Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Brandon K

I think that the easiest thing to ask for - and the most we can ever expect - is a proper Blu-ray release of the original theatrical version of ALL the Star Wars movies, alongside the latest version that George Lucas prefers of each movie. My memory is fuzzy and the websites going into this stuff vary in clarity, but wasn't the original Phantom Menace DVD not even the original theatrical version? I do realize it gets complicated with Star Wars and its 35mm vs 70mm, the dialogue heard in the mono soundtrack, etc.

If we can at least get something resembling an original theatrical version onto Blu-ray, anyone can edit their preferred version themselves, taking any bits and pieces they might personally like from the special editions. That's a lot less complex than trying to mix and match things that some fans might like - don't give them any bad ideas! And I'm including the prequels in this - so we'd have the original theatrical version of Phantom Menace with puppet Yoda.

Of course ideally we'd have a Blade Runner treatment, but I'd rather have semi-realistic expectations.

Not everyone likes to use editing programs for just a casual evening of movie watching - and what I was talking about was more along the lines of using branching to let the VIEWER select which changes they do or do not want to see when they sit down to watch the movie.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I would guess Disney will do either a pure, original cuts release on its own, or include that and the last versions already on BD. I can't see them bothering with in-between versions.

Agreed, I was trying to make this point to someone else on another forum who seems to think Disney will only do a 4K restoration of the 2011 cut. He thinks they want to make Lucas happy, but I said if that were the case they would not have rejected all of his ideas for The Force Awakens.

[Brandon K]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

what I was talking about was more along the lines of using branching to let the VIEWER select which changes they do or do not want to see when they sit down to watch the movie.

Yeah, but given the amount of changes, that sounds incredibly complex, both for them to make, and for the viewer. If they decided to make something like that, they would inevitably group together changes, and probably end up with combinations that wouldn't be liked. I just don't see them going down that route. But you never know.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Brandon K

Yeah, but given the amount of changes, that sounds incredibly complex, both for them to make, and for the viewer. If they decided to make something like that, they would inevitably group together changes, and probably end up with combinations that wouldn't be liked. I just don't see them going down that route. But you never know.

Yeah, I don't think they would go through something that complex.

I think the very best case it would be mono and the 6 track 70mm mix which would be converted to 5.1 or to 7.1? And it might just be the 7.1 given the way mono is left off so many restorations these days.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Yeah, I don't think they would go through something that complex.

I think the very best case it would be mono and the 6 track 70mm mix which would be converted to 5.1 or to 7.1? And it might just be the 7.1 given the way mono is left off so many restorations these days.

The six track mix is fine

[Geoff D]

Why would they have to leave off A New Hope? That's a change which could easily be branched in, unlike the myriad of SE changes. As for the audio, I could take or leave the mono but a 2.0 original Dolby Stereo, a 4.1 70mm and a 7.1 'final' remix would suit me fine.

I still wonder how far they'll go with the clean up though. Will we get the VFX transferred from the large format originals (a la Blade Runner Final Cut), will they remove the garbage mattes and fix the transparencies, sort out the 'vaseline on the lens' Mos Eisley shot, correct the colour of the sky in the "he's nowhere in sight" scene?

What I'd love is a version of the originals that the SEs SHOULD have been: tidy it up using digital tech but don't actually add anything that wasn't there originally. Does that mean it's no longer the absolute original original as it appeared in 1977? You bet. Would I lose sleep over that? Nope.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

You're still confusing the issues. You are still confusing mere ownership of the movies, by people other than the original filmmakers. The difference is that Lucas is both the original filmmaker as well as being owner up until the sale to Disney.

I'm not confusing anything. I'm simply focusing on a different aspect. You're focusing on why he was testifying. I'm focusing on what he actually said while testifying.

In his testimony Lucas didn't stress the rights and interests of artists, he stressed the rights and interests of the public. For whatever reasons, he chose to base his argument before Congress on the public interest. I believe the record is amply clear on that point. I believe it's also amply clear that GL was more than willing to ignore the very public interests he trumpeted before Congress when they no longer coincided with his own.

Does that make him a bad guy? No.

But it might maybe make him a bit of a hypocrite.

[Trax-3]

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

Are we gonna get the '77 cut of SW without 'Episode IV A New Hope' in the crawl

Here's the beginning of an IB print from '77 and 'A New Hope' is very much there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEctWVF4J_w

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Trax-3

Here's the beginning of an IB print from '77 and 'A New Hope' is very much there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEctWVF4J_w

That's a pretty amazing circa-1977 print to have "Episode IV: A New Hope" on it four years before that title was actually added to the film (i.e. the April 10, 1981 theatrical re-release).

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I would guess Disney will do either a pure, original cuts release on its own, or include that and the last versions already on BD. I can't see them bothering with in-between versions.

I'm very curious whether they will keep "A New Hope" or not.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if they also released the 1997 Special Editions. Wasn't the apparent 4K scan that was done confirmed to be those versions? (And by that I mean it was confirmed not to be the UOT, and the DVD versions onward only exist on those old digital masters).

I doubt they'd go as far as to release the 2004 DVD editions without the extra add-ons given to the Blu-Ray release. But I can imagine some kind of Blade Runner-style "Archive" release that has the UOT and 1997 versions.

