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Star Wars: The Lost Cut Reconstruction Project (* unfinished project *)

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 (Edited)

CONTENTS

  1. Introduction
  2. What You Can Do To Help
  3. Updates
  4. Change List
  5. What Is Used
  6. Video
  7. Images
  8. Website Page
  9. Special Thanks To

 
INTRODUCTION

In case you didn’t know, there exists a rough cut of A New Hope. This has become what people now call “The Lost Cut”. This version was originally spliced together by John Jympson. The film was later re-cut to form the film I saw in theaters back in May 1977.

David Reynolds published an article in the Star Wars Insider #41 that talked about it. Here’s a brief rundown of what he mentioned:

1. Black-and-white, silent 13 35mm reels.

2. The reel cans are labeled “The Star Wars”, which was the original title.

3. 30-40% different footage (including unused scenes and longer/alternate takes).

4. Feels less dramatic than final cut. More documentary-like.

5. Live projected backgrounds wherever possible were used in place of blue screen effects.

6. There is more time given to both main and secondary characters.

7. This is meant to be a work-in-progress, nothing less or more.

But what if this version of Star Wars was the one that was released in 1977? What if the Special Editions weren’t made? This is my project. I’ll be using a certain someone’s (cough Harmy’s Despecialized Edition cough) fan-edit to help me.

Harmy’s Despecialized Edition of A New Hope is amazing. It’s the closest thing we will ever get to the original theatrical version. Since TLC was a work-in-progress, I decided to use Harmy’s DE. I also own the Blu-ray edition.

Sadly, in order to match the visual quality of the deleted scenes found on the Blu-ray bonus discs and a few found in Empire Of Dreams, I’ll be degrading the quality of Harmy’s DE: adding all those black lines that sometimes move across the screen and the black dots. But don’t worry, these black lines and dots won’t appear as much as they do on the deleted scenes. Just enough to give it the old film-in-storage-for-a-very-long-time look and feel.

I decided to keep most of the music. For a few reasons. Even though the rough cut might have been finished before the score was recorded, it feels right to keep most of the music.

I’ll be making an .iso when I get closer to the completion date so people can own a copy of this project.
 

Below are things of interest.

UPDATES
 

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

You can help by supplying me with anything that may be useful. Almost everything is welcomed. At the moment, I do not have any programs that will let me edit things frame by frame. If anybody wants to help me lower the visual and audio quality of Harmy’s DE, then go for it. Hopefully I’ll get some programs soon myself. Please supply a link to what you talk about. Saying something like “It’s in this one video” and not saying what’s it’s called and/or not giving a link to it is not very helpful.
 

CHANGE LIST

This is a list of things that I will be doing. Things will be added when a member or myself thinks of something.

1. Rerotoscoping all the lightsabers blades to be white.

2. Restoring David Prowse’s voice (wherever I can)

3. New title crawl will feature the original longer intended crawl.

4. Adding in the old black lines and dots as well as audio drop offs in some parts to show that the film has aged.

5. Lowering the visual and audio quality or Harmy’s DE to match the Blu-ray and other source’s deleted scenes.

6. Restoring Peter Mayhew’s voice (wherever I can).

7. Restoring the original take of the Han & Jabba scene.

8. “No escape for the Princess” now becomes “No escape for the Captain”.

9. Restoring as much as I can of the original Jabba scene. Might be a combination of 1977 and color-corrected 2004 footage.

10. Replacing the Jawa Sandcrawler with the original bottom completed half before a matter of it was added.
 

WHAT IS USED

1. Harmy’s Despecialized Edition of Episode IV: A New Hope

2. Blu-ray deleted scenes

3. “Empire Of Dreams” documentary

4. “The Making Of Star Wars” documentary

5. Original 1977 Teaser Trailer

6. Star Wars Radio Drama (for alternate dialogue)

7. Behind The Magic CD-ROM
 

VIDEOS

(None at this time)
 

IMAGES

1. Star Wars Insider #41 scans: Pages 68-75, 4 files, 2 pages each: http://i.imgur.com/T43degX.jpg | http://i.imgur.com/JKQGxxg.jpg | http://i.imgur.com/FmXE3YP.jpg | http://i.imgur.com/x4JVqx9.jpg

2. “This rare still shows that the scene may have been even more gory”: http://i.imgur.com/5naal5q.png
 

WEBSITE PAGE

(coming soon)
 

SPECIAL THANKS TO

(In no particle order)

Harmy for the super awesome Despecialized Edition

George Lucas for ruining my children’s lives

My little Dachshund for being so cute.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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I shall be watching this project with interest.

