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ocpmovie

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Post
#256361
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256361/action/topic#256361
Time
Mailed all the discs today.


I had hoped that I'd be able to get my printer running and print those nice Classic Edition labels on all the discs, but no such luck. Out of printer ink, and the ink DID arrive via mail, but not until I'd already mailed the discs.


Tsk tsk.


So I just sent out plain white discs with no labelling on them.

Maybe some of you have printers where you can print the labels on. Sorry. I'm moving, so things are weird.



Carl Olds writes:

I would like to thank you for the Classic versions of the
original trilogy. They are the versions that I pull out when I want to
watch Star Wars, and more importantly for me, the ones I pull out to
show my three children. I want them to grow up in a world where Han
shoots first and fake-looking cgi does not make up for poor dialogue
and storytelling.
Carl Olds
Instructor, University College
Post
#256353
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256353/action/topic#256353
Time

Nice emails today. Also heard from Moriarty at Ain't It Cool News, who was very nice and plugged the Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled big-time on that big-time site.

I would like to thank you for the Classic versions of the
original trilogy. They are the versions that I pull out when I want to
watch Star Wars, and more importantly for me, the ones I pull out to
show my three children. I want them to grow up in a world where Han
shoots first and fake-looking cgi does not make up for poor dialogue
and storytelling.
Carl Olds
Instructor, University College

A much belated THANK YOU for the DVD you gave me of
Bonzo Dog Band rarities after Neil Innes' show at McCabe's back in
late May. It is truly a dream come true for me! Sheer heaven it was
to go through that and see clips I had in much inferior condition,
clips I had head about but never seen, and some things I didn't even know
existed! I am so sorry I didn't thank you profusely as soon as I
watched the DVD.

Tomm Carroll
Post
#256344
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256344/action/topic#256344
Time
My ears are burning. Ain't It Cool News must be talking about us.


http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30666?moriartys_dvd_blog_a_word_about_that_new_thief__the_cobbler_disc



QUOTE
Or... I guess... I could just watch it on YouTube. I guess I could do that and then follow the links I found on the main page for that playlist. I guess if I did that, I might well realize just how frustrating this new release is, and I might be inclined to yell at the company who put this out, yell and ask them to please, for the love of God, work with the guy who created this “Recobbled Cut” of the film. I might, indeed.

QUOTE
I wish there was something available now like that YouTube workprint, something legal that I could own, because I’d love to study the way Williams did this. I’d love to be able to look at every set-up, ever scene, every image. I’d love to be able to look at this film and see just that skeleton crew that spend the first ten years together, see all the blood, sweat, and tears that they put into the film.


http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30666?moriartys_dvd_blog_a_word_about_that_new_thief__the_cobbler_disc

Moriarty’s DVD Blog! A Word About That New THIEF & THE COBBLER Disc....

Quick show of hands... how many of you know the work of Richard Williams?

I guarantee you all at least know ROGER RABBIT, his single most iconic contribution to the history of animation. No matter what, when you talk about the evolution of the art form, you have to deal with the accomplishment of ROGER RABBIT. No matter what you think of the script or the plot of ROGER, and I’ve heard from plenty of people since it was released who just don’t care for it, you can’t deny the remarkable level of artistry in the movie, or the milestone of seeing all of Hollywood’s classic animated characters together. And as much as Robert Zemeckis is responsible for the film as a whole, it’s Richard Williams you have to thank for the mind-bogglingly great hand animation.

Williams is a grand lunatic, a man who spent much of his career chasing a dream even at the expense of other opportunities. If he had ever really embraced the system and played it, he may well have become a major commercial force, or at the very least, an interesting stylist for hire. Instead, his story makes me sad almost to the same degree that his work makes me happy.

One of the reasons he was great was because he knew he was part of a tradition, and he knowingly surrounded himself with some of the giants of the business. One guy in particular was Art Babbitt, one of the guys who was there at the start with Walt Disney, who worked on “Three Little Pigs” and Mickey Mouse shorts and SNOW WHITE and PINOCCHIO and FANTASIA and DUMBO. Another of them was Ken Harris, who was an enormous talent part of the Termite Terrace team, who worked on some of the best known Warner Bros shorts like “What’s Opera Doc?” and “Duck Amuck” and who also worked on such projects as THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS. It was another Christmas project that brought Harris into contact with Williams, who was directing his remarkable take on A CHRISTMAS CAROL. That was released in 1971. Around that time, Harris and Williams started improvising sequences of a story about a thief. They were liberally adapting some actual Arabian folk stories originally.

But when Babbitt joined the animation production house that Williams was building, he developed a new character and did some test animation to show to Williams. The character was a cobbler, and Williams loved what he saw. For a while, the men all developed new characters to bounce off one another. Zig-Zag, a bizarre blue magician/vizier, was created and animated by Williams, while there was a King created by Babbitt. They developed the film sequence by sequence, playing off each other, and the result was, by all accounts, a piece of pure animation. Williams was doing work for films like the PINK PANTHER features (he did the memorable opening title animation sequences for a few of the films) and the TV special “Ziggy’s Gift,” based on the popular ‘70s cartoon character, but he took all the money his company made and turned it all back into the development of this film, this THIEF & THE COBBLER that was starting to take shape. He ended up in the director’s chair for 1977’s RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY by default when someone else dropped out, and the result is a strange but beautifully-animated film that has an oddly familiar synopsis: all the toys in the room of a child are alive when she’s out of the room, but they’re just toys when she’s around. She gets a new toy and leaves it in her room, and the other toys all introduce themselves. She doesn’t believe she’s a toy, though, and through a series of circumstances, she ends up knocked out the window, lost out in the world, and it’s up to the favorite toy in the bedroom to go out, find the new toy, and bring it back. The film’s filled with cloying songs that only occasionally work, but there is some amazing work in the film. If you do a YouTube search, you’ll find some scenes including one featuring The Greedy that is ungodly when you remember, everything you see had to have been animated by hand. We’re used to seeing computers do it all these days, but there was a time when any sort of three-dimensional camerawork had to be accomplished by hand. There’s not a computer anywhere more precise than Williams at his very best, and he would draw sequences that theoretically shouldn’t have been possible, just to accomplish what no one else could.

After Williams was brought on as the director of animation on ROGER RABBIT, he found his personal project sidelined a bit, but in the best possible way. The film’s success launched him to a new visibility, and it brought him his second and third Academy Awards. Perfect timing for him to get his dream film finished finally... right?

After all, word had gotten out inside the industry about this remarkable thing that Williams was doing, and people had seen bits and pieces. It was a screening of the workprint that got Williams the ROGER RABBIT job in the first place. I have no doubt that much of what you saw in ALADDIN (a very entertaining and well-made film in its own right) was inspired at least in part by THE THIEF & THE COBBLER. There are some disconcerting similarities, and THIEF was well-known within the animation community well before ALADDIN was developed.

Warner Bros. signed on to distribute the film after the success of ROGER, and Williams managed to find funding that came with the attachment of the Completion Bond Company, a decision that would pretty much destroy the film in the end. See, Williams does great work, but that quality requires time... much more time than studios are used to spending on a project. And he missed a few deadlines for Warner Bros., and as the release date of ALADDIN got closer, Warner Bros started to worry that they were going to get killed if they went second. So they did the unthinkable.

