CT Will Disney Re-Release Theatrical Cut Of The Original Trilogy?

I'd love to see the Legacy Edition, but last I heard from Mike Verta, he couldn't get a meeting with Disney executives, saying something to the effect that they were "skittish." However, he did mention that there might be another opportunity down the road, but overall, an official release of Legacy doesn't sound very promising. Here's to hoping that Mr. Verta's hard work results in an official release.

 

Like I said, things are developing, but that's all I can say...

 

I like the sound of that!

 

Would they even need Legacy? I bet they've already done or are working on restoring the original versions of the OT.

 

Pablo Hidalgo from Lucasfilm has said, that he has heard nothing about a restoration of the OOT. Then again, if they were working in a restoration, he would have to remain silent until an official release. I suppose we will know sometime this year.

 

He would have to remain silent if he knew, but I don't think he'd be someone that would get that information. I guess it'd probably be easy for him to find out, but just because he works for Lucasfilm doesn't mean that he's in the loop on restorations and commercial releases.

 

I'd prefer it to be the '81 version of Star Wars if they release a legacy edition at all. It would tie in with the other films better that way.

 

I'd say that it's now or never. If we don't get it this year then I'd bet that we might never see it unfortunately.

 

While it would certainly be disappointing to not get the OOT this year, I still think they'll do it eventually. Perhaps they are focusing on the new movies and don't have the time to do a big OOT re-release. After all, that's why they cancelled the 3D re-releases of the films back in 2013.

EDIT: The 4K remasters of the OT are, as a lot of us guessed, 4K versions of the SE's and NOT the theatrical editions. Pablo Hidalgo confirmed this on his Twitter. George Lucas also apparently oversaw the transfer himself.

 

I don't think it's that they don't have time or resources. Lucasfilm would probably turn the films over to Disney for restoration, and Disney has an entire division devoted to film preservation, so it isn't like Lucasfilm would have to reallocate resources away from the new movies for this. Apparently the 4K thing is old too, so who knows what they're working on now.

 

TheMoldyCrow wrote

The 4K remasters of the OT are, as a lot of us guessed, 4K versions of the SE's and NOT the theatrical editions. Pablo Hidalgo confirmed this on his Twitter. George Lucas also apparently oversaw the transfer himself.



I rebel. And George Lucas overseeing the transfer himself isn't exactly my idea of a confidence booster (more changes, worse colors and contrasts?)

 

Wait, you're telling me you aren't excited to see this in glorious 4K?

 

When did this confirmation happen?

That Lucas would oversee it would hardly be surprising of course. I would think he has creative control over his movies content and what is in them when they are released.

Well if we go by the rumors attached to all of this then purportedly it's back to "Han shoots first" among other adjustments.

 

Disney would be foolish to throw away money and good will by not releasing the originals. Heck, they could probably even get another theatrical run out of them as well.

The fan preservations like Despecialized are already proliferating and the backlash against the SE's continues to build. Most of us would prefer Disney issue official high quality BluRays and we would happily pay for them. Honestly I don't think they can do branching for every single change, there are just too many, but what I'd like to see them do is three versions:

1. Original original
2. Semi-specialized
3. Special editions

The semi-specialized would be the hardest to pull off just right, but should just be limited to visual effects upgrades where original shots have become dated and don't look so good in modern HD.

Personally, I would think the added vfx shots during the Battle of Yavin are OK. The Praxis effects on the explosions are OK. If they think the speeder or some pre-existing vfx elements on Tatooine need upgrades, OK. CGI additions in Mos Eisely that were not there in the first place--NOT OK.

Some of the speeder and rebel ship shots on Hoth also look dated. Fixing them like the current BluRay would be OK. Doing something like Adywan has tried to do with the Emperor hologram would be OK. Changing the dialogue...NOT OK. Windows in the background in Cloud City would be OK. CGI cutscenes of the Falcon flying around that were never there in the first place....NOT OK. The added Vader shuttle scene from ROTJ...NOT OK.

If they could fix any of the fake looking Tatooine and Rancor backgrounds in ROTJ that would be great. Adding in NOOOOO or Hayden's ghost would not be acceptable. And please, kill Jedi Rocks with fire.

Original versions unaltered is easy enough. And the Special Editions as they are would be easy enough. A semi-specialized version I think is the one that most people want but unfortunately would be the hardest to agree on. They would have to make creative choices but if they stick to the existing vfx upgrades only, I think that would be a winning solution.

Of course, the color timing needs to be correct. If Disney did these things, the fans would love it and pay the money for new issues and even to see the films in the theater again. It would establish a ton of good will as well.

 

Correct color timing and correct contrast / brightness levels should be the top priority for ANY version. The appeal of current 'darkvision' release on Blu-ray rests entirely on its high definition resolution.

Would be curious to learn whether they *finally* fixed all those square boxes surrounding the VFX elements in the last 4K transfer...

 

Considering the considerable financial success of the Star Wars reboot as of late, Disney is making plenty of money and goodwill without making another release of the theatrical cuts of the first three movies.

