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Theater Performance Preservations — Page 9

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..and I found this on the Z version:

from here: http://jona82.tripod.com/

30/5/99 - Episode I Bootlegs


Bootlegs of Episode I are appearing EVERYWHERE. If they're not being openly sold by street traders in New York they're being downloaded from the internet. Impossible for most UK residents, but many American fans have cable or ASDL lines.

But what if you can't wait untill July 16th, should you buy one? Well if you're going to buy one my money would go on the Video-CD version.A company called Megavision VCD is openly selling it on their website. Lucas made the piracy situation worse for himself (IMHO), because he didn't have a worldwide release.

Here's two screenshots of the VCD, as you can see, the quality isn't that bad.

Click here for shot 1.

Or CLick here for shot 2.

Visit my *NEW* Star Wars on Video Collection site:

http://www.swonvideo.com

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Video_Collector wrote:

When doing a search for Phantom Menace bootleg I found this blog, telling of how he first encountered the Z version:

http://shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php/2009/05/the-10th-aniversary-of-the-death-of-the-modern-film-industry/

Chatted with him at one point, see the blog comments.  He was curt in the online comment section, but more open in e-mail discussion.

The 'Galactic Trade Federation' sprang from OT.com.  Russs15's project to document the discs, primarily from early 2000 to 2006 or so.  Here's a thread:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Galactic-Trade-Federation-website/topic/3369/

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Added those links to the first post.  That http://jona82.tripod.com/ was the main public face of TPM bootleg, looking back at the time.  Part of the push for one world release date.

Nice find of the Meet Joe Black TPM trailer.  Remember sitting through the movie for the trailer.  They played it before and after.  From that trailer, here's the AotC Yoda (Spider-Man) Trailer w/ audiences going wild:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLZ5IDVxsBs&feature=related

Yup i'll attempt to contact them.  (and if you want there is an edit function for posts, especially if it's the last post, just amend with additional info.)

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 (Edited)

yet even more ESB lead:

http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php?topic=11259.30

I can only speak from my experiences back in the early 80's - when you swapped bootlegs for blank tapes (which is why the current law was changed to read "gain, even if not monetary"). More than seven years ago.

Back when - if you knew the right people - you could get a copy of Empire Strikes Back that had been copied on a telecine without a widescreen lens so that everyone looked tall and squashed - unless you had a TV like my General Electric that allowed you to adjust the size of the picture on the screen from the back so that you could make the vertical smaller until that picture looked normal. Letterboxed Empire Strikes Back in my own home in 1984...sweet.

 

Even though it was one of the first places I was going to look through, didn't until this link popped up: (Going through entire thread)

http://www.vcdq.com/forum/topic41378-120.html

Star Wars Ep. 1, bought it off a guy when I was in high school for $5.


But if your saying a bootleg is one ripped from a movie theater with a cam/ts/scr then mine is a VHS of Star Wars Ep. 1


Ahhh, that reminded me, I had a faultless workprint/screener of Return of the Jedi. Well, I got it given as I can't of been old when it came out (I'd have been 2 it seems, I only remember cos my rents kept the copy for years as it was ace).



The first one I remember is the original Star Wars on Betamax, I must have been about 3. I Remember getting ESB for my 4th birthday and also ET and Superman 1 and 2 around this time. Still got the pirated SW trilogy on betamax somewhere.


Return of the jedi, bad cam hired from an asian video shop in the early '80s.



I can't really remember, exactly, but like I know back in the day I had Office Space, Matrix, Episode 1 and American Beauty all in .asf format ..


also i remember having pirates (well my cousin did) of the exorcist and return of the jedi.


My first pirated movie I watched was star wars a new hope I was just a little kid watching it on top loading vcr. But as far as the first movie I burnt myself I can't quite remember it was a crappy cam but I was amazed that I could do it.



oldest ive seen = empire strikes back and a couple of disneys.


Phantom Menace VCD with a huge "Z" watermark on the side of the screen.


Star Wars a new hope here. my Mom worked for a dodgy video store:D remember the quality being quite good although it was quite a few yrs


I remember mine being The Empire Strikes Back! It was from a friends "Biker" dad who had hundreds of quality films (some NOT for kids") that we found in a drawer in his bedroom. That copy of Empire was worn out as was E.T. and Jedi some time later! What's the worst quality copy anyone else has seen recently? - mine has to be the naff incomplete "Phantom of The Opera" Cam copy going around???



Star Wars Episode I


Star wars E4 in VHS


the first "digital" copy was "Star Wars Ep. 1".. A cam version.. and in the middle of the movie the screen went black after the "battery! battery!" logo jumped up and down..... then it came up again :) guess they did a fast battery switch there


First one i remember watching was Return of the jedi when i was a kid.



I wrote earlier in this thread it was ROTJ but a friend pointed out (In fact dug out of his attic) Star Wars:Telecine so I guess my first pirated video was actually a TC. How cool is that, god knows how old I was when I saw it, I was 6 when ROTJ came out.

it's even cooler that we still have a copy of the TC even if it is nth generation.

