CatBus

I believe Harmy's done an '81 crawl/flyover reconstruction already (I have no link though), but it's not attached to the rest of the film. I think the goal was to have it as an extra in the Blu-ray, but I'm sure an enterprising individual could splice them together.  I'd have a lot fewer issues with the '81 crawl if it didn't screw up Tatooine appearing in time with the musical cue, which is, at least to me, indicative of the general carelessness for the originals that pervades every change made to these films.  And a lot of us saw Star Wars in theatres before 1981... many times.

The Blu-ray format doesn't encode freeform metadata into the stream.  The idea is that it would be on the menus, so there's no need.  But on a menuless disc, well...

There is actually some limited metadata.  You've got language, which the player will show, and you've got type of audio encoding and number of channels (derived from the actual audio track, you can't set this), which they player may or may not show, but that's about it.  No dates, no general-purpose text comments field.

Yes, that info is lost, but the Blu-ray can't have the information anyway, unless you make a custom menu for it.  The Blu-ray we're talking about making is an menuless auto-play Blu-ray, where the only way to select alternate audio/sub tracks is to use the AUDIO and SUBTITLES buttons on your remote.  Something more complicated is, well, more complicated.

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Harmy said:

Well, TS Muxer automatically converts subtitles when you create a BD.

No there's still reasons not to go that route.  When tsMuxer converts SRT files, there's font/size/positioning/layout/etc information that tsmuxer does which can be wrong under some circumstances.  Fonts are most likely decent if you stick with Latin/Cyrillic alphabets, but venture too far outside that and you could be in for trouble (CJK subs should not use the same font as each other, for example).  tsmuxer's positioning choices may overlap subtitles on top of onscreen text (burnt-in alien subs), making them harder to read, or it may position them outside the frame, making them unusable in CIH systems.  It's likely not the end of the world for most users to let tsmuxer handle it, but if you're going through the trouble of burning a BD, you may as well be certain it'll end up right.

Just to add: for those who want to make Blu-rays and want subtitles, download Project Threepio to get Blu-ray ready subtitles in graphical SUP format.  If you try to use the SRT files, you can run into all sorts of trouble.

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There is a difference in the goal of the changes.  The 04 and 11 changes were mostly done to tie the OT to the PT.  The 97 changes, while IMO completely inexcusable, were not done for that reason.  So if you're cool with certain kinds of vandalism, there is a difference in kind where the 97 version is different.

Also, from a restoration POV, the 97 versions contain some useful scenes that were subsequently altered, and the colors and audio hadn't yet been destroyed, all of which are useful for re-creating the real films.

Also, FWIW, full disclosure, I like one 97 change.  I like that James Earl Jones got a credit for voicing Vader.  The rest was crap.

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Danfun128 said:

CatBus said:

97SE DVDs

Do you know how much easier everybody's lives would be if those were a thing? I'm assuming, of course, that you are referring to official DVD's that don't exist.

I follow all developments with the Special Editions with such care that this is news to me.

By my count, that gives Harmy every damn thing I ever wanted him to have.  Except for lots of free time to put it all together.

Does this mean that the next ROTJ (and next ESB) releases will both be GOUT-free?  I wonder what the lowest-quality source would then be: are there any bits from the 97SE DVDs, or would the 2004SE HD broadcast now be the worst bits?  If so, quite a change from when this project started...

metall_havy said:

what it? down on page?

http://www.therpf.com/f47/unaltered-original-star-wars-trilogy-blu-ray-235592/index5.html

This has been discussed in a number of threads here.  I think the consensus is that this is just another Special Edition release, albeit using a better scan (scan of pre-2004 SE film).  Likely yet another version of the Special Edition, but perhaps one that provides better source material for fan reconstructions of the real films.

Well, if he's not interested in correcting bad IVTC frames, he's pretty much stuck with PAL.

Look at it another way...

If they don't steal a preservation, I give them a 0% chance of getting it right.  They'll certainly use the '81 crawl, quite likely will use the '93 audio, and there's also a good chance they'll mess something else up along the way (colors, etc).

If they steal a preservation, their chances of getting it right improve dramatically.

Not to mention, the ultimate point of preservation is to ensure the originals survive.  If they steal it and release it through your normal retail channels, that goal is achieved (admittedly by hook and crook).

Bravely bold Sir Frink rode forth from Camelot...

That's not an action figure--it's just the DNR on the upcoming Blu-ray re-release.

Not to be all Negative McDoubtypants, but isn't this pretty much what DJ and You_Too are already doing (and partly already done with), except in 1080p instead of 720p?  And since even the Blu-rays don't actually have more than 720p worth of fine detail, do you really expect 1080p is going to get you that much more from the GOUT?  And finally, what about all the other stuff DJ and You_Too are doing aside from the simple upscale: image stabilization, fixing bad IVTC frames, fixing damaged frames (glue marks, etc), color correction, etc?  I mean, I'm not cheerleading their project over yours or anything--the more the merrier and all that--but I hate to see the wheel get reinvented.

When it comes to the preview versions, never say never.  Harmy surprised us all by having Vader shoot at Han first in Empire Strikes Back.

Although I suspect when it comes to fooling around, he'll stick to fooling around with footage that doesn't need to have its despecialization reviewed.  So, you know, maybe the Rancor will get CGI blinking eyelids, or something.

Most definitely, both Castilian and Latino.

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Molroth said:

Hello!

First of all: Huge respect for the Despecialized trilogy! Thanks to You, I can show these awesome films to my son (7 months old padawan now :D)!

Any info on the hungarian dub for thiy copy?

If it's going to be using my archive, then this is how it breaks down.

Star Wars and Empire get the first dub, from the eighties, that didn't actually make it on any official releases until 93.  Jedi gets the second dub from 95, because at least according to my Hungarian sources, the first one was kind of a rush job and not up to the quality of the other first dubs.

Basically going off the info in this post:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/International-Audio-including-Voice-Over-Translations/post/590611/#TopicPost590611

ATMachine said:

In his 1977 story conferences with Leigh Brackett, GL said something about wanting to create a fantasy film where all the knights rode around on giant lizards.

Then he made Willow and completely failed to pick up on that idea.

(Or maybe he just realized how hard it would be, thanks to all the stop-motion Tauntauns and AT-ATs used in ESB.)

Pity, in my view. I'd really like to see on screen a fantasy world where heroes ride on sauruses in the vasty desert, Lawrence of Arabia style.

Actually he did make this movie, it's just that the final production design really hid the fact that Tauntauns were originally conceived as snow lizards.  When I saw that description of them, I thought the writer was on drugs--they were clearly mammals of some sort for goodness sake, but then I saw it elsewhere, so, uhh... vasty ice fields, anyone?

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