Spaced Ranger

kaarma33 said:
It looks like there are some 1080p up-scales on youtube. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UJphNPwDfk

There doesn’t seem to be much info on this. (What is it’s source? Is it an up-rez project? Is it a new scan?)

EDIT:
Just finished a DL to watch it in HD. Definitely an up-rez (lots of jaggies). Stepping through the frames, it shows a 1-2-3-3 [frame] cadence (on zoom shots, so animation-holds won’t be misinterpreted). It shouldn’t have any, as it is a 24fps video (from YouTube). A closer look reveals frame “3” is repeated, in place of frame “4”, which is dropped! Very bad. Color-wise, it has the same technicolor primaries-saturated look of the “Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1942”, Warner Bros., 2008, of the Original Post. The other DVD sets have non-primary-saturated and weak color. Finally, it is uniformly widescreen-stretched, but not all the way to 16:9, hence the remaining area is pillar-boxed.

Wow! So I guess bphil won’t be let off-the-hook too easily.

As with other Star Wars laserdiscs, does “From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga”, too, have preferred (“better” or “least problematic”) pressings? And there’s always the NTSC/PAL normalization factor.
.

Dek Rollins said:
Looks really cool, … Though, I would be less distracted during the SD parts if they just had regular black pillar-boxing, rather than what’s on there now.

Well, Star Trek (TOS) Remastered had a version that “slipped out” through Netflix and other pay-for-view outlets. That version was from the master for creating either pillar-box or vertical-cropped-widescreen editions:
Naked Time opening - ws shot mixed with standard shot (.mov)
Would that changing-aspect-ratios look better than the present “TV news widescreen-filler” look? Or are there other options for the widescreen filler?

LOL … SilverWook comes through yet again!! (You are my NEW, PERSONAL HERO!)

Okay, boys, step up to SilverWook's Black-Hole Library with your cards ready …

Wazzles said:

… If someone wants to go a step further, they could use the Japanese Laserdisc of FSWTJ for the SD portions and use the VHS to remove the subs.

Speaking of the laserdisc (hmmm, the force must be strong with someone) …

FROM STAR WARS TO JED: THE MAKING OF A SAGA - Japan limited release

Buy It Now - $89.90
Free shipping - From Japan

bphil said:

FrankT said:

Would the version on the Star Wars YT channel be of any use?

Their version does look cleaner than other versions I’ve seen, but it would need to be combined with another source to be used on account of their version being annoyingly cropped from the top and bottom.

I see I’m not the first to offer you more work, but taking that Star Wars YT channel video and putting it over yours (if those 2 videos are mutually stable), it might be a very easy fix on your timeline editing (only needed to be clicked-visible for the documentary-filmed sections).

Here, I took your original [top], non-uniformally resized and lined up the YouTube one with it (cut-out with a fade-away edge) [center], and contrasted & saturated the YT for best match (bottom).
Actually, you might do better to color-correct the YT first and then adjust your original to match that.

The image-detail improvement is easily visible even in this 70% reduction.

bphil said:

… I’ve made an HD* conversion of the classic documentary “From Star Wars to Jedi The Making of a Saga” using Harmy’s Despecialized Editions.

You’ve definitely made it more watchable and added value to it!

Well done!

Scott M (Oldsmith) Film Score Monthly forum - Feb 1, 2015 said:
…
There’s a bit more. As I understand it, the newly-created effects shots in the 40th anniversary remastered were created in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which would be cropped for most presentations but not all. Apparently in Japan, where widescreen adoption in the home got much more traction earlier, non-widescreen material (requiring pillarboxing for older 4:3 material) is supposedly routinely cropped at the top and bottom of the frame, so that it fits a 1.85:1 display. … Anyway, I believe the Japanese release of TOS: Remastered is all 1.85:1, though I’m not sure …

Also, for whatever reason, apparently the versions of episodes of TOS:R available for download on XBox Live are (or were) a mix, with the new effects shots all in 1.85:1, while the original footage remains in its 4:3 ratio. Thus, people getting the episodes that way are / were able to see everything intended to be seen in either the original footage or the wider new effects shots. Supposedly, though, this itself was a mistake; it apparently was never intended for any one version to feature shifting aspect ratios like that, and it was always meant to be presented either in 4:3 (with the new footage cropped), or in 1.85:1 (with the old footage cropped), depending upon the regional preferences of a particular market. … for whatever reason, some individual episodes got presented this way on Netflix (!) - for a little while, one could watch “The Immunity Syndrome”, “Bread and Circuses” and “The Tholian Web” with aspect ratios shifting between 4:3 for the original footage and 16:9 for the new effects shots. Those versions have been replaced with the correct ones (with constant 4:3 aspect ratios).

At the same time, the episode “Obsession” was (and still is), for whatever reason, entirely the original version, without any of the new effects. I don’t know why they pulled and replaced those other three but not this one.

A quick look and I cannot find ST-TOS S1 HD-DVD “widescreen” set for Japan or any country. Maybe the widescreen was strictly broadcast (for the Japanese market).