I'm going to have to watch it again (Although the quality is really quite bad) as suppossedly there are some subtle differences.

Might just redownload it though as there are better copies floating around the net for those true star wars freaks who know where to look.

::Edit

Looking through his attic, I seem to have found a treasure trove of '80's and '90's bootlegs, I notice most of the '80s bootlegs are cam's, most of the '90s are screeners. Star Wars is the only TC out of the bunch.

There's something truly cool about watching ghostbusters on a cam (Even though I have it on dvd) it really brings back the'80s feel I might have to watch temple of doom next (Maybe watching a cam of it will make it better).



My first non CAM was the Revenge of The Sith Workprint. It sorta got me hooked all over again;)


my first vhs pirate would've probably been Star Wars episode VI, although i had to hire it & copy it, so not really a proper pirate.



Would have to be Star Wars EP1, back in 99, pretty damn killer for a TS, plus it blew my mind how over 700mb could be burned, years later realizing overburning lol.


Star Wars Episode 1 was mine as well.

I'll always remember having the full scary movie in 63MB, two asf files... Thanks mirage (Or whoever it was).

http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24155&pagenumber=

The mono track was available either from a VHS bootleg telecine from the time of the films release or from 1980's ITV broadcasts in the UK

 

http://www.worlds-forum.com/archive/index.php/t-158806.html

What i do remember vividly is that my dad had some 'connections' and we were able to get our hands on a pirate copy of 'The Empire Strikes Back'. I had never seen so many people in our house to watch that video

 

http://www.allquests.com/question/1942555/Whats-the-earliest-film-you-remember-watching-on-VHS.html

can remember going into a video shop with my parents when I was about 5 and they couldn't rent us Empire Strikes Back but he offered us a priate copy.

 

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Huh those new leads do sound interesting. The one that really caught my eye is an ROTJ workprint/screener. I've never heard of one, save the rough version of the SE ending.

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The source of the Widescreen Pre-ANH SW provides us with details of the tapes history:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Pre-ANH-bootleg-telecine-a-widescreen-version/post/479983/#TopicPost479983

 

Following the U-Matic search line, leads to a familiar place:

http://www.starwars.com/fans/rocks/20090619.html

When director Duncan Jones first saw Star Wars, his passion for sci-fi, robots and filmmaking ignited -- all thanks to a pair of Sony U-matic tapes, courtesy of his father -- music legend and Labyrinth actor David Bowie.

Now that I have made a film, I feel kind of guilty about this, but bare in mind I was about 7 years old at the time. When I was a kid, we had this huge behemoth of a machine called a SONY U-matic. It was one of the very first video tape players. My dad had managed to wrangle us a copy of Star Wars: Episode IV on tape to Switzerland where we were living. The one film resided on a huge pair of Sony U-matic tapes, and I and my school chums would watch the film again and again on a huge TV in the front room. There would always be a dramatic pause half way through the film as we were forced to change tapes due to the limitations of the ancient technology. I never did get to see Episode IV at a theatre, but those days were perfect just as they were. I was crowned Prince of the Nerds, and those Star Wars tapes were my scepter.

Sounds like possibly the same tape as Moth3r's source.

 

Aluminum Falcon wrote:  The one that really caught my eye is an ROTJ workprint/screener.

I think this is a misconception.  There were bogus scammers on usenet offering up versions of ESB an RotJ calling them workprints which supposedly had missing scenes around the SE time.  Technology brought the price down so VHS bootlegs were decent enough to convince people that maybe they were a workprint/screener.  But don't think those terms were used back in the 80s outside of movie production people.

 

Origin story of a US sourced ESB: 

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/07/17/portable-vcrs/#comment-1058349

Another anecdote. We used to line up a half-dozen of the VCRs and copy tapes. Just plop ‘em on an unused desk, cable ‘em all up, and push all the buttons. This was bad enough, but then Steve Wozniak wanted a tape of the newly-released “The Empire Strikes Back.” He bribed a San Diego projectionist to “borrow” the print from the cinema and drive it to Los Angeles in the dead of night. After several hours in a transfer facility, he had a 3/4″ U-Matic professional copy of the film print, and the projectionist high-tailed it back to the cinema to return the print. That tape also made its way into the copying chain. We were perhaps the first half-dozen people with videotape copies of the film. (I discarded my heavily-letterboxed copy years ago…)

Woz later mentioned that the 4000-foot film reels wouldn’t fit the 3000-foot tables on the transfer machine, so they spent extra time cutting the print into sections that would fit, then spliced it back into its original form. Film companies, however, are very cautious that nobody steals frames from a film, lest they be printed into illegal still photos. The prints were examined to detect frame-stealing. Woz never asked whether the splices got the projectionist into any trouble; an occasional splice could be due to a film break, but not several at regular intervals.

