someperson

Continuing on the pizza trend...

SW is a huge freshly-made 18-inch pizza from your favorite Italian restaurant. It's a major sight to behold on the table, and you anticipate your first bite. The pizza doesn't disappoint, and you leave the table fully stuffed and satisfied.

ESB is that same pizza, but in a smaller size of 14 inches. Not as grand, but every bit as tasty. You can't help but want more.

ROTJ is the same pizza again, but slightly overcooked. It's still very tasty, despite some burnt bits here and there, and you're satisfied at the end.

The SEs are these pizzas but with ketchup squirted on them. The tasty stuff is still there, but you can't ignore the overbearing ketchup that got on everything.

TPM is a pizza delivered from Domino's. It's not nearly as good as the gourmet pizzas you had before, but it's still a pizza and it doesn't taste too bad. You're still very disappointed though because it wasn't what you expected.

AOTC is, well, one of these. It says "pizza" on the label, and it kind of looks like a pizza if you squint, but it isn't one. There's really nothing good to say about it.

ROTS is a cheap frozen pizza from the supermarket. It's edible, but there aren't too many toppings and it really isn't want what you wanted.

DominicCobb said:

We still don't know if Disney even has the ability to release the OOT, rights being with Fox and all. Boycott doesn't make sense.

Highway 61 for me!

Has anyone else even heard of this one?

I really hate the teal and orange look that this trailer has. To me, this makes it look cheap and overly fake. When will this trend die?!

Wow, now *this* is the Star Wars I grew up with! My dad recorded one of these USA broadcasts of all 3 movies when they originally aired. I was still a baby at the time, having been born in 1993, but when I got older I watched those tapes over and over again. I didn't even know of the SE's existence until I saw "Empire of Dreams" on TV one day!

That promo that JayArgonaut linked to really brings back memories, since it was at the beginning of the first tape.

From an objective standpoint, I'm pretty sure this is just yet another TV broadcast and probably has little preservation value. Looking through the rose-tinted nostalgia goggles, however, I would LOVE to have a copy of this! I still have my original tapes, but they're in poor condition from being watched so much over the years.

Chewtobacca said:

Harmy said: It's technically the same as if he was giving bootlegs of the official BDs as a "free gift" with the LDs.

 That's a clever way to put it.  Let's hope it achieves something.

ANH, ESB, ROTJ: VHS recordings of an OUT airing in the early '90s on USA Network. My dad used the pause button to edit out most of the commercials while it was airing. I watched these tapes a lot as a kid, and didn't even know about the SE until seeing Empire of Dreams on TV.

TPM: I watched it on Fox in 2001, and recorded it while cutting out the commercials like my dad did with the OT.

AOTC: Saw it in the theater. The copy I watched repeatedly when I was younger was a copy of a fullscreen VHS tape from Blockbuster that I made.

ROTS: Saw it in the theater, and I have the DVD somewhere. Lost interest in the PT entirely not long after this.

Okay, I've watched ROTS. Overall, it was definitely better than AOTC, but I'm unsure about where I would place it compared to TPM. They're both fundamentally flawed movies, but in different ways, which makes them a bit difficult to directly compare.

Anway, on to what I actually liked:


The opening space battle. This was nicely done, and I think it's about the only scene in the whole PT with Hayden Christensen that isn't terribly annoying. Unfortunately, it takes a turn for the worse once we meet the droids, but I digress...

Ewan McGregor. Like in AOTC, he's doing great here. I like the scenes where he's tracking down General Grievous (not the actual fight), and his reaction to Anakin's turn is very emotional and seemingly genuine.

Palpatine's seduction of Anakin. He has this down to an art form, knowing exactly how to appeal to Anakin's jackassery. Ian McDiarmid deserves a lot of credit here.

The scene with Anakin and Padme looking across Coruscant. Very emotional (something sorely lacking throughout most of the PT), and not forced like some of the stuff that comes later.

