Hal 9000

I think that’d be funny enough without an overarching thread of the “rehash” idea you’re allergic to.

Auto-tuned Jar Jar

Exactly. Barring an official OOT release, this is about as future proof as it gets. Even then, I’m sure someone will GOUT-sync even that release to correspond to the various things people have done up to that point.
And thanks, Ash, your encoding setup may come in handy. I’ve just got a PCM output for ANH so I can encode it as needed once I have them all finished.

Now available on the 'Spleen, and via the /r/Fanedits subreddit.

The 1997 Special Edition audio mixes of the original trilogy are, to my mind, the most recent mixes I can stomach for the most part, and were the first ‘modern’ mixes produced for these films. Changes aside, it is the best Star Wars has ever sounded, since the 2004 DVD and 2011 BluRay audio mixes are littered with various problems and were redone from the ground up.

This project syncs the 1997 Special Edition audio mixes to the GOUT. In the process, it had to be edited here and there to address audio differences that correspond to visual changes. The primary source is a preservation of the theatrical DTS audio for the 1997 Special Edition by CapableMetal (whose sources were in turn provided by Jetrell1969 and SilverWook), and the secondary source is Hairy_Hen’s GOUT-synced OOT audio. Special thanks to ChainsawAsh for encoding the lossless PCM output to DTS.

I have tried to stick as close as possible to the 1997 mixes, reverting to Hairy_Hen’s OOT audio as minimally as possible to meet the objective. In many places it was only necessary to use Hairy_Hen’s audio for the front channels, for example. Sometimes a visual alteration was able to be addressed without resorting to Hairy_Hen’s audio at all.

I have included a slightly editorialized version of The Empire Strikes Back’s audio which keeps Luke’s line, "You’re lucky you don’t taste very good,” and removes his scream as he falls through the Cloud City shaft. For many, these are the two elements of the 1997 mix of Empire that are not easily stomached.
This alternate version is labelled as “Custom Version” and the version without these editorial changes is labelled as “’97 Purist Version.” (Purist in the sense that it does not take the liberty of deviating from the 1997 mix in these two instances when nothing visual prompts it.)

I have also included a version of Return of the Jedi’s audio to sync with the 4K83 releases, which included two frames not present in the GOUT. This meant that any GOUT-synced audio would be a few frames out of sync after the 47-minute mark, and make for a rather distracting viewing experience.
 

——————————————
 

Q. “What is GOUT?”

A. The GOUT refers to the 2006 bonus DVDs containing the original theatrical versions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Though it was disappointingly sourced from an old LaserDisc master from 1993 and presented in non-anamorphic format, it remains the best official release to date of the original versions of these films.
 

Q. “What does it mean to be GOUT-synced?”

A. Fans have come a long way since 2006, with many preservation and fan edit projects, such as Harmy’s Despecialized Editions and Team NegativeOne’s 35mm restoration. There have been numerous audio preservations, and Project Threepio, which presents subtitles in a multitude of languages. By convention, most of these have maintained a standard of reference by being synced to the 2006 bonus DVD release. As a result, one can borrow a video stream from here and an audio stream from there, and mux them together. It is a standardized convention for these projects to ensure wide compatibility. Due to this, you could mux these audio tracks into whatever preservation project you prefer and enjoy them.
 

Q. “This is not a preservation.”

A. Correct. My introduction to Star Wars was during the time of the Special Edition, and that is the audio mix that was encoded into my brain and feels the most familiar. I like having the option to view the original version with this slightly alternate, and properly remastered audio track. But it is not preserving anything about the original theatrical versions, that’s right.
 

Q. “Didn’t someone already do this?”

A. Yes, I have seen one other user post a similar project, though I noticed some things I felt were off, and some visual tweak whose audio was still present in the audio despite it not matching what is onscreen. I did these so I can be confident in how they turned out, and no disrespect is intended to the one who had worked on a similar idea previously.
 

Q. “How much of Hairy_Hen’s audio was used?”

A. Hairy_Hen’s audio is a very respectable restoration of the original theatrical audio, mastered in 5.1 surround. However, being sourced largely from stereo elements, it is not mastered in the same way as the Special Edition mixes. I tried to dip into his audio only as necessary, and to mask the transitions by avoiding them taking place in the middle of dialogue, preferring to segue during a change in environment to keep a sense of consistency in a given scene. Quite frequently it was perfectly seamless to transition in and back out after only a few seconds, though it just depends on the scene. There are many instances in which the two rear surround channels could be left alone and only the front three needed to use Hairy_Hen’s audio. It is not perfect, given the source material available, but I hope that it is something one can enjoy without noticing any flaws. I erred on the side of having a smooth transition over keeping the sheer percentage down of using Hairy_Hen’s audio.

