BlueCardinal

I think what we all need to keep in mind is that Di$ney plans on making money off of whatever they can. They may not have negotiated for rights to the OT, because they plan on making their $4 billion back (and plenty more) through all the other projects: the ST, spin-offs, theme park attractions, merchandise, merchandise, merchandise...

We're already seeing Star Wars slapped on so much Di$ney property that I'm already getting a little annoyed at the thought of EpVII. Just last week my kids watched a Star Wars-themed episode of Phineas and Ferb, and I seem to recall some lame SW references in the last season of Dancing with the Stars (aired on ABC, which is owned by Di$ney).

George may have stipulated that the OUT was not part of the deal. I'm sure Di$ney shrugged and said, "We don't have time to fight him for the footage and do a proper restoration anyway. We have movies to make and toys to sell." I'm not trying to be cynical, but it's almost like a cherished collection of films has passed from one money-grubbing tyrant to another.

As far as Fox is concerned, they get to cash in for a few more years. Maybe they plan on teaming up with Sony against Di$ney. It's commonplace for super hero movies to feature additional scenes after the credits have already started rolling. Did anyone find it peculiar that the "extra scene" in Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a plug for X-Men: Days of Future Past? Why was Sony willing to promote a Fox movie rather than one of their own?

RE: the orange uniforms/Leia's hair, the typical rule of thumb in color correction is to aim for the best possible skin tones. After all, we can subconsciously be pretty forgiving of other variances as long as the humans look like human beings.

The problem with the DVD is that there is too much blue in the highlights, and Harmy's done a good job of removing this and making the whites look more neutral. I agree that the uniforms look a bit on the "yellow" side, but if you try to hit a deep, saturated orange, everyone is going to look sunburned.

Harmy said:

How about cutting one frame from the end of one shot and the other from the beginning of the next - that should minimize the damage.

Since you're cutting video to match the audio track, I would suggest using the audio as your point of reference. I don't have a copy of the scene in front of me to review, but I think all you have to deal with is ambient noise. There should be a noticeable change from the sounds of the carbon freeze chamber to the inside of the tunnel, so you could cut the frames to make sure the video changes with the sound, regardless if which scene(s) the two frames come from. From that point, the sync should be maintained for the rest of the film (in theory, that is).

Harmy said:

Like I already said, the v2.1 AVCHD could be out next week and the v2.5 could follow in a month or two. Neither would have the rounded corners. And then the v3.0 would come out probably after some of the 35mm projects come out - or possibly never, if Disney releases the originals on BD in good quality.

I have to say I'm indifferent about the version numbers. It's your project, so use a numbering convention that makes sense to you and helps you keep your projects organized. We're just grateful that you're willing to share the finished product with the rest of us, and we will follow your posts to keep track of which release is the most recent.

hairy_hen said:

Editing the video is by far the easiest solution.  I can edit some of the audio to match the PAL video instead if need be, but for reasons of compatibility and the potential confusion this could cause, it may not be the best choice to do so.

In my experience, it's difficult to insert a new section of audio and get the waveforms to line up seamlessly, even if you're copying from another part in the source material. I say cut the two frames of video, then cut that same amount of audio from the PAL soundtracks to match (which will be easy since the audio will change with the scene change and provide a nice break point). We're only talking about 1/12th of a second, and I'm all in favor of minimizing confusion. You'll still see Luke stand back up before the scene cuts. :)

You're a mad genius, Harmy. Great work! I love the colors and detail you've pulled out of the source material.

ComputerGeek said:

also, on a kind of unrelated note, I just realized the worst part about episode 7: no fox fanfare to open the film anymore :(

I'm sure that lovely CGI shot of Cinderella's castle set to "When You Wish Upon A Star" will be the kick-ass opener to Star Wars we've all been missing. ;)

Carry on, Harmy - your work is fantastic. ANH:DE makes for a joyful, pristine viewing of one of my favorite films. I'm like an ADHD squirrel as I keep bouncing back and forth between threads to check the progress between ESB:DE and Adywan's ESB:R. Absolutely love the work you've done so far. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Jonno said:

As far as the films present the situation (and that's where I personally draw the line), the X-Wing vs. TIE match is at the very least equal, and the outcome of a dogfight entirely depends on pilot skill and courage... and that's the whole point. Or at least it used to be.

Actually, the outcome of a dogfight now entirely depends on each pilot's midichlorian count. I wonder if Revisited will reveal whether Luke's MC count was high enough. Seems like a good topic for Yoda and Ghost Ben to discuss as Luke's leaving Dagobah in ESB.