The transition to OT-style designs. Okay, it was rather rushed, but it was still pretty cool to see.

The soundtrack. I didn't praise this for AOTC because it seemed rushed in that movie, but John Williams is great again here, with music nicely fitting the scenes being shown. Very emotional.

The closing scenes. The last shot itself was a nice throwback to ANH, and the scene with Vader and the Emperor watching over the Death Star was nicely juxtaposed with this.


In conclusion.... I badly need to watch the OUT (thanks Harmy!) to get the memories of these crappy movies out of my head :)

Baronlando said:

Tobar said:

It's not that new. I got the same response from almost everyone I tried to discuss it with back at Celebration IV in 2007. Same occurred at a Clone Wars screening I attended in 2010.

 Wow, that's amazing. I mean it's not even a complete thought. The movie had a few very slight variations before '97, so....what? Do nothing? There will be chaos if they put out a great looking blu-ray that doesn't have them all? So dumb.

All right, I've watched AOTC, and I didn't care for it at all. Some of you may be about to call me crazy, but I think it's an even weaker movie than TPM. This surprised me, since I don't recall thinking that way when I was younger.

Anyway... on to what I actually liked:


Ewan McGregor. I didn't think much of him in TPM, but he shines here in AOTC and obviously carries the movie.

Obi-Wan's scenes in general. He's on an assignment, tracking down information to find out what's really going on. It's actually pretty well done, and I think if you skipped past all of Anakin's scenes (blech!), you might actually have a half-decent movie.

The fight between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett on Kamino. It was nicely choreographed and believable. I especially like the part where Obi-Wan kicks Jango over the edge while still tied to him ("Oh, not good!").

Christopher Lee. He's a great actor; it's just a shame he wasn't given very good material to work with. His only particularly good scene was when he reveals the Sith to Obi-Wan, which was actually nicely done.


ROTS coming up soon...

I lurk here at OT.com from time to time but rarely post. Anyway, when I saw this thread, my first thought was simply "the prequels are terrible". Then I thought about it and realized that I haven't actually *watched* the prequels in probably around seven years. So I've gone ahead and started rewatching them, all from the official Blu-rays, starting with TPM.

Something that surprised me was that there were actually moments when TPM seemed half-decent. Unfortunately, it would never be very long before something happened that made me cringe/facepalm.

Anyway, on to what I actually liked, since that's what this thread is supposed to be about:


Liam Neeson. I thought he was perfect as Qui-Gon Jinn, and his character seemed like the kind of experienced Jedi I'd expect to see. Qui-Gon seems like the kind of person who would be a great mentor, and I feel like he has a lot of personality.

Ian McDiarmid. I thought his performance was great, despite working with poor material. He does a great job of portraying a slimy, manipulative bastard, perfect for his character here.

The visual designs of various locations, specifically Theed City, Gunga City, and Coruscant. A lot of effort was obviously put into the design of these places, and I think it really paid off. They look fantastical and alien, and certainly not out-of-place in a Star Wars movie.

The duel with Darth Maul. This was very well-choreographed and seemed pretty believable for the most part. The part with the force fields was an especially nice touch, and I liked how Qui-Gon reacted to being cut off from his enemy by just calmly sitting down. That's exactly the way I would expect to see a well-trained Jedi react.

The scene where the droids come out of the vehicles, activate, and march on the Gungans. Seems like an efficient way of transporting battle droids, and like something an evil force might actually do.

The soundtrack. As usual, John Williams did a great job here. One of the tracks that particularly stands out in my mind is "Duel of the Fates", which is absolutely perfect for the Darth Maul fight. It builds tension and adds a sense of grandeur to the scene. Another one is the Naboo victory song, which I can't seem to get out of my head.

Watto. I can't say I'm a big fan of Watto or anything, but I feel like he's worth mentioning as a CGI character who actually works. The CGI isn't in-your-face, and his personality seems perfectly in-place. To put it simply, I think CGI characters who could just as easily be human are the best kind, because they blend in naturally with the scene rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.


