Fang Zei

darklordoftech said:

So far, we’ve gotten a new master every seven years (1997-2004-2011).

It would be more accurate to say we’ve gotten a new version of the SE every seven years, each time also being the movies’ hotly anticipated debut on the latest home video format. The 2011 version simply used the 2004 master and made the additional changes from there.

It’s also worth noting we’ve gotten a reissue of the 2011 discs every two years. This would make us due for something next year even if it wasn’t the 40th anniversary.

There’s also the possibility of 3D versions to consider.

The fact that they actually bothered to finish converting the PT makes me think they’ll eventually do the same for the OT, even if it’s not next year.

It’s the “how/when” of their release strategy that’s still anyone’s guess.

urpick18 said:

Frank your Majesty said:

urpick18 said:

At this time (while he’s alive), I don’t think that Disney would want to disrespect George and put out any versions of the movies he doesn’t consider cannon.

They threw out his ideas for Episode 7 and they let his last movie go completely unnoticed, if this isn’t a big “Fuck you, George”, then I don’t know what is. Would releasing the OOT really make things worse between Disney and Lucas after that?

True. Another reason to hope that they will indeed release a proper restoration of these films sooner rather than later. It would honestly feel wrong to me that, on the 40th anniversary of one of the biggest films of all time, they didn’t have something big planned. Maybe reaching a distribution deal w/FOX for ANH requires far more legal calculus than they’re currently willing to fool with - which would be sad.

Fox and Marvel hate each other, so there’s that.

urpick18 said:

joefavs said:

Honestly, I’d take a new transfer of the SE. I wouldn’t be thrilled about it if it wasn’t released alongside the OUT, but I’ll support anything that results in that awful Lowry master being retired.

I’d have to agree. At this time (while he’s alive), I don’t think that Disney would want to disrespect George and put out any versions of the movies he doesn’t consider cannon. Therefore, I would gladly settle for the SE’s in 4K, so long as they’re created actually respecting the original look of the films (i.e. without George) because DEAR GOD those Blu-rays got some funky looking transfers.

I honestly doubt an OOT restoration would bother George at this point.

timemeddler said:

anyone considered maybe fox is the problem, mind you Im not giving disney and kind of break, i’ve been boycotting them for other reasons for some time now but if alamo roadhouse advertises 97 special edition and then they show 2011 version, could it be that fox pushed their “distribution Rights” I mean unlike alot of disney films, star wars can’t even be screen by non-profits, yes I checked. I may be spit-balling, but I’m just wondering if it’s not just disney? Maybe?

Are you sure?

'97 prints of ANH and RotJ were still being shown at the AFI Silver as of just two years ago.

It would be pointless to put out a new transfer this late in the game unless it’s being released day and date on 4k UHD. Even then, they’d need to throw in the unaltereds for people to actually care.

I’d say the chances are 50/50. I’ll be unsurprised one way or the other.

He just recently shot After Earth for Shyamalan.

If they can bring back Kasdan to pen a Star War or two, they should totally get Peter behind the camera again.

canofhumdingers said:

I dunno if it’s just me, but something about the way it’s written made it feel more like some other lower budget 80’s scifi/fantasy films (Krull in particular kept coming to mind… As in I imagine the “look” and production value of this version of ESB to be very similar to what we got with Krull). Like, the sequence where Vader throws a fistful of stars at Luke and they rain down on him in a shower of sparks during the “force vision” part of their duel… I just see that looking SOOOO early-80’s-fantasy-movie. All dreamy and "gauze-over-the-lense"y…

It’s worth noting that Peter Suschitzky was cinematographer on both Krull and ESB.

It’s reaching the point now for HD that we were at a decade ago for SD.

People were converting the laserdiscs to dvd, George released a transfer directly from the digital master tape itself.

Now people are doing the same thing using actual 35mm prints. The answer to this would be a transfer of something higher up the chain like an IP, sep, or the o-neg itself.

generalfrevious said:

I may never see the originals legally again in my lifetime. This is beyond unfair; it’s unthinkable that the REAL versions of the OT have been gone for twenty years.

In this age of 4K & widescreen TVs, laserdisc quality is the best we will ever get for decades to come.

George Lucas knew what he was doing when he sold SW down the river to Disney.

Since I was posting about this very subject in the theatrical vs special edition subforum just yesterday…

We really have no idea.

They could release it next year, or the year after, or five years from now.

It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if Disney simply decides to wait out the expiration of Fox’s rights to the five non-ANH films in order to maximize their profits.

There were only ever two possible outcomes for a sequel trilogy.

Either Lucasfilm was going to figure out a way to set it within the continuity of the EU (in which case Chewie would be long dead and the ending would neccessarily allow for the Legacy comics to still happen a hundred years later), or they were going to completely start over per George’s wishes.

I never understood why people thought something like a Thrawn Trilogy adaptation was a possibility for the ST. The mere fact that the story would be spoiled already was reason enough for it to stay off the table as an option.

Setting a sequel trilogy within the existing continuity is always what I assumed they’d do. After all, most of the major characters were still alive in the novels with the exception of Chewie.

Most people angry about the EU reboot probably think it was all Disney’s doing when it was entirely up to George. He apparently never considered the books canon to begin with, even though Lucasfilm touted them as “the official continuation of the story” and gladly took people’s money for it.

Like I said in another thread, the delay of Episode VIII from its original date means Lucasfilm won’t have a movie on blu-ray to sell come the Fall, barring a double-dip of Rogue One like they’re doing with TFA.

