ImperialFighter

Just wanted to say that your new FOX logo and 'Falcon garbage escape' previews on Facebook looked tremendous adywan. 

Just a pity some idiots put you off adding those ones to the Youtube collection as well.  Maybe you'd consider going down the 'comments disabled' route with them instead?  Either way, some great work there.

And jumping jeezus on a pogostick!...an actual 'Cloud City' model with lighting now?...WOWEE! :)

Okay, having followed the recent revelations about the imminent Blu-ray release of the 'Special Editions', it's pained me to see that this upcoming set is merely another half-baked effort overall, where the treatment of the original trilogy movies themselves are concerned nowadays.   

It seems that on top of the more dubious 'creative decisions' of the 2004 dvds remaining in place, that they are now being accompanied by a few more ridiculous howlers.

Most of these latest unnecessary and ill-thought-out changes certainly disapppoint, but what really hacks me off (apart from the still-dreadful transfer colouration, of course!) is the CONTINUED lack of attention given to improving certain flawed scenes and shots with any kind of care and consistency!

This is NOT what I hoped to see from a company that used to pride itself as being at the forefront of technical excellence, and the sad fact is that too many of GL's ideas for 'enhancements' continue to suck big-time.  For every decent addition, there's several that have ruined the original versions.

SW, ESB, and ROTJ are now pretty much unwatchable for me in their latest forms, compared to how things used to look (and sound)...and I'm just glad I'm one of the lucky few that knows about the terrific preservations and edits that are available to compensate for this.

So to sum up -

And not to put too fine a point on it - Sorry George, but 'special' editions my ass!

SilverWook said:

Egad! Were Wicket's eyes always that freaking creepy sans fakey blink?  The stills do not quite convey the horror of the video clip. I'll be seeing him in my nightmares tonight...

Can you give a link to the video clip of this Ewok enhancement please SilverWook?  I've a few comments I'd like to make about this when I have a little more time.  Thanks.

Angel said:

One question tho. Why the shuttle comes from the tiny hangar in ROTJ and here we have leaving from the main one?

Ah yes, this was something that was actually brought up and mocked-up way back when.  (I know there's a reference to it on page 172, although the images ended up being re-organised since then, so are no longer there)

Out of curiosity at the time, I'd asked doubleofive to roughly mock-up a shot of the 'Lambada' shuttle dropping from the front 'bay' of Needa's Stardestroyer, to see how it looked if it matched where the shuttle comes out in the footage at the start of ROTJ.  Of course, it would have meant adywan having to show a very different flightpath down to the Executor below, compared to how the existing shot looks.

Anyway, it turned out that he intends to alter the intro. of ROTJ for his eventual Revisited edit, so that it seems Vader is on his Executor rather than some random Stardestroyer...so the existing ROTJ shot of the shuttle dropping down from the front 'bay' is likely to be GONE in his version. 

I reckon his existing clip of the new shuttle emerging from the middle 'bay' of Needa's Stardestroyer looks great already, and it's interesting that it was mentioned a couple of days ago that it still isn't finished yet... 

By the way adywan, I've been away a while, but loved the recent latest preview clip too.  A heap of neat enhancements during that, and the new continuity of the SE Bespin city 'window' during all the relevant shots where Lando betrays Han and co. is especially impressive.  :)

Adium said:

So I'm pretty sure it's confirmed, but I'd like to double check: we're looking at a 2004 DVD transfer, right? I want to change the title of the thread.

Having had a chance to catch up with the last several pages here now Adium, I've certainly seen enough to confirm that the powers-that-be are indeed about to merely release an equally-shoddy colour image for the Blu-ray release of the OT, as they did for the DVD release.  No surprise there I'm sad to say.

Sure, the actual 'gamma' seems to be upped for a 'brighter', 'clearer' intensity, but the overall colouration is still a mess as far as I'm concerned.  While there will be many that are now used to the particular colour-tampering seen in the 2004 versions (and will be content to see a more 'vibrant'-looking take on that look), I myself can never get used to it.  I'd rather watch the GOUT releases, which look closer to how things used to be, where colours are concerned.

But of course, my own OT interest now rests in what Adywan and others have given us, where colour-correction and fixes are concerned.  I've no doubt that the odd previously-glaring flaw of the 2004 OT release will be given a cursory make-over this time around, but am equally sure that others that have been flagged-up will not be.