Admittedly, I'm a filthy post-Special Editions lover; I like that the updates made the movie series a more seamless fit and fixed some continuity errors and things that doesn't quite mesh with the prequels. Bear in mind here I grew up watching the theatrical editions on VHS, so, while I will agree that some changes un-needed, I think that overall, the result were better movies (in the context of being the middle installment of nine-movie series). Conversely, I think it's kind of silly that we haven't seen more releases that package the the updated versions with the theatrical cuts (like how pretty much all the releases of the extended editions of Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past also included the original versions in the BluRays), but it's hardly a deal-breaker for me. Your mileage may vary.

 

I've never quite understood this mentality. First, shouldn't the prequels, as newer works, mesh with the originals? Doesn't it make more sense to start from a place of making the new thing consistent with the old rather than retroactively altering the old thing to make it consistent with the new? And beyond that, I've never found that any of the changes to the OT make the movies "a more seamless fit."

The only things I really hear cited are the Emperor hologram in TESB and Anakin's Force ghost in RotJ. As for the latter, the original rationalization that the Shaw ghost was how he would have appeared had he never fallen still holds. As for the Emperor's hologram, sure the new one uses Ian McDiarmid, but as he appears in RotS rather than how he appears in RotJ. I never had any trouble accepting the previous hologram before, because these are after all movies that tell fictional stories. They're not real, and sometimes details won't 100% align.

Other than that, I can't see how the SE Mos Eisley footage, or Jabba Rocks, or the Sarlacc additions, the SE Battle of Yavin, etc. help make the movies more seamless as a saga or more consistent with each other. It just makes the original films inconsistent unto themselves.

 

Just because the 4K restoration that Gareth Edwards saw is the Special Edition doesn't mean that they won't still release the original versions too.

 

So you aren't attached to the actual originals then? Because they are not the same thing. As we know many people were praising the DE of ANH for years and then they found out that it was not correct because the print color was different when projected.

So if that didn't come up then people would have been very happy (and were already) watching the wrong color timing as long as it looked something more like what they thought it would be.

Well they do mesh with the originals and like they also do with each other. Otherwise SW as we know it couldn't exist. Vader wasn't Luke's father... and then he was. Yoda didn't exist...and then he did. Leia wasn't Luke's sister...and then she was. Vader was given an extensive overhaul between ANH and TESB as was the Emperor. It's just a constant series of changes from one movie to the other.

I don't see how. It utterly falls apart on every level but throw all of that aside and the point is that we know what a human non-Dark Side infested mutated/burned Anakin looks like. It's everywhere.

They aren't unto themselves though. They are part of a larger whole which is just getting larger with more movies and all the tightly tied in canon.

You seem to be arguing both sides with the Emperor's hologram. The original does not align while the current one does extremely well.

Exactly how keeping the original versions with Mos Eisley, Jabba Rocks, the Sarlacc, the Battle of Yavin etc would make the movies more seamless I don't know. The most important thing is to get the VFX up to the far higher standard than the originals could possibly do at the time and having the victory celebration from JW and going across the galaxy as opposed to a song that no one was really happy with and it's loss was felt only after it was gone due to nostalgia is no loss at all.

 

It is actually possible, that they remastered the SE and the OOT at the same time. That would be most cost efficient, if the original elements have also been scanned at 4K resolution. They essentially had to redo the entire SE, meaning, they actually had to start from the 1997 negative, and add in the new shots or in case of the OOT, the original shots.

 

Have to agree with you. It's unforgivable that films made after the OT couldn't manage to integrate with the originals. The usual long winded replies saying that they added Yoda and made Vader Luke's father in between the original and Empire are weak, that's called story development. That's not the same as the basic story errors, coincidences, contrivances and an inability to make the films match. The OT should have been the bible they marry up to. People coming on here critisicing films made up to 22 years prior to the PT are looking at it from totally the wrong way.

I'd love to see a release of original versions again. I don't hold much hope of it happening though tbh.

 

That doesn't seem very accurate to me. The only major change added during the development of TESB and ROTJ, is adding the subtitle to the opening crawl of ANH. Anything else was simply story development, that did not alter the earlier entries, other than changing the interpretation of events for those that bought into the sequel retcons. So, this can't be compared to retroactively adding PT characters, and locations, and replacing voices, as was done for the SE.

 

Rogue One didn't do that either and unlike the other movies it leads directly into it.

I don't see how the PT could have matched more than it did while telling a story set decades before unless you mean from what some people wanted as opposed to what Lucas' story development was.

 

Well I suppose Padme could have survived, as is stated in the OT. There's no dennying, it is a pretty obvious inconsistency without some contrived explanation, that unlike the contrivances within the OT was never explained in the films. Also Anakin's and Owen's relationship in the PT can hardly be called consistent with what Owen tells Luke about his father in ANH, again without an explanation within the films. I personally would think, that the mesh between the two trilogies would have been better served with story consistency, than adding a digital Jabba to ANH, or Hayden Christensen to ROTJ.