Star Wars Blu-rays in the Works

[canofhumdingers]

My advice? Don't waste your money on the blurays. Go get the HD Despecialized editions by Harmy (a member of originaltrilogy.com). ESB is done. ANH version 1.0 is out, & great, but he's about to release version 1.2 which corrects some minor flaws, so I'd wait & just get the newest version. He's also currently working on (& almost finished with) ROTJ. Then you have the closest thing we'll likely get to the original cuts of the original trilogy on bluray for some time (&, while I know i've championed them ALOT, they really ARE fantastic!).

As for the special features, just keep the set you have. I haven't been following the bluray news very closely b/c I have zero interest in them, but I don't think Empire of Dreams is going to be included... And apparently one of the vintage documentaries included had the narration redubbed sometime in the last few years. It's unknown yet if the actual narration script was changed, but that seems pretty likely if something in the original no longer jives with the current official lucasfilm sanctioned version of Star Wars history...

[Dr Kain]

Oooooooooooooooooooookay, so now we are allowing the sales of bootlegs to be done?

^^^Yeah, it'd be like if someone blew up an aircraft carrier that the president and vice president and many high-ranking generals were on.

there wouldn't be dancing in the streets of this country...

Well it depends, if it allows us to get rid of our entire government and the corporations that own them, then, yes, I would.

[canofhumdingers]

who said anything about selling?

[kiryugoji04]

Yeah, they're totally free for download.

I also want to chime in and agree that Harmy's despecialized editions are FAN-F*CKING-TASTIC. Lucas' Blu-rays can suck it, I have the editions I want now!

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, they're totally free for download.

I also want to chime in and agree that Harmy's despecialized editions are FAN-F*CKING-TASTIC. Lucas' Blu-rays can suck it, I have the editions I want now!

If they are a free download, how are they Blu-Ray? No matter what kind of quality a download is, it can never top an actual BD copy. Even a BD rip will never look or sound as good as the actual disc version.

Anyway, you mind PMing me where I can get these? I am curious to see what you are talking about.

[canofhumdingers]

It's called AVCHD. It's a hi-def file type that can be burned onto a dual layer DVD-9 with a standard dual layer burner and played back on most bluray players. And you're right, it's not as good as an official bluray because there's less disc space to work with & so the file is more heavily compressed. The versions Harmy made are native 720p as opposed to the standard 1080p of bluray, but I'm not sure if that has to do with making the file smaller, or the fact that he was working with a capture from a 720p source... Probably the latter.

At any rate, the Despecialized versions ARE hd (albeit 720p) and they look friggin incredible. And while an officially produced bluray would certainly be better (assuming lucasfilm pulled their collective head out of their butt & actually made a decent transfer with high quality-control standards...), until we actually GET an official bluray of the real Star Wars trilogy I'll be sticking with projects from people like Harmy and Puggo* for my Star Wars viewing experiences.



*Puggo transferred a 16mm print of Star Wars to video himself, at home!! He did his own telecine, encoding, everything! It's not the highest quality as the print was pretty beat up and red shifted, but it's an awesome "grindhouse-y" experience to watch. And now he's transferring a 16mm print of The Empire Strikes Back, which is in MUCH better condition and promises to be a really spectacular project. And I should mention that, while the prints he's transferred aren't in the best shape, the transfers themselves are REALLY well done and accurately reflect (as much is possible) what it would be like to watch the actual print projected in person.

[canofhumdingers]

Oh, & just to clear the air a little about bootleg talk....

These are fan-made efforts to preserve and enjoy something that the owner (Lucas) will not. They are not for sale, & the intent is that you own the original sources used to make the various projects (so, if it's a fan edit sourced from a dvd, you should own the original dvd if you want the fan edit). This is, admittedly, walking a bit of a tightrope in some grayish legal areas with respect to copyright, so your mileage may vary.

Also, I don't think I'm violating board rules by talking about the projects or the board where the people who make them convene, as I'm not discussing where or how to get the projects (fyi, they aren't on the msg board...).

Oh, and it's also worth noting that Lucas enjoyed making his own edits of films he admired when he was in school, which is pretty much what people at original trilogy are now doing with Lucas's films... Kind of ironic, no?

[jellydonut25]

^^^Yeah, it'd be like if someone blew up an aircraft carrier that the president and vice president and many high-ranking generals were on.

there wouldn't be dancing in the streets of this country...

