Original Star Wars Trilogy Restoration

Lord Dalek · 09-22-2008, 04:55 PM

Ok this is what we know... The master film elements to the original pre-special edition Star Wars trilogy are in very poor shape. So poor that LFL had to reuse the old faces laserdisc masters for the 2006 2-disc releases. Heck the master negatives might have been junked for all we know.

However, as a result to your recent work on The Godfather, is it possible Bob to go do a reconstruction/restoration of these films to get a decent HD master out of em?

Patrick McCart · 09-22-2008, 08:19 PM

There's a whole chapter on the Star Wars restoration/digital work in "Into the Digital Realm" Great coffee table book on Industrial Light and Magic.

But it points out that most of the negative was usable. They did have to re-do a lot of opticals from scratch since the color reversal internegative stock had faded. Some shots were damaged and replaced either with dupes from the 1985 interpositive or color separation masters. And Lucasfilm seemed to insist the '04 remasters were from the camera negatives, but I guess the negatives have since been re-conformed?

Well worth a read if you can find it at a local library.

Keith Paynter · 09-22-2008, 08:20 PM

Forgive me for speaking ill of the dead, and ahead of Mr. Harris, but...

...I think you know what the answer is going to be.

Lucas prefers the new versions. The others are dead to him. (Pretty much) Nobody bought the reissues with the laserdisc masters.

Do I need to say more?

Charles de Lauzirika · 09-23-2008, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Paynter

(Pretty much) Nobody bought the reissues with the laserdisc masters.

Simply because they weren't anamorphic and in 5.1. If they had been, I and many others certainly would have bought them. But you know that.

Keith Paynter · 09-23-2008, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charles de Lauzirika

Simply because they weren't anamorphic and in 5.1. If they had been, I and many others certainly would have bought them. But you know that.

Ohhhhh, yeahhhhhh....

**HTF Ads**

Nicholas Martin · 09-24-2008, 12:22 AM

This has to be the ultimate "dead horse" topic, because we all know it won't ever happen no matter how wishful our thinking may be.

And we all know that.

andrea - jor el · 10-03-2008, 07:24 AM

perhaps a little out of topic, but do you know why the luke light saber during the millenium falcon training scene was green!! in the last special dvd edition?
how can it be possible all the lucas team don't correct this kind of stuff?

Oliver_A · 10-08-2008, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Dalek

Ok this is what we know... The master film elements to the original pre-special edition Star Wars trilogy are in very poor shape. So poor that LFL had to reuse the old faces laserdisc masters for the 2006 2-disc releases. Heck the master negatives might have been junked for all we know.

If the negatives are permanently altered, then why not scanning in a release print?

Here are scans from an original 70mm print, and they look quite okay to me, wouldn't even look too bad for an HD transfer, certainly more than adequate for an anamorphic DVD release:

Jedi1.Net Presents 70mm Star Wars Film Cell Scans.

Especially considering the fact that the scans were done on standard home equipment, not on a professional film scanner.

@Robert: would 70mm blow-up prints be a good source to do a restoration?

Douglas Monce · 10-13-2008, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver_A

If the negatives are permanently altered, then why not scanning in a release print?

Here are scans from an original 70mm print, and they look quite okay to me, wouldn't even look too bad for an HD transfer, certainly more than adequate for an anamorphic DVD release:

Jedi1.Net Presents 70mm Star Wars Film Cell Scans.

Especially considering the fact that the scans were done on standard home equipment, not on a professional film scanner.

@Robert: would 70mm blow-up prints be a good source to do a restoration?

There might have been some Technicolor dye transfer prints made in England in 77 that might look half way decent, but most of the prints made in the U.S. are likely fairly pink by now. Release prints of Empire and Jedi might look pretty good as a more stable film stock was introduced sometime after 1980.

Also scanning a a film cell for a still is not comparable to scanning a reel of film for use as a motion picture. Just because the images look okay on that print, doesn't mean that it will run through a projector or scanner.
Doug

Oliver_A · 10-14-2008, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

There might have been some Technicolor dye transfer prints made in England in 77 that might look half way decent, but most of the prints made in the U.S. are likely fairly pink by now. Release prints of Empire and Jedi might look pretty good as a more stable film stock was introduced sometime after 1980.

Wasn't Star Wars re-released in 1981? Funnily, the most faded print on these pages is Return of the Jedi.

Quote:

Also scanning a a film cell for a still is not comparable to scanning a reel of film for use as a motion picture. Just because the images look okay on that print, doesn't mean that it will run through a projector or scanner.

Well, it's not like Star Wars is a movie from the 1920's / 1930's...

What are you trying to tell? That the Laserdisc videomaster was the best possible attempt? The amount of detail on these pictures might be even enough for a HD release. On the Blade Runner 5 disc set for example, the rare workprint was also transferred from a beaten up 70mm print, and released in HD.

Why is it feasible for every other movie, but for Star Wars, everything is suddenly impossible? From what source did they remaster the original 1977 crawl on the 2006 DVD, which is NOT digitally recreated!