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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

CT 1997 Special Edition nostalgia

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by darklordoftech, Jul 22, 2014.

  1. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Re-posting from a similar thread:

    Hard to believe that last month was the 20th anniversary of the OT SE films being released to theaters; the ANH SE was released theatrically in January of 1997, followed by ESB in February & ROTJ in March. I remember seeing the OT SE films as if it were yesterday; it was great to see all three movies theatrically; I do remember going to see a couple of the films in the theater the same day. The improved effects & additions were just the icing on the cake, since it would have been equally great just to see the original movies theatrically.

    One of the theaters where I went to see the film had Dolby sound, which was amazing - I specifically remember being able to hear every drop of water in the trash compacter scene. Very nice.

    Seeing these OT SE films in the theater is probably my favorite theatrical film(s) experience.
     
    whostheBossk and darklordoftech like this.
  2. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    I enjoyed going to see the SE in the cinema. It was good that after 14 years the franchise was back in the news and getting lots of publicity and that 14 years seemed such a long break back then. I even enjoyed the novelty of the new scenes that they added too. However, I never once gave it a thought that what they added would replace and become the preferred version of the OT. I have no idea why I was naieve to think that, but never once did I think that 20 years later we would be struggling to see good versions of the OOT. I really did think that the additions were a gimmick just to give it a boost for the 20th anniversary.
     
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  3. Organafan

    Organafan Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 14, 2017
    The additions were a gimmick, despite what George Lucas said about always wanting it that way. It wasn't just about seeing the movies in theaters again or cleaning up effects. Otherwise, a lot of people would have just watched the movies on video, and in 1997, videotape was still the dominating format and people didn't care they were getting a cropped movie. This was the beginning of seeing people criticize and make fun of Star Wars. I never heard that before, other than people I grew up with just not caring anymore because it ended so long ago.
     
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  4. Qui-Riv-Brid

    Qui-Riv-Brid Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2013
    No, it was about testing new technology for the prequels on FOX's dime and adding things that Lucas wanted (Mos Eisley and Jabba) and what others like Dennis Muren and others wanted because they didn't have the means at the time.

    It mostly was actually because the films as they were simpy couldn't be projected on a large screen and the effects simply either didn't hold up or had to be redone anyway as the damage was too bad (ANH).

    No that was happening in 1977 already.
     
  5. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    I genuinely believe some of what he added was what he intended originally, in particular Jabba and the opening up of some scenes. How necessary some of it is in all 3 films is open for debate. But I also think it was an advance bit of promo for the prequels too, give the franchise a lift, whilst the special edition features gave it an added justification to get it in to the cinemas and make people think they're getting something new, which in some ways they were. But I agree some of the material added was too comical, the cgi comedy characters and some situations were out of place. The OT was highly regarded as it was, sure the ewoks got a lot of stick, but the films as a whole are rightly thought of as classic pieces of cinema. It wasn't until the tinkering that we saw with the SE and then the PT that it became a bit more derided IMO.
     
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  6. sith_rising

    sith_rising Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2004
    I was in Army Basic Training when ANH and TESB hit theaters, and I was pissed to have missed them. We finally got leave and ROTJ wasn't showing at our theater on the base, but we finished Basic and AIT, and I was home in time to catch ROTJ, barely. It was a weekday and it was at the dollar theater; it was a pretty ghetto theater, but we mostly went there to play Street Fighter. Everyone I knew was at work or school, so I just went and saw Jedi on the big screen for the first time since 1983. With the exception of "Jedi Rocks", I had a great time.

    I eventually got "on board" with almost all the SE/DVD/Blu-Ray changes, even the addition of Hayden, but I never quite accepted Jedi Rocks over Lapti Nek, and I'm still struggling with Vader's NOOOOO at the end of Jedi.

    But, all in all, good times. I actually have more nostalgic memories of the OT coming out on DVD (was it 2003 or 2004?), and it's the only time I ever went to a midnight release at Walmart. I was off from work the next day, so I figured what the hell!
     
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  7. CrAsHcHaOs

    CrAsHcHaOs Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 7, 1999
    The trailers for all of the SE movies are still epic to this day!
     
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  8. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    The additions were a gimmick, despite what George Lucas said about always wanting it that way. It wasn't just about seeing the movies in theaters again or cleaning up effects. Otherwise, a lot of people would have just watched the movies on video, and in 1997, videotape was still the dominating format and people didn't care they were getting a cropped movie. This was the beginning of seeing people criticize and make fun of Star Wars. I never heard that before, other than people I grew up with just not caring anymore because it ended so long ago.

    No, the added effects in the SE films weren't a "gimmick". They were added to update the films & in many cases make improvements. Yes, though I and other fans disagreed with some of these (Greedo Shooting first, Jedi Rocks, etc.) many others worked out well, including: The highly improved X-wing/Tie-fighter DS battle; the Falcon leaving Docking Bay 94; the improved lightsaber effects during the Ben/Vader LS battle on the DS; the added scenes of the Cloud Cars in Cloud City; the added scenes of the Cloud City evacuation; the improved effects of Jabba's henchman walking on the sail barge as it goes to the Saarlac pit; etc.

    I also disagree completely that people didn't care they were getting a cropped movie. Completely untrue. In fact, my VCR broke in '96 and I never replaced this because I hated the pan & scan aspect of movies on VHS tapes. Anyone that knew anything about film (even at that time) knew that half the picture was cut off when a film was transferred to VHS tape.

    So, three of the many reasons I went to see the SE's in the theater numerous times were because of:

    1) The added/modified effects

    2) I wanted to see the movie in the correct aspect ratio - for the first time in years.

