Density

Ingruber is the only choice. I’m convinced that the Star Wars gods had him bred expressly for this purpose. I mean he literally looks like a clone of Harrison Ford. I would say that he might have been acquainted with his mother but the resemblance is too uncanny for him to even just be his son. He must have been created in a laboratory. His impressions are spot on too. He has the persona, the inflection, the facial expressions, everything down pat. If he did a good enough job then he could easily make everyone forget we’re not watching a young Harrison Ford again.

I am so confused…

crackinwax said:
I know this is off-topic to the thread itself, but felt compelled to respond to this part of the conversation. I have no doubts that Disney wants a 40th Anniversary release, however there is at least one tall hurdle to clear.

An article from ScreenRant published on September 19 2015 states that Twentieth Century Fox owns distribution rights to Episodes I-III; V; and VI until 2020, and owns the distribution rights to Episode IV indefinitely. If that article is accurate, any meeting between Disney/Fox and Verta would have to be awfully productive. That’s not to say that an original trilogy re-release is impossible, of course.

I’ve never understood this argument either. Companies make deals to release compilations of things - music, movies, etc. - where rights ownership is split all the time. Fox wants to squeeze as much money out of Star Wars as they can before Disney gets most of their rights, so if anything this fact supports a release. Yet for some reason people throw it out there as though it proves there will never be a release. Wat. Remember, it wasn’t Fox, just Lucas, that stood in the way of an OOT release. Even the rest of Lucasfilm wanted it. Now that Lucas is out of the picture I have no doubts that it will happen. Yes, legal issues will have to be sorted out, but it’s not like that is some kind of insurmountable hurdle or anything that has not happened before. It happens all the time. Two massive corporations that want to make money will make an arrangement to do so that satisfies both parties. Hell, they’ve already re-issued the Blu-rays and released them digitally since Disney acquired Star Wars, and the 20th Century Fox fanfare/logo was stripped out. Disney’s obviously already done whatever they have to do legally to release the films. There is hard proof of this. This is a total non-issue, even moreso than the unsubstantiated idea that Lucas put in some kind of clause that he wouldn’t have had any power to do.

Any sites where one might be able to find that one?

I’m asking for a friend.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Density said:

Disney is not “infamous for Lucasization” as far as I know

I guess you’re not aware of the cuts they’ve made to Fantasia, their refusal to release Song of the South on DVD/Blu-ray within North America, and all the DNRing they’re done to the Blu-ray releases of their classic animated features.

I was only aware of Song of the South, and that has been withheld for entirely different reasons than a stubborn refusal to compromise a so-called “vision.”

As for Fantasia, it looks to me like they actually restored the original theatrical roadshow version of it for later releases so… Not like they replaced all the broomsticks with CGI or something or swapped out one of the songs for “Jedi Rocks.”

And DNR, while you may disapprove of its use, is a little (extremely) different than altering the storyline or throwing new digital bullshit all over the screen.

DuracellEnergizer said:

I think it’d be a tad difficult getting LaserDisc transfers of the '04 & '11 SEs, though.

Well yeah, so just throw the 97 editions on there as-is without any thought given to that.

Lucas handed over all Star Wars assets to Disney. All his ideas, all his licensing rights, property rights, absolutely everything. And he got paid 4 billion dollars for it. When you’re getting that kind of obscene money, you’re not in any position to tell the buyer what to do with their new property. If he was, if he still cared so much about his “artistic vision,” he probably would have made them use his ideas for the sequel trilogy, no? But he didn’t do that; we know they didn’t use any of his ideas even though he had to give them to them. I think it’s clear that Lucas was just done with Star Wars and was fed up with the fan backlash so he was admitting defeat, cashing out and running. I think the idea that he forced Disney to only release the Special Editions absurd. If that was the case, then why would Disney and Fox executives even bother to meet with Mike Verta? Clearly they can if they want to. I’m telling you people, they’re waiting for the 40th anniversary in 2017. That’s part of the reason why they didn’t do it immediately, that and they wanted to make a proper restoration and build hype. I think a theatrical release isn’t out of the question either. Disney is not “infamous for Lucasization” as far as I know and, more importantly, they like money. Plus, with TFA, they’ve proven that they’re listening to the fans and are happy to give older fans nostalgia.

canofhumdingers said:

Does anyone know if this ever made it to tehparadox or any other place where it’s obtainable through jdownloader? I’ve never been able to track it down. I’m far too computer illiterate to try Usenet, and I’m not able to seed torrents so I’ve never bothered to try the spleen because I’d be one of those “grab and go” guys everyone dislikes so much.

It was on The Pirate Bay when I got it. Also if you have MySpleen it’s free leech right now so it doesn’t matter so much if you can’t seed.