Makes me wonder if Lucas knew of this and that affected the negotiations of the Pixar deal, Jobs might have been embarressed about his colleague's past actions... ok probably not.

 

 

SW lead sounds similar to the MeBeJedi/Starkiller.

http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000528.html

Watching a videotaped copy of Star Wars about ten generations down is quite an experience. Drifting sync causes the image to bobble around like a ship pitching on stormy seas. Audio buzz and background noise "breathing" could be awesome to behold. But everyone still got a kick out of watching such things, quality be damned.

 

 

thnxs: mMat Hab:

 

 

http://www.finalcolor.com/history4colorists.htm

mentions some of the Telecine machines from back then:

1975    Rank Cintel Ltd launches Mk III flying spot telecine. Revolutionary benefits include 525 and 625 line operation and 16mm and 35mm film on the same continuous motion transport.
1978     Rank Cintel Ltd introduces TOPSY, a remote control programming system the Mk III telecine.
1980    VTA develop the Wiz color corrector, which became da Vinci Classic 
1983     Amigo, a highly sophisticated controller and pre-programmer for the Mk III is launched      
1983     Sony Betacam vtr launched

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Thanks for the update none. By the way, have we still not yet found more information on where the Catnap bootleg came from?

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BH018 has news reports from the RotJ Hastings movie heist.

 

Received word of a possible black and white 1/2" Sony reel to reel 1977 Star Wars recording.

 

more memories:

http://boards.theforce.net/classic_trilogy/b10002/16459367/p1/

I was at a flea market about 40 miles from my home this weekend. A dealer that had tons of videos, mostly just copies of movies he rented, or old junk had one video I kind of wanted. It was Star Wars but not the official release. It was in the standard video box like the blank tapes come in. But someone took a sheet of paper that had a Star Wars poster scan on it and wraped it around the box. This scan had to be done on some old copy machine. It was very dark.

The dealer told me this was a bootleg copy of Star Wars taken in during the release of the movie. I thought he meant it was a copy from HBO or other video. BUt he played some of it on the little 13inch TV he had set up. The video wasn't great but you could tell it was taken with a video camera inside a theather. Didn't seem to be anyone else watching it but you could see some of the seats. The picture was kind of dark. He told me that he and a friend that own a theatre at the time made it.

I LOVE my Bootleg of ANH. Had it since I was 6 yrs old. Back in the days when RCA made VHS tapes. 2 Defects though. No opening crawl. And Luke says "They followed us" twice, just before they go on the Death Star. I dare say I still have it. I watch it from time to time because it was my only copy of ANH untill the letterbox THX edition of '95.

Does anyone know of changes done to Return of the Jedi- I used to have an old bootleg copy of that lying around. I got it while it was still in theatres, letterbox and everything, great transfer. I don't remember it being any different though. And yeah, I'd probably buy the old bootleg Star Wars tape!

Some of the most prized parts of my collection are bootlegs. It's just generally a no-no to mention certain aspects of it.

I actually have a bootleg copy of Empire Strikes Back. An old friend of my dad's had a son in the Army at the time and Lucas showed the film to the servicemen. Well, the son took in a camera and his dad gave my dad a copy of it. The image isn't bad, it's the sound that is awful.

My cousin had this boot back in '78 or '79, bought off the streets of NYC. I remember it well.

I had the ROtJ - indeed it was in WS & very good quality for a bootleg.

And I have a copy of ANH without the Ep. IV as well, I never knew it was A New Hope until I bought the 15th anniversary VHS P&S version from 1992 on video, since my copies wree so dark and old. From years of watching...

 

http://boards.theforce.net/toronto_on/b10043/6776026/r6823998/

I think that by the second week that EP1 was out, folks had passed me
3 or 4 different versions.

 

(aside) Uzay molds

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coffin_joe/5484610206/

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Read about how in the late 70s, there were renegade Italian television stations and one called 'Teledrog' played a pirated version of 'Star Wars'.

 

http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=64166

The best article i've read on this FBI prosecution of a TPM copy.

Prosecuted for enabling illegal downloads of "The Phantom Menace," Jason Spatafore says he’s a scapegoat. The FBI insists it has cornered a real threat to the movie industry. Staff Writer Jason Thompson examines the case that evokes big questions about the role of copyrights in the digital age.

By Jason Thompson
Posted on May 30, 2001

In the fall of 1999, a 25-year-old computer technician from Phoenix, Ariz., discovered that "Star Wars: Episode One" was available for free download at NataliePortman.com, an unauthorized fan site for the "Phantom Menace" star. Jason Spatafore (a.k.a., the Disman, due to his love for Disneyland) posted the film at his home page, Spata4ent.com.

 

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Hot_TPM_bootleg_market_in_New_York_City_80203.asp

Hot TPM bootleg market in New York City

Posted By Paul on May 29, 1999

Disclaimer: while Star Wars-related bootlegging news interests many of our readers, theForce.net does not condone the unlicensed sale of Star Wars bootlegs.

