Lucasfilm Creates A 4K Ultra-HD Restoration of the Original 'Star Wars' (4k.com)

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Lucasfilm Creates A 4K Ultra-HD Restoration of the Original 'Star Wars' (4k.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday January 1, 2017 @12:34PM from the new-hope dept.

An anonymous reader quotes 4K.com: When the first ever of the Star Wars films, "A New Hope" turns 40 in 2017, millions of dedicated fans of the immensely popular franchise might get a very unique treat in the form of a limited theater screening in beautifully restored form with theatrical 4K resolution of the first movie released in the series. According to recent comments made by Rogue One director Gareth Edwards, a 4K restoration of Star Wars Episode IV "A New Hope" does indeed exist and now the only real question is whether or not the cleaned up and sharpened version of the movie will be hitting the big screen once again.
White it's release status is unknown, the ultra-high definition footage is said to be spectacular. In the interview, Edwards says "You can't watch it without getting carried away... It just turns you into a child."

13 of 304 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Keep it original... by Frosty+Piss · 2017-01-01 12:34 · Score: 4, Insightful

I hope they don't do something stupid like add additional content like they did with THX1138.

--
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
1. Re:Keep it original... by Rei · 2017-01-01 13:16 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Not all of the changes were bad - just most of them. Replacing the cardboard cutouts of rebels at the awards ceremony at the end with real people, for example. Or replacing the terrible hologram of the emperor in Empire with a proper one, for another. Or fixing the low quality light saber effect in A New Hope and editing out the wires. The clank when storm trooper hits his head was also a nice touch.
  Honestly though, more than that, I'd love to see the version 2 script of A New Hope ("Adventures of the Starkiller") made into a movie - with the characters looking as much like they did the actual A New Hope, just to enhance the mindfuck effect. Because it had so much that was the same, but so much that was utterly different. Leia wasn't Luke's sister; she was Owen and Beru's daughter, who had a crush on Luke that made him uncomfortable. The capital of the empire wasn't Coruscant, it was Alderaan, but looked like Cloud City. C3P0 fired the shot that destroyed the Death Star. The Emperor isn't a Sith, he just hired the Sith as muscle - and his name is Cos Dashit (seriously). Storm troopers had silver shields and light sabers. Tuskans ride landspeeders and spy for the Empire. Grand Moff Tarkin is a "birdlike" rebel commander. Luke (Starkiller, not Skywalker) is a wannabe-archaeologist with a magic crystal. Seriously, look it up. Somebody totally needs to make it, it'd be hilarious.
  There is one thing that they changed from the 2nd draft to the final draft that I actually think might have been better left in. In the 2nd draft, Han agrees to take Luke to Aldaraan for a high fee as before, but then it turns out in the next scene that he doesn't actually own the Millennium Falcon like he claims; he's just a low-ranking crewman to the main pirate/smuggler. So he fakes a reactor leak on the Falcon to get the others to leave, then steals it, without letting on to his passengers what he's just done. Chewy is in on the plot, as is an android science officer (glad they got rid of the latter).
  
  --
  For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
2. Re: Keep it original... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-01 13:20 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I think all of those changes are fucking bullshit. Replacing one special effect fromi 197X with one from 201X isn't useful, they'll all look stupid in 204X, but at least the original from 197X won't be jarring as fuck and out of place. A comedic clank when a stormtrooper hits his head? Fuck that change. Fuck it to fucking death.
  Give the original star wars back. Like the despecialized edition, except official. Not this shit festival of retcons and edits and anachronistic special effects.
  Oh the original lightsabers? Were amazing. Period.
3. Re:Keep it original... by frovingslosh · 2017-01-01 13:38 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  of the Original 'Star Wars'
  More Fake News. I don't believe it for a second. Unless Han shoots first and all of the other crap has been put back to where it was when the film was created, then it isn't the Original Star Wars. And even though that whore Lucas no longer has any say in this production, I can't see the new whores allowing us to have a true copy of the Star Warts film masterpiece.
  
