I remember sitting in the theater in 1983 watching Return of the Jedi and specifically noticing that Darth Vader’s voice sounded different than before. It sounded deeper, a little synthesized. I even wondered if maybe they had changed voice actors.
Sorry if this has already been addressed.
Now with UHD (4K) TVs becoming the standard, why would Adywan be stubbornly determined that 720p is “good enough”?
I like the work being done, mostly, but have to wonder if any of us will live long enough to see it finished. (I say this with a wink and a smile, no offense intended.)
I wonder if now that Rogue One put to bed any debate about the color of X-Wing exhaust (definitely pink), if you will have your edit stay consistent with what is obviously a conscious choice of the franchise. X-Wing exhaust is pink.
Someone expressed their opinion and you seem to feel the need to prove them wrong. Why?
Cartoony humor is different from subtle, smart humor. Star Wars had subtle humor, not in-your-face slapstick.
You certainly may disagree, but that doesn’t undermine or lessen those of us who share this opinion.
I’m simply reminding that certain things TLJ is being pilloried for are not new in Star Wars.
And there was plenty of unsubtle humor in ROTJ. Nothing in TLJ rises to the level of Chewbacca swinging from a vine yelling like Tarzan. A joke Lucas even repeated in Revenge Of The Sith.
I was personally only referring to the humor in A New Hope, which was subtle and done sparingly. ROTJ was corny and marked “the beginning of the end” for Star Wars being taken seriously.
The Tarzan yells fall under the category I described in my larger post about my disappointment with The Last Jedi. Because it references something from planet earth, which they couldn’t possibly know anything about since all of this takes place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”.
This reminds me of a time in the late 80s or early 90s that I decided to try reading a Star Wars spin-off novel. I think it was a Timothy Zahn, but not sure. It said that Luke was drinking “hot chocolate”. I put the book down and never picked it up again. No. This is a different universe. They don’t have chocolate. Even if they had something that was exactly like chocolate, they wouldn’t call it chocolate. Any earth references completely ruin the story.
Someone expressed their opinion and you seem to feel the need to prove them wrong. Why?
Cartoony humor is different from subtle, smart humor. Star Wars had subtle humor, not in-your-face slapstick.
You certainly may disagree, but that doesn’t undermine or lessen those of us who share this opinion.
I found the film to be very disappointing. This was made all the worse because I had heard of some early reviews being super-positive. It was a big letdown. Here are my disappointments (NOT in chronological order):
Luke throwing away his lightsaber… I’m sure whoever wrote this scene thought they were being SUPER clever. It was reminiscent of Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale when asked, “Shaken or stirred” and he replied, “Do I look like I give a damn?” This was a clever twist on a well-known character. Luke being handed his lost lightsaber and tossing it away…bad. Just bad.
The over the top Huck. Too cheesy and over-acted. Just dumb.
They had a great opportunity when Leia was blasted out of the ship into space. Carrie Fisher died. They had Leia blasted into space. Why not just do a re-write and leave her there. Then they wouldn’t have to explain her death later. And her flying back to the ship was SO lame I had my hand over my eyes because it was so bad I couldn’t watch.
Dameron’s over-the-top, “I demand an explanation”. I know they want to portray him as a rogue and a scoundrel, but he was just acting like an ass.
The weird aliens on Luke’s island that were dressed like earth cleaning ladies from the 1900s. Anytime Star Wars has anything remotely earth-like, I am totally turned off. Which leads me to:
Holdo’s use of the term “Godspeed” for the reason mentioned above.
Holdo’s “I have a plan but I’m gonna act like I don’t have a plan” when Dameron asked what the plan was. Had she revealed the plan, there would have been no need for…
The long SLOW chase and subsequent sneaking off to find a code-breaker. This entire storyline was extremely lame. The idea that the New Order couldn’t close the gap. The idea that they were able to sneak away. The overly complex plan to sneak onto a Star Destroyer and hack into it.
The casino planet. Lame characters. Dumb action. Preachy message about kindness to animals.
Finn trying to run away. What? No.
Yoda being silly and slapstick. When he laid on his back and kicked his legs because he was laughing so hard…cringe!
Yoda being a really bad and obvious rubber puppet. We moved on to CGI. Stick with it.
The Jedi tree being treated the same way as Luke’s lightsaber. Not clever.
Rey’s parents turning out to be nobody important.
Finn being stopped from sacrificing himself.
