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[Charles Foster Kane]

Pls.

I don't want any more Hayden Christensen at the end of ROTJ or all the other shit. Pls. You're our only hope.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

They're enlarging the vault, they'll start releasing overpriced BDs when they're finished. Just gotta be patient.

 

[btrboyev]

they don't own the rights to A New Hope. Fox won't give that up unless they get a huge payoff.

 

[brian577]

Didn't George Lucus destroy the original negatives when he remastered them?

 

[sphagnum]

Fox still owns Episode IV.

 

[antonz]

Didn't George Lucus destroy the original negatives when he remastered them?

There have been near perfect original reels found that collectors have from its Theatrical runs.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Don't worry, the Diamond editions will have the non canon original endings available as bonus features.

 

[MattKeil]

I suspect they'll roll out the original theatricals on Blu-ray near the end of next year to build buzz for Episode VII.

 

[RoboPlato]

I suspect they'll roll out the original theatricals on Blu-ray near the end of next year to build buzz for Episode VII.

I think they've already hinted at this in the past. A well restored original trilogy blu would be lovely.

 

[EatinOlives]

I suspect they'll roll out the original theatricals on Blu-ray near the end of next year to build buzz for Episode VII.

I'll bet on this happening, provided that Disney can pry Ep IV from Fox's claw grip.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

They released the trailers for the originals a while ago didn't they?
I'm sure BD for the originals will be released close to VII.

Let's just hope Lucas didn't make it a prerequisite for the acquisition that they never release the originals.

 

[antonz]

Fox has distribution rights on the original trilogy until 2020 unless they surrender the rights on 5 and 6. They own rights to distribute 4 forever unless a deal made.

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

I do agree. I can handle fixing lightsabers etc. Especially if they actually put the effort in and we don't suddenly have pink instead of red etc. The other stuff though is things I just cant accept. I refuse to buy the Blu rays over the 2011 changes.

 

[CharminUltra]

Greedo shot first.

 

[dekline]

I regret my complete saga purchase. It was $80 at target. fuck was I thinking.

 

[zeemumu]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

Yeah, updated effects is good enough for me. No retcons, just clean it up a little.

 

[RoboPlato]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

I would be A-OK with this as well.

 

[Mariolee]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

This. Though just straight out producing the original is fine too.

 

[Zeyphersan]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

I'd be okay with this, too.

In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them with the original animations, unless the VHS box set was untouched. But even those I think had updated lightsaber effects

 

[speculawyer]

Really? I couldn't give less of a shit.

 

[Anth0ny]

Hopefully we get them during the build up to VII.

Finally I can own my favorite films of all time on blu ray

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

Release the original, unaltered trilogy first. Then release updated versions. That's the reason why the fucking special editions have caused so much outrage in the first place... most fans aren't opposed to a special edition with edits, but at least make the original version available for those who want it.

 

[Mushroomer25]

I'm curious how Disney will milk the older films as Episode VII's galactic marketing campaign sets in. I want to say Fox still technically owns the rights to the past six films, so any decision there will have to wade through two layers of studio bullshit. Do we even know if Lucas allowed versions of the original prints to survive this long?

 

[Booker Dewitt]

I regret my complete saga purchase. It was $80 at target. fuck was I thinking.

I wound up buying the Laserdisc set two months after buying the complete saga. I think I've watched Empire BD once, none of the others.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them with the original animations, unless the VHS box set was untouched. But even those I think had updated lightsaber effects

I honestly don't know if I ever saw them either.

In the mid 90's my folks rented VHS versions for me so I might have seen them then, but this is literally like age 4-6. The stuff they aired on TV that I recorded on tapes as a kid had the CGI Jabba scenes so most of my memories are definitely forged with one of the special edition types. If this had updated lightsabers they did a shite job since it still looked 2D in a lot of scenes when angle changes ocurred, lol.

 

[Delta Assault]

Isn't there some online fan project out there dedicated to restoring the original theatrical versions? I heard something about it a few months ago.