Well it depends, if it allows us to get rid of our entire government and the corporations that own them, then, yes, I would.

celebrating the deaths of hundreds of countrymen just because you disagree with them politically is pretty messed up...


i loathe the current political regime but if somebody bombed Congress during a State of the Union address, i'd probably cry my eyes out...


like kiryugoji said, there's no way they'd be celebrating on Coruscant...even going the horribly cold and emotionless route of 'the loss of life isn't that big of a deal' they wouldn't be celebrating on Coruscant because it would mean the end (or beginning of the end) of their time as the center of the galaxy and a bustling hub of economic prosperity...

[canofhumdingers]

the ROTJ Despecialized HD is now available. Mine is burning as we speak.... So excited! And in a few weeks, Harmy should have v. 1.2 of ANH out where he's corrected a number of glitches in the first release, as well as redone some of his despecialized shots so that it's even more seamless & accurate to the original! One BIG thing (to me) that he's redoing is the lightsabers in Ben & Vader's fight.

Here's a preview he posted on youtube (I think the most telling shot to illustrate the difference is Obi-wan's saber at 0:07...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ReF_G3 ... tu.be&hd=1

[mr.negativity]

From The Digital Bits:
The 2011 Star Wars Saga Blu-rays - First Insights


From /film:
The ‘Star Wars’ Films Have Been Changed Again On Blu-ray
[quote="Germain Lussier"]
Most of us are aware that the entire Star Wars saga is going to be available on Blu-ray come September 16. We also know that the films on these discs will be the Special Editions, not the original versions, meaning Greedo still shoots first, Jabba still appears two films too early and a bunch of aliens still sing “Jedi Rocks.â€

[Stark Rhavyn]

I'm surprised Lucas doesn't want to digitally add in Anakin's padawan somewhere in EP.III to make that Clone Wars show he's so involved with make more sense.

[Dai]

I'm surprised Lucas doesn't want to digitally add in Anakin's padawan somewhere in EP.III to make that Clone Wars show he's so involved with make more sense.

I seriously doubt Ahsoka is going to make it to the end of the Clone Wars TV series alive.

[king_ghidorah]

http://www.badassdigest.com/2011/08/30/ ... f-the-jedi


F you George. The "Special" Special Editions sound horrible...

[kiryugoji04]

wtflucas.

[lhb412]

It's now canon: Vadar's response to anything he disapproves of is yelling "NOOOOO!"

*Snack machine our of order*
"NOOOOO!"

*favorite show pre-empted by breaking news*
"NOOOOO!"

ect., ect., into infinity.

[Dr Kain]

Meh whatever, still cannot wait to watch and hear these in HD.

Ihb, those would make some great Robot Chicken skits.

[Alpha OTS]

http://www.badassdigest.com/2011/08/30/did-lucas-add-vader-crying-noooooo-to-return-of-the-jedi


F you George. The "Special" Special Editions sound horrible...

originaltrilogy.com is discussing the changes. Apart from the "No", blinking ewoks, and altered Kenobi dragon cry, R2's has had a CGI rock placed in front of him in ANH to make it look more like he's hiding. Problem is, that there's no possible way he could have fit into what they show.

Thank the Force for Harmy's Despecialized editions. I'm still working on obtaining his RotJ and crossing my fingers its as good as his SW and ESB. All the Lucas special re-edition nonsense can go off and rot for all I care.

[gila-monster]

Wow, I can't believe he is still meddling with these. It's unfortunate that future generations will grow up with these instead, thinking they're the originals. Chances are looking pretty low for him to bring back the originals.

[jellydonut25]

oh dear lord, that new obi-wan dragon-cry sounds like something from this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7jWLejh ... re=related

in fact, right around the 18-21-second mark

it's SO accurate, someone needs to somehow mash those two things together, NOW.

[MouthForWar]

Yep, I'm still not getting these.

[MekaGojira3k]

good god. *shakes head*

[Barnzilla]

You know, Mr. Lucas has a severe complex disorder that compels him to perfect a work of perfection. I'm not sure if he will ever be satisfied. It's probably a bad case of moneyitis.

[Legion]

Wait. This is real?

[king_ghidorah]

Wait. This is real?

Yeah man unfortunately

[canofhumdingers]

Good grief, Lucas. GIVE IT UP ALREADY!

As Alpha OTS said, thank God for Harmy, Puggo, Adywan, and all the other talented people at ot.com. Without them, there'd be no hope.

Also, for those of you (pretty much everyone but Kain apparently) who hate this as much as I do, I'd suggest looking into the "savestarwars" movement that's starting to gain ground over at ot.com. There's a thread in the general star wars discussion about a sticker campaign where most of the discussion is taking place. There's also savestarwars.com and someone apparently made a facebook page (I don't use facebook so I haven't seen it).