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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So will you be reducing Gringo's iines to allow for some of the lines added when Jabba's scene was cut or just keeping the camp original English voice in it's full glory?

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I am in full support. By the way, you might be interested in the new eBook release. Lots of unused shots and takes that you'll find extremely useful.

Also, in case you didn't know-

http://starwarz.com/starkiller/star-wars-the-adventures-of-luke-starkiller-revised-fourth-draft/

http://starwarz.com/starkiller/star-wars-the-adventures-of-luke-starkiller-as-taken-from-the-journal-of-the-whills/

Both versions of the fourth draft. They contain the original crawl.

And, this-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OifGRg0pebw

Good luck. ;)

I’m just here because I’m driving tonight.

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 (Edited)

Bingowings said:

So will you be reducing Gringo's iines to allow for some of the lines added when Jabba's scene was cut or just keeping the camp original English voice in it's full glory?

I'll be using the original recorded voice of Paul Blake. This can be found on Behind The Magic and one of the extra the Blu-ray discs. So yes, the original voice will be heard, unless it can't. Meaning that the parts of the audio from the sources are missing will have the re-dubbed alien voice.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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 (Edited)

Tack said:

I am in full support. By the way, you might be interested in the new eBook release. Lots of unused shots and takes that you'll find extremely useful.

Also, in case you didn't know-

http://starwarz.com/starkiller/star-wars-the-adventures-of-luke-starkiller-revised-fourth-draft/

http://starwarz.com/starkiller/star-wars-the-adventures-of-luke-starkiller-as-taken-from-the-journal-of-the-whills/

Both versions of the fourth draft. They contain the original crawl.

And, this-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OifGRg0pebw

Good luck. ;)

I already know about the two versions of the fourth draft. Except I got them from http://starwars.rossiters.com/anh_screenplays.html instead. But what you've supplied is still appreciated.

I'm familiar with the many different title crawls mad by fans using iMovie or Movie Maker to try and restore the original intended crawl, but this video on YouTube I'm not familiar with. Is it from this new eBook?

I didn't even know a new eBook was released. Can I have a link for information about it?

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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Sure. It's a digital upgrade to the original Rinzler 'Making of' books, with new pieces of behind the scenes footage unearthed from Lucasfilm's vaults.

I remember a few of them:

Luke, Han, and Leia waltzing through the hallways with the weapons behind their backs.

The original crawl.

Editorial version of the opening strike (more Antilles dialogue)

Various other odds and ends (some of the original lightsaber footage, if I'm not mistaken)

I’m just here because I’m driving tonight.

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 (Edited)

Tack said:

Sure. It's a digital upgrade to the original Rinzler 'Making of' books, with new pieces of behind the scenes footage unearthed from Lucasfilm's vaults.

I remember a few of them:

Luke, Han, and Leia waltzing through the hallways with the weapons behind their backs.

The original crawl.

Editorial version of the opening strike (more Antilles dialogue)

Various other odds and ends (some of the original lightsaber footage, if I'm not mistaken)

Does the eBook you're talking about include these bloopers by chance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgLl0_mqLtc? And is based off this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Star-Wars-Definitive/dp/B00DT6BGFA/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1396406113&sr=8-11&keywords=The+Making+of+Star+Wars+rinzler ?

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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They certainly do. 

I don't own them (yet) but I do know that they have a wealth of content, perfect for this here project of yours.

I’m just here because I’m driving tonight.

