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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Gizmodo- Original Star Wars Online

An Original Film Print of Star Wars Has Been Restored and Released Online

James Whitbrook
Filed to: STAR WARS
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An Original Film Print of Star Wars Has Been Restored and Released Online
Whether or not you see George Lucas’ tinkering with the original Star Warstrilogy as harmless meddling or the greatest sin committed in cinematic history, it’s a shame that fans don’t even have the choice to purchase HD versions of the original theatrical cuts. But now, at least, a restored version of the first Star Wars is available online.
This isn’t a “despecialized edition” like many other fan attempts to revert Lucas’ changes. Somehow, a group of fans dubbing themselves Team Negative One found an original 35mm film print of the first Star Wars movie, and have spent years cleaning it up, scanning each frame of film and digitally restoring it to make the cleanest version of the original movie as possible. You can check out a video comparing the state of the original film reel and the final, cleaned version below:
Team Negative One’s restoration is meant to be more faithful than the only publicly released HD version of the theatrical cuts made available as DVD bonuses in a 2006 release of the original trilogy (which themselves were taken from the Laserdisc release of the movies and suffered from detail loss in the transfer process). It’s by no means a perfect restoration, with some graininess and color differences, and you won’t get the sharp image of the Blu-ray releases, changes and all, but it’s the closest there’s ever been to a true restoration of the original Star Wars.
Due to the highly dubious legality of releasing the restoration, Negative One has remained relatively quiet about putting the restored film online; it began seeding its way through the internet about a month ago, but it’s only just started receiving wider attention as more and more fans discover it. Obviously because of this, we can’t directly link to where to download the restoration, but should you desire to see it, it’s not exactly difficult to find if you go looking.
You can check out the link below to see more comparisons between the restoration and the original print, as well as the 2011 Blu-ray release of the film.
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    • Chick CounterflyX37.9XXS
      2/18/16 1:49pm
      Han is the only one to shoot in the original version. So there is no “who shot first” question; that only arose later after Lucas tinkered and then the question arose.
      Reply
        • redskull3000X37.9XXS
          2/18/16 1:59pm
          It absolutely astonishes me that this is even a question. Yes, for the billionth, and hopefully last time, Han shot first in the original release. I saw firsthand with my own eyes, several times during the summer of 1977. There’s no if, there’s no maybe. Han shot first. Greedo didn’t even have a chance to get a shot off. 
          Reply
          • artiofabJames Whitbrook
            2/18/16 2:07pm
            So...
            If anyone is looking for a link to the 21GB torrent, here’s a link to the 21GB torrent. 
            edited to add: PS should I ask why, if this was released about a month ago, it’s being talked about now? OH to answer my own question it’s because TheForce dot net noticed, okay.
            Reply
          • miket10James Whitbrook
            2/18/16 1:42pm
            Now that Mr. Lucas is out of the way, I guess Fox and/or Disney don’t like money that much since they didn’t release the original version of Star Wars yet. 
            Unless maybe they are waiting for a super box set with all nine movies and possibly the anthology movies. They better throw the Christmas special in there too, I want a good copy of the animated story with Boba Fett ;)
            Reply
            • TomHolstemiket10
              2/18/16 1:57pm
              I don’t think it’s about Disney not liking money; I think it’s about them not biting the hand that feeds them. George Lucas basically gave them the ability to print money for themselves over the next several decades, in form of at least six new movies, merchandise for every possible product, the ability to make new TV shows, and eventually distribution rights on the earlier films. Disney wants to do whatever it can to show gratitude to Lucas for that. Directly contradicting his wishes regarding the OT would basically be spitting in his face, from their perspective. 
              Mind you, I’d love to own an officially restored version myself, and I bet Disney would love to put one out. But that would make George very unhappy, so I don’t see them doing that. (In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there’s a stipulation in the contract that said that they could only release his approved versions.) 
              So I’m thrilled for fan restorations like this one. :)
              Reply
              • Aiwaz418TomHolste
                2/18/16 2:09pm
                and eventually distribution rights on the earlier films. 
                Except the first one, which remains permanently at Fox.
                Reply
                • Clutchman83TomHolste
                  2/18/16 2:47pm
                  Uh, Disney already pretty much kicked Lucas out of the loop rather unceremoniously. Kathleen Kennedy ditched his concept ideas for Episode VII and cut him out of the creative process completely. Old George was salty as hell about it publicly before his PR people convinced him to act sort of gracious about the whole thing. Did you not here about his “selling his children to white slavers” controversy? Lucas sold his rights to Star Wars in it’s entirety, Disney doesn’t have to kowtow to him for any reason. The main reason they won’t release an un-edited original trilogy is because Lucas didn’t own the rights to the original film and I believe there was some legalese in the rights selling about not doing so. They aren’t being gracious, they are legally bound.
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