Reader "Darth Venus" sent this in, regarding Episode I bootlegs:

Just wanted to let you know that this is THE HOTTEST thing in nyc right now..Dealers are sellin out in minutes ...i waited on a LINE to get it on 8th ave. The bootleg i've seen all over town is pretty good...very washed out though not much color..but the audio is very VERY good, even the box was nice..looks real!...I asked The guy how its been ..He said He gets about 50 then there gone in minutes...His pager was going OFF for requests on where do get it..as i walked down the street.people were walking up to me asking if i could it for them or point them in the right direction...was very surreal, He said that the word on tha street is that a BETTER quality copy is hitting soon..with the audio dubbed straight to tape instead of it just being recorded in the theater...all an all if u want it its there ,but its hard to find..The guy i asked said he wasnt puttin it out to display..but if u asked he'd sell it..IF HE HAS IT!...also I saw a few vcds in china town going for about 7-10 bucks..but everyone i talked to about it was VERY VERY shady about it, even to the point of pretending to not know english when i spoke about it..but when i bought a john woo film..PERFECT english ..ha!...feel free to post all this..

Reader RojBlake7 also sent in some information from the southern U.S.:

Wanted to let you know that Bootlegs have hit the south! I picked up near Atlanta GA and a friend of mine a little south found some! $10 each and not as bad looking as i would have thought

Also, Shannon Opiela sent in an alert that http://www.vcdvision.com is openly selling copies, and even sending soliciting email to increase sales.

Finally, reader "BathTub" pointed us to an online story here about an online MPEG version.

http://www.isonews.com/misc/news/news.htm Article about MPEG version. (link inactive)

 

http://boards.theforce.net/the_phantom_menace/b10007/15911776/r15921475/

I saw it before in a bootleg version from the net..


Of course, I saw a bootleg version in June. Again, all stupid Germany's fault. Cool movie, but a ******* bootleg

http://www.theforce.net/holonet/story/Star_Wars_Prosecution_for_Kazaa_63797.asp

Jason Spatafore, 25, pleaded guilty to posting just one movie on the Web--"Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace"--in December 2000.

http://www.theforce.net/episode1/story/Russian_TPM_Bootlegs_80156.asp

Supposedly this version is the movie with a voice over translation in Russian!

http://www.theforce.net/episode1/story/Lynne_Hale_Comments_on_TPM_Net_Bootlegs_80177.asp

Lynne Hale Comments on TPM Net Bootlegs From the Hollywood Reporter ...

 

Star Wars: The cybermenace

Full-length copies of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" have been discovered in downloadable form on Internet sites as film piracy enters the cyberspace era. Other complete motion pictures, including "The Matrix" and "Payback," are finding their way onto the Internet within days of release or, as in the case of "The Blair Witch Project," sometimes even before the film hits theaters.

"We're taking a very aggressive stance and working with the FBI and the MPAA to go after anybody who has put or intends to put our film on the Web," Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale said, noting that the copies brought to Lucasfilm's attention thus far have been "of very poor quality." While that may be true, particularly in the case of bootlegs obtained by sneaking a camera into a movie theater, some observers claim to enjoy downloaded dupes with crisp imagery and pristine digital sound.

Stopping Bootleggers

Anyone with information pertaining to the selling and distribution of bootleg copies online, or in any format, please send it to hotline@mpaa.org, the MPAA's anti-piracy hotline. (The MPAA rewards program could earn you $15,000 if you report someone.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1999/jun/02/news

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1999/jun/03/news

Film Unlimited however has been informed that the internet copy - which has apparently been copied directly from the movie reel, not shot from the screen as originally suggested - is of a satisfactory quality.

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I still have an old episode of Inside Edition that spoke about the rampant bootlegging on TPM in 1999. It's really interesting, especially the part that says they're allowed to sell up to a certain dollar amount. :s They go into shops wiht hidden cameras and try to buy copies. There are others that have them spread out on the sidewalks, too.

My crazy vinyl LP blog

My dumberer blog

My Retro blog

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Ripplin wrote:

I still have an old episode of Inside Edition that spoke about the rampant bootlegging on TPM in 1999. It's really interesting, especially the part that says they're allowed to sell up to a certain dollar amount. :s They go into shops wiht hidden cameras and try to buy copies. There are others that have them spread out on the sidewalks, too.

Would be more then happy to digitize that for you. 

Recently digitized a copy of the Dateline piece "Phantom Taping" from 1999 on the topic.  The laws these reports choose to talk about are interesting, in the Dateline piece they claim it's not illegal to purchase bootlegs, which I guess gives them clearance to do this type of reporting, ie buying pirate versions and talking about them.  There's a few other oddities in the Dateline report, more on that later, the screen caps say it all.  That's another thing on the random to do list, see if I can get those reporters to talk about their remembrances.

The blanket spread out with tapes is a common sidewalk thing.  Makes it easy to grab'n'go.

