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Which version/release of the Star Wars movies do you watch and why? — Page 6

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love all six films don't care which version just love star wars!

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Any version prior to 1997!!!!! Well let's see. My first Trilogy was the 1995 VHS set. This was the originals remastered in THX and was the last time until 2006 that the originals surfaced on video. I played the HELL out of that trilogy. Then I became interested in the Special Editions for small reasons. For instance I knew Jabba the Hutt was in ANH and wanted to check that out. I got that trilogy on VHS when I was about 5 or 6. It was interesting but I didnt have to second guess myself when I had to decide for myself which I preferred. I had already played out my '95 set and that was still the version that I played more. Another reason for this was because my dad wanted me to keep the SE trilogy in good shape and he kept it in a cupboard when I wasnt using it. That was ok since I preferred the originals anyway and would watch the SE's on occasion. I then became interested in the 1992 set. This was the last editions of the originals on VHS to feature the original poster art. I knew about this set because a close friend of my mother's had those editions. I used to borrow their tapes even though I had the '95 and '97 sets. When I was about 8 I finally got my own set of the '92 tapes. I played out those tapes a lot as well possibly just as much as the '95 set. Since then I've gotten more trilogy's. I got the Widescreen VHS sets of the '92, '95, and '97 releases. I also have the '04 DVDs and '06 DVDs. Other VHS releases I have include the '92, '95, and '97 sets SEALED, the '84 VHS releases, the 1990 box set, and more. Right now I suppose the editions I prefer is my '95 box set, the '92 box set, and the '06 DVDs even though they're poor transfers. I also have recently enjoyed Harmy's DeSpecialized edition.

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Hello all,

Here are my choices

 

Star Wars : Harmy Despecialized v2.5

The Empire Strikes Back : Harmy Despecialized v1.0 waiting for v2.0 =)

Return of the Jedi: Harmy Despecialized v1.0

 

The reason is i just want to watch the movies i saw back in 1977, 1980 and 1983! in 720p or more res.

 

I was very exited about the 1997 rerelease.

Oh boy the disappointment & shock when i went to see them.

 

As for all the dvds and the bluray release, i dont know if i should cry or laugh!

 

prequels what?!?! never heard of them.

 

ps: for an enhanced Star Wars Experience

      try Adywan's "Purist" edition of Revisited.

 

 

 

 

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Well, my VHS copies are sitting in a box in the loft where they will remain (I'm sure I've said this before somewhere) and I no longer own a VHS player so my decision is partly based on convenience.  And my decision is to watch the Blu-ray versions of the films.  They're not perfect (Luke's lightsabre in A New Hope is still an issue) but they never were to begin with! 
That's some bad hat, Harry
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Easterhay said:

my decision is to watch the Blu-ray versions of the films.  They're not perfect (Luke's lightsabre in A New Hope is still an issue) but they never were to begin with! 


I'm sure you could say the same for Jocelyn Wildenstein.

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I tend to stick with GOUT. It's easier than trying to discern between all the fan restorations although I want to give them a try. The smearing, bad levels, poor resolution and everything is a huge issue, but it's the one that is easiest to come by. And really, any "restoration" that is sourced off a DVD or BD is questionable to me. Because try as you might, once those blacks have been crushed, they are never coming back. No matter how carefully you colour correct it.

I cannot abide by the DVD or Blu-ray changes for any of the films. I might watch '97, because the colours are great and there are genuine improvements here and there, but since I only had access to them on VHS that's not really an option any more.

For "Star Wars" (what do you mean 'A New Hope'?) I really just can't stand it, though, because a lot of my favorite shots in the space battle were replaced by piss poor CG. And of course Han shot first, Jabba is fugly etc.

I've watched Revisited of IV, but while I like a lot of it, it's a very mixed bag. As much bad as there is good. But some of the minor changes really help make it a better film. That tends to be the problem with fan edits really.

At the end of the day, the version I really want to watch doesn't really exist yet, mainly because of the huge issues with most any home video transfer that exists. Especially after seeing those photos of the Senator print, those lightsabers are beautiful. I wan't to see that in motion. But the DVD replaced them with CG, and they're blown out to oblivion on GOUT.
Here's hoping for the 35mm project and/or Disney to do something.

P.S. Oh, and of course, I can't stand CG Yoda or the new dumb scenes in TPM either. It's my favorite prequel, and probably the only one I really consider enjoyable. So of course if it's even remotely good George has to change it. Not even the prequels are safe!
Once again I'd simply watch the perfectly good VHS if only I could.

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By "A New Hope" I think people mean the film that's been called that since 1980.  Ah, but since you think the puppet Yoda in TPM looks better than the CGI one....

You are right, though, that none of the films are safe.  Now, where's the TPM restoration project?! 

That's some bad hat, Harry
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I go from one extreme to the other.

