Hi guys, i’ve been lurking on this site for a few years now but after seeing what fantastic feedback you guys provide Harmy and others with their projects, helping them to constantly improve their releases, I hoped that you could be a great help for me too.
I have created Semi-Specialised Editions of the original trilogy which are available and can be found on tehparadox. They are essentially the original trilogy with all the good special edition changes kept in and all the bad changes removed. They have received a fair amount of positive feedback but the majority of the feedback has been thanks which is fantastic but in terms of creating new improved versions of these releases is not much help. These have been out for around half a year now and seeing Harmy releasing his new version of Star Wars Despecialized 2.5 got me thinking that I shouldn’t be resting on my laurels, I should also try to be improving on what i’ve already done because I’m sure that there is much that could be improved upon.
I humbly ask that you guys check out my releases and give me feedback on how you think they could be improved. I hope that with your help i’ll be able to release new and improved versions of these releases in the near future. Below are details about each of the three Semi-Specialised releases taken from tehparadox:
kk650 presents: The Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition
Technical Specs:
Name: Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition
Size: 15.4 GB
Video: 1920x824 H264 23.976
Audio Track: Uncompressed PCM track based of Belbucus’s 1993 PCM audio mix
Subtitle Track 1: Alien Subtitles in English
Subtitle Track 2: English Subtitles
Subtitle Track 3: Spanish Subtitles
Like many, I was unhappy with a lot the changes that were made for the Special Editions and most recently the blu-rays.
Harmy’s Despecialised Editions are great for those that want to see the films exactly as they were when they were originally released theatrically, but some of the changes (especially the updating of special effects) actually make the films better IMHO, so I decided to make ‘Semi-Specialised’ editions of these films to remove what I considered the bad changes while keeping all the good changes/additions.
After working on and off on these three films for almost two years, the Star Wars Semi-Specialised original trilogy is finally finished.
I hope that you enjoy these releases as much as I enjoyed making them. Do please let me know whether you like this release and if not, feel free to say why. If you run into any problems, also let me know and i’ll see what I can do.
Below is a brief summary of the changes made to this film:
Star Wars:
Audio changes:
Original Krayt Dragon call restored
New lossless pcm audio track created to fit this semi-specialised edition, based off Belbucus’s excellent 1993 Star Wars PCM audio mix
Video Changes:
Regraded to remove blue tint running throughout the whole film that was introduced for the first time in the special edition DVD and was carried over to the blu-ray
R2D2 no longer hiding behind a CG rock when Obi One Kenobi appears
Silly CG droid and jawa antics when they enter Mos Eisley have been removed
Jabba scene removed
Han shoots Greedo first with no awful CG head dodging action
Lightsabers made more consistant so they are not constantly changing colour, Vader’s lightsaber is now red all the time rather than turning pink.
kk650 presents: The Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition
Technical Specs:
Name: The Empire Strikes Back Semi-Specialised Edition
Size: 15.4 GB
Video: 1920x824 H264 23.976
Audio Track: Uncompressed PCM track based of Belbucus’s 1993 PCM audio mix
Subtitle Track 1: English Subtitles
Subtitle Track 2: Spanish Subtitles
Like many, I was unhappy with a lot the changes that were made for the Special Editions and most recently the blu-rays.
Harmy’s Despecialised Editions are great for those that want to see the films exactly as they were when they were originally released theatrically, but some of the changes (especially the updating of special effects) actually make the films better IMHO, so I decided to make ‘Semi-Specialised’ editions of these films to remove what I considered the bad changes while keeping all the good changes/additions.
After working on and off on these three films for almost two years, the Star Wars Semi-Specialised original trilogy is finally finished.
I hope that you enjoy these releases as much as I enjoyed making them. Do please let me know whether you like this release and if not, feel free to say why. If you run into any problems, also let me know and i’ll see what I can do.
