The Aluminum Falcon

Jaitea said:

Nothing much, mainly fixing what doesn't appeal to me....CG Dewbacks, hangers full of Troopers etc

J

 I know I'm a bit late but it sounds like a fantastic plan! In fact, it seems somewhat reminiscent of this thing. However, the more edits of ANH the merrier. It's a film that, to me, is so memorable that it's always great to see it have a new look, even with the most minor adjustments...

Good job, Dark Jedi! I can't wait to test these. It was nice seeing the progression of your releases in your opening post... I'm happy that you've chosen to include all the various audio tracks in Dolby and LPCM, that should be fun audio wise. That high bitrate must look wonderful in action.

However, I do have one question though and forgive me since this was probably said long ago; is the 1993 Home Video audio mix taken from the superior PCM on the laserdiscs or the GOUT DVD?

Doctor M said:

The Aluminum Falcon: The method I was talking about there was described in detail on VideoHelp.com.

Thanks for the advice, Doctor M. I got all the info I needed over there, which actually turned out not to be much.

Supposedly it works great for some people, but after trying it on 3 stand alone plays, I had 3 failures.

I really don't recommend that method unless you know your play can do it and you don't intend to play the final DVD on anything else.

Luckily, my friends and I own PS3s. Since this method works well on those, it's my preferred due to it's extreme speed. Also, it seems to work on all my standalones, which is surprising considering the "Patch Method" didn't on any of them.

D_J is right about the better way to do it and how to handle the delay.

 Thanks for the additional info on audio delay, Dark Jedi. I'll keep your method in mind in case I ever decide to convert that way; though, it seems quite a bit longer than DGPulldown...

Hello I couldn't think exactly which thread to put this in; however since this question relates to PAL to NTSC conversion albeit a different kind than described here, I thought this might be the best place.
Anyway, I was just making a quick PAL to NTSC conversion for some friends, using the DGPulldown method Doctor M described here in his Reinventing the Wheel thread:

Doctor M said:

Now if you augment this by demuxing the audio and video then using DGPulldown from 25 fps to 29.97 fps and remuxing/authoring you have a different beast altogether.
I saw this for the first time today and thought it was genius, what they are doing is using IFO edit to fool the DVD player into resizing the video to NTSC for you. The DGPulldown keeps the video at 25 fps on the disc but the DVD player performs telecining on the fly up to 29.97 fps for you (no I didn't think that was possible either). The huge benefit is the audio does NOT have to be re-encoded. In fact nothing does. You're just tweaking a bunch of flags and let the hardware do the rest for you.

L8wrtr said:

Would you mind if I copied your review over to the page at .info?

L8wrtr, this certainly was an astounding fan edit! It's amazing that Anakin and Obi-Wan finally seem completely sympathetic, unlike in the theatrical cut.

This edit is wonderful in its handling of most aspects. The romance is also much more believable and distinctly less cheesy. While watching your edit, I was truly stunned that you were able to cull footage from romance scenes previously thought too cheesy to include in an edit. In stark contrast to "Attack of the Phantom," you decided to keep in a tad bit unwillingness on both Anakin's and Padme's parts, which was really surprising. Unlike other reviewers on fanedit.org, I saw no issue in having that brief fireside scene.

Furthermore, since I did watch the original a lot when younger, I noticed that you've trimmed dialogue in various places, most notably Corde's "I've failed you, Senator." Not only have you cut some of Lucas's most cringe-worthy dialogue but you've heavily tightened up the pacing of the film, taking out the filler. I always did find a sense of irony in the fact that though Lucas's main directing advice seems to be "faster and more intense," he always kept some extraneous dialogue within scenes.

This is now my definitive AOTC cut that I can place between your Shadow of the Sith and Kerr's Dark Force Rising. You've turned his movie from an FX showcase to Star Wars. Fantastic work! :-)

Ripplin said:

The Aluminum Falcon said:

Zion and Adywan's ROTS Theatrical Reconstructions

Whoa, what? Never heard of that. Where is that?

I'm talking about these ones shown here. That thread is the only place I see them mentioned. I've never actually seen them but, if I recall correctly, the thread hints that they're from the telecine with personally made end credits and opening crawls.

EDIT: Darth Mallwalker describes the DVDs more in depth in this post. I was right; both of these are mostly using the aAF telecine. More info would be handy. I believe these were made before the official DVD since they had to recreate the end credits rather than just splice it from the DVD.

Hey, sorry if it's been mentioned before, but will Zion and Adywan's ROTS Theatrical Reconstructions (sourced from the ROTS telecine circulating at the time ROTS was in theaters) be included in the opening post? I'm not sure exactly when these where made but they do use a theatrical telecine...

Since there's been quite more releases since my initial post, here's my new favorite versions.

