Spiderbite

I bought an awesome 6 disc set of the most recent Harmy editions and they look and sound fantastic. All are packed to the gills with extras, commentaries, etc. and are better editions than anything Disney has or will ever put out.

I plan to buy the 4K77 versions once ROTJ is released for those and then I will be able to die a happy man.

Unless there is a true 4K edition of the OT released, I will not have to buy anything else. I do plan to buy a 4K edition of Rogue One and probably Solo at some point. I loved Rogue One and Solo wasn't as bad as people made it out to be (though I have to admit that I have not seen it since the one theatrical viewing).

I would rather watch my 720p, 5.1 versions of the OT than the bastardized 4K versions any day of the week. And since I just ignore the fact that the prequels and the newest trilogy never happened, I don't have to send any money their way for the awful revised OT.
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Josh Z

I assume you mean the restoration of Empire Strikes Back, which is still pending. The "4K83" version of Return of the Jedi is currently available.

Spiderbite

D'oh. You are correct sir!

milo bloom

I'm a longtime Star Wars fan going all the way back to the 70s as a kid, I should absolutely be the target for this kind of box.

But I'm just so jaded from how the franchise has been treated. I'm not a prequel (or sequel) hater, I find things to enjoy in all 11 films (plus Clone Wars and Mandalorian, etc), but this box is just not good enough.
It's missing Rogue One and Solo (only 2 films, it would have been easy enough to add them). There's extras missing. Still doesn't include the UOTs.

Plus the fact that I only have Bluray in the living room (bigger screen and sound system plus the couch) while our Xbox One S is in the bedroom (smaller tv).

If I won it in a raffle or something, I'd take it. But I just can't pull the trigger, even for somewhat improved PQ. My blus will hold another few years.

Jay G.

He wouldn't be asking for money for the restorations, he'd be asking for upgraded equipment and software. If that helps him to improve his restorations, that's up to him and the work he does. Obviously, the restorations couldn't be provided as a reward in any way.

I was thinking of something like Astartes, a Warhammer 40,000 Fan Film project, that takes Patreon subscriptions.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFM...eAOOA/featured
https://www.patreon.com/astartesfilm

Patreon could work for Harmny, where he could provided exclusive behind-the-scenes videos as a bonus for monthly subscriptions. He could also start and stop his progress as he sees fit, since he wouldn't be promising any sort of end product like what tends to happen with an Indiegogo or Kickstarter project. Of course, he doesn't have to promise anything with an Indiegogo beyond gratitude for the new equipment, and I think people would still pledge with no expectation of reward as a thank you for the work he's done so far.


It can be tricky to navigate though. The Warhammer 40k rights holder seems fine with the Astartes fan films being widely distributed. The Harmny edits have always been in a grayer area.

rocket1312

​​​​​​I agree with everything you say, but I'll add that he has received donations for new equipment in the past. I'm sure some of the usual suspects in the Star Wars fan edit community have already made private offers in light of this post.
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The other part of this is as soon as he publicly asks for money, he is more or less beholden to deliver, which I'm not convinced he ever will. At least any time soon, for all the reasons he outlined.

Josh Z

If I were him, I don't think I'd want to risk it. The copyright holder (Disney) could easily argue that the upgraded equipment and software are compensation for providing a copy of a product they own. Given Disney's history of litigating against things like child day care centers for painting Mickey Mouse murals on their walls, that's dangerous territory.

It also treads very close to what happened when the Axanar project triggered CBS to bring the hammer down on the entire Star Trek fan film community, which they had previously tolerated. If Disney decides that a fan restoration infringes on their copyright, they could shut down not just Harmy, but also Project 4K77, Adywan, and everybody else trying to "un-specialize" these movies.

Better not to poke that sleeping dog, IMO.

DJariya

I thought about getting the box set yesterday when it dropped to $199.99 (back to $249.99 now)

But, I couldn't pull the trigger. Too much money to spend for something that I already own in many incarnations. I actually just picked up Rise of Skywalker on 4K disc a few weeks ago.

Mike86

The individual 4K releases are still $23.99 on Amazon. Not as good a deal as Target was offering yesterday with the 15% promo though (Target has them back to $29.99 each). Almost grabbed the prequels yesterday but decided to hold off.