 

Have recently been going through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) http://www.pacer.gov/

getting some of the public records for the various related trials.  Trying to get a better sense of the vastness of the US Government records.  Although it's one case, that case had decisions made by multiple departments and each department has it's own FOIA submittal issues.  What's nice about PACER is in any quarter if your searches/results stay under 10 bucks (.08/search/page) it's free.  So far have 'USA v. Hoaglin', 'USA v. Lumada, et al', 'USA v. McCausland'.  Will get some more when there's time.  Started looking into 'USA vs. Spatafore' but records past a certain number of years go into long storage, so will have to write a letter to get those.  There were a bunch of other records for this guy, they had him on a payment schedule but after a few years it took him under and there are some bankrupcy documents...

Attempting to identify the version Spatafore had, unfortuantely the waybackmachine didn't exist back then.  Need to find some other archive system.  Also looking for old .nzbs.  Anyone heard of a place collecting those, even though they are unuseable?

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none said:

Ripplin wrote:

I still have an old episode of Inside Edition that spoke about the rampant bootlegging on TPM in 1999. It's really interesting, especially the part that says they're allowed to sell up to a certain dollar amount. :s They go into shops wiht hidden cameras and try to buy copies. There are others that have them spread out on the sidewalks, too.

Would be more then happy to digitize that for you. 

Recently digitized a copy of the Dateline piece "Phantom Taping" from 1999 on the topic.  The laws these reports choose to talk about are interesting, in the Dateline piece they claim it's not illegal to purchase bootlegs, which I guess gives them clearance to do this type of reporting, ie buying pirate versions and talking about them.  There's a few other oddities in the Dateline report, more on that later, the screen caps say it all.  That's another thing on the random to do list, see if I can get those reporters to talk about their remembrances.

That sounds good too. Sounds very similar to mine. I basically have a tape full of every Star Wars clip I could find on TV around 1999/2000. I'm sure there's a lot on it most here haven't seen simply because it was on Canadian TV or they just plain missed it. Would be fun to convert the whole thing to DVD so others can see it.

My crazy vinyl LP blog

My dumberer blog

My Retro blog

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Ripplin said:

Would be fun to convert the whole thing to DVD so others can see it.

That might be interesting. I didn't follow all the Star Wars news back then so it might be cool to see.

Also, none, according to those old news articles, there were a lot of TPM bootlegs floating around... I never saw one but it sounds like they really spread. I can imagine a lot of street corner selling. I wonder what most people did with their copies after the official VHS came out...

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Going thru the PACER (http://www.pacer.gov/) database brings up many cases I didn't know existed.  It seems there was a significantly wider effort in 2005 to combat internet copyright infringement.  The US had just installed the Family Copyright Act and these cases are some of the ones attempting to see it implemented.

16 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-01440 820 06/02/2005 02/27/2006
  Lions Gate Films, Inc. et al v. Does 1 - 17
17 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-01966 820 07/28/2005 03/01/2006
  Lions Gate Films, Inc. et al v. Does 1 - 28
18 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-01967 820 07/28/2005 12/14/2005
  Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al v. Does 1 - 27
19 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-01968 820 07/28/2005 08/25/2006
  Disney Enterprises, Inc. et al v. Does 1-3 and 11
20 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-02511 820 09/28/2005 05/04/2006
  Paramount Pictures Corporation et al v. Does 1 - 14
21 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-02512 820 09/28/2005 05/02/2006
  Lions Gate Films, Inc. et al v. Does 1 - 21
22 Lucasfilm LTD (pla) gandce 1:2005-cv-03041 820 11/30/2005 06/07/2006
  New Line Productions, Inc. et al v. Does 1 - 34
82 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) moedce 4:2005-cv-00898 820 06/02/2005 11/16/2005
  Disney Enterprises, Inc. et al v. Does 1-18
83 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) moedce 4:2005-cv-01178 820 07/28/2005 03/24/2006
  New Line Productions, Inc. et al v. Does 1-18
84 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) moedce 4:2005-cv-01582 820 09/28/2005 07/11/2006
  Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al v. Does 1-11
85 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) moedce 4:2006-cv-00617 820 04/12/2006 07/19/2006
  Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. et al v. Does 1 - 20
91 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) nysdce 1:2005-cv-06761 820 07/28/2005 12/15/2005
  Universal City Studios Productions LLLP et al v. Does
92 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) nysdce 1:2005-cv-06762 820 07/28/2005 11/10/2005
  Disney Enterprises, Inc. et al v. Does
93 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) nysdce 1:2005-cv-06763 820 07/28/2005 10/26/2005
  Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al v. Does
94 Lucasfilm Ltd. (pla) nysdce 1:2005-cv-08336 820 09/28/2005 06/08/2006
  Disney Enterprises, Inc. et al v. Does 1-58

 

Would like to review these documents.  (and there's tons of other things which could be interesting)  But need some assistance to speed up the process.  What I am asking people to do is create an account at PACER.gov and in a semi-coordinated effort, download the documents everyone finds interesting.  But there are possible fees, here's how that works.

