Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

For Star Wars Fans Who Have Never seen the original trilogy (as shown in theaters)

Apple_Robert

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
36,185
53,847
In a van down by the river
With Star Wars Day coming up on May 4th, I wanted to let fans and purists of Star Wars (who have never seen Star Wars as it was originally released in theaters in 1977) know, that a loyal fan base has been working over the years (with various different fan edit releases) to bring that ability to fruition. You can now see Star Wars and Return of the Jedi in 4K and as they were originally shown in theaters with the first release. If you don't have a 4K tv, 1080p versions are also available.

After Star Wars was released, George Lucas went back in the early 1990's and started working on editing the movies (the original trilogy) by adding in new scenes, deleting others, and adding new CGI affects that were not originally part of the movies. In George's Special Edition release in 1997 (I believe) Hans no longer shot first, which it why you may have seen or heard the line "Hans shot first" so many, many times over the years. George's reworking of the original trilogy is considered a bastardization of a wonderful story that was originally seen in theaters in 1977, 1980, and 1983.

You can read more about the Harmy Despecialized releases, as well as the Silver Screen Edition and 4K release by Team Negative1 at the link I provided.

Without the loyal fan base, the original trilogy releases would still be lost (probably forever) and generations of fans would never know just now wonderful the trilogy was before George started hacking it up.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: S.B.G
T'hain Esh Kelch said:
So, which releases should one watch? That site is so difficult to navigate unless one spends an hour going through everything.
Click to expand...
If you have a 4K tv, I recommend viewing the Team Negative1 4k release. They have two options;DNR or No DNR for Star Wars. I watched the "No DNR" release and it looked great. You can also do a DuckDuck or Google search for Star Wars 4k77. If you don't have a 4K tv, I recommend viewing the Silver Screen Edition from Team Negative1.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
If you have a 4K tv, I recommend viewing the Team Negative1 4k release. They have two options;DNR or No DNR for Star Wars. I watched the "No DNR" release and it looked great. You can also do a DuckDuck or Google search for Star Wars 4k77. If you don't have a 4K tv, I recommend viewing the Silver Screen Edition from Team Negative1.
Click to expand...
Are these purchased? If so where? Thanks.
 
The Harmy Despecialized versions of the trilogy are in 720p for his current release. He is working on ver. 3.0 which will be in 1080p and sourced from a better print used by Team Negative1 for their 4K release. The current Harmy releases are excellent. A lot of it was sourced from the current BD release, color corrected, and the Lucas edits were removed and replaced with original theatrical release cuts. They are worth having.

The 4k release from Team Negative1 is Star Wars fan drool worthy. It is that good. Even if you don't currently own a 4K t.v., you should secure a copy of these releases, in case you get a 4K tv later on.
 
MacNut said:
Which begs another question, how did they get the original negatives.
Click to expand...

We are not talking about fan edits of the original negatives. Nobody has those except for (possibly) Disney, if they haven't already been destroyed by Lucas. We are talking about fans legally purchasing or being given prints that are 1 - 3 generations from the original negative.

After the movies were shown in theaters, they were supposed to be destroyed.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
We are not talking about fan edits of the original negatives. Nobody has those except for (possibly) Disney, if they haven't already been destroyed by Lucas. We are talking about fans legally purchasing or being given prints that are 1 - 3 generations from the original negative.

After the movies were shown in theaters, they were supposed to be destroyed.
Click to expand...
I still question how "legal" those prints are. If they were supposed to be destroyed that means they are not authorized to sell them.

That's like saying I was given this jewelry that came out of the store's safe, it was handed down by 2 other people so it's ok for me to have it.

I would guarantee that theatre can says, not for any unauthorized distribution and any other uses of this print are prohibited.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scepticalscribe
MacNut said:
I still question how "legal" those prints are. If they were supposed to be destroyed that means they are not authorized to sell them.

That's like saying I was given this jewelry that came out of the store's safe, it was handed down by 2 other people so it's ok for me to have it.
Click to expand...
All I know is from information from the site linked and other places. I don't know if it is all 100% true or not. They talk about the source material and where it was gathered from. Read the information if you want to know the supposed facts. This story isn't knew. It has been written about for several years by major newspapers, blogs and other online sites.

