I have a bad feeling about this.

[Pelado]

Do you have more info on that, like a link? I did a search for it, but came up empty. Everything I found said that it wasn't going to happen.

Apparently, there's more than one. Here's the Wikipedia entry on Harmy's Despecialized Edition:

Harmy's Despecialized Edition is a series of fan restorations of the Original Star Wars Trilogy, which consists of Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). The edits are intended to reproduce their appearance as originally shown in cinemas. They were created by a team of Star Wars fans led by Petr "Harmy" Harmáček, an English teacher from Plzeň, Czechia. The original Star Wars trilogy was released theatrically by 20th Century Fox for Lucasfilm between 1977 and 1983. Subsequent releases on home media, such as the 1997 "Special Edition" releases, introduced significant changes to the films, including additional scenes, altered sound-effects, and new computer-generated imagery – these changes were met with a generally poor response from critics and fans. As of 2019, the films are no longer commercially available in their original theatrical releases.

Harmáček felt that altering the films in this way constituted "an act of cultural vandalism", and in 2010 was inspired to create his own series of fan edits that restored the theatrical releases in high definition. With no experience in professional film editing, he taught himself as he went, using programs such as Avisynth and Adobe After Effects. Taking the 1993 LaserDisc releases as a guide and a majority of source material from the 2011 Blu-ray releases, Harmáček and a team of eight other fans constructed the edits over many thousands of hours of work. In 2011, one year after the project had begun, the first version of Harmy's Despecialized Edition was published online. Updated versions have been created in the years that followed.

As a fan edit, Harmy's Despecialized Edition cannot be legally bought or sold, and is "to be shared among legal owners of the officially available releases only". Consequently, the films are only available via various BitTorrent trackers and through specialized rapid download programs using file sharing sites. Reaction to the project has been positive: Nathan Barry of Wired praised the films as "an absolute joy to watch", while Gizmodo described them as "very, very good". Sean Hutchinson of Inverse placed Harmy's Despecialized Edition at number one on his list of the best Star Wars fan edits and called them "the perfect pre-1997 way to experience the saga".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%...alized_Edition

Here's the link to the Project 4K77 site:

Is this an upscale?

No, 97% of project 4K77 is from a single, original 1977 35mm Technicolor release print, scanned at full 4K, cleaned at 4K, and rendered at 4K.

Who did this?

Team Negative 1 (TN1) – the same crew who brought you The Silver Screen Edition (SSE) three years ago. TN1 are not professional film restoration experts, they are just Star Wars fans, like you.

Why do this?

You mean apart from the fact that there hasn’t been a new transfer of the original film since 1993 (the 2006 Bonus DVDs used the 1993 laserdisc master tapes) and George Lucas pretty much denies this version ever existed? This is the version I grew up watching, over an over again, and I’m afraid technology has moved on to the point where the old VHS, betamax, CED, laserdisc and 2006 Bonus DVD just don’t look good enough to watch on modern HDTV and 4K UHD Televisions / Home theater projectors. I wanted to show the film to my kids, and I wanted them to see the original version that I enjoyed at their age – not the one with the already dated looking CGI, over saturated colors and a strong magenta tint.

How did you do this?

We scanned some prints and then used a bunch of off the shelf software to remove as much of the dirt, dust and scratches as we could without going insane.

https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k77/

[Jeff Lebowski]

Just saw it. Thought it was great.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Apparently, there's more than one. Here's the Wikipedia entry on Harmy's Despecialized Edition:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy%...alized_Edition

Here's the link to the Project 4K77 site:



https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/project-4k77/

I downloaded Harmy's Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back years ago. It was definitely a labor of love for that dude and whoever else helped him.

It's utterly insane how Lucas apparently destroyed the original print so that it is supposed to be impossible (or nearly so) to completely remaster the original into 1080p or 4K or whatever. Worse, the special edition effects were mostly added in the 90s and look horrible. Some have been redone again but they still look awful. The thought process whereby Lucas must have taken a look at that Jabba scene added to Star Wars and signs off on it is incomprehensible to me.

[Pelado]

I downloaded Harmy's Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back years ago. It was definitely a labor of love for that dude and whoever else helped him.

It's utterly insane how Lucas apparently destroyed the original print so that it is supposed to be impossible (or nearly so) to completely remaster the original into 1080p or 4K or whatever. Worse, the special edition effects were mostly added in the 90s and look horrible. Some have been redone again but they still look awful. The thought process whereby Lucas must have taken a look at that Jabba scene added to Star Wars and signs off on it is incomprehensible to me.

Yip.

[Commando]

Here’s a nice little read/Q&A with the writer of ROS

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...i-jabs-1265168

[swampfrog]

Here’s a nice little read/Q&A with the writer of ROS

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...i-jabs-1265168

Thanks that was good and echoes my earlier comments.

