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Star Wars '77 35mm restoration released
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Bobby Roberts
Banned
Why the fuck won't Lucasfilm/Disney release something like this already? Fans have wanted and been clamoring for it and basically pirating it for decades now. And I'm personally too stupid to understand how to get a copy of this or the Despecialized thing either. Dammit, just release a legit copy already and take my money!
gutter_trash
Banned
if these are original original cuts, does it mean that the matt cutouts are visible.?
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Depends on whether or not you've got your display calibrated correctly, usually.
I think 21st Century Fox still owns the distribution rights, and they don't want to cut their profits in a collaboration.
Also I think there is some bureaucracy with what is properly restored, that a solo project doesn't quite have to deal with.
I figure that Criterion usually works with way older/more damaged source material but still do excellent restorations and I can't imagine they have 8-10 mil per project to spend. I think maybe a tenth or less is reasonable but I obviously don't know.
in my mind there is no way this wouldn't be profitable unless they throw a lot of marketing behind it, show it in theaters and so on. hell, they could probably just outsource the job to criterion and make quick profit off it. it's an old movie and it doesn't have to be processed to look as sharp and clean as modern films.
I was going to leave this thread alone since it felt a bit awkward to be less than enthusiastic about this but:
This statement however is still accurate
This likely is wrong, and I just can't help myself. This restoration is taken from aged theatrical prints, which means that colours, black levels and detail were never going to be great (especially black levels). I'm not entirely sure what they've done in terms of restoration when it comes to colour correction, but objectively more accurate than the blu-ray this isn't. Some of the caps have a slight magenta sheen which isn't that uncommon with faded filmstock and accurately fixing this isn't easy to do without access to original materials. Overall the colours (from the caps and previews) look faded, not more natural and not more accurate . From what I gather they've used other old theatrical prints as a reference (please correct me if I'm wrong) which isn't reliable and I don't think it's especially unlikely that those were faded as well. I've taken a quick look at caps from the BD (I don't own it) and it doesn't look overly boosted or overly saturated to me (not saying that it isn't, just saying that it doesn't have the signs of an obviously botched transfer).
This statement however is still accurate
And to finish off by being less negative; it's a very commendable effort and they've done a good job considering what they had to work with.
Sectorseven
Member
What generation was their print?
the bd has crazy magenta levels, it looks awful tbh. contrast is also far too high resulting in crushed blacks.
Superblatt
Member
So where's the link to download? I don't see it anywhere.
No it hasn't and no it doesn't (To be perfectly clear, magenta levels do seem to skew high but it's not "crazy"). And I've only looked at caps-a-holic since they're usually the most reliable but I'm not seeing crushed blacks at all.
The original Spartacus release was awful, the original Le Samouraï release was an abomination, this is at worst disappointing.
Scorpion Soldier
Member
For legal reasons they can't simply put up the download link out in the open.
NDP_Mulcair
Banned
Also, if they would simply be putting the link in the open then we couldn't link to it on GAF.
let me jump in with that:
https://vimeo.com/124147988
https://vimeo.com/123475322
I mean..okay if you think that's not bad then alright.
chronos4590
Member
Cant wait to get in on this later on. Disney needs to finally just release the proper versions themselves its ridiculous.
In the mean time, im going detective mode on this release for the next few hours so I can watch tonight
In the mean time, im going detective mode on this release for the next few hours so I can watch tonight
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Using the term "disappointing" isn't really a positive assessment, though.
A lot of people weigh in on Star Wars' look without any greater frame of reference than other Star Wars fan-restorations, and opinions gleaned from those fans talking about doing the restoring.
exactly. somehow white lights turning pink is not crazy...
Essentially what Bobby is saying, I'm not arguing that the blu ray is amazing (or even that it's good). I'm just arguing that it isn't an abomination and that I wasn't seeing the errors in the same way (or in the case of the supposed black crush, at all) as Skinpop.
edit:
But it doesn't seem to do so in every scene, and even in that video not all lights are pink. Like I said I took a quick look and I agree that magenta skew high but not to the point where it's rendering every single scene unwatchable.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
Isn't this just piracy? Why support it?
I don't know why you say that "those people" should not be allowed to discuss about it. I mean that is what you are implying, right?
I of course can only weigh in as someone who watched the VHS from the 80s and every special edition since and the laser discs. but okay I'll just leave this thread.
it exists in every scene and no all white lights in that picture have become pinkish. in most scenes you can tell by everything looking a bit purplish, reds being too strong, skin color not being quite right and so on. obviously it's more apparent in some scenes than others.
look here for more examples: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/restoring-star-wars/6994818
also this http://www.abc.net.au/res/sites/news-projects/interactive-star-wars-changes/2.0.0/assets/video/Magenta.webm
the blu ray source has this magenta thing going on in every shot.
DiipuSurotu
Banned
Greedo was about to shoot though. I'm pretty sure it's grammatically ok to say that "Han shot first" when meaning "Han shot before Greedo did".
I should have been clearer, sorry. It doesn't turn white lights fully pink in every scene (and even in that video you posted previously the three lights on the left side of the screen, whilst suffering from the same heightened magenta levels aren't fully pink).
The magenta levels do indeed skew high in every scene, but like I said not to the point of complete and utter ruination in my opinion.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Nah, it was dumb. But it made for a decent, meme-able rallying cry, so it stuck. It sounds better than "Greedo Never Shot"
sure they are still watchable. annoying if you are aware of it but not much of a bother if you aren't I suppose.
