Hi, folks! Yup, it's Treadwell, creator of that 14-year-old (yikes!) SE changes site. Although I never put it back up after dumping my ISP a few years ago, it's good to know it's still of some use, even in archive.org form.
Peter Lopez recommended originaltrilogy to me recently, but I did already know about it, and used to read it regularly. Somehow I lost the habit.
Anyway, I've just spent hours reading this thread (slow work day) and see y'all have far surpassed my seminal efforts. Great stuff. As such, I only have a few things to offer.
I made some quick notes as I went, so here they are. Some points might be redundant to other posts:
ANH:
1. There was some discussion of missing or extra frames here and there, namely fading out/in to Threepio in the oilbath, or the TIEs approaching the Death Star in comp 60. These are reel change points--as such, it is common for one transfer to have a few frames more or less than another, as they have to be either put together later in the video realm, or the reels edited together in real time during the telecine. While these would count as differences, they are the kind of thing that will be found between every transfer ever made (not just original/SE), and thus do not fall within doubleofive's listing criteria.
2. Someone pointed out color inconsistencies inside the Sandcrawler. There might very well be, but using the lights on Artoo as reference is problematic, as they were fiber optics that led to a color wheel--so the colors would change as the wheel turned.
3.
I find this interesting, for if this is a recomp, they seem to have used the original clash animation mattes--or very carefully matched them (which they didn't do for the ESB cave recomp). However, look at how the light shining on the ceiling strut (which is present in frames without the flash) was mistaken for "flash" and filled in with the effect for the second pic. That shows that the clashes were, at least, altered by hand.
4. The Treadwell site said:
Right after Gold Leader says "Red Leader this is Gold Leader", the Y-Wings outside his window still disappear for a single frame at the end of the shot.
This was still the case in '97 but not 2004. I've never checked to see if they just removed the last frame of the shot or restored the Y's.
5. Comp 260: John D. is name of the pilot of Red 4 (or Blue 4) in the script (and the credits). It has nothing to do with John Dykstra. John D. was played by Jack Klaff.
6. The Treadwell site said:
the first two frames of the shot where Vader opens fire on Luke are missing the TIE on the left-hand side!
This was still the case in '97 but not 2004. I think this shot is a recomp, as are a few more not listed, such as the torpedoes entering the shaft.
7. On DVNR and hologram scan lines: it's been pointed out, but I must support the notion that the GOUT/'93 laserdisc sources cannot be trusted when evaluating such fine detail. The DVNR was applied during telecine, so the GOUT isn't going to be any better than other '93 fan copies in that regard. There was some mention of GOUT actually being softer...would comparisons to fanmade '93 LD transfers help in this case? Is the EditDroid version still about the best, or have better ones come along?
ESB:
1. The probes launching is a recomp. The pods are slightly rearranged/timed.
2. Comp 45: replacement bg? You mean the one behind Piett? Or do you mean the framework around the monitor? In either case, I'm not so sure. Yes, we can see more of the wall behind Piett, but I don't think that's a CG extension, just a slight realignment of the element.
3. The slomo cave scene would definitely be recomped, as it was not shot in slow motion, but was slowed down in post via "stretch printing", which repeats frames. That's why the original version has so much printed-in dirt. Since they were redoing opticals, it would make sense to throw this in as well, thus necessitating recomping the sabers and the clashes. Now, why the original saber and clash overlay elements weren't used, who knows.
4. Speaking of redone opticals, what about the quick fades between Luke and Vader just before the escape to hyperspace? They're only like 4 frames, so it would be hard us to compare, but these were probably redone along with all the others.
5. The Treadwell site says:
I have NO confirmation, but I've always believed one or two shots of Vader looking out the window have BLACK AND WHITE elements; notice how monochromatic he is, even the reflections on his helmet. My SUSPICION has been that his helmet suffered from "blue spill" and thus couldn't be chroma-keyed with a color Vader element. Still looks this way to me in the SE video, but it could all be in my head.
Back in the day, someone emailed me to say they studied it in photoshop or something, and, aside from video noise, they could find no chroma information on Vader. I think it might have been fixed for 2004.
ROTJ
1. The Treadwell site says:
For some reason, this shot of Artoo turning his head to look at us (the shot is a POV of the camera-arm-thing that pops out of the door to Jabba's Palace) is shorter in the SE. The two versions go immediately out of synch with that shot. Weird.
I haven't checked the 2004. This is not a reel change point, as that just happened between the matte painting shot of the droids and the studio shot of them approaching the doors. I think the SE did something (or RE-did something) to Artoo's eye to hide light shining through it, and I guess their source element turned out to be shorter.
All I got for now. Keep up the good work!
-Jay