I watch the original 1982 VHS(Pal)-----I think it has value because it has  the film without any digital alterations----it is a 100% analogue product.

That is the era that Star Wars belongs to.

 

here are some screenshots (from my tape)------some of the defects contained in the print that was used for this same 1982 VHS transfer can be seen:

 

But I also watch the 2011 Blu ray on a Sony 4K Home projector----it is called a VW1000es

I can't take screen shot of  this myself----even if i could it would not do it justice:

But here is a screen shot from projector reviews.com:

 

http://www.projectorreviews.com/sony/vpl-vw1000es/

 

 

 

 

 

I saw Star Wars in 1977. Many, many, many times. For 3 years it was just Star Wars...period. I saw it in good theaters, cheap theaters and drive-ins with those clunky metal speakers you hang on your window. The screen and sound quality never subtracted from the excitement. I can watch the original cut right now, over 30 years later, on some beat up VHS tape and enjoy it. It's the story that makes this movie. Nothing? else.

kurtb8474 1 week ago

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=SkAZxd-5Hp8


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BmB said:

And really, any "restoration" that is sourced off a DVD or BD is questionable to me. Because try as you might, once those blacks have been crushed, they are never coming back. No matter how carefully you colour correct it.

Not so: while in the DVD and HDTV versions the blacks were crushed beyond repair, it was discovered that much of the shadow detail is actually intact in the Bluray versions, and can be made visible again through careful gamma adjustment.  The reason behind this is that the 2004 scan did indeed capture the full luminance range of the film, but came out too dark because they were apparently over-cautious about not clipping the white levels, and then failed to compensate for this later on.  In the earlier releases the dark areas were eaten up by video noise and could not be recovered, but the Bluray has a high enough bitrate that the shadow detail was preserved, even though it remained invisible until the gamma correction brought it out again.

Because of this, it is indeed possible to watch a high quality version of SW with proper contrast.  True, it isn't as perfect a result as would be obtained from a new film scan, but it's a huge improvement over what is commercially available, and a giant step toward making the movie look like itself again.  When you combine that with the original colour timing, original sound mixes, and the fantastic work of restoring/recreating the original special effects and editing, recommending the Despecialized Edition 2.0 is a no-brainer.  ;)

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For the record, these are the official release versions I own:

All three films recorded off of ShowTime in the 1980s.
1991 VHS Pan-and-Scan Box Set
1995 THX Widescreen VHS Box Set
1997 SE Pan-and-Scan Box Set
1997 SE Widescreen VHS Box Set (2000 Re-Issue w/AOTC preview)
2004 Widescreen DVD Box Set
2006 Limited Edition Widescreen Box Set

The THX VHS set is the last one I obtained, which was last year, and I do regularly prefer that.  I have two VCRs, but one has better picture while the other has better audio (the lesser one has only a single RCA audio output).  Sometimes, I'll just get a little tired of the VHS quality, and put in the 2006 DVD theatrical versions.  For "The Empire Strikes Back," I will sometimes watch Adywan's restored version.  Sometimes, I just prefer watching the movies with that nostalgic film or VHS grain, though.

On my iPod, I have the 2004 edition of "A New Hope," Adywan's "Empire Strikes Back" restoration, and the 2006 DVD theatrical version of "Return of the Jedi."  A strange set of choices, but they serve me well enough when I need some Star Wars on the go.

-NJM

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There are still many instances of clipped shadow detail in the Blu-rays along with clipped whites and colours. The clipped colours can be fixed, the shadows unfortunately can not. In very dark scenes (the Sandcrawler interior is a good example) there is a huge amount of detail lost in the deep shadows. The '97 SE broadcasts have retained almost all the deep shadow detail. It's a shame they're cropped otherwise they could be used to replace the clipped portion of the Blu-rays.

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Easterhay said:

You are right, though, that none of the films are safe.  Now, where's the TPM restoration project?! 

That's something I could support. People can pick on the weird puppet Yoda in that movie all they want but dammit that's what the original cut had.

All I really want is each film as it was originally seen and heard in theaters; no fixes, corrections, "improvements" or modifications necessary.

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thecolorsblend said:

Easterhay said:

You are right, though, that none of the films are safe.  Now, where's the TPM restoration project?! 

That's something I could support. People can pick on the weird puppet Yoda in that movie all they want but dammit that's what the original cut had.

It's in the works... ;-)

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Harmy said:

It's in the works... ;-)

You, sir, are my new hero.

All I really want is each film as it was originally seen and heard in theaters; no fixes, corrections, "improvements" or modifications necessary.

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My favourite version is 1997 edition. But since I am extremely sensitive to video quality/resolution I have to go with 2004 DVDs. Actually I find 2004 version fine, with one big exception: Hayden in ROTJ. It is the worst thing Lucas did in his career. When that scene comes up I just look away. Yes I know, it is kinda sad...

