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.
The entire experience feels disconnected and it is very disheartening to see the park is all about the new materials with their signature blandness running rampant. Of course the parks have opened with limited attractions and the like but the whole thing just looks so…Empty!
I have a relative who works at WDW but the GE wasn’t opened fully yet when I went to visit. They had an opportunity to try and get me in the employee preview but despite it being very difficult to get in-I didn’t even feel like trying to get in as the other sections that deal with SW in the park besides Star Tours have the same feeling of emptiness. There’s some props scattered around one section where they do meet and greets with characters and then one room off of there that has a Cantina bar prop wall for photos. Most of it is also all about the new films so the occasional OT or PT prop/mention feels really weird.
But the prices attached to everything-especially the breakdowns for families to go is just insanely high.
I thought the Crispin book trilogy did a good job at not shoehorning in absolutely every characteristic and also spreading the origin over three novels was a good touch.
A pure Daley adaptation would be a dream come true and would most certainly make me cry with joy. Nowadays it would likely be better if animated. It’s no secret I consider Daley’s writing the heart of the SW spirit and his Han books the best non-film SW stories ever and probably Star’s End most of all.
If I ever met Harrison in real life, I’ve always wanted to ask him one thing:
“If it’s no trouble would you mind saying a Han line for me?” “No, it’s not from the films but from Brian Daley’s Star’s End”
I’ve always imagined what it would be like to hear Harrison say the line “Ask Rekkon” when Han gets the drop on the baddie by using his wits before he blasts the traitorous villain out of the Falcon’s airlock into the cold depths of space. The venom in Han’s words in that moment go beyond the gunning of Greedo in that he has personal revenge on his mind and it beautifully ties into the human side of Han that he so carefully tries to hide.
What!! That’s awesome!
It’s a bit weird though since I played the series on PC always and I think of them as PC games. I never played the console GC version of Outcast so using a controller will feel weird.
As fans we have to each have our own individual sifting filter for virtually every story that is put out there with the brand name attached. As always I thank the maker for this hideaway in the middle of the Dune Sea where I can converse with others who understand the long history and the ins and outs.
The more digging you do: the more you scratch your head, tear your hair out and simply say: WHY?
Why the constant rewriting of history? Why the need to downplay other’s contributions? Why the shift in focus away from making films and telling stories?
The biggest eyeopener is reading Zombie’s Secret History book that agonizingly traces the route the telling and retelling and rewriting has taken over the years.
And to be honest I have no answer. I STILL can’t figure it out. Kubrick put it best in an old interview: “If I made as much money as George Lucas, I would not decide to become a studio mogul. I cannot understand why he doesn’t want to direct films anymore, because American Graffiti and even Star Wars were very good.”
As for the SEs originally being prep for the Prequels in terms of acting as a tech demo: Absolutely right. However Coppola got into the same scenario and that ended up as AN Redux-Yet he and everyone involved has NEVER removed the original superior version from circulation and in the newly completed restoration includes both versions along with a third newer cut.
Whereas it seems George was like: oh hey now I can finally fix this thing…and this…and this…and oh that’s nice…
Which is totally fine so long as you don’t try to actually hide away the original works and even perpetuate claims that they no longer exist. That’s the problem and has always been the issue. The exact same thing happened to THX-1138 and since it is a cult film practically no one speaks of it.
Tomorrow night: discussing the 40th Anniversary of APOCALYPSE NOW. Also the new Final Cut and 4K release will be dissected. https://youtu.be/Pn5RcjjqPdU
Tonight’s stream on the magic of Errol Flynn, 110 years young.
https://youtu.be/AHN1zs-KsqA
Tonight’s stream on the awe inspiring master, John Ford. https://youtu.be/qXK5SO6RQY0
This week’s stream tonight at 8:30 CST.
Discussing the Golden Year of 1939
https://youtu.be/WteXFkdtujo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2VKt8UactM
Tonight’s show at 8:30 central. If you want to see a diehard film scholar struggle through discussing Cannon films then here you go!
