Takin' a Ride

The last three months were quite a thrill regarding Star Tours original footage.

Beyond all expectations, the film made a surprising appearence during Star Wars Celebration, Anaheim (2022) with D23 a celebration of the 35 Years of Star Tours Adventures. This event was very well handled, full of interesting interviews, making of and behind the scenes of the the original (now lost) attraction.

If you’re curious to see more and want to learn about Star Tours creation, you’ll find a replay of the full event here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij9EUs4QRzc

Now regarding Star Tours original footage, the 70mm film was presented full length in a quality never seen before in its original screen format. However, even if the footage was sharp quality, this was not a new restoration. This is literally the original film as it was playing during the attraction which explains some dust and film artefacts can be spotted from time to time on the screen and these elements were already visible during the ride. Also, the main issue I have with the presentation is the livestream banners remained present throughout the duration of the sequence. It breaks quite a lot the immersion. It blocks the view of a lower part of the footage, which is quite unfortunate as it’s the first time that we have complete information on each side of the screen in such quality. In simple words, it is not a simple 16:9 zoom like the Trench Run clip that surfaced on YouTube a few years ago for the closing on the DisneyLand Paris Star Tours Ride.

The “Star Wars Celebration with D23” Star Tours footage is now the best visual element that we have from the original 1987 film to this date. It is not perfect but it’s quite close to be perfect and was quite unexpected to see the film projected during a Star Wars event… after all these years, and the audience and fans like all of us were so excited to see that piece of Star Wars history again.

Three versions are now available online since few months:

The 1080p Version presented during the 35 Years event:
Video Title: “35 Years of Star Tours Adventures With D23 - Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022”
Video Link : https://youtu.be/ij9EUs4QRzc?t=2198

• With the bottom of the footage hidden by livestream banners

The 4K Upscale & Widescreen (16:9) Version 35 Years of Star Tours:
Video Title: “STAR TOURS 1987 | 70mm Ride Film”
Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7zy82LtYU

• A cropped 16:9 version of the footage with the bottom hidden by livestream banners
• Also featuring inserts of droids, and x-wing pilots screens for a more immersive view

The 1080p CinemaScope Version of Star Tours:
Video Title: “Star Tours (1987) - Original Simulator Film”
Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meXu9mAaDBQ

• Livestream banners are hidden under the bottom of the screen
• A flickering effect can be noticed on the screen

As a final word about all of this, I still deeply hope we’ll be able to have a better footage without livestream banners, with the full visible image.
As I said it’s close to be perfect but it’s truely a major step in the preservation of the original ride film.

Tower Records Japan has officially announced the 4K Release of “KING KONG VS GODZILLA” on 4K UHD BLU-RAY from Toho: https://tower.jp/article/feature_item/2021/04/01/2501?fbclid=IwAR153nKZshYjSQP2incQ3owdG6USyFTl93HCj_sWhTsDBVcm2WIj-G5YTho

You’ll also find the article from Kaiju Production on facebook too:
https://www.facebook.com/KaijuProductions1974/posts/1727064204142800

A 4K restoration of MOTHRA (1961) was also announced by Toho and will reach some cinemas in japan too.
No blu-ray/4K disc announced for it (for now)

Notelu said:

Restoration now uploaded to Myspleen

I was finally able to see your restoration project (Star Tours V1.0) of the ride,
thanks to someone who spontaneously provided me a Mega link to download it!

I think it’s actually the best version we can have for now. Most of the video still bury because no good quality elements are available for now. However, it’s clearly visible that Notelu proceeded to a color correction and some sharpness improvement this way the picture stills less messy and less yellowish. And then, near the end, here comes the Death Star trench run which is obviously in a far better quality and far more enjoyable since Notelu is using the HD video (sadly cropped but still HD) which was made available on YouTube by Kris Van de Sande:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEel2_TO7OU

Color correction was made here which altered some effects: yellowish colors of some explosions and lasers are missing, it’s probably to make the HD footage matching perfectly with the low definition one which is used to extend the cropped image to provide a constant screen ratio (2.40:1)
Notelu’s work is definitely brillant! And it’s even more impressive with the 60fps version that he also provided.
Footage is really fluid and is really impressive when the picture comes in HD for the Death Star trench run!
Thank you so much Notelu! 😃

Space Hunter M said:

With a glorious thanks to Akaiii, I have made a decent x264 encode of this and distributed it to MySpleen and Cinemageddon. I have synced all available audio mixes (plus isolated score) and a legitimate subtitle translation to create the definitive version of this marvelous film in the English-speaking world. I hope that this attempt is proliferated for years to come until the film is given a proper release in the aforementioned English-speaking world.

