4 ms·

That brings up a good point. Die-hard Star Wars fans have been begging Lucasfilm to release the "unspecial" editions of the original trilogy for many years. IIR

That brings up a good point. Die-hard Star Wars fans have been begging Lucasfilm to release the "unspecial" editions of the original trilogy for many years. IIRC Lucasfilm claims the original negatives were permanently altered when the special editions were made...but certainly no editor could be so careless? It's possible the original negatives still exist and Disney will eventually release them. Further watching: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325014/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325014/

lmm 14y ago
If nothing else there are still high-quality laserdisc copies of the original; I believe there's a DVD-quality rip therof on the internets.
- acuozzo 14y ago
  LFL released the original-unaltered-trilogy in 2006 as bonus DVDs to stand alongside the 2004 releases of the Special Editions. They used the D1 Maser Tapes created for the 1993 Definitive Collection laserdisc set, so they're (technically) better than the aforementioned laserdiscs. With that being said, the image quality suffers from horrible smearing caused by 1993-era DVNR and colors are severely desaturated. Furthermore, the release was rushed and reeks of an inexperienced restoration team. For more information, see: http://savestarwars.com/gout.html http://savestarwars.com/gout.html It is held by many to be the worst DVD release of all time.
acuozzo 14y ago
It doesn't matter if the original film elements exist or not. Many different early-generation film elements exist, such as internegatives and interpositives, all of which are capable of yielding resolutions much higher than 2K (or even 4K) with the right equipment. Furthermore, many hundreds (or even thousands) of the theatrical 35mm and 70mm film reels still exist for all three films. (They're in the hands of private collectors and LFL.) Sure, they're beat to hell, but a restoration team worth its weight should be able to handle such a job if the situation were so dire. For more information, see http://www.originaltrilogy.com/ http://www.originaltrilogy.com/ and http://www.savestarwars.com/ http://www.savestarwars.com/.

lmm 14y ago

If nothing else there are still high-quality laserdisc copies of the original; I believe there's a DVD-quality rip therof on the internets.

acuozzo 14y ago
LFL released the original-unaltered-trilogy in 2006 as bonus DVDs to stand alongside the 2004 releases of the Special Editions. They used the D1 Maser Tapes created for the 1993 Definitive Collection laserdisc set, so they're (technically) better than the aforementioned laserdiscs. With that being said, the image quality suffers from horrible smearing caused by 1993-era DVNR and colors are severely desaturated. Furthermore, the release was rushed and reeks of an inexperienced restoration team. For more information, see: http://savestarwars.com/gout.html http://savestarwars.com/gout.html It is held by many to be the worst DVD release of all time.

acuozzo 14y ago

It doesn't matter if the original film elements exist or not. Many different early-generation film elements exist, such as internegatives and interpositives, all of which are capable of yielding resolutions much higher than 2K (or even 4K) with the right equipment. Furthermore, many hundreds (or even thousands) of the theatrical 35mm and 70mm film reels still exist for all three films. (They're in the hands of private collectors and LFL.) Sure, they're beat to hell, but a restoration team worth its weight should be able to handle such a job if the situation were so dire. For more information, see http://www.originaltrilogy.com/ http://www.originaltrilogy.com/ and http://www.savestarwars.com/ http://www.savestarwars.com/.