They took it away from him.

He had fifteen minutes or so to finish when they took it over. Fred Calvert (a TV guy whose body of work demonstrates no particular skill or inspiration) was hired to finish the film fast. That decision ended up costing Warner Bros another year and a half, and it gutted the movie. Calvert added shitty songs and dumped a lot of great material. His end result was so awful that Warner Bros. dumped it, and Miramax picked it up. They added “big star” voices to the film, turning these two silent characters into chatterboxes via running commentary voice-over work by Matthew Broderick and Jonathan Winters. Awful, awful stuff. Calvert and Miramax conspired to turn this marvelous little gem into something stitched-together and wholly shitty, a Frankenstein’s monster that is all the more frustrating because of the great work still contained in the film.






If you see this in stores, let me give you the lowdown on what you can expect to see. First, the packaging is pretty nifty. The outer sleeve of the DVD is a cardboard pop-up book. This isn’t the first time this has been on DVD, though. Hell, Miramax released it in March 2005, so it’s not even like there’s a reason for them to reissue it.

Oh, there was supposed to be a reason. See, we’d been hearing that there were plans to restore the Richard Williams version somehow. And to see this pop back up on the release schedule so quickly... well, it seemed like maybe there was some truth to the idea that we might finally get a look at what Williams wanted from this film.

This is not a restoration, though. At all. It’s the same 73 minute version that was called ARABIAN KNIGHT at one point and THE PRINCESS & THE COBBLER at another. It’s the same version with the songs and the crappy filler animation to cover up the scenes that were yanked out for no good reason.

If you see this in stores, let me make this very clear: do not buy it. If you’re an animation freak and you know exactly what this film, I know what the inclination is. Pick up the film, watch the great parts, and just skip the other bits when you put the disc in.

But I don’t want this version. This is the version we’ve been seeing all along. I want the Richard Williams version. I’d pay good money for that.

Or... I guess... I could just watch it on YouTube. I guess I could do that and then follow the links I found on the main page for that playlist. I guess if I did that, I might well realize just how frustrating this new release is, and I might be inclined to yell at the company who put this out, yell and ask them to please, for the love of God, work with the guy who created this “Recobbled Cut” of the film. I might, indeed.

If you haven’t seen the film, and you don’t want to watch the film on YouTube, it’s worth a Netflix rental for some of the amazing hand-animated sequences that have survived intact in the final film. There’s some stuff here that I personally don’t think anyone will ever top.

No one’s learning the trade these days, and if they’re not careful, sooner rather than later, that trade will be gone.

This double-dip actively pisses me off because I know that there’s more work to be done on this title, and instead of doing it, they’re just repackaging it and trying to make a little more money off something that they barely seem to respect. By now, with the home video market the way it is, you would think that The Weinstein Co. would recognize the value in this property if they treat it right.

Please, please, please, please. Please don’t buy this version. Make it clear to the Weinsteins that you want to see the movie the way the director intended, and if they won’t make that version legally available, then you’ll have to see it some other way.

I wish there was something available now like that YouTube workprint, something legal that I could own, because I’d love to study the way Williams did this. I’d love to be able to look at every set-up, ever scene, every image. I’d love to be able to look at this film and see just that skeleton crew that spend the first ten years together, see all the blood, sweat, and tears that they put into the film.

But what I’m tired of is this film, re-released like you’re doing parents a favor. This isn’t some generic children’s film. No matter what cover you slap on this thing, people are going to know right away that what they’re watching is uneven. Why not spend a little money up front and then look like heroes for finally giving Williams his dream? As it stands now, this is a sad lesson in what happens when you trade your dreams for financial security. Williams is a genius, but this film in this particular edition is just not good. It’ll bore your kids and it’ll actively annoy you in other places. Its importance is as a piece of history for animation fans, but even there... that YouTube link has more value, and it’s free (for now).