“I’m a '60s, West Coast, liberal, radical, artsy, dyed-in-the-wool 99 percenter before there was such a thing.”
George Lucas in The New York Times Magazine (20120117) - “George Lucas Is Ready to Roll the Credits”

And so …

The Blaze (20151216) - “Star Wars: Why ‘Han Shot First’ Debate Is Still Important”

“For almost 20 years, this has been a hot button topic for fans. But it really is an important topic, and here’s why. … What George Lucas knew in 1977 and seems to have forgotten – mostly due to his Hollywood liberal programming – is … Han Solo has an arc. He goes from a not-so-nice character in a seedy bar, to a reluctant hero, and finally to the heroic character … While Luke fires the fatal shot, that shot never would have been fired had Han Solo not decided to come back and help his friend. … Yes, George, we do want Han Solo to be a cold-blooded killer, but not because we’re blood thirsty. It’s because we want his character to be important to the story, and for that his arc must remain intact.”

The words of another movie, Legend, come to mind …
“… Together they will learn there can be no good without evil… No love without hate… No heaven without hell… No light without darkness.”
… and George Lucas, in his bitter leftist politics, would ultimately deny Han Solo his redemption. But this is the secret of why Star Wars became so popular. Han Solo showed us more than him saving himself by risking all for his friends. It was an arch-type to show hope for our own redemption.

Bravo, Han Solo. Bravo!

TK428 said:

The idea that GL started off in like 1974 or so after “American Graffiti” and had all this crap mapped out is nothing more than a specious legacy enhancement he has churned for a number of years. …
The OT is about Luke Skywalker - period.

May I present to the court exhibit “G” …

eBay: “STAR WARS By George Lucas PBO/Correct 1st Edition 1976 Released Before Movie”

joefavs said:

BBC America has been running TNG in HD recently.

In fact … RIGHT NOW … it looks like they’re running a ST:TNG marathon (presently up to 3rd season)!
Quick! … and you may catch “Tin Man” (among the better of their episodes) … playing now!

Yes, whether in SD or HD, CBS is only “releasing” it’s “remastered” Star Trek to be shown – and I just confirmed this with a ME-TV episode (“remastered”!) compared to TrekCore's “vintage” DVD screencaps.

I’m really interested in the first hand-full of remastered episodes with CG effects test-rendered in 16:9 widescreen (for foreign [Japan] markets).
TrekMovie - 20061218 Video Of Trek Remastered In Widescreen
Apparently, those were “mistakenly” released (through iTunes & Xbox Live) and quickly removed.
Naked Time opening - ws shot mixed with standard shot (.mov)

BTW, anyone got’em? .

Doh!

pittrek said:
Also I actually used a Region free Blu-ray and a Region 2 DVD 😃

If both were sync’ed to the Region-2 DVD, that would explain the pitch change to Region-1 ears. Also, Region-free BR would be at original-(24)-fps to the DVD’s 25fps, and that would explain the BR extra-frames stutter. (As the sources are 24fps, all should be normalize to that first.)

.

SilverWook said:

CBS seems to think streaming is where the money is now though.

	YouTube $$

And that’s so true!
A nephew of mine has no “tapes”, no “discs”, no “files”; his “library” is all “in the cloud”. I keep warning him about property – “if you don’t have it in your hands, you don’t have it”.

[edit]
Oh … and you need one of these to keep it …

TrekCore’s screencaps of Star Trek episode “Arena” from DVD verifies that the “act 1” opening shot is the full shot with the camera shade showing (apparently not secured too well and slipped into picture), while the end of the “teaser” is that same shot but tighter (and thus eliminating the shade from that shot):

.

Here shows the “teaser” framing from the full “act 1” shot.

That this shot was tight in one place and not in the other indicates it was an artistic edit: a pulled-back-long ending the teaser; a long-establish for act 1. The editor just missed what might have looked like odd terrain (hey! alien world!) and, even if someone did spot it, no time to go back due to weekly-episode edits.

SPOILER WARNING

How do the Star Wars characters chase each other around in those HUGE Death Stars the Empire keeps building?

ding ding
ATTENDANT: “Yes, sir?”
VADER: “Filler up!”
ATTENDANT: “Just this one?”
VADER: “And the 100 escort vehicles!”
ATTENDANT: “YES, SIR!”
VADER: “By the way, do you give Empire Green Stamps?”
ATTENDANT: “No … no sir, we don’t.”
VADER: “Oh … then forget it!”
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
ding ding va-ro-o-o-om
…

@ SilverWook

I always thought both hi-def versions were always identical. (I guess that was only with simultaneous releases early on, before HD-DVD’s shaky market position?) So now, what? We must buy old laserdiscs AND old HD-DVDs (not to mention the players … doh!) to get less remaster-tampering than in contemporary releases?

.

pittrek said:

I apologize for this disgusting piece of self-promotion but I did comparing videos for all TOS episodes …

You did those?!? That is so AWESOME!!

	.
	.

		You are my NEW, PERSONAL HERO!!

I love you – now I must save all those videos!!		I hate you – now I must save all those videos!!

.

