Special Editions: Yea Or Nay?

Check out that mustache.

 

"Nerf's off, sorry..."

 

They could do a SE of the PT and remove JarJar...

 

I personally like a lot of the changes and do believe that they enhance viewing the film when you watch the entire saga in order.

With that said there are some changes I do not agree with at all. One that sticks out in my mind is the giant CGI creature that passes in front of the Sand Troopers as Luke and Company arrive at Mos Eisley. This addition is ridiculous and in my opinion completely unnecessary. If this one CGI beast is removed from the ANH special addition I wouldn't have many complaints.

I don't mind the additions to Cloud City in TESB. It actually does really add to the film in my opinion. I also really love the ending of ROTJ. The montage of different planets celebrating the fall of the Empire works for me.

Lastly As sad as it is that Yub Nub was removed from the end of ROTJ, I do really like the newer musical composition because it fits the feeling at the end of the film very well. I still love the Yub Nub song and will always consider it part of Star Wars but it does not fit the end scene IMO.

 

No. I am fine with altered cuts or extended cuts, but not what we have now with the blu-ray, which is far worse than any special edition of the OT we've seen to date. However, I do understand that a lot of people like the changes so that is why I propose a new OT release to make us all happy.

I'd pay good money for a multi-cut release of each of the OT films. If it were blu-ray, it might contain four discs. One would be the original unaltered theatrical cut with only cleaning and standard restoration work for 4K anamorphic transfer. A second disc would be George's final special edition that would be the same as the latest blu-ray releases. The third disc would be something like what Ridley Scott did with Bladerunner's "Final Cut." A complete restoration of original source material with small visual fixes and enhancements, e.g. removal of matte lines, small color correction tweaks, general fixes of visual "hacks" like the Vaseline blob under the landspeeler in ANH, some minor FX enhancement using CG to improve existing visuals, along with some visual swaps for continuity like the Emperor's hologram in ESB (except I'd make the new one more shadowed and mysterious looking). Everything else would be untouched. No added dialogue, no new CG scenes or creatures running around everywhere. No added sandtroopers that look completely out of place. Han shoots first. No ANH Jabba scene with Boba Fett implanted there. No audio replacements except remastered sound and newer ROTJ ending theme (sorry, Yub Nub). Basically, it would be a special edition cut with good taste, taking a lighter handed approach with subtle improvements instead of sweeping changes. The fourth disc would be special features. What do you all think?

 

I agree 100%. I believe there is a perfect blend of the originals and the special editions that could be released. If this were to be done it would be a true enhancement to the viewing experience in my opinion.

 

I do like SE editions, but not blindly.
First on the positive note! I did like most of the things that enhanced the movies to be closer to the PT. Like the Death Star battle shots in ANH, Cloud City shots in ESB and Victory celebreatin in ROTJ (tough those were some quick riots as the empire is still on the loose in Force Awakens), enhancing lightsabers and if you read on this forum already, that I love Shadow Of The Empire? That Outrider easter egg, yeah baby!
I recently rewatched the untouched versions from respective years, that I saw as a kid and well, it didn't aged well.
They are great as the 80's movies, but do not work with the PT ones.

I also liked incorporating Jabba scene, that I knew from a book and a comics, but the first version CGI was horrible and making Han stepping on the tail, because he didn't fit into that space was dumb.
Aproaching Mos Eisley is great, tough looks awkward as it takes too long and looks too much CGI.

The only thing I despise on 100 % is Jedi Rocks. After being familiar with originals, I was so far moderately impressed by the new versions of the film and this caught me offguard and I was dissapointed. Lapti Nek was awesome, it totaly fits with the musical style of Friggin' Dan's band and other musical pieces heard in-universe. Also the track is upbeat and fun. What we get is this weird generic try for an alien James Brown, with more weird new alien singer, CGI is at it's worst and it looks so out of place and completely without a purpose. I don't care about who is shooting first, but Jedi Rocks???? HELL NO!!

 

Forgive me if this or something similar has been posted before.

There have obviously been numerous changes made to the original trilogy since 1977. Some good, some bad. What changes, if any, do you personally believe enhance the films? What would be included in your "cut, copy, and paste" version? Or would you just like to see the originals they way the were originally released?

One example for me personally: I absolutely love the changes made to the interior shots of Cloud City. I grew up with the '97 special editions, and after viewing the original Cloud City scenes I can honestly say I think the changes benefited the overall atmosphere very well.

Thoughts?

 

I absolutely despise the Special Editions. The original trilogy was the penultimate cinematic experience. I wouldn't have changed a single frame.

 

I voted yes. I think the majority of the updates are for the better, or... would have been for the better if they were better executed. I LOVE the inclusion of the Jabba scene in ANH, except that the CGI is way sub-par nowadays. In addition to opening up the world a bit, which is interesting when done right (i.e. right = Death Star; wrong = Mos Eisley). But most important for me, I like to see MORE of the films, and would love for all deleted scenes to be restored and put back in at some point. I totally get that this might make the films poorer filmcraft-wise (i.e. pacing etc.), but I know them all by heart anyways to any extra bits are good for me.

That said, it is absolutely stupid that the films aren't released in multi-version releases, ala Alien Quadrilogy and Blade Runner 25th Anniversary Edition; the decision to not re-release the theatrical versions is mindbogglingly idiotic!

PS: I am also one of the few people in the galaxy who likes the Max Rebo band, so wtf do I know?

