Short Round

AntcuFaalb said:

FWIW, the colors in the original films are absurdly inconsistent shot-to-shot as well. This is especially true for Star Wars.

Sure, but to be honest I'm less concerned about theatrical reconstruction but rather with pre-1997 home video version reconstruction. I'd honestly prefer to have the Ep. IV crawl in Star Wars when Disney releases the OUT along with the colors from before 2004 (I don't think they were changed in '97). That's not to say that I don't want to have the crawl branched with the original; I absolutely want the original crawl to be included in an OUT release, but it's not the way I'm used to watching it. I'd never hold anything against Harmy for not including the Ep. IV crawl, or non-theatrical colors for that matter, because that's not the point of that project.

Erik Pancakes said:

kk650 said:

Agreed. Not only the quality varies widely from shot to shot though, the colours do too. I am too sensitive to sudden changes in colour during films to watch a release with colours constantly changing from shot to shot.

Really? The colors are the best thing about Harmy's releases if you ask me. I didn't notice any variation at all in SW 2.5 or ESB 2.0, at least nothing that took me out of the movies.

Though I can't fault Dark_Jedi's GOUT V3 in any way. It's a fantastic set.

I don't notice any color inconsistencies throughout Empire, or Jedi for that matter, but Star Wars 2.5 has drastically different colors from shot to shot at times, most noticeably in the cantina. It doesn't stop me from watching it, but it is there. I think it came from the color correction in 2.1 because if I remember right the v 2 colors looked pretty spot on with the colors you'd see on pre-2004 releases of the film. The 2.5 colors are infinitely better than what's currently available though.

As for the Despecialized Editions themselves, I'd say they're the highest quality OOT we can get until it's officially released. The only noticeably lesser quality shots are ones from the GOUT, which is to be expected.

TV's Frink said:

imperialscum said:

TV's Frink said:

Forty. Five. Pages.

smh

45 pages of official stuff.

 This thread is officially a horrible quality release.

 The first ten pages or so were exciting

Sure, if a fan posted the GOUT online back in 2006 it would've been great, but it all depends on circumstances. There was no reason for Lucasfilm to go that cheap, and the laserdisc master was pretty much the bottom of the OOT barrel for Lucasfilm. For example, Harmy's Despecialized are the most impressive Star Wars edits I've ever seen. Now, let's imagine that Lucasfilm went in and just covered up/edited out the SE changes with the GOUT, previous SE's, and an assortment of film sources and then released that. It'd be baffling and we'd all be pretty pissed off about it. Not because what they released was "bad" but because they have infinitely better sources at their disposal and could have used that to give us a legitimate DVD and blu ray of the unaltered films.

@MFM: I'm not sure what sources the doc. crew were using, but it definitely shows that Lucas was lying when he said that there were no sources other than the '93 tape. I also don't believe that Lucas has ever intentionally destroyed (or even let rot) any of his Star Wars materials. He's a hoarder, and even if he doesn't want anyone to see his stuff again, he won't destroy it. I'm betting that the restored OOT from the 90's restoration has been sitting on a computer at Lucasfilm Limited since the creation of the SE. 

If you like the OT more than the prequels then you aren't a fan, but if you like the prequels more than the OT then you are awesome. If you dislike anything about Star Wars (except the OOT, you're allowed to hate that) then you aren't a "true fan". Whatever the fuck that means. Also, if you point out a plot hole, it's actually all your fault for not researching books written to fill in those plotholes. There, I just summed up TFN.

If I hear that the villain is named Darth then I will not even see the movie

"Restoration/ Dirt ArtistReliance MediaWorks Ltd.March 2013 - June 2013 (4 months)

Rehired during deadline crunch because of my experience with their proprietary software for frame by frame image restoration on movies like Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Star Wars."

Here's the linkedin post I'm assuming MFM is talking about. Its the same woman who was mentioned earlier in the second comment (although that link no longer contains information about work on Star Wars) in this thread. I don't feel good about posting links to a persons' profile or saying their name online so I just included the above quote. This is interesting because I believe we thought that this was a project completed or abandoned around 2012, so assuming that resume is accurate this does mean that the project has definitely been endorsed and continued by Disney. Maybe I'm grasping at straws but I'll take anything I can get.

True, but at the time this thread was posted it seemed official because of the RMW website, but now that's it's been removed, not so much. 

It isnt particularly misleading. It's official that RMW at one point claimed to be responsible for a 4K restoration of Star Wars. Obviously now they've backed down for whatever reason, but at the time this thread was made it was on their website

just when I thought this thread had died...