If you don't want to take a look at the information, that is fine. I see no real reason to answer questions where the answers are already made available at the link and other public articles and sites on the internet.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
All I know is from information from the site linked and other places. I don't know if it is all 100% true or not. They talk about the source material and where it was gathered from. Read the information if you want to know the supposed facts. This story isn't knew. It has been written about for several years by major newspapers, blogs and other online sites.

If you don't want to take a look at the information, that is fine. I see no real reason to answer questions where the answers are already made available at the link and other public articles and sites on the internet.
Click to expand...
Let's just call it what it is. It's black market footage of a theatre print of the movie that was never supposed to get into the hands of the public. No way are these versions sanctioned by 20th Century Fox or Lucas Film.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scepticalscribe
MacNut said:
Let's just call it what it is. It's black market footage of a theatre print of the movie that was never supposed to get into the hands of the public. No way are these versions sanctioned by 20th Century Fox or Lucas Film.
Click to expand...
They are not sanctioned. That is correct.

Allegedly, Lucas Films and Disney have been shown copies of some of the fan edits in hopes that they will release the original releases as seen, which has not happened as yet. Who knows if that is true or any of it is true.

You can read all the information as I have done other the years. I am not here to argue.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
They are not sanctioned. That is correct.

Allegedly, Lucas Films and Disney have been shown copies of some of the fan edits in hopes that they will release the original releases as seen, which has not happened as yet. Who knows if that is true or any of it is true.

You can read all the information as I have done other the years. I am not here to argue.
Click to expand...
Disney now owns the originals masters, they can rerelease those if they wish. I guarantee there will be new 4k versions on the new Disney streamer next year.
 
The theatrical prints were all released on DVD around 2006. They were limited edition releases, perhaps, but you can still buy them. Amazon has the limited release of A New Hope selling for under $40.

I watched what I think was called the despecialized edition in the lead up to The Force Awakens. It was a remastered picture, but one that eschewed, for example, the New Hope scene that inserted terrible-CGI Jabba.

What's interesting to me is the way Lucas revisited his "updates." Like, you watch the CGI Jabba scene and it's entirely plausible that neither mechanical nor digital effects at the time were advanced enough to be able to enable Lucas to bring his vision to life.

You watch the Han-Greedo scene, though, and it's an entirely different story.

For the record, Han didn't shoot first.

Han fired the only shot. Greedo never got one off in the first place.
 
MacNut said:
Disney now owns the originals masters, they can rerelease those if they wish. I guarantee there will be new 4k versions on the new Disney streamer next year.
Click to expand...
If Disney releases the original unbastardized versions, I will gladly subscribe to their service. I may subscribe anyway, if they offer their old classic cartoons and movies.
[doublepost=1556494255][/doublepost]
willentrekin said:
The theatrical prints were all released on DVD around 2006. They were limited edition releases, perhaps, but you can still buy them. Amazon has the limited release of A New Hope selling for under $40.

I watched what I think was called the despecialized edition in the lead up to The Force Awakens. It was a remastered picture, but one that eschewed, for example, the New Hope scene that inserted terrible-CGI Jabba.

What's interesting to me is the way Lucas revisited his "updates." Like, you watch the CGI Jabba scene and it's entirely plausible that neither mechanical nor digital effects at the time were advanced enough to be able to enable Lucas to bring his vision to life.

You watch the Han-Greedo scene, though, and it's an entirely different story.

For the record, Han didn't shoot first.

Han fired the only shot. Greedo never got one off in the first place.
Click to expand...
You are correct.

Have you seen the BD release of the trilogy? I think I paid $90 at the time of release and it is terrible. I can't believe the powers that be saw the finished BD release with the terrible color grading and allowed it to be released. It looks so unnatural (people wise).
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
If Disney releases the original unbastardized versions, I will gladly subscribe to their service. I may subscribe anyway, if they offer their old classic cartoons and movies.
Click to expand...
I'll go one further, I bet Disney re-releases all versions. The original remastered untouched versions. The Lucas reimagined versions, and the original versions with the updated special effects.
 
MacNut said:
I'll go one further, I bet Disney re-releases all versions. The original remastered untouched versions. The Lucas reimagined versions, and the original versions with the updated special effects.
Click to expand...
I hope they release it on 4K BD. I would spend the big bucks to buy it, provided the coloring isn't way off like the BD release.
 
Alright, I'll come out and say it: The updates are not bad enough to justify stealing the original version.

I had the "Final chance to own the original version of Star Wars" on VHS. They were great. The new ones aren't that much worse.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacNut and bobob
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back