questions about the 1981 Star Wars reissue

I can't really prove this, but I had always heard that those lines were added for the first mono mix, not in 1981, so if they were changed for an '81 re-release, that's where it came from.

EDIT:  Whoops.  Never mind.

The fourth Mix did not come about til 1985 and not 1981.  It was a digital mix and i believe the tractor beam line by c-3p0 was added back in.  The remix was stereo not mono.  Only a single mono mix was ever made for star wars and would have been heard in 77-78 during its original run.

IMDB is not the best source always for infromation as like wiki they can have random people add info that is not fact checked.

IMDB own sources are often accurate to a certain degree.  I have found them to sometimes have stated inaccuracies about a film just like any information database is subject to human error.

Not sure if the 1985 mix has close the blast doors.  I know the blast it wedge is only in the mono mix and blast it biggs is in every other version.

I know the Tractor beam Line was left out of the 1993 Definitive Collection MIX, and the close the blast doors open the blast doors was restored in the 1997 special edition mix.

Star Wars had 3 mixes in 1977.  one in 1985, another in 1993.  another in 1997 and 2004.   Seven sound mixes begins to get a little rediculous. Besides the fact that only takes into account the ones in english.  I have no idea how many foreign dubs have been made for star wars since 1977.

The least complete mix in 77 was the six track.  the Most complete was the mono mix and was at the time considered the definitive mix.

Vaderisnothayden said:

I read on imdb that in he 1981 reissue of the first film "Close the blast doors" was added

"close the blast doors" was present in every 1977 showing I saw (5), in two different theaters (probably 35mm at both locations) in CA and UT.  When I saw SW again several years later in an OT marathon (mid-80s), the line was absent. Bugged me, because it always had drawn audible laughs in the theater.

Yup, there was a Technicolor dye-transfer print that was on the market a while back, that had an Eastmancolor crawl obviously spliced in (obvious because the Eastmancolor portion was badly faded, and of course the dye-transfer portion was not).

Vaderisnothayden said:

I read on imdb that in he 1981 reissue of the first film "Close the blast doors" was added and "Blast it Biggs" was changed to "Blast it Wedge". Is this true?

No, it's not true. People are confusing things about the mono sound mix and posting erroneous information to the IMDB. "Close the blast doors" and "Blast it, Wedge" were exclusive to the mono mix and were not added to any other versions of the film at the time. "Close the blast doors" was eventually added to the Special Edition in 1997; "Blast it, Wedge" was banished to obscurity.

Vaderisnothayden said:

In the showings 1981-85 was any particular mix (mono, 70mm, 35mm) dominant? Were those mono line changes dominant?

35mm Dolby Stereo was the most prominent, but there were at least some 70mm presentations too. As SilverWook already suggested, Dolby sounds systems had become more prevalent so there were few (if any) 35mm mono prints still circulating.

Vaderisnothayden said:

I read on imdb that the two non-mono mixes were updated with the "A New Hope" name and the mono was not.

This is not known for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if at least some mono prints were updated too. Of interest is the fact that the mono mix was televised in the UK throughout the 80's and it did have the updated crawl.

Vaderisnothayden said:

Would I be right in saying the 1995 vhs's audio is the 1985 mix made for the 1985 vhs?

No, that's incorrect. The 1995 "THX" sound mix was a new mix created for the 1993 Definitive Collection and was also used for the 1995 home video release. This new sound mix was supposed to incorporate the best elements of the original three mixes.

Vaderisnothayden said:

So if I'm right, that's what lines are in the 1985 mix. Basically the non-mono version plus the tractor beam line.

That's correct. The 1985 home video sound mix is basicaly the same as the '77 Dolby mix with the addition of Threepio's tractor beam line.

Was "a new hope" added in '81 or '78? I always forget. :-P

It was added in 1981, because Empire was the first movie to showcase the new episode title system.

Gaffer Tape said:

It was added in 1981, because Empire was the first movie to showcase the new episode title system.

Thanks- I tried doing a search, but the search engine here is a bit.....useless (LOL) and I don't trust the info on other sites.

Gaffer Tape said:

It was added in 1981, because Empire was the first movie to showcase the new episode title system.

That's bollox... I saw a broadcast back in 78 on some tv channel I can't remember that had EP IV in the title crawl.

Don't bother to argue with me, I saw it and a few people I asked saw it too.

;)

HotRod said:

Gaffer Tape said:

It was added in 1981, because Empire was the first movie to showcase the new episode title system.

 

That's bollox... I saw a broadcast back in 78 on some tv channel I can't remember that had EP IV in the title crawl.

Don't bother to argue with me, I saw it and a few people I asked saw it too.