Below is a brief summary of the changes made to this film:
The Empire Strikes Back:
Audio changes:
The emperor’s original dialogue from the theatrical release has been restored
The original voice of Boba Fett from the theatrical release has been restored
Luke’s line ‘you’re lucky you don’t taste so good’ after R2D2 gets spat out has been restored
Darth Vader’s line ‘Bring me my shuttle’ has been restored
New lossless pcm audio track created to fit this semi-specialised edition, based off Belbucus’s excellent 1993 Empire Strikes Back PCM audio mix
Video Changes:
Regraded to remove blue tint running throughout the whole film that was introduced for the first time in the special edition DVD and was carried over to the blu-ray
The original emperor from the theatrical release has been returned (my thanks goes to Adywan for the original emperor footage taken from his Empire Strikes Back colour corrected ‘purist’ edition)
The digitally added sparks for the blu-ray in the scene where chewie is trying to get c3po from the dwarves have been removed
All extra shots of Darth Vader going back to the Executor and the arrival on the star destroyer that were not in the theatrical release have been removed so they do not interupt the escape of the millenium falcon
Lightsabers made more consistant so they are not constantly changing colour, Vader’s lightsaber is now red all the time rather than turning pink.
kk650 presents: Return of the Jedi Semi-Specialised Edition
Technical Specs:
Name: Return of the Jedi Semi-Specialised Edition
Size: 16.1 GB
Video: 1920x824 H264 23.976
Audio Track: Uncompressed PCM track based of Belbucus’s 1993 PCM audio mix
Subtitle Track 1: Alien Subtitles in English
Subtitle Track 2: English Subtitles
Subtitle Track 3: Spanish Subtitles
Like many, I was unhappy with a lot the changes that were made for the Special Editions and most recently the blu-rays.
Harmy’s Despecialised Editions are great for those that want to see the films exactly as they were when they were originally released theatrically, but some of the changes (especially the updating of special effects) actually make the films better IMHO, so I decided to make ‘Semi-Specialised’ editions of these films to remove what I considered the bad changes while keeping all the good changes/additions.
After working on and off on these three films for almost two years, the Star Wars Semi-Specialised original trilogy is finally finished.
I hope that you enjoy these releases as much as I enjoyed making them. Do please let me know whether you like this release and if not, feel free to say why. If you run into any problems, also let me know and i’ll see what I can do.
Below is a brief summary of the changes made to this film:
Return of the Jedi:
Audio changes:
Han Solo’s ‘it’s alright, I can see a lot better’ line from the special edition when he’s aiming his gun to free Lando from the Sarlacc’s clutches has been replaced with the original line ‘it’s alright, trust me’
Darth Vader’s ‘Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!’ at the climax of the film has been removed and his silence restored.
New lossless pcm audio track created to fit this semi-specialised edition, based off Belbucus’s excellent 1993 Return of the Jedi PCM audio mix
Video Changes:
Regraded to remove blue tint running throughout the whole film that was introduced for the first time in the special edition DVD and was carried over to the blu-ray
The huge CG door leading into jabba’s palace that was added for the blu-ray release has been replaced with the original door from the theatrical release
The awful CG fest ‘Jedi Rocks’ has been removed and replaced with the original song from the theatrical release, Lapti Nek
The over the top carbon defreezing effects added to the blu-ray have been removed and replaced with the original defreezing effects from the theatrical release
The CG Dug added to the blu-ray release that walks down the steps of jabba palace just before Luke arrives has been removed and replaced with the original shot without the CG Dug
The creepy CG blinking ewok eyes added to the blu-ray have been removed and replaced with how they were in the theatrical release
When R2D2 gets shot, all the CGI appendages added for the blu-ray release have been removed
All the CG celebration scenes on the other planets have been removed with the exception of the first, cloud city. Jar Jar Binks and his ‘Weesa Free!’ is gone, thankfully.
Hayden Christensen and his creepy glare has been removed from the final scene with the jedi spirits and replaced with the original actor from the theatrical release, Sebastian Shaw
Lightsabers made more consistant so they are not constantly changing colour, Vader’s lightsaber is now red all the time rather than turning pink.