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Originally posted by: Hal 9000
Has anyone here actually seen the elusive Phantom Edit?
I've been DYING to see it, and can find no place to download it.
Is it any good?
That depends on you.....
Here is some information on the known RE-EDITS of Star Wars
STAR WARS: The True Theatrical Version
Pre- A New Hope
From "Star Wars" to "A New Hope":
The reissue of "Star Wars" that ran for three weeks starting on Wednesday, August 15, 1979, DID NOT contain the "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" subtitle. A trailer for "Empire" was shown, however, and a Kenner toys discount booklet was given out (both of which are announced on the poster for the reissue).
The first appearance of "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was on the new prints struck for the two-week reissue of "Star Wars" on April 10,1981, nearly one year after the premiere of "Empire." By the way, when the subtitle was added, the roll-up itself was changed. Lines of text were condensed differently so the length of the roll-up remained the same despite the addition of two lines at the top. The capitalized words DEATH STAR appear on one line in the first version and are broken on the revised version.
For the record, "Empire" was reissued later that year, on July 31, 1981. In 1982, "Star Wars" returned on April 10 and "Empire" on November 19.Both of these reissues featured identical "Revenge of the Jedi" trailers.
Floating around the black market limbo of sci-fi conventions and fanboy heaven is a forgotten bootleg of "Star Wars," a film transfer of the original 1977 theatrical release. It's interesting mainly as a curiosity, because the transfer is awful, the image is cropped poorly, and I'm sure that we all have much better, legal copies lying around. Nevertheless, as an account of the minor changes made to "Star Wars" over the years, it's priceless.
Following is a list of differences -
*Video differences:
First, the tape isn't really panned and scanned. It's panned all right, but not scanned--the picture just sits on the center of the widescreen frame. The only video difference I could find was in the opening scroll. Not only was the "Episode IV: A New Hope" tag missing,
but the lines were formatted differently.
Laserdisc reads:
Episode IV
A NEW HOPE
It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire.
During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the DEATH
STAR, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet.
Pursued by the Empire's
sinister agents, Princess
Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the
stolen plans that can save
her people and restore
freedom to the galaxy . . . .
Pre-ANH reads:
It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have
won their first victory
against the evil Galactic
Empire.
During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal
secret plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the
DEATH STAR, an armored
space station with enough
power to destroy an entire
planet.
Pursued by the Empire's
sinister agents, Princess
Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the
stolen plans that can save
her people and restore
freedom to the galaxy . . .
Oddly enough, there is ONE visual difference. As the stormtroopers are distracted by the duel between Vader and Kenobi, Threepio turns and says, "Come on, Artoo. We're going." - CUT to Han who says, "Now's our chance, go!" In the version with the mono mix, these two shots are reversed!
*Audio differences:
The nine 70mm prints contained a 6-track Dolby mix that was considered unfinished. When the properly cut prints were made, both 70mm and 35mm, they went into wide release accompanied by finished soundtracks. BUT, Dolby Stereo prints of the time were not mono-compatible as they are now, so sound designer Ben Burtt created a totally different monaural sound mix for 35mm, knowing that there were not many stereo theaters at the time. In my experience, this mix got its widest exposure during the "extended first run," which is erroneously (though widely) referred to as the "1978 reissue." The "Story of Star Wars" narration record was made using this different sound mix (with stereo sound effects laid over it); in it one can hear some of these differences. The echo at the chasm is only on the stereo mix, by the way, and it must be played back in stereo in order for it to be heard. It cannot even be heard on a Dolby print played in a mono theater or on a laserdisc played over a mono television monitor.
Threepio's lines ("The tractor beam is coupled...") were added back into the home video sound master in 1986. For the recent boxed set laserdisc, a new soundtrack was created for ANH, incorporating all of the above. Oddly enough, Threepio's lines were left out once again!
1) Alarms and klaxons are different.
2) Added panel sound effects aboard the Falcon, including a descending whine as they come out of hyperspace.
3) The communications to Tarkin via comlink are completely different.
4) When Threepio and Artoo are hiding from the Imperials on Tatooine, the stormtroopers dubbed voice is different, and so is the line:
Laserdisc:
"All right, check this side of the street. The doors locked. Move on to the next one."
Pre-ANH video:
"All right, check that side of the street. It's secure. Move on to the next one."
5) A different actress dubs for Aunt Beru. Neither version features the real voice of actress Shelagh Fraser, who has a thick British accent.
6) Some Threepio dialogue uses different takes. The additional lines ("The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave....") are missing from the laserdisc version.
7) The echo in the core shaft ("I think we took a wrong turn...") is present in both versions. However, the echo is more pronounced in the laserdisc version--probably because the video is missing the surround channels.
8) The laserdisc is missing the now-famous "Close the blast doors!" line.
9) Intership voices during the final battle are not synthesized.
10) During the final battle, "countdown" voices on the Death Star and at the Massassi base on Yavin IV are completely different.
11) Luke's line on the laserdisc, "Blast it, Biggs. Where are you?" is different on the pre-ANH video: "Blast it, Wedge. Where are you?"
The PHANTOM EDITS!
Star Wars: The Phantom Edit 1.1
The West Coast Version
This version is also known as the Los Angeles version, the one with the altered introduction crawl that runs approximately one hour and fifty four minutes (give or take a few seconds). The quality was decent, the audio was poor in a few places, and the video skipped a bit, but other than that the presentation was fine. The only major changes to the film were the subtraction of severa