On the front page of PACER (http://www.pacer.gov/) at the bottom is a paragraph which explains the fees of the site. 

Expanded PACER Fee Waiver In March 2010, the Judicial Conference of the United States approved reducing the costs for many users of the PACER system. The Electronic Public Access fee schedule has been adjusted so PACER usage of less than $10 in a quarterly billing cycle is waived, in effect quadrupling the amount of data available without charge. Previously, usage under $10 in a calendar year was waived.

All users of PACER will receive a quarterly invoice or statement indicating the amount of quarterly charges and amount waived (if under $10). Users registered for paperless statements will receive an emailed notice of billing. The email contains the account balance, payment due date and a link to view the invoice or statement.

The idea is to coordinate the efforts of multiple people to download the documents, all staying under the $10 limit.  (i'm already $100+ in the hole)

I'm going to make a webpage which will house the documents, and coordinate this effort.

If you are interested please e-mail me at:  pl1x@earthlink.net

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Seems that the problem's of PACER.gov have been thought about and improved.  http://archive.recapthelaw.org/  Is a site which makes the same PACER.gov documents which are suppose to be public domain, actually public domain.  So if you log into PACER.gov with the Recap the Law firefox plugin, any documents you download will be automatically uploaded to the free archive.org site, so anyone else can read them.

 

Wrote with a fellow who saw a TPM bootleg VHS from Russia, which has a Russian spoken over dialog, he's not sure what the added dialog is about.  He got the copy from a university friend.  Sounds like it could be Backstroke-ish.

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Thanks to TREADWELL, have been lent a second version of the 'ROTJ_TP' Video Collector made us aware of.  This version is a NTSC VHS, missing the opening logos (Star Wars is well receded when recording begins) and the credits are cut by about 1:45. (ROTJ_TP has both these missing sections)  Seems to be closer to the source as the clarity is a little better, even though it is an EP recording.

 

ROTJ_TP 

TREADWELL-RotJ

ROTJ_TP

TREADWELL-RotJ

ROTJ_TP 

TREADWELL-ROTJ

Added to Guides:

http://fd.noneinc.com/Theater_Performance/1983-TWC328_ROTJB-1.html

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Amazing!

Yes, they do indeed look to be from the same source.

My copy has the UK certificate at the beginning, so I would assume this was cam'ed in England. Funny that the Treadwell is NTSC, then.

I agree it seems to be several generations closer to the source than mine, but with analog video (and standards conversion) it may just be a couple recordings removed.

Could you check and see if the Treadwell's version has Luke felling a speeder bike with his lightsaber, and the A-Wing crash through the Star Destroyer bridge present? I believe they were both missing from my version.

Visit my *NEW* Star Wars on Video Collection site:

http://www.swonvideo.com

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 (Edited)

Video Collector wrote: Could you check and see if the Treadwell's version has Luke felling a speeder bike with his lightsaber, and the A-Wing crash through the Star Destroyer bridge present? I believe they were both missing from my version.

TWC289_ROTJB has both.

TWC328 (missing 2-3 minutes at the beginning and end) clocks in at ~2:02:38 - ROTJ_TP clocks in at ~2:01:51

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I've been following this thread with great interest.

I remember the 'Z' version of TPM.  There was a 'Z' version of The Matrix as well, in those heady early days of big movie digital downloads...back in 1999.  I was working in a place that gave me access to a VERY big internet pipe for the time, and I certainly utilized it to the fullest!  I remember the excitement of downloading first the TPM trailers, and then finally (some time after attending the opening night) the movie itself.  Nothing could hold me back...I had to be able to view parts of the film at any given moment, and I watched it over and over again.  I think I was numb from excitement.

And then I remember looking for better versions after that.  Spending time in IRC channels, trolling the underbelly of the net, looking specifically for any improvement on my copy of this film.  I remember hearing about the AB version, which sounded like it was better, but I never was able to get hold of it.  Finally, I hit the jackpot: a TELECINE copy of the movie, hosted on an FTP site somewhere.  It was in two parts, and you could tell it was actual film because at one point during the podrace you could see where the film had been broken and spliced.  It may have had Asian subtitles.  But it was amazing, and definitely trumped anything else I'd seen out there.  Unfortunately, I was only able to get the first half and a small section of the second half before the source disappeared, and I never found it again.

I am fairly sure I have both of these still.  I had an archive directory for the theatrical version of TPM, and in it were the 'Z' copy (which I kept because it was complete), and the partial telecine.  Unfortunately, they're both locked on a hard drive that I need recovered...but I have high hopes for its recovery (I believe only the drive motor is bad).  I *may* have one of them on a CD-ROM somewhere.

Years later I spent some time trying to find the rest of that telecine copy, but I found that nobody cared about it once the VHS & DVD had come out, and most people had discarded their copies.  Turns out it could be one of the best sources ever for a true theatrical copy of the film.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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Wow Skot! A telecine copy would be fantastic. I didn't know anything existed like that for Episode I. It would definitely be "one of the best sources ever." Hopefully, you can find it along with your copy of the Z version. The history in the bootlegging of TPM is really fascinating and seems to be growing more and more intriguing...

