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

Posted by EditorDavid on 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."

45 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. Keep it original... by Frosty+Piss · · 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 · · 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 · · 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 haruchai · · Score: 2

      The best mindfuck would be remaking Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith with Jar Jar Binks as a Sith Lord

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    4. Re: Keep it original... by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 4, Funny

      episode 4 was surprisingly good in resurrecting the franchise, considering how appallingly bad episodes 2 and 3 were. :-)

    5. Re:Keep it original... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    6. Re:Keep it original... by frovingslosh · · 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.
    7. Re: Keep it original... by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Well I thought Hayden Christensen's character was woefully miscast. Teen romantic becomes intergalactic assassin? Sorry, didn't buy it.

      The biggest shame for me was Obi Wan's act of mercy in that he found Anakin so pitiful that couldn't bring himself to finish the genocidal crybaby off! (of course then we wouldn't have eps 4-6)

    8. Re: Keep it original... by Rei · · 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?
    9. Re:Keep it original... by Mitreya · · Score: 2

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

      They will add a dream sequence, making it clear that Luke is actually a replicant.
      (Of course they'll add stuff, otherwise it'd be hard to justify selling yet anoter special edition for $$$).

    10. Re:Keep it original... by Rei · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My favorite retcon is that Obi Wan was personally involved in the deaths of Owen and Beru.

      We'd known from early on that he was a total manipulative liar. Telling Luke, for example, that Vader killed his father, convincing him of precisely the opposite of the truth, and then layer gaslighting Luke as if it was Luke's fault for not understanding his lie. After the original trilogy came out, it gets way worse. He lies about having never seen the droids before. He sees no reason to mention that he personally chopped up Luke's dad and left him for dead. His whole purpose for being near Luke on Tatooine is to "watch over him" "until the time is right" to recruit him into the rebellion.

      So we know his motivation going into this. To recruit Luke into the rebellion. It's essential to him, for the fate of the galaxy. And we know the guy is a horribly manipulative liar. And let's face it, Luke is a moron. The guy is given a light saber for the first time and he nearly accidentally stabs Obi Wan when he turns it on.

      So Obi Wan tells him this yarn about Vader murdering his father, rather than... well, Obi Wan's attempted murder of him. And then they head out and find the sand crawler, and Obi Wan insists that it had to have been attacked by the Empire because, why again? "Only Imperial Storm Troopers are so precise." Which we all know to be unadulterated BS. If it's precise, there's no way in hell storm troopers did it. And there's no way Obi Wan would think that they did. So he knows he's lying. Which means that he was probably involved in it in some way. Which means that he would have likewise been involved in the related attack on Owen and Beru. The very thing that, shock of all shocks, motivates Luke to go with and join the Rebellion, just as Obi Wan could easily have foreseen.

      And there's no shortage of people he could have hired to carry out the attack, on a planet as lawless as Tatooine. Heck, I couldn't rule out him working with the Tuskan raiders themselves. Let's not forget, Obi Wan "coincidentally" showed up right on time to "rescue" Luke from said Tuskan raiders just moments before. They just ran off when he arrived and alerted them... I'm sorry, "scared them off", with a Krayt Dragon impersonation that wouldn't fool anyone. It wouldn't be the first time they had worked with a Jedi (Sharad Hett) - and Obi Wan had tried to kill the guy who slaughtered one of their villages years prior. And beyond the Tuskan Raiders, there's a whole bar full of bounty hunters and violent thugs in town who could have suited the bill Heck, he could have done it all himself, having arrived to "save" Luke on his way back from burning the homestead and sandcrawler while Luke was out searching for R2D2; all it would have taken was a landspeeder, and they're not exactly unattainable.

      --
      For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
    11. Re:Keep it original... by beelsebob · · Score: 4, Interesting

      http://imgur.com/gallery/Putq2

    12. Re:Keep it original... by UnknownSoldier · · 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.

    13. Re:Keep it original... by careysub · · 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
    14. Re: Keep it original... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > Han didn't shoot first. Han shot ONLY.

      You mean Han shot SOLO?

    15. Re:Keep it original... by irving47 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just in case you (or anyone else reading this) doesn't know, there is a very very convincing, and solid theory that JarJar was in fact THE Phantom Menace alluded to in the title. Check youtube for jarjar sith theory and check them out. I'm not saying I'm 100% convinced, but I need a better reason to disbelieve than just the fanboy hate of GL thinking, "aww, no, he's not clever enough to do that."

      --
      I had a sucky sig.
    16. Re:Keep it original... by Pseudonym · · Score: 2

      Unlikely. Lucas destroyed the originals when he made the Special Editions.

      Lucas used to be an editor. He is famous for never throwing away anything.

