The 4k77 edition is taken from a 35mm print shown in theatres in 1977. It has been cleaned up but no other alterations were made. It is star wars in its purest form whether you think the picture quality is better or not. Its was also scanned at 4k so is much grainier but also has more detail in the image. The reason some of the other editions look cleaner is because of dnr and other such digital tinkering resulting in a loss of detail i hope this clears this up so everyone can understand.
@@MadChristoph it depends what you want. Harmys has a cleaner look if that is what your after. 4k77 is exactly what star wars would have looked like in 1977 on the big screen. Huge detail but warts and all. Lots of grain in scenes on tatooine with 3po as an example. But the color grading is unultered a 4k scan of the original print.
@Jason Lee in Taiwan - 李源生 I would say the non dnr version is better because it's true to the original film elements. If you can deal with it looking more grainy in certain scenes. However for detail go for the no dnr version. It's really down to personal preforance.
Takes me back to seeing this the first time in a crowded theater. After the camera pans downward to show the planet, and the ensuing brief starship battle, you could hear everyone's gasp at what we were seeing. A truly unique experience.
Nothing is ever truly NEW anymore... I guess Avengers is our generation’s Star Wars.. oh boy, I probably got that movie comparison wrong.. so.. go ahead everyone.. chew my not properly informed head off. No, a STAGED HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTION “alien invasion” by the TERRORIST WORLD GOVERNMENTS, trying to hold onto planetary power, only BECAUSE EMPATHY/COMPASSION/UNDERSTANDING/JUSTICE/TRUTH.. is trending.. globally... no.. that will be OUR.. REAL LIFE.. NEW.. STAR WARS. Omg.. and George Soros is the Emperor, while Bill Gates is “Darth Vadering” in Africa.. Africa might as well be Aulderon at this point.
Omg that’s the moment I remember the MOST about her! It sort of defined Leia in an instant. She is one of the most fearless, Badass characters in Star Wars.
And that's how I remember seeing it in the theater in 1977. The opening crawl didn't have Episode IV, A New Hope. It was just a movie called Star Wars by an up and coming young 32-year old director named George Lucas.
Yeah, at some point people started referring to it as A New Hope. I had no idea what they were talking about. 🤔 I only new the original version for years.
@@jamespilcher5287 Really it was the 2004 DVDs that cemented it. On the initial release of the Special edition on VHS and Laserdisc, it says "STAR WARS Special Edition", and subsequently the other movies The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. When the 2004 DVD comes out it's "STAR WARS A New Hope, STAR WARS The Empire Strikes Back, and STAR WARS Return of the Jedi."
My son said 4K77 for the ships and 2011 for the characters. He's 9. He has no biases from knowing all the changes made and hate online. Now after the smoke clears he says Silver Screen looks the best.
Viewers must keep in mind that the Blu-ray was sourced directly from the negative thus will appear sharper. It never looked like that in the theater nor would ANY film, as all projection prints are a few generations from the negative. The SSE and 4K77 are sourced from actual prints so they are as good as you would have actually seen in the theater. Plus, they are the ORIGINAL versions. The Blu-ray, despite being sharper, is the F*cked With version. It's interesting as a comparison, but it's not the reason the SSE and 4K77 exist. I am thrilled to finally have the version I saw in 1977, in my living room.
4K77 has more detail and looks like analog film. The Blu-Ray has the contrast and colour pumped up and has a modern digital grading, it does not look like how it should.
@caligulathegod Even if it was sourced from the negative, the grain was still scrubbed away, artificially sharpened to heck and with a color grade that makes it look like a 2000s film.
I grew up with the "pre enhanced" version of Star Wars. Always used to see them on TV in the 80's and on VHS tapes and never saw them in the cinema because I was too young for that. Now I'm watching the 4K77 and 4K83 version on my big projection screen with DTS-HD MA audio and can finally enjoy the original version again. This time it feels like I'm in the cinema in the 70's and 80's without the ugly CGI scenes. Thanks so much for this!!!
@Mixedhero because the special editions are bad. Greedo did not shoot at all, the films name is NOT A New Hope and it ruins the Jabba reveal in Jedi so...... This is coming from a 14 year old who grew up with the special editions
@Mixedhero Star Wars Special Editions happened when you were 4 years old. I doubt you ever saw the original versions in a manner that you can recollect. You're just mad you missed out and still can't accept it.
@Mixedhero there's nothing wrong with liking the special editions. I personally find them hard to watch. Theres nothing inherently wrong with CGI, HOWEVER in my opinion a movie sets up its own reality and rules throughout the course of it. The random CGI additions in the case of Star Wars stick out like a sore thumb because the rest of the movie is practical, made with late 70s tech. They shatter the reality the movie has set up for itself. At least that's how it is for me. The Jabba scene is bad for a number of reasons. First, it completely ruins Jabba's reveal in Return of the Jedi. Originally, the audience had no clue what Jabba looked like throughout the first two movies. He was just someone relentlessly after Solo. Second, it adds nothing new to the movie. The dialog is exactly the same as the conversation with Greedo. Third, it ruins the reveal of the Millenium Falcon. Originally, we first saw the ship along with Luke and the line "what a piece of junk!" In the special edition, it gets a lackluster reveal in the Jabba scene, and we already know what the ship looks like when Luke walks in and his surprise and exclamation has less impact. If Lucasfilm or 20th Century Fox would treat Star Wars like, say, Blade Runner and offer a set of different cuts of the movie, rather than trying to brush the originals under the rug, none of this would be as big a deal. This is where most of the outrage from fans comes from, I think.