1. Star Wars- Dark Jedi's Project Blu SW;

This one's my favorite since it's the original, grand Star Wars in stunning HD! Dark Jedi really did an amazing job on this one. The opening crawl looks ridiculously sharp and good, reminiscent of that jaw-dropping 4K screen capt from the Legacy Project. Sure, it's got some DVNR smearing but the colors are utterly fantastic. Because none of it is '04 sourced, it maintains a nice filmic and vibrant quality, which the '04 releases somehow removed. If you really want to be dazzled, simply watch the lightsaber battle. You'll never see a redder, more warmly hand-animated lightsaber anywhere. Of course, the LPCM audio is the absolute best that Star Wars has ever sounded. The menu is also a great touch and has a nice official feel. The 2011 Blu-Ray no longer serves any purpose.

2. Empire Strikes Back- Tie Between Adywan's '97 AVCHD and theatrical reconstruction;

To start, the '97 ESB didn't bother me that much as it wasn't as bad as the 2004 changes of ANH and ESB. In fact, because I grew up with it, I can now chuckle at Luke's scream. :) As for the 1980 reconstruction, it's great and, like Harmy's despecialized editions, I can't see any SE changes. However, the main draw of these for me is the color timing. Though the 1980 bootleg and Puggo's 16mm show a distinct blue cast in the film, I find a white Hoth and grey Cloud City (during the Luie/Vader battle) more pleasing to my eyes. Perhaps this is because I grew up watching VHSes with a white Hoth, using the same master as the JSC. I daresay that these will be my definitive editions until a release with similar color-timing is done.

3. Return of the Jedi- Dark Jedi's Project Blu ROTJ;

For some reason, this is the best of the Project Blu releases. I could notice no DVNR-smearing. It surpasses Lowry's sterile restoration in every way imaginable, complete with far more vibrant colors and no crushed blacks... Scenes are made more majestic with spot on lightsabers and no sickly blue tint. In this way, I could finally get wrapped up in the story of ROTJ and enjoy it for the simply fun sci-fi movie it is. The audio is also amazing, no doubt the best. I always thought ROTJ lacked grandeur; somehow this release bestows it upon it.

4. The Phantom Menace- L8wtr's Shadow of the Sith fan edit;

I admit that I did grow up during the era when TPM merchandise was abound, so I do have some fascination with it in general. However, L8wtr turns a slow and boring movie into a much faster and stream-lined movie. Clocking in at about 90 minutes, the movie is quite a ride with characters you seem to care about.

5. Attack of the Clones- L8wtr's The Republic Divided Fan Edit;

By no means does this make AOTC enjoyable but the fan edit does make it decidedly watchable. It, of course, surpasses the Attack of the Phantom in leaps and bounds in terms of video quality. The editing is flawless technically and narratively. We've now got a faster love story that seems to work out more. Anakin no longer seems stalker-ish.Lots of little changes sell this edit too; Anakin is now the hero in the Droid Factory rather than R2D2. We find the protagonists more believable in a still-ridiculous world.

6. Revenge of the Sith- Kerr's Dark Force Rising fan edit;

Somehow Kerr has crafted a majestic fall from grace and I LOVE it. His version seems so much OT/ESB-esque and we end up with sympathetic characters. Can't believe there was actually a great story hidden in the Theatrical Cut!

Honorable Mentions: Harmy's Despecialized Editions, Star Wars Revisited, Puggo's Telecines, the 1997 Laserdiscs, and Spence's ROTJ Final Cut...

Mithrandir said:

Angel said:

A quick idea i did fast :)

They arriving at the planet at night(dramatic lights) they attack at night (one shot) and the ceremony are at dawn.

Besides the hangar is way to dark so it can sell the concept

( i think one of Mc's paintings had a shot at night)

 

 How long till this is done ??? :D

 I love it! It's very new and you're absolutely right: the hangar is really dark. Now the battle seems harder to win, as the light goes down literally and metaphorically.

That audience reaction is interesting. It sounds like they were REALLY excited for the third movie... I wonder how many of them were still that enthusiastic by the end ;)

Nice find, toho-scope!

Just saw this... WOW! Can't believe there's another pre-DVNR SW disc! It looks like a different transfer than the one used for early SW VHSes, laserdiscs, and betamaxes.

Since it is 2:20 and not 2:35 but has more vertical resolution, is it possible this was taken from a 70mm print?

Though your early samples looked quite desaturated, the newer capture looks spot on. Keep it up.

Dark Jedi, thanks so much for your work on this set. At last the GOUT can look its best....

A copy of the Z version sounds exciting! It's great that TPM boots are still in existence...

The Emperor's New Hood looks pretty good. If you can do that in motion and with a brighter background I say go for it!

TheoOdo, interesting idea for retro-fying posters! Yours look pretty good, personally the bottom one looks better to my eyes, but what do you think of a basic background? That could go over well.