      There may be no original prints of A New Hope left, but all the source material almost certainly exists.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    17. Re:Keep it original... by schnell · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There may be no original prints of A New Hope left, but all the source material almost certainly exists.

      The explanation, from what I recall, is that while the original source materials may exist, they are so degraded as to be useless for any kind of theatrical or master-quality presentation again. (Fair warning: my recollection is from watching documentaries on the Star Wars DVDs from several years ago, so anyone can feel free to correct me if they have watched them more recently.)

      The original master 35mm print of Star Wars, being celluloid, was subject to scratching and wear throughout the process of making all the copies for theaters to show. On top of that, even well-preserved celluloid is subject to natural degradation over time - colors wash out, etc. Think of old photos in a photo album that over time have grown dimmer and less distinct.

      I recall someone (John Knoll?) on the DVDs saying of the digital remastering efforts in 1996/1997 that the original master was already in bad enough shape that, had they not digitized it then, there could never have been a copy good enough to convert to high definition digital or theater projection quality. When they did the digital conversion though, they didn't keep (this logic sounds a bit fuzzy but bear with me) the pure original scan. Like a photographer who shoots an original photo that isn't "good enough" but needs to retouch it before publishing, they made their digital upgrades/cleanups and didn't bother to keep the unretouched versions since they (George Lucas?) in essence said, "what we scanned was crap so who needs that?"

      Ergo - at least according to the then-Lucas-owned-LucasFilm party line - you end up with a badly degraded original celluloid version in a vault somewhere still, but the only high-def/digital version left is the one that had all the cleanup and alterations done to it. That doesn't necessarily mean that they didn't keep a digital version where Han shot first, but it does mean that there is no digital version left of the fully untouched "original." Which may be a fine point of distinction worth considering as to whether it's still possible to see the "original" depending on what that means to you.

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    18. Re:Keep it original... by haruchai · · Score: 2

      Just in case you (or anyone else reading this) doesn't know, there is a very very convincing, and solid theory that JarJar was in fact THE Phantom Menace alluded to in the title. Check youtube for jarjar sith theory and check them out. I'm not saying I'm 100% convinced, but I need a better reason to disbelieve than just the fanboy hate of GL thinking, "aww, no, he's not clever enough to do that."

      I did read that last year. If Lucas did plan that & then backed off because Binks was so disliked, then he's a fucking coward. That would have been a Crying Game-level twist.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    19. Re:Keep it original... by meerling · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not only did Han shoot first, Greedo didn't even get a shot off, he just died like the scumbag that he was. Don't forget that Greedo had just told Han that he's basically going to take him out back and blow his head off.

    20. Re: Keep it original... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well the thing was Lucas was very inexperienced as a director but by the time episode 4, "A new hope" rolled around Lucas had finally learned to trust the actors and stop redoing scenes til the emotion was drained from them. And then for episode 5 Lucas handed the reigns to another experienced character director and focused on producing.

      Also, the actors chosen for episodes 1-3 were terrible so when Lucasfilm decided to reboot series with fresh new actors as of episode 4 they did a much better job, for example picking unknown actors who had a lot of chemistry with each other. The decision to go with puppets for Yoda was a big step up from the poor CGI they had used for him in the first 3 films.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    21. Re: Keep it original... by Rei · · Score: 2

      Cinema Sins ripped into the original trilogy worse than they've ever ripped into any other movies, and a lot of their criticisms I found ot be dead on.

      * It was a constant violation of the rule "Show, Don't Tell". They're constantly describing events that happened off camera that sound a lot more interesting than what they actually showed, which was awkward forced "romance", politics, and badly done CG battles.

      * Everybody's beliefs and motivations were so constantly shifting that it was as if they decided what they needed someone to believe for the plot and rolled a die to determine which Jedi it would apply to. Obi Wan thinks it's good to train Anakin, then he thinks it's too dangerous, then keeps switching throughout the three movies, arguing with other Jedi whose positions likewise constantly flip with no obvious explanation as to why. He's constantly switching from scolding Anakin for being reckless, and then doing things even more reckless than him and scolding him for not doing actions that would have been reckless. The "Force is clouding the Jedi's vision" only when it would be harmful to the plot for them to see the future, but stops clouding their vision whenever the plot needs it to (and not just in line with what would be most advantageous for Sidious). And on and on. It's like they had a list of key points that they wanted to happen, and spent far too little time trying to figure out the in-between in a realistic manner.

      * Anakin and Padme's romance is one of the most unrealistic ever to appear in a major movie. The lines are awful and forced; you actually feel bad for the actors having to say them. Padme's entire character is transformed from "strong and bold warrior queen" to "sniveling lovesick damsel" with no explanation. She has no reaction whatsoever to the many times that Anakin presents himself to be an immature asshole. Just terrible writing. But again - they had the "this must happen" plot points they wanted to fill, and everything in-between was half-arsed.

