Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4K UHD (1977-2019)

[gameguru]

Originally Posted by Azurfel

My dream 50th anniversary release would include proper restorations for all five major cuts of the OT

It is crazy how the original 97 Special edition is only available on VHS and LaserDisc. As I stated before it has a very nice color palette compared to the 2004/2011 SE, and reading some articles from back in the day Lucas spent a lot of time on this version in particular since the OT was in a state of disrepair by that time.

It always bugged me why Lucas would bother changing the colors again for the Lowry restoration when they had a perfectly good restoration to go from. I've heard it's because he wanted the OT to look closer to the PT, but in the process he clipped highlights, crushed blacks, and made everything go thermonuclear in the color department. I for one am glad he came back to his senses when the 4Ks were scanned for the ill fated 3D versions.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by gameguru

It is crazy how the original 97 Special edition is only available on VHS and LaserDisc. As I stated before it has a very nice color palette compared to the 2004/2011 SE

I'm not saying I do, but if I had 35mm scans of those versions I would say they look amazing

[HD Goofnut]

But the '97 cuts were so bad though.

[gameguru]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

But the '97 cuts were so bad though.

The only real terrible thing that I can think of thats exclusive to the 97 SE is the early CGI Jabba nightmare, and that weird scream Luke makes falling down the shaft in Cloud City. Everything else is standard Special Edition nonsense.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by gameguru

The only real terrible thing that I can think of thats exclusive to the 97 SE is the early CGI Jabba nightmare, and that weird scream Luke makes falling down the shaft in Cloud City. Everything else is standard Special Edition nonsense.

Yeah, Luke's Palpatine scream was so bad.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

But the '97 cuts were so bad though.

I miss the 1997 versions, NGL. They were what really ignited my love of Star Wars and I've got them burned into my brain, I still expect to hear Luke's scream as he tumbles down the air shaft in Empire.

Maybe someday in the distant future they'll do an a la carte version of these movies where you can pick and choose all your favourite changes

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I miss the 1997 versions, NGL. They were what really ignited my love of Star Wars and I've got them burned into my brain, I still expect to hear Luke's scream as he tumbles down the air shaft in Empire.

Maybe someday in the distant future they'll do an a la carte version of these movies where you can pick and choose all your favourite changes

Minus the emperor's hologram in TESB I vastly prefer the theatrical cuts for all three films.

[HeavyHitter]

For a lot of people, it comes down to their first experience with a film and their preference. It's a little bit like Close Encounters of the Third Kind for me. The first time I saw it was on the ABC Sunday Night Movie and it was the SE version showing inside of the ship. Most people are appalled at that scene, but I don't really mind it either although I prefer the DC, overall.

The worst single Lucas change for me is the editing done in Empire with the "Bring my shuttle" sequence. I found the editing and pacing so jarring hurting the momentum and score of such a great, dramatic scene. Seeing the full Wampa is the best change IMO, although I always prefer the originals.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

For a lot of people, it comes down to their first experience with a film and their preference. It's a little bit like Close Encounters of the Third Kind for me. The first time I saw it was on the ABC Sunday Night Movie and it was the SE version showing inside of the ship. Most people are appalled at that scene, but I don't really mind it either although I prefer the DC, overall.

The worst single Lucas change for me is the editing done in Empire with the "Bring my shuttle" sequence. I found the editing and pacing so jarring hurting the momentum and score of such a great, dramatic scene. Seeing the full Wampa is the best change IMO, although I always prefer the originals.

Changing Bring my shuttle along with You're lucky you don't taste very good are the worst changes in TESB IMHO.

[crissrudd4554]

The ‘97 SE’s are kinda a double edged sword for me. It was the Star Wars era I grew up in and much of that time is still very poignant for me looking back. Star Wars was popular again and I was at such a young age that it was almost like this was as close to being in 1977 as you could get. Walking into Toys R Us and seeing all the Power of the Force toys everywhere. Ahhh good times.

Then there’s the down side to it. The first trilogy set I owned was the ‘95 Faces set not realizing this was intended as the final video release of the theatrical cuts. I guess those words “One Last Time” just didn’t hit hard for me at 5 years old. On one hand I was in a very cool era that made Star Wars prominent again but sadly was also in a era that was erasing a previous era.