I know I haven't commented on this thread before, but just watched this and loved it! I can't really imagine a reconstruction getting better than this. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring shot was the unaltered, non-DVNR'ed pass-through of Mos Eisley. It looked slightly more contrasted to me than I was used to but it was nice seeing no smearing, no heavy dupe grain, and no CGI additions. To me, all the footage blended rather seamlessly. To be honest, the only thing I actually noticed was your re-comp of the Millenium Falcon from the Technicolor Screening Picture, but it didn't bother me so much. If there were any alterations from the 1977 Cut, I didn't notice them.

The 720p video was great, with true colors and good contrast. As for the audio, all of them sound fantastic for what it's worth.

In any case, Harmy, thank you so much for putting all your work into this one! For the moment, this is definitely my"go-to" version for Star Wars!

With the relatively recent release of X-Men: First Class, my inner X-Men: The Animated Series fan has been renewed. 😃

I was wondering if anyone had the “Sneak Peak” version of the animated series of the X-Men Animated Series Two-Part Pilot: Night of the Sentinels. It had a bunch of animation errors, such as Gambit having white eyes, Beast not having clearly defined fur, Sentinels looking too small, Cyclops having gray glasses, and Rogue having gloves at the wrong time. It also featured extended dialogue. You can see some of the differences in the recap of “Enter Magneto.” This website lists most differences here.

Also, a second X-Men item I’m looking for is the alternative/original version of “No Mutant Is An Island.” This episode couldn’t air in it’s proper place after the Phoenix Saga due to animation difficulties. However, they inexplicably decided to finish it for Season 5 even though it now made little sense chronologically. You can see the differences in the same website here.

Since the official DVDs don’t contain these, I’d be curious to see both of these episodes. If anyone can upload these to some file-sharing website, it would be much appreciated…

<span style=“text-decoration: line-through;”>If anyone wants the original version of the episode “The Final Decision” (with the original Mr. Sinister voice), I have that, so PM me if interested.</span>

EDIT: As it turns out, the version of “The Final Decision” on the X-Men Vol. 1 DVD has the original Mr. Sinister voice. However, the Legend of Wolverine DVD contains the deeper, modified, and less comical voice which was on the VHS releases and re-airings. As this was released previously, I can’t share this. Apologies…

Oldfan said:

I'm not sure if the clip is in HD or not though on the blu-ray so that might affect your decision to include it. When you get the blu-ray, check it out and see if it was remastered in HD.

Unfortunately, the deleted scene is still in SD and in the exact same quality as in the 2-Disc Set. However, it would still be good to include in this edit.. definitely gives depth to Tron and Yori.

TheThirdGathers said:

You're talking about the yellow words that go into space, right?

Then, "The war came! The republic encountered" etc.

If you play around with Google Translate, you can get a pretty weird translation of the ROTS crawl:

War! Violation of the Republic
   Falls under the attack of the Sith
   Excellence is out of date Dooku.
Is both the hero.
Small everywhere.

In the amazing migration
  As the address of the robot, sad devil,
   Under normal circumstances, a clear sweep
   Minister of capital and Palpatine
   Was abducted from the outer space of the Republic of the direction of the star
   Senate heap.

When the separatist droid army
   Trying to flee the capital
   Web site with his hostage
   Value, resulting in one of the two Jedi
  A desperate rescue mission
   Capture Minister ....

resonator said:

The Evil Dead "1" Treasures aren't seeded anymore. There is an 841 day old version on Usenet, I suppose that's not the latest version?

If you're just looking for Evil Dead I Treasures, then all the files are still up on rapidshare. PM me if you want the links.

I don't play many, but I do enjoy Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles and the Battlefront games. I remember the countless late nights spent playing those...

Bingowings said:

For me the only mehish episode so far has been the pirate one

Agreed. I loved how disorienting the first two Series 6 episodes were and the great series arc they set up, though I could do without the annoying introductory voiceovers from Amy when shown in the US.

(SPOILERS): The Rory death card has been played WAY TOO MANY TIMES... I also thought it was very awkward about how they waited until the final few minutes to remind the audience about the Doctor's impending "death." (END SPOILER)

and that was nowhere near as bad as many of the RTD ones.

Found some of those bad as well... especially cheesy by Series 4...

Hey everyone, sorry for double-posting but just want to thank Moth3r and anyone else who seeded the Evil Dead II Treasures Disc 1... It all worked out and uTorrent successfully downloaded all of it without the fragmented files program. I'm now seeding it.

Mithrandir said:

There was also another idea hanged here in OT.com, it was actually gonna be in some ANH edit, of Artoo intentionally attacking the cubic headed astrodroid in the sandcrawler (the one that explodes when Luke and Owen pick it)..

The Blu-Ray set also contains it on the Back to the Future III disc. However, I didn't know it was missing anything.