 

Nay to the special editions. While I liked some things like the 180 degree camera pan on the X-wings in ANH and how they more fully realized that one dewbak that has always been outside the Mos Eisly cantina, the bad additions are so egregious that they undermine the power of the narrative in a deep way. For example, here's how the Jabba Rocks sequence damages the power of the entire story: The original Rebo Band scene was threatening. The dancer was a lone slave rather than one of many colorful performers who might commiserate with her plight, the music was seedy, and you could hear the toxic din of voices who were ignoring her dance. There was no distraction from the fact that she died without a sympathetic soul in the room (aside from 3p0). All this was proof that the filmmakers were willing and able to hurt you a little, that disturbing things could happen in this film, like maybe Luke would defeat the emperor but die in the process. Given the heaviness of all that, relief, both comic and otherwise, was more welcome when it finally came in the form of, yes, ewoks. The ewok-aided rebel victory, the climax of the entire trilogy that either makes or breaks the whole played far better when it had the original Rebo Band sequence to set it off.

 

@Stofolupinoid I think that is a very good analysis of the power & place of the original Rebo Band scene within the narative of RotJ! Very good indeed, sir!

 

50/50
i like the special edition simply because thats how i was introduced to the franchise. without the re releases in the 90s im not sure how i would have found Star Wars. that being said i dont own the set. but i do have the original unedited version found online.
if you go to YOUTUBE and watch the Hello Gredo comparison vids you get a better understanding of what the changes really mean for the plot and character development. if i had a choice i would take the originals and enhance the color and sound as they did in the special edition but leave the rest. some of the space battles are pretty awesome too so i guess we can keep them.

 

Nope.

 

I loved the Special Editions, mainly because it gave me the chance to see the films in the cinema. My older brothers managed to see them the first time around, but I was born the year after Jedi, so missed the whole damn thing. So for that alone, I loved the Special Editions.

 

I voted yes because the SE did a lot of things right that unified and updated the originals. I absolutely despise Han not shooting first, and I have mixed feelings about the poor edited "No" by Vader in the Blu-Ray, but I do like most of the changes. I remember getting the original VHS copies from the library and comparing it to the SE and Blu-Ra, and for the most part I felt each edition made Star Wars look nicer. For a $11 million dollar movie, A New Hope has outstanding effects, but the digital editions deffinetly make the scenes better (Death Star run feels more intense and ragtag). I think Disney needs to help both types of fans. The ones who absolutely love the original versions by now deserve a high quality Blu-Ray version, and not the terrible 2006 DVD edition. And for fans who like me love the movies and the good chabges, we need to have Disney work their restoration and editing magic to fix some scenes like Han shooting first, Obi-Wan's howl, Vader's meh "No" and raise the overall film quality to digital levels. ROTJ also uses cheaper cameras, which to me has ruined the awesome feel and look of the previous Empire. Overall, appease both types of fans Disney, and yes, I overall liked the SE for improving film quality and enhancing many scenes.

 

Call it a blasphemy, but with the remastering, ANH sticks out visually little like a sore thumb.
It has the 70's picture and colouring as only one in the trilogy and in the remastering process, they didn't edited the colours, as everything goes to the magenta.
Lightsabers are only edited in the Vader vs Obi-wan, the Luke igniting the lightsaber and later the training scenes on falcon look horrible, where you have the sword in green, blue a little and white, flashing. With mixed in digital shots with CGI, that really are appearant a lot in contrast with the old footage....
Also, if adding the CGI X-wing and TIE Fighter shots, the battle has become chaotic and inconsistent. They shoud've leave it alone, or redo the exterior shots of the battle in CGI completely. No other problems like this in the latter two episodes, the Cloud City is superior to the old version I saw as a kid.

btw. how can Lucasfilm mess up the job so much, it is a studio full of movie pros, when amateur like Adywan can remaster it in superb quality as it looks almost like it was shot at the same year as the prequels were. If it was a budget thing, than man, were they cheap as hell on the remaster.

Spot at least 5 changes!

 

That's something that's jumped out at me, badly, ever since they did the first DVD transfer. What happened was, they simply ran the film through an automated color restoration program, and apparently never went back to tweak individual problems like the hot pink laser blasts (which are especially noticeable in the halls of the blockade runner at the beginning of the movie.)

The color restoration process was necessary, though. The original negative had faded badly, and the original color simply was not there. However, they did such a half-assed job of it that I've never felt that ANH has looked right on DVD.

 

YES! As much as the Original Trilogy Blu- Rays are visual quality wise leaps and bounds better than they were on DVD or VHS, I just remember looking at the Despecialized Versions online and looked at their comparison of their final edit of the Rebel trooper on board the Tantive V and the Blue-Ray version. Forgive me here, but Lucasfilm clearly was trying to support and push the Prequels so much they failed to realize that the Original Trilogy needed huge restoration and repairs during the Blu-Ray Collection creation process. A New Hope has all the wrong color palettes, The Empire Strikes Back is so good, but could be better, and Return of the Jedi has a slightly-off color palette, which is made worse by the grainy image from the cameras used (different than the previous two movies, these cameras were cheaper and bought, not rented, by Lucas, oh and some shoddy work for the Executor crash and the bad cut-out of the Death Star II is still visible, sigh). I see the Blu-Ray and love how, yes, it has been improved, but watching Episode 3 to 4 with today's technology, where the CGI that was added could easily be improved, and the film colors can be fixed, is a bit too much of a sore. It is a great collection, but as people like Harmy, who at home and online work to create extremely high quality updates like the Despecialized Edition turn out amazing works of art, it's a bit frustrating these things aren't fixed yet by Lucasfilm in the same way.

 

Yes indeed facial hair is key.