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles




Wow Moriarty...
by RodneyOz Nov 11th, 2006
07:16:14 AM
...so far you're making up nicely for lost time. All the DVD stuff so far has been great, stuff that would never hit the radar on other sites. Love it!
And...
by RodneyOz Nov 11th, 2006
07:21:47 AM
...I should have also said, this sort of opinion piece tied in with a review is what I originally fell in love with AICN because of. People who love film, trying to get the word out about stuff that is either great, or being mishandled. This is obviously the latter. I had never heard of this film, but now I know enough to care about its fate.
I attended his first Masters Class in San Francisco...
by CrayonPie Nov 11th, 2006
07:27:37 AM
...and he had some choice opinions of Spielberg and Zemekis. Independent artists need to find alternative ways to realize projects. Upon completion license them to the machine. I wish Gilliam would embrace some technology so he could make his damn Quixote movie. The end result is what matters and if technology lets you gewt it done cheaper, why the hell wouldnt you do it?
What you SHOULD do is get this...
by Brendon Nov 11th, 2006
07:47:21 AM
http://tinyurl.com/ydvuu7 ... that should help force a release for a restored version.
FIFTH!
by StarBlitzer Nov 11th, 2006
07:53:04 AM
Flame On!
great article...
by datachasm Nov 11th, 2006
08:50:34 AM
this is what i want to read at sites like AICN. AICN's content is about 70% crap and the design sucks ass, but there is currently nothing better really since the demise of Corona. this is a step in the right direction.
Well, I'm doing my best...
by Brendon Nov 11th, 2006
09:11:06 AM
...over at 'film ick'. The Spider-Man 3 article from yesterday is something I'm proud of. But AICN does offer a lot of great stuff. At times.
Best article on here in years
by kwisatzhaderach Nov 11th, 2006
09:24:40 AM
I always wondered what happened to Thief and the Cobbler after reading all about it in Starbust magazine about 20 years ago. Would love to know the full story, why not interview Richard for the site sometime?
Got this as a free gift!
by The Bobman Nov 11th, 2006
09:53:49 AM
I knew of this film from way back as a friend dropped out when we were at art school to go and work on it- he did the spears! Years later I was walking through a supermarket and there, free on dvd with Corn Pops- alongside Air Bud, was the theif and the cobbler on Dvd- my heart sank- shame- good its getting a real release now though.
Godamn shame...
by Billyeveryteen Nov 11th, 2006
09:56:22 AM
I saw the best parts back in the day. Moriarty's take on it is spot on.
i should read the whole aritcle!
by The Bobman Nov 11th, 2006
10:00:48 AM
while typing and my daught going nuts shouting for bananas! Ok- wont get this! Poor Richard Williams was almost broken by this film- heard a few stories about what was going on at the time- won't tell them here but damn! thing is that they are probably scared to give him the money to do HIS version cos of all the the stuff that was going on last time back in the early 90's damn impressive film though- I know Disney must have thought so when they were "inspired" by parts of it for Aladin
Recobbled Director's Cut DVD
by elldeegee Nov 11th, 2006
10:09:59 AM
There's some pretty interesting stuff about all of this, here: http://tinyurl.com/zqyu6
GOD DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!
by President Evil Nov 11th, 2006
10:11:31 AM
Just when I thought this film was FINALLY going to see a PROPER release. This is so sad... P.S.= FUCK "ALADDIN"!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
elldeegee, a few ?s
by President Evil Nov 11th, 2006
10:17:17 AM
When does this come out and where can I buy it????????????????
You forgot one major snafu, Mori...
by Osmosis Jones Nov 11th, 2006
10:38:35 AM
...the film, originally animated for 2:35.1, is being presented in FULL-SCREEN ONLY.
The "restored" version is out there
by harrys_suck_site Nov 11th, 2006
11:02:51 AM
A friend of mine found a "restored" version of the film online last year. Forgot who did it but he has commentary track with it on the DVD. It is truly an amazing film, if you can find the correct version that is. Why it's not out in the correct form is just criminal.
Never heard of this movie
by Neo Technic Nov 11th, 2006
11:04:07 AM
but Wow thats sad.
Where is he now?
by BenBraddock Nov 11th, 2006
11:33:22 AM
I too first read of this in "Starburst" a (now defunct?) UK sci -fi film mag, way back in time. And again when Roger Rabbit came along. Just assumed that it would all work out for him in he end.. sad to hear how it really went :-( The Bastards. Anyone know what Mr.Williams is doing now?
Moriarty gets the gold star today.
by Harry Weinstein Nov 11th, 2006
11:57:14 AM
Thank you, thank you, thank you Moriarty, for drawing some attention to this crime against cinema. It really is THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS of animation, except unlike the Orson Welles film, it's not too late to save THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER. One thing, though; "you would think that The Weinstein Co. would recognize the value in this property" - based upon what would I think this, exactly? They played a major role in ruining the film in the first place. In Calvert's PRINCESS AND THE COBBLER version, the Thief and the Cobbler still didn't talk. That was 100% Weinstein - see also THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, which got the same sort of "improvements" as this film and was transformed into DOOGAL. Or Rene Leloux's GANDAHAR, which got a similar all-star makeover and emerged as LIGHT YEARS - with a co-director credit for Harvey Weinstein himself, which can't mean anything good for the integrity of the film. This new Weinstein Company DVD is nothing but a port of the old VHS transfer from the '90s. And that sucked. This Weinstein disc is shameless even by their standards - they could have at least used their 2.35:1 transfer that was made for the old laserdisc edition. If you want to watch this movie *and you do*, use your preferred BitTorrent search engine and seek out the word "recobbled" - and if that doesn't work try another search engine. It's not perfect, and it's not 100% Richard Williams footage, but it's the best version we've got at the moment.
too bad.
by TomBodet Nov 11th, 2006
12:01:44 PM
Wasn't there sposed to be some Roger Rabbit Prequel set in WWII? Dang we'd love as fans to get a lookie at that--this guys' work sounds really good. And of course I've never heard of him. Silly me. Thanks for the blurb on all this Drew. .
A correction
by Harry Weinstein Nov 11th, 2006
12:06:53 PM
Calvert's version had the Cobbler talking, but not the thief. I think. Maybe. Doesn't matter, the Recobbled Cut is the only currently available version that counts. Other than bootlegs of Williams' workprint, but that's very, very poor quality, as you'd expect for a continuously bootlegged analog videotape from the early-to-mid 90s.
torrent of Recobbles DVD available
by Lujho Nov 11th, 2006
12:08:14 PM
The torrent of the DVD version of the re-cobbled version is on Demonoid. It's the Mk II version which is widescreen. I'd never heard about this film before but Moriarty's article got me intrigued and I checked out the youtube links. While I'm not enamoured by some of the character designs, the character animation itself is unquestionably some of the most beautifully fluid I've ever seen... I have to see the rest in better quality do I'm dl-ing the DVD version and will re-seed for as long as I can - I suggest anyone else do the same, rather than watch the youtube version. I'd love to see this restored full-on properly by Williams though, but "recobbled" will have to do. And when oh when will AICN talkbacks support line-breaks?
ocpmovie is the man behind the "Recobbled Cut"
by woxel1 Nov 11th, 2006
12:24:17 PM
http://originaltrilogy.com/for um/messageview.cfm?catid=11&th readid=4256 So give him some damn credit, Mori!
Take the spaces out of my link, natch
by woxel1 Nov 11th, 2006
12:26:27 PM
...
a great shame......
by giger167 Nov 11th, 2006
12:28:31 PM
This is like the 'smile' of the animation genre, a great work seemingly never destined to be completed. Oh hang on !! They managed to wheel Brian Wilson out and get that finished so why not get this completed as well. Someone phone John Lasseter from Disney and tell him to do whatever it takes to get this project finished while the principle makers are still alive, what better way to restart a disney 2D revolution than release this masterpiece.
Couldn't agree with you more, Moriarty.
by Sasha Nein Nov 11th, 2006
12:29:05 PM
Beautiful freaking movie, and such a sad, Gillamesque thing to happen to it.
Demonoid
by ran222 Nov 11th, 2006
12:45:02 PM
Could anyone who is a demonoid member maybe send me an invite. I am desperate to download the recobbled cut that is on the site, but I cannot get access to the torrent because I am not a member. I would really appreciate it. Please message me if you can help. Thanks.
The worst part is
by Bryan Nov 11th, 2006
12:57:52 PM
When the Weinsteins split with Miramax, this could have easily ended up in the Disney library, where the current regime would've been the best hope yet to get it restored. But because the Weinsteins "liked it so much" they chose it as one of the titles they took with them to their company. So now it's doomed to forever exist only in this artistic-war-crime of a bastardized version.

Miramax are the assholes responsible for turning the mute title character into a non-stop wisecracker (without lips moving) so they are more responsible than even Calvert for ruining this movie. When I watch it I have to keep it on mute, but turn the sound on whenever Zig Zag shows up. At one time there was an Australian DVD of it called The Princess and the Cobbler, which was apparently the pre-Miramax version (so it was still inexcusably mutilated, but at least didn't have the Jonathan Winters commentary track) but even that one wasn't widescreen.

Thanks for the article, Moriarty. There needs to be more coverage of this. I really believe that it's one of the greatest artistic injustices of all time. There has never been animation as good as this, and few movies have been so horribly disfigured by the suits. And then it was just dumped into theaters in a way that let everyone believe it was a quickie Aladdin ripoff (even though it was nearly 30 years in the making!).

By the way, Ziggy's Gift came out on DVD last year. I feel weird recommending a cartoon about Ziggy, but it's actually pretty great, with Ziggy being animated exactly as drawn in the comic strip, but completely three-dimensional. There is also a mute pickpocket character who is like a contemporary version of the thief.
what about a petition to get the director's cut?
by Gorgomel Nov 11th, 2006
01:34:16 PM
If I'm not mistaken, Warner released Richard Donner's cut of Superman 2 because of an internet petition.
Miramax's laserdisc was widescreen...
by Harry Weinstein Nov 11th, 2006
02:06:44 PM
...as was the Japanese DVD under the ARABIAN KNIGHTS title. As for Williams coming back to finish the film... don't hold your breath, as he refuses to even publicly talk about THIEF AND THE COBBLER. His son Alex Williams, also a first-rate animator, worked on THIEF AND THE COBBLER and may be the best hope of actually completing it one day. Pity this didn't remain at Disney...
Wow, Pixar totally lifted toy story of this guy
by DirkD13" Nov 11th, 2006
02:44:46 PM
They've just dropped a little in my estimation. Never ever heard of this film or Richard Williams, but I really wanna check out this workprint now! Fantastic story Mori.
Post
#256259
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256259/action/topic#256259
Time
Andy, I have no idea.