真実

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ANH: Blu-ray or unaltered DVD

ESB:Blu-ray

ROTJ: Unaltered DVD or SE LaserDisc

 

Would love to watch some of the fanedits but my PC cannot handle the strain of trying to burn DVDs and Torrents are too troublesome for me.

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For Star Wars its now a colour-corrected version of GOUT I made with virtualdub which tones down the reds and makes skintones more lifelike to me. PM me for link if you want to view a compressed version.
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As of now, my available options are the Harmy 2.0 .mkv for Star Wars, Puggo's gorgeous 16mm Empire preservation with the mono mix, and the 1996 Ultimate Experience Sci-Fi airing from the :F:L:I:M:S:I:P:L:A:S:T: :D:A:T:A:B:A:S:E: for Jedi. I like the stark inconsistency between the quality of the three films, and until ROTP comes out, they will probably be my preferred choice of viewing.

So, a new book came out and we learned so much, and it is called, “Anguilosaurus, Killer of the Living”.

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A New Hope:

The 1995 edition because it is the only unaltered copy I have.

 

Empire Strikes Back:

The 1997 edition because it was in the 1995 box set I got from a thrift store. Still pissed about that.

 

Return of the Jedi:

The 1995 edition because, once again, it is the only unaltered copy I have.

 

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TPM: Daneditor's Radical Re-Edit.

AOTC and ROTS: (pending)

ANH: That bootleg provided by AntcuFaalb is pretty cool. Available now on MySpleen.

ESB: Pugg's 16mm.

ROTJ: (none)

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Up until recently I didn't even know about the fan restorations of the original trilogy, and as a result I'd pretty much stopped watching Star Wars (I have a couple of box sets on VHS (1995 OOT and 1997 Special Editions), but don't have a VHS video hooked up any more). The one exception I made was when a group of us watched all six films back to back over one weekend, and we just used the standard (special edition) DVDs. Last week I bit the bullet and joined here, after seeing it mentioned on the Machete order blog post. Harmy's 2.1 version of ANH left me with a massive grin on my face and I've watched it twice since getting it.

So new list:

Episode I: The Phantom Edit. Don't know who cut this version together, but it minimises the cringeworthy humour and severely restricts Jar-Jar's screen time.

Episode II: I don't really watch this, so am in the market for a recommendation regarding a fan cut. I hate the way the romance is handled but for the most part find the action sequences fairly well done, if a little long. The whole subplot involving C3P0's head getting attached to the battle droid is awful, and if this was entirely cut would be good (in fact, dropping almost all the "humour" in the movie would be a good thing). With that in mind, any recommendations?

Episode III: I'm in pretty much the same boat here as Episode II. I definitely want all the lightsaber battles left in (I know a lot don't like the Palpatine/Yoda fight, but I actually prefer it to Anakin/Kenobi). My main problem with the movie is how overlong it is. Once again, any recommendations for a fan edit that sounds like it fits the bill?

Episode IV: Harmy's Despecialised Edition 2.1. I watched the original version of this soooo many times (it's probably the movie I've watched more than any other). Watching this version was like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in years. Magnificent.

Episodes V and VI: I'll be going with Harmy's versions of these too. I've watched a few sections of Empire (haven't got Jedi yet) and once again, all those nostalgic feelings came flooding back.

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statto, about your request for an Episode II recommendation:

There are a ton of Episode II fan edits that I haven't seen, but so far I have watched four:

Army of the Republic by Seciors

Attack of the Ridiculousness by Frink

Fall of the Jedi Episode II by Q2

The Republic Divided by L8wrtr

Personally, I think the romance is one of the prequel trilogy's biggest problems, so I use it as a litmus test to judge a fan editor's work. Out of the four I listed above, the one I would give the highest recommendation is Army of the Republic by Seciors. I found his handling of Anakin and Padme's relationship to be very impressive, more or less. L8wrtr also did a good job with his edits, but I think I give Seciors the edge. Still, you should check it out to see if you agree.

When it comes to Q2's edits, I thought I would like them a lot because I like the goals he was trying to accomplish with them, but when I watched them I was very disappointed, especially considering how popular they are.

Other than my recommendation for Seciors' edit, I also recommend Frink's Ridiculous version. It's not going to be your replacement version of Episode II, but it's entertaining as a comedic alternative.

PM me if you have trouble acquiring these edits.

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Thanks for the recommendations deepanddark20.

I feel exactly the same way as you about the Q2 edits. While I give him a lot of credit for his inventiveness regarding some of his switches, he makes some big decisions that I really don't like (i.e. Cutting the Yoda/Dooku confrontation means you lose arguably the best two minutes of the movie).

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I stick to Harmy's Despecialized editions, Adywan's Revisited, and Backstroke of the West.