msycamore

zombie, I'd like to point out a few errors in your Faq section, 16)Q:

Empire Strikes Back came out in 70mm (six track) first, which was actually missing a couple shots compared to the 35mm version released days later. There were no differences in the mono and stereo mixes of Empire and Jedi, which also was on 70mm six-track surround. The six-track surrounds of all the films were never released on home video, although the 1993 remix uses the original sound stems. The original stereo mixes were available on all home video versions from 1985 and earlier. The original mono mixes were never officially released. Fans have restored and re-created all of these original mixes.

There was never a mono mix created for Empire and Jedi, only for SW. And it's only Star Wars that have the 70mm six-track recreated. Fans have not been able to do that for the 70mm six-track stereo mixes for Empire and Jedi, unfortunately no sources have surfaced of it yet. And there are known differences in content between the 70mm and  35mm versions of Empire and Jedi if that was what you were gonna say.

Here's a few comparisons posted:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/GOUT-improved-versions/topic/11377/page/2/

It sure looks fantastic on those images, the color timing on Alien seems to be the modern Director's Cut timing though.

rsortor said:

A couple of my favorite movies spring to mind that have never been 100% perfectly transferred for DVD.  For instance,  SUSPIRIA has been released many times, including a new Blu-ray this year in Europe but nobody seems capable of getting it right!  They keep coming oh-so-close, but still no cigar.

Yes, it really bugs me to not have a good copy of Suspiria, I still think the old Anchor Bay release have a great transfer but unfortunately it doesn't include the original 4.0 audio mix. The remix is totally f***ed up on that disc. :(

For those of you who don't know how much a different experience the original film is to Lucas' revision cut, I recommend you to take a look at this comparison page:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=541751

It's not even close to being the same movie anymore.

I've just checked the starwars.com comparison list for Empire and it seems they did a really good job on that one. The only things not listed that I know of is the A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... text and a minor special-fx correction done to the "Space Slug scene," in the original film when the space slug comes out of the asteroid to reach out after the Falcon, you can see the whole asteroid bounces a little at the end of it. 

The funny thing is, if you don't count the added scenes in the SE to the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back is the most altered film of the three, it's just that the changes happens to be more subtle and tastefully done.

avoidz said:

Which version/release of the OOT has the yellow TIE lasers in both TESB and ROTJ?

That problem is on the 1993 telecine so the yellow TIE laser glitch in Empire and Jedi is on every '93/'95LD, VHS and GOUT release. My '95 PAL VHS copy of Empire have also blue TIE lasers. I really don't know what was causing these faults in the transfer, maybe the fantastic THX remastering. ;)

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

Thanks, I couldn't figure out how to generate the ä.

Ah, okay. Didn't think about that, I'm so used to have that letter on my keyboard. ;)

The correct Swedish title of the film is, "Stjärnornas Krig". I'm really interested to see this, mainly because of the subs, as it'll be interesting for me to see how the original translation differ to the modern Swedish translation.

Thank you for doing this.

avoidz said:

Like all the other rough edges on some of the effects shots in the OOT, it's part of the movie and the time it was made, and I don't mind seeing these imperfections.

 Neither do I, and it's sort of a blink and you miss it. And at the time, the film wasn't made with pause and rewind buttons in mind.

doubleofive said:

Looking frame-by-frame, Han fires at Greedo twice: the 04 shot as Greedo shoots and the 97 shot a couple of frames later (which is the one that hits since the 04 bolt disappears instantly). I lost my screenshots of that, but it was very enlightening to me on how they made it "better". msycamore, can you get shots of that?

I don't know, I think a description of it serve it better in this scene than comparison pictures between '97SE and the '04DVD as it's most the timing that is different between them, and the lack of the "Yes..." in Solo's line. But I can try to capture the difference if you really want me to.

Tobar said:

So did the SE add a shot or was the GOUT censored? I personally would lean toward them censoring this shot because of that site I mentioned before that noted Han's bolt going over the table instead of through it. Thoughts?

The GOUT is not censored, the original scene have always been just like that, the SE just replaced the dummy with that wide shot of them as seen in your caps. I think the SE also trimmed a few frames from the original before or after I don't remember.

Also, I must clarify so there isn't any misunderstanding, most of the SE caps I posted is from the '04DVD even though I wrote '97 on them. I wrote it that way, cause it will reflect what year the changes was done, not the year of the transfer. But I'm sure you already got that. ;)

Here is a subtle fx-correction made in the '04 DVD.

'77

In this shot when three Y-wings fly in a formation, one of the Y-wings suddenly disappear before going out of frame, this was finally corrected in the '04 DVD.

