You can destroy the negatives with extra processing but you can’t destroy the prints. Lucas has original prints and if he didn’t he had the millions to acquire them. If fans did it, Lucas could have.
The rumor I heard decades ago (so a mountain-sized grain of salt) was that he didn’t want to admit he fucked up the originals when making the specialized editions, and just acted like he didn’t want to release remastered theatrical versions. He was also fiercely defensive of the specialized versions, saying that they were closer to his “vision” than the originals.
Master negatives can create higher resolutions than what you get from the prints. The fan-made versions did a ton of upscaling from the best quality digital versions they could find.
The negative is 35mm like the print. There is technically a generational loss between negative and print but that’s far far below the resolution of a 480p DVD when Lucas claimed he couldn’t release the original. 35mm film print is higher resolution than 4k. The 4k77 version does not use upscaling.
Lucas had just re-released the Specialized editions in the theaters, and they did very well. There’s no way they go through the effort of remastering the originals without releasing them to theaters.
I don’t remember where exactly I found it, but search for “Phantom Menace Anti-Cheese fanedit” or some variation thereof. I originally found the full thing on Youtube, but I would not be surprised if it has been taken down. That was many years ago.
In hindsight, all of media used to have this “meh, close enough” attitude about it: Vinyl LPs, audiotape, broadcast TV, film, iffy projectors at the local theater, AM radio, it all had limitations well within the range of human perception. Plus, everything the consumer got was a lossy copy of something else. Everything had noise, and everything cost some amount of fidelity no matter what you did. In light of this, “authenticity” is really a No True Scotsman argument, where we argue forever about intent, the optimal fidelity for the time, and what one would have experienced.
Come to think of it, an easy approximation for a time machine is to buy some aviator frames, smear some Vasaline on the lenses, and stuff your ears with some cotton.
Lucas won’t even let you see the original Star Wars without his CGI additions. Lucas has lied to deflect from being criticized for his decisions.
Harmy and the 4k77 project have illegally done what Lucas refuses to do.
I thought he manually edited the masters, so the original Star Wars without CGI additions no longer exists.
I do love the Harmy Despecialized editions. Also check out the Anti-Cheese edits of the prequels.
You can destroy the negatives with extra processing but you can’t destroy the prints. Lucas has original prints and if he didn’t he had the millions to acquire them. If fans did it, Lucas could have.
The rumor I heard decades ago (so a mountain-sized grain of salt) was that he didn’t want to admit he fucked up the originals when making the specialized editions, and just acted like he didn’t want to release remastered theatrical versions. He was also fiercely defensive of the specialized versions, saying that they were closer to his “vision” than the originals.
Master negatives can create higher resolutions than what you get from the prints. The fan-made versions did a ton of upscaling from the best quality digital versions they could find.
Is there literally only one master? Shouldn’t there be copies?
There is the negative that was in the cameras when it was originally filmed. Prints are made from those original negatives of which there are many.
The negative is 35mm like the print. There is technically a generational loss between negative and print but that’s far far below the resolution of a 480p DVD when Lucas claimed he couldn’t release the original. 35mm film print is higher resolution than 4k. The 4k77 version does not use upscaling.
Lucas had just re-released the Specialized editions in the theaters, and they did very well. There’s no way they go through the effort of remastering the originals without releasing them to theaters.
Why would you want that? People nowadays have no appreciation for theatre…
Because there’s a better movie under that layer of veiled racism and slapstick.
… Is there?
Yeah, watch the Anti-Cheese edit of Phantom Menace. It’s a better movie.
What should I search for to find the anti cheese version?
I don’t remember where exactly I found it, but search for “Phantom Menace Anti-Cheese fanedit” or some variation thereof. I originally found the full thing on Youtube, but I would not be surprised if it has been taken down. That was many years ago.
I’ve always loved the Harmy version but recently I watched 4K77 without noise reduction. My god… so much grain!
In hindsight, all of media used to have this “meh, close enough” attitude about it: Vinyl LPs, audiotape, broadcast TV, film, iffy projectors at the local theater, AM radio, it all had limitations well within the range of human perception. Plus, everything the consumer got was a lossy copy of something else. Everything had noise, and everything cost some amount of fidelity no matter what you did. In light of this, “authenticity” is really a No True Scotsman argument, where we argue forever about intent, the optimal fidelity for the time, and what one would have experienced.
Come to think of it, an easy approximation for a time machine is to buy some aviator frames, smear some Vasaline on the lenses, and stuff your ears with some cotton.
I loooved the grain. It made me feel like I was a kid again watching it for the first time in the theatre.
Nostalgia at its finest.
The grain helps us grow!
Is grain that stuff that’s rough and gets everywhere? I hate it.
My VHS tapes say otherwise.
Sharing is caring!
A New Hope https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QWVH3JajvLZx6IKMf_XXKhAAumwEo3NH/view?usp=sharing
Empire strikes back https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H5b1LmH7FcYVm4qIj7FgMZuOt3Mo4LAy/view?usp=sharing
Return of the jedi https://drive.google.com/file/d/14soyrTUubC02_vImP1aRbtdI_lY1CDqa/view?usp=sharing
Why would I want to watch a moldy VHS copy when 4K77 is a thing?
Then, don’t?
I thought it was to screw over his ex-wife.
It likely was. That and the ego of someone who wanted to be Steve Wozniak but was really a Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs which coincidentally owned Pixar for a while after it spun off/kicked out of ILM which was owned by Lucas.
It’s a weird Small World.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmy's_Despecialized_Edition
He’s doing God’s Work.
Not his choice any more. Now Disney is the one not allowing it.
MaĆlunky!