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SKot said:

 Finally, I hit the jackpot: a TELECINE copy of the movie, hosted on an FTP site somewhere.  It was in two parts, and you could tell it was actual film because at one point during the podrace you could see where the film had been broken and spliced.  It may have had Asian subtitles.  But it was amazing, and definitely trumped anything else I'd seen out there. 

Could it have been  the one used for this bootleg?

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/starwarsboots/phantoma.html

Visit my *NEW* Star Wars on Video Collection site:

http://www.swonvideo.com

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SKot wrote: I've been following this thread with great interest.

cheeky basterd.  Thanks for the memories.  Do you remember much about the IRC trolling?  Was it SW based fans doing the distribution or the hardcore movie traders, guessing the later.  Remember seeing AotC on an irc channel found off of the vcdquality irc, my first dip into that arena.  But wouldn't be surprised if some of the more well known SW websites had copies of TPM for their moderators and crew.  How bad was the podrace splice?

Have begun processing the PT stuff i've collected and what people have donated to this threads goal.  What's interesting about TPM prints is after the reel change the two versions i've seen are marked with pencil squiggles for a frame.  This will be one way to differentiate these sources, beyond the general cropping.

TPMVHSNYC:

TPM 'Z'

 

 

For those into converting old VCD's, Isobuster worked for me:

http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/88803-How-to-rip-the-video-from-%28S%29VCD-CDs-or-BIN-CUE-images

Was having issues playing the VCD's AVSEQ01.dat format, but isobuster can convert it to a mac playable .mpg.

 

More random mentions:

http://www.naboonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318

The other day someone showed me a bootlegged copy of TPM.

 

 

http://www.projektstarwars.de/forum/episode-i-iii/7113-aotc-bootleg-version-online.html

Die Gerüchte verdichten sich...
Anscheinend gibt es bereits zwei komplette Bootleg Versionen des Filmes im Internet.

 

http://www.subway.de/magazin/1999/08star.shtml

Viele ungeduldige deutsche Fans haben „Die dunkle Bedrohung“ sowieso schon gesehen: Während einige tatsächlich zu den Premieren nach Amerika und England geflogen sind, haben andere den Film schon in den heimischen vier Wänden genossen – als Raubkopie. Kaum war der Film nämlich in den USA gestartet, da gab es die ersten Bootlegs. Die Qualität der illegalen Kopien rangiert zwischen brutal schlecht (mit wackliger Handicam im rammelvollen Kino abgefilmt) und brilliant (mit Profi-Technologie abgetastet). Neben Straßenhändlern, die die heiße Ware in den China-Towns der Metropolen vertickten, macht besonders das Internet der Rechtsabteilung von Lucasfilm zu schaffen. Gerade das Medium, das maßgeblich an dem Hype und Erfolg des Filmes beteiligt ist, wächst zu einer nicht einkalkulierten Bedrohung: Auf weit über 100 Websites findet sich der komplette Film zum downloaden. Zwar braucht man für die 1,3 Gigabyte schon fast Tage, um sie mit einem herkömmlichen Modem aus dem Netz zu ziehen, doch dank CD-Brennerei verbreiteten sich die Internetfilme wie Buschfeuer. Noch im Mai erreichten die ersten „Phantom Menace“-Kopien Braunschweig. Angeblich wurde der Film an der FH-Wolfenbüttel gezogen und dort auch schon, im hochprivaten Kreise, auf einer Großbildleinwand gezeigt. Die Qualität der sogenannten Z-Version (Ein kleines Z wird im Laufe des Filmes mehrfach in einer Ecke eingeblendet) ist gut: In Vollbildmodus und Stereo hat man ein Video-Erlebnis der ganz besonders prickelnden Sorte. Hatte man die Film-Piraterie anfänglich von offizieller Seite aus bestritten, geht Lucas jetzt in die Offensive: Eine extra angeheuerte Firma soll dem Treiben ein Ende bereiten. Die Arbeit erweist sich jedoch als Sisyphus-Aufgabe. Für jede geschlossene Web-Site tauchen sofort zwei neue im Netz auf.

