I just emailed their customer service line.
Thank you!
I’m sure they’re fully expecting to get more questions about these screenings than they do for most other films.
It’s Star Wars, after all.
The 1997 and 2011 versions could inhabit one disc via seamless branching. Give the originals their own discs with plenty of room, and the third disc is every bit of deleted/alternate footage and maybe some vintage docs, hopefully restored?
They could follow Blade Runner’s example to the letter and have the first disc be the “final” version with whatever color timing and last changes George wants, the second disc be the 1997/2004/2011 versions all seamlessly branched (I’d want them to simply conform the color-timing to how it looked in theaters in ‘97), and the third disc be the unaltered version preserved as faithfully as possible.
Based on this recent article’s source’s claim that it will be “four discs per film for the 4k, three discs for the regular blu-ray,” I think the less ideal but more realistic prediction is that the three discs will be the final version, the unaltered version, and the extras, respectively, and the 4k version will be those same exact regular blu-ray discs but with a fourth disc that’s the “final” version on UHD.
I’d love to be wrong, though.
Like before?
Well, it was slightly different in 2015. The day before the digital release dropped (which was the same week as Celebration IIRC) there was a report citing a “source” within LFL that the Han/Greedo scene had been altered yet again, this time back to its original pre-SE edit.
That report may yet turn out to be true. It could be a change that’s being saved for the 4k remaster.
Anyway, yeah, it wasn’t an OOT rumor that time. But Greedo shooting first is arguably the most controversial change George has made to these films. Changing it back to its original state would be a big deal all on its own.
It’s important to note that the article’s source didn’t specifically say that we should expect the OOT the way that every other rumor has. They kind of hinted at it, but again, the point was more that there were 4K restorations happening, not that we’d get the original versions. That, to me, makes the article a bit more credible since it isn’t as speculative.
Yeah, but they also mention that Lucasfilm is thinking at least three discs per movie and that this Skywalker Saga release will “please fans.”
For the OT films, just what in the world could that possibly mean other than the unaltered version on one of those discs?!
I take it nothing of note was announced at Celebration?
It would appear not.
But just like before, we’re getting a suspiciously timed article coinciding with Celebration.
I contacted them out of curiosity. Not that I could go. All DCP, all SE
With whom did you speak? I’d be curious to ask (if they know) whether the OT dcp’s are 4k or just the same old same old.
“As we said a week ago, it makes sense, given that Episode IX ends the 9-film “Skywalker” portion of the Star Wars Saga, that Disney would want to put all of the films (including Solo and Rogue One) into a new box set on Blu-ray and 4K next year. This is one of those subjects were our industry contacts run deep and there’s much we just can’t say. And the reason we can’t is that many things are still in flux and being decided.”
That’s from Bill Hunt’s Friday post at The Digital Bits.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/041219-1200
Meanwhile, the article from The Digital Fix, which cites an unnamed UK-based source within Lucasfilm, seems to indicate the current plan as four discs per film for the 4k (three discs for the bd).
So even if standard dynamic range 1080p is the best we end up with for the OOT, I can’t imagine them doing that many discs per film and not having any of them be the unaltered version.
Just thought I’d bump the thread in light of AFI Silver here in the DC area showing I-VIII next month.
Apparently they’ll all be shown on DCP.
I’m curious if the OT will be from the newer master (not curious enough to actually buy a ticket of course, it’s still the most recent revision either way). Didn’t someone on these boards go to one of the “Roadshow” screenings of the OT a couple years ago and claim that the colors, grain etc looked noticeably different from the Lowry master?
I was just about to say “Surely there was a trailer at Celebration and why isn’t it up on the official youtube channel yet?” But yeah, as others have said, makes more sense to wait until that teaser for IX has been out there for a little while.
I want to say there was a Star Wars novel with that title as well, but that could be my memory playing tricks on me.
Every possible title for VII, VIII and IX had been thought up by someone at some point.
Wasn’t there a no-budget fan film made prior to October of 2014 called Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Wasn’t there an actual Star Wars novel (Legends now, I think) titled The Last Jedi?
That’s what he’s saying - disc 1 would be the SE in 4K, disc 2 the SE in 1080p, disc 3 the OT in 1080p, and disc 4 is extras (in 1080p). The standard BR release would just drop the 4K disc.
Exactly, which would once again be giving the two versions unequal treatment (both versions get 1080p but only the SE gets released on UHD).
