Erikstormtrooper

Harmy, in your latest scene with the sunset, at the end did you leave the mountain layer in there on purpose?

The Aluminum Falcon said:

SpenceEdit said:

My friend saw an advanced copy and he didn't report any changes.

Oh that's good. Asteroid Man or Uncanny Antman, would you consider making Clu "good" blue instead of evil "red"? By changing the hue, it's relatively easily accomplished. He's supposed to be a good character and this has always bugged me...

Clu was yellow, not red. I guess that makes him neutral.

This is gonna be great!

Are there any Special Edition changes that you don't think you'll be able to remove?

What are your plans for the matte lines? I'm hoping you won't be restoring them.

The Aluminum Falcon said:

Have you seen some other ROTS edits, Erikstormtrooper? If so, how does the Killer Sandbox compare?

I have seen a couple, but I can't remember the names right now. I really haven't seen that many. My personal test of an Episode III edit is the Dooku flip. If an editor has left this in, I know the edit's not for me.

The Killer Sandbox version tries to emulate the Phantom Editor's approach, just cutting out what doesn't work. He even uses the same movie header with countdown at the beginning, like the Phantom Editor did.

dfo said:

Anyone have advice on layer-break placement when burning these to DVD?  I was planning to use Toast 10 if that's any help.

I used cell 28, but the layer jump on my player was still quite noticeable. That has more to do with my player though (DMP-BD80). I used ImgBurn.

This talk of rotoscoping Jar Jar reminds me of an issue ADigitalMan was having on an edit of Superman 3. He was trying to remove Richard Pryor from a certain shot, but was having major problems getting the background to match. I believe Darth Editous was able to write some kind of script that successfully removed Pryor. You might want to contact the 2 of them to see if they can help in any way.

mrbenja0618 said:

TV's Frink said:

Erikstormtrooper said:

I'm partial to KillerSandbox's edit of Episode III.

Who?

 

I second this, and add: Where?

Killer Sandbox came out with his edit a few years ago. It takes ADM's as a starting point, and then cuts some additional things from there. Also, the movie had film grain and other imperfections (scratches, etc.) applied. IIRC, it wasn't anything too radical, but it took out just about all the annoying stuff that ruins Episode III for me (like Dooku's flip).

I found out about his edit from another forum member here. I had to have the disc mailed to me, since it wasn't anywhere online.

I'm partial to KillerSandbox's edit of Episode III.

The best solution would be to remove Jar Jar, but that sounds like a lot of work.

The idea of Jar Jar as a betrayer is interesting. And it actually makes more sense than the supposed "trace" that allows Maul to track them to Tatooine.

canofhumdingers said:

Perhaps I should make a thread on it in the technical section (i did a search but came up empty) but is there a way to put out a an HD version that can be burned to disc and easily watched on any standalone bluray player without having to actually burn a bluray (to my knowledge blu ray burners still aren't all that common, or cheap)?  I've seen the term avchd or something mentioned here before & get the impression that might be what it is, but I really don't know.

Yes. It's called an AVCHD, and most blu-ray players will play them. Typically a dual-layer DVD is used.

Ainsowrth was targeted because of the size of his operation. He had ads in magazines, he had a website where you could order items online, and he had a storefront with stormtroopers in the window. Oh, and he claimed to own the copyright for stormtroopers.

Lucasfilm is aware that there are hundreds of smaller armor makers (anyone ever heard of the 501st Legion?), but they get a pass because they're low-key, and bow appropriately.

Awesome!

Here's my review:

I think this was the most ambitious ROTJ edit that I've seen to date. Spence deserves the highest praise for taking this on.

Unfortunately, there's only so much ROTJ can be polished with editing alone. And another problem for me is: how can I "unsee" the version of the film that I've known for almost 30 years?

I haven't listened to the commentary yet. Spence has probably commented on many of these things.

I loved the new crawl :)

The scenes with Luke on Dagobah were good. They still talk about Vader's identity, which is important on some level to confirm for the viewer.