However, as certain SE additions have ruined the official releases for me anyway, it doesn't really matter to me, as I thankfully have the skillful efforts of members around here to fall back on for alternatives nearer to my preference.  I'm just disappointed that the masses are continuing to only get the inferior 'creative choices' that have been foisted on the OT nowadays.

Anyway, if you do decide to change this ongoing thread title after all, may I throw a first suggestion into the ring -  2004 'humdinger' transfer of Star Wars coming to Blu-ray (UPDATE: May 4th 2011) by Adium 

Coming Soon...  Due for release 2012...

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES  (coming 2012/directed by Christopher Nolan)

Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ior9VaIH1x8

Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yh6SriAjdE

JURASSIC PARK  (re-released 2011/directed by Steven Spielberg)

Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC2XVBQeO2k

Coming Soon...  Due for release 2012...

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  (coming 2012/directed by Marc Webb)

Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5TSTm-DagM  NOW GONE!  Will look for replacement soon.

And here's the latest trailers for RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES now -

Trailer 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgCzQWoBKvA

Trailer 3 (International Version) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLq8qccEWUs

I haven't been able to check in here properly for a while recently, but I just wanted to flag this up for anyone that hasn't seen this yet -

http://www.facebook.com/notes/star-wars-revisited-the-saga/attention-revisited-fans-your-chance-to-own-a-piece-of-revisited/252083638140559

Neat to see that a 'Dagobah' miniature (!) is planned too, in addition to everything else being made. (A hectic schedule is still getting in the way of the many 'Dagobah' issues/potential fixes I still hope to go into in detail sometime, but I'll get around to them all in the near future hopefully)

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES  (released 2011/directed by Rupert Wyatt)

Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgFXoU1Gn6Q  NOW GONE!  Will look for replacement soon.

Oh man, so very sorry to learn of all your recent sad news adywan.  Best wishes to you and your family through this difficult period.

Wow adywan, that e-mail you received recently was ridiculously selfish and insensitive.  If he happens to be a member of this particular forum, then you should consider naming him after all, so that we know to ignore this cretin altogether.

On a lighter note, it was neat to see a few more of your completed tweaks in the 'Facebook' preview clip you recently gave us...and to discover that Rogue Leader and co. seem to be preparing for imminent battle filming...

We're rootin' for ya Ming! :)

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN  (released 2011/directed by Steven Spielberg)

Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8uQ-L62V0  NOW GONE!  Will look for replacement soon.

Slightly different International Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmf6IwRnHGk

Trouble is, a lot of his followers have sold up all their possesions in anticipation of him being right!  Poor gullible sods.

Really nice preview once again!

Your lightsaber efforts look terrific, and seeing Luke's saber briefly retracting as he crashes through the window is one of those little details I really hoped to see in your edit eventually.  Looks great. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY adywan!

and congrats on the 'Granda' announcement. 

Also just wanted to say that the consistent opening 'crawl' development is going to be a neat improvement overall, too.  And as others have mentioned, one of the really annoying backward steps with the 2004 ANH release was the faster receding 'main title'.  What were they thinking?  It was so great to see it at it's more impactful slower pace in ANH:R.

doubleofive said:

I'm of the opinion that they didn't fire randomly, but hid the black cannon tip when it wasn't in use so the Empire didn't know exactly where to shoot to blow it up.

I agree, those stardestroyer captains may indeed have had good eyesight if they already didn't know where the cannon was. ;)

adywan said:

it isn't recoiling. The gun is coming out from inside the ball and the ball is moving into place. In the firing shot earlier in the movie you can see that the gun comes from inside the ball before it takes it's first shot. Like i said all this is clear when you see the whole sequence

Ah, at the time, I wondered why the ION Cannon's gun seemed to be 'missing' from this particular top shot that you released a while back adywan, but just thought that you were still working on that. 

So going by your latest comments, it sounds like the gun is only *about to* emerge at this point, compared to where it is in your screenshot underneath -

Okay, I can see how Monroville thought that your latest trailer was partially revealing a 'recoil', like it does earlier in the movie, but this trailer snippet actually shows the gun 'emerging' upwards at this point it seems, as far as I can see...so I have a slightly different question about it in that case -  since the ION Cannon has already fully emerged to fire earlier in the movie when we first see it at the start of the battle...why would the rebels retract it inside the ball again, by the point we cut back to it in the scene above?  I'd always imagined the gun to be continuing to fire every now and then (unseen onscreen as various other transports continued to evacuate up to this point), even if the ball was rotated.

But even if it's thought of as needing to 'power-up' every now and then between blasts, I'm just wondering if the gun itself would really need to 'retract' and 're-emerge' in and out of the ball every time, or every time the ball may be required to rotate it's direction even? 

If a totally 'retracting' and 're-emerging' gun effect every time between bursts is how you intend it to work in your version, that's fine...it's just that until your comments about it today, I originally expected to see the gun still fully out when we returned to it in your new scene here, once it had emerged out in the first place earlier in the movie.  Either way though, it's awesome that you've placed it into this scene in the first place, as I always loved the design of it. :)

Okay, purely for the sake of wishful thinking, here's my own take on what I'd ideally like to see for these movies in the future.  After the frustrating 'altered' treatment of the 'Original Trilogy' for their 'Theatrical' SE re-release, DVD release, and upcoming BLU-RAY release...there's only one way now that GL could finally rectify things for me personally now, as far as any possible future BLU-RAY release of the OT goes, from where things currently stand -

1.  My *main* wish - a release of the unaltered versions (meaning original editing, and warts-and-all effects) of each of the OT, but cleaned-up of dirt and scratches to a high standard where the prints are concerned .  Something that approaches a reasonable and respectful 'representation'/'restoration' of what was initially seen on their blockbusting, award-winning 'Theatrical' releases, that's done to a high quality that today's BLU-RAY format demands.

2.  My *secondary* wish - on top of the above, also release equally high-quality cleaned-up versions of each of the OT (with original editing), but with re-comped , spruced-up versions of the original effects, where matte lines etc. are concerned...but without excessive additions, or alterations.  This is the route I'd wished GL's proposed 'Special Editions' had gone down originally, by the way.

3.  My *anything goes Special Edition* wish - If GL ended up wanting to do *even more* 'altered' versions of his current 'Special Edition' cuts in future, but with flying Rontos and tinted purple, then that would be fine with me (although I reckon he'd be better subtracting certain additions, rather than just adding to them, of course)...SO LONG as he finally organises high quality releases more faithful to how the movies originally looked TOO, as I mentioned in my 1st wish above! ;) 

I may not care for some of his current 'creative choices', but if a high quality release of how the OT originally looked became available too, then it wouldn't particularly bother me if he ended up adding even more crap I don't like, to any further BLU-RAY release...although I'd still wish that anyone new to the franchise would get to see the way it was to begin with, first.

Good thing then that adywan's ongoing 'Revisited' efforts are already giving me the kind of 'Special Edition' cuts/'alterations' that I could only wish for a long, long time ago...

adywan said:

Both are CG shots.

Yes indeed corellian77, things are going to a whole new level for certain shots in this particular 'special edition'.  And the quality of all the new 'Revisited' CG shots I've seen so far, look awesome in motion.

Just about anything is possible on any of these particular edits now... :) 

Terrific trailer update adywan.  Nice unexpected surprise there. :)

The 'transport take-off' shot and others are looking EPIC!

Coming Soon...  Due for release in 2012...

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: REVISITED  (coming 2012/fanedited by adywan)

Extended Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZliwkutFwV0

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL  (released 1951/directed by Robert Wise)

Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W4_mUBWxwU

But then things went downhill, unfortunately...

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL  (released 2008/directed by Scott Derrickson)

Trailer 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RAdYVCbBVQ

Trailer 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t88LH84m3pg

Trailer 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UWZBLUdYgs  NOW GONE!  Will look for replacement soon.

Hmmm, there seems to be a helluva lot of 'blue' used on that OT cover...

Is that a clue to the transfers?

And please tell me that 'outer' boxart is just a *fake* mock-up...  That's just plain awful as far as I'm concerned, if real.  Thanks to those who took the time to post the details by the way, as I wouldn't have known at this point if I'd had to rely on the actual 'countdown' site just now.  After all that, what a farce, lol.