Original Star Wars Trilogy Pre-97 SE

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Ronnie Potchie, Sep 20, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room

    I believe SOME of the changes even pre-dated 1981 (minor things with the soundtrack)!

    Somewhere out there is a great Mark Hamill anecdote about a time when George Lucas called him to ask him to come in to re-record some dialogue for the first movie. I'll look for the exact quote but he responded (something along the lines of) "Um, George? You realize the movie premiered yesterday, right?"
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2014
    hi_watt and mj_patrick like this.
  2. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    There were at least three different audio mixes prior to 81 for the first movie.
    They all had slightly different sound effects, audio takes etc....
    Empire had the 35 mm and 70mm sound mixes,also different.
    Feel like I've falling into a rabbit hole with this madness.
    Don't know how common this practice was in the movie business.
    Love the anecdote. :)
     
    Vidiot likes this.
  3. conception

    conception Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I liked seeing the SE's when they came out, but I never knew that these were going to replace the originals. The fixing of technical elements is inconsequential, but keeping in the added scenes permanently wasn't necessary.
     
    Ronnie Potchie likes this.
  4. Bowie Fett

    Bowie Fett Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    In September 2015, there will be a Blu-Ray box set containing the original AND 2015 versions of the original trilogy.

    *as of April 2014
     
    Ronnie Potchie likes this.
  5. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Boy I feel silly. :doh:
    Been out of the loop.
    Thanks for the info !!!
     
  6. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    Unless, Bowie Fett has the inside scoop, he's joking. There's nothing on the net but rumors. However, I do believe that the mostly-unaltered trilogy, the versions found on the '93 LD and '95 VHS, is coming next year.
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    There's a famous George Lucas story where he said that he only got about 60% of what he wanted with the original Star Wars movie, and he basically ran out of time and had to hit the release date in May 1977 with a lot of the movie not quite what he wanted. I was told by a very high-ranking Lucasfilm producer that "in George's mind, the movie is only finished when he says it's finished." So even in 2004, to George, the film was not yet finished.

    I've never had a problem with directors tinkering with their movies as years go on, but it is unfortunate when the original versions kind of fade away and the revised versions suddenly become the only versions seen in TV syndication and home video. My preference would always be for both versions to be released and give the viewer a choice.

    At least in the case of (say) E.T., where Spielberg replaced the FBI guns with walkie talkies and stuff like that, eventually sanity took hold and he eventually decided any historical revisionism beyond color-correction, grain, dirt, and technical fixes was too much. I'm not sure where he's at with Close Encounters, but I remember there was a point in 1980 where Columbia Pictures had announced that they had destroyed almost all of the 1977 prints of the movie and only the "Special Edition" remained, but at least Sony eventually went back and restored everything in HD (and I would assume 4K).
     
    Mr. H, EVOLVIST and Ronnie Potchie like this.
  8. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yes, been hearing the unfinished story since the late 80's .
    Agree, tinker all you want with the option to choose.
    E.T. has a special place in my 8 year old heart, glad Spielberg came to his senses.
    Close Encouters,enjoyed seeing all versions of that.
    George was (or is ?) part of a commity established to the preservation of B&W films.
    I find this ironic.
     
  9. Bowie Fett

    Bowie Fett Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I'm not joking. I do a lot of work inside coffee shops in Los Angeles.

    ;)
     
    hi_watt and Encuentro like this.
  10. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I only finally saw Star Wars for the first time last month, after picking up a LD player and the definitive trilogy box. If they finally do a Blu-Ray release of the original trilogy within less than a year ago… great timing on my behalf I guess.
     
  11. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Directors will change and change and change and change all the way up to the day of release. And even after that, things will continue to get changed and fixed for the home video. And if the movie is redone for some reason ten years later, some directors will use the opportunity to change it again... especially the mix and the color.
     
    Ronnie Potchie likes this.
  12. Grunge Master

    Grunge Master 8 Bit Enthusiast

    Location:
    Michigan
    I felt that the worst scene in the SE trilogy was the Jabba scene, where he's in the space hangar. It just doesn't seem to fit in, even though I know that scene was filmed back during ANH, though it was a human instead of a slug. Maybe because Boba Fett is in there, and I kinda felt like he was just tossed in to make us fanboys happy.
     
    hi_watt and S. P. Honeybunch like this.
  13. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    After watching the Documentary "Making of Star Wars" on PBS(??) in the mid 80's and watching that scene with an actor in costume as Jabba, and yet why didn't George Lucas use it and put something in the storyline where upon Jabba changed in appearance(either injured by a Bounty Hunter who skipped out with $, or grotesque due to attack, injury, infection?) for the next few films?

     
  14. The Spaceman

    The Spaceman Forum Resident

    Going from a man to a giant slug is a bit too much to be an easily written change of appearance. The Emperor's appearance change in Episode III though was perfectly done in the storyline.
     
  15. Billy Infinity

    Billy Infinity Beloved aunt

    Location:
    US
    "John would have loved it."
     
    hi_watt likes this.
  16. malcolm reynolds

    malcolm reynolds Handsome, Humble, Genius

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    My problem with the Star Wars changes aren't that they were changed it is that they are terrible. My all time favorite movie is Blade Runner The Final Cut which was changed and isn't terrible.
     
  17. FACE OF BOE

    FACE OF BOE Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The date, April 2014, on his post should be a clue that theres a certain amount of tongue in cheek involved.
     
  18. FACE OF BOE

    FACE OF BOE Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The date, April 2014, on his post should be a clue that theres a certain amount of tongue in cheek involved.
     
  19. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Agreed, The Final Cut changes at least made sense. The U.S Theatrical release is still my favorite.
    Releasing the box set with five versions made everyone happy, generally speaking that is.
    The real question is weather Deckard is a replicant.:shake: :)
     
  20. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yes, I'm a blockhead at times. :o
     
    FACE OF BOE likes this.
  21. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    How common was it to have so many mixes of a movie (any movie in the 70's , 80's or otherwise) going on at the same time ?
    That's what I was curious about.
     
  22. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The 6-track and the Dolby stereo (Lt/Rt) were generally two passes, as I recall. What's unusual about the Star Wars mixes is that they also re-edited and made dialogue changes, mostly to fix mistakes that had slipped through on the 6-track. I seem to recall there were further changes that happened for the home video version around 1983. Not sure if anything was changed for the 1980 theatrical reissue (right around Empire).
     
  23. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    A fabulous interview with Original Trilogy producer Gary Kurtz, where he takes on a wide range of myths and misconceptions that have circulated about the production of these movies over the years. I'd heard much of this before, but never all in one place. I particularly enjoy his response to the idea that Star Wars was ALWAYS intended to be subtitled Epiode IV.

    http://mashable.com/2014/09/27/star...:eyJzIjoidCIsImkiOiJfZG52OW84eWN5aWRmY2Y1ZSJ9
     
  24. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Gary Kurtz is a very interesting guy and they refer to past statements of his many times in the Secret History of Star Wars book, which has quite a few revelations about how the movies were planned and what was and was not intended to be part of the plot and characters.
     
    DeeThomaz likes this.
  25. Ronnie Potchie

    Ronnie Potchie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    http://mashable.com/2014/09/27[/QUOTE]
    My favorite would have to be the 1985 VHS version which has a few of the mono mix differences.
    3PO's Tractor beam line, close the blast doors etc...
    Blast It Wedge would have been a nice addition to the 85 mix.
    Just wanted to say thank you for replying to my silly post. It's pretty cool to hear from someone who's actually a part of the industry.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine