Lucas the Barbarian

I wasn’t born yet when the OT came out, but I do know that the fandom seemed to be a lot more unified in their love of Star Wars pre-TPM - even when the Special Editions came out in 1997. In virtually every promotional and news coverage video I’ve seen surrounding the SE’s and TPM before their release, the fans all seemed unanimously enthusiastic when in line to see the movies and when they walked out of the SE’s, regardless of the new additions. I feel like the period after TPM ended its theatrical run was the point when the fandom started to become divided into sects - OT vs PT fans, people who liked TPM vs people who didn’t.

I think the reason the fandom is so divided now is just because of sheer amount of Star Wars content that’s been released over the course of nearly half a century - none of it is all the same, there’s a lot of variety, which inevitably means some fans won’t like all of it. That’s true for ANY entertainment property that goes on for so long and produces that much varied content - some will simply just watch the movies/shows, read the books/comics and play the games they like and not do the same for the ones they don’t like, but there will always be fans who debate and argue over what products or aspects of the franchise they like and don’t like.

There are a few things in the SE that I like - full body shots of the Wampa, added shot of Slave I following the Falcon, extended sequence of the Falcon entering Cloud City, and especially the unbutchered music cues. However, I think there are more changes that do harm than good. The worst offender being the added scene where Vader boards the Executor (the interior of which by complete coincidence looks EXACTLY like the DSII that hasn’t been built yet). It completely ruins the pacing of what in the original version was a masterfully crafted climax to one of the greatest achievements in the history of American film.

So yeah, as much as I like some of the changes, the original will always reign supreme for me.

-Vader’s theme in A New Hope suits him better than the Imperial March.
-The instrumental second half of Jedi Rocks is actually pretty tolerable.
-Yub Nub/Ewok Celebration is superior to Victory Celebration (and I say that as someone who grew up with the latter and didn’t find out about the former until I was 12 years old).
-The Last Jedi is the best film in the ST because it actually tried to go outside the box and sUbVeRt eXpEcTaTiOnS, even if it failed spectacularly at it.

JonathanArthur19 said:

Imagine this, if before they altered everything, they restored the O-Neg and printed it on newer film stock to preserve the original versions for future years and they just, have never told us anything about it and they put the it into the Twentieth Century Fox Film Vaults and hid it from the world for years, then they go and create the Special Editions. Then they’d go on in 2006 and give us a Laserdisc Master with the original crawl spliced on, which is another thing, was it from the new Original Version Preservation O-Neg that they (possibly) created?

And another thing that has me thinking, did they really restore the original versions, then printed it on new film stock? Just to A) preserve it for future generations. or B) they plan on releasing these versions when George is dead. But then just went and made the Special Editions, and what I think, it’s (possibly) some sort of a coverup story to hide the fact that, the original versions are restored and could be released. Then they went onto say that they printed over the O-Neg “When these were completed, they apparently were printed onto film and re-cut into the negative, replacing the original negs, which were undoubtedly put back into storage.” - The Secret History of Star Wars, 11/03/09

But could this be a coverup and the “Original” (I use that term loosely due to the fact where my theory is that they restored the Unaltered Versions and reprinted them on newer film stock) Negative, which could still be in the vaults and they’ve kept it under wraps because George acts like a big baby when someone questions the original versions.

So what you’re saying is that the negative that was physically restored is in storage, but the DIGITALLY restored “negative” is the one that was used for every SE since 1997? I guess that would clear up the confusion. Thanks 😃

As a side note, as much as I want Lucasfilm to release the original versions, I also think it would be in poor taste of them to do it after George dies if he doesn’t give them his approval (which he most likely won’t). George’s approval is really the only thing holding back an official OOT release.

doubleofive said:
Ady was correct in his statement, that the SPECIAL EDITION elements are locked in at 2K at best, including the digitally recomposited shots.

Wait…but in Industrial Light and Magic – Into the Digital Realm by Mark Cotta Vaz https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/2017/08/22/return-of-the-force/, it says that most of the unaltered special effects shots were recomposited optically/photochemically using the same equipment as in 1977/80/83 - “In a ironic touch, the old optical printer technology’ used to create Star Wars but abandoned years later in ILMs conversion to digital technology’ would be utilized again to restore the many wipes, the skip frames, and the rest of what Pacific Title vice president Phillip Feiner called ‘the bread and butter opticals.’ Pacific Title’s work involved taking the original elements from Lucasfilm and recompositing them, utilizing the company’s eleven state-of-the-art optical printers. With modern lenses and the latest, best Kodak film stocks, the old-fashioned printer technology delivered new comps boasting ‘a boost in resolution and color saturation’ according to Feiner.”

If they were recomp’d physically in 1997, then theoretically they should be native 4K in the 2019 master, right? I’m confused.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15863efGj_s

Star Tours (1987-2010) (with Spazz Master and The Wire) - SOME JERK WITH A CAMERA Season One

The blurb: “What happens when a Jerk, an Idiot and a Spazz team up to review the greatest defunct Tomorrowland thrill ride EVER? No, not that one. No, not that one either. I’m talking about the original STAR TOURS! Join Some Jerk With A Camera, The Wire of The Idiot’s Lantern, and SpazzMaster on a thoroughly confounding mystical journey through a galaxy far far away, but somehow right over there somewhere.”

If you’re into Disney Parks and Universal Studios, you might want to check out the rest of the series - most of the topical references are dated, but it’s pretty amusing nonetheless.

Hello there!

My name is Harrison (no, not Harrison Ford). I’ve been lurking around this site for about a year and a half, and thought maybe now would be about the right to sign up. Despite what my username might suggest, I actually really admire George Lucas and a lot of what he did with Star Wars post-Radioland-Murders, especially 2003 Clone Wars.