captainsolo

True but that doesn’t stop them from doing lower res scans back to digital or not so good DIs with inherent limitations before making the final DCPs to be shown on screens where the digital playback system isn’t the greatest etc. Additionally most modern film stocks bend over backwards to mimic digital instead of playing to their strengths and even more heartbreaking is the very small amount of people who accurately know how to work in the analog domain.

It’s all down to the entire chain not being up to a good standard simply due to the industry wanting to keep costs down across the board. Ironic for a series that wound up spearheading the THX process which was supposed to combat this problem.

I need to find a good site to organize my DVD and Blu-ray collection.

But LD on the other hand…
I forgot to post a link in here so here goes:
http://www.lddb.com/collection.php?action=list&user=sdraper

I’ve documented my Laserdisc collection in video form on my regular channel…it’s really weird to think I’m now close to 1,000 titles! These are the additions for last month:
https://youtu.be/rruLkbbFHzk

Oh yes, George admired Disney for sure and was at Disneyland either on opening or close to opening as a kid as evidenced in the recent Jones bio.
The foundation was laid with Star Tours, Captain EO and the SW licencing at the parks. Everyone involved should have realized this was not the same kind of deal. It killed me enough that Disney sold SW like crazy in the parks back then but now its just soulless.

This all ties back into the notion of how George wanted to build up the ranch and company to be the ultimate anti-establishment filmmaking collective to do what Zoetrope couldn’t achieve and then got lost in the interim and forgot why he was making films in the first place. I think Zombie in SECRET HISTORY was the first to really delve into this wholeheartedly and show just how far back this problem ran. The recent GL: a Life biography by Brian Jay Jones does a great job at setting all of this stuff in a historical context in one place.

We all talk about the loss of guiding voices plus filters of dissenting opinions and this is absolutely true.
This is why projects never happened or eventually did and thus for example RADIOLAND MURDERS was finally done in the early 90’s over-managed by George and turned in to a partial tech showcase.

Eventually the paradigm switched from telling great stories and trying new things to simply building and always fortifying the company. Thus nothing happened post Indy outside of Willow. Every other thing was revisiting the past while playing with new tech toys and methodologies. Young Indy in many ways was the groundwork and dry run for the Prequels and has most of the same inherent issues.
Jympson was the original editor and the issue was that he cut everything in a traditional assembly manner which made everything run long and not work whatsoever.

To be honest I’ve never seen Willow in its entirety. The OOP status kept me from doing so for a while and I never watched the LD because its rot city. I need to finally sit down and watch it.

…(in best Han voice)…“oh, great”.

Indeed he should have stipulated in the deal. It seems to be a matter of wanting to keep a controlling hand while not having to do the work akin to not directing yet trying to influence ESB and ROTJ.
The best time this worked was the EU where George was consulted but as long as things were in parameters and had context most was fair game. Over time with the films the problem became that all of the filtering voices of dissent dropped off or were abandoned so that by the time of the prequels everyone had to work with what was given and there were no revisions done-largely AT ALL. That’s where the problem lies.

He should be saying Disney does nothing new story wise. The bigger problem is a complete lack of story context with anything SW related. The new films really have nothing to do with the original series as conceived outside of brand iconography. I don’t blame George for anything and never have. I think he got focused on building up the company instead of telling great stories and this is where everybody’s paths diverged.
The only thing I truly regret is him selling out to the very thing that represented what LFL was founded to rebel against.

And the whole going back to film is a misnomer generally used for marketing. Everything is done digitally in effects and post anyway outside of a few exceptions and the film shoots will do a immediate scan back to digital where everything is manipulated to within an inch of its life thus making the original capture methodology null and void.

Well when you hear Dr. Evzan’s amazing original voice it is understandable why they felt the need to re-dub certain performers…that said I adore the vocal performances of the entire original finished mix. The upper crust narcissistic self absorbed tonalities of Motti against the slightly raspy and justifiably concerned Tagge etc…maybe I just think about this too much. 😉

I was revisiting MONA LISA recently and in the emotional climactic ending suddenly notice the street performers on the pier and loudly shout “OMG IS THAT KENNY-THAT’S TOTALLY KENNY BAKER AND JACK PURVIS!”

Start with Star Wars in whichever closer to original video version or one of the projects you desire. Then let them discover the stories for themselves.
I think it works best this way and thus they see the OT in order and then go further with the prequels and then if necessary can delve into the Disney stuff if curious.
And yes I think all kids naturally gravitate towards ROTJ and then over time becomes less attached to it. I did, and we all seem to have!