  --
  I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
4. Re: Keep it original... by Rei · 2017-01-01 13:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Is that a joke? The New Hope light sabers were terrible. Very inconsistently rotoscoped. Came across as a serious rush job - unlike in Empire and Jedi.
  Seriously, a lot of the original trilogy special effects were just bad. Come on, defend the use of this hologram. Don't get me wrong, a lot - I'd say most - of their special effects worked. It's amazing how much worse Phantom Menace Jabba looks than RotJ Jabba, for example, over a decade earlier. Not. Even. Close. But just because Lucas made a habit of inserting bad digital effects is no reason to excuse places where the original trilogy screwed up. In a New Hope you can very clearly see a wire running from Obiwan's light saber into his robe. Vader's motions don't line up with his voice at one point, leaving him looking like he's doing sign language. In Empire you can clearly see the stick used to topple one of the AT-ATs. There's lots of things like this that are just simply mistakes.
  And yes, sorry, but if you're going to show a storm trooper hitting his head on camera, it should make a sound. Own up to your errors.
  
  --
  For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
5. Re:Keep it original... by UnknownSoldier · 2017-01-01 15:06 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  > Whut? Why TF would he do that?
  Because George is highly insecure.
  He has to keep fucking around with Star Wars, tweaking this, fixing that, until it is "perfect" in his mind's eye.
  As an artist he doesn't realize he needs to move on. The work is what is. Fans loved the original vision. Some fans love the changes. Some don't.
  George Lucas is unable to respect the fans that want to see the original version.
  We're happy with the original. Is it perfect? No. But it is perfectly fine the way it is.
6. Re:Keep it original... by careysub · 2017-01-01 15:07 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  >> Unlikely. Lucas destroyed the originals when he made the Special Editions.
  Whut? Why TF would he do that?
  Because he is God of the Star Wars Universe and mere things like preservation of significant historical documents, and the desires of the fan base are nothing to him.
  Lucas is a brilliant businessman, his career with LucasFilm and ILM speak for themselves. But his talents and wisdom as a director and creative force are extremely uneven, and he seems unable to consider the views of others, no matter how well founded and insightful. Again, his post Star Wars career speaks for itself. I think he was extremely lucky to have an astonishingly talented team working with him when he made Star Wars, and he was also lucky that he had to collaborate and let others make key decisions - he was not so successful at that point that he could be creative dictator.
  
  --
  Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
7. Re: Keep it original... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-01 16:34 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  > Han didn't shoot first. Han shot ONLY.
  You mean Han shot SOLO?
8. Re:Keep it original... by myowntrueself · 2017-01-02 03:30 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The best mindfuck would be remaking Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith with Jar Jar Binks as a Sith Lord
  Oh no, you had to say that? Now I'm doomed to keep hearing ...
  Meesa no kill your father, Luke. Meesa is your father.
  Actually I'm fairly certain that Padme was in on Darth Sidious' scheme the whole time and was his apprentice if not a Sith Lord in her own right. Just look at how she teased Anakin, it seemed quite deliberate to me. She was leading him along the path to the dark side from the very beginning.
  
  --
  In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
I thought they originals were destroyed... by Ecuador · 2017-01-01 12:59 · Score: 3, Insightful

I thought they claimed the original theatrical release version was destroyed and would never be released in high quality, and that was one of the main reasons people collaborated to produce the Star Wars HD despecialized edition.

--
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Re:Sorry, no by TigerPlish · 2017-01-01 13:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

Luke playing with a starfighter, in one of his first scenes, is cringe-worthy.
Oh c'mon, you've never done it? FWIW, that wasn't a "starfighter,' that was a scale model of the speeder parked *right behind Luke.* That is his T-16, the one he bullseyes womp rats with. Seriously, you can see the ass end of his real T-16 right behind him.
One is never too old to play with toys. Never. I have a fair collection of 1:400 diecast aircraft, and when I clean house I *always* "land" the Pan Am 707-321 on its display place.
The day one becomes "too old" for such frippery, one is ready for the pine box. The kind with rope handles and no wheels.

--
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
Re:Huh? by Desler · 2017-01-01 14:25 · Score: 3, Insightful

The 70mm was just a 35mm blowup.
For The Betterment Of Humanity by kackle · 2017-01-02 08:04 · Score: 3, Insightful

I agree. If a piece of art is publicly disseminated, then the copyright holder should lose the ability to alter it, that is, unless the original is equally available or relinquished to the public domain. I think this is fair, especially in our DRMed future where things can be "taken back" instantaneously via remote computer commands.

If you think this sounds harsh, imagine the Mona Lisa getting a new hairstyle or clothes every 20 years because fashion had changed. Let's cover "David's" penis because we're politically correct this generation. And then we can change it back when the next generation lightens up... These innocent tweaks are distorting, and in some cases, ruining art (with the new ideas no longer reflective of the era in which the art was created, mind you).

"E.T.'s" right to bear arms should not be infringed.