Hal 9000

Taking a look at the surprise new presentations of the OT on Disney+, there’s only one thing that gets my attention for ANH and ESB.

My saga edits are and always will be mastered in BluRay-spec 1080p. The new 4K HDR aspect of the Disney+ presentation cannot carry over into anything I put out. Even if it could, I’m still dependent on DVD footage (for the PT), film scan-based footage and some GOUT (for the OT), and regular 1080p footage (for the ST), so I’m anchored somewhat by the lowest common denominator.

When boiled down to an apples to apples comparison to a decent color corrected BluRay starting place, the only thing to offer seems to be a couple of content changes or a few shots that the BluRay particularly botched. The standout for me seems to be Vader’s saber in ESB; it looks better than what I was able to do. We’ll see if I find it worth the trouble to revise once the community has digested the new presentation available, but for now it seems like ANH and ESB can remain tentatively ‘final.’

The “new explosion” in the Greedo shootout seems to just be a shortened version of the old one.

There’s enough versions of that scene now to be able to queue up in random order and gamble on what’ll come up.

I felt some sympathy for Adywan as he works on his ROTJ grade. Good as a new source is to have, it can render much work already done moot. Not even sure whether to hope this is the case (for his well being) or not (for a better end result).

I can only assume the subtitle would read, “I am about to shoot you.”

Unclear to me whether it’s a new transfer or just regraded colors. It looks darker and higher contrast, but I’m comparing HDR to non-HDR so maybe it’d be closer if I look later on my computer which can’t display it.

For one thing, Vader’s saber during the infamous part of ESB looks perfect. Same for ROTJ.

If not a new transfer, the grading has at least been radically altered from the DVD and BluRay. Han’s hair isn’t purple and the desert in ANH feels less saturated, the Death Star explosion is much more orangish, etc. Compared to the BluRay, this version looks more appealing.

That’s all the recon I can provide right now; the baby is fed and I’m going back to bed.

Even if the line doesn’t need to be removed, I like how the scene plays without it so I’ll go ahead and do away with it.

No problem, now I understand.

I’m not sure what you’re asking. The OOT or SE versions of that super short scene work fine, but if you want to revert the actual Vader line you also have to cut the shot of him walking toward the shuttle.

DominicCobb said:

• The infamous “other.” Suggested edit: “No, there is the other.”

Now that’s an interesting idea. Still doesn’t make a great deal of sense. One imagines Ben and Yoda’s conversation continued after the scene ended.

Ben: That boy is our last hope.

Yoda: No, there is another.

Ben: Wasn’t ‘the other’ part of the group in danger Luke was concerned about?

Yoda: Not sure am I; pay attention to the specifics of what he saw I did not.

Ben: Well, it would seem the two would die or be saved together, wouldn’t you say?

Yoda: MmmmmMMMMM. Right I suppose you were: our last hope that boy is.

Broom Kid said:

Quick question I have re: the Empire Strikes Back Custom Special Edition: Is there a reason why Vader leaving Cloud City was cut entirely as opposed to simply restoring the “Bring my shuttle” line and music? I searched the thread but if the answer was there I must have missed it, apologies for my mistake.

Simple: it seems silly to request his shuttle be brought to him as he approaches it from ten feet away. That little scene doesn’t make sense if you just put the original line into the SE version.

Petrovelly said:

Hey Hal, great work buddie! Could I have a link for ANH? Thanks man!

PM sent

PM sent

Well put, and I completely agree. Anakin doesn’t track at all through ROTS.

Right. Please understand, I have never put Rogue One into a NLE so I’m going by my imagination and imperfect memory alone.

What I would imagine doing, though, is to cut the Mustafar scene but leave all other mentions of Vader in the film, including Tarkin telling his stooge to inform him about the attack. (I don’t know how it would play, but potentially include the first few shots of the Mustafar scene to depict or imply Vader being informed and being dragged out of his bath to tend to this attack, leading to feeling particularly peeved at the end of this movie and beginning of ANH.) Vader appears as his star destroyer arrives, orders a boarding party, and mows down the troops in the hallway.

I know that video feels that the viewer need literally no build-up to Vader appearing in the hallway, but I disagree, even if every single viewer is already familiar with him.

I like your list of changes otherwise, but I would suggest leaving mentions of Vader in dialogue throughout and his arrival at the end of the battle. I’d consider using the first chunk of the Mustafar scene (minus line about Krennic arriving) to depict informing him about the battle as Tarkin orders (ending with Vader getting out of his bath).
You’d have all the good Vader stuff, a cool introduction and in-character moment prior to his “I’m a fucking badass” scene. I have a hard time imagining it feeling right to literally only see or hear about Vader in that scene.

And if you remove the floppy disk being handed down the line, you lose the tension of that scene, right? Other than these things your edit sounds great to me.

It’s like Snoke, isn’t it? It was dumb to introduce, dumber to undo, and even dumber to redo.

That’s what my clip did, which Ridley worked on. It’s not in the same tone or rythmn at all, so it’s rough.

Hey, that’s great, I love that. Best way I’ve seen to incorporate that deleted scene into ROTS. Really feels like it belongs.

I’d agree, but only for the hologram in Ep3, because of AOTC’s implication that he’s starting to deteriorate. It must have been somewhere between 2 and 3 that he started masking himself. At least if you go by that.

Yeah, ROTS does not feature Palpatine reacting in any way to his change of appearance (or voice). As a subtler piece of the puzzle, his gradual descent into monster-face seen in AOTC was totally reversed for ROTS.

And though the movie doesn’t depict Palpatine calling Anakin, having him summon Anakin to the opera further implies that Palpatine is responsible for planting the nightmare and later profiting from the lie.

I think all these could have been done better were they decided upon during the actual production of the film, and so I feel good about LOE despite a few pieces of missing crystal clear exposition. Were it a different sort of movie without conditioning the audience to expect such exposition, I think these things would work better.

Thanks for indulging me, you guys.

Fair enough. I guess it still fits in well enough not to be removed.

The line is something like this:

“Well, I did not realize Skywalker was so wise. We will give him and the Jedi order the death he desires. [Once the rebels are gone, we will go to the planet and destroy the entire island.]”

I think the last part capitalizes on Rey’s passion for protecting the caretakers as seen in the deleted scene where she tries to do so. With no one on the island in this version, and nothing in Rey’s mind to correspond to anyone else living on the island, Snoke threatening to destroy the whole island seems excessive and blunt.

With the caretakers being removed, it might be good to trim Snoke’s line about destroying the entire island.

SilverWook said:

One could speculate that in universe the same company that made the old helmets the Rebels use is cranking out TIE pilot versions. A good design doesn’t need to be messed with too much.

It’s all a machine, partner.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SequelMemes/comments/drzl5r/the_rising_skywalker_revealed_spoiler/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf