Tobar said:
Well this is awesome. I hope one of us gets it!
I could really use the extra info on the staff, etc. that comes with that script for the website, but I doubt I'll be able to win this auction. Just hoping that whoever does win is willing to share the information.
--SKot
Tasjo said:
AntcuFaalb said:
Tasjo said:
A little bit of an update. I contacted the current owner to ask about quality and this was the response:"I'd have to say it's a little wavy. It's watchable, but not pristine. But yeah, it looks like it's a couple of generations down." So is there still any interest in perusing this copy?
I think so. The waviness can easily be fixed with a Panasonic DMR-ES10.
True, unless it's embedded in from being so many generations down.
Tough call there. It could be yet another crappy copy of the WCBS...but it still could be better than what I've seen out there for that version.
--SKot
MattMahdi said:
TServo2049 said:
WCBS, you mean? As in, the WCBS New York airing that was most commonly bootlegged and seen? Fighting the frizzies and all? That's awesome!
I don't know about commonly bootlegged -- hard to believe we wouldn't already have a decent copy -- but agreed it'd be awesome.
It seems to have been one of the most commonly bootlegged ones in the past, but also most commonly very poor quality (which follows: the more bootlegs made, the more nth generation copies there are out there). I've never had my hands on any not-terrible copies of that one.
The WCBS is also apparently the one Trey Parker and Matt Stone had access to, as they parodied the "Fighting the Frizzies" bumper segment on South Park...
--SKot
digitalfreaknyc said:
I just got a copy of the SWHS from a broadcast master in france. However, it is cut. It's not the full show. Is it worth sharing?
Absolutely and 100%! The French cut may be shorter, but it's unique and may be the most "tolerable" cut of the HS there is.
When you say it's cut, you mean it's edited down, right?
--SKot
Tasjo said:
metastars said:
7- TF1 (high resolution but very blurry)
Where did you find this copy? The French audio track on the second WHIO disc came from the only source of the French broadcast that I could find and the video quality was terrible.
Indeed; I have a SECAM VHS copy (the Star Waves one that was sold on eBay at one point) which I had a friend in Germany dump to digital for me, but the quality is pretty poor. Also, the beginning segment which was probably cut off in the original broadcast recording has been replaced with obviously different footage taken from an American broadcast.
Has a better copy of this turned up somewhere?
--SKot
metastars said:
What about the 1080p version previewed on Youtube here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97nnHjUrLvU
Is it released anywhere?
Despite that nice-looking clip, there's no such thing as a 1080p version of the Holiday Special. It was shot on video, and will only ever be as good as video-quality resolution...which is not that good. You can upscale it all you want, and maybe lose a bit less of the original resolution when you rip it to digital, but it's never actually going to be 1080p. It's really just polishing a turd.
Had it been shot on film, you'd easily be able to go 1080p and even higher on it, because the resolution would be available. But apart from (most likely) the cartoon segment and the outtake clips from Star Wars, none of it was shot on film stock.
--SKot
poita said:
Bit wonky today, and my eyes have gone a lovely shade of orange, but doing okay.
Guess I won't do any colour-correcting today :)
Well, if your skin starts to burn and the color in your eyes resolves into starfields, you might start looking for a serum for Bledsoe's Disease:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bledsoe's_disease
Of course, the Empire is probably already looking for you...
--SKot
Tasjo said:
I recently noticed that the "cassette" with the holographic circus that Itchy takes off the shelf is just a regular cassette tape with the labels taken off. The closest match to the original tape that I can find is the Scotch Highlander.
And the best screenshot I could get of the original prop
Hmm...that could be it!
I spent quite a while trying to determine exactly what kind of computer keyboard the Wookiees are using for the family terminal that looks a bit like a TRS-80. In the end, it didn't resemble anything exactly that I found, so I think it was either something amazingly obscure (and I looked at some pretty obscure ones) or it was some kind of composite cobbled together from various things.
--SKot
MattMahdi said:
I can buy the Wookiees on a spiritual quest with their snow globes. I have a hard time believing the others separately (some got there at different times) doing the same thing.
I can imagine a situation a la The Restaurant at the End of the Universe where Marvin isn't taking an elevator to the celebration. The Millennium Falcon parked with some other ships at the site that said "This way to join the Wookiee celebration".
But, as you say, it is a holiday special. And an horrific one at that. Mayhaps that's why we love it enough to generate over 700 posts.
I sort of imagined that the others weren't really knowingly there...like the Wookiees have a way of consciously migrating to another plane temporarily, where the "spirits" of all of their friends exist, whether it's somewhere in the future or more likely completely outside of time and space itself. Then they are able to return their consciousness back to their physical bodies afterwards. Luke/Han/Leia, etc. don't consciously take part in this perhaps because they don't have the ability to do so...their spirits exist out there on that higher plane, but only the Wookiees can get there to interact with them.
Of course, this raises the question: why then are the droids there? Surely they don't have the same "spirit" or consciousness that the others do? Or maybe they really do after all, and that's what Lucas/the writers are trying to tell us. And then why isn't Ben Kenobi there? Or maybe he is...Chewbacca does see him during his flashback sequence. Does it mean that all future and past friends should be there as well? What about Lando? What about Yoda? So many questions!
Deep stuff, man. With the Holiday Special, who'da thunk it?
--SKot
MattMahdi said:
Metaphysical questions arose at dinner last night.
In the finale of the Special, when all parties gather at the Tree of Life, is it a literal or metaphorical renditiion? Are the Wookiees, and our heroes, actually gathered at a location in space and time, or is it a spiritual transcendence?
To me, it seems more metaphorical/spiritual. Because Han leaves to go do his thing, Chewie joins his family, and Luke, Leia and the droids are off in separate physical places as well. Chewbacca and his family gather around the table and hold their...snow globes...aloft, and we fade out to see the Wookiees making a spiritual journey into the light. After this, all the heroes (plus many other anonymous Wookiees) are united together in one place - but spiritually, not physically. And then after the ceremony, we find ourselves back at the Wookiee table with the camera pulling back from the snow globes, where the family is still gathered...having never physically left.
It's cheesey, but it is the Holiday Special after all!
--SKot
toykyle said:
Do you know where I can request an invite at MySpleen forums for this awesome WHIO Preservation of The Star Wars Holiday Special?
I don't want to sound mean here, but it might be enlightening to read at least the last few posts before you post on a thread...the answer is right there above you.
--SKot
Joel said:
That's what I thought, but couldn't articulate at 1AM. Thank you!
I suppose that Star Wars was such a juggernaut by fall of 1978, a press junket wasn't really needed? I'd love to see more contemporary mentions.
It would definitely be great to see more of this kind of thing...but oddly enough, there just doesn't seem have been much of anything done for promotion on TV or otherwise. One does have to bear in mind the rarity of VCRs in 1978 - but even still, I doubt there was ever much more shown other than the usual CBS TV bumpers (which can be seen on YouTube).
Even in print, the only contemporary things promoting the Holiday Special that have turned up are a short blurb in TV guide with the 1-page ad, some local newspaper blurbs, and an article with photos in Starlog magazine. Then pretty much silence on the subject until the 90s.
--SKot
Joel said:
I just stumbled across this is in a search for Captain Cosmic videos (I'm looking for the end credits from the 70s airings of Space Giants, if anyone has this stuff?) - it's only 16 seconds long, but there is a brief discussion of the Holiday Special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxuvGphCqnQ
This is one of the few contemporary mentions of the Holiday Special, so it's pretty notable in that regard.
--SKot
It really is a nice presentation...the best yet!
Great job on both discs. It's nice to have both the Spanish and French versions with quality video available at your fingertips.
There is yet *another* different, shorter edit, and that is the Swedish version...but that's Swedish subtitled with English audio, so not as easily fixed. The only copy I have of that has terrible video quality - though it came from a first-generation videotape, it was in bad shape and barely playable.
--SKot
stretch009 said:
What's the difference between the cut and uncut versions of the animated segment?
The uncut version of the animated segment is most likely taken directly from a transfer of the uncut film copy of the cartoon (the only part of the Holiday Special that would have been shot on film). Not only does it include the intro and outro portions in full screen (which ultimately show up in smaller size on Lumpy's viewscreen), but it also has a short deleted segment filling the area where the commercial break would eventually be (after Boba Fett communicates with Darth Vader). This deleted segment is a short fake "commercial" with limited animation and a bizarre backwards soundtrack. The soundtrack when played back forwards turns out to be from a contemporary Canadian PSA about conserving electricity!
--SKot
poita said:
In country areas there were only 2 television stations in the 1980s. Stuff just got shown over and over. Even the capital cities only had 4 TV stations at the time, and cable didn't exist.
So yeah, I saw it multiple times on the telly, I think it was shown way more than twice.
What I find interesting about this is that somehow Lucasfilm or CBS kept it from being shown more than once everywhere else...but somehow Australia was special. Either that, or the TV stations were just ignoring any mandates they were given!
I'll likely be moving to Melbourne to join my wife down under by sometime next year. What better place for me, I suppose, than the land where the Holiday Special showed over and over again...
--SKot
Off-topic here, but did you know the Star Wars Holiday Special aired multiple times in Australia? It's the only country in the world I know of where it was aired more than once. It's supposed to have aired in 1979 and 1980. I have a copy that was aired in 1983, and another from August 1984. I have heard it aired as late as the late 80s before it finally stopped.
Why did the Aussies love the Holiday Special so much that they had to see it more than once? :)
--SKot
SilverWook said:
Speaking of the Rifftrax version....
http://www.rifftrax.com/vod/star-wars-holiday-special
Did they somehow get the rights from Disney?
Very interesting. Either they did, or they've got some mighty big spheroids to be selling that online...
--SKot
Tasjo said:
Disc one barely has space left for the menus once the WMAR commercials are edited in and the Spanish audio track is added, so I'm thinking of just including the French edit using the WHIO video on the bonus disc with the Uncut animated segment.
I'd have to agree with that too.
--SKot
MattMahdi said:
In my opinion...
Where some audio is missing, especially in the French broadcast, I'd prefer silence to switching to English: preserving the original broadcast, and simple to see where and how the cuts were made.
We're talking about a *lot* of missing audio, though. The regular version is around 90 minutes minus commercials, but the French version is only about 72 minutes long. That's a lot of silence.
--SKot
Mavimao said:
Tasjo said:
All cleanup work that can be done has been finished in virtualdub and now I'm starting to sync the French and Spanish audio tracks. But, this is where I am running into a slight problem. The Spanish track is only missing a few seconds that can be patched but the French track is missing entire segments due to the edited nature of the original broadcast. Should I patch the missing parts with the English audio or should I leave the audio track empty in those parts?
Wow, you work fast!
Difficult call. I would say just put in the English track. Better that than nothing. Perhaps someone motivated enough will do a French edit using your file and splicing out the English language parts.
Oh yes - I forgot about the French edit being shorter! I'm thinking the English audio would be better than dead silence, but yeah...an actual French edit would be the ideal method of showcasing that soundtrack.
Tasjo, you say the Spanish track is missing a few seconds...is it actually because the edit was different as well, or was it just an incomplete audio recording?
Joel said:
SKot said:
Joel said:
Tasjo said:
As for version 2 of WHIO, I will be doing the first transfer using the 1980 this week. I will also try running one of my WMAR tapes trough it to see if I can get decent quality copies of the commercials.
Hoping to get this out by Life Day, Tasjo?
If all goes well, we may have more than one Holiday Special-related surprise by Life Day...
--SKot
Whhhhhaaat?!
Well, there's one or two other HS projects that I'm hoping will materialize by the 17th. More news on that as it becomes available...
--SKot
Joel said:
Tasjo said:
As for version 2 of WHIO, I will be doing the first transfer using the 1980 this week. I will also try running one of my WMAR tapes trough it to see if I can get decent quality copies of the commercials.
Hoping to get this out by Life Day, Tasjo?
If all goes well, we may have more than one Holiday Special-related surprise by Life Day...
--SKot
That is a thing of beauty! A serious machine.
--SKot
Looking good! Too bad the original taper edited out most of the commercials...but otherwise this is the best source we've seen in a long time.
I think most people would prefer the version with the station ID intact, as it gives some context to the original recording. Plus, it's only on-screen for a very short time.
--SKot
Awesome...nice to hear the Spanish version of Han Solo!
Is UPL a station ID, or something else? Do you have any background on where this aired?
--SKot
