Previously, I thought that the only difference between the two was that the 1977 version didn't have Episode IV: A New Hope and a redone crawl. However doubleofive's list of changes says that the opening shot has been recomposited. Are there any further differences between the two cuts?
Other than the grappling hook miss that was cut for the '81 release, I can't think of any other differences.
That's not funny Sluggo.*Sluggo said:
Other than the grappling hook miss that was cut for the '81 release, I can't think of any other differences.
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You did see the title of my post, right?
Who looks at post titles?
And yeah, I believe the only difference was the opening shot of the film was redone to accomodate the new title, including the crawl and the first shot after the pan-down from the crawl. This was done so it would be easy to just take 1977 prints and splice in the new first shots, if I'm not mistaken (ironically, the reverse happened with the GOUT DVD - the original source material was an '81-or-later print, and they spliced in a scan of a '77 print for the original opening shot/crawl).
The only other difference (if I'm not mistaken) is that the 1981 re-release was never shown with the mono mix, just the '77 stereo mix. (I'm also not sure if the '81 version was ever released in 70mm.)
Got it. Thanks for the help guys. I was really just making sure that the GOUT doesn't have any of the '81 changes.
The GOUT has a few other weird visual issues, like one green laser that should be red in ROTJ, or the lights in Luke's garage in SW that are the wrong color, or the holograms' scanlines being...well, different, or the binocular HUD being red instead of green (or vice versa?) in ESB.
Check out the Complete Comparison thread if you're interested in these weird issues that no one can quite seem to make sense of.
As have already been said, the new opening crawl and its subsequent Stardestroyer flyover is the only visual difference between the versions, a recomposite of the original elements, besides the different starfield, which was a starfield that was used in many shots of Empire the year before.
We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions.
Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com
So the laser bolt censoring only came in for the 1997 special edition ?
I hate that censoring as well as greedo shooting.
I mean considering they originally were going to have exploding arms and faces, going by the novelization and the alex tavoularis storyboards.
The censoring of the burn marks on the imperials is really dumb, as dumb as walkie talkies in E.T.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.
My favorite part is they censored SOME of the burn marks. Just some. And then 8 years later they burn their main character alive. Makes 0 sense.
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That's the main problem of the movie. The censorship. The novelization is full of blood, exploding heads, split bodies, cut body parts ... and the only thing you could see was the fake looking cut arm in the cantina sequence. And they cut even more "violence" out of the movie for the "special edition" :-(
pittrek said:
That's the main problem of the movie. The censorship. The novelization is full of blood, exploding heads, split bodies, cut body parts ... and the only thing you could see was the fake looking cut arm in the cantina sequence. And they cut even more "violence" out of the movie for the "special edition" :-(
But they left in the close up of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's incinerated bodies. That image was quite gruesome when I was a kid.
Your brain just makes s**t up!
A fate worse than death? Having your head digitally replaced with that of Hayden Christensen!
Bobby Jay said:
pittrek said:
That's the main problem of the movie. The censorship. The novelization is full of blood, exploding heads, split bodies, cut body parts ... and the only thing you could see was the fake looking cut arm in the cantina sequence. And they cut even more "violence" out of the movie for the "special edition" :-(
But they left in the close up of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's incinerated bodies. That image was quite gruesome when I was a kid.
I've always suspected the SE's toned down violence had to do with ratings. At the time SW was released, there was no PG-13 rating. By the time of the SEs, the images of people getting shot in the chest may have earned a PG-13. Officers in caps (which are the 2 instances of censorship) are more "human looking" than DS troopers in samurai helmets, so it's still acceptable for the DS troopers to take a hit in the chest.
A skeleton is scary, but it's not "human looking" enough.
This may sound ridiculous, but Ridley Scott's commentary for Gladiator confirmed that this is how the rating system works. He mentioned how the "human looking" factor played a part in Gladiator's rating.
You know of the rebellion against the Empire?
That makes perfect sense. Good thinking!Erikstormtrooper said:
I've always suspected the SE's toned down violence had to do with ratings. At the time SW was released, there was no PG-13 rating. By the time of the SEs, the images of people getting shot in the chest may have earned a PG-13. Officers in caps (which are the 2 instances of censorship) are more "human looking" than DS troopers in samurai helmets, so it's still acceptable for the DS troopers to take a hit in the chest.
A skeleton is scary, but it's not "human looking" enough.
This may sound ridiculous, but Ridley Scott's commentary for Gladiator confirmed that this is how the rating system works. He mentioned how the "human looking" factor played a part in Gladiator's rating.
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