'04

I think all the wipes in the film was also redone, am I right? I'm not entirely sure if Luke's lightsaber was recomposited or not, it sure looks like it in some shots. I know they redid the training remote though. Have I missed any change? Maybe someone can fill in the rest if there is any.

dark_jedi said:

restoring the WB logo should be pretty easy also.

That's great, have not find a good way to degrade the quality of video footage yet. Any suggestion on how to do this d_j?

I hope you get an answer from the seller, SilverWook. It would indeed be great to know if the Japanese LD includes a better transfer or not. If that's the case, I would be happy to help fund the purchase. ;) It would also be fantastic if you can make the uncompressed PCM audio track available, please. :)

SKot said:

Have you seen this yet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJBxlIFRDKM

The original, WB-edited alternate opening of the film--complete with Blade Runner-style voiceover narrative.  Sadly, it's in Italian only...but you can get the idea.

--SKot

Yes, I've seen it. It's really cool, you also have the narration translated in the description of the clip.

It would be great to know what else was different in it.

It's from the "Flunk" disc, one of the digital broadcast versions.

doubleofive said:

Keep going! I've not seen 97 Jabba since 2003 or so.

 Here you go:

Ok, here is some of the Visual Changes done to SW that was not included on the official list. Many are subtle but they are changes nevertheless. I'm sure I missed a few...

'77

'97 same font but thinner with wider spacing.

'04

'77

'81 different starfield

'77

'81 Aside from the different starfield and the new crawl, no thick matte line around the Stardestroyer.

'97 the original '77 starfield is back, the SW logo also recedes much faster into space than in the two earlier opening crawls.

'77

'97  digitally recomposited? or just cleaned up mattelines on the Blockade Runner.

'77

'97 recomp? motion blur on the pod & cleaned up matte lines on pod & ship.

'77

'97 I believe that all hologram shots in the film were recomposited in '97, they also removed the horizontal bars that was present on all original holograms...

'77

'97 ...and they forgot or didn't bother to reinsert the cone of light from R2 in two brief shots, the other is on the official list but it didn't include this one in Ben's hut.

'77

'04 CG clouds inserted to match the close-up of the suns.

'77

'97

'77

'97

I didn't bother to post the '97 digital landspeeder & Jabba the Hutt, I can post them if you need them.

Also this info is wrong:

The '97 version of this shot is exactly the same as the original besides the colortiming, it was in '04 they removed the landscape.

dark_jedi said:

msycamore, when you get this would you mind sending it to me? I have never seen this movie.

So who is cleaning it up and making it anamorphic for you?

If he just sends you the raw recorded DVD's then I will help you if you want.

I havn't actually talked to him about this yet.

It would be great if you could help out with this, but I guess it's SilverWook who has the final word on this. I'm just a guy who requested a transfer of this film. SilverWook is the one you should talk to. He is also waiting for some response from a seller of the Jap LD...

Anyway, thank you dark_jedi, for showing the interest to help out with this.

Did someone on this board actually see the original theatrical run of THX 1138 in '71 that was 5 minutes shorter in lenght? I'm really curious to know what scenes was actually reinserted after '77. But it would be hard to remember, I guess.

I'm currently making an English subtitle stream for this, in the hope to sync it up to this cut when it's ready, I can also help out with making cover art for it but we'll need someone more technically experienced to actually help out authoring this beauty in the best way possible, SilverWook's capture looks really promising for a great looking DVD. Anyone?

Moth3r said:

The difference in smearing is not that huge. The 4-eyed stormtrooper may be better, but other scenes are just as bad as the NTSC version. I'll dig out my DVD.

Well, those pics from the PAL transfer of the landspeeder and Luke in Ben's hut seems also to be nearly unaffected by the smear, are the scenes with Artoo in the Canyon, the Cantina and when Luke gazes at the twin suns really as bad as the NTSC version?

Moth3r said:

I now have another player to test, and a few other ideas for improvement. I've learned a fair bit in the last 5 years... just wish I had more time to play with this stuff.

I'd love to see a second version from you, your first version looks quite good from just looking at those pics. I hope you find some time to attempt it someday.

If it is the files originally uploaded by Belbucus you have, you must set a delay to them:

Star Wars: +1.017 seconds

Empire: +0.948 seconds

Jedi: +1.015 seconds

zombie84 said:

While I was vacationing I did find the time to write a desperately needed editorial though:

http://savestarwars.com/righttoculturalheritage.html

Very interesting and well written article.

Another form of alteration to the film medium that somehow lately have gained a sort of acceptance, is that the films original audio mixes (that is as much a part of the film as the picture imo.) is rarely available on new home video releases, if they are included, it's often available in compressed form when the new remix gets a fine lossless treatment. They should at least, always be included.

Thanks for posting the clips and pics, that is a fine print!