But, like I also said in another thread, I think they’ll have a harder time trying to justify a double-dip with Rogue One (although they’ve now set a horrible precedent with TFA so who the hell really knows).

So, I think there’s a chance we’ll see something in that seven month span between May and December.

By that same token, the first six films only just started airing on tv again last week. This makes me think it will be at least a couple years before we see them released in new editions.

The other thing to consider is that Disney will finally start supporting the 4k UHD blu-ray format next year. We know there’s already a 4k master of the OT from Reliance MediaWorks, although Mike Verta wasn’t thrilled at how the brief clips in their demo reel looked. This is also likely the SE yet again. It may have already made its way out there in the form of actual DCP’s if Tack’s report from one of the recent roadshow screenings is accurate.

As I’ve said in the past, I truly don’t believe a 4k SE alone will be enough of a selling point. If Lucasfilm wants to see the kind of profit margins they’ve enjoyed with the blu-ray and dvd debuts of these movies (and presumably also with the GOUT to a certain extent), then they’ll have to include a restored OOT at the very least. That holds true whether they wait a year or they wait a decade.

Adywan, could you confirm what the first shot of the Imax sequence is?

I always suspected it was the shot immediately following Rey’s “follow me.”

My opinion for a while now has been that you either watch the prequels first or you don’t watch them at all.

If Lucas had done a better job of justifying the PT’s existence (other than titling the OT “IV, V and VI” far in advance), we wouldn’t even be debating this.

joefavs said:

I’ve got ESB on in the background right now because I’m weirdly interested in where they place the commercial breaks. First one is directly before Vader’s introduction, which seems like a strange place to me.

They want it to be all dramatic when they come back from commercial and we’re like “Ooooo it’s the imperial march.”

joefavs said:

Looks like Comcast’s people screwed up some labeling. According to the guide, Empire is on three times in a row after the prequels.

I also have comcast. My on screen guide shows that they’re only playing Empire twice, followed by the first Hobbit movie afterwards.

Then, a little after 5am, they’re doing a six-film marathon culminating in their first airing of RotJ tomorrow night.

MalàStrana said:

I didn’t know about this ESB lucasfilm intro… I really missed the Fox fanfare opening TFA but using ESB closing coda is very weird for an opening theme. I hope Williams is going to deliver something to replace the Fox Fanfare for EpVIII and the other episodes (or 12 wagnerian movies without intro ?)… even a carbon copy would do… as rich as Disney is, they could even buy it 😃

The ESB lucasfilm intro was done for the digital versions released in April of 2015. My theory is that they wanted some kind of music to accompany the logo in the other five movies so that the Fox fanfare in ANH wouldn’t be jarring.

Of course, less than a year later we had TFA without any intro music at all. Maybe they just hadn’t arrived at that decision in April and might’ve done things differently had they known?

MathUser said:

Watching one of them now. Yup, they either zoomed in the image, or stretched it vertically. I missed the intro tho, it autotuned right after the opening scroll.

It’s zoomed in, just like the vast majority of hdtv broadcasts of movies that are native 2.35:1.

Sometimes you’ll see a letterboxed presentation, like how Spike is showing Dark Knight Rises, but this tends to be the exception rather than the rule.

I noticed last night that ANH was letterboxed until the end of the opening shot. I’m guessing this was to preserve the composition as the Star Destroyer flies overhead.

It would be interesting to see if there is more vertical picture information on the vhs than on the 2.00:1 collector’s edition dvd from 2004. The older dvd from the late 90’s, which was also 2.00:1, was non-anamorphic.

The laserdisc was also 2.00:1 if I’m not mistaken.

I always assumed the 2.00:1 framing was the result of it being the tallest AR that all shots in the movie were protected for if you include the vistavision vfx shots. Either that or Nick Meyer and Hiro Narita simply found it an aesthetically pleasing alternative ratio to the theatrical scope framing.

Papai2013 said:

IMDB was listing IMAX 65mm as one of the shooting formats for ‘The Magnificient Seven’ (2016) but now only shows 35mm. Wonder why?

IMDB is user-based and there’s always the potential for erroneous information.

65mm IMAX was also incorrectly listed as a shooting format for Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman.

TFA is now the third movie to be shot partially in actual 65mm IMAX to receive only a constant 2.35:1 AR transfer on blu-ray (Ghost Protocol and Batman v Superman being the other two).

Yeah I caught the last half hour or so of the 8pm airing and now the first hour or so of the encore.

One thing I’m noticing is a lack of any panning and scanning in certain shots that could really use it, and I’ve got the tv set for full 1:1 pixel mapping. For example, Yoda’s face gets cropped out when he says “your apprentice Skywalker shall be.” Another good example is the establishing shot of the trade federation army marching toward Theed where we can barely see the droid fighters flying overhead.

That bit about how Turner had to make “a separate deal with Fox” for ANH tells me there’s a very real possibility it’ll be the Lucasfilm-only version with that improvised edit of the music from the end of ESB’s end credits.

Or maybe they learned from TFA that silence can be more effective?

I’m still expecting the traditional version with the Fox fanfare if only for consistency’s sake. Digital downloads are one thing, but this is a network tv broadcast.

I do wonder though if this might end up being the hdtv debut of RMW’s 4k master of the OT. Unlikely, I know, but we’ll see.

I’ll try and check out TPM when it replays at 11:02.

Presumably this will be the network debut of the “rebuilt” 2011 master and not the older version spike showed. I’m also curious if they’ll show it letterboxed at its full 2.35:1 width or if they’ll crop it to 16:9.