Lets talk all things Star Wars

Axlotl said:
That's my issue with the Special Additions. He didn't fix anything that needed fixed, he just threw in a bunch of junk that does nothing to service the story, and in fact often sabotages it by distracting from the focus of the scene or breaking the fourth wall entirely.
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That's largely the problem I have with them. I don't mind some of the minor technical adjustments made (i.e. busier Mos Eisley, blinking ewoks, adjusting mattes/removing garbage mattes), but when you get down to stuff like altering dialogue, musical tracks, or scene events, then George's whole "limited by the technology of my time" argument really goes out the window. There's a whole laundry list of stuff that STILL needs to be fixed, like the deactivating lightsaber error in the Wampa cave, but we got Vader screaming "no!" at the Emperor and "Maclunkey" instead.
 
Laspector said:
Actually, the special editions did fix the perspective problem of the cell block hallway. I agree with that one. One of the changes that very seldom gets noticed.
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That one is burned into my memory because after that release someone (the official Star Wars website, I think) put up a slideshow of all the fixes and they included every shot of the hallway. So there was like 50 slides in a row of the straitened hall.
 
Yup. From the time the Special Edition was announced, I was one of the ones all over it in the magazines, and discussing possibilities with the geeks I had access to back in '96 (newsgroups and AOL, pretty much). One of the top things I was hoping for, after matte cleanup, was fixing Obi-Wan's death. That shot has been and still is blatantly awful, for me, from childhood on. We go from Ben holding the lightsaber up, his hood back so his face is clearly visible... to the robe hanging from a fishing line with the lightsaber held in position with armature wires, no hands or face visible, obviously no body filling the cloth. It might have been less noticeable if George hadn't undercranked Vader's bisecting slash to heighten the drama of the moment, so we are staring straight at it for a solid second.

The only other thing I felt really needed any work in that film was the final battle. Starting on the ground, replacing the painted standees with dimensional things. Re-skinning the full-scale models to be more than just that one X-Wing and one Y-Wing standing in for multiple ships. And then, once they're up.... When Marcia re-cut it so the Rebels didn't go to where the Death Star was, it created the problem of there not being a forest moon receding behind the fighters as the pilots called in or a massive orange gas giant hanging in the sky for the entire battle. A more dynamic battle is nice -- if only they'd had time to do the ships individually... And that's the last little bit. The Stormtrooper officer reported to Vader that they'd counted thirty Rebel ships, but there were only a dozen or so miniatures. They padded the number somewhat to close to thirty with CG -- but currently only two X-Wing (all with Luke and Artoo) and one Y-Wing digital model repeated multiple times. I would dearly love to see all thirty, done individually, tracked through the 3D space of the environment, squadrons figured out and well-represented, no cross-cutting of this ship for that pilot, etc.

The detention block hallway was a nice touch, but never something I had trouble ignoring before. Way down my list.

For Empire, I'd've been happy with the fixing of the mattes and the snowspeeder transparency during the Battle of Hoth. I do like the opening up of Cloud City (but wish they'd taken time to fix the lighting and reflections). The new wampa footage is garbage and why "You're lucky you don't taste very good" was replaced with "You were lucky to get out of there", I do not know. Jedi...? "Jedi Rocks". 'Nuff said.
 
The one good thing about the Special Editions was that it was my first time seeing the original films on the big screen. My cousin claimed I went with him when I was 2 to see Jedi when it opened on a family outing, and while that may very well be true, I obviously have zero recollection of that. I do have some great memories being with friends and geeking out over seeing freakin' STAR WARS in the theater. So for that I'm grateful. Being a teenager and seeing them up there larger than life is still a thrilling memory. I've never seen them in the theater since. I missed all the local theater limited screenings in my area of CT, though hopefully some of the places here in NY (since I relocated in June) will show them and I'll get the chance to experience them again.
 
CT1138 said:
That's largely the problem I have with them. I don't mind some of the minor technical adjustments made (i.e. busier Mos Eisley, blinking ewoks, adjusting mattes/removing garbage mattes), but when you get down to stuff like altering dialogue, musical tracks, or scene events, then George's whole "limited by the technology of my time" argument really goes out the window. There's a whole laundry list of stuff that STILL needs to be fixed, like the deactivating lightsaber error in the Wampa cave, but we got Vader screaming "no!" at the Emperor and "Maclunkey" instead.
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For some reason the dialogue that really irks me is in ESB when R2 is eaten and Luke said in the prior version I saw, "You're lucky you don't taste very good." or something like that and now says "You're lucky to get out of their alive.". Or vice versa, I haven't watched it in a while.
 
Not to de-rail the discussion at hand. But I just saw this neat detail and I thought I'd share. I know not everyone cares for the Sequels. But I found this fun, I hope other do to.