Esn, the Recobbled Rough Cut still exists if you prefer that edit. None of those musical cues are from Richard Williams' own vision, so I guess the point is just academic. I did bow to peer pressure in putting less Folk in the final edit, and there are good arguments for and against it.

In the end, it's just a music cue, whether edited ham-handedly by me or not.


Anyway, I'm writing because Arnaud's script has arrived! My friend Jason is going to hand it to me tomorrow at my going-away party. Many many many thanks to Arnaud for shelling out a HUGE amount of money to buy this incredible rare piece of Thief history .... the screenplay for what was then called "The Thief Who Never Gave Up." I am sure there is a huge amount of material in this script that didn't make it into the final film and I'm really, really excited to read it. This will be even more eye-opening than the Nasruddin script, significantly so since this is really the film we know, in its earlier as-scripted state ....

So once again we're gonna learn a ridiculous amount of bizarre trivia that makes us look at the film in a whole different way .... and I know I'm not the only one here who's nerdily into that. We've had fun here studying this little-known movie in too much detail.

So, that's tomorrow. I should be able to scan it in the remaining hours before the big move happens. OCR will fill the resulting text file chock full of typos, but I'll hopefully have time to correct at least some of it.


Many thanks again, Arnaud. I'm sending you a package chock full of DVDs -- I don't think it covers your generosity, but it should keep you occupied. =)
Post
#256239
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256239/action/topic#256239
Time
All the people who've asked for a copy of Star Wars Classic 2, I've done your discs and will have them in the mail this week.

I hope you like your mystery discs, those who asked for them. I tried to give good stuff.


I wanted to get everything done before moving -- my stuff is NOT moving with me, not yet, so we'll see what happens.

Dual layer discs are abnormally expensive (compared to single layer discs which cost a quarter or less), and for every disc I burned, another disc would fail and have to be thrown out. I had 6 bad burns in a row yesterday, very frustrating. An easy way to blow money on nothing.

So on that note, I'd like to especially thank those who, out of random kindness, sent tips to help cover my moving troubles. Really appreciate it. The gesture is very very nice, and it does help a lot. Anyone who sent tips, I gave you some extra mystery discs, enjoy them.


Looking forward to hearing the reviews as people get their discs.
Post
#256168
Topic
Army of Darkness - The Primitive Screwhead Edition (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256168/action/topic#256168
Time
There was apparently more material in S-Mart - Ash had a boss who was a jerk, or something.

I doubt there was THAT much.

No workprint has ever turned up for AOD. No workprint now even exists for Evil Dead 2 as far as we know, even though the special features on the laserdisc and DVD showed a huge amount of intense deleted creature FX.
Post
#255986
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255986/action/topic#255986
Time
Yeah, the 1.0 version was crap for picture/encoding quality, because of the way it was done. I learned a lot since then.


As for the opening shot, that screen grab does look a little weird but doesn't capture how it looks in motion. It looks fine on the actual DVD.

I might actually redo that shot though, because I'd rather the crawl not have any black issues period, even subtle ones.

I've already burned a lot of copies but this is a tiny change that I'm just doing for my own personal peace of mind really. Either version will suffice for copying.



UPDATE UPDATE!

The Classic Edition has been very slightly updated .... the opening shot has been cleaned up further.

Well, I guess this wouldn't be a Classic Edition if there weren't two versions floating around with just a tiny tiny difference between them. There was one for Empire and probably one for Jedi.

So yes, the opening crawl and shot of the Star Destroyer chasing the Tantive IV has been cleaned up further, now using 2004 DVD material for the entire shot with better black levels. This was a difficult editing and cleanup task, the most difficult of the film - the laser bolts were painted back into the shot frame by frame to avoid using TOO much of Shadowman's wonderful but not quite 2004-DVD quality restoration.

I still have to watch this on a TV to see how well it actually came out.


Because the difference is so tiny, I have no problem with sending out both versions. Some people will receive the first version, some people receive the 2nd, and you won't be able to tell the difference between them without a scorecard.

So I'm providing a scorecard .... In the form of a couple of DVD-ROM extras.

I've noticed that people really care about quality and have all wanted the dual-layer version this time round, believing me that when I said for once it's worth it.

So I guess I have to actually make the dual layer version a little more full of value.

I've included two special extras on the second version.

The first is an AVI file of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report from October 11th -- George Lucas was the guest star on The Colbert Report, as Stephen presented the finale to his epic "Green Screen Challenge" competition. My friend Bonnie Rose won the contest. Star Wars references abound including an appearance by Jar Jar Binks.

The second is a batch of DVD-quality M2V/AC3/AIFF files which present a better quality copy of the Star Wars skit from the Donny and Marie show, back in 1977. If you have my Return of the Ewok DVD you've seen this -- at only 12 minutes it's much shorter than the Star Wars Holiday Special, but somehow manages to be much worse ... It's the worst Star Wars related thing I've ever seen, and you have to love it for that, particularly if you enjoy horribleness like the Holiday Special. Donny and Marie Osmond play Luke and Leia - definitely the first time Luke and Leia were ever shown as brother and sister in an incestuous relationship. 6 years ahead of your time, guys. Redd Foxx is Obi-Wan, Kris Kristofferson is Han, Paul Lynde is Tarkin, Thurl Ravenscroft (Tony the Tiger) is Darth Vader, the Ice Angels are the stormtroopers on skates, Anthony Daniels is C-3PO, and we've got R2-D2 and Chewbacca. The whole thing is horrifying.

And this copy is better quality than was on Return of the Ewok. I have the entire show but due to disc space issues I'm only including the Star Wars related material - although more than was on Return of the Ewok.

Some people may not be able to play these files - the video is in M2V format and the sound is in both AIFF and AC3 formats. Newer versions of Quicktime will understand it though, and so will VLC. I present it in this format so that it will be incredibly easy to burn to your fan DVDs - M2V/AC3 is of course the traditional DVD video format.


So, that's how to tell whether you've got the SLIGHTLY altered Dual Layer version. A couple of weird extras.

Enjoy.
Post
#255795
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255795/action/topic#255795
Time
Jeez, dissing version one. I didn't think it was disappointing or that "ghosts" of the SE stuff could be seen.

But I've done a lot better this time round, in all respects.


I guess by image 8 you mean the shot of the Star Destroyer over Tattooine?

Looking at that pic on this computer monitor, the black levels are too bright, they've gone to grey, which looks a bit odd.


I should have actually done another lumakey pass on that shot to make all the blacks pure black.

I did lumakey passes on every shot to make the blacks pure black, but when doing heavy compositing like that shot, it couldn't always be done without encoding it twice. Which I did on the shot of Han saying "Yes, I'll bet you have ..."

Shoulda done it tho', black's pretty important in that opening shot.

Looked fine on the TV I watched it on tho'.


I don't mean to be defensive, by the way. It's always a bit nerve-wracking knowing that your work is being scrutinized in such detail but I'm glad people care about Star Wars enough to want a damn good version of it, I certainly do and that's the motivation behind this project of course.

I think you'll all like it. Like, a lot.


As far as how my compositing skills have developed, well, there WAS a Ronto in this shot at one point.

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab27.jpg

No Ronto now. Looks fine to me.
Post
#255767
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255767/action/topic#255767
Time
I'm actually doing orders now to try to get some in before the move. So any orders now would be nice, otherwise ... DELAY as I move.


I've always done some contrast tweaking to the sabers in my edits. There have been so many complaints about the sabers in the 2004 DVDs and honestly they don't bother me at all. But I know people complained about them and wanted to see changes made, so for Empire and Jedi I raised the contrast, and made the red sabers more red when I felt I could/should.

I did absolutely nothing special to the sabers for this version of Star Wars, which matches what I did in my 1.0 edit. In my 1.0 edit the picture was brightened already, so the sabers looked fine, I think I might have raised the contrast a bit in the Obi-Wan/Vader fight.

In this edit, maybe I should have done some special processing to certain shots in the Obi/Vader fight, but I just gave them the same basic color correction I'd done to every frame of the movie.

There were two shots where I wanted to restore the sabers to being white -- Luke training aboard the Falcon (first shot only) and the last shot of Vader after the Obi-Wan duel. So I used chromakey in the first case and GOUT footage in the second to restore them to white.

I do think the sabers look good in the Obi-Wan/Vader duel, that's why I posted that screen grab. There are one or two shots where the contrast is low enough that Vader's saber acquires that pink hue people hate, and I should have done Chromakey contrast fixes on those actually. I didn't think about that enough, since I thought the whole duel looked quite good with the color correction (which certainly helped the sabers get their bright white back).

Yeah, I think it looks good. Better than version 1 certainly!



The crawl is from the GOUT. The Lucasfilm and "Galaxy Far, Far Away" titles are new, based on screen grabs from various versions to look as good as possible.

I've been reminded why, as proud as I am of my "de-specializing" work, I shouldn't really post video samples online. On the web, people analyze screen grabs and video samples to death and make up a million problems that aren't actually there and don't exist and wouldn't bother anyone even if they did.

Whereas, when people see the actual DVD, there could be a million problems with it, and they wouldn't notice, just say it's great. (I've made huge mistakes that weren't caught for months - the first Star Wars Classic Edition and Deleted Magic are full of them - and been fooled by advance word on many fan discs that turned out to be poorly-authored.)

I find both those responses silly.

There are also people who are better at creating little web samples than they are at creating or releasing an actual DVD, and that's silly too.

I don't think there are any real problems with my DVD, and I'd rather not have people brainstorm with all their might to come up with some based on little web samples.

However, I'll continue to respond to any of your worries with my usual honesty.
Post
#255568
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255568/action/topic#255568
Time
Note on that Yavin temple shot that the people are the clear versions from the 2004 version.

>> Especially the opening shot of the 'Look Sir Droids' scene you have shown here - just before the camera starts to pan

Very proud of that scene actually, Look Sir Droids came out great. I don't think it came out that great in my first 1.0 attempt last year. Before it pans, the scene is all GOUT .... it changes to 2004 version with a simple wipe as the camera is panning. Very seamless.


>> and this shot on Mos Eisley, one of the worst shots on the GOUT.

Oh, a terrible shot. I've done nothing with it, I don't think there's anything you can do with it. I just left in the GOUT version.


One very tiny special edition thing I left unchanged was the shot where Luke sells his speeder. I tried to fix the subtle addition in the background, but it was difficult to do so and still have it be seamless.


I was definitely going for seamless this time round.
Post
#255507
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255507/action/topic#255507
Time

>>Can you post a clip of one of your heavy edited scenes? Stills don't really convey what it'll look like (though they are nice).

You've seen the first version, you can probably use your imagination.

>> And a question: when you used Laserdisc footage this time did you do anything to fix the film-bobbing that is present in that transfer versus the DVD?
In Classic Edition v1 when you merged DVD and Laserdisc footage in the same frame, I found it distracting because DVDs are still, but you get movement in the Laser material.

There is definitely bob and weave on the GOUT dvd. No way to fix that, but I did some smarter editing throughout to make it less evident when merging sources.
Post
#255486
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255486/action/topic#255486
Time
Pictures pictures pictures!

See all the pictures here! Seven pages worth!



If you want to hear about the problems I encountered and solved while editing this project, read along in the
OCPmovie News and Releases Megathread.

I decided to do my "have to figure out how to edit this thing" frustration blogging in that thread, so to leave this thread uncluttered.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q: Will you be doing a revised 2.0 version of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi?

A: No. I was never happy with my edit of Star Wars, but I am very happy with my previous versions of Empire and Jedi. There is no need to redo them, especially since the Moth3r PAL transfer was used as the basis, a very clear transfer.

Empire and Jedi were done in a very different way than Star Wars. The 2004 DVDs were "hacked" to become the original edit - you're literally watching the 2004 DVDs for 99% of the film, so the picture quality is impeccable.

Due to the botched color correction done on the films for the 2004 DVDs, I felt I needed to color correct the first Star Wars myself to make it look more 1977-like, and so I didn't just "Hack" the 2004 DVD. A much more complicated process, which I did fairly well back in 2005, but much better now.

Q: Is there anything you're unhappy with in this edit?

A: Very proud of all the places where Special Edition material was painted out. I did have a problem with occasional dropped/repeated frames throughout the film which I know how to solve now, and I wish I'd known about before doing this edit. Also I think my edits in the opening crawl are more obvious than I'd like. But overall, very very pleased.

Q: The menus were botched up on the original Star Wars Classic Edition - one or two of the chapter selection menus didn't work properly unless using a computer. Since you're using the same menus for this release, is this still a problem?

A: Yep. And I'm still not worried about it at all. Two of the chapter menus are just as botched as they always were, and sadly I still find this cute. I still don't know how to solve the problem so I still don't mind it.

Q: What was it like editing this version as opposed to the original Classic Edition?

A: It was a real joy to work with the 2006 Lucasfilm DVD. The laserdisc transfer on this DVD was very clear. The picture shakes constantly from side to side, so that was pretty annoying, but it wasn't actually a problem - especially since I'm only using brief snippets of laserdisc material in the whole edit. This cut is much more watchable and nice than either of Lucas' DVDs, or my own previous work.

Q: Why is the picture quality so improved on this edit as opposed to the previous 1.0 version?

A: The first edit was done using the MiniDV codec, which introduced all kinds of picture and color artifacts and lost a lot of clarity. It was also running at 30 frames per second, when it should be running at 24 frames per second, so the motion was pretty staggered. Also I didn't resize the picture properly and lost a LOT of clarity.

This time round I used the PhotoJPEG codec, resized everything properly and generally did things much smarter. I learned a lot in the past year plus while working on projects like the Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut.

I'm proud of my original edit, and had fun redoing all my work from back then in higher quality.

Q: What is the difference between the single and dual layer versions of this edit?

A: A dual layer DVD is twice the size (8 GB) of a single layer DVD. When a DVD is compressed down to single layer, there is a slight quality loss which can be seen as more blocky/soft compression artifacts and in extreme cases a subtle "strobe" effect, as the image becomes clear for a moment, then blurrier, then clearer, then blurrier ....

