What Special Edition changes (if any) did people like? — Page 10

TV's Frink said:

You should spend some time in the rest of the forum before making sweeping generalizations.

Frink, is that you???

You catch on pretty quick.

Obviously other parts of forum are more active, but that "sweeping generalization" is the joke; Instead of actually discussing the topic's subject matter, we've got people in here pointing out typos for their own amusement.

I'm quite familiar with the forum, as I've been a lurker for a long time, but I don't really know what relevance that has.

Discussions of almost any kind are boring when everyone is too serious and strict about keeping to the topic. I like serious discussion, but I don't like it being serious all the time. Sometimes I make a super lame joke because the rest of the discussion is a bit dull/slow, but usually I make good jokes.

EDIT: As an aside, I wouldn't have teased you if I thought it was a typo. I thought you had just screwed up the expression.

Jodo Kast said:

Obviously other parts of forum are more active

Ric Olie said:

Hey, how about that?!?!

The changes I liked (1997);

- The restoration itself, which for back then was superb and, as is the Lucas way, later ruined by the 2004 colours

- CGI X-Wings during the Battle of Yavin

- Removal of card cutouts during celebration

- Removal of stained-glass windows in Cloud City

- New celebration song at the end of RoTJ

- General clean-up of all the optical effects.

The changes I can't stand (1997 and beyond);

- Ben's new call when saves Luke... lol, I mean seriously?

- R2-D2 hiding behind a rock in same scene

- Han vs. Greedo obviously

- Luke's scream when he falls after the "Nooo!" (though at least this was later removed)

- 'Jedi Rocks'...

- Hayden as Anakin's ghost at the end of RoTJ.

I would take the '97 S.Es over the most recent ones any day, but it's very difficult to choose a happy medium. While the original theatrical cuts are faithful, I would still find it tough to not see some of the genuine improvements listed above. 

^

I agree that the cleanup was well done. And I like the 97SE colors for the most part. 

The optical effects cleanup was mostly so that the film could be restored from the negatives, but I think they look fine and don't care at all about the frame-by-frame accuracy of them (aside from syncing to GOUT, of course). I actually really like the things that were recomposited from original elements and/or had their transparency issues and matte lines/boxes fixed. Those things belong in preservations, sure, but I definitely see the changes as improvements. Not really a fan of the added blur effects in some cases. 

Tough to choose between least bad SE for the first two films. For ANH, Jabba gets slightly less terrible as time goes on, as does the Greedo shot and the green lightsaber. But the soundtrack sucks in 04 and there are the rocks in 11. Plus, the color. 

ESB really only has the falling scream issue in 97. Changes after that were minor, but for the worse. I actually just watched the 2004 version. The SE is much more intact and watchable than ANH/Jedi. The cloud city CGI looks bad in a couple shots, though.

Jedi had relatively few changes, but Jedi Rocks and the Sarlacc beak were really awful. In this case, I think every change post-1997 made it worse. So, 1997 was easily the least awful.

The lightsaber colors in ESB are really bad.

TV's Frink said:

The lightsaber colors in ESB are really bad.

 True. Vader's was switching from red to pink to magenta with each shot. IIRC, they at least improved RoTJ's lightsabers between 2004 and 2011.

One example of color correction I think the '04/'11 version has over the '97 version is the Mos Eisley sequence. At least the '04/'11 doesn't have the pink tint. And yeah I agree about the sabers in ESB. Aside from Vaders horrid pink saber, at one point in the final battle Luke's sabers a bit washed yet is perfectly blue in the original.

The only SE (I assume we are also talking about the DVD's and BD's here) changes I like, even though some are more "I can tolerate", are-

-Victory Celebration and the accompanying montage 

-Vader having no eyebrows in RotJ

-Better compositing of effects 

-The intial film cleanup, before they destoyed the colors

Also, unlike most people here it seems, I would theoretically like Hayden as a force ghost, if they had given him a chance to actually act for the scene. but as it is now, I don't think it's an improvement.

crissrudd4554 said:

One example of color correction I think the '04/'11 version has over the '97 version is the Mos Eisley sequence. At least the '04/'11 doesn't have the pink tint. 

I do like the generally bright and colorful look with clear blue sky. It almost looks good enough to not block the shot with a dinosaur. Almost.

oh God..   again, it's perfectly logic that Anakin has that look, he has never aged "that" way you see in the theatrical feature..

Anakin's real look in his 40s is the one we see when Luke removes the helmet. His ghost had an unreal appearence, so Lucas decided to show him as he appeared last time he was by the light side.

Well. Time to abandon this thread again.

towne32 said:

Well. Time to abandon this thread again.

 Right with ya. Ghost Hayden is pointless IMO.

40s?  As someone actually in his 40s, I object.

doubleofive said:

slask said:

Anakin's real look in his 40s is the one we see when Luke removes the helmet. His ghost had an unreal appearence, so Lucas decided to show him as he appeared last time he was by the light side.

30 years after the fact. Makes sense to me.

/sarcasm

19 years actually.
And yes, it doesn't matter how much time.

SilverWook said:

Lucas would have cast a youthful actor as Anakin in ROTJ, if he actually had that concept back in 1982. He cast someone in his late 70's instead.

It wouldn't have been any harder to make a younger actor look older as well as scarred when the helmet came off.

it's a harmless retcon that doesn't disrupt anything, unlike most of the changes.

SilverWook said:

Mostly harmless?

Depends greatly on one's point of view. Mine is you don't digitally chop a dead Shakespearean actor's head off 22 years later, and replace it with someone else. ;)

 Truth is a point of view, Silverwook.