BTW, interesting about the wrong CU of Spock on the DVD in episode “By Any Other Name”. Different from the videotapes (all releases) and the earlier TV broadcasts? Laserdisc, too?

I also noticed the odd movement in the frame-stepping and higher voice pitch, both on the Blu-ray in episode “Arena”. Could those problems be from incorrect capture of a Region B Blu-ray against a Region 1 DVD?

Wow, I thought that whole rot-thing was confined to laserdiscs. So now we must double-dip the HD-DVD … for the same discs?!?

And they haven’t even dropped in value (last time I checked) (Star Trek collectors are detrimental to one’s wallet)!

And talk about restraint with improvement in updating – we went from a cheesy 1960’s “analog” chronometer (budget again) to a proper 2160’s digital chronometer, with the famous stardate (at last)!

1960’s	YouTube: Comparison The Naked Time	2160’s

Pay attention how to do this, George Lucas Jr.!

@ SilverWook
Wasn’t the SD on the HD-DVD also the full remastered? So one had to double-dip with the Blu-ray to get the rescanned original effects.

.

Look how they did it (just ignore the Klingon subtitles):

	Spacelift: Transporting Trek Into the 21st Century

Don’t give up the thread too soon …

The Blu-ray’s original effects sequences have been rescanned in HD but have not been restored. A clean-up of those would really bring TOS back to it’s original life!

Star Trek rescanned (click to view in HD)		Star Trek restored as CG (click to view in HD)

To be fair, most of the CG were corrections and not Lucas-style re-imaginings. For example, there were only a couple of planet shots, which were re-colored, flipped, etc., and re-used over and over again, regardless of the actual “on-planet” filming. They just didn’t have the time/budget in a weekly TV series. That kind of lack was embellished in the restoration. (I wish the restoration team had even more time/budget for more “fixes” to the live action sequences, ie: “outdoor sets” skies/lighting.)

Read more about this at TrekMovie -
EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Mike Okuda – Talking “The Cage”, TOS-R On Blu-ray & more - April 29, 2009

If this auction goes well, all the crew will start eBaying their home movies!

Me? I’m waiting for this super8 home movie …

George Lucas saw that his new special effects unit under John Dykstra was producing very little useable footage. So he went to I.L.M. to find out what was the problem. To his horror, he witnessed the crew blowing off steam after a marathon of filming. Dykstra was using a fork-lift to repeatedly hoist a refrigerator into the air and smash it back down to the concrete,

to the wild cheers of the I.L.M. staff.

Lucas nearly had a heart attack and was hospitalize days later for exhaustion.

		-described in Skywalking - The Life And Films Of George Lucas by Dale Pollock

Thanks for that info! (I don’t ask invites as I can’t do anything useful when there anyway.)

By any chance, could you post (here) your LD's colorbars from your 2001ASO capture? And a Floyd space station arrival frame (see my picture-repost above)? I’d like to see the spectrum correspondence to the capture … especially as uncompressed .PNGs, if available.

As much as I would like all those trims as extras (or better still, in Trumbull’s documentary, included), the top priority should be a best presentation of Kubrick’s film rather than monstrosities as the widely-praised but atrocious Blu-ray!

(smartly corrected by a spaced ranger with his cheap paint program)

… because the scruffy smuggler, whom GL admits [in his recent I-changed-my-mind mea-culpa] was a “cold-blooded killer”, …

Entertainment Weekly - 20151130 “George Lucas defends Greedo shooting Han first”

… Han Solo is also a liar. He is positioning himself in that whole game.
In my exclusive interview with Han Solo, he confided to me his true opinion of “the force” …

	“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a blaster at your side, kid.”

When I questioned him further on why he thinks so, he replied …

	“Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all-powerful force controlling everything. There’s no mystical energy field controling my destiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.”

And with him holding that blaster, we believe him! Thank you, Mr. Solo. We now return to the Original Trilogy studios. Leia?

Or wrong forum?

Philosophically, people expect things to work. It’s only when things don’t work up to experience, or advertisement, or expectation, that they voice. So, let’s see where it might better go:

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Hmmm …
And the closest I can see is … [drum-roll] … [cymbal-hit] …

		“Off Topic (Unmoderated)” !

Actually, there are such fonts available but they are your typical mono-color text characters (and we’d all need 'em installed to see the text the way the poster meant it).

For my posts, I used a website (there are quite a few, but the Strix Ransom Note Generator did the most) that generates a picture. I screen-capped mine, modded the leading & spacing to make it look more like it was pasted together (I guess I just expect too much), and added them to my download site (now Photobucket) for everyone’s entertainment!

** BTW, I, too, find it helpful to know if someone I’m personally contacting received my message.

** AND, while we’re at it, I would also like to see the last poster of a thread (another feature from the previous forum iteration). I respect certain posters for their knowledge and/or entertainment value and would check a normally skipped-over thread if I saw his name there.

** AND, another old feature, view count, should be added to see how things are going on any particular thread. It’s another indicator that a high number might suggest something there in which I, too, might be interested.

IN SHORT, MORE INFORMATION, NOT LESS, MAKES A FORUM BETTER!