The Tatooine cuts worked well in theory, but I felt the trimmed sequences were too fast. The story needs a little room to breathe. All the fat has been removed from this part of the story, and not much plot is left. But at least Luke's plan makes more sense.

I thought the idea of sending in Leia first worked very well. We get an introduction to Jabba's palace and Jabba himself through them. The cuts to Luke sensing what happened seemed a little out of place. I would prefer a shot of Luke sensing the events after they've happened, using an echoey repetition of some of Jabba's lines or maybe his laughter.  Luke also seems to get to Tatooine too quickly.

The removal of Fett was very well done. He is not missed.

After the rescue, the heroes go their separate ways, but Luke has nowhere to go. When he shows up at the fleet, he's welcomed like he's been gone a long time. I know there's nothing to show Luke doing, but it leaves a pretty big hole.

Once on Endor, I liked the speeder bike chase and the hint at what happened to Leia. The brief part where 3PO tells his story, which then cuts to Luke leaving, was perfect.

The establishing shot of Vader taking Luke to the Super Star Destroyer was nice, but maybe should have been a little longer. It was hard to tell if it was the super star destroyer or one of the smaller star destroyers.

While Luke is watching the space battle, it seems like the Death Star should have stayed close to the fleet, instead of moving away from it. Logistically, why would the imperial fleet change its location if it's trying to box in the Rebels. So I think the DS should remain in all shots of the fleet through the window.

I'm not a big fan of the lightsaber duel being one complete scene. I just don't feel like there's enough there, so cutting away to something else makes it feel fuller. Plus, in the course of the duel, Luke goes from wanting to kill the Emperor, to not wanting to fight, to wanting to kill Vader, to then not wanting to kill him. With the shorter duel, these flip-flops are more glaring.

When the Executor's shield generators are hit, we see Luke is on board having his moment with his father (I can't decide if I like the use of Anakin's theme here or not). So I got confused about whether there is one super star destroyer or 2. I'm still not sure how many there were supposed to be. I was hoping you would have the SSD go down, so that Luke has to escape in time, but I guess you didn't have the external shots for that.

Han's face right before Leia kisses him is confusing. He has nothing to react to. (I'd personally like to see an edit where Luke implies to Leia that she's his sister, but we don't get confirmation of it until she tells Han at the end.)

The new ending has a nice somber feel. I just wish there was a way to remove the SE city shots.

Technical Issues:

I noticed some jaggies on the crawl. It seemed like it might not have been done at full DVD resolution.

There seemed to be a strange effect with the music in some scenes (like the Emperor's arrival & the skiff battle). It was like there were 2 music tracks layered on top of each other, with one delayed by about a second or two (I have a 5.1 system).

There was an audio dropout in the bunker when the commander sends more reinforcements to the battle.

------

I recommend this edit as an important stepping stone for
getting people to see ROTJ in a different way. But personally, I still think there's room for more improvement.

cutnshut, PM sent.

Spence, where do you recommend we put the layer break?

Sluggo said:

Sluggo said:

I'm grabbing it tonight.

I should have the thing downloaded in 48 days.  Could we get some seeding folks?

Try Tehparadox. I downloaded it last night while I slept :)

dark_jedi said:

TV's Frink said:

I'm sorry if I missed this, but if the Blu project ends up viable would you also release it as an AVCHD for those without Blu burners?  I would be very interested in that.

Probably not, there will be to much on it to fit a DVD9, all that audio, fancy menu, high bitrate encode, the only way there could be an AVCHD is by downloading it and stripping what you don't want and encoding it yourself, I can burn Blu's and I want everything I have on 1 BD for each movie, then I can quit this shit LOL, NO MORE STAR WARS projects! then I can enjoy the Saga BD Set this Fall.

DJ, I hope you will reconsider this. I know an AVCHD with just Hairy Hen's 5.1 mixes would be great, kind of like the Maximum Bitrate Editions of the V3.

I think there are too many unknowns on the visual side, especially in the Bacta tank scene.

