I'm pretty sure I heard of this before, but it was at the same development level. I hope it gets finished, looking (or more accurately sounding) very promising.
I've always liked the AT-ST scene in TESB - it ads a sense of realism and variety, plus some dynamics, which the AT-AT lacks. As Bingowings said, there's no need for each movie to introduce new vehicles. The Prequels were a total mess in that respect and far worse than the established, but expanding set of craft and vehicles in the Originals.
I'm not going to argue about it, but I hope the scene remains. It's a scout vehicle; otherwise the AT-ATs become a uniform bunch that's a bit dull even by the Empire's standards. ;)
By the way, is the AT-ST model different in TESB? It always seemed more smooth and elegant than the "boxes" on Endor... :/
Why is everybody so concerned about the AT-AT scene? It makes perfect sense, the speeder hits the unarmored neck and destroys it. It's not like such things don't happen in tank vs tank battles, for example.
The armor of the Soviet KV-2 tank was too thick for the standart German anti-tank guns of 1941 (47mm and 57mm) but a successful hit in the turret ring could disable it and effectively destroy the tank. I remember reading about a lone KV-2 that held off two battalions on a bridge until expert gunners blasted of the cannon and then put a shell through the thin ring between the turret and the hull.
Same wit the AT-AT, the fact that "the armor is too strong for blasters"doesn't mean it doesn't have weak spots or that it is uniformly thick everywhere. The neck, for example, was never fully armored - check the "Incredible Cross-Sections" books.
I think it's an interesting idea to have the side door beginning to open just as the rebels destroy it, as if the stormtroopers were trying to exit the vehicle.
Regarding the size of the Death Star, purely from a viewer's perspective - what I feel is lacking is a composition shot where you get the scale. ANH had two such "reveals", as the Falcon approached the station, captured by the tractor beam, and later as the X-Wings and Y-Wings "descended"upon the station for their attack. Both scenes gave a great sense of scale.
In RotJ the fleet action is taking place, at leas initially, relatively far away from the Death Star, yet later we immediately cut to a shot of the rebel fighters on the surface, starting a "trench run". There wasn't such an imposing, thrilling shot as with the X-Wing descending upon the huge, impossible target...
Even the shuttle scene in the beginning establishes the scale of the Star Destroyer escorts (and does so quite well) better than the arrival in the station. The only such scene is the relatively short parade of the TIEs in front of the hangars as the Emperor arrives.
Given the age of Star Wars, and the simple fact I'm interested in military stuff, I always imagined that cloaking device was:
a) a stealth technology; however, stealth is achieved through angular forms and special coatings (unless the Russian concept of plasma "bubble" proves effective)
b) heat dissipation technology - that's a bit Mass Effect, but ships with immensely powerful engines and reactors, plus heat based weapon systems would emit a lot of heat, easily visible in the cold vacuum of space; "cloaking field", as in Star Wars, I would imagine is either heat absorbing cells that can store the heat for a while, or a complex system that dissipates heat very fast. Either way would require a large ship to house it.
For one, I would really hate to see the visual "cloaking-decloaking" sci-fi cliche in Star Wars. :/
That's a great fly-by shot! As already said, maybe closed s-foils would be more accurate, and at least in my opinion look better when just cruising by, but I would love to see this in HD.
Not to bring bad luck, but I have an important question for Ady - do you have any sort of backup? External drive, friends PC etc. Something that stores copies of the TESB:R project, whether if an accident happens with your PC, or you just mess something during editing?
As for the release date... oh, well - May 2011 sound better than December, anyway! Like a true Star Wars premier. And something to cheer me up while everyone is going to see (yet another) horrible Bay-Transformers movie...
I know it's a strange request, but could we possibly get a split-screen version as a bonus disc, with the Revisited cut and the 2004 DVD, just as a comparison?
At least for me it would be a lot o fun to watch with friends, and admire every minute detail that may otherwise escape our attention... :)
The new clip looks great!
Ouch, my jaw hurts now...
Ady, that clip was fabulous! I'm currently downloading the comparison one, can't wait to see the differences in more detail, but even without that - wow! I can't believe how gorgeous that movie looks. Never-mind that you went to great lengths to rotoscope all of the laser blasts, that the backgrounds of Cloud City look gorgeous, but the color... oh, the colors! Vibrant, color level are great, there's better contrast. I can't tell you how much I appreciate even the "simple" color correction. All else added, this is just a mind-blowing effort.
Don't get me wrong for saying this, I'm not trying to rush you or ask for a release date, but - damn, I can't wait to see TESB:Revisited! That clip felt like watching it for the first time many years ago...
Cheers! And thank you!
