700 is a pretty good width to go with i've found when inserting images here. Leave the height blank and it'll adjust the height automatically.
The potential for an amazing story was very high with these prequels if they'd been written by a talented writer. The fall of the republic, the decay and eventual destruction of the jedi order, they had history like that of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to draw inspiration from.
I think we all had this amazing backstory in our heads after watching the OT and hearing about a Prequel Trilogy being made, an ancient decadent republic on the verge of colapse, an overly complacent/proud jedi order, the tragic fall of a noble hero, controlled by his own fears of loss, trying to do whats best, believing the ends justified the means, only to lose his path along the way.
Instead we got an unlikable petulant man-child as the main character that we were supposed to be rooting for, tedious stories of trade embargoes, stilted automatons for Jedi, Jar Jar Binks, Jedis waving lightsabers around like cheerleader batons, the list goes on and on... So much potential wasted.
I think that's why everybody was so disappointed, because even subconciously people could sense that this prequel trilogy had the potential for true greatness, to be more epic and more tragic than the original trilogy, the backdrop is there. All it needed was a writer that knew what he was doing. Instead we got GL.
I wish that the PT could be remade at some point with improved characters and story but I suspect that one of the conditions that GL insisted on when he sold Lucasfilm to Disney is that the Prequel Trilogy can't be changed or remade, which would be a real shame.
kitt1987 said:
I'll take a look tomorrow when I can get on my PC. My ipad is a pita when trying to view clips! :-)
Thanks, I appreciate it. :)
towne32 said:
I think the uploader originally had the sources all mixed up, but they might be fixed now. Either way, I believe kk doesn't like the look of the new Emperor even with that audio 'hack'.
I really don't like the look of the new Emperor, audio hack or not, he looks inflated and not at all like he looked in ROTJ. What's the point of reinserting the new Emperor into ESB to maintain continuety with ROTJ when he doesn't look anything like he does in ROTJ, completely defeats the purpose of the exercise. The way his face is completely lit is also far worse than the original that has the Emperor's face partially hidden in shadows, adding to his mystery and menace.
Of course what really bothers me is the changed dialogue, where the original dialogue was succinct and flows great, the new dialogue is painfully forced and introduces unneccessary questions about whether Vader already knew that Luke was his son and whether Vader is playing the Emperor and already planning to betray him at that point, not to mention ruining the reveal of Vader being Luke's father later on for anybody the knows that Anakin is Darth Vader, which I imagine must be pretty much the majority of people on this planet, regardless of whether they've actually seen the films or not.
Also, for those few not aware of who Anakin is and have started with the OT first rather than the PT, won't they be wondering who the hell Anakin Skywalker is when he's mentioned here?
Post Praetorian said:
I too have enjoyed some of the improved special effects and am not at all against the use of CGI if it means more detailed space battles and the like...but I suppose this is not quite the thread to expand upon such things here.
Yeah sorry about that, my minds constantly going off on tangents. Glad to hear that there are others here as well that like some of the SE changes.
Ah okay, cheers for that! It says that no members have me on their ignore list but i'm not sure I believe that haha
I often feel that my perspective of seeing good and bad things in both the UOT and the Special Editions is very much a minority point of view here, which is pretty disappointing but not wholely unexpected, given the name of this site and its original purpose.
I just hope that when the UOT finally comes out on blu-ray, the anti SE sentiment that a lot of people here have will die down and this site will become more inclusive of those that see merit in parts of the SE. I really hope that happens, it would make this site far more varied in terms of viewpoints and interesting overall IMHO.
Damn, looking through his completed listings, its amazing how much people are willing to pay for just 10 frames from that technicolor print, as much as 25 pounds in some cases...
Anybody have any idea how much a complete technicolor print of Star Wars could sell for?
