Official: STAR WARS THREAD. These are the droids you're looking for. **WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

[lefty]

I've just finished the DS SW. It was great without all the dumb **** from the improved versions. ESB this weekend.

Thanks, Jr.

lefty

 

[dopey]



I find the "despecialized" versions a little distracting, since they're assembled from a bunch of different sources that are in varying degrees of repair. Not that that's unusual for older movies, but it stands out, especially when they're composited into one frame. Like Vader's fuzzy eyebrows, though I think that was fixed (or at least mitigated) in the new despecialized version.

Someone pointed me to a scan of an original reel of the first Star Wars movie, which, although a bit grainy, is more consistent and natural looking. I prefer it. I don't know if there's similar versions out there for the other two movies.

Maybe I am not that critical or perhaps the version I saw is better - I know there have been multiple re-tries and fixes, but I only noticed one odd shift in ESB. In fact I re-wound a few times to check (it was a slight color shift mid-scene). It is also possible that the original ANH has the most issues because it suffered from the most tinkering. I haven't gotten to that yet since I saw a version just before TFA. In any case, ESB was great.

 

[Texasmade]



I'd almost rather Disney keep the films in December and make it a new tradition.

Same here. A December release will allow me to catch it on an odd weekday where the theaters won't be as packed since my office basically shuts down for the last 2 weeks of the year.

 

[Jr Mouse]



Despecialized? I'll look into this. Is this a reference to the original version?

Dopey did a fair job giving the overview but I'll get into it again sometime in the morning. Dog tired and about to pass out. You can also search this thread for good info I've posted in the past on them.

Ataturk makes a fair point as sometimes the footage they use is a little rough. Still I find them the best all around versions available. All the changes Lucas made for the special editions are removed and more often then not the color balance is better then the recent Blu Ray editions.

Most of all they represent a love letter to the films. The amount of work that went into creating HD copies of the unaltered versions of these films is insane.

 

[Jr Mouse]

Something else worth watching are the Uncut versions. Art project that involved having hundreds of different fans recreate small pieces of the films then editing them together. Lucas Films found out about it and ended up giving them a seal of approval. It's fantastic stuff. Some of the bits people did are downright hilarious.

They only have ANH and ESB done so far and are still working on ROTJ.

http://www.starwarsuncut.com

 

[Suntory]

Doing THIS is suicide.

 

[grundletaint]

@Suntory knows how to party

 

[dopey]



Despecialized? I'll look into this. Is this a reference to the original version?

I'll let him give you the specifics, but I think it is a fanatical fan's restoration, de-stupidfying, re-color balancing and other edits to get the movie to look like the best, most sensible version possible. From what little I have read, it was an insane amount of work. In any event, the result is great.
On the other hand, I am watching his version of ROTJ and inside Jabba's palace is still an awful puppet show. And it will only get worse.

I find the "despecialized" versions a little distracting, since they're assembled from a bunch of different sources that are in varying degrees of repair. Not that that's unusual for older movies, but it stands out, especially when they're composited into one frame. Like Vader's fuzzy eyebrows, though I think that was fixed (or at least mitigated) in the new despecialized version.

Someone pointed me to a scan of an original reel of the first Star Wars movie, which, although a bit grainy, is more consistent and natural looking. I prefer it. I don't know if there's similar versions out there for the other two movies.

Dopey did a fair job giving the overview but I'll get into it again sometime in the morning. Dog tired and about to pass out. You can also search this thread for good info I've posted in the past on them.

Ataturk makes a fair point as sometimes the footage they use is a little rough. Still I find them the best all around versions available. All the changes Lucas made for the special editions are removed and more often then not the color balance is better then the recent Blu Ray editions.

Most of all they represent a love letter to the films. The amount of work that went into creating HD copies of the unaltered versions of these films is insane.