Next up, AOTC. Expect a report tomorrow after I watch it.

Word of this is rapidly spreading. I saw it mentioned in an IRC channel yesterday, and it was even mentioned on the radio this morning.

BuddhaMaster said:

I have my own question following my previous poster:

I love this project and I've following it for about 3 weeks. I realize that this is a restauration of a original Technicolor print reel, from the original movie that was probably in the cinemas back then when the movie was released.

Did the original theatrical release, or does this Technicolor print contain any scenes or alternate takes that were NOT present in the first home entertainment release for this movie (VHS or 8mm prints).

 I see that George Lucas had a urge to change things spontaneously or post work. So do many other directors and there are many classic movies that were slightly different on their first theatrical release and on their first home entertainment release. When Empire Strikes Back came to cinemas nobody knew that Darth Vader is gonna say "I'm the father!".

Blade Runner is probably another good example and there are many more movies.

There are just a few bits and takes altered from it's original theatrical presentation.

I wanted to ask if this is true for Star Wars? I've never seen the original (really original!) theatrical.

Or was the first home release (VHS) an exact print of what was shown in the cinemas?

Can I expect to see ANY greater or minimalistic changes, like alternate timing, or sounds, alternate takes? That would be very interesting to know.

Mavimao said:

Before on the blog, they would have videos showing different parts of their project. There was the opening credits, the entrance to Mos Eisley, etc. they had a counter of how much footage per reel they had cleaned up. This is far from being 1) a hoax and 2) a private venture a la Mike Verta.

I really don't care if it has as much detail as the BD or not. I'm just glad to see these films finally being properly scanned and released in a relatively high quality form. Remember that the closest thing we have right now is the GOUT, which isn't exactly a good version of the films by even 2006 standards, let alone today. Team Negative1, through massive efforts, is finally supplying what we have been wanting for years. Will it be perfect? Of course not. But I'd have a hard time thinking of a way to accomplish anything better, especially given that higher generation copies of the films aren't going to suddenly find their way out of the vaults.

So unless Disney decides to restore and release the original films, I think we should just be happy with the best thing we can get, with many thanks to Team Negative1.

darth_ender said:

Lately I've developed an interest in the AOTC theatrical version.  Anyone have an idea of how to get this?

Oh, I hope this project isn't dead.

AntcuFaalb said:

My LX-900s (I own two) are both still being serviced by Duncan of laserdiscservice.com.

I'll be able to start capturing when I get 'em back.

I'm planning to TooT.

I understand. Take all the time you need. I'd rather wait and have this done right than have it now but not as good.

Ok, here's the best I've been able to get after post-processing Moth3r's video tonight in VirtualDub:





I'm still working on it. For these shots, I didn't use Avisynth at all. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can make it better, please tell me. I am mostly concerned with the loss of stars in the shot. For comparison, here's an original, unprocessed frame:

Moth3r said:

Check your PMs.

ChainsawAsh said:

I just finished rendering out a 720x480 h.264 mp4 (7500 kbps) version of Adywan's AVCHD opening crawl and first shot (since you'd have to replace the first shot of the GOUT as well, as the starfields wouldn't match exactly regardless of whether you're using the 1997/2004 version or the 1981-1995 version), with no sound, if you're interested.

Moth3r said:

So you no longer want the crawl from my LD transfer? I ripped it, but never got around to uploading it (my PM to you is still unread).

Knightmessenger said:

The unaltered dvd's have the moon on the left only half visible like the 2004 versions while every pre special edition ANH has the moon visible in full. Why is that? Does anybody know why the moon looks the same from 2004 and 1977 but not 1981-1995?

Any updates? I am excited about this project. I just hope it doesn't fall into vaporware like the XØ Project.

I was recently given an LD rip from a friend. Overall, I think it looks OK, but I have a slight problem with it.



Does anyone know how to get rid of that red haze?