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

Yes, this may be an archival copy or a 70 mm screening copy in good shape.

 

Well, the quote says:

As far as I can tell most of the shots of the base at the mountain have been digitally stabilised, they've also smoothed over the seams in some of those shots. The comparison that I posted above is an example, obviously a still frame doesn't show you how the VFX element behind Melinda Dillon is now rock solid rather than gently weaving about as those kinds of hold-out mattes often did. And the edges of the compositing were also smoothed over, see how the thick black matte lines around the rocks are gone? That's not just because the new Blu-ray is dark as sh!+ either, the UHD reveals far more shadow there and the matte lines are gone, just gone.

That's not a new effect... that's a cleaned-up effect. I don't have a problem with that. We post-stabilize stuff all the time in final color, so there are all kinds of final shots and titles that are steadier now than they were in the theaters. I also removed some black edges from terrible matte work in Black Hole, showed it to the Disney guy, and he said, "great, as long as it didn't cost any extra."

You originally commented: "It's hard to believe Windows doing such an intensive work, my brother in law does some CGI work for commercials on a custom maid and top of the line Windows PC and it's slow like an old bicycle going uphill..."

And my answer was, "sure, you can do it on Windows if you have a really, really powerful Windows machine that costs a lotta bucks." Do you understand? This has nothing to do with language or Spain or America... it has everything to do with using enough power to get the job done.

 

It's just that I've seen computers running on OS and Linux and they all seemed faster compared to Windows on, I'm talking about computers of the same price range.
Has the Black Hole been released on BD? I have never seen it on HD, at what resolution was the Black Hole you worked on?

 

I was there as well. My understanding (unless I totally misunderstood what Dykstra said) was that this print was a 70mm UK print struck in the early 90s for one off special screenings, such as charity events. It was damaged the first time it was run with a decent 2’ / 2 second tear during the explosion of the Death Star (which is in the MIDDLE of the final reel). It was immediately pulled from circulation and left gathering dust, never to be run again for 25 or so years. Dykstra made it sound like the Academy projectionist is the one that actually repaired the damage which allowed it to be shown again (which might also explain why it was a last minute announce/addition to the programming).

As for the print itself… Holy Jeebus! I can’t imagine it looked any better opening day of any of the 70mm re-releases. It was gorgeous and other than that 2 seconds of damage (which, BTW, didn’t require any frames to be lost to repair and didn’t affect the sound), the print was pretty immaculate. Dykstra did say there was considerable effort of the part of many to get Lucas’s approval, so I sadly wouldn’t hold out much hope that this print suddenly finds its way into more and more screenings. I think it could be seen again, but my gut tells me (to quote Indy) only on special occasions. The bigger news to me though is just the knowledge that this exists in the first place and therefore it IS possible should that occasion ever happen.

70mm print of GOUT on Saturday in Academy Theater in CA! - Original Trilogy

 

We did it all in 2K from the 35mm original camera negatives. I believe it was reissued in Europe on Blu-ray and on streaming in HD. It's not a movie with a huge audience. It also cost $20M back in 1979 and made only $36M, so it's fair to say it was a big disappointment. George Lucas told a story around that time that said that he had brought Disney chief Ron Miller the script to the original Star Wars in 1975, and they read it and said, "gee, we can't make this -- a lot of people flying spaceships get killed. And besides, we already have a space picture in development..." which was apparently this one.

Years later, Roy Disney Jr. revealed in the 1980s how livid he was that his father's studio had turned down the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, and said that those were precisely what Disney family movies should be in modern times. Eventually of course... Lucasfilm wound up at Disney. Maybe it was always destined to be there, kind of like Disney owning ABC-TV.

 

THE BLACK HOLE has been released on Blu-ray, but is a Disney Movie Club exclusive. You have to join their club and then after you're in, you're eligible to order this new title.

To add insult to injury, the disc isn't quite authored correctly. The John Barry "Overture" is supposed to precede the film's opening credits, but in standard Blu-ray players the film starts with the opening credits. Strangely, those with home theater PCs that do Blu-rays are able to access a second stream on the disc that DOES play the Overture first. The prevailing thought is that the menu was supposed to offer two options, Play film with Overture, or Play film without Overture, but someone forgot to make the menu do that.

The film looks great though. Some process shots are a little grainy, but mostly, it looks terrific. Those opening titles with the green grid lines and stark red text look amazing.

 

Copy the disc and re-author it correctly.