BEN: If only he had as many midichlorians as his father. That boy is our last hope.

YODA: No. There is another. And higher her midichlorian count is. Less training will she require. Good this is, as too damn old I am.

ben_danger said:

Have Han and Chewie bury Lando alive...

I like it. Turnabout's fair play. He may or may not survive, so it's a lot like carbonite.

"The point is that they rhyme, so it's like poetry." (GL)

brimforge said:

thinking of the many versions of movies that are released nowadays it makes me wonder ... why couldn't there be a "theatre cut" of Star Wars ?

WB, Sony and co throw thousands of copies out, so it must be a big market for every movie edition - it was just Lucas who didn't care anymore

On the contrary, Lucas cares... he cares too much. But it's not US he cares about. It's about preserving his precious "true vision". Most studios would leap at the chance to give us a set with both the OUT and the SE, knowing fans of either would buy it, but not George. No, we need to erase the OUT from existence (like Marty McFly's brother).

I've heard him claim that the OUT was destroyed because he had to cut the original negatives apart to create the SE. I also recall reading (can't remember the source) that Disney bought the rights to the ST and all the merchandising for the franchise, but George maintained the rights to the currently completed films. Unfortunately (and just to keep this on topic), this will mean the source material for fan editors and preservationists will continue to be difficult thanks to George's ego.

sonofjones said:

I honestly don't like the idea of having R2 in the prequels. I do like the idea of having astro droids as sort of standard sidekicks for the heroes throughout all the films, like Obi-wan already having R4 and possibly Anakin having another that isn't R2. However, it makes the galaxy seem too small to have R2 be connected with the heroes of the PT then also just happen to be the one Leia entrusts with the Death Star Plans just by pure luck.

I've always felt this way, too. I just can't decide if it's because there's so much other fan service in the films anyway, or if because the things R2 does are so cheesy ("smiling" at the camera while fixing the Naboo ship, the hokey fry & fly sequence with the super battle droids, etc.). It seemed a little too coincidental that he was the sidekick for both Anakin AND Luke (small galaxy, huh?), but I could probably let that go if the character was treated with a little more respect and less slapstick. Same with 3-PO's "head swap" in AoTC. Ugh.

doubleofive said:

ray_afraid said:

So since we know C-3PO will be in the prequels...

Any ideas about the origins of his silver leg?

Is it better to leave it a mystery or give an explanation?

20 years between III & IV, I'm sure it can be left to the imagination.

I think some things should be left to the imagination. I don't like how GL has tried to give us explanations for anything the fans have expressed interest in and ruining it for us (*cough*... Boba Fett! *cough*), and then try to tie up the end of each trilogy in a pretty little bow.

I showed my kids the movie Innerspace recently. My daughter didn't like it because of the open ending. She wanted to know exactly how everything turned out. I tried to explain to her that part of the fun is being able to imagine your own ending - you have plenty of clues as to what could happen next, but you get to decide for yourself. Regardless of whether or not the ST is any good, it would be great to see the Revisited saga end on a more ambiguous note... i.e the Death Star is destroyed and there's still a celebration, but there's more work for the Rebellion to do and Luke is leaving for another mission (reestablishing the Jedi order perhaps?).

adywan said:

And here is a short clip of the flaps in action.....

NEW SPEEDER FLAPS

The attention to detail on this project continues to amaze me. Excellent work!

Ryan McAvoy said:

adywan said:

And here is a short clip of the flaps in action.....

NEW SPEEDER FLAPS

 Simply stunning work Adywan! :-D

This has probably been asked (And answered before) but even as a kid this shot always bugged me a little (Awesome panel readouts btw!)...

...because the impact flash has been composited about 10 foot higher than the top of the AT-AT. In my mind I always put it down to the shot impacting off the (Invisible) shields. But does an AT-AT have shields? I know armour is mentioned but are shields? Not a huge issue in any case.

Yeah, that shot has always bothered me, too. It's like the lasers impacted on the air above the AT-AT. It just doesn't seem to make sense.

brash_stryker said:

This is something I looked at a while ago and really want to see happen.

I even tinkered with doing global colour correction on Geonosis to make all the sabers blue without rotoscoping:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jam2WqcjGC4

I can tell that Ady would always go for a full rotoscope though, being a perfectionist. My test has some significant green bleed.