Replace all women with Nicolas Cage via that app?

No, but I had used the DVD audio as the primary source for 2 and 3 all along. For some reason certain rear sounds were missing when I tried to use the BR audio, enough to spook me from trying to use it.

Sounds like someone needs to try their hand at this sort of thing, but I’m thoroughly finished after I put out the new version soon. I can’t keep doing this with these three odd movies anymore.

Yes, all three will get one last round of TLC.

Yes, that’s right.

It’s a tale as old as time. Boy starts off without pants, and is provided some by a woman, much to his chagrin.

TV’s Frink said:

I’d post from home instead of work.

Frink still gets me from time to time.

I like the sound of this. I have fond memories of the microseries and never got into TCW. I like the idea of incorporating the two in one direction only, and focusing on how TCW can closely tie in with the existing PT rather than following all its own rabbit holes. For bonus points it wouldn’t even feature Ahsoka at all!

I used my real name, but not in any of the documentation, just in the credits themselves. I felt weird suggesting a fictional supercomputer did the fan edits. I regret not picking out a more unique screen name when I joined as a youngster.
I also encoded copyright warnings to the beginning of the video stream.

Just found this thread, here’s mine:

https://letterboxd.com/kirkafur/
I try to log and rate any new (to me) film I see, but I don’t bother with rewatches. Or TV shows.
I don’t watch movies all that often, either.

Over a hundred people downloaded a 1990 KFC marketing VHS tape from there; I’d bet there’d be a few more than just myself who would find it interesting.

The logo zoom is indeed odd, as I did one myself using keyframes for V3 of my project. It aliased horribly, given my meager resources and knowledge. I was only able to approximate it.
I am not following much of what you are talking about but I appreciate the efforts and enjoy getting a sense of what goes into this. Makes me really glad I am doing a V5 that’ll include crawls from Ridley.

Funny I’d drop in to catch up on this thread after checking out Blade Runner 2049 at home and leaving a 4.5/5 star rating on letterboxd.

Let me toss my congratulations on the pile. I LOVED the film, and I’ll treasure it even moreso knowing this now! Grinning ear to ear for you, Harmy!

Just hoping they are presented in comparable quality, as the prequel DVDs were.

I agree with the last two posts. Or three, if I count my own, I guess.

Thanks for clarifying that, Ridley. Put that way, it is a good microcosm for what the movie is.

Ridley cracked the code.

I enjoyed the iron gag, taking it more of an homage to the coat hanger in Raiders of the Lost Arc than anything else.
Upon reflection later, it is unlike any other sort of scene or moment in any other Star Wars film. I’m not aware of that level of filmmaking-as-the-joke before in that way, probably what makes it feel more like a spoof thing.

But TLJ is all about deconstructing SW anyway, for better or worse. Seems jarring to me personally after TFA, which was a passionate and reverent homage (again, for better or worse).

If I could cull from other fan edits, which would be an extraordinarily bad idea, here’s maybe what I’d go with:

Episode I: Balance of the Force (MagnoliaFan’s)

Episode II: The Republic Divided (L8Wrtr)

Episode III: Labyrinth of Evil (Mine, borrowed from a book title)

I’ll look into that program, Mala. And thanks, Ash, I will pass along vetted wav files if needed once I’m to that point if I can’t do it myself.
ROTS seems very smooth after syncing and reconnecting media. It’s a bit louder than the DVD audio, so I raised the deleted scenes’ audio slightly. But a partial skimming of edit points doesn’t reveal anything concerning.
I’m excited by this opportunity to upgrade the audio at the last minute like this.

I have recently been presented by another form user, whom I will leave anonymous unless he wishes to reveal himself, with the original theatrical DTS audio for the entire prequel trilogy. After tooling with it for a while today, I am confident that I will be able to use this as the primary audio source for this final version of the trilogy.
The only problem is encoding the final result. Is anybody out there willing to take a lossless .WAV file and encode it as a DTS file? If so, that will allow me to monks the final output into the movies, avoiding the need to make it a silly extra download the way we had to do for TFA:R.
It would only need to be DTS, because that is what the source itself is.

Live free, don’t join.