And for people who doesn’t have both MySpleen and Cinemageddon accounts (since Signups are closed since a long time for both of them) is there another way to see it?

Notelu said:

Restoration now uploaded to Myspleen

I sadly don’t have a Myspleen account, so I’ll not be able to check it

Akaiii said:

I have a .ts of this. If anyone wants a copy, throw me a PM.

Hello, I sent you a PM about this copy that you have ^^
I’m really curious to see it!

Notelu said:

Forgot about this lol, I pretty much finished it but never uploaded it. Will upload shortly

Ahah it’s okay! It happens sometimes! When you’ll upload it, you can put a little message here,
this way, other people who’re interested to see this project will be informed! 😃
Thankies!

Notelu said:

I’m working on a restoration now similar to the fan restoration to the BTTF ride, I’ll post updates shortly.

Wow! Really? That’s pretty amazing news to hear!
I personally saw your beautiful work on “Song Of The South” and the result was pretty incredible!
Now, I’m really curious how you’ll handle such a restoration for Star Tours ride in the same way than Themaxleydog’s BTTF ride!
Anyway, I definitely wish you the best for it and for sure, now, I’m really excited!

😃

Heya people! I hope you’re well 😃
As I previously said months ago, I was waiting some new from Mr Kris Van de Sande who finally uploaded on his YouTube page a great part of the original STAR TOURS ride in HD (the last french version from DisneyLand Paris)! I spotted that I completely forgot to share the video here for people who maybe missed it.
Sadly, it’s not the full ride it’s only the “trench run part + the end” but it’s already a big step forward to bring back the full film.
It’s actually more or less close of what Disney is showing on their own Cruise Line as @Jsmovieguy13 showed us in his previous post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEel2_TO7OU

Enjoy! 😃
It truly gives goosebumps!

LexX said:

Nice! Do you know where he got it/why it was cropped? Does he have the film or know someone who has it?

As I said I really don’t know ^^", I simply asked gently to him all the footage he has, if I have this material I’ll be maybe able to start a good restoration. I’ll ask him more details about where he found the video after he replied to me.
For now, you can see the amazing footage he uploaded on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IMebc9F8Odo?t=4m20s

When I saw it for the first time in a such glorious quality I had goosebumps ^^

alextheburger said:

I have been restoring the WIP ride video as well for a while (on and off), I just found this forum and I am new
sorry about having the video bars at the bottom but it is a good compare contrast
(i know that poita made one but im not on the myspleen so idk)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6rwK_e8I4rLeWdsaFh4cG5CLWM/view?usp=sharing

Hello again, after some months/a year and searching again and again any kind of new materials…I contacted someone named Kris Van de Sande who has some good quality footage of the 1987 film. Sadly, as he told me he doesn’t have the entire ride. However he has the complete footage of the attack on Death Star including the Trench Run, the light-speed exit and the arrival at the astroport (the end of the ride). The footage is actually in a very very good quality however it’s sadly cropped to 16/9 and there is lot of the picture missing. It’s actually the most preserved footage I saw of the ride. I’m desperately searching missing video parts to complete the film and maybe find the complete video in his original format (not cropped to 16/9)

Here are some screenshots I did to show you a comparison of this amazing great quality version with the common “terrible low quality yellow” WIP ride video. I hope you’ll enjoy. I asked gently to Kris Van de Sande to share me all the videos he has about the ride. I’m actually waiting his answer.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9s6iwfs4a6pb72a/Ride V1.png?dl=0

If you have some news about the STAR TOURS Original film…feel free to reply! =)

That’s sounds very great, Thanks! =)
The other question I’m thinking about is if they substituted all the old rides by the CGI films…
(…soon the last in DisneyLand Paris, I don’t know if the ride is already close
http://www.disneylandparis.fr/attractions/parc-disneyland/star-tours/ but it seems always open…)
I don’t know what will happen to the original 1987 footage. Just hope they will not destroy it!

This very short movie has the magic of the Orignal Trilogy’s Soul. That’s why I created this topic…
I just don’t want that the only available copies will be simple “on ride” or terrible quality videos on YouTube =/

The story of this amazing ride footage remind me too much the story of the STAR WARS Original Trilogy replaced with CGI effects…even in this case ALL the 1987 STAR TOURS footages will disappear next year.

