Originally posted by: zombie84
What i want to know is: was a new interpositive struck before making the SE changes? In other words, were the altered parts of the SE (i.e. Mos Eisley, space battle) re-instered into the original negative, replacing the original footage, or was a new interpositive made from the restored original negative which was then modified for the SE? AFAIK it was option A. I know this is not what we'd like and from a preservation standpoint seems insane, but remember that, at the time, they were working from the point of view that these would be the definitive versions, and didn't think people would want preservations of the originals.If the case is that the original negative now has segments of it replaced with the CGI SE frames, what happened to the original pieces that these SE segments replaced? They would surely be stored somewhere, and it would be no trouble at all to simply scan these elements and digitally edit them into their proper original place on the new scan of the rest of the negative.
It's possible that the pieces were stored, but if the o-neg was in such bad shape that parts of the first-gen interpositive had to be used, they probably aren't the best source for restoration. Either way, it is not "no trouble at all" to de-SE the OT, even with all that might be at LFL's disposal. I see no reason to doubt LFL's claims on this issue, as reports contemporary to the making of the '97 SE support it (and make no mention of the restored OUT negative/print that we all wish existed). Now all this doesn't mean it's impossible to restore the OUT, but it does mean that it would be time-consuming and costly.What i want to know is: was a new interpositive struck before making the SE changes? In other words, were the altered parts of the SE (i.e. Mos Eisley, space battle) re-instered into the original negative, replacing the original footage, or was a new interpositive made from the restored original negative which was then modified for the SE? AFAIK it was option A. I know this is not what we'd like and from a preservation standpoint seems insane, but remember that, at the time, they were working from the point of view that these would be the definitive versions, and didn't think people would want preservations of the originals.If the case is that the original negative now has segments of it replaced with the CGI SE frames, what happened to the original pieces that these SE segments replaced? They would surely be stored somewhere, and it would be no trouble at all to simply scan these elements and digitally edit them into their proper original place on the new scan of the rest of the negative.