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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. DarthMak

    DarthMak Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 4, 2001
    I still remember when my parents took me to ANH SE then right after we went out to eat at my favorite pizza restaurant. One of the happiest days of my childhood.
     
  2. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    Now this is what childhood memories are all about. I had the same with my dad taking me to see Empire and Jedi when they were first released. Happy days indeed.
     
  3. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 18, 2017
    Me and my dad went to a Saturday 10am showing and there was a big line and everyone clapped when the Lucas logo came on. Good times.
     
  4. Binder-lover

    Binder-lover Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 3, 2003
    I remember seeing promos on the original OT on VHS since it was the last time the originals would be available to make way for the SE!
     
  5. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    Got the new 4K and BluRay Skywalker Saga box set today. It really reminded me of the Special Editions. How amazing was that. All three films in theaters over two six weeks.

    Skimming through the new releases of the films, I'm oddly nostalgic for the updated changes for how much they remind me of that exciting winter of 1997.
     
    Billy_Dee_Binks likes this.
  6. AEHoward33

    AEHoward33 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2019
    Since I tend to watch the special edition versions of the OT anyway, I guess I don't really feel nostalgic for them.
     
  7. Tython Awakening

    Tython Awakening Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 2017
    I have nostalgia for may things including the Special Editions. I'm just not a fan of re-doing, re-analyzing, re-thinking works of art that were intended / can only reflect the time in which they were created. My opinion has always been that the Special Editions created a gap where a new SW film trilogy should have sat. This trilogy could have linked Dark Empire, Tales of the Jedi, the novels, and post-ROTJ novels. But no, that was too much to ask for.
     
  8. themoth

    themoth Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2015
    First time I saw the films was when my parents bought the special edition VHS boxset, that was gold. Still have it. Amazing time to be a fan.
     
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  9. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    I think the new color timing on these releases is part of it. This is how Star Wars looked in theaters.

    How great would that have been to get another trilogy in the late 80s into the early 90s? That would have taken a decade's worth of work to create and huge film crew. The Special Editions were much small project that took less time and less people. It was also real world practice making the Prequels.

    The Special Editions were less taking away another trilogy as building towards one.
     
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  10. KyleKartan

    KyleKartan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 4, 2004
    The first SW experience for me EVER, I was 10! I was on my regular movie going with my late grandpa and got to pick the movie. I chose "Krieg der Sterne" when my grandma called me some days before the actual day of going and I cant even say why I did choose it at the time.

    I remember a huge advertisment cardboard when we got the tickets which impressed me. I remember a trailer of Empire and Jedi which got me scared because of Vader. I remember beeing absolutly blown away by the start of the movie. The opening crawl itself was mindblowing, the SDs flight over the cam was amazing.

    I remember my grandpa laughing when Diagona showed up because of the its eye. I remember going home in a snowy landmark and just bathing in my experience and emotions. Something had changed that day.

    I wanted...needed...craved to watch the other two movies. I rented Empire on VHS (95 THX version) and after that rented Jedi's 95 THX version too. And I got to watch Jedi SE in cinema with my dad.

    Since that experience with my grandpa SW has become a part of my life and I love it passionately. I wouldnt be the same person without it Iam sure! When the prequels came they manifested and intensifyed my passion and love for SW but its "Krieg der Sterne - Special Edition" what started it all and begun a lifetime journey for me.
     
  11. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    War of Stars!!! That's fantastic. What is a "snowy landmark"? You paint such a perfect picture of your first screening. Thank you!
     
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  12. KyleKartan

    KyleKartan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 4, 2004
    Yes indeed, it is WAR OF STARS in german:

    [​IMG]

    That was the SE opening crawl for us:

    [​IMG]

    When Ep I came around it was changed to STAR WARS for Ep I, II and the DvD Release of the OT in 2004 (and all future Releases).

    A snowy Landmark would be Hoth, but m hometown had snow too when I had watched SW for the very first time :).

    Btw. I too remember a packed Cinema. I've had never experienced a Theater that full before.
     
  13. AEHoward33

    AEHoward33 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2019
    I saw the Original Trilogy years before the Special Editions hit the theaters. Yet, I tend to prefer watching the SE movies. Aside from one scene in "The Empire Strikes Back", the changes never really bothered me and I rather enjoyed the visual enchancements.
     
  14. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    Which scene in Empire?

    Also the new 2020 BluRays do a better job mixing the 1997 and newer footage with the movie in general. It's still obvious CGI, etc, but the look of the footage isn't so different.
     
  15. Jedi_Prophet77

    Jedi_Prophet77 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2017
    Saw Empire and Return in their original release, and SW as a re-release sometime around Empire. I remember pieces of Empire, and have a clearer memory of Return. But no memory at all of SW until seeing it on HBO or something.

    So I was absolutely over the moon to see all three on the big screen in college, with my memory entirely preserved. And I only had to wait a short time between each one, rather than the usual three years. I can't remember how long it was between each: maybe a week or a month?

    Favorite memory is seeing it with a friend who was watching for the first time. She had the same reaction we all probably did when Vader claimed to be Luke's father. She jumped out of her chair and hollered so that everyone could hear: 'No! He's lying!'
     