PS. Going to show it to my parents, old-time Star Wars fans, in a few hours. I bet they'll be surprised! :D
Ah, friday - I can enjoy the AE leisurely over the weekend. ABC, you seem to be knowledgeable in those things, so a question - what is the best way to burn it into a CD (I use Nero 6)?
.cue file -> Burn Image -> low speed -> check data after burning -> use a good cd?
I would love to hear the AE on a proper CD player-based audio system, but I hope I don't mess up during the burning.
Oh, and happy TESB anniversary! Thanks for giving us the score clear and crisp as it should be! :D
Gah, I probably won't be able to watch it and I'll have to endure through work tomorrow to get home. Alas...
Well, at least Ady's being kind on us and giving us a treat before December (2020)! :)
Happy Birthday (even if late), Ady! Best wishes! :)
I'm also rather surprised there aren't more responses to this thread. I hope my attempt at a more detailed and objective feedback didn't harm the AE... I tend to be overly critical. It definitely deserves praise. And I certainly had an excellent musical evening thanks to ABC's effort in restoring the score. I'll just say "thank you", and leave it there!
Looking forward to the covers. I hope I don't mess the up... :)
On the original Boba Fett voice - based on YouTube clips, as I don't have any pre-2004 renditions of the Saga, besides my uncle's 97SE VHS, which I don't have at hand - it sounds a bit... inconsistent?
I don't mean the actual actor, but the "quality" of the voice. In some scenes it seem that it's filtered, as if through a microphone, in others it sounds muffled, like a guy in a suit.
Ady, would it be possible to check the audio you have and try to fix it with a more consistent microphone filter through all dialogue lines? A more even distortion due to the helmet, I mean, not changing the original actor or his voice pitch.
Sorry, this has bugged me for a while - I don' intend to start flame war about the actual voice actor used. Don't throw stones at me... :)
I hope ABC won't mind posting my PM answer here! My impressions after listening through CD1 and 2 :
Minor criticism - there's a long "click" on the first track on CD1, I mean noticeable click for a good second or so. Maybe it's due to the download or the playback, but I tried three different times. It's around 1/3 through the track.
Otherwise, I really don't know what to say. It's pretty much the best version of the soundtrack I've seen, on par with the best quality "official" releases out there. One of my complaints on the earlier releases (except the Optimum 2010) was some noise - there's very little of it here, and it is actually noticeable only on the quietest moments on the track, the "transitions" at the beginning and end of each one. It's certainly not detrimental to the quality as I feared.
Instruments sound clear and fantastic and, I think, there's better positioning than on your previous releases - I can quite easily discern where a specific orchestral section is (or should) be. I really like some of the (*insert English term*) instruments, such as the fanfares. They sound incredibly sharp and clear, no longer muffled. The Imperial sections through the track are also incredible. I toned down my subwoofer volume a bit, yet the bass is surprisingly nice. More deep than loud, as it should be. In the end, they're more toned down, but in a good sense. Not overly bombastic, just more clear and imposing. Finally, Yoda's theme was incredible. I'll simply leave it there.
Again, I just don't know what to say, other than the fact that it's great. Everything I expected as I read the description, it sound better. :)
Something I forgot to mention to ABC - some tracks do sound a bit better than others. It's not a variation in quality, as on the whole everything is excellent, but a few pieces just sound even better than I expected. Yoda's Theme I mentioned above is one of those.
Just to note, I've listened through the AE using my PC with ASUS Xonar DX audio card hooked up through the SPDIF to a Denon AVR-1801, PCM 96khz stereo on JBL Control Monitor fronts. It's definitely not the best sounds system for music, as the PC is overall quite noisy (it's a gaming rig...) and with a superior audio system quality may be better.
I tend to avoid headphones when I'm home, unless it's late in the evening, as I wear my phone's earplugs for hours during the day when I travel in the city, and it is tiring...
I'll give PCM stereo the first try out. DD sounds sharp and spacious, but there appears to be some bleed on the surround and center channels and too much bass and reverb (if that's the right term in English?) when listening to music.
Thank you, folks. :)
I really want to listen through the entire thing back to back, but I don't have three and a half hours in the evening thanks to my neighbors, so I'll probably have do it it piecemeal, a CD each day. I just hope it won't be detrimental to the overall experience.
By the way, to the audio geeks here - my father recently fixed my old Denon AVR1801 reciever and it has working digital Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM inputs (had to use only analogue before). Just so that it won't affect my opinion on the AE, is it better to listen music with PCM 96khz real stereo or Dolby Digital stereo mode? Thanks.
Bingowings said:
Would it be possible to create some of the planned (and presumably filmed) extended bunker raid scenes with fans in trooper suits and rebel outfits (naturally adding Han and Leia would be a problem but ROTJ is missing a corridor shoot out in the classic Star Wars style).
Could there be ways of fitting Han and Leia into such an extended sequence and make it look convincing (mixing body doubles with taking elements from elsewhere in the film)?