Ultimately try and make it something fun and enjoyable that can be a fond shared experience. For me Star Wars was a solitary engagement as a kid because no one in my family liked sci-fi or adventure whatsoever but I can imagine it being a real keepsake memory for kids these days just getting started.

And if they get really, REALLY hooked perhaps dabble in the good ol’ EU. And especially the radio drama!!!

I can’t remember specifics off the top of my head that aren’t already covered here but the Jones bio is great for getting everything laid out in a historical context. The biggest draw I’d say is probably detailing the notion of giving up control is perhaps something hard for George to do and this caused issues in the sequels while he tried to distance himself from stress. I think it’s a great book and something everyone on here should read at least for better understanding because it isn’t afraid to address the negatives.

Now with the chapter in Bob Iger’s new book detailing how George felt betrayed on Disney not using his treatments it doesn’t surprise me a bit that he felt left out.

No.

The ESB changes are detractive but in more subtle ways than the other two films. The worst is the change in Vader’s line reading but worst of all is the wrecking of the climax’s pacing in order to shove in the new shots of Vader’s shuttle and then a shameless recycle of a ROTJ shuttle shot.

The Wampa addition is fine but the limitation of the original has more suspense and plays better.

The effect cleanups were one thing but many were recomposites if you check 005’s exhaustive thread. I really wish they would have left it alone despite fixing inherent issues like the see through snowspeeder cockpits. It should be as it was just like the rods/armatures left in King Kong. And NONE of us noticed the Wampa arm rod until a couple of years ago.

The 2004 DVD Emperor scene and Jango redubs were yet another twist of the knife and wholly unnecessary. I could understand the logic in each but neither is effective at anything other than taking you out of the film.

The Bespin flythrough is needed but doesn’t do all that much. It also sticks out as a new shot and in comparison the simplistic landing of the original is a better choice in terms of direct pacing.
The interior and Leia viewport shot are better in the original because they are intrinsic to the original composition whereas the new additions do not always mesh perfectly with the original photography.

I grew up in the years of renting various tapes so at times it was SE and not SE. The scream is fine until you realize it’s Palpy’s scream and that the fall does work better in silence.

Mostly the SE 1997 mix actually adds some things from the mono mix and is both bombastic and respectful to the original 1980 mix intentions. It does revert back to the scripted “lucky to get out of there” but that’s fine. In the SE track there are some nice alternate effects in the Bespin duel from the mono I prefer and still think of: chiefly Vader’s exclamation when knocked off the platform by Luke. In the 1980 mix it’s a simple :“Aarh!”. whereas the SE mix had a much more impressive: “Oooohhhhhh!”-this came from the mono and is one of the things the SE pulled in.
The stupid choice was the “alert my Star Destroyer” line from an ANH outtake that is emotionally out of place in that scene.

In ESB it shows yet again unimportant and incessant tweaking for tweakings sake. Each of the ESB changes are undoing pieces of the original film and it really should have been left alone.

It is this thread and that wonderful twitter account that help us keep our sanity afloat.

Thanks again as always.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me who missed him at first. Now every time I start doing the YOLT radar tech, the beleaguered underling of Willard Whyte or TSWLM’s sub captain.

Yes indeed the Jones book. I’ve gotten to the post Prequels section and it’s the most balanced book on George I’ve read.

He did call Steve up and had him over to play chess as well.

I’m currently reading the newish George (the title is Lucas: A Life) biography and it’s nice to have everything lined up in one place chronologically. So far I’ve only gotten to the ROTJ period but it doesn’t sugarcoat stuff and the SW section does cover some similar ground to Zombie but of course in far less detail.
I’ll be interested to see how the rest goes. Again it does refute the on and off revisionism in a lot of places and for once its a book that describes how all of the film school buddies were on and off again-especially detailing the George/Francis relationship which no one ever seems to go into all that much.
Admittedly It is SO much better than the older “everything was great” style bios.

Has anyone else here read it?

The gaffes, errors, problems and shortcuts in SW are all due to Fox nickel and diming everyone the whole time and then the final rush to get shooting finished with everyone bicycling between stages and multiple units going at once.
And that’s a big part of why it is great. And a big chunk of what the SEs remove.

Here’s one of my favorite “how did I not notice before!!”
I never realized it was Shane Rimmer who asked about Artoo in the Yavin hangar for the longest time-then suddenly my Bond fan radar went off into overdrive and I shouted HOW DID I NOT SEE HIM?

Also it took me forever to notice Vader’s helmet hood actually moving during the wind tunnel and climax of the Bespin duel.

DavidMDaut said:

captainsolo said:

I think that as said above the distinct lack of energy and vibrancy is a major problem. The thought of going to a park which is teeming with life/activity/droids/scum and villainy like a real spaceport is MUCH more like it.

