Darth Lucas

poita said:

No, the faces set is the same as the definitive edition discs. Nothing to do with the scans for the SE.

And Darth Lucas, the faces set, and all laserdiscs as far as I know have the Ep IV ANH crawl, not the 1976/1977 crawl.

That's what I said.  The 2006 DVD was suggested, and I was saying that I think that version just said Star Wars, and that I was looking for the crawl to say A New Hope.  Most people use the theatrical crawl in their preservations.

Thank you, Echo3.  Don't know how I missed this.

The 2006 dvd has a lot of issues not present on the faces laserdisc.  Audio as mentioned above being a big component.  Also, I'm pretty sure that Star Wars had the original crawl spliced onto it so it doesn't say A New Hope, which is great, but I already have theatrical preservations.  Also the Lucas interviews that played at the beginning (or was it the end?) of the vhs tapes would be nice too.  Although, I suppose if I really wanted to, the crawl and interviews could be easily edited  into the GOUT if I wanted, it just seems a little counterintuitive to me to recreate something when the actual product isn't particularly difficult to get ahold of.  I was just wondering if anyone knew if somebody had already made a preservation.  If all else fails I'll save up for the equipment and do it myself.  I just didn't want to do that and then find out somebody already did, ya know?  Better safe than sorry.

Well I think most of us would agree the prequels never had to exist.  This would just be about telling the story in an interesting way that provides an alternate (aka better) take for those who despise the actual prequels.  Basically, get a fan re-writer, a fan filmmaker, and a faneditor together, have them discuss what the story should be, get a plot outlined, have the writer do a rough draft, have the other guys make notes, repeat till happy with the story, filmmaker shoots it (with others present), editor does a 1st edit, shows others, make notes, repeat till happy.  It would be nice for them to have different views as to what the prequels should be so that there is some variety and it doesn't repeat the main problem the prequels had, which is that Lucas did the whole thing in isolation.  Nobody gave him story notes on what didn't work, nobody once said to him "hey, George, this sucks."  Part of what made the OT so good is the amount of collaboration between George and other really talented individuals.   Obviously nothing is going to satisfy everybody and the prequels don't HAVE to exist either way, but it would be nice to have a version that doesn't suck nonetheless.  

The “faces” set.  Not anything special done to it, just the straight rip.  This is the version I had as a kid so, while other’s have a lot of nostalgia attached to the theatrical version, my nostalgia is attached to that version.  I would do it myself, but all I have are the beat up vhs copies and don’t have the equipment for a laserdisc transfer even if I had them.  I’ve looked around but haven’t been able to find anything.  Anyone know of any preservs?

I was only seven at the time, so most of the changes that weren't in your face (i.e. cgi dinosaur asses blocking the screen) I didn't really notice.  But I do remember that particular scene seeming a little off to me, though I couldn't place what was different.  I didn't really care at the time due to me being seven though.

It's been suggested on this site before, but I'm bringing it up again.  I think we should get a group of OT-ers together and write, produce, and edit our own versions of the prequel trilogy movies.  I think with the rise of sites like Kickstarter, we wouid have no problem getting funds.  This site alone is filled with people who would want this to happen and back the project.  There are enough talented people here that I'm positive we could come up with a much better story than what we got that is of pretty good quality.  What do you guys think?  Possible?  Probable?

Ah.  Thanks for the clarification.  You see, I'm a child of the nineties.  I grew up with VHS and didn't even know what a laserdisc was until high school, so I basically figured that since they were so much more popular than laserdiscs, they must've been similar quality.  Apparently not. :P

SilverWook said:

I was holding out for "Blue Puggo" or "Puggo Harvest", but those would fly over the heads of the younger crowd. ;)

I'm pretty sure that, regardless of age, if you don't understand that reference, you really shouldn't be allowed on this site.

I’ve seen people use the 1995 thx laserdiscs for preservations, but what about the vhs tapes?  I’m aware of how vhs tapes wear with use, but say you had an unopened, unplayed copy.  Would a transfer be of use for preservation?  I just so rarely see anyone using any vhs copies for preservations and I’m not really sure what makes it less useful than a laserdisc.

So far pretty good, I've always maintained the 2004 DVDs wouldn't be so bad to watch if the color correction wasn't so god awful.

Ok, so here's what I'm thinking.  Harmy's Despecialized Star Wars, Adywan's Theatrical Empire Strikes Back, and Dark_Jedi/You_Too's Return of the Jedi.

What do you all think of Moth3r's Pwnage edition?  I did a little further research and looking at comparisons between the two, Moth3r's seems to have nearly identical colors to Dark_Jedi's but a crisper image.  Then again sometimes stills like this don't do justice.

Thank you all for the opinions.  I'm going to check out Dark Jedi & You_Too's v3.  Seems to be what I'm looking for as the main problem I have with Harmy's Despecialized Editions is color correction.

Something I've been thinking about for a while, and it's actually been suggested on this site once or twice before.  I really think a small band of OT members needs to get together, and write, produce, and edit our own version of the prequels.  Given the popularity of Kickstarter I don't think raising funds would be a problem, and given what I've seen on just this thread alone shows that we are more than capable of coming up with a much, much better story than what Lucas crapped out.

AntcuFaalb said:

How important is "HD" to you?

Not important at all.  In fact most of my dvds are SD and look fine on my hdtv imo.  I mean, obviously I want it to look good. I could always hook up my old vcr and show her my old '95 vhs tapes if I didn't care at all, but it doesn't have to be HD, just at least as presentable as a standard definition dvd.

I found out with a shock recently that my girlfriend has never seen Star Wars… any of them.  Obviously, I would not stand for such a catastrophe.  So I’m planning on having her over to watch the OT (and maybe… maybe the PT)  for a day.  Here’s my issue:  I want to show her preservations, so she can see them the way they were meant to be seen, but not having time to really commit to watching many of them, I can’t say which is of the highest quality.  Which one should I show her?  I’ve been leaning toward Dark_Jedi’s preservations based on what I’ve heard, but would really like some outside opinions.  If all else fails I will show her Harmy’s Despecialized Editions which I have relied on for quite a while for lack of time to really commit to watching others.

I like that you made the comparison to Harry Potter, Bingowings.  I actually think comparing it to wizards in Harry Potter perfectly explains it.  Magic is passed down as a hereditary thing, but there are also the muggle-borns who can use magic, but have no magical bloodline.  That's the way it is, but it's never explained in any more detail than that, and doesn't have to be.  I think the same kind of principles could be applied to force-users in Star Wars.  I would make some variations on it though.  Basically, here's how I see it:  Some individuals are born with a higher potential to manipulate the force.  This cannot be measured by any scientific means, but can be sensed by those whose minds are in tune with the force, however, anybody has the ability to manipulate the force with training, some are just born stronger with the force than others, thus have an easier time learning and are more likely to be more powerful.  This natural strength with the force is passed down through generations.  Ben's line "I was amazed how strongly the force was with him." perfectly fits in with this ideology.  The Skywalkers simply have a very high natural connection with the force.

Hey, I just joined OT recently (don't know why it took so long), but I've been following the progress on this for about a year as a guest and would just like to say how amazing it feels knowing that there are people like you who are willing to put so much tender love and care into preserving our cultural heritage.  I have a girlfriend who has never seen Star Wars and I have decided to wait until this is released to show it to her so that she can see it how it was meant to be seen (although knowing me, I'll probably get impatient and just show her Harmy's Despecialized Editions =P)  In any case, thank you so much for what you are doing and I will continue following this with great interest.