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CatBus

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Join date
18-Aug-2011
Last activity
25-Dec-2025
Posts
5,986

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Post
#793814
Topic
What if TFA is awful?
Time

Actually I think a Garanimal-based system would be fairest.  Llama movies are great if you're a pigeon viewer (i.e you like broad, slapstick farces best), but would be a terrible choice if you're a sturgeon (i.e. you like documentaries best).  It would take a while to map out all the taste categories and overlaps, but I'm pretty sure Netflix secretly uses this system internally already.  So I think TFA might get three lobsters and a whooping crane.  Maybe if the writing is tight, it could net a badger.  But I'm under no illusions that, badgers or no, there's any chance on earth it will be in armadillo territory like the OT.

Post
#793765
Topic
Harmy's STAR WARS Despecialized Edition HD - V2.7 - MKV (Released)
Time

AntcuFaalb said:

CatBus said:

As to colors, there is no "maybe it would look better if...", there is only "it looked like this or it didn't".  Harmy had a very good color reference, and he approximated those colors from the Blu-rays the best he could.

You might have missed the drama that called the accuracy of MVerta's reference frames into question. I can't remember which thread it was in at the moment.

No I didn't miss it, I just didn't want to get bogged into details for what could be a short answer.  Basically references can have problems too, but the solution is to aim for a more objectively accurate reference (i.e. counteract the green bias on the Technicolor print), not to just wing what you think looks good.

But yes, the reference wasn't perfect, and Harmy's attempt to match the Blu-ray colors to that reference wasn't perfect either.  The objective, however, had nothing to do with natural or unnatural--it's making it the way it was.

Post
#793749
Topic
Harmy's STAR WARS Despecialized Edition HD - V2.7 - MKV (Released)
Time

The Blu-ray does have lots of oversharpening artifacts and some nasty color boosting, it's the primary source for this, so that's likely some of what you're seeing.  The downscale to 720p mitigates some of this, the color correction a little more.

As to colors, there is no "maybe it would look better if...", there is only "it looked like this or it didn't".  Harmy had a very good color reference, and he approximated those colors from the Blu-rays the best he could.  Certainly he might have done a better job here or there, but the point is that it's ultimately not a subjective idea of what looks better--it's only a matter of what it actually looked like in 1977.  If it was also too natural then, well, mission accomplished.

As for blending HD and SD material, Harmy absolutely used a few tricks, for example he did add some fake grain on SD sources to make them better blend with the HD footage, etc.  There's still the matter of varying detail level, and if that bugs you, I'd suggest the DVD downscales, which place an upper limit on detail, making everything blend better.  They're not HD, but they still look better than any official release.

Post
#793707
Topic
What if TFA is awful?
Time

Lord Haseo said:

I came to the conclusion that seeing as how bad the prequels were no one who's in charge of Star Wars would let such a thing happen again.

I reached the same conclusion, which is why my safe money is still squarely on "meh", 5/10, fairly disposable entertainment, far and away the best thing that's happened in the Star Wars universe in over a generation, and something I may still very well opt to skip entirely.

Making money is a given, even ROTS made money.  Head and shoulders above the prequels is an incredibly low hurdle, Alien vs. Predator managed to clear that one and it blew.  Disney bought a property that they could completely mishandle, still make money from it and improve the long-term reputation of the franchise.  A deal like that doesn't come along very often.

When you can't lose, you don't have to take the sort of risks that you need to take in order to make something great.

Post
#793666
Topic
What if TFA is awful?
Time

I think the general idea is that if I actually had my respectful unaltered Blu-ray trilogy, I wouldn't even be here.  In fact--and I've said this before--if it happened, I would likely close up my projects, pack up, and leave without even saying good bye.  Complaining and waiting for something that won't happen, and hanging out with other people who are also complaining and waiting for something that won't happen, is something unique to the Star Wars community.  I'd even say it's the foundation for most of that community.  It's why there's enough of us here to talk about TFA at all.  The reason there's no similar community trash-talking Paul McCartney's albums (I agree, BTW), is that good-quality recordings of the Beatles that people love are widely available, so there's no community of similarly frustrated Beatles fans to do it.

Again, I don't "know" TFA will be terrible.  I think the odds aren't good, and that's not really the same thing at all.  I'll wait for the reviews to come in, decide then whether to see it at all, and maybe I'll add it to my personal canon if I like it.  But no, I'm not going to wait in line for it like I did for TPM.

Post
#793662
Topic
What if TFA is awful?
Time

joefavs said:

Maybe I'm being naive, but I'd rather be happily hopeful for now and potentially disappointed later than uniformly bitter and wretched for the duration.

That's a valid option.  As is being cynical and disinterested, with the possibility of being pleasantly surprised later.  The fact is the thing doesn't exist and can't be evaluated, so we're just setting expectations.  You go your way, I'll go mine.  There's no wretchedness or misery either way you choose, if you're not personally invested in the outcome.

It always amazes me how much Star Wars fans seem to hate Star Wars.

Pulled from the headlines of TFN.  Star Wars is many things to many people, and for many of us, it's just a few films from a few decades ago, and we love them dearly.  The rest is not really Star Wars at all and can DIAF for all we care.

I honestly think half the people here won't even be capable of registering it because they're so locked into the idea that it needs to suck.

People complaining nonstop for three decades that every new or revised Star Wars film sucks would be an indicator of a bias, if it weren't for the fact that every new or revised Star Wars film has sucked for the last three decades.  For my part, I can give you my unqualified reassurances that I'm very open to the idea of something new in the Star Wars universe that doesn't suck.  Going into it with the expectation that it will be good is contrary to years of experience, and, yes, I'd say naïve, but it's not a prerequisite for liking the film.  Films can surprise you, films have surprised me, TFA could be a huge surprise, and I'd be delighted if it was.  But my money's on meh.

EDIT: In case it needs pointing out, please note that "meh" is much better than "suck".  "Meh" is literally the most value-neutral expectation a person could have about anything.

Post
#793654
Topic
Harmy's RETURN OF THE JEDI Despecialized Edition HD - V3.1
Time

rmm2 said:

Maybe hopefully Harmy will blend them in

I hate to speak in absolutes, but that ain't happening.  IIRC Harmy's actually put a hair back onto the film in one scene.  The stated goal of this project is whatever it looked like in theatres, blobs and all.  If someone wants to make a modified partly-specialized version from that, Harmy's fine with that.

Same could've been said with the outline blocks, or whatever you'd technically call them, that had surrounded the spaceships and star destroyers in the original purist cuts but that have thankfully been erased in Harmy's IV and V despecialized releases.

They are still there in both SW Despecialized and ESB Despecialized, but look more like they did in theatres than they did on home video.  Home video releases were overly bright, making the effect stand out worse, much like the blobs.  It's more subtle now (just like in the theatre, you could easily miss it), but it's still very much there, in line with the goals of the project.

EDIT: Found the hair.

Post
#793445
Topic
What if TFA is awful?
Time

Mike O said:

Who cares? All I want is an OOT 4K remaster. If it can get us that, it can be a two hours of J.J. Abrams scratching his balls in 3-D. If we can get what we'd all sell our souls to Crowley for, it'd be worth it.

Well, let's not get carried away.  I think asking for something more realistic like a pet unicorn or world peace would be a good exchange for a crappy TFA too, without having to entertain complete fantasies like an official OOT 4K remaster.