Your end result looks pretty impressive. I like how it turned out, with slightly varying shades of blue, but not the combination of blue and green blades we got in the originals.

I just wish we didn't see so many damn lightsabers throughout the PT. How many saber users did we have in the OT? Three (Ben, Vader, Luke)? Yoda should never have one, and Han doesn't count because he only borrowed Luke's out of necessity. I haven't bothered to count, but the PT probably had about 60. To me, the lightsaber should be a weapon of last resort, when your mental and spiritual connection with the Force can't get the job done and you need immediate physical help. This is exactly why we should NEVER see Yoda "whip out that little laser sword of his and go to town," (quote: GL). But if he did, it'd be blue :)

I've also read on this and the Radical Redux thread about the varying suggestions on lightsaber colors. Here's my humble opinion:

I'm not a big fan of the "Lite Brite" approach of having every color of the rainbow. George kind of set a precedent with the notion of blue=good, red=bad, and this works. I really like the suggestion from the Radical Redux thread of making the Jedi lightsabers varying shades of blue. Since it's a crystal inside the hilt that determines the blade color, different cuts or imperfections from one crystal to the next would cause slight variations in color. We see this all the time in diamonds and other gemstones. I also like the idea of letting Luke have the first green saber as it symbolizes a new start for the Jedi order, plus it could mean that he may have had to improvise a little bit with a different type of crystal (but no on-screen explanations, please).

This consistency of blue could apply to Mace, Dooku, and Anakin as well. No purple to make Mace "special", and a blue for Dooku to keep him a good Jedi, even if taking his own approach to the problem. I think one of the few things George got right was keeping Anakin's lightsaber blue during his duel with Obi Wan. I thought for sure he would make it red, but I'm glad he didn't treat it like a mood ring.

Now, before you say that it would look really boring with 30 blue lightsabers in one shot, I'm also going to echo Plinkett in that there are WAY too many lightsabers in the PT. It really missed the opportunity to explore the spiritual side of the Force. Instead, we got midichlorians and excuses to show off lightsabers in every scene. If that could be reduced, the varying hues of blue sabers could be very effective.

Again, this is just my opinion and Ady may already have one on the issue, but just thought I'd cast my vote.

Just my two cents on some of the location ideas posted in this thread:

1) I've always liked the mock-ups (like Bingo's and Angel's) that propose making Geonosis an ash-world. Too much desert in SW anyway.

2) Similar to what others have posted, why does everything in SW have to happen on Tatooine? It has always really bothered me that when they need to hide Luke and keep him safe, they take him to his dad's home planet, to be raised by the only possible family Anakin has left. He knew his wife was pregnant. If he wanted to investigate the possible survival of his child(ren), I'm pretty sure he would start at Tatooine and Naboo. Anakin should be from a different planet (Genosis perhaps, where he goes back in EpII to free the slaves and rescue his mother?), with no reference to the Hutts in the PT. Lars and Beru are two reluctant but compassionate people who get recruited by Obi-Wan to raise this kid because the fate of the galaxy could be at stake. Obi-Wan tells them just enough to convey the gravity of the situation, and Owen agrees though he doesn't really want this responsibility. This explains why Owen doesn't speak very kindly of Obi-Wan or Luke's father.

3) I would like to find a way to give Alderaan more purpose or screen time in the PT, but doing so would almost require changing Naboo into Alderaan. Doing this would contradict the logic I used above (that hiding Leia on her mom's home planet would be a bit too obvious).

Jacen said:

fgqb#19nyj said:

The more you start rationalizing the Hoth battle, the more it doesn't make sense. 

 The more you start rationalizing the entirety of The Empire Strikes Back, the more it doesn't make sense.  In fact, the story and plot make less sense than any of the movies, including the prequels....

What's great about Empire though, is it's still freakin' awesome.... and in a nutshell, that is the difference between the OT and the PT.

I don't know, I always thought Empire had the simplest story, but it was told well in comparison to the others. ANH gives us an introduction to this new universe, so there's more exposition and explanation. By Empire we're on familiar ground. The villain was mostly just carrying out orders before (recovering stolen plans). Now he's carrying out a personal vendetta at any cost. He's hell-bent on capturing one of the heroes, and has total disregard for anyone who gets in the way, including his own men. This culminates into one of the most famous reveals in the history of cinema. There are new settings and characters introduced, but the general theme is pretty straightforward. I think that's why it's freakin' awesome... as an audience we understand (for the most part) who's doing what and why, though I agree there are some details that don't always make sense.