      * Lucas's obsession with special effects (perhaps most exemplified IMHO with the "Anakin passing Padme a piece of poorly done CG fruit with the force" scene, as if hanging a freaking piece of fruit on a wire was somehow too hard to do any more) always bothers people, and Cinema Sins really nailed why. In the Phantom Menace, there's a scene on the Trade Federation vessel where the Jedi are attacked by a bunch of droids. After a big battle, they've defeated the droids, and you see... a couple dead droids on the ground, a couple cut off heads/limbs, and otherwise everything else is exactly as it was. No blaster shots on the walls. No scratches on the floors. No burns. No shrapnel. No soot. No little bits of debris everywhere. It's like a hospital ward, immediately after a battle. even if you can't specifically put your finger on it while you're watching the movie, this sort of stuff immediately grates on you. If you physically act out the scene, with puppet droids being destroyed by pyrotechnics and the like, you actually do mess up your set like you would in a battle. But in the prequels bad CGI, that just didn't happen.

      * And on a more basic level, the CG characters often just look bad compared to the puppets. Don't get me wrong, some of the original trilogy's puppets were pretty bad - static or poorly articulated or poorly designed or whatnot. But a lot were excellent. My favorite example is comparing 1983 Jabba with 1999 Phantom Menace Jabba. Not. even. close. 1983 Jabba looked pretty good - not perfect, but good. Phantom Menace Jabba looked like what you get when a teenager has just gotten through his lesson on texturing in a Blender tutorial.

      It's not that CG effects are inherently bad and puppets inherently good. CG can be great. Puppets can be terrible. But when you fill an entire trilogy with bad CG, expect people to hate you for it. As an example of how bad the trilogy's CG was, play Final Fantasy: The Spiri

      --
      For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
    22. Re:Keep it original... by jeepies · · Score: 2

      Some of that may have been true in the 1990s. With th advancements in video processing though, even badly faded prints can be rescued. Fans have already done several 4K preservation ls from good quality 35mm theatrical prints. The original camera negatives may be too damaged/degraded, but I would guarantee there's an interpositive/internegative or LPP print sitting around somewhere in the Lucasfilm archives that's good enough for a 4K scan with some restoration. Even better if there are multiple copies with different damage that can be used to remove scratches.

      Even before the fan made 4K 35mm scans, some restorations (harmy's) used the Blu-ray and HDTV broadcasts to get a 1080p version of most of the film with a few upscales from the (poor) DVD release of the originals. If fans can manage that, surely a studio like Disney/Lucasfilm can come up with a 4K scan and do some basic film restoration / color correction.

    23. Re:Keep it original... by myowntrueself · · 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.
  2. The Cantina by nickovs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "... 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."

    No! Now the only real question is whether or not they will show that Han shot first!

    --
    If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
    1. Re:The Cantina by Rei · · Score: 2

      I agree with Cinema Sins that even worse than making Han shoot first is making Greedo (who let's not forget is a professional bounty hunter) be such a terrible shot that he can shoot at Han (who isn't moving) from less than a meter away and not even be close to hitting him.

      --
      For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?
    2. Re:The Cantina by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      I know, it was almost like Greedo was a Stormtrooper without uniform.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. I thought they originals were destroyed... by Ecuador · · 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
    1. Re:I thought they originals were destroyed... by steveha · · Score: 2

      When George Lucas announced the "improved" versions of the classic Star Wars movies, he famously claimed that it would be impossible to recreate the original release versions. He said something like he had accidentally "taped over" the originals (for you younglings, that's a video tape analogy).

      As this article commented bitingly, it would have been embarrassing for Lucas if the original version had outsold the "improved" version on home video release. So it was sure convenient for him that it was totally impossible to re-create the original version.

      http://www.aintitcool.com/node/23493

      The article quotes someone named Bill Hunt saying this: "Even if it's true that Lucas and his staff destroyed all of the original negatives, it's unlikely in the extreme that they also destroyed all of the interpositives, all of the separation masters, and all of the release prints. In fact, we know that they didn't." And lo and behold, once George Lucas sold the rights, it turned out to be possible to recreate the original version, and now there's a 4K cleaned-up version.

      --
      lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
  4. The title is wrong. 4K != UHD by Misagon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Theatrical 4K is not the same as Ultra-HD, often marketed as "4K UHD". Seriously, don't muddle these up! The linked article did not, it even had "Theatrical 4K" explicitly, being a link to an explanation of the differences.

    The cinema standard 4K is 4096*2160, not quite 16:9 aspect ratio. However, movies can be of any aspect ratio that would fill either the width or the height. With Star Wars being in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, that becomes 4096*1743. Pixels are square and there is no overscan.

    Ultra-HD, the TV and BluRay standard is 3840*2160 pixels. Some HDTV's do have overscan, not showing the entire picture, by the way.

    Cinema 4K also uses the DCI-P3 colour space and theatrical projectors are capable of the entire range of this colour space.
    Regular Ultra-HD is not that good. Ultra-HD with HDR uses a larger colour space than DCI-P3 but mainstream LCD panels at the moment are not capable of displaying that properly even if they can handle the input signal.

    --
    "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:The title is wrong. 4K != UHD by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 2

      Cinema 4K also uses the DCI-P3 colour space...

      Oh, come on. DCI-3P wasn't even in the original trilogy. Unless it was one of the droids that never got called out by name...

  5. Sorry, no by mrsam · · Score: 2

    The first movie rightfully deserves to be preserved in the Library of Congress. It is part of the American culture, and history. But, having said that, I have a confession to make:

    The movie simply has not aged well. The last time I watched it on DVD, a few years ago, I decided never to watch it again. Now, that I'm much older, the movie looks rather simplistic and rough; and I would rather remember the movie the way I saw it, with much younger eyes and a less crtitical brain. These days, Darth Vader's initial entrance makes him look like a cartoonish villain. Luke playing with a starfighter, in one of his first scenes, is cringe-worthy. Ditto for the scene where he drools over the hologram Leia. C3PO's stumbling around ...just doesn't work for me the way it used to.

    To state the obvious: the 4K version is nothing more than a pathetic, utterly pathetic money grab. And nothing more. That should be fairly obvious to anyone. I can't think of any possible value that four thousand pixels will bring to that movie. I just have a bad feeling about this...

    1. Re:Sorry, no by TigerPlish · · 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.
  6. Can it be an all versions blu-ray? by BlueCoder · · Score: 2

    Not sure if it's possible with blu-ray. I would like to see an all versions disc where one only has to select options in an options menu for what they want to see. Han shot first should be default but we can keep around the revisionist history for laughs.

    Better yet... come up with yet another proprietary DRM format and release it on an 128gb sd card or compact flash. Honestly it should be as lossless as possible and DRM free.. you know how much any ISP is going to complain to any customer that tries to download that? Do the equivalent of a DOS attack by providing too much data. Collectors are going to want origional media. It's not like people haven't seen Star Wars.

    1. Re:Can it be an all versions blu-ray? by fox171171 · · Score: 2

      Not sure if it's possible with blu-ray. I would like to see an all versions disc where one only has to select options in an options menu for what they want to see. Han shot first should be default but we can keep around the revisionist history for laughs.

      I'll watch the Sentinel class shuttle seen, dewbacks not close up, Mos Eisley is busier, but no giant CGI ass walking across the screen blocking everything, Han shoots and Greedo doesn't he just dies, Falcon lifts off from docking bay, stormtrooper head clunk, Imps getting shot not censored, improved lightsaber effects, no matte boxes visible around ships, R2-D2 in color, no stupid ring explosion Death Star destruction, real people in ceremony not cardboard ones, and how about Chewie gets a medal version please.

  7. The fans are on the very tip of weather vane! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Uncle George never told you what happened to the original theatrical release version"

    "He told me enough. He told me it was destroyed"

    "No. I am the original version."

    "Noooooooooo! that's not true.....that impossible!"

    "Search your archives for you know it is true!"

    Edit: Captcha> Monetary

  8. Re:Star Wars and The Matrix 2: by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Much like Star Wars Episode One was basically a really lengthy commercial for that Podracer game.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Re:Did anyone else notice Jar Jar in Rogue One? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    You failed to explain why the hell we'd WANT to.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  10. Re:Huh? by Desler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The 70mm was just a 35mm blowup.

  11. Re:unique by perpenso · · Score: 5, Funny

    a very unique treat

    "unique" is a binary term. Something is either unique or not unique. There are no "degrees" of uniqueness.

    That is a somewhat unique perspective.

  12. Sharpened? They blurred the original intentionally by Cafe+Alpha · · Score: 2

    because in the first non-blurred print, the models looked too fake. So slight blurring restored the sense of reality.

  13. Re: "It just turns you into a child" by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 2

    Were you the nerd in the theater with the Pantone Color swatches?

  14. Re:Huh? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2

    It probably was, either way Star Wars was not shot on 70mm.

  15. Re:Huh? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 2

    The 35mm film was the resolution of the silver halide crystals. Which is pretty high resolution. But entirely analog, though an abstract mosaic of crystals. It doesn't fit into a world of shitty bitmaps.

    It doesn't fit in well with the digital bullshit that people today insist on imposing on all visual reality. The film as shown in the theaters wasn't 'video' nor was it in any sense digital.

  16. For The Betterment Of Humanity by kackle · · 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.