I never noticed the gigantic 94 until now either.
Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but didn’t galactic standard numerals kinda/sorta resemble arabic numerals, if only very vaguely?
Yeah, but Kathleen Kennedy would probably just “ask for his permission” to include a nicely remastered OOT. It probably still wouldn’t look as good as George’s preferred version if, for example, this newest iteration of the SE is from the camera negative and the OOT is from seps or some other source. So George wouldn’t have to worry about the OOT being presented in superior quality to his preferred version. But even if, let’s say, they were at almost equal quality, with both versions using as much of the o-neg as possible, I still don’t know why George would care at this point.
Just as long as, y’know, they “ask his permission first.”
Hopefully they’ll go back to the 2k digital cinema master itself and make a brand new UHD transfer from that, being careful not to botch the upconversion process (see: Oblivion).
Other than that there’s really nothing else they need to worry about. The UHD transfers can still look amazing without them re-rendering anything.
ESB and RotJ were obviously presented with six-track sound on their 70mm prints, yes, but what I was wondering about was whether they were in the 5.1 configuration of Apocalypse Now or the 4.2 of Star Wars ‘77.
I thought ESB and ROTJ were still the “4.2” six-track?
Maybe someone can chime in and clarify this.
Apocalypse Now was the first movie to be mixed in 5.1 when it was released in August of ‘79, less than a year before Empire’s release. It’s possible they kept mixing Empire and Jedi in the older 4.2 configuration since the 5.1 format hadn’t become the standard yet.
Interesting that the poster refers to the 70mm six-track sound as “stereophonic.” Spielberg also referred to Lawrence of Arabia’s 70mm sound format as such when he recently talked about seeing it in late ‘62 or early ‘63 when he was 16.
As far as I know, Lawrence’s 70mm mix would’ve simply had five tracks behind the screen and one surround track. Star Wars’ 70mm mix would’ve been an early example of the “baby boom” configuration of Left, Center, Right, and Surround, with the left-center and right-center channels handling the bass. I guess you would call this 4.2.
By the time we get to Empire in 1980 I’m assuming the 70mm mix was in 5.1, ditto Jedi in ‘83, but I could be wrong.
A couple questions about the sound mix, now that we’re on the subject.
Could someone refresh my memory as to the difference with Threepio’s infamous tractor beam line? When it cuts to the animation on the screen do you simply hear him say nothing in one version and “a power failure at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave” in the other?
My other question is about the monomix and just why it was put together in the first place. Wasn’t the theory about certain theaters needing the monomix debunked or am I remembering wrong? I thought the stereo optical track would’ve been backward compatible with all the existing sound systems in use at the time, mono or otherwise, but I could be wrong.
I would think that if there had been that clause there would have also have been the use his ideas for the sequel trilogy clause.
Even putting all of that aside, the thing people keep forgetting is that George’s single biggest gripe wasn’t so much about having the unaltered versions out there (although he clearly disliked the idea), it was about paying for a proper remastering job. That’s why we got the GOUT instead of a decent dvd release.
He even said in 2010 or early 2011 that the initial bd release wouldn’t include the unaltereds because they were “too expensive to restore right now.”
How do we even know John Dykstra wasn’t joking when he said George “gave permission”?
Anyway, this screening by the Academy can only be another good sign as far as I’m concerned, but like Mocata said, I’m not getting my hopes up.
I wonder why the film tear in the 70mm print happened to … happen during the death star explosion. Maybe that was a reel changeover…
George “needing” to sign off on it is an interesting little detail in this story, but even if they actually needed his permission (debatable, the Academy might’ve simply asked him first out of respect, given their long relationship), the big takeaway here is that he still said yes.
Did anyone make it?
If they showed Star Wars first, it would’ve ended a couple hours ago.
So…
A little birdie told me the 70mm print is from 1984 so it shouldn’t have the fade…but it is definitely the original film.
So I’m guessing that means no original crawl tho? And would the mix be the same as a 1977 70mm print, or a more refined mix closer to the mono?
I’d be surprised if it was anything other than a duplicate of the same 70mm blowup master from 1977, so it should have the same sound mix and the 1977 crawl.
Would they have kept the ‘77 crawl if the print was made after ‘81?
I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
Correction to whatever I said earlier, since the back-to-back screenings (are they showing RO and SW in release order or chronological order?) are on Saturday and the other event is tonight.
Still, the very subject matter of the event tonight puts the spotlight on SW’s analog effects, a large part of which was erased for the SE.
Meanwhile, the screenings on Saturday, as someone already pointed out, aren’t exactly being done by some random theater, it’s the freakin’ Academy.
Kiri Hart still works for Lucasfilm as do at least some of the people in attendance, right?
Would this be the first sanctioned screening of the original version since before 1997?
