Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by spanky87

I will never miss out on an opportunity to post this pic:

Ma Kanata.

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Sure, legions of them. And the opposite is also true, where the original artists changed their works, but their revisions are/were so unpopular, they were subsequently broomed. E.T.'s 20th Anniversary overhaul is maybe the most obvious example.

The original E.T. was suppressed after the 20th Anniversary version was released? If so, that must’ve been after the release of the 2002 2-disc DVD edition, which included the original version.

[JackStraw]

Originally Posted by myway

Hasn't Harmy basically said, as a LF employee, that they allow the Despecialized editions to exist bc they have no plans of releasing them and so it's basically a way to pacify us at no cost to them?

I thought Harmy was an English teacher.

Regardless, I'm always a little surprised that Lucasfilm doesn't actively go out its way to get those Harmy torrents shut down. Then again, I don't think they cannibalize the sales of the official releases much.

[myway]

Originally Posted by JackStraw

I thought Harmy was an English teacher.

Regardless, I'm always a little surprised that Lucasfilm doesn't actively go out its way to get those Harmy torrents shut down. Then again, I don't think they cannibalize the sales of the official releases much.

After the success of the Despecialized editions, he got picked up by some classic film restoration company and then, most recently, worked for LFL doing VFX on a film that won an academy award.

[BladeRunner2007]

Did Harmy ever restore the theatrical version of the PT?

[JackStraw]

Originally Posted by myway

After the success of the Despecialized editions, he got picked up by some classic film restoration company and then, most recently, worked for LFL doing VFX on a film that won an academy award.

Wow...good for him. The work he did on those despecialized edidtions with limited knowledge as to how to edit film and such was/is pretty remarkable.

[shinobipopcorn]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

The original E.T. was suppressed after the 20th Anniversary version was released? If so, that must’ve been after the release of the 2002 2-disc DVD edition, which included the original version.

I don't think "suppressed" is the right word... Maybe it was that TV airings were all walkie talkies and you had to have the DVD for the original. (I do remember that the VHS was only walkie talkie unless you had the old paper sleeve version.)

[Jar Jar Stinks]

Originally Posted by myway

After the success of the Despecialized editions, he got picked up by some classic film restoration company and then, most recently, worked for LFL doing VFX on a film that won an academy award.

"Petr “Harmy” Harmáček, who some of you may know for his fine Star Wars Despecialized efforts, worked on the visual effects for Blade Runner 2049 at UPP in Europe"*

[peschi]

4k77 is much better

[Roy_Batty]

Originally Posted by peschi

4k77 is much better

It's not that is it just Much better. it is also more authentic. the Despecialized editions are frankensteinian versions that use the Special edition blu-ray as their base. 4k77 is from a single, original 1977 35mm Technicolor release print, scanned at full 4K, cleaned at 4K, and rendered at 4K. So far more authentic a presentation. There off course is a 4k version non DNR, and a 1080p version that look absolutely amazing and really do replicate the experience of seeing the movie in a theatre in 1977. The only thing that is missing are the sticky floors and popcorn all over the place. and now the same team, TN-1 have turned their attention to 4K83, Return of the Jedi in 4K!

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

If a large majority of the general public doesn’t care what versions of the OT they watch, why would Disney go through the trouble of piecing the original versions back together? And how would they do it? Did Lucas leave behind a list of instructions that details every single cut made to the film, including all changes having to do with music, dialogue, effects, types of transitions, and the lengths of those transitions, including when music is supposed to fade out and how long those fades are, etc? I imagine there would be a huge amount of work to do and an OCD-level of attention to detail.

It's probably not really as difficult as you think, in fact for all we know they already did it. You scan the original negatives, which are the 1997 versions, then you scan the cut UOT negative that was removed. You just match it up with a reference and you're done. They did the same thing for entire television series like Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Files when they had to re-edit every episode from the raw film elements.

I honestly think there are more than enough people interested in this to make it worthwhile. Some people talk like it's a hundred online whiny fanboys, but I think there are plenty of Star Wars fans and just general cinema fans that really want to see this happen. If Lucasfilm finally released them it would be big news on every media news site.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

If a large majority of the general public doesn’t care what versions of the OT they watch, why would Disney go through the trouble of piecing the original versions back together?

A large majority don't care about remasters in general, yet we get them all the time. The market for movie enthusiasts is big enough to support such things, even for a movie like The Hills Have Eyes. So it's DEFINITELY big enough to make Disney money for Star Wars. Only question is if they CAN do it, contractually or elements-wise, as you discuss in the rest of your post.

[JackStraw]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

I honestly think there are more than enough people interested in this to make it worthwhile. Some people talk like it's a hundred online whiny fanboys, but I think there are plenty of Star Wars fans and just general cinema fans that really want to see this happen. If Lucasfilm finally released them it would be big news on every media news site.

I don't think the calls for them to release those editions are as loud as they used to be. Time goes on, the notion that they'll never be released settles in and folks just don't bother complaining anymore. Some get used to the changes, many others are young enough to have grown up only with the special editions. Then you have attentions being turned to everything going on with the current trilogy and the new Clone Wars.

