Star Wars (1977) original Blu ray. Crappier than ever.

Actually, I was looking at the screencaps on the website and the fan editors did a good job of filtering out good chunks of the grain but keeping skin tones intact.

Of course I haven't seen this fan restoration in motion, so...

 

uh huh...

 

At least the version I have is 48 Gb and it looks great. Yes, it has be DNRed or de-grained but it has been very well done,faces don't look waxy and still retain their skin texture and pores, there's no grain freezing or motion artifacts, resolution and detail doesn't seem to suffer from the DNR process.
I like both versions and as data space is dirty cheap these days I'm keeping both versions the non-DNR and the DNR versions. That's my favourite version of Star Wars as it looks as a real movie from the 70's and the 5.1 track derived from the 70 mm release sounds outstanding.

 

I promise I'm not saying this just to disagree with everyone else here, but I thought the discs looked great. I thought the same thing when I bought the DVDs back in 2006. If the color timing/remastering choices here were applied to the original version of the trilogy, it would be perfect for me. No doubt the color timing is revisionist, but that never bothers me when it looks this good. Then again, I prefer a high contrast picture.

 

Nah, gimme the grain. The DNRed version looks like somebody spread wax all over it.

 

Have you seen both?

 

Yes, and yes, the non-DNR version is extremely grainy, but I still prefer that look to the DNRed version.

 

I think the person/persons who did the DNR version did a good job, they used it midly, got to remove most of big grain structure but not the thin layer of grain and low level detail.
Ask Vidiot about grain management and loss of detail 'though you may not like what he has to say about this, but I agree with Vidiot on that matter.

 

George, is that you?

 

Nope, sure he's just a guy who needs his eyes checked.

 

The colours on the official blurays look truly ridiculous! Like you left a child to muck about with the TV settings... Yoda did NOT look fluorescent green in the original versions of the trilogy, nor did skin tones look like the actors had gone to the Trump school of tanning! The ‘unofficial’ 4K77 versions (Both DNR and non-DNR versions) look by far the closest to the original screenings I’ve seen, to date.

 

I don't remember how the original screenings of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back or Return Of The Jedi looked as I was a kid but I DO know that the 4K77 versions look more natural than the "original" BDs with their pastel-looking colors. I also wonder one thing that I'm sure Vidiot can answer for me/us, if Lucas had gone for that pink looking colors back in 1977, would that kind of tampering be easy and reasonably cheap to achieve?

 

I doubt anyone remembers exactly how the original screening looked.

What can be established though is what is tastefully done in restoration to bring out the best the film can be all the while correcting obvious shortcomings.

Will the later eventually be done ? Thats the question.

 

Grain "management" is just wrong on so many levels.

The release print look is also not valued by him which should go into decisions on retaining how the film looked (along with artist correction notes if available).

Many times over the release prints have been trashed by technicians and that is just not right.

My vote goes with the Silver Screen edition for the Kodak brown look. Just a straight up masterpiece to me since a camera lense capture did the work vs a scan that can only capture flat.

 

Most likely wrong but Wikipedia says 'Despecialized' editions of the original trilogy due 1/15.

 

Uh huh. Definitely not what they'd call them if they came out.

 

Mr. Lucas got what he wanted. We used a Technicolor archival print from 1977 as a reference and screened it once every week or so, so what you got was actually fairly faithful to the original theatrical color decisions. "Pastel" or "vivid" is a subjective call. There was plenty of color from where I sat.

"Pink-looking colors" are typically a sign that the yellow and cyan layers have faded, leaving a predominantly magenta (pink/red) image. It's not technically correct. The Star Wars transfers most people remember seeing on home video from the 1980s were done from IP (one generation down from the camera negative), and were supervised by Howard Kazanjian -- Lucas didn't have a lot of interest in home video at that time. Lucas did supervise all the theatrical timing at the lab, however.

 

Lol, I don't think George would be interested in a version without the changes. I'm far from being alone in liking the look of the blu rays. And since we have the guy who did the color timing as a member on this forum, I thought he might like to hear from someone who liked his work. As far as the Special Edition changes go, I can forgive most of them except the ones in Jedi (especially shoe-horning Hayden Christiansen in). Those are cringeworthy. Those are why when I had the DVD version with the original version as a "bonus", I always watched that one for Jedi (as much as it hurt me because I loved the way the SE DVD looked).

 

You got a guy that worked for Lucas and did what he was told 40 years after the fact. There is a lot said about digital manipulation and I don't support it.

An archival print can fade just like any other print. Technicolor or Eastman the key is to match it with other materials like lobby cards, collectors cards, wardrobe worn...you name it. Take all into account.

That pink crap on the blurays is not correct.

