MovieChat Forums > Star Wars (1977) Discussion > The many versions of this film

The many versions of this film

posted 4 years ago by VoiceofReason (503)
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im sure many of the fans know how George Lucas after the dvd set refused to release Star Wars in its original glory. Instead claiming that the new versions were his "true vision" all along... full of horrible cgi aliens and beautiful shots ruined by massive cgi aliens just crossing the screen for no reason at all........

Theres something magical (although I was not old enough) about watching the film in its original form and seeing it how people experienced it when it first released in 1977. anyways my point is to talk about the various versions of Star Wars you can get today.

-Multiple Harmy's editions- Harmy worked hard to use multiple old sources combined with the new ones to try and bring us the original version. its personally one of my favourite but even Harmy admits the project 4k77 is the truest.
-Disney HDR version- I have them but haven't watched it yet. im sure it'll be crystal clear and beautiful. but they still have color correction issues

-the project 4k77 which are scans of 35 mm prints are the holy grail of Star Wars originalists. You can download multiple version of them some with more cleanup (DNR version (digital noise reduction)) and some with less (no DNR) but all look amazing. Also since they only have discoloured one of return of the Jedi (I beleive they are working on it now though) you can watch a grind house version of the film.

https://youtu.be/6_W3gDvNzT8

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

Not only are shots cluttered, but the useless scene additions muck with the pacing. The original '77 cut has near-perfect pacing, but if you start throwing in deleted scenes with CGI Jabba, you wind up bogging down the breakneck adventure speed.

It's not enough to ruin the movie, of course, but why tarnish a masterpiece?

I try not to be a Lucas-hater; I didn't like the prequels, but so what? The guy tried. But where I really think Lucas is a myopic jerk is with his refusal to release the OT in its original forms, save only that one, limited edition DVD release, which was just a laserdisc transfer. I have them, they're pretty great, but why not care for film history? It goes from frustrating to hair-pull infuriating when you watch/read stuff about Lucas getting up in arms against colourization because it would destroy art and film history. "Hey, kettle? You're black."

Disney's releasing the OT in its original form, though?