EDIT: And I remember the original VHS of A New Hope definitely did not have the updated lightsaber effects. I remember watching Kenobi's duel with Vader and wondering why their lightsabers were dying out about 50% of the time.

 

[Cheesemeister]

It's basically free money, so of course it's going to happen now that you've already bought every other permutation possible.

 

[Squall5042]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

I agree. They should retain some of the things that were fixed that in no way got in the way of the movie.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

I would like all the unnecessary shit Lucas added to be removed.

Send the Jedi Rocks to the fiery pits of hell. That shit is Jar Jar level.

 

[Chichikov]

they don't own the rights to A New Hope. Fox won't give that up unless they get a huge payoff.

Slightly off-topic, but I got to ask (since we're talking about original versions here) -
How come Star Wars fan are obsessed about every little change yet totally accept the name change of the original Star Wars?
Not only is that was stupid and a bad name for a movie, it eventually led to the fucking prequels.

It was also really fucking confusing for my younger self, I watched all three movies when Jedi came out, and when Empire started I was like, wait, did I miss 3 movies?
It didn't help that the start of felt really disjointed from the ending of Star Wars.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

This comes up every now and again:

1) Rights issues: Fox still owns the distribution rights to the Original Trilogy til 2020, I believe, and Star Wars (1977) in perpetuity. Disney would have to strike a deal with Fox regardless in order to release them

2) The negative used in the 2004 Lowry scans is from the 1997 Special Editions. The Special Edition negatives have those "fixes" embedded within. A new scan would have to come from those same negatives - relying on fan copies is iffy, as fans aren't supposed to still HAVE those copies, so it's doubtful they'd be willing to volunteer their prints knowing that Lucasfilm would just keep them once they got them.

3) The composite elements for the original effects work DO apparently reside at ILM still, but the problem is you'd have to re-scan the SE negatives, and then re-composite the original elements. OR, you'd have to digitally re-create the original effects in the computer and layer them over the top of the current transfers.

Either way, there's a lot of money that would have to go into any of the above before a blu-ray release of the originals could be released, and it's still up in the air as to whether Disney/Lucasfilm considers the potential return on investment to be worth that cost, especially when there's over a decade's worth of proof that the large majority of consumers don't care enough about the changes (or even LIKE them) to make the Original Versions valuable to anything more than a fraction of the potential audience.

Slightly off-topic, but I got to ask (since we're talking about original versions here) -
How come Star Wars fan are obsessed about every little change yet totally accept the name change of the original Star Wars?.

Heh. Good point. I don't. I make it a point to just call it Star Wars, even when I know that might end up confusing people who think I'm talking about the series entire.

But that movie is fucking called STAR WARS.

I also don't celebrate May the 4th. There's enough fake-ass holidays out there without celebrating one based on a stupid pun that makes it sound like you're trying to say "May the Force be with you" but with George Lucas' dick in your mouth

 

[FTF]

I think they've already hinted at this in the past. A well restored original trilogy blu would be lovely.

The things I would do for this to happen.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Slightly off-topic, but I got to ask (since we're talking about original versions here) -
How come Star Wars fan are obsessed about every little change yet totally accept the name change of the original Star Wars?

It's always bothered me.

This comes up every now and again:

1) Rights issues: Fox still owns the distribution rights to the Original Trilogy til 2020, I believe, and Star Wars (1977) in perpetuity. Disney would have to strike a deal with Fox regardless in order to release them.

We know.

 

[John Rabbit]

Isn't there some online fan project out there dedicated to restoring the original theatrical versions? I heard something about it a few months ago.

EDIT: And I remember the original VHS of A New Hope definitely did not have the updated lightsaber effects. I remember watching Kenobi's duel with Vader and wondering why their lightsabers were dying out about 50% of the time.

Despecialized Editions. you can find them fairly easily. they're cherry-picked updated scenes that otherwise present films in their original versions. they combine blu-ray, DVD, DTV and even scans directly from negatives. they're quite impressive.

Spoiler

one might say most impressive.

