fmalover

well, now that v2.5 of sw is out I can't wait to see the first screenshots of ESB V2.0. Can you give an estimate of when we will see that Harmy?

hey Harmy, I read an article a few years ago about ultra high definition, which is set to replace HD in a few years time. This being the case, i was wondering if you would be willing to go back to the editing room and work on a UHD version of the despecialized editions (versions 3.0, I guess). This would obviously render the GOUT obsolete, as the resolution of those is well below UHD, and the lost footage will have to use the 35mm film prints exclusively as source, and teamnegative1 would have to use 8K scanners. I hope those are affordable by then. I'm not demanding anything, just thinking you should plan ahead and hopefully be ready if the time comes, you can do it.

New member here.

First of all, I would like to start with my history with Star Wars. Throughout my early childhood I was aware of SW and remember every now and then they would broadcast the movies on TV, but I never really paid attention to them, until a fateful day early in 1997 (prior to the release of the special editions) in Mexico, when I saw an announcement in which there would be a Star Wars marathon, all three movies in one sitting, it was a Saturday, around that time I was hooked on the N64 game Shadows Of The Empire game, which drew heavily upon the movies, so i decided to give the trilogy a shot. Suffice to say, when I was done watching all 3 movies, that Saturday night I became a massive SW fan, being completely unaware at the time that it would be the only time i would be able to watch the trilogy in its original unaltered form. When the special editions came out i enjoyed them fondly, thinking to myself that this is what George Lucas had in mind when first making the movies but could not add due to the limitations of the time, also thinking he would leave it at that and have both the original cuts and special editions for everyone to enjoy. Seven years later the original trilogy was finally released on DVD and much to my annoyance I found out Hayden Christensen would be replacing Sebastian Shaw for the final scene in Return Of The Jedi, and with the special editions being the only ones Lucas will authorise for TV broadcast and the only ones I watched frequently, my memories of that saturday afternoon were starting to fade away, and that is the point in which I started to long for the unaltered editions. Finally, the Star Wars saga was announced on blu-ray, and the stupid NOOOOO added to ROTJ transformed my longing into an intense and desperate hunger to watch the first 3 Star Wars movies as they were originally released theatrically, so I decided to get the laser-disc transfers just to remember what I saw on that Saturday 1997 that made me fall in love with Star Wars in the first place, but I was still not satisfied, as the poor quality of the image was evident, since this was transferred from deteriorated film prints and with a screen resolution well below that of current PC monitors, making me wish I had a time machine so I could sneak on the original screenings. About 5 months ago, during one of my web drifts I came across a commentary section that mentioned something called Despecialized editions, that comment piqued my interest so I googled the key words and voila, I find this very forum and follow this very thread and waited patiently until last week. Even though I grew up with the screwed-up color timing of the special editions, something about they way you rearranged the color timing to match the fade-free Technicolor film prints feels right, the greenish-bluish interiors of the Death Star, the sepia toned Tatooine, the warm orange hue of Obi-Wan rescuing Luke from sand people, the Vaseline used to obscure the landspeeder wheels, the matte paintings restored to the best of your ability, everything looks the way it was prior to incessant tampering, Star Wars has been restored to all of its flawed beauty, and honestly I can't wait for TESB and ROTJ. (End of story)

I would like to state the following: If George Lucas wants to transform the original trilogy into a weird CGI cartoon that matches the prequels he has every right to do so, but that doesn't me he should lock away the original movies that everybody fell in love with just because he hates them. Take Ridley Scott, he hates the theatrical cut of Blade Runner but still allows that one to be available for distribution. I also think it is insulting that a channel like TCM is forced to play the special editions instead of the original classics. I just hope Disney and 20th Century Fox reach an agreement and release the original cuts in high quality, but until that day comes, and it probably never will, these will have to do.

From me and a few others here in Venezuela: Thank you very much Harmy, we know it was hair-pulling and frustrating going through every single frame restoring these movies to their original magic. Like I said, if Disney and Fox ever decide to release a remastered version of the original unaltered movies, I suggest you send them a copy of your work, I'm pretty sure they would hire you immediately. 

Sorry for the wall of text, now I will wrap this up with a quote from the 1995 VHS trailer:

"For those who remember, for those who will never forget, and for a whole new generation who will experience it for the first time..."