Why Finding the Original 1977 'Star Wars' Verges on the Impossible

https://www.inverse.com/article/3942-why-finding-the-original-1977-star-wars-verges-on-the-impossible

by ingve • 11 years ago

21 18 11 years ago

inverse.com

smpetrey• 11 years ago

Finding the beta-max tapes are actually kinda fun to look for on ebay and at estate sales.

MBlume• 11 years ago

Why is it so difficult for a fan, like me, who doesn’t want to suss out shady Deep Web torrents

It's...not that hard? The Pirate Bay is a fairly user-friendly website?

pavel_lishin• 11 years ago

I think he's not saying that it's hard to find a torrent; I think he's saying that it's hard to find a legitimate, legal copy that he could pay for.

ajross• 11 years ago

And I think the grandparent was saying that any such discussion is incomplete without referencing the value provided by the sharing community.

joezydeco• 11 years ago

OP can't probably advocate everyone getting on BitTorrent and getting the Harmy Despecialized cuts. Disney's legal department is a tough customer.

pbreit2• 11 years ago

Epic effort to create original hi/good-def version: http://youtu.be/dHfLX_TMduY

agumonkey4• 11 years ago

Impressive team effort. Near, perfect. I hope they can find new sources. Some times I wish I could digitize the '90 FOX box set Vader brought home. If the tapes are still in working order.

Udo_Schmitz• 11 years ago

More recent longer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXifjbxZDAM

I have to say—if he only wants 100% legal versions—the 2006 bonus DVDs (GOUT) are pretty much what was in cinemas in the early 80s. And even the 35mm and 70mm prints in 1977 differed at least in the sound mix. And the fanedit/despeacialized editions are hard to not find on the internet. I would not call that “Deep Web” :-/

pbreit2• 11 years ago

Oh, shoot, that was the one I thought I was linking.

agumonkey4• 11 years ago

After searching for this on the web I got there https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2e1sh0/til_t...

and then here

https://vimeo.com/channels/starwarslegacy/page:3

Even after searching a bit for alternate version of the prequels I never knew there were so much effort and rereleases of the original trilogy. And the more they do the worse it gets... Seriously FOX and Disney should just let the original print out.

js2• 11 years ago

"I couldn’t do laserdiscs because no sane person has a laserdisc player these days."

I guess I'm insane because I still own a laserdisc player and three laserdiscs: Episodes IV, V, and VI.

agumonkey4• 11 years ago

Totally normal behavior if you ask me.

johan_larson• 11 years ago

Yeah, I don't know why he was so quick to dismiss that. The laserdisc versions are the same as the original theatrical releases, aren't they?

jgeorge• 11 years ago

Same here. The Episode IV laserdisc is almost as close as you can easily get to unedited, and even that version has edits. But the two biggies, "Han Shot First" and the stormtrooper that whacks his head walking through a doorway are there.

acomjean• 11 years ago

I may be in the minority, but despite some groan worthy aditions (jaba the hut in mos-isley, stupid busy backgrouds), I thought the special additions looked and sounded better.

The minor changes to the story didn't upset me. Han is totally getting his gun ready, but looks lamer because he survives on luck (missed shot).

There are photos from a couple scenes described in my StarWars Story book (from the 70s) that just aren't in the movie, so maybe the whole thing was a little shaky to me anyway.

driverdan• 11 years ago

The special edition VHS tapes from the 90's are unedited from the original. It's surprising he didn't have them if he was such a big fan of the re-release since they came out close to that time.

agumonkey4• 11 years ago

Are these the same ? http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m5...

jaimebuelta• 11 years ago

I find The Han Solo Shot First Issue very interesting because it plays with how significant Star Wars is.

At this point, no one can be surprised by the movies. In particular, everyone knows that Han Solo is one of the good guys, from the beginning.

That wasn't true when it was first released. At the point of the encounter with Greedo, the audience doesn't know if Han is going to be a traitor. Chewbacca is more menacing than ever on his first scenes, and Han is definitively a shady character.

Now, all that doesn't make sense. We know Han (and Chewie) to be the "good guys", even if we never saw the movies. We can't be surprised by then...

Similar stuff happens with Yoda appareance and Vader revelation. They are plots that we know in advance, effectively changing the movie experience...

Why Finding the Original 1977 'Star Wars' Verges on the Impossible

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