I imagine that many of people on this site have me on ignore, seeing as I see many of the SE special effects updates as improvements over the UOT haha
Okay guys, almost done with the lightsabers in Star Wars, only one shot left that I still have lingering doubts about. Please check out these two very short clips and let me know which you prefer the lightsaber saturation for, clip 1 or clip 2:
Clip 1:
https://mega.co.nz/#!O9ZXzYLD!HHSTMwf3tDsnxxz8QgkpV4e94nLh82sYDh-CdjcE9Sk
Clip 2:
https://mega.co.nz/#!Lx5lGZSJ!XlRkDoNXh5NE5EOp3mYThP8xSW7s0unRF8L9pcIcuAY
TServo2049 said:
What Technicolor frames on eBay? I'd like to see these.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-2-x-35mm-Film-Cells-Vintage-Star-Wars-1977-Darth-Vader-Vs-Ben-Kenobi-/121534429550?pt=UK_DVD_Film_TV_Film_Memorabilia_LE&hash=item1c4c04396e
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-2-x-35mm-Film-Cells-Vintage-Star-Wars-1977-Luke-Skywalker-Jedi-training-/121534423205?pt=UK_DVD_Film_TV_Film_Memorabilia_LE&hash=item1c4c0420a5
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-2-x-35mm-Film-Cells-Vintage-Star-Wars-1977-Luke-Skywalker-Jedi-training-/121534422756?pt=UK_DVD_Film_TV_Film_Memorabilia_LE&hash=item1c4c041ee4
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-2-x-35mm-Film-Cells-Vintage-Star-Wars-1977-Han-Luke-Stormtrooper-/121534399490?pt=UK_DVD_Film_TV_Film_Memorabilia_LE&hash=item1c4c03c402
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-2-x-35mm-Film-Cells-Vintage-Star-Wars-1977-Throne-Room-Finale-/121534399975?pt=UK_DVD_Film_TV_Film_Memorabilia_LE&hash=item1c4c03c5e7
You can find more by looking at the current listings and completed listings of the seller, all the frames are being sold by the same guy.
If that was the case, why didn't Obi Wan's blue lightsaber also turn totally white in those home releases?
No, I don't buy that, I see intent in that change, but I don't think we're going to agree here so we'll just have to agree to disagree.
I've done a lot of colour grading and i'm pretty certain boosting the contrast and/or gamma was not what turned that blue lightsaber white, especially not that very strong blue of Luke's lightsaber during the training scene visible in those technicolor frames available on ebay.
No, I think it was changed to white from the theatrical release where it was a very strong blue for a very concrete reason by GL and for all the reasons I stated above I agree with him and consider it an improvement. The greenish colour in some of the shots is clearly an SE cockup but one that is easily fixed, like I have done in the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2, where the lightsaber stays white throughout that training scene on the Millenium Falcon.
I always prefered Luke using a white lightsaber in the training scene on the Millenium Falcon, like it has been in many of the home releases.
I imagine it to be a training mode with a less intense nonlethal blade for the lightsaber so he doesn't kill himself if he swings it around and cuts himself by mistake, though its strong enough to reflect those very weak blaster bolts being shot by the droid. Using his father's lightsaber in full blue killing mode when he's at the very beginning of his training seems very foolish to me.
It also seems kinda disrespectful to his father's lightsaber and doesn't fit in with the beliefs of the Jedi, the Jedi like Samurai seem to hold their lightsabers in high regard, they even have to build their own themselves as part of their trials, like learning samurai would use wooden sticks to train, i'd imagine jedi apprentices would use weaker nondeadly lightsabers to train rather than fully fledged lightsabers so they could spar without killing each other.
Good change by GL as far as i'm concerned. Makes much more sense and fits better with the mythology IMHO.
@nightstalkerpoet: Thanks for that, very helpful indeed, you confirmed what I was thinking. 1 is the saturation of the release that I just pulled, 2 is with the lightsaber saturation boosted slightly. That second clip is the only lightsaber scene where I think the saturation was just about right already, the other scenes require a slight boost using the settings of 2.
@kitt1987: Thanks but there's no longer any need, I set this off encoding last night just after reading nightstalkerpoet's post confirming what I felt. Its very useful to get this lightsaber saturation issue out of the way now with the first film because I now have a reference for what the saturation of the lightsabers should be like in ESB and ROTJ.
captainsolo said:
That shot with the blue saber in training is very striking.
That shot certainly seems to suggest that the lightsabers are meant to be pretty punchy colourwise. It's one of the things thats made me rethink the saturation of all the lightsabers in my Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2 release.
What i'm finding pretty remarkable is just how close my colour grading of the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2 has ended up looking to that rebel briefing room frame and the other frames, especially fleshtones that are pretty much spot on, considering I didn't even have access to a technicolor print.
All those frames have a bit of green fade though so that has to be taken into account, my regrade doesn't have that. Star Wars certainly is a beautiful looking film with the right colours. Lets all hope that Disney/Lucasfilm come out with the goods colourwise for the 4k release of the Star Wars OT and especially with all the film grain and detail intact, these films certainly deserve it.
Guys, can you please have a look at these very short clips and let me know which ones you prefer in terms of lightsaber saturation between 1 or 2 for each clip?
