4K restoration on Star Wars — Page 95

Okay…so hmmmmmm. Hesitant to get excited, because I know they can still mess up a 4K version in so many ways.

I’m certain we’ll get something for the 40th anniversary. They won’t let such an occasion go unacknowledged. And with all the 4K UHD discs coming out lately, they’ll have to put that out eventually too so it’s perfect timing. I would bet money that the OUT will be released, simply because they know damn well the fans will not be pleased if they try to put out just the SE yet again without George even involved. And because sites like this are cutting into Disney’s profits; yes, I know it’s a niche site and yes, I know we’re supposed to own the Blu-ray, but major publications have written about it and there’s no doubt plenty of people who download Despecialized without paying Disney a cent. They’ll want to rectify that just like the GOUT put a stop to laserdisc bootlegs.

Unfortunately we’re probably stuck with the SE forever though, even if it comes with the OUT, simply because the SE will have been the standard in one form or another for literally exactly as long as the original was. That means a generation or two grew up on it. For their sake, it would be nice if they also restored the 97 SE. Which might be easier; if it is true that the negatives are the 97 SE, it should be no problem whatsoever to throw that initial scan on as a bonus even if they alter it to the 2011 version for the standard release.

My ideal would be for them to hybrid it all together with branching: Scan the 97 negative and use it as the base, “despecialize” it for the OUT and “respecialize” it for the 2011 SE. Then stick it all on one disc and allow viewers to seamlessly select which version to watch, using the same footage for everything except for where scenes differ. This assumes of course that they get the colors and everything down perfectly for all versions, which would be pretty sweet. And since both the colors and audio of the 97 SE are unanimously praised around here, I don’t think people could complain too much if it was used as the base everything else was built around.

I don’t see much reason for restoring the 97 SE. The fact that they never made it to DVD means very few people truly “grew up with them”, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the folks who prefer the SE don’t care or even realize that the 97 cut is different. It’s an interesting curiosity for obsessive completists like many of the denizens of this site as a sort of transitional specimen between the Star Wars that was and the Star Wars that is, but if you’re not one of the relative few who are really interested in the evolution of the film, I’m betting you want either the theatrical cuts or else the canonical ones.

NOTE: None of this is to say I wouldn’t like to see the 97 included in some kind of ultimate comprehensive box set. Sure, if they’re doing it anyway I’ll take it. It’s just extremely low on my list of priorities. Hell, I think I’d prefer it if they fixed some of the CGI in the SE rather than reverting it to an earlier version. As long as we get the OUT, I’m fine with and even curious about potential new iterations of the SE.

Harmy said:

joefavs said:

As long as we get the OUT, I’m fine with and even curious about potential new iterations of the SE.

Same here. It’s important to point out though, that even though the '97SE didn’t come out on DVD, it did get a wide theatrical release and my generation did grow up with it on VHS, so there is definitely some nostalgia for it and nostalgia is very much the wave Disney is surfing right now.

Oh definitely, my earliest actual memory of Star Wars was the theatrical release of the SE when I was seven years old (though I know I watched the Faces tapes a year or two before), and I wore out that set of SE tapes. I just meant that there’s got to be significantly fewer folks who are very interested in that version because it was the standard version for such a relatively short amount of time. Moreover, unlike the small tweaks between the 2004 and 2011 versions, the 2004 cut actually retconned aspects of the 1997 one, so it exists in this weird limbo of being obsolete in terms of continuity without any of the purist virtues of being original. I’d definitely like to watch it if it was included in a 40th anniversary set for nostalgia’s sake, but the truth is I don’t think I’ve felt strongly enough about it to watch the 97 all the way through since the 04 came out (I have watched selected scenes from your Respecialized and Team Blu’s upscale a few times, though).

John Knoll is Senior Visual effects Supervisor at Lucusfilm he is also responsible for heading up a lot of the Cgi in the Special Editions

I’ve never watched anything more than short clips from the 2004 and later versions. If I were going to watch the SE in any form, I’d strongly prefer to watch the 1997 versions. At least I have fun memories of seeing those in the theater.

canofhumdingers said:

1997 versions. At least I have fun memories of seeing those in the theater.

