STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 REVISITED ADYWAN *1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION — Page 312

Yeah totally agreed with that.

ChainsawAsh said:

Oh, I totally agree that they add character development - they're not bad scenes by any stretch of the imagination.  They just kill the pacing of the film.  Badly.  They just don't work in the larger context of the film as a whole.

I'm all for seeing the scenes properly restored, but I don't think inserting them into the film itself in any form would improve it at all.

I also feel the Biggs scene on Yavin IV doesn't belong, especially in its SE-truncated form, but not for the same reason.  It just doesn't work very well with the other Biggs scenes removed - it doesn't hurt the pacing of the film too badly, but without the proper context of the Anchorhead scenes, it just feels out of place.

cut everything with the droids between them launching toward the planet and arriving in the Sandcrawler. Then add the Anchorhead scenes back in. I think that would work well. The audience could fill in the blanks.

How would that work? 

Besides everything we need to know about Luke, his frustrated wish to leave the farm, his idle friends and even who Biggs is, is already in the film so all that would be added would be some low quality unfinished scenes of some people we hardly get to know at the expense of important information about two major characters.

Answers please on the After Ady thread because if it can be made to work it won't be in ANH:R.

adywan said:

Backstroke said:

-  Why use our system of numbers in the movie when all lettering have been replaced with aurabesh?

It's just a consideration that so much time goes in to converting all references to english writting and replacing it with aurabesh (which is extremely effectfull) but when we get to the Death Star coming in on Yavin there is a, sorry to say it, generic timer counting down? This is by the way the only thing I reacted to. Sure I wish there'd been even more ships in the Death Star battle but I can fully understand how heavy such a effect sequence might be.

Sometimes we need a visual reference that we recognise  to enhance the dramatic element of a scene. Changing the number system to Aurabesh for the countdown clock just didn't work. You need that "our world" visual reference for the clock. I did try changing the numbering to Aurabesh but, when watching it back, it lost something. This is the problem with some SCI-FI in that they change everything to look other worldly and it fails. Any lettering wasn't the focus in a scene but the numbering was and this needed to stay recognisable.

I'm not sure.

We see the graphic representing Yavin 4 moving into the crosshairs and we have the onscreen announcements.

An Aurebesh clock might still work because on a subconscious level we know it's a countdown even if we don't recognise the numbers (in fact that might add tension for the non-Aurebesh reading public because they don't know for sure how much time our heroes have left other than the look of desperation on their faces).

I think I'll post this on the after Ady thread because someone might be tempted to try it.

There are very few things that make me cringe in Revisited and this change is one of them:

I've never understood the purpose of this change for a couple of reasons:

1. There wasn't really anything wrong with the original that broke the suspension of disbelief or hurt the drama of the scene. Seeing a small vehicle in the horizon of which we can't make out the details brings a sense of wonder and imagination. This is one of the shots I most remember from the OT and one of my favorites as a kid.

2. I'm not sure what Ady used as the source for the new sand crawler. I know he said the only CG he used was of the TIEs, but this shot looks like CG. It's not convincing at all.

3. A first time watcher is not supposed to clearly make out what sort of transport C3PO is signaling. We are supposed to wonder how C3PO and R2 are going to reunite. We can already clearly see R2 being picked up in a Sand Crawler and if we know C3PO is signaling a similar ship, we can deduce C3PO and R2 are both on the same Sand Crawler, which hurts the drama.

adywan said:

Backstroke said:

-  Why use our system of numbers in the movie when all lettering have been replaced with aurabesh?

It's just a consideration that so much time goes in to converting all references to english writting and replacing it with aurabesh (which is extremely effectfull) but when we get to the Death Star coming in on Yavin there is a, sorry to say it, generic timer counting down? This is by the way the only thing I reacted to. Sure I wish there'd been even more ships in the Death Star battle but I can fully understand how heavy such a effect sequence might be.

Sometimes we need a visual reference that we recognise  to enhance the dramatic element of a scene. Changing the number system to Aurabesh for the countdown clock just didn't work. You need that "our world" visual reference for the clock. I did try changing the numbering to Aurabesh but, when watching it back, it lost something. This is the problem with some SCI-FI in that they change everything to look other worldly and it fails. Any lettering wasn't the focus in a scene but the numbering was and this needed to stay recognisable

I gotta agree with Adywan.  Not every text seen on the Death Star has to be in Aurabesh, just like not every character we see in the movie has to speak a different language relating to his/her planet of origin.  Even with the vocal announcement of how much time is remaining before the Rebel base is in range of the Death Star, having the count down timer in Aurabesh is just plain too much.

Sumguy21 said:

There are very few things that make me cringe in Revisited and this change is one of them:

 

I've never understood the purpose of this change for a couple of reasons:

1. There wasn't really anything wrong with the original that broke the suspension of disbelief or hurt the drama of the scene. Seeing a small vehicle in the horizon of which we can't make out the details brings a sense of wonder and imagination. This is one of the shots I most remember from the OT and one of my favorites as a kid.

2. I'm not sure what Ady used as the source for the new sand crawler. I know he said the only CG he used was of the TIEs, but this shot looks like CG. It's not convincing at all.

3. A first time watcher is not supposed to clearly make out what sort of transport C3PO is signaling. We are supposed to wonder how C3PO and R2 are going to reunite. We can already clearly see R2 being picked up in a Sand Crawler and if we know C3PO is signaling a center ship, we can deduce C3PO and R2 are both on the same Sand Crawler, which hurts the drama.

Reply to your second reason:  He used the shot from the Original Unaltered ANH of the sand crawler coming over the sand dunes, then combined it with the present shot to give the dune more scale.  That shot  from the 1977 ANH occurred after the original scene with the storm troopers searching around the crashed escape pod for droids.  The 1997 special edition replaced original sand crawler shot with a closer and more dynamic shot.

Reply to your thrid reason:  Most us fans are not first time watchers, but...I actually agree with you completely, Sumguy21.  Not being able to see clearly what 3PO is seeing on the horizon contributes to the element of surprise in the scene.

To be fair, a first time watcher would have no idea what kind of "transport" it is even if they could clearly see it, so that point is kind of moot.

And I thought he changed it because of the bad "glare" effect that was used in the original, which has always bugged me a bit.

But the new shot is blurry, which doesn't help sell it. Nice idea though. But I'd also keep the original, and fix the flash.

ChainsawAsh said:

To be fair, a first time watcher would have no idea what kind of "transport" it is even if they could clearly see it, so that point is kind of moot.

He could still tell C3PO was signaling the same transport R2 would later be taken prisoner on so them meeting up would not come as a surprise.

The new shot looks like a large vehicle in the distance (therefore not in sharp focus) coming over a dune towards the camera.

The old shot looks like a small cardboard cutout being pulled along the plane of a fuzzy dune shape and giving out the odd flash of light.

As a change in a special edition of this film it makes sense.

That change to a closer, better seen Sandcrawler element is one of my favourite changes.

Sure, it wasn't a biggie in the scheme of things, but I reckon it looks far, far better than the previous 'dot' in the distance with the dreadful 'reflection' flash.  And the whole new shot (and excellent skies) seen shortly after, is a HUGE improvement to the original version -  http://picasaweb.google.com/doubleofive/ANHRVisualComparisonPart1#5184276470873014866