Honestly, what I hope happens is that they restore the original cuts with all the works for new Blu-Ray releases, and also include as afterthought “bonus discs” non-anamorphic, grainy laserdisc transfers of the Special Editions.

You know, justice.

What Did You Like About ROTS?

What I do like about the prequels is a pretty short list, but it does exist:

• Palpatine was awesome. In an insanely over-the-top scenery devouring “EEEEEEEEVIIIIIILLLLLLLLL” way but awesome all the same. Ian McDiarmid did a glorious job and was really the only actor who looked like he was having fun. Plus the best part of the story is Palpatine manipulating his way into becoming Emperor. It’s like House of Cards meets Star Wars. This might already be a fan edit, but a movie focusing purely on that plotline could be pretty damn good. What would be even better is an alternative prequel trilogy with Palpatine as the protagonist who breaks the fourth wall like Frank Underwood in House of Cards. A man can dream.

• John Williams’s score was great as always. “Duel of the Fates” is in the running for greatest Star Wars song ever.

• There was quite a bit of imaginative worldbuilding and creative costume design, set design, etc. Some of it was pretty dumb, but some of it was great too. The Star Wars universe was expanded quite a bit and the effects, though horribly dated now, were groundbreaking at the time.

• All the seeds for a great, Shakespearean tragedy were in place in the main plotline. It was executed terribly, but the idea was good and there were at least a couple moments in ROTS where it came close to emotional payoff. It also adds a bit to Vader’s arc in the originals, particularly ROTJ, even though at the same time the portrayal of Anakin significantly takes away from his badassery.

• Ewan McGregor was the perfect choice to play young Obi-Wan. He was misused in the films (especially TPM), but this might really pay off if he gets his own spinoff film now as rumored.

We have two old guys, one of whom is a guy who’s only kept alive by a life support suit he wears and who has mechanical limbs and the other of whom is not trying to win. It wouldn’t make much sense for them to be bouncing off the walls fighting each other like cartoon characters. The ANH duel gets the job done. The story was more important than the effects. As it should be.

pittrek said:

I thought Clones was pretty good. Except the entire movie, it was pretty enjoyable.

I don’t see why Obi-Wan would be describing someone totally different who was not his father to Luke. I’m pretty sure that Lucas intended Vader to be Anakin after ESB. No other idea ever occurred to me. It wouldn’t make sense to create another character when we’ve already clearly established Obi-Wan’s relationship with Vader and the fact that he used to be a good Jedi before falling to the dark side.

As for the revelation that Leia was Luke’s sister, I’ve honestly never felt that was forced at all. I actually thought it was strongly implied at the end of ESB, given that Leia can hear Luke with the force and Yoda teases “another.” I’ve certainly never had the problem with it that others do. Always felt totally natural and made perfect sense to me; Leia would have most likely been the one I thought Yoda was talking about if I saw ESB in 1980. I mean, yeah, they kissed and that’s kind of gross, but it was just to make Han jealous. Not because Leia was really attracted to her brother. Even if she was, it’s actually pretty common for twins separated at birth to be attracted to each other when they reunite as adults… But really, though I certainly do not think Lucas had this idea in mind for ANH, I think it’s possible he did for ESB. The idea that Leia would be Luke’s love interest rather than Han’s was certainly killed off right at the beginning of the film and cemented hard by the end, and I think that was done for a reason.

Skyfocker said:

I used Handbrake on my Mac and re-encoded the MKV to MP4. From there I used a some freeware - Subler (awesome program) to import metadata (gives you a movie description and attaches it to the file). After you add this you choose your artwork (provides many options) and it attaches it to the file. Hit save. Hit optimize. Hit Send To iTunes. Then it will be syncable with your iPhone thru iTunes and will place it in your Videos app along with all your other movies/purchases.

I have SW 2.5, ESB 2.0 and ROTJ 2.5 all on my iPhone 6 using the steps above and they look absolutely incredible. I may throw together a YouTube tutorial if it would be helpful to ppl.

EDIT: also off topic. My apologies. If you want more info PM me

Yes, Subler is an awesome program, but you don’t even have to use Handbrake if you have it. You can just remux the MKVs to MP4 files with Subler, cut out or convert any audio tracks you don’t want and add metadata, and import them to iTunes. Then you can click on the video files and select “File>Create New Version>iPod/iPhone Version.” iTunes will then convert it for you to sync to your iPhone, and you keep the original in your library.

And if you have enough free space, you can always just download the VLC iOS app and transfer the full files to watch them with that. All of this avoids re-encoding as much as possible (saving time and quality) and allows you to keep fewer copies of the movie and a more streamlined library.