Natürlich können die Internet-Bootlegs den Erfolg an den Kinokassen kaum schmälern, das weiß auch Lucas, der das Computer Netz sehr schätzt und bisweilen amüsant findet: „Ich habe viel Spaß mit all den Spekulationen der Fan Sites im Internet. Es ist wirklich unglaublich, was da so alles steht. Bevor irgendjemand den Film überhaupt gesehen hatte, konnte man eine gesamte Geschichte lesen. Diese Geschichte entsprach allerdings nur zu 10 Prozent meinem Film – der Rest war reine Spekulation und Erfindung“.

google translation:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.subway.de%2Fmagazin%2F1999%2F08star.shtml&act=url

Many impatient German fans have "The Phantom Menace" anyway already seen: while some actually flew the first night in America and England, others have the movie already in your own four walls, enjoyed - as a pirate copy. No sooner was the film that is launched in the U.S. because there were the first bootlegs. The quality of illegal copies ranges from brutally poor (filmed with wobbly Handicam Rammel in full cinema) and brilliant (with professional technology sampled). In addition to street vendors, the hot commodity in the China-Towns ticked the cities, especially the Internet makes the legal department of Lucasfilm to create. Just the medium that is significantly involved in the hype and success of the film grows to a threat not calculated: At more than 100 sites in the entire film takes to download. Although it takes for the 1.3 gigabyte almost days, to draw them with a conventional modem from the net, but thanks to CD-distillery to spread the Internet movies like wildfire. As late as May reached the first "Phantom Menace" copies of Braunschweig. Supposedly, the film at the FH Wolfenbüttel drawn and there already shown in the highly private parties, on a large screen. The quality of the so-called Z-Version (A little Z in the course of the film appears multiple times in a corner) is good: In full screen mode and you have a stereo video-tingling experience of a particular species. we had initially denied the film piracy, officials from, Lucas is now on the offensive: An extra firm hired to prepare the activities to an end. The work proves to be Sisyphean task. For any closed web site will immediately on two new on the net.

Of course, the Internet bootlegs detract from the success at the box office barely knows and Lucas, who estimates the computer network and at times very amusing finds: "I have fun with all the speculations of fan sites on the Internet. It's really unbelievable what it says can do. Before anyone had ever seen the movie, you could read an entire story. This story, however, corresponded only to 10 percent of my movie - the rest was pure speculation and invention. "

 

 

May 22, 1999

http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999-05-22/news/18102210_1_bootleg-video-phantom-menace-star-wars-episode

An angry Gordon Radley, president of Lucasfilm, said, "the public is intolerant" of video bootleggers. "They are disgusted about the quality, and they are offended by the idea that this is happening while the film is in the theater."

He added, "They are not getting the full experience that `Stars Wars' can be."

 

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Question : Was digital project fairly common place by RotS?  Even in other countries like Russia?  Am trying to find the cue markers in the Cyrillic crawl version of the RotSs and they're not at the usual 20 minute location.  So wondering if this is a digital projection capture, and I would be wasting my time then.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cerebus/message/65299

> ryan watched ROTS for the fourteenth time today, if L-nny or anyone
> else has any queries/ blasphemous criticisms for me to deal with.

 

I sense an illegal bootlegging disturbance in the force.

 

Anyone got TUN TC with Dutch Subs? MoBsTeRs, SG18? oar iz zee 83z+, /trigger
WorkPrintSithBitch #falcon Nzanzie leeeeeeeech i+ phuckrs. Cyrillic Crawls Rule
Woot! hey Taiwan that's not Sithie, wong action zero.

 

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3339879

(don't know if this is what it says it is.  ie DVDrip, seems early)

2005-06-04
Star.Wars.Episode.III.Revenge.of.the.Sith.INTERNAL.DVDRip.XviD

some notes:

We aren't going to say where the source came from, for obvious reasons. BUT we will say this, it isn't a TC. You can tell
by the way the craft lands, the vibrations etc. It's not a retail though, it ain't far off.

Shouts out to Georgey boy.

                           Release date : -04-06-05-
                                  genre : Sci-Fi
                               imdb url : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121766
                            imdb rating : 7.3/10
                                 source : Your mommas pants!
                           Package Type : .RAR (2 CDs)
                              Image Type: BIN/CUE unrared to .AVI (XVID)         
                                  Sample: Yes                          
                                Language: English
                                Subtitle: n/a



YES! This  has English Crawl..
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/StuDaP0O/Bollox/crawl.jpg

Sample Pics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/djs6373/MovieClipping1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/djs6373/MovieClipping2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/djs6373/MovieClipping3.jpg

(pic links don't work)

 

Backstroke of the West (workprint chingrish) : First Blog Mention

http://winterson.com/2005/06/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west.html

 

Pirated DVD: Star Wars -- Revenge of the Sith (cover pic)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xeni/18032092/

Box art from an unwatchably shitty copy of Star Wars: ROTS which I purchased in Santee Alley, Los Angeles, for $5 on June 4, 2005. Wired News story here, Boing Boing post here.

It's hard to read the packaging (duh, it's a bootleg), but if you look closely at one of the larger sizes you can see that this was the special edition directed by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, and Steve Buscemi.

 

Pirate RotS DVD from workprint, smudged timecode version:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaleaver/17569317/

Episode 3: Pirate DVD Cover

Region 1 or Region 9? Hmmmmm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaleaver/17569146/

Episode 3: Pirate DVD Menu

The menu for a pirated DVD ... or is that game? The "railer" was excellent!

 

 

http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=72797&start=20&tstart=0

Return of the Jedi bootleg video