SomethinSomethinDarkSide

I was introduced to Star Wars in 1997 with the release of the special editions when I was 7 years old and then the prequels came out when I was 9, 12 and 15. Even at the time I didn’t love them like I loved the OT but really couldn’t explain it. Years later, the Plinkett reviews really helped me understand my own feelings towards the PT. I wasn’t nearly as harsh on them as RLM but it was hard to disagree with anything they said either. To this day, those reviews stand out as great video essays.

Even if they were objectively good films, I don’t think my brain would ever accept them.

So he really wasn’t satisfied with the final product even in 1977. I always figured he became dissatisfied with the final result over the years/decades that followed.

I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to show the OT to somebody who has never seen it before and is maybe on the younger side. I couldn’t handle them saying that the films are boring and the special effects outdated lol.

Tosche Station said:

Most of the “ROTJ was a disappointment” dissertations I’ve read leave me wondering why some thought it would have been a good idea for the third Star Wars film to have basically been “TESB Redux”

I’m glad they didn’t double down on dark and edgy with ROTJ.

Celebration song for me. But I grew up with the 1997 special editions so I’m biased.

If it didn’t happen then we probably wouldn’t have gotten any new live action SW material to this day and everybody would still be complaining that Lucas should allow other people to make Star Wars. That said, the way Disney screwed up the ST just hurts my soul and in hindsight I would prefer for the Disney era to never have happened.

Not sure if nowadays we consider the Disney era stuff EU as well but I just couldn’t take those Marvel comics seriously that took place between ANH and TESB. Everybody has a lightsaber, Luke has multiple confrontations with Vader. Total nonsense. There were a lot of problems with the old EU but at least they always knew not to mess with the gaps between ANH & TESB and TESB & ROTJ.

I’m definitely going to read some of the books and comics now that it’s all finished. It’s a shame that The Acolyte flopping probably killed any chances of this era getting more live action or animated material though.

JadedSkywalker said:

https://ew.com/rian-johnson-scrapped-star-wars-trilogy-knives-out-11771734

And I’m laughing that is never even had an outline or treatment. It was just another series of Lucasfilm vapor ware.

In hindsight it is funny how much debate there was about this supposed trilogy when in reality they had nothing.

JadedSkywalker said:

First a trailer with Patty Jenkins for a fake movie, now Daisy Ridley brought out on stage to announce a fake movie.

Man, Disney Lucasfilm sure knows to announce films that never go anywhere.

I should be upset because I looked forward to that film but now all I can do laugh.

Sigh. It is crazy how they bring people out on stage only for the projects to never get made.

This will undoubtedly be the 2019 ¤k release.

I would never have known about this if I hadn’t read this thread. Wild how much these movies have been tinkered with over the years.

miker71 said:

I don’t remember being confused by the original at all, at 10 years old. You don’t need to show every last bit of exposition if it’s obvious that Vader got to his Star Destroyer using his shuttle that was brought to him.

The new dialogue really feels like a studio note to explain to the audience what is happening. It’s weird that it came from Lucas and 17 years after-the-fact.

darklordoftech said:

Seven years is plenty of time for a first-time viewer to become a devoted fan, so yes. Also interesting that it’s the one version never to be released on DVD.

That was me. Saw the movies for the first time when I was 7 in 1997 and grew up with the SEs. Most of the 2004 changes rubbed me the wrong way.

I bought those 2006 DVDs but it was depressing how little effort was put into the release.

TROS is just such a bummer. it’s such a depressing end to the Skywalker family.

This was a great-looking boxset and I still own it.

Not sure if I’m the right to person to answer this question because I saw the 1997 Special Editions way before I ever saw the original cuts but I do prefer many of the VFX touch-ups and Victory Celebration at the end of ROTJ does more for me than yub-nub.

oojason said:

davidt0504 said:

oojason said:

Director said:

ImBateman said:

Hi everyone!

As the title suggests this is an HD reconstruction of the 1997 version of ROTJ. This is a project I’ve been intending to do for a while now and I finally have something that I can call watchable. Since there are two very well made reconstructions of the 97 versions of ANH and ESB (thanks to Harmy, Team Blu, and Adywan) I figured ROTJ needed a reconstruction done in some capacity!

**V3 update: V3 is now live, and is finally exactly how I like it, thanks to me switching to Davinci Resolve. Regrained, better color, and video synced up to the audio down to the last frame (v2 seemed to always be slightly out of sync). The “Return of the Jedi Visual Comparison” was used, so there are no post-97 changes in this version at all!

I used 5 sources for this project (updated for v3):

• 2019 Special Edition Blu Ray
• Max DNR version of 4k83 (to undo post 1997 changes)
• ROTJ LD upscale and multi-capture merge (thanks ZigZig and Rancor022/DarthPyro!)
• 2004 HDTV broadcast provided by schorman (for opening logos)
• althor’s LD capture (for reference and DTS audio, LD audio, subtitles, and chapters)

Extra things done:
*added a 35mm grain palette over 2019 BD, 2004 HDTV, and LD footage to blend in better with 4k83 footage
*color corrected a handful of 4k83 clips to blend in with surrounding scenes
*I did leave the color of the 2019 BD alone since it appears that they did use the 1997 versions as a color reference.

Video dimensions: 1920x1080p (cropped to Disney’s 2.39 aspect ratio), 23.976fps
File Size: 19.53gb mkv

PM me for a link and share some feedback here if you’d like. Thanks!

I highly doubt this person gives links anymore but if you want to see this film’s 1997 Special Edition like it was in theatres in 1997, check my preservation of that. The films are all available.