Well, we had early talks about how this trilogy could not be resolved without some kind of atonement with the father. Atonement with the father is a very Joseph Campbell idea. In a way, the great family sin of Kylo Ren was patricide — he killed his father.

He’s done many truly horrible things, but on a level of the family saga, as in any Greek myth, it was the killing of a parent that is the central sin that needs to be atoned for.

It’s a mythic archetype that has run through myth and literature from the beginning, which is coming face to face with the father and atonement with the father. It’s part of Hamlet; it’s part of so many great stories. After that reconciliation, we wanted to put Ren down the path of redemption, at least in his head. He can never take back what he did to Han; we can’t take back our actions or words said in anger or in hatred. But, Ren, at least in that moment, gets to have a replay of the scene in Episode VII — the way that he wished it had gone.

When the mythology drives the story, the audience responds.

[frank ryan]

Thanks that was good and echoes my earlier comments.

When the mythology drives the story, the audience responds.

I didn't like how when Kylo Ren when speaking with Han, it was put out there that he was speaking with a thought or memory. I would have rather that they allowed it to be Han's spirit instead.

[swampfrog]

I didn't like how when Kylo Ren when speaking with Han, it was put out there that he was speaking with a thought or memory. I would have rather that they allowed it to be Han's spirit instead.

I assume that has something to do with the force lore. The interviewer framed the question:

The film has a pivotal scene with Han (Harrison Ford) and Kylo (Adam Driver)...Did you pitch this idea with that device in mind since you knew you couldn’t use Han as a Force Ghost?

And the writer responded:

In that scene, Han is not a Force Ghost as you say; he’s a memory. Ben needed to ask his father for forgiveness. Early in the movie, we hear Rey say, “You can’t stop seeing what you did to your father,” and even in the shared Force vision, Ben sees the death of Han. That is the only way that Han has been appearing to Ben — in his memory — in that moment of death. At this moment, after Rey’s act of mercy, the light starts to come back for him, and as soon as the light starts to come back, he can see his father as he really was in real life.

I think even more script attention could have been given to Ben's journey. In the original trilogy, the son rescues/saves the father by being willing to sacrifice himself. In the final trilogy, it's inverted, the father rescues/saves the son. Ben has not traveled far enough by the time the initial sacrifice is offered by Han, and it takes Rey's act of mercy for Ben to grasp and deal with his failure to accept Han's attempt. These things do often occur solely in minds as memories haunt until they are properly acknowledged and accounted for--even possibly atoned for. Ben's last act is to take the mercy he received and pass it on, atoning for his previous actions. It's one of the deepest mythological stories. It's the beast's journey in Beauty and the Beast. The world isn't quite seen clearly as long as previous patterns or instances of behavior are not dealt with. Once the final act of mercy is performed, atoning for the past, the the veil covering the Beast's vision is removed and reality is restored in the castle.

[Flystripper]

Finally saw it. Awesome. Haters gonna hate but that shit was dope.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[smokymountainrain]

saw ros, knives out and ford vs ferrari on new years day. ros was a distant third in terms of my preference, but it was as good as any of the other star wars movies.

for mrs smr, ros came in at #1.

[Commando]

I didn't like how when Kylo Ren when speaking with Han, it was put out there that he was speaking with a thought or memory. I would have rather that they allowed it to be Han's spirit instead.

I didn't mind it. It was about Ben's change, after all.

[Green Monstah]

I've seen it twice, and I liked it both times. I get why the hard-core folks are miffed, but you mouthbreathing MFers take intergallactic fantasy films way too seriously. #SJBH.

It's not even the worst movie I've seen this month. ("Dark Waters" wins that prize).

[Commando]

I've seen it twice, and I liked it both times. I get why the hard-core folks are miffed, but you mouthbreathing MFers take intergallactic fantasy films way too seriously. #SJBH.

It's not even the worst movie I've seen this month. ("Dark Waters" wins that prize).

Seriously. I saw it again and, while there are things I might have done differently (including divided it into two separate movies to lay a bit of groundwork for the sharp left turns in the narrative), I enjoyed it both times. Especially the Ben Solo arc.

Like George Lucas famously said, 'it's just a movie.'

[All-American]

I've seen it twice, and I liked it both times. I get why the hard-core folks are miffed, but you mouthbreathing MFers take intergallactic fantasy films way too seriously. #SJBH.

It's not even the worst movie I've seen this month. ("Dark Waters" wins that prize).

Most of what is wrong with this movie is a result of it trying to make up for the sins of the prior two movies.

[Commando]

Most of what is wrong with this movie is a result of it trying to make up for the sins of the prior two movies.

So you did see it. Hmm.