The last bomber being allowed to go so long and then actually drop its bombs. No.
The woman on the bomber and Rosie…when she caressed the golden pin, I was like, “Well all right. Star Wars is hip. They were lovers” Nope. Sisters.
Snoke being so easily killed.
That Kylo and Rey didn’t kiss.
C3PO had his golden arm back?
Luke Milking an alien. So bad!!
I am so disappointed. “Rogue One” was SO good. I am hoping “Solo” will be as well. I hope there’s an Obi Wan movie and even a Boba Fett movie. I have no interest in seeing Episode IX. None.
I think that the movies are great in the order they came out. Star Wars (1977) is the best because it creates and maintains the universe that everything that follows resides in. The pacing is perfect, the characters are perfect. We are introduced to characters, creatures and vehicles that are now iconic. This is the grandaddy of them all.
The Empire Strikes Back is next, continuing the saga and not just rehashing the same story from the first film, as sequels often do. New vehicles (snow speeders, AT-ATs, Slave 1, etc) and new creatures (Taun-tauns, Yoda). And the dramatic reveal of Darth as father of Luke! So good that I would almost call it a tie between this and the original.
Return of the Jedi shows Lucas’ first step toward gearing the franchise toward children. The Ewoks were painful to watch, Han was snarky and mugged for the camera. Although great, ROTJ is the worst of the original trilogy.
Why do you think prints are rare? This was the biggest film of all time and showed in thousands of theaters around the world. There must have been 5,000 or more prints of this film struck. Is there a reason to believe that most of these prints were destroyed? (Maybe there is…I sincerely don’t know.)
I don’t think they are trying to save the tapes for posterity, but rather to get them to a state so that they can be played one more time and be digitized for posterity.
As much as I would love to see this happen, the prequels are canon. As long as George Lucas is alive, I don’t think it will happen. It would be a huge middle-finger to say to The Creator, “Your films are so bad that we are going to pretend they don’t exist,” no matter how true that is.
Also, consider that these films are part of what Disney paid billions of dollars to own. Children love them and I cannot see them trashing them.
But god-almighty, I wish they WOULD remake the prequels!
I may be on the proverbial wild-goose-chase. I am interested, as are many others, in hearing the original on-set audio of actress Sheilagh Fraser as Aunt Beru. Every version I have heard is dubbed.
The on-set audio was used for Luke and Uncle Owen, but Beru’s dialog is dubbed. I already know the reasons why (thick accent) and I also already know about her dubs being recorded in her home. I am only interested in hearing this original audio that was not used.
Again, I have already heard all of the different versions, including the mono mix. These are all dubs. I am seeking the elusive, original, on-set audio.
It may look that way in the small picture provided, but in the full-res image the vaporators are very visible above the skyline.
Thanks for your input.
I am starting a new project that I am tentatively calling, “Star Wars - The Workprint Version”, in 1080p. My apologies if someone already has a project by that name, and/or if someone is already doing a project with a similar intent.
The scope of the project is to incorporate all of the existing deleted scenes back into the movie. Therefore, the first step is to clean up these scenes. I have started with the Tosche Station scene.
I am not a purist. I will, when possible, recreate the scene, or replace elements of the scene, exact as possible, to make it look acceptable. Starting with the first scene, Luke out checking on the vaporators, I have replaced the sky with moving clouds and replaced the sand. The moving elements have been “cut out” to a separate layer.
Here is a low-res (720p) test shot to illustrate. Comments welcome. And as before, please let me know if someone is already doing this.
This has probably been debated here already. If so, sorry. I am new.
I have seen Adywan's Star Wars Revisited and have the sense that within the hardcore fan community it is believed that in the cantina scene, Obi Wan cuts off the Walrus Guy's arm. Adywan even shot new footage to show Walrus Guy's arm on the floor with a flipper instead of a hand.
I will say right now that I am a huge fan of Star Wars. When I was 11, I saw it at least 20 times in the theater. With that said, I am not one of those fans who can tell you the names of all of the aliens in the cantina. I'm not that hardcore. So for the purposes of this discussion I will refer to these two characters as Walrus Guy and Freaky Nose.
When the Bluray came out I was intrigued and my cynical side said, well now you will see all of the flaws that were blurred out in the old, low resolution version. I say that with humor, but it's really true. I will discuss (and have discussed) in other threads the flaws with matte paintings and other issues.
Okay. Watching this sceme in 1080p and having the ability to move frame by frame, it is clear now what has happened.