First Clip
1:
https://mega.co.nz/#!rxJmEBLL!OVRaP4MMVCIYsdjmcKU1KNNf00Uqcv-QilOr9lf6pl4
2:
https://mega.co.nz/#!PlJkARyY!s90OlhYDktv5IFX2CHdOBX3FM11B-Xvgvf6J2c3SC_E
Second Clip
1:
https://mega.co.nz/#!u5phkRSI!g1XD67muTJshirFOSrAnCBwn-cHfTREt-56mqksNNzQ
2:
https://mega.co.nz/#!XohiySAZ!28fzKAjfU3Ivr_t5T-nwv62nWr9CYU88EQDg0f04Jk4
I saw that four or five of you guys had downloaded the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2 off myspleen before I removed it, what do you think about the lightsabers? Do you agree with me that they could use a little saturation boost?
Star Wars is my favourite of the three films so I really want to get it right.
Okay guys, i've removed the myspleen torrent for now because while I feel that the whole film looks fantastic overall and i'm very satisfied in that regard, I may have been a little conservative with the lightsabers themselves and I think that they could use a little more colour to have more punch and look more similar to how they looked in the previous retro release.
Sorry everybody that's already downloaded this, I'll start reencoding it today and should have it up on myspleen again by wednesday. I want everything to be just right so I can sign off on Star Wars and move on to The Empire Strikes Back.
nafroe said:
So, I'm curious... this being the first time I'm grabbing your semi-specialized versions of the films... For the hologram scene in ESB, which version will you be using?
Thanks, by the way!! I'm very excited about watching these! :-)
The original Emperor from the theatrical releases, I find the SE Emperor in that scene awful, he looks like he's been inflated. The changed dialogue in the SE is also really bad IMHO. It was a no brainer which Emperor to use as far as i'm concerned.
Feallan said:
I downloaded your 2D regrade and made a quick comparison.
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/108754
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/108755
I like the look of the IMAX version more, I'll probably watch that. :) Thank you for your work!
Yes I also prefer the look of the IMAX release, it's definately the version i'll be watching in future. :)
The 2D blu-ray does have more visible grain and overall detail than the 3D blu-ray though, that's one thing it has over it, though clearly the 3D blu-ray is much better in terms of colour.
DrCrowTStarwars said:
kk650 said:
ElectricTriangle said:
kk650 said:
If anybody is interested in me uploading this release to myspleen, let me know.
I don't think this would fly at Myspleen, it being big/new/commercially available/Disney material. All things that they disallow. I'm guessing this would be reported on there pretty fast. A different tracker or site would be better.
hmm, I thought that might be the case. Thanks for saving me the upload time. Those interested in this release can always find it on tehparadox.
Okay thanks a bunch, this is a huge help.
What do you call this release? I want to search for it and download it.
Thanks again.
Just search for 'kk650 guardians of the galaxy' without the speechmarks in the movies section of the tehparadox forum. The 20GB IMAX release is the one you want. I would recommend using the 1fichier links, they are much faster for free users.
nightstalkerpoet said:
Hey kk650, I have a request for ESB 2.2. Since these are still special editions, I was wondering if you would consider using (with his permission, of course) Adywan's new Emperor he created for ESB:R. It seriously is all I need for your cut to be my go to version. Having seen it, I have a hard time finding either of the officials versions satisfying.
Adywan did a great job with that but I can't use it for my own releases because however good it is, its never been part of the official releases.
The vast majority of people watching these Semi-Specialised Editions are not going to be aware of the new Emperor because Empire Strikes Back Revisited hasn't come out yet, only those directly following the project developments will know about him, they're only aware of the two official Emperor hologram scenes, the original version and the SE version both seen previously on home releases, so seeing a completely new Emperor hologram they've never seen before will jarr them out of the film, which of course has to be avoided at all costs.
Feallan said:
Hi kk650. Would a simple top/bottom crop of your release be accurate to what I've seen in a theater (2D 2:35.1)? I really hate shifting aspect ratios. :/
Hi Feallan, in terms of colour I believe so yes, the 2D release has a blanket green tint that I imagine wasn't there theatrically.
In terms of showing the whole width of the frame no, I imagine the 2D is more accurate because it doesn't have the left sidebar cropped at any time.
In terms of correct composition/framing of shots, I don't know, depends on if they always cropped the IMAX shots the same with each shot to get the framing of the 2:35.1 shots.
If I just wanted to watch the film in 2:35.1, i'd personally watch my regraded 2D guardians of the galaxy release to remove all doubt about the framing and enjoy the extra info on the left of the frame. Like the IMAX release it can also be found on tehparadox.
ElectricTriangle said:
kk650 said:
If anybody is interested in me uploading this release to myspleen, let me know.
I don't think this would fly at Myspleen, it being big/new/commercially available/Disney material. All things that they disallow. I'm guessing this would be reported on there pretty fast. A different tracker or site would be better.
hmm, I thought that might be the case. Thanks for saving me the upload time. Those interested in this release can always find it on tehparadox.