[Optimus-Prime-Rox]

Very random, but who would ever want to go back to Jabba The Hutt just being a normal man? That is a change that shouldn't be undone unless they want to use Harrison Ford & another voice actor to redub the original scene to make it appear as though that big fat guy only works for/represents Jabba in his business dealings & isn't actually the real Jabba The Hutt.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Optimus-Prime-Rox

Very random, but who would ever want to go back to Jabba The Hutt just being a normal man?

That normal man wound up on the cutting room floor back in 77 (or 76, as the case may be) and I think most of us would want him to stay there.

[AintNoSin]

Originally Posted by octagon

That normal man wound up on the cutting room floor back in 77 (or 76, as the case may be) and I think most of us would want him to stay there.

That scene was redundant after the Greedo scene anyway.

[oldgame]

Originally Posted by Optimus-Prime-Rox

Very random, but who would ever want to go back to Jabba The Hutt just being a normal man? That is a change that shouldn't be undone unless they want to use Harrison Ford & another voice actor to redub the original scene to make it appear as though that big fat guy only works for/represents Jabba in his business dealings & isn't actually the real Jabba The Hutt.

He was suppose to be replaced by a stop motion fiqure. So you wouldn't have seen a man if they kept that scene in the movie.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Optimus-Prime-Rox

Very random, but who would ever want to go back to Jabba The Hutt just being a normal man? That is a change that shouldn't be undone unless they want to use Harrison Ford & another voice actor to redub the original scene to make it appear as though that big fat guy only works for/represents Jabba in his business dealings & isn't actually the real Jabba The Hutt.

Except the "normal man" was always supposed to be a stand in for a visual effect to be added later in post.


These days they do this:





The fat "normal guy" is the 1977 version of the grey suit.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by AintNoSin

That scene was redundant after the Greedo scene anyway.

Not only that, the Jabba reveal in Jedi was fairly impressive. Through camera angles and perspective tricks Jabba looked much larger and much more imposing in Jedi than the Jabba in that added scene.

Even before Han steps on his freaking tail the Jabba added to ANH takes a lot of the oomph out of the character.

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by octagon

Not only that, the Jabba reveal in Jedi was fairly impressive. Through camera angles and perspective tricks Jabba looked much larger and much more imposing in Jedi than the Jabba in that added scene.

Agreed. I also feel like the scene was added to get Boba Fett a cameo.

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by svenge

That's a pretty amazing circa-1977 print to have "Episode IV: A New Hope" on it four years before that title was actually added to the film (i.e. the April 10, 1981 theatrical re-release).

My Yoda in Heaven...

People are still trying to argue with THIS??

Yes, and Luke and Leia were always siblings, and it was intended from the very beginning that Vader was Luke's father (oh and Leia's eventually!)...

Oh my indeed. If only these folks read a book or three (Rinzler's official books being the best, as one cannot argue their authenticity) to learn how Lucas didn't even write the dang opening crawl to begin with, LOL...well, he did, but his sucked out loud, and Brian DePalma re-wrote it instead so it didn't sound so utterly ridiculous...), they'd be a lot more fun to talk with.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

Had Lucas' changes to the Star Wars OT been limited to special effects improvement only, there would have been no controversy.

And you know that, I'm sure. But a fanboy's gotta fanboy...

'Fanboy' is what fanboys call others when they find themselves posting on Star Wars threads on electronic media message boards. You think you're cooler, but I promise you nobody else does.

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Not everyone likes to use editing programs for just a casual evening of movie watching - and what I was talking about was more along the lines of using branching to let the VIEWER select which changes they do or do not want to see when they sit down to watch the movie.

That sounds WAY too complex. Its an interesting concept but I dont think itll sell well to the general public. If there was only a short list of changes it might fly but theres too many changes to the films IMO that it would make it easy to simply pick what changes we want.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Agreed, I was trying to make this point to someone else on another forum who seems to think Disney will only do a 4K restoration of the 2011 cut. He thinks they want to make Lucas happy, but I said if that were the case they would not have rejected all of his ideas for The Force Awakens.

I agree.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I think the very best case it would be mono and the 6 track 70mm mix which would be converted to 5.1 or to 7.1? And it might just be the 7.1 given the way mono is left off so many restorations these days.

I dont think preserving the audio would be a problem. Even for the theatrical cut I wouldnt object to a new 7.1 mix as long as the original tracks are included. Many current releases of films that have been remixed include the original track. Jaws springs to mind since it has a 7.1 mix and its original mono. For Star Wars I say include the mono and eaither he 70mm or 35mm track. The two latter sound very similar so itd be kinda pointless to include both.

Originally Posted by Trax-3

Here's the beginning of an IB print from '77 and 'A New Hope' is very much there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEctWVF4J_w

Then its the 1981 reissue then. The film did not sport 'Episode IV A New Hope' in the crawl until then. Its easy for people to confuse this as the 1977 theatrical film since the rest of film is for the most part in both the '77 and '81 cuts the same. Also all video releases of ANH other than the 2006 DVD feature 'Episode IV A New Hope' in the crawl.