Lucasfilm: 3D RELEASES MAY NOT HAPPEN AFTER ALL — Page 2

How would the 3D release get us a proper SE to enjoy? All we would be seeing is a 3D version of the Blu-rays, possibly with even more idiotic changes.

You're kidding yourself bub.

It could be if you hate 3D, hate the prequels, and maybe even if you resent the fact that people have to watch the SE.

I'm sure the films will likely have some tweaks, I just don't think there is any way in hell there would be a "Special Edition done right." I mean, what are they going to do, start over from scratch? Fox spent $20 million yet we got the 1997 SE, Lucas is a billionaire and these films are the main thing he has done in twenty years yet we got not only the 2004 SE but the 2011 SE which they boast having worked on for seven years. It's not going to suddenly become watchable.

It's not the quality of work, it's the quality of ideas. You have Jar Jar being farted on in TPM and its rendered in state-of-the-art theatrical quality CG, but it's still Jar Jar being farted on. Budget was never an issue when it came to the Special Editions, and it never will be.

Zombie, out of curiosity do you know if ILM saved the final digital renders for the re-comps and cgi shots back in '97?

My guess has always been that they didn't, since the '97 cgi shots in the 2004 transfer exhibit filmic anomalies like gate weave. Just look at the beginning of the new entrance to mos eisley. The "camera" is supposed to be stationary at the beginning of the shot (where the asp droid swats the hovering droid that's annoying him), but the frame isn't remaining perfectly still. In other words, it looks like it was scanned off the o-neg like everything else.

The whole reason I ask is that it seems stupid to do a 3D conversion of the OT-SE using a scan of a filmout of a cgi shot instead of just going back to the original cgi shot.

I doubt they saved the digital files because for the 2004/11 SE it looks like they either painted over the existing work or went back to the original pre-comp camera negatives (e.g., this is what it looks like they did for the re-done Jabba).

They probably did save some elements though--a lot of them were re-used in TPM. The one exception to my theory that I can see is that they re-did the "entering Mos Eisley" shot and completely re-comped individual elements--so maybe there was some instances where they had all the digital data for the scene. It's really impossible to say what they have and don't have because it's all just files sitting on a computer that only select ILM employees even know about. But it certainly seems like there is no massive "1997 Special Edition" server that has every scene, element, plate and work record.

And yeah, the 1997 shots are from film scans, not a direct-digital transfer. It's the 1997 film-out that was cut into the negative. This is part of what makes me think a lot of the raw data is gone, or at least the whole scenes. Probably a lot of the data can't be read very easily now anyway, the systems they built and rendered them on aren't used any more and you'd have to probably convert them into a readible format or write a lot of custom software to get the new programs to read and run it.

It's a shame that the 1997 SE materials actually had to be cut into the original negative. I guess the good thing is that eventually when they have to do a new scan of the negative, it won't contain the '04 and '11 changes... Also, the colors won't be messed up.

It's just as bad that they also did it to Apocalypse Now because the new scenes, on the whole are rubbish, and ruin the film's pacing. At least they reconstructed the theatrical cut for the Blu-Ray...

zombie84 said:

I doubt they saved the digital files because for the 2004/11 SE it looks like they either painted over the existing work or went back to the original pre-comp camera negatives (e.g., this is what it looks like they did for the re-done Jabba).

They probably did save some elements though--a lot of them were re-used in TPM. The one exception to my theory that I can see is that they re-did the "entering Mos Eisley" shot and completely re-comped individual elements--so maybe there was some instances where they had all the digital data for the scene. It's really impossible to say what they have and don't have because it's all just files sitting on a computer that only select ILM employees even know about. But it certainly seems like there is no massive "1997 Special Edition" server that has every scene, element, plate and work record.

And yeah, the 1997 shots are from film scans, not a direct-digital transfer. It's the 1997 film-out that was cut into the negative. This is part of what makes me think a lot of the raw data is gone, or at least the whole scenes. Probably a lot of the data can't be read very easily now anyway, the systems they built and rendered them on aren't used any more and you'd have to probably convert them into a readible format or write a lot of custom software to get the new programs to read and run it.

Thanks for the info.

I just thought it was worth asking. After all, we recently learned that ILM (Lucasfilm itself?) still had the 2K files for TPM, and the SE was only a couple years before that.

Just so you know, the 3D releases are still happening. Also, here's the poster for TPM 3D:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/SWcom_Reveals_TPM_3D_Movie_Poster_141123.asp

Also, the trailer will be show with The Three Musketeers!:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/TPM_3D_Trailer_Attached_To_Three_Musketeers_141105.asp

ThiefCobbler4ever said:

Just so you know, the 3D releases are still happening. Also, here's the poster for TPM 3D:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/SWcom_Reveals_TPM_3D_Movie_Poster_141123.asp

Great....more lazy photoshop collages

J

That is probably the most terrible poster ive seen for a Star Wars movie. Not even the DVD covers. It looks like the cover for a calendar or a scrapbook, a crappy one. WHO MADE THIS? How much money is Lucasfilm expending on this? 3D Conversion, two or three trailers directly to internet, and distribution. Even if it makes poorly, this movie is going to make much much more profit than most movies do. Just imagine how cheap and crappy the conversion is going to be.

Here is the larger 3D thread, following the ins and outs.

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/3D-STAR-WARS-for-the-masses-anytime-soon/topic/10070/

Jaitea said:

ThiefCobbler4ever said:

Just so you know, the 3D releases are still happening. Also, here's the poster for TPM 3D:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/SWcom_Reveals_TPM_3D_Movie_Poster_141123.asp

Great....more lazy photoshop collages

J

 Peculiar that the main character (Qui Gon) and the most important characters to the "Saga" (Annie and Amidala) aren't on it.

Does anyone see this doing well? I'm not really sure what kind of numbers LFL is expecting, but this won't do what THE LION KING 3D did. That's a movie kids AND adults like. There are some kids who like THE PHANTOM MENACE, but not a whole heck of a lot of adults. If anything, it'll be parents going begrudgingly. 

I wasn't opposed to the whole Star Wars 3D spectacle until the most recent debacle over the Blu-rays. Now I just can't justify giving Lucas more money. Seeing this is basically saying "I'm OK with the special editions", because if they ultimately release the originals in 3D, it will of course be those versions.

It might flop or it might do fine. And once again I feel like I have to be a fricking MANHUNTER expert profiler of GL, to try and figure which scenario is better for the OT. I will now ponder this in montage.