Honestly, I wouldn’t complain at this point. If I got a good restoration of the original trilogy in 1080p all from original film elements done right, then I’m going to be a happy camper. If that’s what this release turns out to be then I hope that people don’t boycott it based purely on that.
Oh, I’d look at such a scenario glass half full, to be sure. More than half, even. There’s a big debate in the AV community right now as to whether or not HDR is inherently revisionist for older movies anyway. I’ve even heard it argued that the dynamic range of regular sdr blu-ray is already exceeding that of the original prints of many older films as well.
I’ve also heard it argued, scientifically, that 35mm film prints of movies probably never exhibited anything higher than 720p in terms of real perceivable detail anyway. The story doesn’t even change much if we go back to the camera negative. Even Robert A. Harris has argued that The Godfather films wouldn’t stand to gain much from being seen at their full 4k resolution.
The counterargument, of course, is that a restrained use of HDR (or just no HDR at all) combined with the higher resolution and wider color gamut UHD affords would actually bring us closest to how the OOT originally looked in theaters.
It’s also the principle of the thing. Both versions should be made available on the most recent format and not just the SE.
But considering I skipped the GOUT and the 2011 blu-ray, yeah, I’d probably pick this up.
That’s what he’s saying - disc 1 would be the SE in 4K, disc 2 the SE in 1080p, disc 3 the OT in 1080p, and disc 4 is extras (in 1080p). The standard BR release would just drop the 4K disc.
Exactly, which would once again be giving the two versions unequal treatment (both versions get 1080p but only the SE gets released on UHD).
The part about “Four discs per film for the 4k, three for the standard blu” made my heart sink a little, since that might mean they’re once again going to give the two different versions unequal treatment, with the 4k UHD only including the SE in 4k and relegating the unaltered version to 1080p.
When we have actual 4k transfers of these movies made by the fans and LFL actually has the ability to do us one better with a professional cleanup from a scan of higher quality elements only they possess, it would be a real shame if they gave us the OOT only to lock it into a level of quality from 13 years ago. Deja vu, man.
Again, this is assuming anything in this article isn’t total clickbait bs. The timing makes it highly suspect.
So we’re actually going back to a planet from I-VI? Wow, we were so close to making it through the ST without doing that.
Well, and it’s centered around May 4th, aka “May the Fourth Be With You”
I noticed it was in early May and yet that went completely over my head!
Anyway, I might try to ask the relevant person over there if they can tell me with any confidence which format the movies are being shown in.
I saw Search for Spock and Voyage Home back-to-back at AFI Silver the week of The Man Trap’s 50th in 2016. I asked the box office person whether they were actual prints and they asked someone and said that they were, which ended up not being true for SFS (it was digital and from the same subpar master as the bd), but Voyage Home was a European 35mm print with the prologue and it looked gorgeous!
I was going to bring this up in the 4k restoration thread!
AFI Silver has shown the ‘97 prints as recently as a few years ago IIRC, so it’s possible they’ll project TPM and the OT-SE on actual film.
TPM’s 20th seems to be the only reason they’re doing this marathon next month.
The TBS/TNT deal might just be for broadcast rights, though.
IX will definitely show up on Disney+ first, probably by the middle of next year after the blu-ray’s been out a couple months, but won’t show up on tbs/tnt until the end of 2021 at the earliest. Yeah, you can also watch them online, but that’s technically going through your cable provider first since I don’t think you can get those channels without a cable subscription of some sort.
For purposes of legality, “streaming” is considered something entirely different from the tnt/tbs deal.
Since Disney+ will likely launch by the end of the year, how long do you think they’ll wait to just add all the movies now that they own the rights completely?
All of the Star Trek shows and movies were up on CBS All Access from the get-go IIRC.
I’m sure all the films will be added to Disney Plus once it launches.
Which begs the question of whether the OT will finally be from the newer 4k master or if it will be the now ancient 2004 Lowry master yet again. I don’t know if there’s been talk yet about Disney+ having any 4k content, but the Lowry’s are stuck in 1080p.
I’m sorry, but what does “Lowry” mean? I’ve never heard of it. Does this mean the re-color timed DVD and Blu-ray masters?
Yes.
Lowry Digital did the HD cleanup of the OT in 2004 working with 2k scans of the original camera negative (which has been conformed to the SE ever since 1997). The resulting HD master (not 2048 by 858 2k but 1920 by 817 HD, the Lowry guys actually specified this in 2004) was used for the 2004 dvd, the hd broadcasts, the 2011 bd and the 2015 digital release. It was already starting to look outdated in 2011 and it’s ridiculously outdated now.
