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Are the restored elements for the 1997 special edition still intact ?

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Why does Lucas not use them as a basis to restore the oot, or at least put the damn theatrical special edition on blu ray and DVD.

The 2004 was horrible.

Is there any validity that the elements and surviving prints of the oot are not viable so they had no choice but to use the laserdisc master for the DVD ?

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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No, there's no validity to that. If people here can find better material just by plunking down $3000 in the black market, just imagine what Lucasfilm has in its own archives.

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If there is no validity then where is the public challenge of Lucas stance.

I know of no other case where a director has tried to systematically erase a set of films from existence or tried to rewrite history.

Lucas is such a giant in the industry nobody will challenge him not even his peers.

I mean come on the Murnau foundation can all but restore the original Metropolis once thought lost but a relatively modern film from 1977 is lost by the director himself, its ludicrous.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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The 1993 master is, at least in LFL's opinion, the best NTSC transfer of the films available to them. I'm sure that would be their answer. It's not the best that the films are potentially capable of looking, it's just the best that the films have looked in the past (because they stopped making new transfers in 1993).

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skyjedi2005 said:

If there is no validity then where is the public challenge of Lucas stance.

This very site is a public challenge.  Kaminski's Save Star Wars site and his Secret History book are public challenges.  Various exposes and articles by writers on respected web sites are also public challenges. 

What exactly do you think the public could do differently to force Lucas to do what we want, but which he doesn't?  He owns the film.  Just because we don't like the lies, that  doesn't mean we have the ability to make him tell the truth or to do what we want.

Truthfully, I'm floored that we ever got the 06 DVD of the original -  even as poorly transferred as it was, and while being tossed onto a toy advertisement bonus disc. 

 

I know of no other case where a director has tried to systematically erase a set of films from existence or tried to rewrite history.

Nor do I

 

Lucas is such a giant in the industry nobody will challenge him not even his peers.

I don't think they care.  At least not enough to bother with him.  His breath-holding, foot-stomping, child-like behavior - his disturbing level of control issues and ego -  are legendary.  The more anyone pushes, the more he digs in and does just the opposite.  It would be a complete waste of time.

 

a relatively modern film from 1977 is lost by the director himself, its ludicrous.

Yes it is.

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skyjedi2005 said:

Why does Lucas not use them as a basis to restore the oot,

What are you talking about? The '97 SE were used as a basis for the '04. And how can a SE be used as a basis for the OOT? Would that make it, erm, unoriginal?

 

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I think he meant the restored original elements. But you're right about that in a way, the original footage that was cut out or replaced with CG for the SE wasn't restored the way the other footage was, although not all of it would have necessarily needed to be restored.

The ironic part is that if there ever is a new release of the OOT from the original elements, it will actually be the very first restoration of Star Wars. Neither SEs are restorations because their whole point was to change things and create new footage. So we'll have to do a real restoration because of the previous "restoration."

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zombie84 said:


Neither SEs are restorations because their whole point was to change things and create new footage. So we'll have to do a real restoration because of the previous "restoration."
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Alexrd said: And how can a SE be used as a basis for the OOT? 

 

That's where 90% of the negative is?

What's unfortunate about this is that it's really sounding like it's not even about any kind of artistic pride or whatever. It's just a mundane management decision that says even though it wouldn't lose money, it wouldn't make enough to be worth the effort. The original Star Wars trilogy, subject to the same policy as a flavor of Cheetos.  (or, remember that supermodel who said "I don't get out of bed for less than 10,000 a day." ) 

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Most likely. They wouldn't have been thrown away after all of that work done to restore them.

What gets me is the fact that the films were reputed to be in dire need of restoration while good prints were still circulating in the early 90's. Several people did complain about the 97 looking soft and grainy compared to what was still playing in theaters around the time of the Definitive Collection.

And if the SE team went back to the original elements to create new special effects etc. then the original restored shots were probably just put in a box and put back somewhere in the vaults...

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I hope you are right. LFL can spend millions of dollars restoring a print only to let it rot five years later. They can afford to waste money.

It baffles me that they would go and do the worst possible job in transferring a movie to DVD twice. And they control every aspect of SW, so ironically they are the only people that can do the best video transfer, yet a complete idiot with no knowledge of film can do a better transfer that is a hundred times better that either the GOUT or 04 DVD.