How the Death Star battle was saved through editing

[Paul MacLean]

Someone went and reconstructed the Death Star battle from Star Wars as it was originally edited -- before Marcia Lucas re-conceived the sequence (with recutting and the addition of cutaways and V.O.s to generate more tension)...



It's striking how lame the sequence was before Marcia Lucas went to work on it -- yet at the same time, in the original version you do get a clearer pictures of how the Rebel forces diminish as the battle wears on.


Here's another video analyzing how the film overall was restructured -- and saved -- after its disastrous initial cut. Facinating stuff!

[Eric Paddon]

The original edit of the battle is fascinating and it does show something lacking in proper pacing. The final version was much superior!

[AndyDursin]

I have that disc and they did a really nice job laying out how not just that scene but the cantina sequence was also saved through editing in post-production.

Editing played such a huge role in the success of STAR WARS and JAWS obviously as well. THE FRENCH CONNECTION sort of laid the groundwork for modern editorial technique in its car chases sequences -- and I think you can argue those movies have a "contemporary visual language", even now, that makes comparable genre exercises that came before them truly look antiquated.

It's sort of like what separates STAR WARS from LOGAN'S RUN -- which is fun for what it is, but its such an OLD movie, dated in its filmmaking and entire approach. Watching those films, it's truly hard to believe they are separated by a year when one of them still holds up and the one could well have been directed 20 years prior in the same way (and undoubtedly would've) by Michael Anderson.

[Eric Paddon]

More and more I find myself even more angry that the original versions of the SW trilogy are not available in the best quality release. Lucas's refusal to recognize the archival importance of preservation so he can just tinker and play with his toy over and over to "update it" may well represent the most colossal arrogant stupidity of a filmmaker there has ever been.

[Monterey Jack]

More and more I find myself even more angry that the original versions of the SW trilogy are not available in the best quality release. Lucas's refusal to recognize the archival importance of preservation so he can just tinker and play with his toy over and over to "update it" may well represent the most colossal arrogant stupidity of a filmmaker there has ever been.

Totally agreed...the completely unaltered OT on Blu is one of my Holy Grails of collecting. Sad that I'll have to buy some bootleg to have those movies in anything approaching the quality they should be presented in.

Also agreed how films like Star Wars, Jaws and The French Connection totally broke the mold in how films are shot and edited compared to the stagey flatness of pre-70's cinema. I was surprised when I saw Jaws in theaters for the first time for the 40th anniversary three summers ago, wincing in anticipation of what I expected to be an audience of kids and teenagers squirming in boredom and laughing at the "fake" shark F/X and dated hairstyles or whatever, and yet most of them were totally enraptured by it. When Quint delivered his Indianapolis Speech, you could hear a pin drop in that theater. And all of the laughs were where Spielberg intended, and all of the screams as well. Great experience that proved how well that film holds up even for "the kids these days".

[Eric Paddon]

Well I had to go the boot Blu-Ray route for a fan-edit of "1776". I'll be willing to do the same with the SW trilogy whenever this "despecialized" edition thing makes the rounds!

T

[AndyDursin]

Oh they've been out there for years at this point, both fan-edit "Despecialized" versions and also entire scans from private 35mm prints.

In fact, someone uploaded a 4K scan of their 35mm print of STAR WARS over the weekend, in both 1080p and actual 4K files! I probably won't bother with the latter (not sure what I could even play it with, you'd need a high-end PC most likely) but the former I'm game for.

[Edmund Kattak]

Oh they've been out there for years at this point, both fan-edit "Despecialized" versions and also entire scans from private 35mm prints.

In fact, someone uploaded a 4K scan of their 35mm print of STAR WARS over the weekend, in both 1080p and actual 4K files! I probably won't bother with the latter (not sure what I could even play it with, you'd need a high-end PC most likely) but the former I'm game for.

Hmmm. I guess I have another I.T. project.

[AndyDursin]

Ed, it went up at "that place" over the weekend.

I have the MKV of the 1080p version, but I can tell straight off none of my media players will be able to process the 4K (which is 80GB) so I probably won't bother with it.

[Eric Paddon]

Well I could download it to watch but I'd much rather have a physical media copy. Still I'll search for it and grab it as a precaution.

[Monterey Jack]

Anyone want to float me a link as to where I could buy some of these b00t hard copies? Disney will NEVER release them.

[Eric Paddon]

That suggests a parody, Darth Lucas and Grand Moff Disney in search of the stolen plans to the boot original cuts!

[Edmund Kattak]

Ed, it went up at "that place" over the weekend.

I have the MKV of the 1080p version, but I can tell straight off none of my media players will be able to process the 4K (which is 80GB) so I probably won't bother with it.

After I posted, I found the 4K version. It's 87gb in size and at 93.5mb/s bitrate!! I have nothing at home powerful enough to deal with that bitrate, so I brought into work where I have an Intel Xeon machine and NVIDIA graphics. Even this isn't quite powerful enough, but it does play. Colors and details are superb, especially the opening credits roll. However, there is NO DNR applied, so you do see graininess all over the place.

[AndyDursin]

That's what the 1080p version looks like...really nice grain and the print is in good shape mostly. Plus they give you all the pertinent audio mixes too.

Overall I like watching this even more than the Despecialized, because it's consistent in it's appearance. The 4K must look amazing on a projection or larger screen....I guess my Oppo does play UHD MKV but it would require a 100gb blank which costs $25 just for a single (a 5 pack is $83).

I may try putting the 4k mkv on my external HDD and hooking that up to the Oppo instead.

[Edmund Kattak]

That's what the 1080p version looks like...really nice grain and the print is in good shape mostly. Plus they give you all the pertinent audio mixes too.

Overall I like watching this even more than the Despecialized, because it's consistent in it's appearance. The 4K must look amazing on a projection or larger screen....I guess my Oppo does play UHD MKV but it would require a 100gb blank which costs $25 just for a single (a 5 pack is $83).

I may try putting the 4k mkv on my external HDD and hooking that up to the Oppo instead.

Your external HDD better have a throughput better than 93mb/s sustained. It wasn't working too well for me.