 

;)

You know, now that you mention it, I think I remember that very same broadcast, even though we're on different sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and I wouldn't be born for another eight years!  I know I had an old Betamax of it that I used to watch all the time (even though I never owned a Betamax player), but then I conveniently lost it!  I'm glad you brought this up!

Your welcome. Glad I'm not the only one who saw it. I thought for a second I was getting it confused with my comics or radio plays, or a dream I had after watching ESB...or something like that!!

HotRod said:

Your welcome. Glad I'm not the only one who saw it. I thought for a second I was getting it confused with my comics or radio plays, or a dream I had after watching ESB...or something like that!!

 

Actually, that is a really rare broadcast, and it was broadcast only once, it aried at 9pm on UK channel HD 134 (yeah, it is kind of an obscure channel) back in 1978. Of course, I have no idea what the exact day and month were, but magically, I do know the hour and station.

budwhite said:

I really like the -93 mix. That's the one I'm used too and the first one I played in surround. When watching the movie with d pro-logicII, I think it still kicks many 5.1DD soundtracks. So my question is this:

Did they remix the 2.0 pcm track for the 97 SE or did they just create a 5.1 mix?

The 1993 mix was mostly based on the original 70mm 6-track (with a few additional bits added here and there) - this is why it has such a satisfying dynamic range.

The 5.1 mix for the SE is not an upmix from a 2.0 Dolby Surround track; it was probably remixed from the original stems.

gosh, i hate it when i read stuff like this:

James Marsters Talks Clone Wars

-----------------------------------------------------

Yes! George Lucas actually invited my entire drama class in 1976 to go to the North Point Theatre in San Francisco to see the first public showing of Star Wars. We waited in line for 3 1/2 hours. When we finally sat down, George Lucas came downstairs and apologized before the movie and said that they were still editing and that the special effects weren't perfect, but said that "I think you'll like it." Then he went back upstairs and it started.

http://starwars.com/theclonewars/news20081205.html

so i guess, a pre-editted version WAS shown in public, i doubt that many people would

be wrong, and if they were, why would they put that on the official website?

who knows, if this version was shown somewhere else ????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off : 1976????????????

secondly:

my thoughts are, Lucas was

referring to the sound editting not being finished,

and the special effects looked rough (but they were FINAL).....so maybe its not

that big a deal after all............................[but you never know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

later

-1

Baronlando said:

The Northpoint test screening was in 1977,

thanks, i need to use google more often to check things..also..

Can that really be counted, though?  Test screenings happen all the time, but they're not considered to be "real theatrical versions."  They're just tests.

Northpoint Theater was also where American Graffiti was previewed and they filled the theater with teens who loved the Movie.  After that Hit screening Ned Tannen blew a gasket and told George and Francis "You boys really let me down".  According to both Skywalking, and Empire of Dreams.

The Northpoint theater was in San Francisco.  The Old American Zoptrope was run out of San Francisco, and there was a whole bohemian/hippie culture there, and an avant garde scene for movies.

I'm sure getting a screening at the Northpoint was better than say in LA where critics would tear you to pieces.

Funnily enough they could not even get Graumans Chinese Theater to show the film at first, but some other film they wanted to show was delayed or something so they showed star wars grudgingly and would have pulled it in a week or two if it did'nt play well.

I cannot remember the reason why But Graumans did not get the Premiere of Revenge of the Sith.  Almost every Star Wars film had its US premiere there.

Any test screening should conform Generally to the shooting script.  The Jabba scene and biggs scenes were in the shooting script and John Jympson rough cut but not in any near finished version of the movie and certainly not the one shown at northpoint.

The Luke missing with his grappling hook scene i don't even remember even being in the Shooting Script though i could be wrong, not sure.  I know there was a version of the script where Luke misses on his first go on the death star trench and then hits the reactor shaft on the second try.

This guy Marsters is gonna be in the Dragonball movie,lol.  He can be in a joke of a movie like that playing a character who has bat nipples and try to make up some story about a supposed rough cut of star wars no one else saw.

He may have been one of the many considered for Star Wars Episode II but there is no way he would have been considered for episode one as they did screentest 3 finalists who were all 8 or 9 years old. 

Joshua Jackson was also considered for Anakin in episode II according to him anyway.  Leonardo Dicaprio Despite what Leo fans believe or not was never even considered because Lucas usually casts unknowns for the leads in his movies.  I not sure but i think it was Sophia Coppola George's GodDaughter who lobbied for Christensen as Anakin.  He nailed the performance in his screentest but then when he was onscreen he became all wooden, Georges fault perhaps .  I think robin Gurland was the one who did the test with him and natalie originally.  Lucas is not a character director and he does nothing to help them find their performance.  Well we can fix it all in post in the computer he thinks,lol.

Fred Roos is the guy who cast the original star wars, as well as American Graffiti.