Fanmade "Better" Special Edition (Star Wars Revisited)
#1
Posted 08 December 2007 - 08:22 PM
Over at OriginalTrilogy.com, a guy named adywan is making his own "special edition." Yes, he's been working on it for a year and a half and the final product is going to miss the "30th anniversary" (will be released sometime in 2008 instead).
But he's finally released some decent clips (nearly 15 minutes worth).
Check it out and see if one amateur's work in his spare time is not "better" than the work Lucas supposedly spent millions doing...
http://originaltrilo...p;STARTPAGE=127
Now if only those guys working on "restoring" the unaltered editions could finish their's!
#2
Posted 20 December 2007 - 06:18 AM
#3
Posted 20 December 2007 - 10:55 AM
However, like the 'real' special edition(s), my gut reaction is to just wonder when it's going to end. The constant attempt to make an "even better" version of the films is getting a little boring.
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#4
Posted 20 December 2007 - 01:35 PM
However, like the 'real' special edition(s), my gut reaction is to just wonder when it's going to end. The constant attempt to make an "even better" version of the films is getting a little boring.
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#5
Posted 19 January 2008 - 03:39 PM
I say check it out and give it a chance. The point is to make a "better" special edition that puts Lucas' official 2004 crap utterly to shame.
The X0 project is still working on restoring the (unaltered original trilogy) Laserdiscs, but no announced release dates. The guy in charge of it has some serious health problems that have made progress on it rather slow.
I say watch it and give it a chance. If you don't like it, no biggie. I just think it will go to show that the fans have more respect for and dedicated to Star Wars than Lucas and his cronies these days.
#6
Posted 20 January 2008 - 05:30 AM
No, it isn't the original, but it IS cool. It puts the 1997 and 2004 editions utterly to shame. The effects are mostly subtle and many of the excesses of the SEs are toned down or removed (no Jabba scene, Greedo never fires, most of the Rontos are removed from Mos Eisley and the comedic droid/jawa antics, etc) plus Beru's original voice is back and some other stuff. His changes are subtle, and seamless throughout (aliens in the cantina blink, laser shots look like the ones in ESB/ROTJ). Most you won't even notice. The main thing is the fact that he fixed the gaffes introduced in '04, but he went beyond that, fixing stuff the SE's should have fixed, and updating a few SFX.
But the main cool factors of this release are the saber battle and the TIE battles. They really look much cooler than before. Sure, the originals are fine, but the scenes are spruced up to be fresh and "updated" without being over-done. It's hard to explain.
Anyway, the xvid is torrented now so it should be easy to acquire in a few hours (just search for "star wars revisited" and "adywan"). It is DEFINITELY worth checking out, even for jaded fans like us. It was a genuinely enjoyable experience, like the feeling I got going to the theater to see the SE for the first time. See if you disagree.
When the DVDR comes out, I'll be getting that one too. People are already talking about their creative plans to destroy their 2004 discs when this comes out on disc.
This post has been edited by KurganX: 20 January 2008 - 05:33 AM
#7
Posted 22 January 2008 - 07:41 PM
However, like the 'real' special edition(s), my gut reaction is to just wonder when it's going to end. The constant attempt to make an "even better" version of the films is getting a little boring.
Although extended editions would be nice. Just the originals with all the deleted scenes thrown back in. Well except maybe the Mos Eisley Jabba scene... seeing as there's no point at which his grotesque transformation is explained outside of the ROTJ book. but to have it as an extra with all the original 'making of's' would be nice thing to do.
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#8
Posted 23 January 2008 - 01:57 AM
That said, the best parts of this edit are the saber battle and new Yavin battles. Even the mere fact that it has the sharpness and clarity of the 2004 editions, without the crappy color scheme (no more pink or green sabers, no stupid blue tint!) is a plus.
I'm really curious to hear people here's reactions to it...
If you've ever seen the "Darth Editous/ADM Edit" this is like that but taken to the next level. The trailer for it on youtube is cool, but obsolete (the effects have evolved since then).
This post has been edited by KurganX: 23 January 2008 - 01:58 AM
#9
Posted 02 February 2008 - 04:11 PM
#10
Posted 16 February 2008 - 06:03 PM
But he's already making plans to do "ESB Revisited."
#11
Posted 01 March 2008 - 02:01 PM
Reportedly it will include:
5.1 Dolby digital mix
English subtitles
Spanish subtitles
French subtitles
Dutch subtitles
Deleted Scene - Jabba the Hutt
Deleted Scene - Jabba the Hutt in 3D
Episode IV Revisited first look trailer
1st official trailer
Final Trailer
Sneak peak at Episode V Revisited
Revisited Changes & Fixes Trivia subtitle track
Easter Egg
Full Motion Menus
adywan, the editor also said this:
Ok, i've tweaked a few things in the past couple of days but i will be doing no more work on this edit. The majority of fans like what i have done and that is all that matters to me. I want to put this edit to rest so i can have a break and then concentrate on ESB. I don't care if some of the FX aren't great or that elements don't match. the vision i had for the edit is now on screen and i had to do this using whatever footage i possibly could. I'd never done FX before and i am proud of what i have accomplished so this will be my last word on any changes happening for the DVD versions of ANH. Here's the changes:
Removed the ILM crew member from the droid sale
Removed the wire and batteries seen up Luke's sleeve in Ben's hut
Removed the remaining wires from Ben's sleeve during the sabre fight
Ponad Baba's arm will be swapped for Dr. Evazan' s arm & hand
Slight tweak to the TIE approach. The background & camera is no longer static at the beginning & a new Death Star surface
Fixed the gunport shot during the TIE battle where the gun remains static when Han swings the chair and the gun can clearly be seen over the top of the chair instead of behind it
Credits fixed
As for the sabers being too fat then just have a look at the state of the originals. the width is all over the place throughout. When rotoscoping i had to make them slightly fatter in a lot of shots because the blade is all over the place and has really jagged edges and as was mentioned by Fuser the blades are never the same thickness during ESB & ROTJ an actually get fatter than the ones i did at times too.
Considering he spent a over a year and a half on it, this should be worth checking out! I can't think of another fan edit that's had such painstaking work done on it... (except perhaps the X0 "laserdisc restoration" project which is still going).
The NTSC version will be released in "about a week" the author says. And a month from then, the "special" dual-layer (DVD-9) edition with extras will be released.
This post has been edited by KurganX: 01 March 2008 - 02:08 PM
#12
Posted 01 March 2008 - 07:43 PM
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=cG3srIoCK-M
#13
Posted 02 March 2008 - 12:29 AM
#14
Posted 02 March 2008 - 10:20 AM
Both the PAL & NTSC dvd's are being posted to alt.binaries.starwars as of a few hours ago (so I would think they'd be on the bt circuit by this evening)...
#15
Posted 04 March 2008 - 06:40 PM
After many false starts, the full, working, complete, final finished version of "Adywan's Star Wars Revisited" has migrated from the newsgroups onto bit torrent.
I won't post any links, but if you've ever used bt before you should know where to find it...
So far there's only one guy seeding the NTSC DVD5 version, so go help him out!
(I'm pretty sure the PAL version is coming too... you can check fanedit.org).
Once you've watched it, let me know your thoughts...