Here is the order of events, undeniable, backed up by screenshots:
- Walrus Guy has Flipper Hands
- Freaky Nose has normal human hands
- Walrus Guy is wearing and orange flight jacket
- Freaky Nose is wearing a long sleeve tan shirt and brown vest
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m521/dwsiddall/Cantina001.jpg
- Walrus Guy shoves Luke on the shoulder with his flipper hand and grunts at him
- Luke turns back around
- Freaky Nose taps Luke on the shoulder with his human hand and informs him that Walrus Guy doesn't like him and that he had better watch himself, blah blah, blah...
- Obi Wan intervenes and tells Freaky Nose that Luke isn't worth the trouble and offers to get him something from the bar
- Freaky Nose freaks out and shoves Luke sending him crashing into tables
- As Luke is crashing into a table, Freaky Nose starts to draw his blaster (easily seen when viewed frame by frame)
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m521/dwsiddall/Cantina002.jpg
- Obi Wan reaches for his lightsaber
- The bartender freaks and screams "no blasters...no blasters!!"
- Freaky Nose raises his blaster up to shoot (Walrus guy is behind and Freaky Nose is in front of him and the arm raising up is clearly human with a tan shirt and brown vest)
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m521/dwsiddall/Cantina003.jpg
- Obi Wan swings his lightsaber
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m521/dwsiddall/Cantina004.jpg
- Freaky Nose stumbles backward
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m521/dwsiddall/Cantina005.jpg
- There is blurry chaos of stumbling and falling
- A severed arm is shown on the floor, with a dropped blaster, in an orange flight jacket with a hairy, ape-like hand
First, it IS Freaky Nose that is raising up the blaster. Walrus guy is behind him and it may look like it is Walrus guy but in the Bluray it is very clear. There is also the evidence that the arm that is raising up has (1) a human hand and (2) a long sleeve tan shirt.
Second, even if you explained that Obi Wan "missed"and accidentally chopped off Walrus Guy's arm, there are a few problems. (1) Walrus Guy had flipper hands and the severed arm doesn't and (2) Walrus guy wasn't holding a blaster and the severed arm was.
Also, as Freaky nose is falling backward, it is clear he still has both arms.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m521/dwsiddall/Cantina005.jpg
The lightsaber is already swung, so Obi Wan could n't have cut off Walrus Guy's arm. This is simply a giant mistake. If there is to be a corrected version of this scene, it needs to show Freaky nose falling backward with a smoldering shoulder and show a severed humanoid arm and hand, in a tan shirt.
The revision to the Star Wars movies come in three categories.
First, and most acceptable, are corrections of special effects shots and other technical type corrections. These enhance the film and are welcome if done correctly and unobtrusively.
Second are additions that Mr. Lucas thought would enhance or re-invigorate interest in the movies. These are innocent, yet annoying additions, such as the establishing shot for the entrance to Mos Eisley with the bucking Ronto and the silly Pit Droids.
The third type of revision is totally unacceptable, and that is additions that actually change the story. The prime example is changing it so that Greedo shoots at Han and Han only shoots back in self defense. Dumb. Han is an outlaw and it made sense that he killed Greedo. Now the story has been softened and sweetened unacceptably.
A long way around to answer your question. No changes of the magnitude you mention were made to Return of the Jedi. C3PO was always floated around by Luke using the force to fool the Ewoks into fearing him and obeying his command to release his friends.
The other thing you mention is confusing. If you are asking if there is a version of the movie in which Leia informs Luke that she is his twin sister, then no, that never happened in the original movie nor in any revised or special edition. Luke tells Leia, not the other way around. Her response when he tells her is that she knows and that she has somehow always known.
Hope this helps.
Daniel W Siddall
One thing I was truly hoping for with the Bluray release was the clean up and color correction and contrast correction of some of the great matte paintings. The worst looking is the tractor beam shaft matte painting. It's an awesome shot, but in 1080p, it is SO obvious and distracting. The colors are WAY different. The contrast is different. Why not fix that? So many other things were corrected and fixed, why not that?
A classic example of a good fix was the scene on the bridge of Darth Vader's star destroyer when he is standing in front of a bank of "windows". The window he was standing in front of was a good, dark black. all of the other windows were grayish. Just differing contrast and an easy fix. And they did fix it and it looks great now.
Fix the tractor beam shaft matte shot!!
-Daniel