Lord knows they'd regain a ton of goodwill from fans if they ever decided to release the unaltered OT just cleaned up. Throw in a limited theatrical re-release for each and you'd see Star Wars making headlines again for all the right reasons.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by JackStraw

I don't think the calls for them to release those editions are as loud as they used to be. Time goes on, the notion that they'll never be released settles in and folks just don't bother complaining anymore.

People were complaining since 1997. Longer than many adults today have been alive.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by JackStraw

I don't think the calls for them to release those editions are as loud as they used to be. Time goes on, the notion that they'll never be released settles in and folks just don't bother complaining anymore. Some get used to the changes, many others are young enough to have grown up only with the special editions. Then you have attentions being turned to everything going on with the current trilogy and the new Clone Wars.

Lord knows they'd regain a ton of goodwill from fans if they ever decided to release the unaltered OT just cleaned up. Throw in a limited theatrical re-release for each and you'd see Star Wars making headlines again for all the right reasons.

I'll add that the excellent fan-preservations are probably a factor as well. Harmy has practically become a household name to Star Wars fans, so I think that a lot of people who want them just get those or others that have been popping up.

Also probably a lot of Star Wars fans are still so pissed about The Last Jedi that they've temporarily forgotten the UOT issue

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Class316

People were complaining since 1997. Longer than many adults today have been alive.

The UOT wasn't really an issue until 2004, though. Still a good 14 years though. I was in high school when the Special Editions came out, and although I was perplexed at some of the alterations (the Han shootout thing, of course, and the Jedi Rocks sequence), at the time they were just cool alternate versions and a chance to see the films in theaters again. I had the VHS "Faces" release of the original versions, and I didn't bother picking up the Special Editions on home video.

It wasn't until the DVD release where people starting realizing "uh oh-- he's really not putting out the old versions." It didn't help that the DVD's added more changes from the prequel trilogy, and also they were terrible transfers with wrong color-grading and botched audio mixes.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

The UOT wasn't really an issue until 2004, though. Still a good 14 years though. I was in high school when the Special Editions came out, and although I was perplexed at some of the alterations (the Han shootout thing, of course, and the Jedi Rocks sequence), at the time they were just cool alternate versions and a chance to see the films in theaters again. I had the VHS "Faces" release of the original versions, and I didn't bother picking up the Special Editions on home video.

It wasn't until the DVD release where people starting realizing "uh oh-- he's really not putting out the old versions." It didn't help that the DVD's added more changes from the prequel trilogy, and also they were terrible transfers with wrong color-grading and botched audio mixes.

I remember complaints in the late 90s while in IRC chatrooms.

I guess the DVD releases also made it worse. Also the Internet was getting bigger and bigger around that time.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Class316

I remember complaints in the late 90s while in IRC chatrooms.

I guess the DVD releases also made it worse. Also the Internet was getting bigger and bigger around that time.

Oh, I'm sure people were complaining about things in the Special Edition back then. Back in '97 though all my "nerd-rage" was directed towards the cinematic ruination of Batman (Schumacher's Batman & Robin had released that summer).

But all those hot-topics about the UOT and releasing/preserving them and all that jazz weren't an issue yet. There was the 1995 "Faces" re-release of the originals on VHS and Laserdisc, which actually warned us all that it was the last release of the films in their original version, although nobody understood the gravity of what that meant at the time. Then in '97 you had the Special Editions. So you could pick what you wanted or both, and it was all gravy.

[bobbyh64]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

It's probably not really as difficult as you think, in fact for all we know they already did it. You scan the original negatives, which are the 1997 versions, then you scan the cut UOT negative that was removed. You just match it up with a reference and you're done. They did the same thing for entire television series like Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Files when they had to re-edit every episode from the raw film elements.

I honestly think there are more than enough people interested in this to make it worthwhile. Some people talk like it's a hundred online whiny fanboys, but I think there are plenty of Star Wars fans and just general cinema fans that really want to see this happen. If Lucasfilm finally released them it would be big news on every media news site.

But don’t they have to re-create certain things in terms of music and fades, wipes, etc? The Blu-ray of The Shining has numerous errors in terms of music fading out and fading into other pieces of music. Also, The X-Files box set uses the wrong font and some of the episode tag lines say “The truth is out there” when they were supposed to say something different. Of course these are small things, but with Star Wars I’d think they’d want to get every single detail correct.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

But don’t they have to re-create certain things in terms of music and fades, wipes, etc? The Blu-ray of The Shining has numerous errors in terms of music fading out and fading into other pieces of music. Also, The X-Files box set uses the wrong font and some of the episode tag lines say “The truth is out there” when they were supposed to say something different. Of course these are small things, but with Star Wars I’d think they’d want to get every single detail correct.

I take it back-- the situation isn't quite like the X-Files. X-Files was completely finished and mastered on SD master tapes, so all that post stuff like the text and tags had to be redone, and they made some mistakes.

With the Star Wars films, it should all be there, unless they were missing some of the negative. I'm no expert on how this stuff works, not by a longshot, and someone could correct me if I'm wrong but there shouldn't actually be too many obstacles in restoring a 4K version of the UOT for them.