This "official" documentary/trailer partially explains the point of the despecialized versions and goes into non-technical detail on the various sources used and how they were spliced together:
[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

 

[Jr Mouse]

There is also this video which is marked as an extended documentary on the process and appears to be longer. Not sure which one I watch before as it's been a while since I viewed it. A lot of the footage here might be repeated.

The one I saw did a great job of explaining how it's not just an HD recontruction/restoration of the GOUT (George's Original Unaltered Trilogy), but how they went to great lengths to restore things like the color balance, black levels, etc.


[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

 

[Jr Mouse]

If @Lighthouse or anyone else needs help finding where to download these videos shoot me a PM.

 

[otc]

Sounds like Mouse has you guys covered...back when this first came up, I was going to try and stick the files somewhere easy for you guys to download without having to set up a torrent client or anything...but then I forgot.

If that would still be helpful, something can be arranged.

I find the "despecialized" versions a little distracting, since they're assembled from a bunch of different sources that are in varying degrees of repair. Not that that's unusual for older movies, but it stands out, especially when they're composited into one frame. Like Vader's fuzzy eyebrows, though I think that was fixed (or at least mitigated) in the new despecialized version.

I don't know when you watched it, but his current versions of SW and ESB are pretty seamless.

I haven't seen the new ROTJ, but his V1.0 of ROTJ still had some pretty bad special edition CGI in it...

 

[dopey]

I got a little over a third of the way through despecialized ROTJ and it is a mixed bag. The puppet show of Jabba's palace is ridiculous and not remotely credible. I know how much it would have cost, but if they couldn't put the effort into all the puppetry that was done to make Yoda believable in ESB than they should have just used human characters. I found the bad costumes and crude prosthetics very distracting. And I haven't gotten to the ewoks yet. It is a petty because the human scenes are quite good so far and the emergence of Luke as superhero Jedi (albeit contained and not at the crazy prequel level) was very good and suffered a little from the distracting puppets. The scenes with Vader and the Emperor are also quite good so far.
What I would love, though it would not be commercially sensible, is for Disney to go back and redo ROTJ, scene by scene, with good CGI put in place of the puppets and costumes (the orc-like creatures were the biggest offenders), but not re-shooting or changing the human characters.

 

[Jr Mouse]

The puppets in Jabba's palace were done in the style that was predominant in those days with the technology they had. Think The Dark Crystal and even a show like Fraggle Rock. I have always felt like while not "realistic" the Jabba puppets had a certain personality to them that helped with any form of suspension of belief I was struggling with.

I have always felt like the hatred for Ewoks was exaggerated, but understandable on the part of the community. All the Jabba stuff, I am fine with. It worked in the context of the film at the time it was made. I don't want them to touch any of it.

 

[otc]

The V1.0 ROTJ was the worst in the beginning.

Once they got off Tatooine, most of the bad effects ended (although perhaps my mind just got used to them so they weren't as jarring).

I mean, the ewoks were still ewoks, but nothing as bad as this:

 

[dopey]



The puppets in Jabba's palace were done in the style that was predominant in those days with the technology they had. Think The Dark Crystal and even a show like Fraggle Rock. I have always felt like while not "realistic" the Jabba puppets had a certain personality to them that helped with any form of suspension of belief I was struggling with.

I have always felt like the hatred for Ewoks was exaggerated, but understandable on the part of the community. All the Jabba stuff, I am fine with. It worked in the context of the film at the time it was made. I don't want them to touch any of it.

You can make an argument for the cackling thing that hung out with Jabba being o.k. But the orcs were terrible and in some cases, you can see the gloves flex where they are poorly fitted to show the hand underneath. It was awful. And saying they used the standards of the time is only partly true. Yoda in ESB shows what could be done at that time with enough effort and money. They didn't put the effort into the puppets and costumes at Jabba's palace, not because they couldn't or didn't think it would be better, but because it would have been a huge, expensive enterprise to invest that much in every little creature.

On the other hand, I don't mind at all the look of the scene OTC showed above. I guess different people find different things distracting.