Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[THUNDERSTRUCK]

Originally Posted by jay g.

what do you mean by "original trilogy"? Just episodes iv-vi packaged together, like this release:


or this:


?

Also, did you mean the original theatrical cuts of those films? Because those were never released on blu-ray.


Disney looks to be releasing the films on uhd blu-ray as a single complete set, and standalone, individual film, releases. So you can buy just the first three films, but as three separate individual releases, not a trilogy set. Also, they'll be the altered-in-2014 versions, not original theatrical or even 97 se or other previous revisions, although the 2014 cut retains most of the revisions, adding some more.

19623_large.jpg

[Jay G.]

Originally Posted by THUNDERSTRUCK

Attachment 236902

So you want a trilogy set of the original trilogy in UHD? Not going to happen. There's the complete set of all 9 episodes, and the individual releases.

Keep in mind those original Blu-ray trilogy sets were a way for Fox to squeeze a little extra money out of people who didn't want the complete set, since they'd have to buy at least three films. Also, they screwed fans out of most of the extras for the films they bought, since aside from the commentary tracks, the rest of the extras were on disc exclusive to the complete set. Fox didn't do standalone film releases on Blu-ray until 4 years later.

For the Disney releases, the standalone film UHD releases contain the same extras disc for each film that the complete set has, and it looks to be all the extras for each film that was on the Blu-ray complete set, and more. There's no reason to want a trilogy set except for to have a box that packages them together.

[Jay G.]

Originally Posted by koberulz

They've said it repeatedly, people just refuse to believe them.

There's never been an official statement from Lucasfilm/Disney since the Disney acquisition.

Kathleen Kennedy answered in the negative when once asked about releasing "altered" versions of the OT. However, based on the context, I think she thought the question was about further changes to the OT, not about restoring the original theatrical versions and releasing those.

Kathleen Kennedy laughs off the idea of changing George Lucas's last edit - Steele Wars interview - YouTube

J.J. Abrams mentioned in an interview he asked some higher ups about releasing the original theatrical versions, and was told that wasn't possible, for very vague reasons.
https://nerdist.com/article/star-war...ams-rerelease/
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/stat...60815821946880

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by koberulz

They've said it repeatedly, people just refuse to believe them.

I’ve said this to you a million times NO THEY HAVENT. Kathleen Kennedy and Pablo Hidalgo do not equal Disney! Plus the Kennedy interview everyone refers to was vague and technically did not address the subject of the OUT.

[Jlouisbarrett]

JJ Abrams basically confirmed it fairly recently by saying he’d asked around and it was “not possible.” It ain’t happenin’, at least while George is still with us.

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by Jlouisbarrett

JJ Abrams basically confirmed it fairly recently by saying he’d asked around and it was “not possible.” It ain’t happenin’, at least while George is still with us.

He said nothing about George in regards to that subject. He said he asked and was told that for reasons even he couldn’t understand it is not gonna happen.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

for reasons even he couldn’t understand

So something to do with basic astronomy then?

[Class316]

Found this interesting release of ANH

v1.1

What is this you ask? This is a "theatrical" reconstruction (mostly) of Star Wars using the Disney+ 2160p HDR version as it's main source.

This is not a pure theatrical reconstruction though (see below).
This is not a new Despecialized.

I call it D+77. aka DSNP77.

This is GOUT synced. My first inclination was to keep the extra frame since it's in 4k but since I'm not aiming for a true theatrical reconstruction it's better to accommodate all available audio tracks instead.

Sources used...
The 2160p HDR capture is used as my primary source since it's the highest quality out there so far.
My DNR of 4k77 shots are used to restore original shots where needed.
A 2160p SDR capture made by williarob was used to repair the Greedo hardcoded soft subs and 6 missing frames in the HDR.
The HDR source was missing 7 frames total. 1 after the crawl. Crawl and Flyover was replaced with original shots from new a 4k source. 6 others were together at the end of one shot.

Greedo subs...
The HDR capture unfortunately has the hardcoded Greedo soft subs. williarob managed to capture it at 2160p without any subs. Unfortunately his capture is a bit soft and blocky.
I layered the HDR on top of the other capture and made a hole where the subs were to reveal the layer below. It looks seamless.
On top of it all I hardcoded the original Greedo subs using the .sup file from Project Threepio. The subs in the .sup were a bit blocky so I added a bit of blur to them to smooth them out.