This weeks stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfNRk7F-jVQ
Thanks guys! The name is something I’ve wanted use for years.
The Scooby box is pretty cool. The first version was an actual plastic van but just had the discs shoved in foam in the top. This one is just a box but still cool.
The best news is that the series is coming to Blu-ray at the end of this year.
I finally started making videos of my Laserdisc collection because I got tired of the general lack of info on the format for most online videos and the fact that no one discusses transfers etc.
So if you’re interested or simply bored and have some spare time I’ve been doing uploads where I go through each title one at a time and discuss the transfer, sound, packaging and a little history. My channel has now expanded to simply be about all media formats.
Primarily I talk about transfers, but there is a bit of film history and theory.
https://www.youtube.com/user/duckyousuckr
Admittedly these videos are very low fi but I was tired of “LDs suck or were stupid” videos or mere pickup ones without detail.
I’ve been doing some livestreaming so stop by if you are interested.
This week’s livestream is at 8:30 tonight.
https://youtu.be/1dcospBFuWU
Like all the non-scope Bonds for the SE DVD, GF was cropped to 1.78:1. While this is still around the safe limits for framing flat matted widescreen the SE DVDs did crop a bit too much on all five done this way and the 1.66 is the best ratio for the initial three in terms of composition.
Thankfully the 1.66:1 OAR was restored for the GF UE.
Here’s a fun fact: 1.66:1 is not the original theatrical aspect ratio for the first three Bond films, the correct AR is 1.85:1. Since the mid-fifties, the most common AR in the UK was 1.75, but Kinematograph Weekly specifically lists 1.85 as the intended ratio for the first three Bond films. This documentation is from a British trade journal at the time of principal photography so it’s as good as gospel:
A big thank you to Bob Furmanek of the 3D film Archive (http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/) for pointing this out to me this weekend.
Now, like most of you, I like minimal cropping, so I’m glad there are 1.66:1 versions available, but it’s also nice to know how people saw it in theaters in 1962. Looking at an original IB Tech film frame from a 1962 print, we can see that there is slightly more picture information available, my math puts it at around 1.58:1 if you include all of it. I believe it was hard matted in camera to 1.66:1 so there is probably a little more picture information on the sides on the original negatives than made it onto this print.
That’s spot on. The initial MGM widescreen LDs for DN-FRWL-GF are indeed at about a 1.58 ratio and reveal more than any other matted widescreen release.
While these work fine in 1.78 and 1.85 it requires careful framing which is not often done. Criterion did a better job on LD at 1.75 than MGM did in 1.78 for the SE DVDs for example. I prefer having 1.66 as it gives them perfect breathing room and all compositions seem improved over the tighter framings.
Many films were actually released with tints originally but this didn’t always carry over to all prints, reissues and eventual video releases. Some early sound films supposedly had tints to them, and the sepia scenes in THE SEA HAWK were missing until the Laserdisc reissue finally put them back-same goes for the red tinted ending fire of MIGHTY JOE YOUNG.
The Criterion release is mastered from MGM’s Tech IB print, which then MGM did their own movie only version of twice over. Then for the Ultimate Oz set they remastered it in CAV and added their own extras. The initial DVD release is a port of this master and I believe it was the subsequent remastering for the DVD boxset reissue in 2005-2006 or so that introduced the error in the mono mix.
To be honest all of the versions look good for their respective times. I’m hoping the new 4K release will be as good as the supposedly better encoding of the new master locked onto the 3D disc.
Of course if the new disc even has the mono I’m sure it will be the defective track of the DVD mono that has been carried over already.
All Dolby 70mm shows were mono surround unless specifically mixed for split surrounds, which only became more and more common in the mid to late 80’s-and even then was rarely used. in70mm.com has an excellent list by year that indicates where it is known that titles came in split surround on 70mm prints.
So you either have 4.1 or 5.1 technically speaking in modern channel designations, and a second sub track would really only mirror the already existing sub track. ESB and ROTJ were Dolby 70mm with mono surround.
