[Rumour] Unaltered Original Star Wars Trilogy to Be Re-Released Before Last Jedi

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

throw the new dvd's into a machine and put them through the projector. I don't care. Just let me sit in front of a big screen with my kids and some popcorn so they can truly get a sense of the original trilogy.

Are your kids really going to say "dad, that was nice, but the CGI really took me out of my immersion of the original 1977 film" after watching A New Hope in its current form? If they've never seen the movies, they won't even notice and it won't impact their impression of the movie.

[Regulator75]

Harmy's Despecialized Edition are the versions you're looking for...

Recently watched his versions and they are spectacular. Still waiting on V2.5 of Jedi, but his current version is still top notch.

Go find them, that is all.

Spoiler!

Harmy's Despecialized Edition is a series of fan edits of the first three films in the George Lucas-created Star Wars franchise: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The edits were created by a team of Star Wars fans led by Petr "Harmy" Harmáček, an English teacher from Plzeň, Czech Republic. 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 and new computer-generated imagery – these changes were met with a mixed response from critics., the films are no longer widely 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.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Are your kids really going to say "dad, that was nice, but the CGI really took me out of my immersion of the original 1977 film" after watching A New Hope in its current form? If they've never seen the movies, they won't even notice and it won't impact their impression of the movie.

I think the special editions are different and bad enough that they will take away.

Given how easily accessible the despecialized editions are, and how good they look, it is difficult for me to understand why any hardcore SW fan wouldn't watch those instead. It seems like watching the SEs is intentionally subjecting yourself to crap that you don't have to.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Anyone else here line up at the North Hill Theatre to watch the Special Editions 20 years ago?

Yup, I was there.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I think the special editions are different and bad enough that they will take away.

Given how easily accessible the despecialized editions are, and how good they look, it is difficult for me to understand why any hardcore SW fan wouldn't watch those instead. It seems like watching the SEs is intentionally subjecting yourself to crap that you don't have to.

I think you're drastically overstating the impact of the added shots. Those who make the biggest noise about the changes are those who have seen the movies dozens of times. You're going to have trouble convincing me that some kids are going to notice those changes when the average movie going public didn't realize Tarkin was CGI in Rogue One unless they were told in advance.

Sure, grab the despecialized version if it's so easily found, but it's not like the 98% of the movie which isn't changed is unwatchable because 2% (is it even 2%?) was changed from a really old source.

I'll hand in my star wars nerd card I guess. I didn't have the VHS copies I owned anymore anyways. Only the DVD and Blu-ray versions and a couple dozen books. 🙁