Rumor: Unaltered original Star Wars trilogy coming to Blu-ray

[Thor]

Back in the 90's Lucas apparently lied and said that the EU books were canon (great way to draw in fans). Years later he changed his tune when the prequels came out. Some of the EU storylines (not all) are better than any of the stuff that Lucas cranked out recently imo. At one time the games were considered canon too but I guess Disney nixed that.

[Blue Meanie]

So The Big Black Box remastered Laserdisc set is what then?? It's not the original cut? IMHO the Black Box LD set is THE definitive set:



Best sound and picture. They even talk about it on this site:

http://www.hdvision-mag.com/special-features/

I am a bit confused as to why the Black Box wouldn't be the original cut. Can someone explain? Thanks.

[WannabeMego]

Lucas has always made it up in the moment. He acts like he always had a grand plan, but that's just to make himself more awesome in his own eyes. He has contradicted himself in interviews over the years so often it's not even funny.

Sounds like the Paul McCartney of Film

[Blue Meanie]

Sounds like the Paul McCartney of Film

Very Funny

[Werewolf]

I am a bit confused as to why the Black Box wouldn't be the original cut. Can someone explain? Thanks.

It has the New Hope title opening scroll. The original trilogy versions for the 2006 Bonus DVDs are taken from the 93 laserdiscs but have the original non New Hope title scroll reinserted at the beginning of Star Wars.

[edit] Your link explains in better detail the problems of the 93 digital masters both the 93 Laserdisc and 2006 DVDs use.

" The official release was plagued by a number of problems: 1) The 1993 master had DNR applied to it which smeared away detail in any moving shot and sometimes left trailing artifacts. 2) It was not anamorphic. 3) It suffered from aliasing or "jaggies". 4) It was not up to modern standards of detail. All of these were a result of the era in which it was made, which was over a decade out of date. 5) It was excessively grainy, especially in early scenes. 6) The audio mix was not the original. 7) It was plagued by frame jitter, or gate weave. 8) It lacked the original subtitles."

[Blue Meanie]

Unfortunately I personally don't think Disney will ever come out with a better version than is already out...at least when it comes to an untouched/No added affects version. BTW, looking at the image comparisons of '93 vs. '04 on the site...I'd rather have the '93 than the '04 version.

[Werewolf]

BTW, looking at the image comparisons of '93 vs. '04 on the site...I'd rather have the '93 than the '04 version.

The 2004 DVDs share the same masters as the Blu rays and have all the same issues. Digital changes aside, they suffer from crushed blacks and a terrible new pink toned oversaturated color scheme. Just miserable transfers.

As outdated as it is, the best version of the classic trilogy commercially available is from the 2006 DVD bonus discs.

[Klosterheim]

If the original Star Wars Blu ray is as good as the Jaws Blu-ray, I'm in!

[Gorn Captain]

Looking at the difference between these two images...I just don't care...
The images are good enough for me, and I'd rather watch a great story with ok images than a crap story in glorious HD.

The only thing that still interests me now is seeing deleted scenes and doing SW archaeology, finding all the missing bits.
I'd love to see the original SW with all the missing scenes edited back into it, no matter what the picture quality.

I'm a big fan of old movies (like the Chaney Phantom), and if the images are poor at times, I'm still happy because I'm watching a terrific story.

Unfortunately I personally don't think Disney will ever come out with a better version than is already out...at least when it comes to an untouched/No added affects version. BTW, looking at the image comparisons of '93 vs. '04 on the site...I'd rather have the '93 than the '04 version.

[Werewolf]

Looking at the difference between these two images...I just don't care...

That picture is very flattering to the absolutely horrible color altered 2004 transfer the Blu rays are from. This video of the making of a fan restoration gives you a better idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHfLX_TMduY

It also crops out the large surrounding boarder the non anamorphic 93 transfer has on modern HD televisions. As well as all the other primitive digital restoration flaws the severely outdated 93 transfer has.

[Werewolf]

A little bit of interesting news.

This site mentions a 4k restoration of the SW trilogy.

Under projects-restoration.

http://www.rmwusa.com/

Note restoration. Not upscale. So, this is not the altered digital transfer used on the Blu-rays getting an upscale to 4k. This has to be an actual film restoration.

SW clips are also shown in the image processing video under reels.

[apes3978]

Gorn,

Good points all around... I feel the same way...

Looking at the difference between these two images...I just don't care...
The images are good enough for me, and I'd rather watch a great story with ok images than a crap story in glorious HD.

The only thing that still interests me now is seeing deleted scenes and doing SW archaeology, finding all the missing bits.
I'd love to see the original SW with all the missing scenes edited back into it, no matter what the picture quality.

I'm a big fan of old movies (like the Chaney Phantom), and if the images are poor at times, I'm still happy because I'm watching a terrific story.

[Hedji]

A little bit of interesting news.

This site mentions a 4k restoration of the SW trilogy.

Under projects-restoration.

http://www.rmwusa.com/

Note restoration. Not upscale. So, this is not the altered digital transfer used on the Blu-rays getting an upscale to 4k. This has to be an actual film restoration.

SW clips are also shown in the image processing video under reels.

Very interesting.

[jds1911a1]

So The Big Black Box remastered Laserdisc set is what then?? It's not the original cut? IMHO the Black Box LD set is THE definitive set:



Best sound and picture. They even talk about it on this site:

http://www.hdvision-mag.com/special-features/

I am a bit confused as to why the Black Box wouldn't be the original cut. Can someone explain? Thanks.

Star wars in the 77 relase did not have EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE a the start of the crawl. the defninitive colleciton LD box set is the theatrical releases of all 3 films with the caveat that Star wars has the 78 oscar re-release crawl with the A new hope sub title. There are about 25 minutes of footage shot on skywalker farm with Bigs and in anchorhead with Luke and his freands that was not in the release, likewise there was some footage for empire with wampas in the base

[Werewolf]

I've been reading reports that during the SDCC Lucasfilm was showing digitally restored versions of the original theatrical trailers of the classic trilogy at their booth. To be totally clear these were restored classic trailers of the original trilogy. NOT a trailer for a restored release of the classic trilogy. It still does make you wonder why they were showing them or why they'd restore the pre-special edition trailers.