Episode 2 - The lightsaber effects..

I did notice a couple of spots in AOTC where the saber glow was like ring around the collar. A very stiff heavy ring in the middle of the glow. The artifact appeared similar to what you might get when compositing a premultiplied image twice, once in system and once before. The result is similar, but the cause must be different.

-tm

 

The whole idea is to make them look authentic as like the originals. ILM said they could do many many many things to make sabers but they had to hold true to lucas' style. They changed them a bit but I think everyone should make thier sabers (including ILM) like in Retun of the Jedi.

 

I have compared the two Lightsaber effects from ROTJ (normal and SE) with some of the AOTC, well have a look:

ROTJ1
ROTJ1SE
ROTJ2
ROTJ2SE
AOTC1
AOTC2
AOTC3
AOTC4

Personally I prefer the classic look and the SE look, because it is soooo colorful! And for some reason the green saber has a slight blue stripe at the end of the white core. This was also so in TPM but only at the begining of the film...

Indy

 

Master-Indy:
I rather doubt they changed the sabers for the SEs... I think the difference you're seeing is in the film transfers... the old transfers to video weren't that great, and stuff was desaturated, slightly framed wrong, and particularly in the case of Jedi, actually transferred at a wrong (though close) aspect ratio...
These problems were greatly corrected for the SE video releases, which also benefitted from being made from newly-struck prints created from the original negative (or in the case of Star Wars, a new 3-strip technicolor master)...
The super-bright color is the way it was seen in a theatre, and it wasn't until you got the SE tape or laserdic boxsets that you could see it as close to as it was intended originally...

Fenn

 

No they didn't update the sabers for the SE, I mean watch ANH and look at Ben's saber.

 

The sabers in AOTC left "purists" like myself wanting more. There is no doubt about it.

And it ROTJ, they did mess with the sabers and they look like crap at some points in the fight at the end of the movie. I just watched my two versions.

 

Has anyone here noticed that lightsaber threads get the most replies? I mean, there is much more to Star Wars than lightsabers. There's space battles, cool ships, funky aliens, etc. Don't get wrong though. Lightsabers RULE!

 

And explosions Pixel! You mustn't forget explosions!

 

But do people REALLY want to discuss how your Wampa actor should walk or something? NO! They wanna talk about long pointy things that make sparks and cut people in half!

~Neszis~

 

Yes, I mustn't forget EXPLOSIONS!

 

QUOTE: "And it ROTJ, they did mess with the sabers and they look like crap at some points in the fight at the end of the movie. I just watched my two versions."

If possible, would you cite specific examples of differences?

I don't believe they altered the sabers for the SEs...if they did, they flawlessly copied all the mistakes from the first time around.

Check out how Luke's saber is behind that pole instead of in front of it just after he takes Vader's hand off.

 

Just out of curiosity (and not to drag these sad old arguments out any more than we have to), in what format did you see AOTC?

I saw it on film (I hope DLP in the next week or two) and DID notice that lack-of-grade to the auras in some shots. My first thought was whether or not it would look any different digitally. I would assume that GL took the limitations/benefits of digital projection into account from pre to post. Perhaps something was lost in the translation?

Anyone see both versions?

 

I've seen it twice digitally.
And to be blunt, I'm very dissapointed in the sabers.

 

@TheRealFennShysa

Somehow I doubt that it is the same saber in the SE. I mean when you look at Lukes green saber it looks totally different.

 

MasterIndy:
You're seeing the difference between a video master created from a newly-struck SE film print as opposed to the old video transfer, which was done improperly around 1990 from an older release print - a transfer that's been noted (especially in the laserdisc newsgroups of the time) for having inaccuate color saturation, a slight greem-blue tint, and a slightly off aspect ratio (which was especially bad in the VHS copies)...
Trust me... that's the difference you're seeing...

Fenn

 

I'll admit that perhaps the difference was the level of quality in ROTJ was how they transferred it or whatever...

As for Episode II, I think that they went ahead with the lightsabers the way that they did simply because they looked "good enough." I was talking to some people and I was telling them how the sabers weren't really "as good as they could have been" and they looked at me like a moron. They of course weren't looking for the kind of saber detail that I and less than .01% of those seeing Episode II were. Only people on this board and a few others care about stuff like this. Hehehe.

 

My favorite sabers from the OT would have to be the ones in ESB, they seem the coolest. In some ways they still are.

 

ohhh yes, i hate the professionally-made, official sabers from the actual movie. I prefer the photoshop/after effects/psp sabers you can find in low-budget internet fanfilms....

riiiight.

 

saw the film for a third time now (not as many as most of you) but i did notice that on Kamino, with all the rain and all, it never hit Obi's blade once, for gods sake, even low budget (and i mean really low) they at least do that if they are in a rainy area, was he just !USING THE FORCE! to move the rain away from the blade, or was it just lazyness.

 

It hit the blade you could hear it fizzle.

 

What, praytell, happens to a lightsaber when it is hit by a droplet of water?

answer: nothing.

 

@TheRealFennShysa
So is there a ROTJ version where the color is corrected or hav i to wait 3 year until it is avaliable on DVD?

 

at least a visible hit, in that sort of rain that balde should have been jumping like a bean.


ps. does anyone know when or if the origianl trilogy will be released on DVD?

 

ILM....lazy? I don't think so. They add in so many small features that you'd most likely not notice. My theory would be the blade's core is so hot the water would evaporate before even hitting the blade.

 

You could hear the saber fizzle in the rain.