haha, I'd venture a guess that some of them HAVE seen the Revisted cut, it's really visible now. The fact that I discovered it is a testament to its reach :D
Watched this last night. Adywan, you did a fantastic job and it truly was like seeing Star Wars for the first time with all the technical improvemnts you implemented. Absolutely loved the new sound mix. Here's the main things that struck me:
1. Pacing. Maybe it's just because I haven't seen ANH in so long, but this version seems a lot faster paced to me, even with the longer running time. I do miss some of the understated tension in the original, but the impact in this version is very strong, it feels more modern.
2. Tie fighters. Love the additions in the battle sequences! That looks like it took a ton of work. Great job.
3. Lasers. They look great, they did not seem out of place at all compared to the lasters in the original movie. I think people are just too used to that original Star Wars look because at the time it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
4. Additional music. It all fit in seamlessly and definitely gives it more of a thematic tie-in with the rest of the movies, but one thing I remember about ANH was the occasionally drawn out, tense filmmaking - without music - so I can certainly see why there is a purist version. I think both approaches are good in their own ways.
The only thing I was not a fan of was the inclusion of the SE CG footage in Mos Eisley, though I knew going into this that Revisited was based on the SE so it's not a complaint or anything. Still, I would love if there was a "Purer" Purist version, with no SE CG sequences, edited a little differently to still have continuity in those travel scenes. I know this would mean lifting footage from the original cut and all the extra work required to clean up those frames to match the SE frames, but that to me would be the ultimate fan edit.
In summary: amazing work, I can't wait to share this with friends and family who grew up with the original and get their feedback.
Thanks for all the info doubleofive. Unfortunate about the 1080p versions arriving a little too late, but what can you do. By the way - are you sure the broadcasts were 1080p and not 1080i? I didn't think anything was broadcasting at 1080p yet, but I'm not really aware of what's going on with European stations.
Either way I'm sure the current ANH: Revisited is fine at its normal DVD resolution and I'm excited to check it out this weekend. I skimmed through the Xvid just to get an idea of what it looks like and was extremely impressed. I am one of those guys who did not like any of the additional CG put into the 97 release, but in Adywan's version it looks a lot more tasteful and blends in better. I have to echo the sentiments of the other folks here who said that Adywan should've done the special editions to begin with!
Hey everybody. Just discovered this forum and project, and pretty excited to see the fruit of your labor, Adywan. I've been spending a few days lurking, reading through the many pages of this thread to accumulate all the relevant info and I seem to have arrived at a basic premise regarding video quality & number of edits:
Xvid < DVD-5 < DVD-9
Is that essentially correct? I have the Xvid, but am in the process of downloading the DVD-9 version and will definitely hold off on the Xvid if the above is true.
Second, have a couple quick questions about resolution. 1) Is your version the same resolution as the 2004 DVD source material? 2) And while it seems clear no high def remake will ever happen with the original movies, I assume Lucas is going to give the special editions the Blu-ray treatment - if that happens, do you think you'd want to make another Revisited edit, or just leave it alone at that point?
Thanks and looking forward to this.