Plus, many of the changes from the 8mm that were assumed to be in the 70mm have been contradicted in morgands1's recordings.

xhonzi, what's the place called?

I just checked, and I've been a member here for almost 6 years! Wow.

I was originally attracted to OT.com by OCP Movie and his various projects (Deleted Magic, Classic Editions). I had already been interested in fan edits - I had the VCDs of the Phantom Edit. The whole drama of the 2004 DVDs, which I'd seen advance clips of on millenniumfalcon.com, had me looking for the original versions on DVD. So when I finally found this place, it had a lot of my interests covered.

I'm also impressed by the quality of people who stick around here. For the most part, everyone works together and helps each other out in a pretty selfless way. This collaborative spirit is what keeps me around, and it makes me hopeful that soon, in spite of Lucas, we'll have HD versions of the OOT.

Very cool!

Can you tell us more about the alternate audio track?

Frink, that bugs the crap out of me.

skyjedi2005 said:

I think didn't Negative -1 join in his efforts and offer the prints, with the idea that it will never be seen or shared ?

That's what I heard.

Related to this, the imminent release of SW on Blu-Ray has me wondering about something. With the Blu-Ray releases being the new standard, would it be possible for someone like Mike Verta to release his DVD version without much worry? This would be akin to someone releasing a Star Wars restoration on VHS after the 2004 DVDs were released.

Just to be clear, I respect Mike Verta's desire to not release his work. I can't drive to his house and demand that he give me a copy. What I don't understand is that he puts up a website that claims to explain his process, but really only gives some vague descriptions. Then he doesn't update his website in over 5 years, in which time he's completed his "restoration". In retrospect, the purpose of his website doesn't really seem to be helping fellow restoration buffs.

Now if Mike's played this whole game to get Lucas to budge, to get him to release the OOT before someone else does, then I guess I've misjudged. But it certainly doesn't seem this way.

Spence, this is your edit, and you're the boss here. Thanks for taking the feedback.

ChainsawAsh said:

My 2¢:

I'd definitely add in "The Rebel Alliance has been driven to the fringes of the galaxy." at the beginning.  It sets up the current situation for the Rebels, just like the first two films did. ("It is a period of civil war." and "It is a dark time for the Rebellion.")  And it grabs the audience more.

Also, your second paragraph fails to mention Han at all.  On top of that, "Upon learning of Chewbacca's capture" is just a better-written, more active sentence than "Learning that Chewbacca has been discovered and captured."  Plus, it's slightly shorter.  I'm indifferent on "Lando has sent a desperate message to Princes Leia" versus "Princess Leia has impatiently rushed to Tatooine to free her friends" - I think I lean more toward the latter, but they're both good.

Finally, I'm also indifferent toward "certain doom for the galaxy" versus "certain doom for the small band of Rebels struggling to restore freedom to the galaxy."

Here's my compromise attempt:

 

STAR WARS

Episode VI
RETURN OF THE JEDI

The Rebel Alliance has been driven
to the fringes of the galaxy.  Still burdened
by the terrible truth of his father's fate,
Luke Skywalker has returned to
Dagobah to complete his Jedi training
under Master Yoda.

Meanwhile, in a daring attempt to
rescue Han Solo, Lando Calrissian
and Chewbacca have infiltrated
the court of the vile gangster JABBA THE
HUTT.  Upon learning of Chewbacca's discovery
and capture, Lando has sent a desperate
plea for help to Princess Leia.

Little do they know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE
has secretly begun construction of a new
DEATH STAR. When completed, this
ultimate weapon will spell certain doom
for the galaxy....

 

This formatting actually uses fewer lines than the 1977 Star Wars crawl, so you shouldn't have timing issues.

--edit--

I'm not sure why we have a "center align" button when it doesn't do a damn thing, but whatever.

I love it when a plan comes together.

MTHaslett said:

If it is left at Lando sending a message to the Princess, then we will be more "surprised" by the Princess' plan. EDIT: In other words, telling us she has a plan is redundant.

 

Genius.