While I fundamentally disagree on the issue of content as it relates to the sequel trilogy, the lack of energy is a fair criticism, and unfortunately comes down to a lot of eleventh hour budget cuts imposed by the current president of Disney Parks. There were plans for autonomous roaming droids, stunt shows, and more characters and creatures populating the land, but Bob Chapek – who has quickly gained a reputation as something of a miser – pulled the ripcord and refused to hire the performers necessary to fill these roles.

The most frustrating thing is that the infrastructure is all there in plain sight in the land, it’s just not being used. There are stages and performance spaces around just about every corner of the outpost, there are props and set pieces placed conspicuously close to doorways that hide the beacons that would have told the droids areas to avoid. The grand opening press event in California featured one of the stunt shows that has yet to materialize for the general public, and similarly the opening in Florida featured a full Hondo Ohnaka walk-around character costume that – again – has not shown up since then. There’s all of this stuff that they spent the time and money to develop and have basically ready to go, but none of it’s online because the guy holding the purse strings is too cheap to hire performers.

I had no idea of this. That makes absolute sense as to what the park has turned out like so far and why someone would think it’s a good idea to open a seemingly empty park is beyond me.

I know I’m in the minority but to me it has all been downhill since the abomination appeared in 2006. And it only looks to get worse the more we see about NTTD.
I’m even able to find people wondering what’s going on in Bond forums now and some actually listen to all of my gripes with the modern films where they seem to have discarded the character entirely.

But it does seem like the 4K remasters of the original series will finally see the light of day probably for 25’s release and after seeing some screencaps of the new versions some wrongs may finally have been righted.

There’s room for all sorts of adventures even off planet and all the while under the risk of blowing his cover and attracting the unwanted attention of the Empire.

Stream tonight at 8PM CST. We shall discuss the Master.
https://youtu.be/MA3ebY2ucw8

Most people don’t realize that TCM was based on the MGMUA and then WB video libraries and still shows LD era masters for titles without anything else available. In fact they still run DVD masters when there are BDs available-but sometimes things just don’t get updated and they have great upscaling algorithms. I will agree their SD broadcasts have gone downhill but there are many times that the HD version is still uprezzed SD.

Rare no-DVD titles like Raintree County, The Crowd-LD masters. Titles on BD from WB or Warner Archive: usually still the DVD master.
But BUY OUR TCM WINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Subscribe to backlot for $99999999999!

I love them. I grew up on them. But they never upgrade properly which kills me. However I like seeing the really, really old masters so I’m weird.

Also, I love Joe Dante to death. I love him far more than his pictures which I merely enjoy and find decent. Trailers From Hell is like a desert oasis especially now that DVD Savant is there.

It makes me sad because this could have been a great feature film on its own and finally been the “space western” George talked about-because it fits right into the great tradition of dark classical Westerns with a post-war tarnished former soldier figure at the center of it whether in a tale of redemption or a quest of sorts. Or at least that’s how I would have done it!

I presume the series will be Kenobi centric but there could be episodes that focus on others. Best case scenario we get something as good as the LAST OF THE JEDI book series but I doubt it. (Even there Obi-Wan disappears after the first two books) It seems the KENOBI novel (which is excellent!) is pretty much very similar to the movie we would have gotten anyway.

Season 1 of OL’ BEN: CRAZY OLD MAN IS SO WIZARD

I think the move to TV shows in the announced new slate is proof Disney is hedging its bets on the new film not doing as well. I’ve even met others who are not major fans in day to day regular life who have expressed my sentiment of never again being taken in after TLJ and sitting this one out completely. And it’s not an isolated incident but something that’s happened several times without my bringing it up.
Ultimately I think there will be some kind of box office fall off even if it isn’t form that as their handling of the franchise has not gotten to the Marvel levels they wished.

For me there’s Mara and Leia and everyone else. There’s a lot of really nice strong characters scattered throughout the EU come to think of it, even in some of the short stories but Mara is just the badass of the galaxy. I’m still peeved over what happened to her in the Legacy series which to be honest I stopped after that.

Interesting. I never knew how they got it down to one Gamecube disc so that’s how I suppose.

Even now I have the reflex of right button mouse for saber throw
g_saberdismemberment cheat activate, fun begins!

For me to hear that Sk actually at least liked Star Wars was enough as a kid to make me ecstatic. It’s nice to remember he was a normal guy like us too. He even liked The Jerk!

I honestly don’t know for sure. It doesn’t seem like it-merely that they made the new cleaned up version for Redux and then used it on all subsequent masters. The new 4K Final Cut is from a complete restoration and all materials were scanned from negatives so it’s completely from scratch-then all three versions were done from there.