And that’s where I continue to stand with that. I could be far more accepting of ALL the changes Lucas has made to his films regardless of what year we’re talking about if he had secured a properly restored version of the originals to be packaged with it. Yes he doesn’t like those versions. Yes it’s gonna cost money to do but imagine how much backlash would’ve been minimized if both versions were packaged together?? Sadly it will always remain a what if.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

One of my siblings kiddos loves Star Wars and enjoys whichever version they are watching.

They are most familiar with the 2019SE and no complaints.

It would be nice to have the most optimal "original" versions of the films officially available that uses the recomposited shots and it might happen someday.

Should they have seen the GOUTs first, perhaps.

Ultimately what is most important is that they have seen SW and the bonus is that they enjoy the series.

At the end of the day, that is all that really matters to me.

The minutiae is for us older excessively fussy nerds.

[Martoto]

They had Luke screaming as he got sucked out of the window during the duel in one of the teaser trailers from 1979/80 for Empire, IIRC. There's a few funky SFX in the early trailers in fact.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

I sense a great disturbance in the Force.

As if a millionth newly created sock puppet account voice suddenly cried out in rants and has yet to be suddenly silenced.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by slimerprimer

All the special editions are terrible period

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

The ‘97 SE’s are kinda a double edged sword for me. It was the Star Wars era I grew up in and much of that time is still very poignant for me looking back. Star Wars was popular again and I was at such a young age that it was almost like this was as close to being in 1977 as you could get. Walking into Toys R Us and seeing all the Power of the Force toys everywhere. Ahhh good times.

Then there’s the down side to it. The first trilogy set I owned was the ‘95 Faces set not realizing this was intended as the final video release of the theatrical cuts. I guess those words “One Last Time” just didn’t hit hard for me at 5 years old. On one hand I was in a very cool era that made Star Wars prominent again but sadly was also in a era that was erasing a previous era.

And that’s where I continue to stand with that. I could be far more accepting of ALL the changes Lucas has made to his films regardless of what year we’re talking about if he had secured a properly restored version of the originals to be packaged with it. Yes he doesn’t like those versions. Yes it’s gonna cost money to do but imagine how much backlash would’ve been minimized if both versions were packaged together?? Sadly it will always remain a what if.

I was in high school when the Special Editions came out, and it was just awesome being able to go see the movies in the theater. I did think some of the alterations were kind of goofy, but at the time didn’t really think too much about it as a big problematic shift (I had those “Faces” tapes too, so having the originals wasn’t an issue at the time).
Hell I was okay with making alterations to the movies for fun— I actually thought IG-88 was added to Empire from the Shadows of the Empire video game and thought that was awesome! Turns out he was just completely missing from the pan and scan versions

[gameguru]

My first experience was with the 2004 DVDs in full screen *shudder* * shudder*. My uncle bought them for my birthday when I was like 6 or 8. My schools library had the visual encyclopedias as well and I checked them out whenever I could. I was completely sold on Star Wars from then on. There's just something so special about a galaxy far far away.....

[Krynoid-Man]

My first exposure to the original trilogy (I was already familiar with Star Wars in general as I'd seen Phantom Menace at the cinema by this point) was a friend's copy of the 1997 VHS box set (the one with the gold cover).

[Fang Zei]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Yes, that's what happens when the creator of that franchise is film-hating lunatic with zero taste.

Speaking of lightsabers looking wrong, what the hell happened during the color grading of The Rise of Skywalker? Why the lightsabers have not white but colored cores?

Actual glowing props on set.

Originally Posted by Azurfel

To emphasize: we can quibble about where the 4Ks fall in the tier list, but the transfer used for the 2011 BDs and the 2004 DVDs is the worst the original trilogy has looked on home video.

They somehow managed to make the lightsabers, which they redid from scratch using the prequel trilogy workflow, the wrong colors. Consistently. It's utterly baffling, and the (still mediocre) 4K transfer is a revelation in comparison.

My dream 50th anniversary release would include proper restorations for all five major cuts of the OT (six if George wants to have one last go at it), because however little i think of the changes made in the 2004 and 2011 revisions, they still deserve better.

I’d be fine with just the unaltered, ‘97, and whatever the most recent version is by that point. The unaltereds never made it past dvd (a technicality, as it uses a 1993 sd master) and, as mentioned, the ‘97’s never made it past laserdisc. That just leaves the mastered-in-hd 2004 dvd, and yeah, maybe not great to have it stuck at dvd resolution, but that’s already 99.9% identical to the 2011, which is virtually identical to the 2019 aside from “Maclunkey.”

