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The other day, I was thinking the kids are just about old enough to watch Star Wars episodes 4-6, and it occurred to me I don’t know how to obtain a decent (ori

by hedora 3y ago

The other day, I was thinking the kids are just about old enough to watch Star Wars episodes 4-6, and it occurred to me I don’t know how to obtain a decent (original plot and visual effects) copy, legally or otherwise. I almost wish I still had that old VHS box set laying around.

sho 3y ago
Legally? Old VHS or laserdisk, so not really an option unless you're a fanatic. Somewhat less clear cut legally? "Despecialized edition" is the keyword you're looking for on the torrent sites. Theres's even a wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Editio...
- qingcharles 3y ago
  That's actually a really good summary of the whole fan restoration situation.
wharvle 3y ago
Best available restoration, legal or otherwise, is 4k77 / 4k80 /4k83 (4k + the year of the film’s release). A bunch of absolute lunatics acquired multiple 35mm prints of each movie in its original form (the Star Wars text crawl is just titled “Star Wars”, no episode IV), scanned them at ultra-high-quality, then used various references, including vintage stills, to hand-repair damage and color correct / regrade to compensate for fading. Available on any torrent search (maybe even on an Internet Archive torrent? Not sure). They released two official (well, “official”) versions of each: one with the film grain intact as-scanned (it’s rather aggressive, especially on the first film) and another with it cautiously denoised so it looks more like folks are used to on modern films. None of the official releases come close, if you want to watch the closest practically-obtainable version to what people saw in the theaters on opening day—even a remarkably-good 35mm print on your own cinema projector wouldn’t look as close, because it’d be guaranteed to have noticeable scratches and fading. [edit] oh and they have multiple audio mixes to suit most preferences. Can’t remember exactly what’s on them all, but Star Wars has both the original stereo and mono mixes (these feature some different ADR takes, between them—it’s not just a difference in audio channels) as well as at least one surround track.
Mr_Minderbinder 3y ago
I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction for this. Maybe send me a PM on Reddit, I am there under the same username.

by hedora 3y ago

sho 3y ago

Legally? Old VHS or laserdisk, so not really an option unless you're a fanatic. Somewhat less clear cut legally? "Despecialized edition" is the keyword you're looking for on the torrent sites. Theres's even a wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Editio...

qingcharles 3y ago
That's actually a really good summary of the whole fan restoration situation.

wharvle 3y ago

Best available restoration, legal or otherwise, is 4k77 / 4k80 /4k83 (4k + the year of the film’s release). A bunch of absolute lunatics acquired multiple 35mm prints of each movie in its original form (the Star Wars text crawl is just titled “Star Wars”, no episode IV), scanned them at ultra-high-quality, then used various references, including vintage stills, to hand-repair damage and color correct / regrade to compensate for fading. Available on any torrent search (maybe even on an Internet Archive torrent? Not sure). They released two official (well, “official”) versions of each: one with the film grain intact as-scanned (it’s rather aggressive, especially on the first film) and another with it cautiously denoised so it looks more like folks are used to on modern films. None of the official releases come close, if you want to watch the closest practically-obtainable version to what people saw in the theaters on opening day—even a remarkably-good 35mm print on your own cinema projector wouldn’t look as close, because it’d be guaranteed to have noticeable scratches and fading. [edit] oh and they have multiple audio mixes to suit most preferences. Can’t remember exactly what’s on them all, but Star Wars has both the original stereo and mono mixes (these feature some different ADR takes, between them—it’s not just a difference in audio channels) as well as at least one surround track.

Mr_Minderbinder 3y ago

I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction for this. Maybe send me a PM on Reddit, I am there under the same username.