 

[Delta Assault]

This comes up every now and again:

1) Rights issues: Fox still owns the distribution rights to the Original Trilogy til 2020, I believe, and Star Wars (1977) in perpetuity. Disney would have to strike a deal with Fox regardless in order to release them

2) The negative used in the 2004 Lowry scans is from the 1997 Special Editions. The Special Edition negatives have those "fixes" embedded within. A new scan would have to come from those same negatives - relying on fan copies is iffy, as fans aren't supposed to still HAVE those copies, so it's doubtful they'd be willing to volunteer their prints knowing that Lucasfilm would just keep them once they got them.

3) The composite elements for the original effects work DO apparently reside at ILM still, but the problem is you'd have to re-scan the SE negatives, and then re-composite the original elements. OR, you'd have to digitally re-create the original effects in the computer and layer them over the top of the current transfers.

Either way, there's a lot of money that would have to go into any of the above before a blu-ray release of the originals could be released, and it's still up in the air as to whether Disney/Lucasfilm considers the potential return on investment to be worth that cost, especially when there's over a decade's worth of proof that the large majority of consumers don't care enough about the changes (or even LIKE them) to make the Original Versions valuable to anything more than a fraction of the potential audience.



Heh. Good point. I don't. I make it a point to just call it Star Wars, even when I know that might end up confusing people who think I'm talking about the series entire.

But that movie is fucking called STAR WARS.

I also don't celebrate May the 4th. There's enough fake-ass holidays out there without celebrating one based on a stupid pun that makes it sound like you're trying to say "May the Force be with you" but with George Lucas' dick in your mouth

All that sounds really complicated and difficult.

Why not just obtain one of the original theater reels from 1977? Then do that thing that Ethan Hawk did in "Sinister" to convert it to digital?

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

My pitch for the next National Treasure film is to have Nick Cage break into the National Film Registry to steal a copy of the unaltered OT.

 

[Megalosaro]

Say what you will about the 1997 edition, I prefer it. Cloud City looks gorgeous in that version. Way better than the original version

 

[Ashhong]

Despecialized Editions. you can find them fairly easily. they're cherry-picked updated scenes that otherwise present films in their original versions. they combine blu-ray, DVD, DTV and even scans directly from negatives. they're quite impressive.

Spoiler

one might say most impressive.

I don't know why but this got a big chuckle and a snort out of me lol

 

[Chichikov]

This comes up every now and again:

1) Rights issues: Fox still owns the distribution rights to the Original Trilogy til 2020, I believe, and Star Wars (1977) in perpetuity. Disney would have to strike a deal with Fox regardless in order to release them

2) The negative used in the 2004 Lowry scans is from the 1997 Special Editions. The Special Edition negatives have those "fixes" embedded within. A new scan would have to come from those same negatives - relying on fan copies is iffy, as fans aren't supposed to still HAVE those copies, so it's doubtful they'd be willing to volunteer their prints knowing that Lucasfilm would just keep them once they got them.

3) The composite elements for the original effects work DO apparently reside at ILM still, but the problem is you'd have to re-scan the SE negatives, and then re-composite the original elements. OR, you'd have to digitally re-create the original effects in the computer and layer them over the top of the current transfers.

Either way, there's a lot of money that would have to go into any of the above before a blu-ray release of the originals could be released, and it's still up in the air as to whether Disney/Lucasfilm considers the potential return on investment to be worth that cost, especially when there's over a decade's worth of proof that the large majority of consumers don't care enough about the changes (or even LIKE them) to make the Original Versions valuable to anything more than a fraction of the potential audience.

Man, fuck that shit.
I'm not the world's biggest Star Wars fan and I don't even care that much about theatrical release, but you can't deny that it's an immensely influential film series, if nothing else, the originals should be available for the sake of history.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

All that sounds really complicated and difficult.

Why not just obtain one of the original theater reels from 1977? Then do that thing that Ethan Hawk did in "Sinister" to convert it to digital?