Really? I only remember being utterly aghast, appalled and mortified.
If anything, those versions have the most negative emotions attached for me.
Which I guess makes sense since I never watched any other versions. Or even the '97 RotJ…

I saw the SE of ANH in the theatres though I have very little memory of it being that I was 4 at the time. Its possible I didnt even own SW on video yet at that point! My first proper introduction to the SEs, by which point I owned the Faces set, was through television airings and borrowing the SE VHS set from a friend of my then babysitter. Eventually my dad got me the same set for Christmas one year though in hindsight I didnt play it out as much as my Faces or '92 sets. What does that tell you??

Darth Id said:

canofhumdingers said:

1997 versions. At least I have fun memories of seeing those in the theater.

Really? I only remember being utterly aghast, appalled and mortified.
If anything, those versions have the most negative emotions attached for me.
Which I guess makes sense since I never watched any other versions. Or even the '97 RotJ…

Yeah, I have fond memories of it. I was only 14. It was the first (and only) time I ever saw the OT in a movie theater. And as a middle schooler, I actually thought a lot of the changes and additions were neat at the time. Like many people, I never expected them to completely replace the originals the way they did.

On that note, when was the last time Disney released the theatrical version of Fantasia, anyway?

joefavs said:

Harmy said:

joefavs said:

As long as we get the OUT, I’m fine with and even curious about potential new iterations of the SE.

Same here. It’s important to point out though, that even though the '97SE didn’t come out on DVD, it did get a wide theatrical release and my generation did grow up with it on VHS, so there is definitely some nostalgia for it and nostalgia is very much the wave Disney is surfing right now.

Oh definitely, my earliest actual memory of Star Wars was the theatrical release of the SE when I was seven years old (though I know I watched the Faces tapes a year or two before), and I wore out that set of SE tapes. I just meant that there’s got to be significantly fewer folks who are very interested in that version because it was the standard version for such a relatively short amount of time.

Actually, assuming they release it next year, 97 SE and 04 SE will both have been the standard for 7 years, 11 SE the standard for 6 years. That’s a lot of kids who formed their first memories of Star Wars with each version. You said it yourself, your first Star Wars memory is going to the theatrical release and that alone was huge, let alone the popularity of the VHS tapes for 7 years after that. I’m not sure how much nostalgia there actually is for it yet, let alone the 04 version (which as you point out wasn’t all that changed in 2011 anyway), but Lucasfilm owes it to the fans not to bury their childhood memories. They never should have tweaked the movies in the first place, but since they did, it’s only right that they make all iterations available because they each no doubt have nostalgic ties to thousands if not millions of fans.

For me, I’ll be more than satisfied with the OUT alone because that is the version I wore out the VHS tapes of (not even the Faces, the older tapes with the original audio mix and everything, save that 3PO line which the movie feels incomplete without). Never mind it’s also the superior version hands down anyway. But, it would be selfish of me to not hope they give each SE version the proper treatment as well, especially since it’s not like it would be difficult to do. The 04 version is arguably unnecessary, but I think the fact that 97 was a theatrical release, and is possibly the version of the negatives, justifies it. I’ll probably never watch it, save maybe once as a curiosity, considering it holds no nostalgic value for me and doesn’t even have any of the changes I actually like such as the Emperor hologram. But I’m aware that’s not the case for everyone. Everyone should be able to have their own 'member berries, not just us OUT fans.

Since there were only a handful of additional changes in '04 and 2011, it would probably be a simple matter of using seamless branching to include them on the same disc as the '97 version. Then the “final” and unaltered versions could each get their own discs.* So, in other words, this would be very similar to the blade runner set.

I think the '97 SE should absolutely be included. It’s what started this whole mess in the first place, so it provides historical context for future viewers. Also, as stated above, it was the first/last time in 20 years the films got a wide re-release in theaters.

*This assumes of course that the 2011 version isn’t already the final version, which we don’t know for sure. Tack said the roadshow screening he went to over the summer looked very different from the lowry master, but was still the 2011 version in terms of content. The 04/11 changes he said looked different from the rest of the movie, suggesting they were simply copy-pasted into the new master. If this version is in fact the final version, I’d still like the '97 version included on its own disc for history’s sake. I would obviously inderstand, though, if the unaltered version was the only other thing included.

Fang Zei said:
I would obviously inderstand, though, if the unaltered version was the only other thing included.

This last was all I meant. I’d love to see the 97 included, I just suspect it’s so niche that it won’t be bothered with unless they go the Blade Runner route and make a point of being comprehensive. What I actually expect is a (hopefully) remastered 2011 packaged with the OUT.