I too think the asking was more of a formality as I don’t see how there would be any legality binding it to George’s say so since he pretty much signed over everything.
Dolby 70mm incorporated the old Todd AO system for 70mm playback of Left, screen left, center, screen right, right, mono surround.
Instead of using the screen left and right channels as mixes were done from a LCRS four track master-Dolby took the low end and specifically mixed it to come out of the unused two screen channels and eventually some theaters moved placements to become in effect the first subwoofer in a modern theater context. It’s sort of confusing as to how these tracks should be presented in modern codec to be accurate: 4.0, 4.1 or 4.2.
This was done partially to compete against Sensurround which was attempting a comeback and other systems as mentioned above like Fox’s own Sound360 and Warner’s Megasound which was supposed to have some pretty impressive low end.
Apocalypse Now in 1979 was the first release to have split stereo surrounds but only in its 70mm version. This is why it is said to be the first 5.1 track in theory. Superman tested this a year prior but that mix was not released.
Mono was still dominant and it was not thought that Dolby would be widely accepted especially since there had been many format to come and go quickly. Stereo was still not very well utilized and most theaters would do it badly. That’s why Kubrick stuck with mono. On ESB Ben Burtt and others specifically mixed the Dolby stereo to have all the relevant information in the main two channels so that if anything went out you could still enjoy the film and not lose anything. Dolby Stereo was an unknown factor and not expected to take off like it did. Thus the mono mix was done last for the general main release and intended as the final definitive mix.
I would think that if there had been that clause there would have also have been the use his ideas for the sequel trilogy clause.
That’s kinda too bad. I always dug that dismemberment cheat code for Jedi Outcast. Once I found out about it I wouldn’t play the game without that turned on. It just felt so much more “right”. And it was always hilarious the random times you’d casually walk by a Stormtrooper without attacking and he’d literally fall to pieces at your feet.
I played with mods and cheats in Outcast on PC so much that I goofed around more than playing the game.
Dismemberment on, load pit stage, spawn 1000 stormtroopers and dark jedi, invincibility on, spawn a few Landos and hero characters…
LET THE GAME COMMENCE!
As always I hope we can have at least a good SW game but usually I get severely disappointed. If it controls well and isn’t full of micro transactions then I guess I’m okay with getting it on sale.
The entirety of Last Jedi for me. I have been no fan of Disney’s productions so far but that was just…not at all SW.
The only possibility I think would be to have found a film back up or transfer copy to perhaps 16mm or something. They may have made ones for smaller or foreign markets in the case of reruns.
But I severely doubt even that.
Interesting that they still felt the need to have George sign off on it. And even more interesting that he finally did as even major events and industry have been ordered to now show original prints or sent SE prints only or dcps of the Blu-ray masters.
Maybe we should all write in but instead of doing our usual release the OOT petition simply say thank you for finally letting it out there.
Thanks for the in-depth report. This explains quite a bit and why there would suddenly be a preserved 70mm blowup print available without fading. I do believe at least one 80’s reissue featured some 70 prints so that would likely be be last time any were shown to the public. If this has been indeed been properly vaulted since 1981 then I’ll bet immaculate doesn’t even begin to describe its quality.
Heck if it was WB then they would just roadshow that one print nationwide and make a fortune. That’s how they originally wanted to do Blade Runner and just make some prints off the 70mm workprint that showed at the Nuart in 1991.
Let me just say it here, if the OOT ever does happen we have got to finally have an OT con
But of course set up exactly like the Yavin throne room where we all then go nuts.
Just saying…a little wishful thinking goes as long way…
Holy bejeezus. I just stumbled across this news elsewhere and it’s very ironic since I was researching the academy museum opening anyways this very week.
