Our suspicions of this being a new version of the SE seem to have been semi-confirmed:
http://badassdigest.com/2015/04/09/how-did-i-screw-up-that-star-wars-story/
Ohhhhh....
http://badassdigest.com/2015/04/09/how-did-i-screw-up-that-star-wars-story/
Correction to what I said earlier: Apparently there were no tweaks made for this release. Content-wise it's 100% identical to the blu-rays, unless someone notices otherwise.
Devin's sources thought they were looking at the version for this digital release. What they were actually looking at was the 4k version we've been talking about since July in that other thread. That version does contain tweaks, and Han shoots first.
Hasn't the Han/Greedo shootout been messed with on each new release post-97 (both '04 and '11)?
Maybe they finally said "screw it, just put it back to the way it originally was."
EDIT: Wow, nevermind. Oh, well. Like moviefreakedmind said, that might've been a bad thing anyway (changing the more "annoying" things but still leaving the SE as the only version out there). I'm not surprised to hear there've been tweaks made for this release, though. I guess we'll start hearing what they are over the next couple days.
Han might shoot first in the digital version:
http://badassdigest.com/2015/04/09/the-digital-edition-of-star-wars-could-make-a-major-change/
generalfrevious said:
I feel like the last person alive who cares about saving the pre-97 trilogy. So to everyone else my rants are seen as nothing more than ridiculous, because no one else seems to care.
...I care...
But in all seriousness, I highly doubt that Disney would've bought the company without securing the rights to all versions of the films from George, in as much as Lucasfilm (not Fox) legally owns them. Now we can see they've worked out a deal with Fox to distribute the films digitally. It's the SE once again, yes, but if they were going to start selling the OOT there's no good reason they wouldn't wait until the next physical release to include it as a selling point.
Besides, as someone so eloquently phrased it in this thread, releasing a remastered OOT for the very first time in the form of a compressed download file would be the 2015 equivalent of the GOUT.
They're continuing the tradition with this digital release of using bonus materials as a selling point, continuing to keep the OOT in their back pocket. I'm now starting to doubt we'll see another release this year, if only because they'd be hurting their own sales of the just-released digital version. They may also be waiting to see how UHD ("4K") blu-ray shakes out before doing another physical release.
generalfrevious said:
They're just the SE being released digitally (I looked at the run times). This means that the SE is here to stay in the digital age. No way iTunes is going to release the original editions...
Yeah, but how much importance should we really treat that with?
The director's cut of Close Encounters is the only one on itunes despite all three versions being on the blu-ray.
doubleofive said:
This being pushed out this week gives me hope. Digital copies of the existing Blu's are no big deal, and Disney/LFL apparently knows this. So if they were going to announce something at Celebration, it won't be a giant countdown to who cares, because it's already out.
On the other hand, if they were going to announce an OOT blu-ray at Celebration then why would they wait until barely a week earlier to put out the digital release?
"What's that? Star Wars is out on iTunes now? I think I'll "buy" it. Wait, what's this? There's a new blu-ray coming out later this year with the unaltered versions? Nevermind, I think I'll save my itunes money."
Disney would really be shooting themselves in the foot business-wise by announcing it now. I'd love to be wrong, though.
Honestly, I don't see how they can get through the convention without at least addressing the issue of the OOT's unavailability.
Well, if they are secretly planning a grand announcement of a restored OOT, I'm guessing they're gonna wait until at least the second day of the convention. Apparently JJ and Kathleen are debuting the new TFA trailer the morning of the 16th.
Funny how all of those grievances are directed at Disney.
Where were they when George said years ago in interviews that none of it counted?
Lucasfilm said from the Thrawn books onward that this was the official continuation of the story, and they were apparently lying the entire time.
TK-949 said:
Just 15 to 18 days until the official announcement that the OOT will be released.
It's what we're all thinking, right?
Apparently both Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank will be there.
pittrek said:
What are the 2011 Blurays?
Something like : Original negatives -> 1995 scan -> SE digital version -> 1997 SE prints -> 1080p scan with colour "correction" -> Lowry "restoration" -> 1080p DVD master -> more stupid digital changes -> 2011 Bluray master
So yes, the BDs are done from an early century 1080p scans of SE masters, but no, they didn't do it because "original negatives are nowhere to be found" but simply because GL for some reason considered the old horrible looking scans to be "good enough" and didn't want to spend money for doing it correctly.
Even if the rumours that the original negatives were modified to contain 1997 SE material (which I doubt, I simply refuse to believe they were THAT stupid), they still have finished prints of the original theatrical editions (including some Technicolor prints if I remember correctly). Even scanning these prints would be "good enough" for most of us
I think it's been documented that the o-neg was in fact re-conformed for the SE. That is why they were able to just scan it in '04 and all the '97 changes were already there. If you look closely, you can still see some filmic anamolies in the cgi shots from '97, even after Lowry's cleanup job. This leads me to believe that the filmed-out negative is the best surviving source for the '97 cg shots and that the final 2k renders were not saved on hard drives at ILM or Lucasfilm.
Well said, msycamore.
The quote in your sig only drives the point home.
Do we really think, even for a moment, that she actually wanted to type those words as part of the form reponse letter?