I figure they might drop again and if I can get them for around $50-60 I might go for them. Might do that for all the saga films eventually. It would still end up being less than the Skywalker Saga set, which while nice I don’t mind passing on.

Dan

This part's easy if he can come across a UHD-friendly BD drive, which are actually 'better' for this process... or so I'm told. I wouldn't know.

E Unit

I'm about 10-15 years past being interested in doing anything like what Harmy is doing. I have his original 3, but that's it. No more, although I'll pick up the official 4k releases at some point.

Josh-da-man

That's still pushing it. Once money starts changing hands, even if it's just for equipment or whatever, it becomes a whole new ballgame.

Agreed here. Harmy needs to tread lightly. It probably wouldn't take much for Disney to come down on all of this stuff like a ton of bricks. They're operating in a legal gray area (and I mean, really, really dark gray) here, and have, so far, been tolerated.

Axanar is a great example for what can happen. Paramount tolerated Star Trek fan films for a long time, but once the Axanar guys started raking in "donations" (I think they pulled in over a million dollars, no?) and hawking merchandise, it was only a matter of time before Paramount came down on them. And now, nobody, aside from Seth MacFarlane, apparently, can make Star Trek fan films.

Truthfully, I'm kind of surprised that Disney hasn't cracked down on these fan-edits and restorations. Disney strikes me as being a lot less forgiving than Paramount.

By the by, I have heard that the reason Disney goes after daycare centers with Disney characters painted on the walls is because they don't want people to think the daycare centers are affiliated with the Disney company, which I can understand.

Paul_SD

He doesn't need to use the UHDs. The remastered Blu rays are already huge upgrades over the 2011 versions themselves. "Night and day" is a cliche and hyperbole, but the visual differences between the two in regards to resolved detail , color , and contrast is HUGE. Because I hate just about all the substantive SE changes (outside of an establishing shot here and there and the final dogfight in ANH) I watch both of these films as if they were extended digest versions, with the remote and FF button readily at hand.
I no longer enjoy them as sit back and relax experiences, but in the capacity I do watch them, these new editions...frankly, rock.

If Harmy is set up to use the 2011 Bds he could just as easily cull footage from these. The only problem I see is, given the substantially better res and color/contrast, it's going to make the upscaled footage stick out all that much more.

Shannon Nutt

Same reaction here. I haven't even bought any 4K versions (with the exception of Solo and The Last Jedi) because of their availability on Disney +

Josh Z

A New Hope 4k SteelBook at Zavvi for those interested. I'm sure more will follow. Possible this may wind up at Best Buy in the U.S. as well, but no announcement of that yet.

https://us.zavvi.com/blu-ray/star-wa.../12564552.html

Image put in spoiler tags for size.

milo bloom

I've never been clear, is Zavvi just like a boutique label that packages existing discs in new steelbooks?

Mike86

Well darn. Now I sort of wish I would have waited. If they’re going to be doing Steelbook releases for all the films using the original artwork that’s almost tempting. I’ll pass though as I just bought the 4K releases with Target’s buy two get one free sale.

PerryD

Wow, that Star Wars steelbook is gorgeous. If it shows up on Best Buy, I might have to preorder it.

Josh Z

Zavvi is a prominent internet retailer in the UK, akin to something like Deep Discount. They have deals with studios to carry exclusive SteelBooks much as Best Buy does here.

E Unit

Who also charge very high prices for shipping.

Alan Smithee

Nice original artwork there, pity it likely won't include the original movie.

fujishig

I thought they were just a foreign retailer who gets steelbook exclusives like Best Buy does in the states.

Josh Z

True, but they have many exclusive SteelBooks that can't be gotten anywhere else.

E Unit

I used to drink that Kool-Aid. Thankfully it was just a phase. But I did just order Flash Gordon from them. I think my first order in 3-4 years.

Josh Z

As expected, Zavvi now has a 4k SteelBook for Empire Strikes Back. I'm disappointed that the artwork doesn't follow the same theme as New Hope.

https://us.zavvi.com/blu-ray/star-wa.../12584863.html