Harmy's RETURN OF THE JEDI Despecialized Edition HD - V3.1 — Page 42

I said i prefer the originals. I only asked for a version with the only change of the Victory Celebration music as a curiosity, not as a subtitute of the originals. You misunderstood me.

Alderaan94 said:

I said i prefer the originals. I only asked for a version with the only change of the Victory Celebration music as a curiosity, not as a subtitute of the originals. You misunderstood me.

I didn't phrase my post well.  It's not meant as a dig at you -- sorry if it came across that way.   What's sad is that you grew up with the SEs, which is completely Lucas's fault, and is his intention.

Same here, not going out of my way to slam you, people like what they like, it is just the more I hear people say that they grew up with the Special Editions, it makes me sad, and also brings into sharp focus the growing extent of the intentional damage already done by Lucas' desire to supplant the originals.  As MrPib graciously quoted for us, Lucas basically intended for his newer versions to culturally eclipse the originals or at least physically outlast the mediums it was widely available on (I will boldly assume that quote was from before the GOUT).  Harmy's version will do a TON of good, but only ever on an underground movement kind of level, a Rebellion of sorts, if you will.  If we ever truly hope to avert the SE dominated--dystopian--future, we really need Disney (and to a related degree Fox) to step up and release the OOT on equal or greater footing than the SE's, and soon.  Once nostalgia for the SE's over takes the OOT, it could be all over, and that's just unconscionable.

As for me, I'd buy a proper OOT release in a heartbeat, but I wouldn't say I'd "replace" Harmy's versions, as they are amazing to watch for what they are, and I doubt I'd resist going back and checking them out from time to time.  Besides, I'm in the credits of his version of ESB and should likewise be in ROTJ, I mean, how cool is that?

Oh, that reminds me, Harmy, what are your plans for non-SE credits for v2.0 of RotJ?  Do you have a -1 scan for it that you want to use, or should the community get busy on recreating (and proofing) new credits from scratch like with ESB?

We've already sent the complete credits for Return of the Jedi to Harmy.

Team Negative1

yoda-sama said:

Lucas basically intended for his newer versions to culturally eclipse the originals or at least physically outlast the mediums it was widely available on (I will boldly assume that quote was from before the GOUT).

You are correct, sir.  And while the DVD won't fade like VHS, it will nonetheless be eclipsed by HD and beyond -- especially since it's non-anamorphic, and from a very old master.

Here's a great piece about the importance of the OOT.  It has the Lucas quote that I posed above.  The site is down, but the Internet Archive has some of the content:

http://web.archive.org/web/20121230052150/http://savestarwars.com/righttoculturalheritage.html

I don't understand why the 97SE desecration is considered by some to better than the subsequent desecrations.  They're all a travesty, and none of them are Star Wars.

Excellent explanation, CatBus.  Thank you, and I see your point.

Interesting about JEJ.  The IMDB trivia page says:

James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader, but specifically requested that he not be credited. At the time, the reason he cited was that he felt he had not done enough work to get the billing, but he later admitted that he didn't want his name associated with the film because he was still an up-and-coming actor, and didn't want to be typecast. Jones does receive billing in the subsequent sequels and the 1997 "Special Edition".

I wonder if he OK'd getting credited in the SEs.  I assume, by 1997, there was no danger that he'd be typecast as a Sith Lord ;-)

I've been lurking these threads for a long time now, and I wanna make a comment about what you guys are talking about here, cause I never do...and I'm bored.

When I was in...9th grade, I was lucky enough to be invited to see the 97 Special Edition of Star Wars before it was released, out here in LA. I think it was a Star Wars Insider thing...anyway, honestly, it was one of the best times I've ever had at the movies. It was Star Wars on the big screen! And Boba Fett was in it! And people were getting rowdy and everyone was really enjoying it and it was just an amazing thing. It was beautiful to be in a dark theater with hundreds of other Star Wars nerds watching the movie and cheering and all that stuff. HOWEVER...nobody told us at that point...or at least I didn't know, that the original negatives had been butchered for it. And I didn't realize, that the plan was to change the movies forever. 

See, I think that's the real problem isn't it? Like the Special Edition exists. Fine, why not? Fun stuff. But to try and eliminate the movies as they were in their original form...is frankly really strange. In fact, the GOUT seems to me like a big middle finger to the fans that have been asking for the originals. I don't see any reason not to release the originals, and honestly not doing so is really disrespectful to the craftsmen and women who created all those wonderful sets and painted backgrounds and puppets.

Another HUGE THANK YOU, to Harmy, and Team Negative, and everybody else involved in these restorations. And thanks to all you cool dudes who post on these threads and keep this website going, giving me fascinating and funny stuff to read and watch. 

Jorel81 said:

It was Star Wars on the big screen! And Boba Fett was in it! And people were getting rowdy and everyone was really enjoying it and it was just an amazing thing. It was beautiful to be in a dark theater with hundreds of other Star Wars nerds watching the movie and cheering and all that stuff. HOWEVER...nobody told us at that point...or at least I didn't know, that the original negatives had been butchered for it. And I didn't realize, that the plan was to change the movies forever. 

 I think many of us had the same experience. I saw absolutely nothing wrong with adding to them for a special anniversary release. And it was fun having "new" footage of Harrison as Solo on the big screen, even with a weird looking Jaba. Greedo shooting first? It's probably sacrilege, but I'm not sure that I noticed the first time.

It wasn't until years later during the build up to the DVD releases, and the retirement of VHS collections, etc, that it dawned on me that the originals were being buried alive. Surely the anniversary cut from 97 should be material for "disc 2" in a DVD release? And that's how I found this place, the first time. Everyone at the time was excited about a silly soon-to-be-vaporware fancypants laserdisc encoding. Look how far it's all come...

I don't suppose there's any way to know how ROTJ is coming on, but I have a very active interest in this, as I'm sure most of us do. I just wish there were more updates on progress (unless there are frequent updates I just don't see)

Lust-In-Phaze said:

I don't suppose there's any way to know how ROTJ is coming on, but I have a very active interest in this, as I'm sure most of us do. I just wish there were more updates on progress (unless there are frequent updates I just don't see)

 Last we heard (late feb?) he had only finished a few shots. He just got a new kickass job, though. So things might be busy with that. Or maybe he's too busy making progress with Jedi to give us updates. :)