Sadly it’s the same “yellow” poor quality video… =/

ORIGINAL MESSAGE

Hello everybody !

I came here to ask you a little question. Did you know if someone at OrignalTrilogy planned to restore/preserve the Original 1987 STAR TOURS film attraction movie made for The Walt Disney Company
(At its debut at Disneyland in 1987, it was the first attraction based on a non-Disney produced film)

The film is front projected onto the screen from a 70mm film projector located beneath the cockpit barrier.
On the internet /YouTube/DailyMotion, there is always very poor copies of this incredible film.
The majority of theses videos are 'On Ride" films as this one (the most clear and detailed I found):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nED36n2lVO0

However there is a very interesting test footage searchable on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9CWq5JmGOs
This is a post production copy of the STAR TOURS ride film before it was sent to Disney for further visual and sound editing. Two of the most noticible things that confirm this is the bright tint and shade of yellow on the objects that show up on the screen as well as the dialouge in the video is different than what is played on the ride.

Since some years now, the original 1987 film attraction (with the “old vintage special effects”) is more and more replaced by a totally new uninspired Star Wars tour made with CGI.
(It does not remind you a famous original trilogy?) ^^
I wanted to know if someone at originaltrilogy planned to protect the original 1987 film in the same way as Harmy did for the three Star Wars movies (Preserve a scanned HD copy).

DisneyLand Paris in France is always the only one to have this 1987 movie in his STAR TOURS attraction…but it was announced that they will receive the updated ride and will open in 2017. The Ride will be closed during his update in 2016, which will mark the original ride’s final closure.
I think it could be an incredible project to restore and preserve this short incredible movie…
…if someone can find a copy of it

Many thanks again everybody for your incredible work at Original Trilogy.
I wish you a good luck on all of your projects ! You’re saving great pieces of Cinema History !

SEPTEMBER 2022 UPDATE

Beyond all expectations, the film made a surprising appearence during Star Wars Celebration, Anaheim (2022) with D23 a celebration of the 35 Years of Star Tours Adventures. This event was very well handled, full of interesting interviews, making of and behind the scenes of the the original (now lost) attraction.

If you’re curious to see more and want to learn about Star Tours creation, you’ll find a replay of the full event here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij9EUs4QRzc

Now regarding Star Tours original footage, the 70mm film was presented full length in a quality never seen before in its original screen format. However, even if the footage was sharp quality, this was not a new restoration. This is literally the original film as it was playing during the attraction which explains some dust and film artefacts can be spotted from time to time on the screen and these elements were already visible during the ride. Also, the main issue I have with the presentation is the livestream banners remained present throughout the duration of the sequence. It breaks quite a lot the immersion. It blocks the view of a lower part of the footage, which is quite unfortunate as it’s the first time that we have complete information on each side of the screen in such quality. In simple words, it is not a simple 16:9 zoom like the Trench Run clip that surfaced on YouTube a few years ago for the closing on the DisneyLand Paris Star Tours Ride.

The “Star Wars Celebration with D23” Star Tours footage is now the best visual element that we have from the original 1987 film to this date. It is not perfect but it’s quite close to be perfect and was quite unexpected to see the film projected during a Star Wars event… after all these years, and the audience and fans like all of us were so excited to see that piece of Star Wars history again.

Three versions are now available online since few months:

The 1080p Version presented during the 35 Years event:
Video Title: “35 Years of Star Tours Adventures With D23 - Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022”
Video Link : https://youtu.be/ij9EUs4QRzc?t=2198

• With the bottom of the footage hidden by livestream banners

The 4K Upscale & Widescreen (16:9) Version 35 Years of Star Tours:
Video Title: “STAR TOURS 1987 | 70mm Ride Film”
Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7zy82LtYU

• A cropped 16:9 version of the footage with the bottom hidden by livestream banners
• Also featuring inserts of droids, and x-wing pilots screens for a more immersive view

The 1080p CinemaScope Version of Star Tours:
Video Title: “Star Tours (1987) - Original Simulator Film”
Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meXu9mAaDBQ

• Livestream banners are hidden under the bottom of the screen
• A flickering effect can be noticed on the screen

As a final word about all of this, I still deeply hope we’ll be able to have a better footage without livestream banners, with the full visible image.
As I said it’s close to be perfect but it’s truely a major step in the preservation of the original ride film.