Links are available to both of ImBateman’s ‘1997 Special Edition HD Reconstructions’ - ESB and ROTJ in here:-

📍 250+ available Original Trilogy Preservations - some from a long time ago . . . . 📍

^ along with a number of other 1997 Special Edition preservation and reconstruction projects.

 

Also, it is poor form to come into someone else’s project thread - then incorrectly claim that it is no longer available - and then promote your own project.
 

Sorry about that mate. I’m new to these editions and just came across them. Not trying to take away credit from the original creator at all.

Are there any instructions to how to download it? I’m looking through the link you provided but I only see it looping back to the thread where he says you can PM him for the link.

No worries, mate.

As you are new around here - welcome to the OT 👍 - and you may want to give these a read through…
 

❕ I have found a Fan Edit / Preservation I am interested in - but I don’t know how to get / acquire / download it? ❕

^ Note: New members cannot start PMs in their first 7 days here - though can view & reply to PMs they receive from other members.
 

Also: ATTENTION NEW MEMBERS: “Link begging” posts will be deleted without notice - in Announcements
 

Along with…

❕ Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within ❕ | About | Help | Announcements

❕ ‘How Do I Do This?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + member FAQs ❕ | Site Rules | Fan Project Rules

 

Re acquiring any of the projects in the ‘250+ preservation projects’ thread linked above…

oojason said:

If anyone would like links to any of the available Original Trilogy preservations listed in here… send me a PM - thank you. 👍

 

Note: You must be an active/contributing member of the site; someone with 30+ posts - without including any ‘link request’ posts.

Good luck with it. 👍
 

Thank you for this. I actually registered like 10 years ago but remained a lurker because it seemed like MySpleen was the only place to acquire any of these preservations/restorations and I never had much to add to the discussion as a result.

So I take it it’s worth upgrading from 2.5 to 3.0 (or is it 3.1 already?)?

Vladius said:

So I tried out watching Rogue One immediately after the show. I know I said it improves it before and it does, but it had strange results.

The first half of Rogue One, which I think is weak, is greatly improved. Knowing Cassian, K2, Saw, Krennic, etc. helps it flow very naturally and helps you to care a lot more about what’s going on. Same with the rebels generally. Since the pace of the show is so slow, Rogue One, which normally feels slow early on, feels much faster by comparison. Almost too fast. Cassian almost rises to the level of secondary protagonist because you know him so well by this point. When he decides not to snipe Galen Erso it’s much more meaningful. You know his modus operandi under Luthen was to gun down anyone who could potentially be a problem, and you see that at the beginning of the movie with his contact on Kafrene. The theme toward the end of the show where he starts to embrace the Force a little bit carries through pretty well.

The part where he tells Chirrut that “this is a first for me” when he’s in Saw’s jail is hilarious because they either forgot about it or he’s lying, given that there’s an entire arc in the show about him escaping a hell prison.

There’s also an interesting dynamic with Krennic’s character. We saw him as the intimidating upper manager figure in the show, but when we see him next to Tarkin and Vader he’s in the junior leagues. There’s a feeling that everything has gone up a level and there’s a natural progression from spies running around to open conventional war.

Then the other half of the movie, which people generally see as much stronger because it has most of the action and the big battle, actually gets weaker. The idea that Jyn steps up and becomes a leader figure right away looks even more absurd because we’ve just seen how paranoid and distrustful the rebel command is and how long it’s taken them to trust Cassian. There’s some of that discussion in the council with some of the worst senators ever but it’s still odd. Then they naturally defer to her to give an inspirational speech to the soldiers on the landing craft, when Melshi is clearly their real leader. The way she suddenly becomes the most important figure in the universe with the ability to single-handedly take out a dozen stormtroopers in melee comes across as more Mary Sue-ish next to the more grounded feeling of the show where everyone receives a lot more development. Baze and Chirrut similarly feel a little more out of place.

The ending feels even more abrupt. There’s no real breather where you take in that everyone died, it just slams right into CGI Leia and credits with little explanation. This was more understandable when this was just a fan film prequel for the original movie but now it feels almost insulting, for lack of a better word.

I have yet to re-watch Rogue One now that Andor is over but you bring up some points that will probably ring true for me as well.

G&G-Fan said:

One of the most hilarious scenes to me is when the inquisitors chastise Reva for harshly interrogating the citizens of Tatooine. Did they forget that they’re evil? For Vader, their boss, that’s a Tuesday when he’s in a good mood (though obviously without the yelling and overly wordy speech).

Haha. Did not even think of that.

I honestly don’t understand how it looked as low budget as it did at times. The first fight between Obi-Wan and Vader in that quarry literally looked like a fan film. Like, how do you get Ewan McGregor back and not give this project all you’ve got? If they could do it for Andor they could have done it for this.

Also, while we all know that the prequels and the OT don’t line up perfectly, the events of this show take it way too far. Leia having a whole adventure with Obi-Wan as a kid is ridiculous. In ANH she only knows Obi-Wan by name and reputation. She’s really not upset at his death in ANH because she never knew him.

And Obi-Wan fighting Vader between the PT and OT makes Vader’s line about only having been a pupil when they last saw each other even more ridiculous. I guess you could say that it never made sense in light of the fact that in the PT Anakin already saw himself as a master, and in many ways, superior to Obi-Wan but still.

This show needed to have way smaller stakes. Obi-Wan having to find his faith again was a good angle to take and it humanized him a lot. Throwing Vader in there was a total overkill. If they had to have a big villain then it should have been Maul but Rebels prevented them from doing that. And if anybody had to have a duel with Vader then it should have been Ahsoka but again, Rebels already did that as well.

Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

I’m not convinced this movie is ever coming out.

This goes for basically every Star Wars project nowadays. It’s amazing how they go on stage with stars and directors to announce these films and even that doesn’t mean anything.