Preserving the...cringe...Star Wars Holiday Special (Released) — Page 21

SilverWook said:

I didn't realize you meant a leica of the Boba cartoon existed. Was this on the official site? And did someone preserve it?

It was indeed on the official site in its entirety, as part of the 30th anniversary tribute week back in 2008.  Unfortunately, it has all been swept away as part of the new site revamp...but many of us were wise enough to save a copy (since this isn't the first time old archives on that site have disappeared), so you'll be able to see it one way or another.

As it was part of the HS, I would presume CBS got it on tape. There is no reason they would have had to telecine it themselves.

Hard to say.  CBS did all the videotaping and editing themselves, and Nelvana would have supplied the cartoon to them in whatever the usual format was.  I believe the cartoon arrived at the 11th hour, as well...just a few days before broadcast!  Since CBS ultimately put it all together, they would have had to edit the cartoon into the video they already had shot.  So either they telecined it themselves and then edited it together, or they had an already-telecined videotape copy from Nelvana that they edited in.

The R&R DVD didn't mention the specific loss of anything else. Studios don't seem to like to talk about such things in detail, if the Universal backlot fire a couple years back is any example.

All the more reason to get this kind of stuff on digital as quickly as possible.  A solitary copy left in a studio's hands, eventually someone will screw it up.

--SKot

Yes thanks Aluminum Falcon for the true 4:3 version, that border is a real lame move. I don't see why they couldn't have had it full screen like the deleted scenes. I too was hoping for a nice fresh film transfer of the thing, but regardless its just nice to finally have it in decent shape. Though it only fuels my hunger for the whole special getting released.

If nothing else, the audio on the blu-ray seems to be very good quality. I watched it last night in a private theater and didn't notice any pops or hissing whatsoever.

Er, I was talking about the HS cartoon, but yeah, ANH seems much better too.

Yeah with the bit of denoising work that I did on my version of the Special last year I thought I had gotten the audio sounding pretty good especially for the cartoon, but this one is real clear. Its nice to finally have a version that skips a few generations of VHS.

Though when I play it off my bluray bonus disk for some strange reason it won't let you fastforward, rewind, or even just start over, only pause. So like the mandatory boarder another odd detail of an otherwise decent addition.

SilverWook said:

Thanks for the info, Skot. I get the impression the making of the HS would make for an interesting documentary or book.

Of course, this would entail Lucas revealing the true depth of his involvement with it. ;)

 Which, if the truth were told, was actually very minimal.  He basically handed CBS a story outline, recommended they use Nelvana for an animated feature, and told them to run with it.  What happened after that had little or nothing at all to do with Lucas.  Which means that could be further incentive for George to actually *want* the tale told...after all, the world at large thinks he made the HS and blames him for its awfulness, so telling the real story would clear his name to some degree!

--SKot

Yeah be sure to check out the early story treatment on SKot's site. While the finished Special is probably like 10% of what Lucas intended it to be, that treatment seems like 90%. Its definitely more of a true Star Wars vibe. A good pipe dream would be for Lucas to release the original and with it do a Clone Wars style animated version of the way it was supposed to be.

Jaskoen said:

Now I need to track down those Ewok movies...

And inexplicably the Ewok movies had an official release. Sigh.

Sluggo said:

SilverWook said:

Thanks for the info, Skot. I get the impression the making of the HS would make for an interesting documentary or book.

Of course, this would entail Lucas revealing the true depth of his involvement with it. ;)

So SKot, when it is done, would you autograph my copy?

 But of course!  Sadly, you're a bit too late for Bea Arthur's signature on it.

--SKot

grummel2005 said:

where can i get it again?

If you have Usenet access then it was posted on alt.binaries.starwars a LONG time ago... avoiding the obvious followup line there...

1002 days ago for the KCCI version. Giganews should have it, maybe another provider.

And it looks like the Zion Hybrid was posted 309 days ago. Don't know if those are helpful.

grummel2005 said:

got it

biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig thx to Jaskoen

Good to hear! I was at a loss w/o Usenet. (But you're *sure* you want to watch it again?!)

HAPPY LIFE DAY!

33 years of SWHS today.

--SKot