Compare that to the prequels. I don't have a clue what the hell is going on, and I've stopped trying to figure it out. I don't care about any of the characters because I have no idea why anyone is doing anything. The only one we truly get to understand is Palpatine, culminating in one of the most boring and predictable reveals in the history of cinema. Other than than, we know Obi-Wan=good, Anakin=unconvincingly trying to be good, ends up bad. Yoda=indifferent with a policy of avoidance and inaction. Lando may have been a scoundrel, but at least we got to see that he cares about something.

All this discussion about the pointless Rebel ground defense reminds me of the ROTJ episode of How It Should Have Ended:

"No offense, lady, but all we rebels ever do is die to accomplish things."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=PLimhOT0Avg-R-PrHjrMvwriny4OyOsxhK&v=zdukWtJwlPU

@ Jacen: Excellent point (and "Easy-Bake Stormtroopers" is hilarious)

Like Muddy, I agree that it is kind of pointless for the Rebel troops to be there. I guess they would rather make an ineffective defensive effort than no effort at all. And to .Mac.'s point, it would be damn cool to see dozens of snowtroopers rappelling down from AT-AT's once the generator's been destroyed. Any chance Ralph McQuarrie did concept art for that?

After all, the huge bodies of those AT-AT's wouldn't just be used for carrying refreshments. "We're not hosting an intergalactic kegger down here."

I don't know, it kind of makes sense to not have any Imperial ground troops in this battle. The Empire has these huge walkers that are almost impossible to take down, so just let them stomp their way in and take out the shield generator so that Vader & Co. can land. Why risking losing men at this phase of the battle?

Sure, they probably didn't expect snowspeeders to be able to knock them down with tow cables, but they could easily stomp and pick off any Rebel ground troops in their way, whose blasters aren't going to do any good.

[Vader to infantry:] "You boys just sit tight. We'll let the walkers do the heavy lifting, then you can clean up what's left of their ground troops. Oh, and if you find R2-D2, take him out. I have a feeling he's going to really muck up my plans later."

Actually, those bombs aren't meant to destroy anything. They simply illuminate their surroundings on impact. The Empire needs these especially in deep craters and caves because the lenses of the tie pilots' helmets are too dark. They didn't bother to get a production sample from the vendor when they ordered them.

I will be extremely impressed if the team can achieve this dialogue change given the lack of resource material. However, if it doesn't seem possible to make it work to Ady's standards, I don't think anyone should consider it a deal-breaker. After all, yoda1138's logic makes a lot of sense. If Palps was all-knowing, couldn't many of the saga's events have been avoided? I like how at that point he's still kind of in the dark (pun intended) about the threat of another Skywalker. The change would be neat from a purist's perspective, but not being able to make it work wouldn't compromise the story, IMHO.

oh_riginal said:

muddyknees2000 said:

Allow me to clarify that. The SHOOTING of the new canyon is complete. Integrating it into the film is still ongoing.

 To quote Lloyd Christmas:

"So you're saying there's a chance..." (to adding the light to the canyon wall I mean, no?)

I wouldn't get my hopes up. If shooting has already wrapped and it wasn't shot that way, it probably won't happen. I've done a bit of video production myself and, while it's not impossible, lighting effects like that will be MUCH harder to add in post-production than if they shot it that way to begin with. I agree, though - it would be cool and I hope they thought to include it. (No spoilers though, please)

Ryan McAvoy said:

DarkRha said:

Is ESB:R going to be available in both DVD and BluRay? if so, will there be differences among the versions? (beside the video quality)

 Yes.

The DVD will be as Adywan originally intended but will be at a low resolution and feature a sadly 'washed out' image. The Blu-Ray will be in full HD but will feature a new totally different colour-timing to the DVD, be heavily DNRd and Adywan will add in loads of extra changes that we all hate.

;-)

That would certainly be on par with the commercial releases we've seen for Star Wars in the past, wouldn't it? (Nice job, Lucasfilm!)

ANH:R was released with different NTSC and PAL versions for DVD. I'm assuming the same would hold true for ESB:R on DVD. That's not necessary for HD though, is it, since it's a different standard altogether?

Just to bring us back on topic (buzzkill), does anyone close to the project know whether filming is finished? Based on one of Ady's posts near the end of December, it sounded like model work and filming were at the top of his to-do list. Then he needed to add some effects to a few shots. Early on I was under the impression that he wanted to have all of this wrapped up, then turn his attention to the audio. Is that still the plan?