Original Star Wars Trilogy Restoration (1 Viewer)

[Oliver_A]

Here is a surviving Polish print of the original 1977 pre-ANH version:


Rescued from being burned. Again, looks quite unfaded to me.

 

[Carlo_M]

Wow, awesome find Oliver! Very cool piece of movie history.

 

[Shad R]

Does anyone remember a few years ago, when HBO showed all of the Star Wars movies in HD...in OAR? I remember how much better the OT looked compared to my DVD's. I can't remember if they were the altered versions or not though. Anyone?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The altered versions. I believe the HD broadcast was made from the same master that the DVDs were sourced from, though don't quote me on that.

 

[Carlo_M]

Can you remember if it was Greedo or Han who shoots first?

 

[tls36]

I was a big laserdisc fan and yes, the THX Ultimate Edition CAV version discs look better to me than ANY of the DVD's Mr Lucas released! Doesn't George have enough money? Talk about greed - he could realese Blu versions that would be gorgeous but he won't until he thinks he can get top buck for them. It is a knock against him as a filmaker to not deliver the best image and sound for his fans.

 

[Patrick McCart]

The special edition cut (16x9):
[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/1/13/htf_imgcache_36763.jpeg] [/url]

Theatrical cut (4x3 LBX):
[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/3/3e/htf_imgcache_36764.jpeg] [/url]

Bootleg rip from laserdisc (said to be the best available):
[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/0/01/htf_imgcache_36765.jpeg] [/url]

I guess the laserdisc looks better if you haven't renewed your prescription on eyeglasses.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Saying a laserdisc version of the same transfer is better than the dvd version is like saying your date looked better the previous night after you had a couple of drinks. You're masking its crappy analogue-ness with an additional layer crappy analogue-ness.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

In all fairness, I think he was comparing the overall LD presentation to the non-anamorphic DVD presentations. I've seen both - and due to the NTSC aliasing on the DVDs - which are somewhat masked on the analog LDs, the LD presentation, overall, does seem better. The NTSC aliasing isn't going to show up when comparing still frames of the various sources. By the way, the LD audio also totally blows away the audio provided on the non-anamorphic DVD presentations.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Okay, can we go back a bit, and could someone please fill in the blanks in my confusion--

I thought that in 1997, when the Special Editions came out, Lucas said that he had to do restoration work then, to get the films up to releasable quality? If so, this begs the question: if he indeed restored the original masters 12 years ago, where are those restored masters NOW? Because anyway you look at it, the original footage used throughout the S.E.'s looks pristine. (Except for that nasty matting on some of the fighter ships which no one bothered to remove...)

 

[Geoff_D]

For the SEs, the original negative of the first movie was disassembled so that physical cleaning could take place. If LFL then re-assembled it using new film-outs with all the '97 changes added in, then it's possible that Lucas' claim that the first flick doesn't exist any more is quite true, from a certain point of view.

But even if the negatives have been irreparably fiddled with, the interpositives created in the late '80s (the transfer of which we saw on the CAV LD boxset, subsequent 'Faces' set and the non-anamorphic DVDs) should be serviceable enough for creating new HD transfers.

But as has been said many, many times, the only thing standing in the way of a proper OT restoration is Lucas himself.

 

[Carlo_M]

I don't have the proof, but I thought I remembered reading, perhaps on this very forum in a post of his, a standing offer by RAH himself to work on it. After the bang-up job he did on The Godfather films, it saddens me even more that more than likely he will never be taken up on his offer.