While we're once again on the subject of THX-1138, I continue to wonder if there is anything legally barring WB from releasing the original version, ditto Universal with American Graffiti.
towne32 said:
Harmy said:
Well, that's what I've been saying from the beginning - that I'm afraid they'll release some bastardized "close enough" version of the OOT and then when we once again complain, everyone will call us petty fanboys who are never satisfied, like with the GOUT.
Even a disappointing release will be a fantastic source for projects like yours. Little to no rotoscoping, no low res elements, no issues with 35mm color and fade. Although neg1's RotJ prints seem damn near good enough.
When comparing SW restoration to the love and attention *some* other major films get, much time has been spent discussing the limitations of restoring the original film. The negatives and elements are obviously in a sorry state. But as far as ESB and Jedi go, is there any reason they can't perform restoration as good as, for instance, Jaws? There is no such thing as flawless, and as stated above, there will always be complaints. They'll have to make decisions that can never please everybody. But a professional quality release should actually be possible for those two, right?
Robert A. Harris has said otherwise re: Star Wars '77.
If I remember correctly, he commented on the home theater forum around the time of the blu-ray release that all of the assets/elements for these movies are "well-protected" and that there is no need for concern.
Clive Revill making an appearance?
Shaw Anakin pins being sold?
I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it's hard to not take this as some kind of sign....
Anything short of the best treatment possible is pretty much inexcusible, isn't it?
I mean, Paramount spent quite a bit of money (more than a million dollars, I think) restoring The Godfather movies at Spielberg's behest, and the go-to authority on these things, Robert A. Harris, was consulted.
When we consider the fact that the first Star Wars alone made over a billion dollars after inflation, by that measure the second highest grossing movie of all time after Gone With the Wind, "close enough" of a restoration job certainly doesn't cut it.
Lucasfilm is under a larger corporate umbrella now, just like Paramount. I would like to think Disney doesn't see money as an object when it comes to proper preservation of these films.
Danfun128 said:
moviefreakedmind said:
Fang Zei said:
The convention in Anaheim is just a few weeks away. There will doubtlessly be a lot of people there wondering the same thing we are. Disney/Lucasfilm can't expect it to go by without at least saying something about it. It's been almost two and a half years since the buyout and they haven't said a word. The elephant in the room has become too big to ignore.
This is why i think that we'll get some sort of quality presentation of the OOT on blu ray, maybe not a restoration on the same scale as 1997, but at least a transfer on par with most acceptable blu rays released today.
In other words, a fresh transfer...by Lowry.
That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. It depends on whether Reliance Media Works (who bought-out Lowry) still uses the old Lowry's restoration methods.
He smiles and gives a coy response of "y'know, that's a pretty good idea," implying that that's exactly what they're planning but can't say anything about it yet.
The convention in Anaheim is just a few weeks away. There will doubtlessly be a lot of people there wondering the same thing we are. Disney/Lucasfilm can't expect it to go by without at least saying something about it. It's been almost two and a half years since the buyout and they haven't said a word. The elephant in the room has become too big to ignore.
Was something like this used on the pre-2010 episodes of The Simpsons for the fxx version? Granted, they also cropped and stretched them, but they definitely used some sort of super-duper upscaling algorithm to make new transfers out of the existing ones in lieu of an actual fresh hd scan of the original elements.
Speaking of the prequels, Bill Hunt theorized in his review of the bd set that something like this might come along to do a deep analysis "guess and render" for a new 4k version. It's already been almost four years since then.
I don't know why some no-name website I've never heard of would just randomly post about about some other site's news from months ago.
Aside from whoring for hits, of course.
Cthulhunicron said:
I saw this article linked from some other article that had a date of 3/13/15.
Would you mind posting that?
I'm actually curious why they felt the need to link a months-old story in their article.
4K is chump change compared to the 6K that House of Cards' third season was finished in.
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/03/netflix-house-cards-shot-post-6k-red-epic-dragon
If I had to guess, I would say that depicting the battle referenced in the opening crawl of Star Wars '77 is this movie's entire raison d'être. It could function as a direct prequel to the OT.
Baronlando said:
It will be cool to read the really in-depth, behind the scenes dirt on this period. Some articles out there have mentioned a big power struggle between JJ Abrams (who wanted Bad Robot to steer the ship for all these sequels and spinoffs) and the Disney/Lucasfilm side of things, with Abrams losing.
In the meantime I'm weirdly fascinated by the different reactions out there, especially my favorite crackpot blog, the Prequel Appreciation Society, rejecting the spinoff because the writers didn't pass the Star Wars purity test (they said mean things about the prequels).
Speaking of the "purity test," wasn't Rian Johnson pretty outspoken about the SE's?
skyjedi2005 said:
I just hope all the new films, spin offs included are not hastily thrown together rush jobs.
All the other films took 3 years each to produce.
Maybe its possible since Disney has enough money and a huge studio that Lucas did not have.
I almost don't buy that though since Lucas was and is worth billions.
All I can think is that we've gotten two big announcements on the same day and we're only a month away from Celebration Anaheim.
Could they be getting this news out of the way now because they're saving the really big news (OOT on blu-ray) for the convention???