Please keep in mind they did NOT have the sound technology to have "nooooooooo" added in back in the 70's. My how technology has helped things.

The problem is that the technology DOES exist now to make that scene much smoother looking (even if they want them to shoot simultaneously). But every new edit makes it look like a Jr. High fan edit.

Apparently all digital releases (iTunes, VUDU, etc) are being changed to the Disney+ versions. Digital users are being mclunkied!

So I'm just wondering, is Disney still legally obligated to honor the changes Lucas made to the Original Trilogy? If not, why don't they just release the original versions?

You have casual fans that don't mind/notice the changes, and hardcore fans who loathe the changes. But the number who like the changes have to be few and far between.

I'm just wondering why they would be introducing even newer changes after Lucas is out of the picture, when it's been made clear that fans are, at best, ambivalent to them.

Nobody knows for sure, but I highly doubt there's any sort of legal obligation to honor Lucas's changes. it's all political/economic. Disney/Lucasfilm still want to keep George Lucas as happy as possible, since some fans still revere him. They want him to show up at Celebration each year and not be constantly griping about Disney ruining his company and his movies.

Also, while the bulk of people likely wouldn't mind reverting back to the originals, they also don't mind the changes. Another issue is that not all the changes were bad, since the bulk were fixes to slightly wonky FX. Reverting back might "age" the films a bit much for casual viewers. Some fan edits try and split the difference by keeping the improved FX but removing the more "editorial" changes, but I don't think Lucasfilm is going to make that level of creative decision on the films.

These changes were made before Lucas sold to Disney. They were made way back in 2012 or so, when Lucasfilm was prepping for 3D versions of all the movies, and they did new 4K scans of the originals, based off the 97SE altered negative. Disney wanted to put 4K versions up on Disney+, and this was the version they had on hand. Also, this is the first new "home release" since the 2011 Blu-ray Complete Saga set. All the subsequent Blu-ray releases have just been re-using the same disc masters.




Personally, I still hold out hope that we'll see the original unaltered versions in a newer transfer as a bonus feature on some future release, but they'll never be the "official" versions again.

At least the Maclunkey meme is producing some gems.

Interesting about that time line of scanning. If they really did scan the original film elements, then maybe they could reassemble the original versions. I think we'll see them, and as an official release. It's too much money on the table, they can make George feel better by making a donation to some charity he likes but Disney would be foolish to leave those off the shelves.


As for the Greedo thing, I need to listen on a full speaker set up, but is it possible it's originally recorded dialog that's been left out of previous versions but is just being restored, like C-3PO's line about cutting power to the tractor beams?

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/...ive-interview/

Interview with the Greedo actor about "Maclunkey" that is pretty funny.

George Lucas had the OCNs for all three films re-conformed to the Special Edition versions in 1997. Any scan of the OCN done after that would be of the '97 SE. Later changes (such as the somewhat-improved Jabba, the blinking Ewoks, and Hayden Christensen in RotJ, etc.) were made digitally to the video masters. The film elements are locked to the '97 versions.

The original footage that Lucas spliced out was presumably saved in the Lucasfilm archive, but it would only exist as trims. Each of those fragments would have to be scanned and then edited into the digital master. Not impossible by any means, but it is more effort than the powers-that-be at Lucasfilm want to expend on these movies.

Lucasfilm presumably has Mike Verta's Star Wars Legacy project in hand, so at the very least they could throw that into a box set. Given what we know about that restoration, I would assume most would be happy with it even if it didn't originate from the original negatives. Hopefully Verta's radio silence since presenting it to them last year means even bigger things are afoot.

Didn't the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences show a 70MM print this past summer that people claimed was a 1981 pre-Special Edition version? Meaning it had "A New Hope" in the title crawl, but virtually everything else was unchanged from the 77 version? Or has that been debunked?

I didn't know about that. From what I can find, it was a 1981 version of the film. A tweet from an attendee says George Lucas gave "special permission" for the screening. However, I think there's a number of factors here. For one, it's a 70mm print, and I don't think Lucasfilm bothered to make 70mm prints of the SE ever. Also, the Academy apparently owns the print, so they had it on hand.
https://www.oscars.org/events/star-wars-and-rogue-one


https://www.inverse.com/article/5791...ease-unaltered
https://comicbook.com/starwars/2019/...are-lucasfilm/

However, it's known that there are prints that exist, but prints aren't the best source for a film scan. They're several generations removed from the negative, and every generation adds another level of film grain, since it's basically the film grain of the negative being copied onto an interpostive with it's own film grain, then an internegative with its own film grain, then finally a print with its own film grain.

Mike Verta, creator of the "Legacy" Star Wars restoration effort, released this video about trying to reduce/remove the additional film grain in a print:

So, whenever possible, go back to the original source. So scanning the negative trims and digitally reassembing the original unaltered version would likely be a much better result than scanning a print would ever be capable of, even a 70mm one.

I don't know much about this Legacy project, but this isn't like an old, lost silent film discovered in an insane asylum, this is a major blockbuster piece of culture that will have multiple sources. We also know there are multiple prints in the hands of collectors that can be used for reference if needed. If Disney gave the go ahead on doing the originals, it would not be a challenge to do technically. It's just the politics holding it back, and I don't think George is holding on that hard. I get the feeling sometimes he wishes he could completely walk away.

wait, what does this mean? i have the Vudu versions of all...

Check the Greedo/Han scene, the maclunky line should be added now.