In the past, with Empire and Jedi Classic Edition, since I was "hacking" official DVDs which were very intelligently compressed, I had no compression problems even in the single layer version. It looked completely fine.

This time round, I was completely color-correcting and reencoding Star Wars, which is much harder than hacking .... and which makes it much more likely that the image will appear compressed in single layer form. So those who know what to look for will notice more compression, and strobing.

The single layer version looks fine, and I recommend it, but the dual layer version does look a bit better.


Q: How will this edit be released?

A: Like all my edits, via snail mail. Write me - *****. I am currently moving to Connecticut so there may be a delay in processing your discs. However, you would be helping me out at a crucial time in my life, so that's all good.


Q: What's your next project?

A: I am currently working on my own film projects, including two animated series .... I'm not doing many fan edits at the moment. I do intend to do a short bit of comedic editing - a "fanedit" mixing a tv personality together with a superhero. I have also been promising a much-expanded sequel to my very popular fan disc "The Bonzo Dog Band: Talking Pictures" for some time now, over a year I'm sure, so I'll have to actually make "Talking Pictures 2" at some point!

To see what I'm working on as I work on it, check out the OCPmovie News and Releases Megathread, where all new fanediting news will be posted, and for you Orange Cow diehard fans, my personal blog at FFrevolution.com, where I show what I'm working on with my own original movies and creative projects, and bitch about my life.
Post
#255485
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255485/action/topic#255485
Time
http://orangecow.org/starwars/trainingce2.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab57.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab60.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab27.jpg


From the editor that brought you Star Wars Deleted Magic and The Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut ...

Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0.

The brand new revised edition, for 2006.

It's the original version of Star Wars, not the way it was, but the way you remember it.

And now, better than ever.

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab12.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab15.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab67.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab16.jpg

If you saw my original Star Wars Classic Edition last year (June 2005 to be exact - it's now November 2006), you saw a lovingly-restored, DVD quality version of the original Star Wars. I wanted to create the best version of the original 1977 Star Wars that I could.

Now, I've redone my edit to have much, MUCH improved picture quality. It's like night and day .... people loved the original Classic Edition, but you can throw it out. As I used to say, "throw out your other Star Wars DVDs ... this is the only version of Star Wars you need."

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab17.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab31.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab45.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab4.jpg

My sources were both from Lucasfilm -- the 2004 Special Edition DVD with all its crisp DVD clarity, and the 2006 "original trilogy" non-anamorphic DVD.

I wanted to create an Original Trilogy Star Wars disc that would look as good as the 2004 DVD, but be the original version of Star Wars that you remember .... with a new 1977-style sound mix taken from the 93 laserdisc mix, with elements of the mono mix mixed in.

In short, my own ideal version of the original Star Wars - the only version I need. I think some of you might agree with that.

The disc is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital sound.

The 2004 DVD image has been slightly color corrected to be brighter overall.

All Special Edition elements have been removed, even Biggs. If you want to see Biggs or Jabba, you'd best pop in our supplemental disc - I think it's called Deleted Magic.

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab29.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab19.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab23.jpg

The opening shot has been restored to its former pre-2004 glory by Shadowman.

Original Trilogy shots have been edited in from the 2006 Lucasfilm disc, which is itself from the 1993 Definitive Collection laserdisc.

In many cases, the shot has simply been dropped in in the appropriate place, and is not jarring.

In other cases, Special Edition material has been literally painted out of the frame, combining the laserdisc image and the 2004 DVD image in the same frame. This results in a sharper image overall. Rontos and CGI Dewbacks were removed in Mos Eisley, Luke's Binary Sunset was restored to its original shape, and wipes/dissolves were carefully created so that 1977 elements could wipe to 2004 ones. Using a tiny dissolve to add some extra footage of Han talking, the Greedo scene was restored to its original timing.

The 1993 laserdisc mix is the source of the soundtrack, apart from several lines of dialogue which have been taken instead from the 1977 mono mix ... a 1985 (?) PAL TV airing of the film in the UK was used for these.

From mono mix:
+ All Beru lines
+ Stormtrooper: "It's secure, move on to the next one."
+ C3PO: "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations ..."
+ Stormtrooper: "Close the blast doors!"
+ Luke: "Blast it, Wedge, where are you?"

The mono mix was considered definitive at the time, so I thought it was appropriate to include the most notable changes from it, the final mix ever done back in 1977.

Menus and opening animations were created originally for the first Star Wars Classic Edition release - they lead into slightly altered versions of some of the the menus from the official DVDs, which I thought was appropriate for this disc considering.

The edit is now done.

Enjoy, folks.

My email remains: *****.


Menus from the original version, reused here ....

http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab1.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab2.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab3.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab4.jpg


I say it's "not as it was, but as you remember it" because this version is not based on any one version of the film that has ever existed before. I find that a lot of people remember the movie as being in stereo, with the original crawl and with the lines from the mono mix, etc ... so I've blended a few versions together to make the perfect version of Star Wars.

I DO recommend getting the Dual Layer version, and I've never said that before in my life. (My previous edits have shrunk down to a single layer without any trouble.) The single layer version is nice, but I can see the compression that was done to get it down to 1 layer.

I've used the old original menus from the first Classic Edition, and they look particularly compressed in the single layer.

Since I'm using the same menu system from the original Classic Edition, I've inherited the same little problems present in the menus there. I will report that the second chapters menu and the last chapters menu are the ones which don't work right .... If you're using a computer they work fine, but on a DVD player you won't be able to see what you're doing.

As before, I'm not too concerned because they're just chapter menus.


The special features are identical to the original release also.


-- Play with Isolated Score by John Williams
-- Fanmade "THX" Intro (Death Star Trench Run)
-- A really wonderful commentary track created for the Classic Edition, featuring dozens of members of the cast and crew.
-- Animated menus taken from the 2004 release by Van Ling.

The Classic Edition commentary, if you didn't hear it on my original Classic Edition release, is a wonderful thing .... edited together from interviews, and is definitely the best ANH commentary yet assembled.

Here is the list of participants:

George Lucas
Anthony Daniels - C3PO
David Prowse - Darth Vader
Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca
Kenny Baker - R2D2
Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher - Princess Leia
Harrison Ford - Han Solo
Garrick Hagon - Biggs Darklighter
Ken Ralston - ILM
Dennis Muren - ILM
Ralph McQuarrie - Production Paintings
Charles Lippincott - Former VP, Lucasfilm
James Earl Jones - Voice of Darth Vader
John Williams - Composer
Irvin Kerschner - Director, The Empire Strikes Back
Frank Oz - Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
Jeremy Bulloch - Boba Fett, The Empire Strikes Back
Matthew Carter - Bib Fortuna, Return of the Jedi

Subtitles pop up to identify the speaker.


A comparison between my 2005 edit, and this edit:
http://www.orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab8.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab54.jpg

http://www.orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab7.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab52.jpg

http://www.orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab5.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab65.jpg


A comparison between my edit and the official Lucasfilm dvds:

Lucasfilm 2004 DVD
http://orangecow.org/starwars/training04.jpg

Lucasfilm 2006 DVD
http://orangecow.org/starwars/traininggout.jpg

Star Wars Classic Edition 2.0
http://orangecow.org/starwars/trainingce2.jpg
Post
#255484
Topic
Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0 NEW from Ocpmovie (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255484/action/topic#255484
Time

http://orangecow.org/starwars/trainingce2.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab57.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab60.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab27.jpg

From the editor that brought you Star Wars Deleted Magic and The Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut …

Star Wars: Classic Edition 2.0.