I recall hearing a story once about how George himself was at a screening he thought was going to be the SE and it was still the original version and he appeared visibly uncomfortable about it. That was a story from some random person on the internet though, and I don’t remember now where I read it, so take it with a grain of salt.
Maybe theyre 70mm blowups of the DVD 😛
Warner Brothers actually struck at least one 70mm print each of Kong: Skull Island, Wonder Woman and Ready Player One, and those movies were only finished at 2k.
What exactly is an “Academy Print” anyway?
So this is the original version, right?
I wonder how faded the 70mm print is and just when it was struck.
That was before they bought 20th Century Fox though.
This is basically my exact response whenever anyone asks “It’s been almost seven years, wouldn’t Disney have restored the OOT by now?”
I’m guessing AotC just got hit hard with a DNR pass for the blu-ray, on top of the also weird color-timing that tints the image. I remember hearing it argued that the teal push might’ve been done to eliminate the magenta push we see in the old hd master.
Also you can bet if 3D Blu-rays still a thing they’d want to release those. Which I’m guessing are probably sitting on a shelf somewhere since only TPM got released? Not counting sequel trilogy of course.
The entire PT has been “dimensionalized,” but the 3D versions of AotC and RotS have only been shown at conventions.
That just leaves the OT, but it remains to be seen whether Disney will actually want to spend the money to convert that as well. Maybe they’ll get around to it when that magical glasses-free 3D display technology gets invented.
I doubt it’d be all three versions in UHD. I think the fourth disc would be the only UHD one.
Yeah, probably. It’s the most obvious explanation for the difference in disc count, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up. The Blade Runner UHD release certainly didn’t set a good precedent in that regard.
I’d honestly still be overjoyed if we got the ‘97 version thrown in at all, even if it was only on regular 1080p bd. It would sting a little to have that and the OOT stuck in a lower quality than the most recent version, but it still wouldn’t be anywhere near the insult we got with the GOUT.
Depends on what they’re advocating for exactly? I’d want to see the 1997 versions preserved in some way, but the OOT is what needs some love.
This is why I’d be overjoyed if it turned out the “three discs per movie for the blu-ray” from this recent rumor turned out to be the final, ‘97, and unaltered versions, each on their own disc, and the “four discs for the UHD” meant we’d be getting all three versions in UHD, each on their own disc, with the fourth disc simply being the final version on a regular blu-ray (y’know, just so they can call it a “UHD/BD combo pack” with some level of honesty).
I hope the OOT - if Disney does in fact decide to pay for a restoration - actually gets released on UHD and isn’t forever stuck on 1080p sdr blu-ray. Taxi Driver was just announced by Sony earlier today for release on the new format, and that movie was made only a year before Star Wars.
Since an OOT restoration would be done at 4k, I suspect that if it happens at all it will be released on UHD with HDR. This rumor from the “unnamed UK source” about how LFL is looking to make the Skywalker saga four discs per movie for the UHD and three discs per movie for the blu-ray has me very, very curious, because that difference in disc count between the two formats could be for any number of reasons.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
But there is one big thing holding that back, George Lucas. He may not own Lucasfilm anymore, but I’m sure he put in the contract deal with Disney back in 2012 that they are to never release the unaltered trilogy. As much as we would hate to find out that that is the truth, the creator does have their say in this discussion, and Bob Iger would agree to what George tells him.
Yeah, but as has been discussed at great length, if Iger actually agreed to that after spending $4.05 Billion then he should probably have his head examined.
And no, no one is “sure” George put that in the contract. We don’t even know if he would care at all if the original versions were to be restored and included alongside his preferred versions. The only thing we can really say with any certainty is that he definitely doesn’t want his preferred versions of I-VI altered any further by Disney, at least not without consulting him first. But an OOT as “bonus content”? George went down that slippery slope the moment he included exactly that with the 2006 dvd.
I would buy the set of if didn’t include the ST. It’s inclusion actually lower the value I perceive it to have.
Lucasfilm making us buy stuff we don’t want just so we can get stuff we do wouldn’t be anything new. See: the 2011 blu-rays that only included the coveted OT deleted scenes in the more expensive I-VI set and not in the IV-VI set.
I hope the OOT - if Disney does in fact decide to pay for a restoration - actually gets released on UHD and isn’t forever stuck on 1080p sdr blu-ray. Taxi Driver was just announced by Sony earlier today for release on the new format, and that movie was made only a year before Star Wars.
Since an OOT restoration would be done at 4k, I suspect that if it happens at all it will be released on UHD with HDR. This rumor from the “unnamed UK source” about how LFL is looking to make the Skywalker saga four discs per movie for the UHD and three discs per movie for the blu-ray has me very, very curious, because that difference in disc count between the two formats could be for any number of reasons.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
“As seen in 1977.”
If this is a film print they’re showing, does it actually have the original crawl?
Not even the technicolor print that screened in Baltimore almost a decade ago had the original crawl.