Despite the howlings of some I saw the movies originaly in the theaters, knew all the collectors materials. Saw countless books and puzzles and promo materials. Like a lot of collectors here, from an American standpoint we know what is right from the Kodak Eastman side.

Getting the colors better is not that difficult if you match it up to known elements. The fade should be uniform and then it can be corrected for.

Anybody standing next to the blurays and thinking it is even close to right needs to have a check for color blindness (which as someone that color corrects for a living recently that has been tested I can say with a certaintly I can be trusted). What Lucas wants now and what was right for 1977 as we know can be 2 very different things.

The blurays are garbage from a color standpoint. End of story.

The original poster didn't ask about Kodak Eastman fading that leaves the Kmart pink hue.

Poster was asking about the magenta/pink look of the blurays that is quite known that you worked on, that is a stark contrast to the original 1977 look.

Both Silver Screen edition and 4K77 (though too green for my taste...but still better than the blurays) have been corrected for their prints choices that were used.

 

You’re not alone. You may be in the minority on this forum, but you’re in the majority overall. I watched them recently. They look just fine. I personally don’t give a bleep whether or not the color timing matches the color timing of the theatrical releases. Lucas clearly wasn’t interested in recreating the films as they appeared in the late 70s and early 80s as evidenced by the numerous changes made to the films. They look good. I’m just not particularly fond of some of the more egregious changes, one of which you mentioned. But they look good, and they’re fun to watch. Someday, the theatrical versions will be released, and they’ll sit next to Lucas’s final versions. The theatricals will be the original mixes, and Lucas’s final versions will be the remixes and everything will be hunky dory. Of course, when the theatricals are released, there will inevitably be complaints about color timing and grain level from the extreme minority of fans who’ve spent their lives pouring over the technical aspects of these films.

 

You mean value accuracy? I have the final version as far as what I enjoy. If one is released that looks correct I will certainly applaud it, but I won't fool myself into believing it is all good just because it is official.

Most that talk crap weren't around when it was released or have no idea about the recent captures/scans done by fans that care. Seeing is believing and those blurays released officially would be watched less without question.

 

You've saved me a long answer, with all my respect as person, forum member and professional, to Vidiot, someone I relly on subjects regarding video and film restoring. Nobody here like Vidiot knows all the facts about the Star Wars DVD's and BD's and I respect the job he's done as he didn't take the decissions about the picture on those DVD's and BD's, he just followed orders, something that most of us do for a living.
For me those original DVD's and BD's are waste of time, money, the professionals like Vidiot that worked on them and I also suspect they were a cheap and rushed job for Star Wars standards and the money they have generated. We all know they are Mr. Lucas' visions and Mr. Lucas must know by now that those DVD's and BD's are not loved at all by discerning Star Wars fans.

 

I haven't watched the original Star Wars BD since the Silver Screen was "released" and I don't feel like watching it again, to be soft and polite, I dislike it, I much prefer the Silver Screen or the 4K77.

 

While it may seem I am disrespecting Vidiot's work ethic because I disagree with his point of view, nothing could be further from truth.

While it is common to say that one is just following orders. Some orders should not be followed. Does it take scruples and confidence to make life changing decisions, absolutely.

But regardless of what people choose to do in making ends meet, and what compromises they make to save their butts on a perceived ideology of stability, it is quite a step more to say that others are incorrect (in the goal of selling and authenticating their product) and even more so to say that only those that are involved with an official project know the right answers.

I admit fully that I am getting really tired of the "director approved" moniker that often is completely and utterly distorted. I care very little of what a director/cinematographer thinks today to help pay for their kids pool or their mansion on a hill. I care about what the artists thought back when the movie was released and the art that was presented to the public and the critics and the award givers.

I think some people care more about popularity contests then getting down to the truth of the matter. They are not listening, and their one goal is to push false information and completely disregard even direct questions that are asked of them.

I am not saying that anyone here is specifically guilty of such a claim, but I am saying that it goes on all the time and to exploit a system just to keep the truth buried is just plain wrong. The independent projects were a labor of love and had the one goal of getting closer to the truth. I applaud such efforts and that means more to me then someone like Lucas who wants to bury the truth, and in many cases completely destroy perception of what people remembered by making false claims in interviews.

Now all that said, I also see his goal and that is why the 6 movies seen in chronological order make more sense with Hayden in as the force ghost. Right or wrong, it plays better with the changes that were made in the blurays that were released. That is just my opinion, but it will in no way change what I feel is the superior movie above all. Star Wars by itself without sequels or digital changes (with the 70 mm 6 channel soundtrack or the final Mono with the audio fixes).

Thanks for your well thought out post!

 

4K83 is released from the Rancor cage.