The brand new revised edition, for 2006.

It’s the original version of Star Wars, not the way it was, but the way you remember it.

And now, better than ever.

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab12.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab15.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab67.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab16.jpg

If you saw my original Star Wars Classic Edition last year (June 2005 to be exact - it’s now November 2006), you saw a lovingly-restored, DVD quality version of the original Star Wars. I wanted to create the best version of the original 1977 Star Wars that I could.

Now, I’ve redone my edit to have much, MUCH improved picture quality. It’s like night and day … people loved the original Classic Edition, but you can throw it out. As I used to say, “throw out your other Star Wars DVDs … this is the only version of Star Wars you need.”

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab17.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab31.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab45.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab4.jpg

My sources were both from Lucasfilm – the 2004 Special Edition DVD with all its crisp DVD clarity, and the 2006 “original trilogy” non-anamorphic DVD.

I wanted to create an Original Trilogy Star Wars disc that would look as good as the 2004 DVD, but be the original version of Star Wars that you remember … with a new 1977-style sound mix taken from the 93 laserdisc mix, with elements of the mono mix mixed in.

In short, my own ideal version of the original Star Wars - the only version I need. I think some of you might agree with that.

The disc is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital sound.

The 2004 DVD image has been slightly color corrected to be brighter overall.

All Special Edition elements have been removed, even Biggs. If you want to see Biggs or Jabba, you’d best pop in our supplemental disc - I think it’s called Deleted Magic.

http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab29.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab19.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab23.jpg

The opening shot has been restored to its former pre-2004 glory by Shadowman.

Original Trilogy shots have been edited in from the 2006 Lucasfilm disc, which is itself from the 1993 Definitive Collection laserdisc.

In many cases, the shot has simply been dropped in in the appropriate place, and is not jarring.

In other cases, Special Edition material has been literally painted out of the frame, combining the laserdisc image and the 2004 DVD image in the same frame. This results in a sharper image overall. Rontos and CGI Dewbacks were removed in Mos Eisley, Luke’s Binary Sunset was restored to its original shape, and wipes/dissolves were carefully created so that 1977 elements could wipe to 2004 ones. Using a tiny dissolve to add some extra footage of Han talking, the Greedo scene was restored to its original timing.

The 1993 laserdisc mix is the source of the soundtrack, apart from several lines of dialogue which have been taken instead from the 1977 mono mix … a 1985 (?) PAL TV airing of the film in the UK was used for these.

From mono mix:

  • All Beru lines
  • Stormtrooper: “It’s secure, move on to the next one.”
  • C3PO: “The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations …”
  • Stormtrooper: “Close the blast doors!”
  • Luke: “Blast it, Wedge, where are you?”

The mono mix was considered definitive at the time, so I thought it was appropriate to include the most notable changes from it, the final mix ever done back in 1977.

Menus and opening animations were created originally for the first Star Wars Classic Edition release - they lead into slightly altered versions of some of the the menus from the official DVDs, which I thought was appropriate for this disc considering.

The edit is now done.

Enjoy, folks.

My email remains: *****.

Menus from the original version, reused here …

http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab1.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab2.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab3.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab4.jpg

I say it’s “not as it was, but as you remember it” because this version is not based on any one version of the film that has ever existed before. I find that a lot of people remember the movie as being in stereo, with the original crawl and with the lines from the mono mix, etc … so I’ve blended a few versions together to make the perfect version of Star Wars.

I DO recommend getting the Dual Layer version, and I’ve never said that before in my life. (My previous edits have shrunk down to a single layer without any trouble.) The single layer version is nice, but I can see the compression that was done to get it down to 1 layer.

I’ve used the old original menus from the first Classic Edition, and they look particularly compressed in the single layer.

Since I’m using the same menu system from the original Classic Edition, I’ve inherited the same little problems present in the menus there. I will report that the second chapters menu and the last chapters menu are the ones which don’t work right … If you’re using a computer they work fine, but on a DVD player you won’t be able to see what you’re doing.

As before, I’m not too concerned because they’re just chapter menus.

The special features are identical to the original release also.

– Play with Isolated Score by John Williams
– Fanmade “THX” Intro (Death Star Trench Run)
– A really wonderful commentary track created for the Classic Edition, featuring dozens of members of the cast and crew.
– Animated menus taken from the 2004 release by Van Ling.

The Classic Edition commentary, if you didn’t hear it on my original Classic Edition release, is a wonderful thing … edited together from interviews, and is definitely the best ANH commentary yet assembled.

Here is the list of participants:

George Lucas
Anthony Daniels - C3PO
David Prowse - Darth Vader
Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca
Kenny Baker - R2D2
Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher - Princess Leia
Harrison Ford - Han Solo
Garrick Hagon - Biggs Darklighter
Ken Ralston - ILM
Dennis Muren - ILM
Ralph McQuarrie - Production Paintings
Charles Lippincott - Former VP, Lucasfilm
James Earl Jones - Voice of Darth Vader
John Williams - Composer
Irvin Kerschner - Director, The Empire Strikes Back
Frank Oz - Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
Jeremy Bulloch - Boba Fett, The Empire Strikes Back
Matthew Carter - Bib Fortuna, Return of the Jedi

Subtitles pop up to identify the speaker.

A comparison between my 2005 edit, and this edit:
http://www.orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab8.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab54.jpg

http://www.orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab7.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab52.jpg

http://www.orangecow.org/starwars/swcegrab5.jpg
http://orangecow.org/starwars/ce2grab65.jpg

A comparison between my edit and the official Lucasfilm dvds:

Lucasfilm 2004 DVD
http://orangecow.org/starwars/training04.jpg

Lucasfilm 2006 DVD
http://orangecow.org/starwars/traininggout.jpg

Star Wars Classic Edition 2.0
http://orangecow.org/starwars/trainingce2.jpg

Post
#255466
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/255466/action/topic#255466
Time
I am very happy with my previous versions of Empire and Jedi. There is no need to redo them, especially since the Moth3r PAL transfer was used as the basis, a very clear transfer.



I redid Star Wars because I knew I could do it much better.


The menus will be the same original menus from the first Classic Edition, which I'm fond of. Due to compression they look rather blocky in this new version, but oh well.

All special features and menu navigation is/are identical to the original release - only the film transfer itself has been improved.

The GOUT menus make me vomit a little in my mouth.



This will be released via snail mail, as with all my releases. Email *****.




Star Wars Classic 2.0 is NOW COMPLETE.


It is NOW COMPLETE AND READY FOR YOU TO GET A COPY OF.



*****.


I've had a look at it, and it meets my standards, which I think are pretty damn high.

When I made the first Classic Edition, my goal was to create a better version of the original cut of Star Wars than had previously existed on DVD.

That was my goal this time too, and I feel I achieved it. It looks, sounds and feels like the original Star Wars, and all the edits done to remove Special Edition elements are seamless, often completely invisible.


