MattMahdi said:SKot: I deeply appreciate your putting the script to the SWHS on your web site. It's a fascinating read, and it makes me see the Special in new ways. Some of the stuff that really didn't work was an attempt, at least, to do something interesting or novel.
Most disturbing is that the Wookiees' dialogue is present in English....
Thanks! The script was the single most important discovery I had when I put the website up. There were quite a few secrets revealed in there that had been previously totally unknown to anyone.
The Wookiees' dialogue was in parentheses and not meant to be the literal dialogue... just a guide for the actors so they would know how they were going to act and react.
I'm curious, though, if you have more than one version of the script scanned.
My reason for asking is that the thumbnail on the site doesn't seem to match the pages: first in color (pink) and second in the layout of the text.
So I'm just hoping for the chance to explore some other lost relic. And even if not, it gives me another chance to thank you for maintaining such a fantastic record of something that Lucas would rather forget (the recent 'celebration' at the official site notwithstanding).
Sadly, I have yet to find any other versions of the script. All the ones I know about are the same exact version as mine, including the one recently discovered in the Lucasfilm archives (shown here). I know there were other versions, since mine if the fourth draft, but the previous versions have yet to surface. I'd love to see them.
The reasons for the thumbnail on my site looking different are:
1. somehow the cover page (shown in the thumbnail) didn't get included in the PDF file
2. the pages of the original script copy are actually in color (pink and yellow plus standard white)
I wasn't able to do color in the PDF because it would have blown it up to a ridiculous file size. As it was, I had to host it elsewhere for a while because of bandwidth issues when I first put it online. Also, the PDF was made from a b&w xeroxed copy of the original script. I was only willing to run my original through a copier one time, and even then I had to do them all manually, one by one, because I didn't dare feed those old pages through a sheet feeder. After I had a master xeroxed copy (which I had Peter Mayhew sign, incidentally!), I was able to use that to make high-speed copies to send off to my friend Brendan Wahlberg, who then created the PDF you see online now. Not sure why the cover sheet didn't make it into the copy. I've just put up a PDF with the cover sheet and first page in color here:
http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/text/script_cover.pdf
I'm also missing pages 163 & 164 (the final pages) in my original script, but I have since obtained copies of those pages from another source. Maybe I can add them into the PDF along with the cover sheet and put up a revised copy...
--SKot