DuracellEnergizer said:

I remember the first time I watched SW as kid. Even then, I thought Leia’s interrogation was too mild; a floating black orb comes in and that’s it? She doesn’t get so much as a hair knocked out of place?

I don’t know if I would have wanted to see Leia half-naked with bruises all over her face, but some effort should have went into the final film to show that Leia’s Imperial captivity wasn’t just Tarkin and Vader throwing big evil villain speeches at her.

And, you know, blowing up her home planet as she looked on helplessly…

Lasz said:

They’ve updated their statement on their website: http://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/starwars/post/2016/02/19/Team-Negative1-has-disbanded

“Basically, we set out to prove that we could finish the preservation project and we have”

Bullshit. They are absolutely not disbanding because they’ve all of a sudden decided all their work is done and it just so happened to be the same day they were banned.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m not buying this crap for a second.

I still don’t understand why the Yoda puppet in TPM was so much worse than the one in the OT. It’s like they were going out of their way to make sure literally everything about these movies was inferior.

…Who is saying there is something wrong with it? I mean personally I don’t think romance should ever be at the center of a Star Wars film, gay or otherwise. Just look at Attack of the Clones. Sure, Empire had Han/Leia but that was basically a side story and it wasn’t handled sappily or anything. Unless they can pull off something like that again (which is doubtful), too much romance of any kind would be a distraction. But I don’t really care if one or more characters is gay. I don’t think it’s necessary to shoehorn gay characters just for the sake of it, and don’t like the idea of allowing topical trends and political correctness to influence the story, but if it fits in with the story and characters organically, then I have zero problem with it at all. And I would think any fans who would are indeed bigoted to at least some degree. Probably the same fans who threw a fit about Finn being black.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Density said:

• Mike Verta says that he is scheduled to meet with Disney and Fox executives to preview and discuss his restoration in relation to a possible official release.

What? Really?

Yep.

http://moviemezzanine.com/the-fans-who-saved-star-wars/

“Verta is preparing a presentation for executives at Disney and Fox. ‘I’ve heard many conflicting reports from inside the walls over the years, and ultimately decided the only thing to do is invite the executives to a screening and make the pitch,’ he says. ‘So those plans are in the works.’ The plan is to make the presentation later this year.”

And also:

“Recently there have been some indications that an official 4K restoration of Star Wars has been commissioned by Disney and completed by Reliance Media Works. A promotional reel from the digital restoration company features cleaned-up footage from Star Wars that looks nothing like the official Blu-ray release, lending credence to the rumours of an impending release.”

Lolwat

Wat. Harmy had no such permissions, and Harmy’s Grindhouse is not in any sense a “fan edit,” it is literally exactly the same as TN1’s releases. No offense (or take offense, I don’t care), but you obviously have no clue what you are talking about. No one here believes any of this stuff is legal because it isn’t. We just don’t care or consider it unethical.

And again:

TN1 has been here for a while and everyone knew what they were doing and exactly how illegal it is.

So something has changed.

Um, not for the ROTJ Grindhouse release he just did he didn’t. That was pure 35mm scan exactly like TN1. So your logic doesn’t hold up. The Team also have made it clear that they don’t want people buying and selling their versions and they want them to own the originals. So again, your logic doesn’t hold up. Also, TN1 has been here for a while and everyone knew what they were doing and exactly how illegal it is. So again, your logic doesn’t hold up.

Also, it seems like if you’re basically pirating parts of even more releases that you aren’t legally supposed to, that would be even “worse.” You’re deluding yourself if you think you’re legally “in the clear” to download the despecialized versions. You definitely aren’t. Ethically, however, is another story. I don’t think either is unethical at all, certainly not one yet not the other, but then I pirate stuff without any remorse whatsoever.

So again, the only conclusion I can reach is that either the admins/Team were specifically contacted about this release due to excess publicity, or there’s something more going on.

Yeah, I’m starting to put the pieces together. Originally I read “from a scan of a print that has been obtained by unethical means without the owner’s knowledge or consent” as meaning that Team Negative1 unethically scanned/obtained the print themselves, but now I’m thinking that they got it from someone who “unethically” obtained it from the studio (as would be the case for all 35mm film prints), and they’ve probably sent out cease and desists following the recent publicity, i.e. they brought it to the team and admins’ “attention.” This caused both the ban and the disbandment.

The only thing that doesn’t fit is that they specifically mentioned just certain recent screen shots of a particular scan/print. But this would apply to everything they have done so far, and even Harmy for using it and his own ROTJ Grindhouse, etc. Which makes me wonder if they only received a complaint about one specific thing and so are only targeting that and banning the Team to save and keep the heat off the rest of the site/community.

Well it is related. We’re speculating about what Mayhew’s announcement means, and if his theory is correct that would be yet another clue that the OUT release is imminent.