I actually still managed to learn a lot from editing this thing -- I seem to learn a lot every time I do one of these edits, and my reaction after I finish any edit is always "Oh - I've figured it out now! I could do this edit so much better now - I wish I'd known this when I started. But oh well. I'll use the knowledge next time."

In this case, my real problem was frame rates. MPEG Streamclip wasn't recognizing the video as 24 frames per second video, and the eventual result was that throughout the edit, if you're watching VERY carefully, you'll see little dropped or repeated frames.

By the end, I'd figured out how to avoid this problem in the future. It's present in this edit, but it's a minor problem.

I really should stop admitting all my little mistakes. Most people won't notice any mistakes unless they've heard me point them out!


It really is a wonderful version of the original Star Wars, I think the best in existence.


I DO recommend getting the Dual Layer version, and I've never said that before in my life. (My previous edits have shrunk down to a single layer without any trouble.) The single layer version is nice, but I can see the compression that was done to get it down to 1 layer.

I've used the old original menus from the first Classic Edition, and they look particularly compressed in the single layer.

Since I'm using the same menu system from the original Classic Edition, I've inherited the same little problems present in the menus there. I will report that the second chapters menu and the last chapters menu are the ones which don't work right .... If you're using a computer they work fine, but on a DVD player you won't be able to see what you're doing.

As before, I'm not too concerned because they're just chapter menus.



The special features are identical to the original release also.




-- Play with Isolated Score by John Williams
-- Fanmade "THX" Intro (Death Star Trench Run)
-- A really wonderful commentary track created for the Classic Edition, featuring dozens of members of the cast and crew.
-- Animated menus taken from the 2004 release by Van Ling.
Post
#255325
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Using the M2V also introduced scaling errors (as were present in the first Classic Edition), as it was impossible to resize it effectively. I re-ripped the video in Quicktime, but this time round I resized the video to its true size of 740 x 480 before exporting it to PhotoJPEG.


I'm really glad I redid it. It looks great, sharp and clear the way it should be.


To get some additional quality (and thus "wow" factor) in the first moments of the film I'm actually considering using the video straight from the M2V the way I did in Empire and Jedi, but that would remove the color correction I've done so maybe not.


I was also able to redo the first shot of the film, the star destroyer chasing the blockade runner. I'd actually fucked this shot up bigtime without realizing it. Letting it run fast at 30 frames per second (dropping frames all over the place) ... etc.

The version of the opening shot I'm using is something that Shadowman created for me for Deleted Magic, a long while back. It was also used in the first Classic Edition. As you may know, the version of the opening shot on the 2004 DVD is really screwed up - whatever crazy filters they're using have removed the laser blasts from the shot, so you don't really see the ships firing at each other - it completely ruins the impact of the shot.

Shadowman went through and restored the blasts to the shot.

However, his version of the shot is slightly smaller and slightly lower quality than the actual 2004 DVD is.


To optimize the quality of this first shot, I've actually combined it with the 2004 version of the shot. At the beginning, you see Shadowman's version of the shot, but as the laser blasts get less and less you just see part of Shadowman's shot pasted over the clearer 2004 version - until by the end you're just watching the 2004 version.


So.




I'll let this thing render. There's nothing more to do now, apart from making the DVD work and checking for errors.
Post
#255246
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Hmm.

I was still having trouble with the first 11 minutes of the movie ... or minutes 2-11 rather.

Final Cut Pro was refusing to render the PhotoJPEG material .... just constantly stopping rendering. I wound up stopping and starting rendering constantly by hand, so that it would render a little bit at a time.

Eventually it finished, and I tracked down one problem - a bad frame that it simply refused to render. I deleted that frame.

Taking a closer look at the video for this part of the movie though, I realize that it wasn't a good idea to convert it to PhotoJPEG in Quicktime the way I did. The picture is full of scaling artifacts, and doesn't look nearly as clear as the rest of the film.

Since it is running at the correct 24 frames per second, and because it's only 9 minutes of the movie, and because it was so difficult to render, I've decided ... for the time being or just in general .... to leave it the way it is. The opening scenes won't be quite as good quality for those really viewing them carefully. Maybe it's not noticeable, but I notice it.


Hm.


I should have just done the first 11 minutes directly from the M2Vs. Maybe I should have done the whole movie that way. Maybe.
Post
#255146
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I will have a dual layer version I suppose. For once it seems like a good thing to have.


The lightsabers were not re-rotoscoped for the Special Edition. I know you're probably just talking about the contrast/color problems, but there's no need to use GOUT footage to fix that.

Just a little pet peeve of mine ...

A lot of people think there are changes made to the films that don't exist. Lucas changed relatively little in the films. THere's a lot of stupidity and superstition regarding the SEs. Someone watched my original Classic Edition, where clearly all the Special Edition stuff had been removed, and commented saying there was WAY too much Special Edition stuff still in there.

Some people think the holograms were changed for the SEs, or the sabers, or the ships, or the effects or EVERYTHING.

In short, some people are mentally retarded.
Post
#255036
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One of the little things I noticed when watching the test version of Star Wars Classic 2.0 was the matte boxes around the TIE fighters in the Falcon battle. The color correction I used brightens up the dark areas of the picture, so the matte boxes were incredibly visible.

A slight change of color correction and the boxes have disappeared for the final version.
Post
#255019
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I burned the first test copy of Star Wars Classic Edition 2.0 today .... I always need to do test copies and watch my edits on a TV screen to see if they really work and look right.


Overall I'm happy with it. The transfer looks good - very clean, and brighter than the 2004 DVD. It looks more like the original version. Brightening up the dark areas and taking the saturation down made quite a difference.

There are a few things I will fix, but these are very minor.


Unfortunately, this is the one time in my fan edits where having a dual layer copy will make a difference. I can clearly see compression artifacts from shrinking this edit down to a single layer.

The single layer looks fine, but there is a difference which there hasn't been in the past.



A major problem was frame rate. When ripping the video in MPEG Streamclip, the system was having trouble figuring out the 24fps framerate - it thought it was looking at 30fps video. Although very minor, there were some repeated and dropped frames throughout.

The only place I had a real problem was with the first 15 minutes-ish of the film .... On the official DVD there are alternate angles showing the crawl also in French and Spanish, and this has been the bane of my existence in all these Classic Edition edits, as it makes it impossible to rip the crawl and first shot in English - it's just a mess of three versions combined. (For Empire and Jedi I believe I captured the crawl analog, just watching the DVD).

Although not a problem here as I'm using a different crawl anyway, somehow this managed to confuse MPEG Streamclip completely for the first 15 minutes - I believe it thought that the film was running at 30fps .... quite a bit too fast .... and the video it ripped was a mess filled with constantly dropping-frames.

I wound up ripping the film about 7 times before I got it right ...

Instead of using MPEG Streamclip I just used Quicktime to convert the M2V video to PhotoJPEG. Quicktime understood it as 24 fps video without trouble. I wish I'd done that for the whole film, there'd have been no dropped frames.

It looks fine now.




Anyway, I should be done soon .... I will have to rerender the entire film over the next few days, just to make a couple of tiny changes .....


I did a whole new sound mix for this edit, even though I probably didn't have to, as it's basically identical to the original Classic Edition sound mix.


Party on.