the music, and disrupted the tension of the scene.

Also, could any possible improvment be done to the Falcon's shadow on the asteroid. I know it might be due to the high speed/angle of the light but the shadow's a simple circle. Is there any way it could appear more Falcon shaped? That's the only thing I can really think of at the moment.

You edit of ANH is the only SE version in the house by the way. It's the non-ADM version too.


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

Author
Time
The only I was considering touching is the one that disappears before the gang meet Vader, but maybe I could do something with the others. I won't replace them entirely (it would be too time consuming and wouldn't look good, and I don't want to use any lower quality footage from the pre-SEs) but I might take some of the saturation out and lower the contrast to bring the eye back to the foreground.

I don't want to post a list of changes yet, mainly because I'm still not sure exactly what I'm going to change.

DE
Author
Time
At the very least, removal on moving elements would help. It didn't open up Cloud City, it merely called attention to itself in my book. Also, if you keep the new balcony, I've not sure on the 2004 release, but the 97 SE had the original wall still reflecting in the floor.

The only reason I asked what staying, and what's going was so I could think it out better as to possible suggestions. Though I understand where you're coming from.


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

Author
Time
I've gone over it again, and the new Cloud City stuff stays. I just don't know what I'm going to do about that disappearing window.

Just to whet your appetites, here's what I've done so far:

The probe now crashes consistently from the same direction in each shot (and the macrobinocular shot was flopped)
Removed the pink wampa glove (see above screenshot)
Turned Luke's lightsabre off in time with the sound
Removed a stick that comes up to push over an AT-AT, and a strange shadow that flitters over the background AT-AT
Removed a linear feature in Hoth's atmosphere as Luke flies away
Stabilised R2's text on the X-Wing console
Stopped Han miming Leia's "...being held by you..." line
Removed Vader's unlit lightsabre just before he ignites it
Removed evidence of a crewmember taking Luke's lightsabre prop from him
Removed Luke's head bouncing back up after he hits a trampoline off screen
Fixed a jump cut as a gate shuts behind Luke
Painted in Luke's lightsabre so it doesn't appear to hit Vader's neck (sparks fly from Vader's shoulder)
Extended Vader's lightsabre so it slices through Luke's wrist instead of just missing
Luke's lightsabre now retracts instead of fading away
Fixed garbage mattes around TIE fighters
R2 now doesn't bounce when he falls in the hole in the Falcon's floor - he just disappears straight down
Fixed a stalling/disappearing X-Wing in one of the final shots of the fleet
Fixed credits: Ian McDiarmid replaces Clive Revill, and Christopher Malcolm and Denis Lawson are now spelled correctly

DE