 

Easier said than done with no Blu-ray drives in any computers.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the 'Black Hole' fault. I guess I'll stick to the HD iTunes version.

 

I can't control how a disc is authored, but I can tell you we had a couple of minutes of black prior to the start of the film, and I asked about it and was told, "oh, this is the Entr'acte music -- leave that there." So we did. It's in the original master that way, but it's up to the disc people to master it correctly.

At the time I laughed and said, "hey, imagine that: a movie called Black Hole has 2 minutes of a black hole prior to the start of the actual film!"

Yes, I stabilized all those myself, so this is about as good as those graphics will ever look from film... at least, unless somebody recreated them from scratch digitally. It ain't perfect, but what I'd say is this is the best the film has ever looked -- at least in my opinion. The studio prints were hiiiiiiideous.

Back to Star Wars: the D23 Disney "Fan Convention" is happening this weekend, and perhaps there will be an announcement of what Disney/Lucasfilm's future plans will be for reissues over the next year or so. I would love to see a 9-film boxed set in May of 2020, and have them say "you get the original theatrical releases, as well as longer 'deluxe editions' with additional material." And maybe they'll throw in a disc of Solo with an apology letter or something.

 

What’s even funnier than that is an “industry pro” not recognizing an overture like the ones used in the films 2001 and Star Trek The Motion Picture

 

If a 9-film boxed set is released in May of 2020 then at the same time I hope they release the 3 trilogies separately (like the original 2011 Blu Ray releases) as it's only the Original Trilogy I'd be interested in buying.

 

Knowing Disney, they might throw in a wrinkle where you can buy the individual trilogies... but not of the original theatrical releases. Watch them say, "oh, you have to buy the super-super-deluxe set with Luke's cut-off hand & lightsaber in order to get 9 movies with 2 versions per film." Disney does that kind of thing.

 

The only way I'm buying is if the original versions are standalone or a three movie box. Not paying for the other movies.
Disney should also know that are other means to get the movies if they are only part of a big box.
And that's what me and lots of other people will do if they "force" us to buy all that other crap we don't want.

 

You worked on The Black Hole disc? Sweet. Now put in a good word for the unreleased directors' cut (with original score) of Something Wicked This Way Comes.

 

Yes, Disney's business practices (among other things ) can be irritating.

 

And that's likely the way they will do any special STAR WARS marketing. Force people to join their Disney Movie Club to get certain things in an effort to drive membership, or place certain exclusive titles on their new streaming channel Disney+.

 

We will likely never see the original theatrical cuts.

 

It doesn't really matter at this point in time. Firstly, they were of course released on DVD in those LaserDisc ports Special Editions. They don't look great, but they are serviceable as a reference. Meanwhile time has passed and many of the fans who were demanding such things have moved on, lost interest in the overkill Disney Star Wars universe, or even passed on.

If at some time in the future, some wonderful remaster of the Original Original Trilogy is released. It'll get a huge hurrah from some, and big boos from another camp, since it can never be perfect. There will always be an issue with a sound effect, or a sound track, or a color pallette, or some other trifling thing that some will make mountains out of. But that number is dwindling.

Personally, I have those Special Editions with the bonus discs and am reasonably happy with them for all of the times I ever watch them. Every now and then, I'll put one on and enjoy the original-ness of it, but for general viewing purposes, the Blu-ray revisionist versions are just fine - again for what they are. Yeah, I hate "Jedi Rocks", and I'm not a fan of the revised color pallette in places, but it's just a movie after all. I'm past caring.

 

I disagree. It's another way for Disney to make some money. They'd be fools not to take it. Slap "Original Theatrical Release" or some such on it and people will buy it. @HGN2001 and you are, I think, seriously underestimating the rabidness of Star Wars fans. There are many and they'll shell out the money.

Ed

 

Didn't George Lucas do all the special edition stuff directly onto the original film prints?

 

The force is strong in this one!

 

I would buy it.

Then again refusal to release the original trilogy we knew between 1977 to 1983 has lead to George Lucas essentially having his own movie bootlegged.

Forgive me if I may have made this same point before but the 5 disc Blade Runner Set is the correct template for these types of releases.

Ridley Scott hates the theatrical but gave it to fans anyway.

 

No, everything from the recent Star Wars video releases has always been done using digital DPX image files, which are scans from the original camera negatives. The negatives are still intact, though they're very beat-up and damaged from 40+ years of use, plus the chemicals are fading badly.

 

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