Because they can't just do that. Again - they'd have to find a private collector willing to cough one up, and private collectors likely won't do that. Plus, even a PRISTINE print from 1977 likely would need a TON of restoration done to it, so you're still spending the money on a new scan and clean-up, and you're right back at the major question: Is there enough of a market for this particular product to make spending all that money worth Disney's time?

Or would Disney look at the last 20 years of Home Video sales of Star Wars in it's various SE/DVD/BD forms and think that spending the millions to get that product out there might not be the greatest investment, even on a mostly promotional level?

I'd love to see it happen, but those are some of the obstacles that get in the way of Disney just plopping the original versions onto a Blu-ray and sending them out the door.

edit: Never seen that Ethan Hawke movie.

 

[Delta Assault]

Because they can't just do that. Again - they'd have to find a private collector willing to cough one up, and private collectors likely won't do that. Plus, even a PRISTINE print from 1977 likely would need a TON of restoration done to it, so you're still spending the money on a new scan and clean-up, and you're right back at the major question: Is there enough of a market for this particular product to make spending all that money worth Disney's time?

Or would Disney look at the last 20 years of Home Video sales of Star Wars in it's various SE/DVD/BD forms and think that spending the millions to get that product out there might not be the greatest investment, even on a mostly promotional level?

I'd love to see it happen, but those are some of the obstacles that get in the way of Disney just plopping the original versions onto a Blu-ray and sending them out the door.

edit: Never seen that Ethan Hawke movie.

You should, it's pretty good.

 

[infinityBCRT]

Jokes aside, my ideal version is the theratrical one with updated lightsabers / blaster bolts or whatever. No greedo shot first nonsense or silly cg animal additions, but I'm not really angry if they want to update a couple of vfx shots.

Ideally the way to handle this would be releasing all movies with a theatrical version (warts and all) and "definitive" versions with common sense fixes (fixing bad transitions, flaws in mattes, etc) but no new or drastically altered content.

 

[TAJ]

Really? I couldn't give less of a shit.

Good for you. Do you want a cookie?

 

[Anth0ny]

Slightly off-topic, but I got to ask (since we're talking about original versions here) -
How come Star Wars fan are obsessed about every little change yet totally accept the name change of the original Star Wars?
Not only is that was stupid and a bad name for a movie, it eventually led to the fucking prequels.

It was also really fucking confusing for my younger self, I watched all three movies when Jedi came out, and when Empire started I was like, wait, did I miss 3 movies?
It didn't help that the start of felt really disjointed from the ending of Star Wars.

it's always been Star Wars, Empire and Jedi to me.

 

[plasmasd]

My pitch for the next National Treasure film is to have Nick Cage break into the National Film Registry to steal a copy of the unaltered OT.

He'd replace it with the Nic Cage edition where every character was played by himself.

Would be miles better than the last 3.

 

[antonz]

I find the cost argument weak because Disney was already given one hell of a sweetheart deal. Star Wars was worth a hell of a lot more than what George sold it for. Lucas gave them a deal because he and Disney corporation have always had close ties.

With all the money Disney is going to make off the series they can afford to spend some money to get the originals out in original condition.

 

[professor_t]

I think they've already hinted at this in the past. A well restored original trilogy blu would be lovely.

Indeed.

Though it also would be about the 47th time that I've purchased Star Wars movies in some form or another (VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Special Edition, Blu-ray, etc.).

 

[Ashhong]

This thread makes me want to watch the movies now. Time to convince the GF to watch it for her first time.

Episode 1 first!

Spoiler

i kid

 

[ConfusingJazz]

If they are going to come out, it would be a month or so before Episode VII to drum up enthusiasm.

Why do it now?

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

I find the cost argument weak because Disney was already given one hell of a sweetheart deal. Star Wars was worth a hell of a lot more than what George sold it for. Lucas gave them a deal because he and Disney corporation have always had close ties.

With all the money Disney is going to make off the series they can afford to spend some money to get the originals out in original condition.

I believe the unaltered version gimmick would sell tons.

 

[terribletwo]

you'll get what you want in 2017

patience