They are releasing (for free) a version of the original Star Wars that is far and away a better quality than anything Lucasfilm has ever offered. I believe it is the 2006 DVD which has a very bad Laserdisc version on it that is the closest original version release that there is. But as Harmy has explained, the Laserdisc scan has issues with dragging in which something moving across the screen will drag its edge through multiple frames.
Without looking for long this was the only example I found of it. With Luke turning his head it distorts him for the time he is moving which ruins the image.
And so the intention of this team is to recreate the same experience that viewers in the theatre of the late 70's would have seen. Blu Rays are perfect image quality with alterations, Specialized DVD has no Yub Nub, etc etc. So by scanning some old 35 mm reels they acquired, they have tried to provide the experience of the original screening. Hope I explained things well enough from my limited understanding on the background of it all
Which was exactly my point. The blu-ray may be many things but "awful" it ain't. Just to illustrate what I'm talking about since I mentioned it before:
This is what the original blu ray release of Spartacus looks like (make sure to not mouse over), this is what "crazy" colour levels look like. It is quite literally unwatchable since you can't actually make out what is happening.
And because I never get sick of posting it here is Le Samouraï (yet again with the mouse over), this is the type of awful that hyperbole should be reserved for.
So this is my point of reference when I say that the Star Wars blu-ray at worst is a disappointment
7DollarHagane
Banned
I bought the blu rays in support but I actually enjoy watching the fan ones more.
ok I get your point. I guess for me I'm overly critical considering the heritage of THX and the technical focus Lucas put on film making.
funkystudent
Member
I hope one day we get a Bladerunner style box set of all the editions of star wars in HD. I bet they could get away with some crazy prices per movie if they did that.
Probably not gonna happen until the 4k push really starts and they have a reason to release a new version again though.
Personally I dont mid the 90's special editions but the constant fiddling Lucas has been doing with them since then has put me off.
Probably not gonna happen until the 4k push really starts and they have a reason to release a new version again though.
Personally I dont mid the 90's special editions but the constant fiddling Lucas has been doing with them since then has put me off.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Which is interesting, as I believe there is yet to be a Star Wars film finished digitally at a resolution higher than 2k. Your best bet at getting a true 4K resolution version of Star Wars at home would be a new restoration of the original elements of the Original Trilogy. You couldn't do it with the Special Editions, or any of the unnamed revisions that followed.
Sapiens
Member
No Shit. But this is many generations removed from the original neg, as they stated, hence the heavy amount of grain in this restoration.
At this point I've purchased the original Star Wars movies probably around 4 or 5 times.
I'm entitled to this.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
This isn't available to purchase anywhere. It's the equivalent of bootleg songs never released by a band, or a rom of an unreleased videogame. We should be thankful this is being preserved by the community.
I'd hope people who download this do buy the official releases too.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It's been in the film since the DVD. You really haven't watched a copy since 2004?
It is just a quick cut to Naboo at the end. Yes, it's a big fuck you to prequel haters.
Only three times.
Maybe I just don't remember, because I've definitely seen the versions with Anakin and the bluray ones as well.
But yeah, chalk that up to just not remembering at all. And it's been a while since I've sat down and watched ROTJ.
edit - *meant Hayden.
funkystudent
Member
Did the DVD version always have Hayden ghost?
Because Hayden Christensen force ghost in Jedi is when it crossed the line for me and I am not sure if that happened in the first DVD's or was that later in the process in a later DVD run.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Yup, it was on the DVD from the beginning.
I never loathed that change. It's kind of in the category of changes to make the films consistent, like changing the Emperor in ESB. It doesn't straight up bother me like adding distracting cgi creatures or changing music.
That said, I still rock the Despecialized editions and watch ROtJ as it originally was. I'm happy to see Sebastian Shaw and be reminded of how we saw Anakin before the prequels.
And that (along with the ghost change) was the end of the line for me and is the last time I watched Star Wars (except for some old VHS copies)
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
More or less, yes.
There were some small changes made for the VHS release back in the day, before the special editions. For example, ANH had "Episode IV A New Hope" added to the opening crawl... And Aunt Beru may have been dubbed with a different voice. Little things like that will not be there on the theatrical version.
But by and large it would be the same as what you got on VHS era copies, in HD.
funkystudent
Member
Looking at it now and the DVD's didnt get released until 2004-2005.
That explains why I have so many memories of the pre Hayden ghost version. All the versions that would have been on TV during the prequel run would have been the old versions.
Didnt realise it was released so late into DVD's life. Blu Ray (and HD DVD) where just around the corner then.
Then again I guess the BR release is kind of recent and the movies only made it onto digital stores last year. I guess they took the slow and steady approach to releases.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
The entire DVD era was people pining for Star Wars and Lucas holding out as long as he could. I think Disney is far more liberal about releases.
Yes, during the prequel era, you would have been watching the 1997 Special Editions on TV. Maybe in 2005 they moved to the DVD print on TV.
The original editions disappeared from TV real quick. I want to see that I started seeing the 1997 edition on TV exclusively as of 1997/1998.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Disney has probably released less catalog titles on Blu-ray than any other major studio. The only other one close to as bad on that front is Paramount. WB releases the most.
The new song has fucking pan flute, that alone makes it worse than Yub Nub.
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