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Obi Benuubi said:

CHANGE LIST

2. Restoring David Powell's voice (wherever I can)

 Who is David Powell?

J

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Jaitea said:

Obi Benuubi said:

CHANGE LIST

2. Restoring David Powell's voice (wherever I can)

 Who is David Powell?

J

That is a good question indeed....

Meant to say David Prowse.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Tack said:

They certainly do. 

I don't own them (yet) but I do know that they have a wealth of content, perfect for this here project of yours.

Good. I've read the physical copy in the past from the library, but I wanted to make sure that the edition of the eBook mentioned here was the same as the book I was thinking of, well besides the eBook having several extras. I might as well check the book out this weekend and then later buy my own copy. Good. I'm not confused anymore.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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Sounds interesting, I'd love to see this

J

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C-3PO seems to have two different versions of "There'll be no escape". One draft and the film has "the Princess", while another draft has "the Captain". I'm not sure which one was recorded on set. This same thing happens on Tatooine when Obi-Wan and Luke recover him. One is where he says something like "I must have taken a bad step" and the other is something like "I must have fallen over".

If I decide to go with "the Captain", I can easily get "Captain" from when he says "Our last master was Captain Antilles." What do you guys think?

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

Author
Time

I prefer "Captain," as that was also what was used in the novelization, and later Threepio denies any familiarity with her while Luke is checking out her hologram.  It doesn't appear he is lying, so I find this to be a mistake.  Captain seems to be the original line, and it makes more sense.  I'd go with that.

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darth_ender said:

I prefer "Captain," as that was also what was used in the novelization, and later Threepio denies any familiarity with her while Luke is checking out her hologram.  It doesn't appear he is lying, so I find this to be a mistake.  Captain seems to be the original line, and it makes more sense.  I'd go with that.

Also if C-3PO did say "There'll be no escape for the Captain this time", if fore-shadows what will happen to him about 5-6 minutes later.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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Time

So, I'm curious, what will your sources be for the original Jabba scene? Mostly all sources are incomplete.

I’m just here because I’m driving tonight.

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That's a point - I myself am looking for a source of that scene without that wall of rolling credits...

Ol’ George has the GOUT, I see.

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 (Edited)

Tack said:

So, I'm curious, what will your sources be for the original Jabba scene? Mostly all sources are incomplete.

Before I bought the Blu-ray version for myself, I used my uncle's. I thought I saw the original Jabba scene in it and though "Yes, the completed scene! Hell yeah!" But I can't find it on mine. Must have been my imagination or something. I'll try something with what is available. The final product might be a combination of the old original footage and 2004 Special Edition.

I'll fix it so Han DOES NOT walk on top of Jabba, this keeps it closer to what was originally filmed.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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Time
 (Edited)

RIJIR said:

I really like this project idea.  One suggestion I have is to remove any matte paintings by using photos from numerous books and magazines over the years that would show a scene without the final look to them.  For example the Jawa Sandcrawler and the chasms of the Death Star.

http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/swcs/episode4/lostcut.htmlode4/lostcut.html

http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/swcs/episode4/lostcut.html

This is actually one of my original plans for this project. The one thing I'm still thinking about is if I should replace the star fields during the Death Star battle with a blue screen or keep the stars how they are.

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/

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Obi Benuubi said:

This is actually one of my original plans for this project. The one thing I'm still thinking about is if I should replace the star fields during the Death Star battle with a blue screen or keep the stars how they are.

 I say replace them.  If you are going for the "Lost Cut" look go all out.

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Work on the project has been a little slow. I'm trying to get all the Han and Jabba things I can. For sure I know of the scene being included in the introduction for the ANH Special Edition and From Star Wars To Jedi. I know that one program has parts with credits. Does anyone know which one that is called?

Favorite Star Wars Films In Order: 546312

Website: (coming Soon)

"You can't just magically extract something after it's been mixed. It's like trying to remove the egg from a baked cake"

My Current Project: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Lost-Cut-Reconstruction-Project/topic/16539/