Audio...
I muxed in the English stereo, 5.1 and mono tracks but I used ac3 files instead of the DTS-MA files. Too many people have issues playing the DTS-MA tracks so it's more accommodating this way. I personally always convert DTS to ac3 anyway. I figure anyone who really needs DTS-MA could probably mux them themself.

Colour Correction...
For the HDR source I used the lut1 posted by age to tonemap it. A luminance curve was applied to the brights.
Replacement shots were CC to match the HDR after tonemapping.
A LUT by DrDre was applied to it all.
A final colour tweak by me was then applied.

Theatrical but not completely theatrical...
I restored most of the original 1977 shots of the film, removing most of the CGI and other unnecessary changes. My preference was quality over authenticity though.

Things I didn't restore and kept the D+ versions of...
- any recomposited FX shots or wipes that still used the original elements I use the D+ versions because they are higher quality.
- one shot of 3PO in the desert had a different sky in D+. I replaced the sky with 4k77 footage.
- The last shot of 3PO in the desert ends in a wipe to R2 as it tilts down. D+ kept because of much the higher quality. The R2 shot has 20 extra frames in D+. I removed the first 20 frames so R2 ends in the same position as the original. The tilt starts and ends at a lower point now which frames it better. I redid the wipe because of the change.
- Sand people looking down at the land speeder is D+. Different speeder. D+ looks better.
- The wide shot looking down at Mos Eisley is D+. It has tiny CGI ships added but the quality is much better in D+. D+ change also give life to an otherwise static shot.
- The shot of Luke selling his speeder has tiny little ships added in the distant sky. All but one ship removed just because I like it.
- The notorious drive-by shot is probably the grainiest and worst looking shot in the original movie. The D+ version is far superior but has the Ronto (large creature). SkyDude has used the force and removed the Ronto from the shot.
- The corridor in the detention block is D+. It looks better aligned.
- Lightsabers are unchanged from D+.
- The shot of Vader striking down Ben is D+. It fixes the bad looking robe FX in the original.
- Luke climbing into his X-Wing is D+. It's either an alternate take or edited different. If I didn't mention it you probably wouldn't have noticed since it's so similar.


Other than those the rest should be restored to the original '77 shots.


The opening titles and crawl are the latest 4k77 files (post v1.4) but newly tweaked for this.


My intent was to keep it as theatrical as possible, but I'm willing to sacrifice some authenticity for quality sake so some creative license was used in the process.

It's theatrical in spirit.


This is the version of Star Wars I'll watch until something better comes along.

[cb1]

got my copy of Rise of Skywalker from Disney - w00t!
cranked it up to "11" and it was awesome.
The ending sound killed my 20 year old subwoofer -
the baffles around the speaker which wore out over the years failed.

best looking and best sounding Star Wars in my opinion.

[kwisatzhaderach]

Originally Posted by cb1

got my copy of Rise of Skywalker from Disney - w00t!
cranked it up to "11" and it was awesome.
The ending sound killed my 20 year old subwoofer -
the baffles around the speaker which wore out over the years failed.

best looking and best sounding Star Wars in my opinion.

Too bad the film was garbage.

[rickah88]

Can’t wait to see IX, in a few days. Looks amazing.

[cb1]

Originally Posted by kwisatzhaderach

Too bad the film was garbage.

pfft it wasn't that bad.

[Jay H.]

The original theatrical versions of the original trilogy will never be legally released on Blu-ray or 4K. This is something most fans of a certain age (myself included) would love to own. The fan edits that are out there are the only way we'll get these. Unfortunate but true.

The original release of The Complete Saga on Blu-ray was $15 on eBay, so I bought it. I hadn't watched any SW film in 14 years. Some of the changes to the OT are dumb; some are quite good. I don't like the prequels but I still got my money's worth. Anyone holding out for the unaltered films should accept their fate and just buy the existing Blu-rays or the new 4Ks.

[RYJAPE21]

Originally Posted by kwisatzhaderach

Too bad the film was garbage.

[formula_nebula]

Originally Posted by kwisatzhaderach

Too bad the film was garbage.

After your highly informative critique, I decided not to purchase this film. Thanks for saving me 30+ dollars. If only you had posted sooner. I'm sure you could have saved many more members from making a bad purchase.

[Show spoiler]

[crissrudd4554]

Garbage? Nah. Best film of the saga?? HELL NAW!!!