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  16. KyleKartan

    KyleKartan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 4, 2004
    Amazing that she wasnt spoilered before watching the movie. Even by 1997 that scene was iconic and a pop culture classic with references and parodies everywhere. Great reaction from her!
     
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  17. cratylus

    cratylus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 9, 2001
    Wow, man, It really was incredible to see Star Wars on the big screen again for the first time in twenty years. I could not believe I was old enough to have memories of something twenty years prior. It was just amazing though, and the trailer for it with the little TV was just mind-blowing. A couple of years before I'd heard that the prequels were actually going to happen and somebody mentioned to me a rumor that an order had been placed for stormtrooper armor. I remember thinking it was odd that they would need that for the prequels, and the special edition turned out to be the reason.

    I had been the hugest fan I knew. While living overseas with relatives I'd accessed a SW VHS for the first time, and having the ability to watch it at will led to my being forbidden to do so. I watched it too much. So I created an audio tape of the whole thing and brought it back with me to America. For all those years, I consumed it in VHS form when I could-taped from TV or whatever. Then I got access to the Star Wars newsgroup in college (before the web made the internet popular and easy) and there were other huge fans in the world! That was really nice. Then came a chance to see widescreen laserdisc with a projection TV. From there I hated pan and scan in the core of my being.

    So, finally, to see them again on the big screen. What an experience! It was so exciting, but as someone else pointed out this was also the first time some people began to gripe about it as well. People did not always like the changes. But I got to see scenes I had only read about. It was cool. I didn't know these were going to be taken to "supercede" the old versions, and of course I was a person not completely comfortable with that. But watching them in the theater again was just so cool, I really ought to sit down and come up with better words about it.

    Special for me, an acquaintance got me in to a special midnight screening that was ostensibly a "sound test." I wasn't supposed to be there but he got me in. If I recall correctly this was the first midnight movie screening anyone had ever told me about. They didn't do midnight screenings in those days, as a release day cheat. I think it was Episode I that brought that about and normalized it. Anyway, it was extra excitement to be in there because of my friend and to see this thing on the big screen with two restored scenes added back in. I didn't know what to expect!

    As a side comment, I will add something. I wanted Han to shoot first. But when George said it was an editing mistake, I actually went back on my letterbox (widescreen) VHS tape of the OOT original film. I advanced through that scene frame by frame. Some people might not like it, but sure enough, just before Han shoots there is a flash to the left of his head--a trace of the shot George Lucas apparently always intended Greedo to make.
     
  18. Emperor McClane

    Emperor McClane Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2019
    The Special Editions have a special place in my heart. It was the first time I could watch my beloved movies on the big screen. Watched the first two in our old movie Theater, which was closed down early 2000s unfortunately, with my older brother who was an adult, I was 14 /15 back then. RotJ SE I saw in Las Vegas during a 4 week vacation and road trip in California / Nevada with my parents. As a 15 year old 2 days Vegas would have been kind of boring. So my parents checked out some Casinos while I saw RotJ. Pretty nostalgic for me, I just get remembered about that trip by by that movie. Also remembering my first Pizza Hut pizza after the movie. In 1997 Pizza Hut was not that common in Germany, at least not in my place. I heard about it, but never seen one, so this was all kind of special.
    And I got addicted to Dr. Pepper during that trip in the Bubba Gump in San Fran, never tasted it before and still love that stuff.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2020
  19. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    I'm a Pepper, You're a Pepper, wouldn't you want to be a Pepper now?

    Glad you got to see RotJ in the USA. Sounds like a great trip to another land.
     
  20. May The Force Be With Stu

    May The Force Be With Stu Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    May 9, 2019
    I was 19 at the time and for the first time I got to see them at the cinema. That's always what the special editions mean to me.
     
  21. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    I remember that feeling so well, having seen a Star Wars movie in a theater for the very first time. 24 hours of goosebumps!
    It was unreal.
     
  22. DARTH_BELO

    DARTH_BELO Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2003
    That was me as well! Going with my best friend instead of my parents, we went to my favorite Pizza restaurant, then to ANH!

    Being in early high school at the time, I loved having the chance to see the OT films in theaters for the first time! Although I didn't get a chance to see ESB in theaters-it was during a time when I was traveling and also quite busy with other things. I did see ROTJ though.

    Personally I wish the term 1997 Special Edition would be changed though. I mean, compared to the Blu-ray versions (which IMO is considerably different, and vastly improved) the 1997 versions seem quite outdated. Maybe we could just call them the...complete saga versions, or Utimate Edition or something...

    I don't know-not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2020
  23. eko32eko7

    eko32eko7 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2018
    My girlfriend, now my wife, had never really seen Star Wars. She had been present while her family watched it, but never really got into it. I was really excited to be able to, for all intents and purposes, introduce her to TGFFA. And... she fell asleep. I love her and she has since grown to appreciate Star Wars, but.. yeah.. that happened.
    =((:)[face_love]
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2020
  24. NeonMagi

    NeonMagi Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2019
    I never lived in a world without Special Editions, for me Special Editions nostalgia is Original Trilogy nostalgia. Man, I wish I could watch the OT at an packed cinema, dreams that cannot be, at least for now.
     
  25. May The Force Be With Stu

    May The Force Be With Stu Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    May 9, 2019
    I'm hoping for another big screen release at some point. I'd love to see Empire on the big again especially.