It's such a pain that all we have are a few stills to imagine what these scenes could have been like.
Well, from what I've read the upcoming BluRays supposedly will feature with many deleted scenes. If there was one filmed (I've certainly seen many photos), I would love to see it. The Rebel commandos don't really do much on Endor, as it is. Having them take the brunt of the fight against the Imperials makes the Ewoks at least partially bearable...
Don't worry, sooner or later a parliament somewhere will regulate the noise levels in space and you'll have your wish... :p
Well, there's no friction in space, and physics are not my strongest point, but doesn't an object in space accelerate continuously and the only limitation is essentially its driving mechanism? No gravity affecting the mass of the object? So, a Star Destroyer, with its huge engines and immensely powerful reactor should be a pretty fast vessel, when outside of combat, at least.
EDIT: If there is something that bothers me about the fact that Ady and ABC's excellent TESB projects both arrive for the 40th anniversary, it's that the rest of the movies will pale even more in comparison... ah! :)
First, clear-cut villains - both a personal and an organization. The OT had Darth Vader, the Emperor and the Empire. The PT had many episodic antagonists, as well as no clear evil side and adversary to the "good guys". While appreciate the darker tones of TESB, to some extent even RotS, the prequels were far too morally ambiguous. And far too unfocused.
If George wanted to touch on important issues like he hinted, then he completely missed the mark with things like the Jedi code, the morality of a clone army and the political freedoms in a divided Galaxy. Still, I would have preferred a simpler, black-and-white space epic trilogy than a social commentary.
As someone in the audience, I wasn't attached. I had no character to sympathize with, and none to hate. They were just there.
Second, Anakin - he should have been an adult from the start (and no, I have nothing bad to say about the kid who played him in Ep.I). In ANH Owen described him as a simple freighter pilot. That's what he should have been, some young man striving to make his fortune in the Galaxy, swept away by a grand war. He should have rescued Amidala, piloting her royal ship (whether you take the core plot from TPM or alter it) and then enlist to fight on. And become a Jedi. Something that would reinforce Yoda's belief that older people cannot easily understand the philosophy of the Force, with Anakin as a failed example.
Plus, a better love story. Like that of Lea and Han, in the sense that the characters spent an entire movie together, with Anakin actually being a protective and strong figure, not some homicidal whiner. And an actual friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Whether they were master/student or two fellow Jedi/Generals is irrelevant. The PT, as we have it, didn't really portray them as friends.
Third, Clone Wars begin (or have just started) by the time of the first prequel episode. No Senate, treaties, laws, amendments... those things are interesting and enjoyable enough in the working field (at least mine). Not in a sci-fi movie. Plus, the prequels desperately needed nicely choreographed space battles. Not just hundreds of ships pasted on the screen (like the utterly underwhelming Coruscant battle in RotS), but an actual story-driven engagement early on, as well as a "final" space battle in the end.
Less CGI, more real sets. Esp. the sets. I'm a fan of miniatures and models, but they do have serious limitations. Real life sets, however, are essential. Most of all for the actors...
I would suggest you release it to wider audience. Maybe not a completely open release, if you can't manage it (though that would be nice), but I'm sure your work would get more attention from a wider audience. Certainly you deserve it!
I've already spoke well of your edits to several friends; why they haven't checked them out and posted feedback, I don't know.
I know the feeling when you've worked hard and you anxiously wait for feedback, and it can be quite discouraging when there isn't much. Yet, be sure that everyone who has listened through the restorations and posted feedback has been sincere that the quality is amazing and your work outsanding. :)
I've always though that the Falcon's flight trajectory was preset. After all, the technicians messed up its hyper-drive, maybe it was programmed to fly towards the Executor? Yes, it does have the plot-hole that they went to get Luke first, but still..
Also, I'm not sure how it is explained in the EU, but can a ship's tractor beam hold on to another ship, if the latter engages its hyper-drive engine? Maybe Lando and Chewie didn't care about the tractor beams (and thus flying towards the Executor), as long as they got the hyper-drive working.
Savage said:
Back to the musings at hand: I never took issue with the "Star Destroyer." line in the past, but I can't stand the "Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?" line from Hoth. Man that guy's voice and delivery have always rubbed me the wrong way!
I really don't understand why so many people hate that line. Personally, I've always liked it, ever since I was a kid. The pilot sounds so distant and irritated, and that's what I like - it's just how a real pilot would react if some politician-princess starts explaining how he should assault a battleship with a small, frail plane.
Although I do agree on "Copy, Gold Leader". Jeez, man, you're flying hypersonic through an artificial planet-doomsday device, with people shooting behind (at) you!... That guy must have nerves of steel.
The original cover with the same "blocky" logo, plus classic font for the text - priceless! :)