Since Disney+ will likely launch by the end of the year, how long do you think they’ll wait to just add all the movies now that they own the rights completely?
All of the Star Trek shows and movies were up on CBS All Access from the get-go IIRC.
I’m sure all the films will be added to Disney Plus once it launches.
Which begs the question of whether the OT will finally be from the newer 4k master or if it will be the now ancient 2004 Lowry master yet again. I don’t know if there’s been talk yet about Disney+ having any 4k content, but the Lowry’s are stuck in 1080p.
Since Disney+ will likely launch by the end of the year, how long do you think they’ll wait to just add all the movies now that they own the rights completely?
All of the Star Trek shows and movies were up on CBS All Access from the get-go IIRC.
The OT:
ANH Faces vhs pan n’ scan, (received it as a Christmas gift ‘95)
SE trilogy vhs widescreen, (received it as a Christmas gift ‘97, I gave it away in 2012 as part of a vhs purge)
OT dvd widescreen, (mom bought it at costco in early October of ‘04 at costco, I’ve since sold it off)
In April / early May of ‘05 I tracked down used copies of the pan n’ scan faces vhs of Empire and Jedi at a record n’ tape traders at the beach, but since I’m an idiot and was using a bag that had magnetic clamps the Empire vhs was ruined (pretty sure I gave away that bag not long after). I eventually found a used ‘95 pan n’ scan box set (which I held on to for the Maltin interviews, funny how you can find pretty much anything on youtube now) and disposed of the individual copies in the recycling bin.
In May of ‘05, I found a used copy of whatever the first pan n’ scan vhs release of RotJ was (from 1986 I want to say?) at my local video store, which had been a West Coast Video and then a Forbes and was Potomac Video by that point IIRC. I’m pretty sure they were just selling off some of their vhs copies they’d been renting forever, although this vhs of Jedi played remarkably smoothly so maybe these older tapes were really made to last. Anyway, I held on to that also.
PT:
TPM vhs pan n’ scan, found it in my Easter basket April of 2000.
TPM dvd, bought it at Suncoast not long after it was released in October of ‘01. I’ve since sold it off, which I kind of regret because it would’ve been nice to have a physical copy of The Beginning documentary.
AotC dvd, got it the week it came out. I still remember that Toys r us was selling it for crazy cheap, only 9 bucks and change, and the other stores had to price match. I got it at Circuit City. I’ve since sold it off.
I’d been in college for a couple years when RotS hit dvd and I actually got it a day or two early since the local mom n pops used book/record store in the town where I went school would break street date regularly. I’ve since sold it off.
Others:
I picked up volumes 1 and 2 of the Genndy Tartakovsky clone wars not long after their respective release dates and eventually picked up the ewok movie double feature. I held on to all three of these!
Lucasfilm under Disney:
Picked up TFA on bd the day it came out, as much as it burned my ass to pay in any way for a dvd copy of a movie in 2016 (and a month after the debut of 4k UHD, no less). Strangely enough, my bd’s of TFA and Star Trek ‘09 have both suffered disc rot. Must be the JJ Abrams curse.
I skipped out on buying Rogue One since I knew it would be up on Netflix in due time and also because Disney was dragging their feet about supporting 4k and I didn’t want to pay for a dvd copy I’d never watch yet again, which brings me to…
Last Jedi, which I picked up the 4k combo of the week it came out. It was nice to finally be able to future proof while I wait to buy 4k hardware, but the included blu-ray had the honor of being the first disc to actually lock up my bd player with its overly aggressive DRM. A firmware update a couple weeks later resolved the issue and I was able to get it working in the meantime by unplugging the power and rebooting, but yeah, unexpected to say the least.
I was wondering what had happened there! We just saw Peter in Guardians of the Galaxy a few short years ago, so I was surprised to find out they’d used Witwer.
Was Ray Park actually in makeup/costume or was his performance mo-capped? Something about the hologram effect makes it so I can’t really tell.
That shot must’ve looked amazing in 3d Imax.
Speaking of which, I’d be interested in knowing exactly which shots in the movie were actually captured in 15-perf 65mm.
Some much needed perspective:
As someone mentioned upthread, that alien looks straight out of Explorers. Doesn’t mean it can’t still be real, but I have my doubts.