Seriously though the lack of any new information regarding the OOT disappoints me, although there have been more separate, semi-reliable rumors this summer 2014 than I can ever remember, even more so than all the buzz when Disney first bought LFL. I wonder what Bill Hunt on Digital Bits would think, he seems like someone with connections, and he wrote an optimistic column about it a few months ago but has remained silent on it lately, but still acknowledged that it's his most common question a few days ago in his article. Because of the recent, and bizarre, obsession with 20th Century Fox for some reason refusing to distribute the OOT a lot of the buzz was shut down surrounding the comicbook.com rumor, which is unfortunate. I feel like anyone with any real credibility seems to think a release of the OOT is likely, or at least they haven't brought up any real reason why it won't (or can't) happen.

zombie84 said:

I can tell you guys something. I know some people in Lucasfilm and some people who worked at The Ranch (or is it the Presidio now? whatever). And every piece of film ever shot for all of the films has been scanned and digitized now. A guy I know walked into one of their editing bays and started talking to this staff editor--he had seen every second of every bit of film for all the films, all the takes, everything, because they have been slowly digitizing this stuff over the last few years. That's why we have all these outtakes on the BDs and stuff.

 If that's the case then that would mean that all unaltered scenes for the OT (and PT for that matter, but who really cares about those) are all on a computer hard-drive at Skywalker Ranch, right? Did the man you talked to know if this included the OOT or, just for curiosity's sake, the Holiday Special? I guess "everything" would include the OOT. I've always been skeptical that Lucas would just throw things that he didn't like (holiday special/OUT) in the dumpster, but I didn't know that things were being digitally preserved as well, even if they don't actually clean it up at all. If this is the case for the OUT then maybe that's what Lucas meant when he said that the current releases get "priority" over the classic versions of things. Maybe he meant that the SE's come first, and then when the time comes the classics will be released. I don't know, I might be putting more thought into this than George Lucas put into all of his SE changes combined

Yeah, in the Star Wars commentary track when the added scene of Han talking to Jabba was playing.

Great minds think alike I guess. I love sarcasm

I'm glad they fixed a MAJOR plothole in Empire. When Vader is walking down the corridor, he says, "bring my shuttle," and this just created so many more questions. Like where was he going, would the Star Destroyer know that he was on his way, how far away was he from his shuttle, how long did it take for the shuttle to get to the Star Destroyer etc. etc. and it actually ruined the WHOLE MOVIE! I'm so glad that Lucas provided answers to all of those questions, I mean, who cares that it just interrupts the excitement of Leia and friends escaping Cloud City? Screw consistent pacing! 

Oh! and I LOVE the new Jedi Rocks dance scene! It really sets the tone of the whole Jabba's Palace scene! The upbeat song and gibberish baby talk is exactly what you'd expect to hear in the horrifying and disgusting place that is Jabba's Palace!

I'm also glad that they added an explosion praxis to all round objects that explode in space! It's so realistic! I'm not sure if any of you knew this, but explosions are actually really pretty in real life and in the original versions they just weren't epic enough!

I also really like the scene where they add young Anakin's ghost. I was too dumb to be able to comprehend that the old actor was Anakin so I'm glad they changed it to- 

Nah I'm just kidding, all the changes sucked ;)

Hey guys, several weeks ago I sent an email to Walt Disney Studios asking about Star Wars (not sure why, I didn't really expect an answer, but was curious what they'd say), and just today they responded to it. It took me a while to remember because I'd forgotten I'd even emailed them. Anyway, I don't have my original email anymore since it's been so long, but it was basically just asking if there was going to be a re-release for the OUT. They sent back a really strange email that said that Star Wars was not a Walt Disney Home Entertainment production and gave me a huge, and bizarre, list of other places to contact including Dreamworks, Paramount, New Line Cinema, and Fox. I know that the Star Wars Trilogy in fact isn't a Home Entertainment product of Disney's, but I remember someone else on the forum (probably in the 4K thread) posted their response and it said that Disney hadn't set a re-release date, and that the OUT was unavailable currently. Anyway, I just thought that was strange so I supposed I'd post it here. 

darklordoftech said:

The problem with the SEs is that the cgi is there just to show off what cgi can do, not to add anything to the films. Tech demos age because their entire purpose revolves around them being up to date. The SEs are tech demos, therefore they've aged. The SEs are more like a video created to demonstrate the PS1 than they are like a PS1 game.

Exactly! I can look past the now slightly dated look of the matte paintings in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom because they were there to enhance the environment, or to create necessary visuals for the story. In the SE's, the cartoon dinosaurs are there because Lucas had the ability to put them there, and that's it.

Well, I also think that the rumor itself fits with what we know, but that's not saying much since we know very little. That being said, the fact that they mentioned delays and the negative being a bit complicated are good signs I suppose. Some people keep saying things like, "they didn't even mention Fox, there's no way it's true," but Fox hardly plays a part in this. I mean, Fox wouldn't be involved in any way with the restoration, they just have to distribute the films. As for the credibility of comicbook.com, I have no idea. I have noticed though, that most sites online aren't saying that the rumor is unbelievable because it came from comicbook.com, but then again most of those same sites are saying it'll never happen because Fox owns all the original movies (I'm looking at you Badass Digest), or that Lucas somehow has veto power over Disney's business decisions, so what do they know?

skyjedi2005 said:

I understand but was not that the original aim of the special edition to just fix a couple of bad shots.  Clean up the soundtrack and picture.

They when Lucas got Fox to pay for the whole thing he used it as an excuse to play with his computers as free r&d for the prequels.

Ruining 3 classic films in the process and then deciding the other version had to quietly disappear.