The 2004 dvd version probably still has its fans, as it fixes continuity with the prequels but doesn’t have the later changes like rocks in front of Artoo, yet another version of the Krayt dragon call from Obi-Wan, blinking Ewoks, and Vader’s infamous “Nooooooo!”

The ‘97 version I think now represents an interesting middle ground. It has the cg vfx but doesn’t have the prequelisms that were added later. There’s probably a decent number of fans who might even prefer that version of the OT for those very reasons.

An ideal set for me would mirror the three movie discs from Blade Runner’s initial bd set, with disc one as the final cut, disc two the ‘97 version with the 2004 and 2011 versions branched in, and disc three as the unaltered.

Originally Posted by tylergfoster

Hmm. Was reading the replies and thought, maybe I don't need the 4K UHDs and I was considering the BD sets, but those look bad too? Crazy how one of the biggest franchises in film history looks like shit on home video. Now I'm hoping the 50th brings entirely new discs.

It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if George’s version gets freshly remastered from scratch yet again. The current masters already dated to at least as far back as 2012 when they were released in 2019/2020.

Originally Posted by Halloween_Jack

That’s pretty much where I am now, though I do enjoy Rogue One and Andor, though kind of consider those as alternate timelines or something. Thing is the original Trilogy represent filmic moments in time that can never be recaptured. I honestly don’t think those that grew up later can really appreciate just how huge these films where at the time. These days you get great special effects in routine TV adverts, apps on mobile devices and so on. It’s everywhere. But back then it turned films into ‘must see’ event movies. But the Star Wars trilogy also had fantastic actors, characters, scripts (mostly, though admit the well was just starting to run dry with ROTJ, much as I love it), and - of course - the scores!

I’ve long resigned myself to the fact that - much like modern Star Trek - modern Star Wars (Andor aside) exists largely due to mimicking echoes of greatness from the past. I was watching Close Encounters the other night, and was reflecting once again about what an uncredible era for genre films that was. Awe and wonder. I love that it’s all ‘real’. Hand-made. Organic. Human. Being extra inventive visually as back then we had no CGI. Scripts had to be stronger.

Rambling aside, will be interesting to see what they do for the 50th in 2027! Hoping for theatrical releases, of the original versions. Hey, a geek can dream eh?

Not only that, they were in many ways inventing the vfx tech as they went along.

Another reason an unaltered restoration would deserve a theatrical release, so people can actually appreciate how we got here.

Originally Posted by gameguru

The only real terrible thing that I can think of thats exclusive to the 97 SE is the early CGI Jabba nightmare, and that weird scream Luke makes falling down the shaft in Cloud City. Everything else is standard Special Edition nonsense.

I’m the weirdo who prefers ‘97 Jabba.

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

I could be far more accepting of ALL the changes Lucas has made to his films regardless of what year we’re talking about if he had secured a properly restored version of the originals to be packaged with it. Yes he doesn’t like those versions. Yes it’s gonna cost money to do but imagine how much backlash would’ve been minimized if both versions were packaged together?? Sadly it will always remain a what if.

This right here gets to the crux of the issue. If he’d included both versions on dvd like Spielberg did with E.T., his version would’ve simply been regarded as an alternative version, an interesting experiment, and not his original vision. That’s why it was just never a good idea for Lucas to make any changes. That’s what really should’ve remained a what if.

[milo bloom]

If George had actually done something that made sense and released the 97 SE versions on dvd around 1998 or so, I would keep them as a part of history but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy them now.

If they were included as a standard definition trilogy on one Blu-ray Disc in a bigger set, I might watch them again once but they wouldn’t be the reason I bought that hypothetical set.

[Atomic Salad]

Originally Posted by Fang Zei

I’m the weirdo who prefers ‘97 Jabba.

PlayStation 1 graphics aside, the reason that scene is stupid is because Han stomps on Jabba's tail without any consequences. It looks stupid and it is stupid because all Jabba does is go "ZOINKS! OWIE!" instead of telling Boba Fett to shoot Han for his insolence.

That stupidity could have been easily avoided just by having Jabba sit on a mobility aid (a hover/repulsor sled), which he would need to be mobile anyway. That way when Han walks towards him, Jabba could have flicked a joystick and spun himself around to so Han could pass by.

Hey George, if you're reading this post, send an email to Lucasfilm and request one last New Hope bugfix - Jabba deserves a hoverscooter

Thanks