    3) I wanted to see the films on the big screen, which I hadn't done since the original theatrical releases years before.
     
    whostheBossk likes this.
  9. Snax Rebo

    Snax Rebo Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 1, 2017
    I'm all for keeping the updated effects such as lightsaber colors and minor color corrections. Those are an improvement and I can't see why anyone would object to them, outside of keeping the OT completely untouched.
     
  10. Zejo the Jedi

    Zejo the Jedi Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2016
    I love the Special Editions, the only version of 6 movies i watch.
     
    DarthKreVass likes this.
  11. DrDre

    DrDre Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2015
    To be fair to VHS, by the early 90s well known films like Star Wars were available in a widescreen format. I bought a widescreen VHS in 1993, and the Star Wars trilogy on laserdisc has been available in a widescreen format since 1986.
     
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  12. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    Same here, theres a pic of my widescreen set (from 1992 I think) over on a video thread within this part of the board.
     
  13. sith_rising

    sith_rising Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2004
    My friend in high school had a laserdisc player with the Star Wars Trilogy and the extended cuts of Aliens, T2 and The Abyss. I'd go over to his house every weekend and take advantage lol. He was a huge A/V fan so he stayed on top of those things.
     
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  14. John Paul Jones

    John Paul Jones Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2015
    I agree that George did include a lot of changes that he wanted back in 1977, but I disagree very strongly that the Jabba scene as it appears in the Special Edition was something that he originally envisioned. He's admitted before that the planned Jabba designs were nothing like how it turned out in Return of the Jedi, and it's obvious based on how the scene was shot, as well as Jabba's dialogue, that the Jabba of Jedi was not designed with this scene in mind. The behavior of Jabba and the entire situation does not line up with Jabba the Hutt of Return of the Jedi at all.
     
  15. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999

    VHS was an awful home video format & I hated everything about it - not only the tapes themselves, but the overall pan & scan aspect. I had the OT on VHS tape & eventually donated them to the library because I couldn't stand watching the films in that butchered format.

    The OT VHS Widescreen & the OT Laserdisc Widescreen were not Anamorphic - i.e., the print was still cut off slightly at the side(s). I know this for a fact because I remember seeing the OT on Laserdisc in the '90's, and remember noting the fact that it was cropped slightly - and this was even before I knew that much about this. That being said, no one had Widescreen TV's in the '80's & '90's (only the CRT TV's), so this was the way it had to be, apparently.

    If you have the 2006 OT DVD sets, the bonus disks feature the OOT - and, IIRC, these are the Widescreen Laserdisc rips. If you watch these on a Widescreen, Flat TV you will notice that the picture only takes up a small portion in the middle of the screen...unless your TV or DVD/Blu-ray player compensates for this & is set up so that the picture will fill up the whole screen - no matter what (my newest Blu ray player I got last summer does this).

    It wasn't until the 200X's when Widescreen, Flat TV's & DVD's in the correct Anamorphic format both became more widely available that people were finally able to see many films in the correct format. Note that early DVD's from the late '90's were, for the most part, "cropped widescreen" or pan & scan VHS rips.
     
  16. DrDre

    DrDre Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 6, 2015
    The cropping aspect is not correct. Widescreen VHS and DVD were not anamorphic, but the films were not cropped more than current releases. In reality the cropping is usually different for most releases, which means that some releases will show more detail in one direction, while losing some in the other. However, apart from a cropping error in the early nineties (meaning that the aspect ratio altered over the runtime of the film), the Star Wars widescreen releases were all 2:35:1, the standard widescreen format also used for the more recent bluray releases, and theatrical releases.
     
  17. ZY-Fighter

    ZY-Fighter Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 1, 2017
    The SE is how I was introduced to Star Wars. My mum took my little sister and I to see ANH - I was confused because I wanted to see "Star Wars Trilogy"! I was 9, turned 10 a few months later. I was hooked.

    I didn't see the SE of ROTJ until DVD, I think, as we recorded the original from the TV in 1998 and just watched that. ESB was the last OT film I saw, the SE on VHS from the local library.
     
  18. SW Saga Fan

    SW Saga Fan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 19, 2015
    I've just found this documentary about the making of the SE in 1997:

     
  19. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    I don't know the history of widescreen films being presented in letterboc format on vhs tapes, but I do remember picking up the OT, the first 2 Die Hard movies and Aliens on widescreen in 91 or 92. But growing up in the 80's and VHS was an absolute godsend of a format. To be able to watch films at home when you wanted was a great experience. That was a real golden era for me and many others.
     
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  20. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    And I should have added that back in the 80's my first thought was how amazing it was to be finally able to watch these films that were on cinemas what seemed like years before. Not what format it was in. Words and phrases like pan and scan, anamorphic and widescreen never even entered my mind. These were only seemed to be frowned upon when they started to promote the next wave of releases, like widescreen versions, to cash in on the punters love for these films.

    The video shops of the 80s were like an aladdins cave with all the posters everywhere and shelves and shelves of videos. Plus to then be able to record films off the TV, like Star Wars, and relive them was something we hadn't been able to experience before. VHS opened up a new world for many fans. Great format.
     
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  21. MrMojoRisin

    MrMojoRisin Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2005
    Wow. Really hard to believe that it's been 20 years.
     
  22. Cedric T Sealion

    Cedric T Sealion Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 2014
    MOD Edit: Bashing of the OT is not permitted. Twenty years on, fandom is still fractured by their impact. :(
     
  23. CT1138

    CT1138 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2013
    WORST thing? Hardly....
    [​IMG]
     
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  24. JoshieHewls

    JoshieHewls Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 16, 2013

    A thread titled "1997 Special Edition Nostalgia" still gets thread-******* statements like this. Amazing.
     
  25. Cedric T Sealion

    Cedric T Sealion Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 2014
    Eh? I would never bash the original trilogy. The special editions are not the original trilogy.