BuddhaMaster said:
I have my own question following my previous poster:
I love this project and I've following it for about 3 weeks. I realize that this is a restauration of a original Technicolor print reel, from the original movie that was probably in the cinemas back then when the movie was released.
Did the original theatrical release, or does this Technicolor print contain any scenes or alternate takes that were NOT present in the first home entertainment release for this movie (VHS or 8mm prints).
I see that George Lucas had a urge to change things spontaneously or post work. So do many other directors and there are many classic movies that were slightly different on their first theatrical release and on their first home entertainment release. When Empire Strikes Back came to cinemas nobody knew that Darth Vader is gonna say "I'm the father!".
Blade Runner is probably another good example and there are many more movies.
There are just a few bits and takes altered from it's original theatrical presentation.
I wanted to ask if this is true for Star Wars? I've never seen the original (really original!) theatrical.
Or was the first home release (VHS) an exact print of what was shown in the cinemas?
Can I expect to see ANY greater or minimalistic changes, like alternate timing, or sounds, alternate takes? That would be very interesting to know.
This project is using 35mm LPP prints, not Technicolor prints.
The theatrical prints did have some minor variations. These weren't changes made for the home video releases, but were actually minor differences between the various different prints in circulation in 1977. Some of these include:
* The composite of Yavin in ANH (cloudy vs. cloudless composite)
* The end credits of ANH (John Williams "tight" vs. "spaced" -- negative1 has the "spaced" version, same as all VHS versions)
* Many slight differences in the 70mm version of ESB (which is not what negative1 has)
Several audio variants of Star Wars exist. The mono mix (used on some theatrical prints and TV broadcasts) in particular has quite a few different audio takes and sound effects. The audio was also remixed several times for the various different home video versions.
The only major video difference you're likely to notice is the original title crawl of ANH compared to the later "A New Hope" crawl added in 1981, which was used on all VHS releases. I'm not sure which crawl the 8mm version has.
Something else you're likely to notice when compared to the various home video releases is the color timing, which was different for each home version of the movies.
What this boils down to is that the VHS versions were almost identical to the theatrically released versions. You aren't going to see any brand new scenes or even alternate takes in this release.