There were a select few 70mm SE prints I thought with the standard dts discs. Pretty sure there were a few at least for Europe. 70mm prints ran right up to Titanic and one Tomorrow Never Dies blowup print with a handful of random ones done before the big IMAX revival and new 15 perf prints being made leading to down eventually making 70mm prints such as he aforementioned superhero titles and things like The Master etc
If I had known sooner I would have just driven to the airport and flown out. There’s no telling what the shape of the print is-or if the show will be very good as there are so few locations for 70mm now. The last time I even heard of a showing of 70mm SW was the collector who showed mastering engineer Steve Hoffman and some friends his own 77 print which had completely red shifted. So it would have to be a later print to be showable and even 80’s blowups can go pink so there’s no telling what they have.
The academy has an archive they loan from for arthouses and museums but it is very tight lipped and you rarely hear about it outside of promo brochures etc listing them. Since the LoC doesn’t even have an original print on file this is big news and to me the first and most hopeful sign that Disney will or can release the OOT.
It doesn’t get more official than this AND almost all announcements, restorations or reissues start with a few arthouse/festival/industry shows like this.
Showing a worn 70 print means:
They have a blowup of rogue one and wanted one to match that
It is the only version they have in their archive
the 4k is not done and thus there is no version they have to show otherwise of the original version other than the best print they could obtain
To clarify a bit on the above talk for GF and TB:
All pre 1995 releases had the original 1965 mono mix which had the manta ray line with the other differences and the ending cue was Thunderball. The 1995 remix somehow unearthed the alternative mix and stereoized it by simply laying in the score in stereo which can be overpowering. All later 5.1 releases use this 2.0 matrix mix from the LD boxset, and finally the UE and BD added the original mono back as a lossy alternative.
The 1989 LD has the mono and is a bit color boosted but is my favorite. The Connery Collection v2 is the same master. The CAV LD box is the same element used and is of course improved in PQ, and was recycled for the late release THx CLV movie only disc that adds an ac3 bump. This was ported for the SE DVD.
While I grew up with the remix differences and it took me a while to get used to the mono-I now only watch with the mono. It’s far more accurate and a better mix. I have no idea (and neither does anyone I know of-even in the Bond community) as to the origin of the alternate audio but my guess would be a test 70mm mix or perhaps differences between UK and US audio mixes on the original release.
GF has an interesting video history. The Criterion release is a different look and feel and seems like it was done right from an old Technicolor print. It has the snipped frames intact from Oddjob turning off the highway. It has the original mono. The first MGM widescreen attempt was more open than the Criterion and used a different source that was more stable so I’d assume it was some sort of interpositive. The MGM was 1.6 or so whereas the Criterions were all 1.75. However the first go round looks a bit contrasty and not vivid like the Criterion. This is found in the Connery box 1 and the standalone reissue with original art. Then for the CAV LD boxset they made a new master with much improved color grading and PQ-but it is the same source element. I think in many ways these were done like the 2001 boxset as a way to fix the flaws of the prior CLV movie only disc and make a nice big collectors CAV boxset. The CAV set is my personal favorite edition of the film even though I acknowledge the Criterion is likely closest to the original release look. The boxset is 1.66 and has mono but on the MGM discs the title song is replaced with the stereo version from the soundtrack master. Also on the MGM versions those few damaged frames are snipped out when Oddjob turns off the highway.
As evidenced by another OT thread the rumored 003 bomb countdown was actually in original December 1964 British release prints both 35mm and some 16mm prints. Apparently the 007 clock was spliced in to some prints and put in all remaining UK prints before being in all the Us prints for the film’s 1965 US premiere dates.
Like all the non-scope Bonds for the SE DVD, GF was cropped to 1.78:1. While this is still around the safe limits for framing flat matted widescreen the SE DVDs did crop a bit too much on all five done this way and the 1.66 is the best ratio for the initial three in terms of composition.
At this point I just want to be the EON archivist because apparently they have all kinds of stuff floating around like mag stereo for OHMSS, DAF, LALD, TMWTGG-the 70mm YOLT that only played in Japan along with the other 70mm blowups rumored to exist, the mono for TSWLM and the list goes on…