Does Disney ever release a catalog title unaltered?

 Well, in this case there's a lot more demand for it to be unaltered, so yes I believe they would. Also, remember that Lucasfilm is still an entity, it's just owned by Disney now, so the people that slightly alter and release old Disney movies aren't going to be in charge of restoring Star Wars, and even if they are they won't alter it if Lucasfilm says they want to release it unaltered. If these 4K rumors are true, then it would be RMW that's restoring the films too, not Disney, so I don't think we have to worry about that.

bkev said:

To clarify: the reason I'm saying this isn't specifically related to the animation department, although you're right in guessing that's what inspires my skepticism about it. All that needs to be remembered is that Disney is a profit-oriented company. I simply don't see them thinking there's a need for it. Star Wars prints money either way if the SE box-sets are any indication. Unless they take up Robert Harris's offer of a free restoration, or consult with mverta, I seriously doubt they'll think it's worth the investment.

Well Lucasfilm is still going to be in charge of Star Wars, Disney is just their parent company now. The people at Lucasfilm will probably be fairly independent for now, and they're also going to want to make as much money as possible because if they aren't making enough money then Disney will probably put new people in charge. One of the ways they'll want to make money is by selling DVD's/Blu Rays, and if they think the OUT is a good way to re-sell the films so soon after the last release, they'll do it. As it was mentioned earlier (not sure if it was in this thread or the 4K thread) Disney will want to release the films again on Blu Ray to get rid of that "Complete Saga" set. The OUT would be the best incentive to double dip and get the films again. There really aren't anymore features they could give us at this point.

The "Save Star Wars" man has high hopes for this rumor, he posted a video on his youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRwjQDw2_8s

pablumatic said:

Recomposition of the original effects doesn't bother me. Much like turning a mono or stereo track into a 5.1 surround mix doesn't so long as its the original audio cues and nothing else added.

That said its not the original versions of the movies visually and I agree that the matte lines should be left in to have a truly unaltered trilogy.

Yes i agree as well, recomposition (as long as it's done well) is A OK in my opinion... if it's done in the Special Edition or Director's Cut, and only if the originals are offered in their original forms in HD. I've always said that the SE's aren't what bothers me, it's the fact that we don't have the originals. Honestly, I wouldn't be any more upset if Lucas just stopped releasing Star Wars all together, I don't even consider the SE's as Star Wars films. It's just the exact equivalent of not having the films at all.

danny_boy said:

Mr. Lucas said that to release the original versions of these films on Blu-ray was “kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good.”

“You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally,” he added. “It’s a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.”

Unfortunately, the recent releases get priority over what we call the classic versions of things.”

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/star-wars-films-coming-to-blu-ray-next-year/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

 That was the article that gave me hope for Lucas to release the originals. That sounds weird since he basically said he'd never do it, but he didn't once mention his "true vision" or anything about which version he liked better. He even called the OUT the classic versions! I swore that this was his way of making us all buy the blu rays twice, but who knows. Hopefully these rumors are true, but I don't want my hopes to get too high, only to torn away from me once again.

darklordoftech said:

gizzy2000 said: the 97 SE will never be released again.

Noooooo!!!!!! I want to be able to watch the extended celebrations and hear the new celebration music without Hayden.

Well, he's just being realistic. Look on the bright side though, the extended celebrations and music are already restored on the current blu ray, and if they release the unaltered blu ray then you have hi def Sebastian Shaw, so you could easily make your own fan edit of the ending! :) 

I personally love the added part where Luke goes over to Wedge, that may have been my favorite change in the Jedi Special Edition (not that that's saying much though)

Gizzy I think you have a very optimistic appraisal of how people in the real world act online :) Silverwook is definitely right, it's about views and getting people to click. I'm sure back in May Faraci thought he'd get more views by saying that Star Wars was on its way to blu ray, and this time he thought he'd get more views if he said we'll never see it. None of this is based on fact; I'd bet he knows he's wrong now and won't correct it because that would make him look worse, since none of his followers will fact check him anyway. As for what I said earlier, yes it does sound harsh, but it really is true, at least from what I've seen it is. 

The basic moral here is that Faraci had no idea what the hell he was talking about when he wrote that article, and not one word of what was written in it should be given a second thought by anyone looking for legitimate news about the OUT. The same could probably be said about the comicbook.com article but I'll give it a chance since it didn't say anything particularly untrue, but I'm not getting my hopes up at all.

SilverWook said:

The one thing in our favor is Disney needs a marketing "hook" to sell people beyond the fanbase on buying the movies again, only a few years after the first Blu Ray release from Fox, and the more recent combo packs. (Neither trilogy has ever really been out of print since the first DVD releases.)

Putting Empire of Dreams and Star Wars to Jedi:The Making of a Saga, and any other "lost" extras in would be great, but it's too esoteric to be a selling point to the larger audience awaiting Episode 7.

The originals are really the only trump card left to play.

 I agree :) The only compliment I'll give the blu ray Special Editions is that they did give us a lot of extra features. I do think that if you slap a big sticker on the front of the set that says, "Original Versions Included" that'll get you a lot of extra customers right there!