In TFA, in Rey's AT-AT home she has a sketch of Ahch-To island.
RDT_20210817_2007501899395463967032573.jpg


Kylo mentions as he mind probes her that he sees the island that she sees as she sleeps.
And in TLJ Luke says. "You've see this place. You've seen this island."
"Only in dreams." Replies Rey.

-Edit-

well now I look stupid.....this is from a fan edit....no wonder I didn't see it before..... I'm just gonna blame it on baby that doesn't like sleeping and the 8 hours of driving I did today.....yeah that's a good excuse....ignore me ...carry on your discussion.....
 
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I was just thinking the other day, that George's tinkering isn't exclusive of the Original Trilogy. Even the Prequels have been altered from their theatrical releases. Its strange to think that you can't, aside from fan restorations,
watch any of first 6 films as they were originally released. Even the TFA had the credit music altered for the home release.
 
Joek3rr said:
I was just thinking the other day, that George's tinkering isn't exclusive of the Original Trilogy. Even the Prequels have been altered from their theatrical releases. Its strange to think that you can't, aside from fan restorations,
watch any of first 6 films as they were originally released. Even the TFA had the credit music altered for the home release.
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This is one more reason why physical media is favorable.
 
Joek3rr said:
But even the DVD releases that came out immediately afterwards, are still different from the theatrical releases of the Prequels.
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True. Pretty crazy huh?

I wonder if the prequel theatrical releases are available anywhere.
 
I have my widescreen laserdisc and VHS releases of the OOT, and am hunting for the Japanese Collector Edition laserdiscs, the widescreen VHS releases of the Special Edition, and the widescreen VHS Collector's Edition release of TPM. Given the sound mix and frame-cropping varied during the original theatrical release in '77 depending on full 70mm or anamorphic 35mm, different people in different theaters saw and heard different things, so there's no definitive "original theatrical version". So I like to think I have my bases covered for preserving it as close to the original as possible.
 
Inquisitor Peregrinus said:
The new wampa footage is garbage and why "You're lucky you don't taste very good" was replaced with "You were lucky to get out of there",
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Sluis Van Shipyards said:
For some reason the dialogue that really irks me is in ESB when R2 is eaten and Luke said in the prior version I saw, "You're lucky you don't taste very good." or something like that and now says "You're lucky to get out of their alive.". Or vice versa, I haven't watched it in a while.
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To nitpick: both of Luke's lines were heard in theatres in 1980. "... you don't taste very good" was in the 35 mm version and the "... to get out of there" was in the 70 mm version.

But yeah,... I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't think the former line is better. (except for the occasional younger person who had grown up with the SE and consider it to be the definite version because it is the original for her ...)
I wonder what GL thought: if he even knew then that there were two different lines, if he was oblivious or if it was a goof.
 
Barring very slight alterations like a different musical cue or a single line of dialog, those for me are nitpicks that don't alter the story or pacing in super impactful ways and I can live with them, even if I have certain preferences. Like the additional title card of Episode 4: A New Hope at the beginning of Star Wars is really not a big deal for me. I grew up with that version but I also like it's omission as it was when the movie first premiered in 1977.

When you get into adding entire shots with CGI creatures or omitting Clive Revell as the Emperor, or replacing Sebastian Shaw that's when I call foul. As for the PT alterations those also fall within the minor changes category above barring the CG Yoda in TPM, which actually looks better than the square jawed puppet they used initially in the 1999 version.

I recognize that some of these changes are a matter of preference, but it speaks more to how often these films have been tinkered with. I still stand by my argument that this series has had more revisions than any film in history and why that is, is frankly beyond me. You'd think that if they are held in such high regard that they would at the least preserve the originals properly. Instead it's left to the fans to honor film history. I think it would be better to let the consumer decide which version they like best, rather than strong arm them into only being able to own one official version that changes every few years and with each new viewing format. Every other movie like it that is considered a classic has been afforded a special directors cut as well as properly restored theatrical cut, even if it meant being offered as a bonus disc (if we're talking physical media) yet this series is the exception to that rule. While I own the Laserdisc transfers out of necessity, they are NOT proper restorations so those don't count.
 
Joek3rr said:
Not to de-rail the discussion at hand. But I just saw this neat detail and I thought I'd share. I know not everyone cares for the Sequels. But I found this fun, I hope other do to.

In TFA, in Rey's AT-AT home she has a sketch of Ahch-To island. View attachment 1485663

Kylo mentions as he mind probes her that he sees the island that she sees as she sleeps.
And in TLJ Luke says. "You've see this place. You've seen this island."
"Only in dreams." Replies Rey.

-Edit-

well now I look stupid.....this is from a fan edit....no wonder I didn't see it before..... I'm just gonna blame it on baby that doesn't like sleeping and the 8 hours of driving I did today.....yeah that's a good excuse....ignore me ...carry on your discussion.....
Click to expand...
i think that sketch would have worked great in the film. i still need to make me a pilot doll
 

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