[Class316]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

The original theatrical versions of the original trilogy will never be legally released on Blu-ray or 4K. This is something most fans of a certain age (myself included) would love to own. The fan edits that are out there are the only way we'll get these. Unfortunate but true.

The original release of The Complete Saga on Blu-ray was $15 on eBay, so I bought it. I hadn't watched any SW film in 14 years. Some of the changes to the OT are dumb; some are quite good. I don't like the prequels but I still got my money's worth. Anyone holding out for the unaltered films should accept their fate and just buy the existing Blu-rays or the new 4Ks.

I refuse to accept this. So I will never buy. I got blu ray quality harmy despecialized versions of the OT. Maybe less than 10 changes are good.

Some changes that are good:

• Improved light saber effects
  
• Cloud City visuals ESB (probably the greatest change)
  
• More Oola in ROTJ
  
• Biggs/Luke interaction in ANH (this way his death makes more sense)
  
• Real people in the ANH ceremony
  
• Better Wampa scene in ESB

Besides the changes that have been beaten to death, there's many little changes in those you don't notice off bat but are important. Such as

• the replacement of the Wolfman in the Cantina.
  
• The awesome Luke line in ESB "You’re lucky you don’t taste very good" changed to a boring "you're lucky you go out".
  
• ROTJ when Han says "it's alright, trust me" changed to "it's alright, I can see a lot better" to Lando. WTF?.
  
• Removing Darth Vader's eyebrows in ROTJ. WHY?

So I will never buy those. Though $15 does seem like a good deal just for the 3 prequels.

I am conflicted on which ESB Emperor scene is better. The original keeps the Emperor more mysterious. But Ian as the Emperor much better performance.

[j_sazin]

Got my 4K copy of Rise of Skywalker in the mail from Disney Movie Club yesterday. Loved seeing it arrive this early

[Shin sam]

Originally Posted by Class316

I refuse to accept this. So I will never buy. I got blu ray quality harmy despecialized versions of the OT. Maybe less than 10 changes are good.

Some changes that are good:

• Improved light saber effects
  
• Cloud City visuals ESB (probably the greatest change)
  
• More Oola in ROTJ
  
• Biggs/Luke interaction in ANH (this way his death makes more sense)
  
• Real people in the ANH ceremony
  
• Better Wampa scene in ESB

Besides the changes that have been beaten to death, there's many little changes in those you don't notice off bat but are important. Such as

• the replacement of the Wolfman in the Cantina.
  
• The awesome Luke line in ESB "You’re lucky you don’t taste very good" changed to a boring "you're lucky you go out".
  
• ROTJ when Han says "it's alright, trust me" changed to "it's alright, I can see a lot better" to Lando. WTF?.
  
• Removing Darth Vader's eyebrows in ROTJ. WHY?

So I will never buy those. Though $15 does seem like a good deal just for the 3 prequels.

I am conflicted on which ESB Emperor scene is better. The original keeps the Emperor more mysterious. But Ian as the Emperor much better performance.

I think the main problem with the revised Emperor ( even tho it's better ) is the angle of the face. It looks a bit silly. It's too face on. It would have been so much better if he was more hooded with a harsher voice. As for the changes, I can't stand the change of sinister music ( "you will be" ) on Yoda and the loss of "Bring my shuttle" in Empire. Having grown up with the original Mono Beru, having to hear the frankly terrible, cold Stereo voice over actress is also jarring.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by Shin sam

I think the main problem with the revised Emperor ( even tho it's better ) is the angle of the face. It looks a bit silly. It's too face on. It would have been so much better if he was more hooded with a harsher voice.

I agree if he were more hooded it would have been good. But showing the face as is ruins the ROTJ reveal (much like Jabba in ANH ruins his ROTJ reveal). The original image looks bad but also good in a way cause you don't really see how he looks like.

As for the changes, I can't stand the change of sinister music ( "you will be" ) on Yoda and the loss of "Bring my shuttle" in Empire. Having grown up with the original Mono Beru, having to hear the frankly terrible, cold Stereo voice over actress is also jarring.

Wait, you mean Lucas dubbed Beru's voice for the SE??

I agree on the rest as well. That Vader dialog change is terrible. Bring My Shuttle was the perfect tone and changed to the lame Alert My Star Destroyer For My Arrival.

Both Star Wars OT and THX 1138 truly goes to show you Lucas is sick in the head.

Speaking of THX 1138 I have a fan restoration that recreates the Laserdisc cut using 35mm film footage, laserdisc footage, and a dash of blu ray footage.