I feel sorry for those people that did not get to experience Star Wars in 1977 on the big screen. The first “Block Buster” I was 10 and waited in line outside and around the theater for 3 hours. When that Star Destroyer came overhead in the opening sequence it mesmerized the entire audience. No one had seen special effects like that ever before.
i agree,i was 8 when it came out,as soon as i saw it irt changed my life for good.i never stopped loving these movies,and as you say there was something special about watching it in 1977 as a kid too.no movie today would excite any kids like it did back in 77
Yes they had. They had seen it in Kubrick's 2001 almost a decade earlier. What they hadn't experienced up till then, was such a 'realistic' space battle along with.... THE SOUND. Star Wars was a TOUR DE FORCE of SOUND. Masterful synergy of sound effects and score And dialog phrasing ..... close your eyes and listen to Star Wars, it's unbelievable. And put it ALL together, Picture and Sound, and ..... WHOA. I just watched 4k77 last night and had a blast. Beautiful. I was 9 in 1977. We were the perfect age for sure ! lol
Was there opening nite at Manns Chinese theater in hollywood 1977. My brother also took me to see them put there foot prints. Awesome still remember even at 54 years. Will never forget.
What fantastic memories. I saw Star Wars at a theater in Australia. Couldn't stop talking about it for days. How lucky you were to see it at Mann's. I think that was the location for the beginning of the first documentary, 'The Making Of Star Wars', viewable on TH-cam.
Somehow, the 2011 Blu Ray makes the film look like it was shot far more recently due to how the lighting in the shots has been tweaked and the image made sharper... But I much prefer that dated look on the Silver screen and the 4K77 version
That was the whole idea of the special editions George wanted the films to feel more modern so they could survive with modern audiences, and wether you like the Special Editions or not you have to agree he succeeded on that front
The Blu-Ray was sourced directally from the original camera negatives which is a far cleaner source of video when doing a film restoration. 4k77 was sourced from a theatrical filmprint which has less detail than the camera negatives. Of course 4k77 was scanned and edited in 4K resolution which will always give you the best results when scanning 35MM film
The blu-ray looks better, not modern LOL, because it's RESTORED. All the negatives went through detailed restoration. That's why the blu-ray version looks so good and detailed. The skin tones, colors and contrast it much more natural. It's by far the best looking and superior version. The UHD blu-rays is beyond fantastic looking!
@@dongmong7215 Yeah but it has the changes, the new CGI, the Greedo shooting first, the Jabba scene. In Return of the Jedi it replaces Darth Vader's heavenly figure with Christianson and even the music, so I'm told. (Just watched the first 2 tonight, haven't seen ROTJ yet.) It ruins the film in that way. What we really want is a Blu Ray (4K) transfer from the cleaned up negatives without the changes. And a billion dollars. And perfect health. :-) . EDIT: Most of the changes I can live with but the music change at the end of Return of the Jedi I can't. Swapping from the Blu Ray to Harmys right at the end of the movie kills it for me though. So I still haven't got what I want. Anyway, life goes on.
Best version ever outside the original theatrical release is the 1992 release of the Star Wars Trilogy Definitive Collection THX Laserdisc Box Set viewed through a Pioneer Elite Widescreen and Player using a BNC composite video and digital audio connection.
Honestly I think the 2006 bonus (GOUT) looks pretty good, and when comparing the 4k77, it seems like some of the picture is too bright in the bright scenes (like it's lost some information) -- I'm sure it's not, but I can see more detail on gout -- Also noticed at 4:31 - the 4k77 seemed to show less image area than the other 3. Quite interesting. Also 4k77 looks a bit green to me. One has to realize that even though it was sourced from original theatrical prints, it's been 40+ years, and even if it was kept in great condition, it's not necessarily going to look as it originally did when shown in 77.
Ahh I remember stills of that scene in promotional matierials of the time and it was GREEN! I was 13 years old and the 4k77 is correct, the blue might have been considered a bit less dingy and more attractive
Amazing work! This is the Star Wars I want to see and remember, including Brian De Parma’s written title crawl without the later added “Episode IV”....also I saw this in 77 in theatres as a 5 year old and these are the colors I remember.
To my Eye SSE has a yellow tinge, GOUT has a bit of red/magenta push, Blu-Ray has too much blue filter applied and the 4k77 too much green. Best colour correction I've seen so far is Harmy's 720p despecialised editions.
@@rennmaxbeta I found the link to the first two Harmy's after just a bit of searching on the IA. Unfortunately, I don't know where Harmy's ROTJ is located, but 4K83 seems to be quite good, excellent colour by the looks of it ( www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/starwars/page/Project-4K83 ). I'm new to this film restoration thing, but the 4K site gives this link for people interested in watching the restored films > forums.thestarwarstrilogy.com
To my eye (and I'm a professional colorist in the industry so take that for what its worth. And I was watching it on a CC monitor) I was bouncing between GOUT and 4k77 for as-close-as-you-can-get to the original (some scenes were better than the other in each but mostly the GOUT version got it right). One of things that affected me so deeply in 77 was the color. It became part of my DNA. I wish there had been some footage in this teaser of the Falcon because that's been burned on to my retinas and I could make a definitive call on those clips. In the 4k77 version, R2's blue panels aren't even blue! At least I know where the Blue-Ray name came from now - it turns everything blue! (at least CC blue- which is a mix of cyan and mag). This just saved me from searching out the 4k77 80gb file and from getting the Blue-Ray version. I'll stick to the ones I have already. I was already yelling at the screen watching this short so imagine my sore throat after seeing 2 hours of the 4k77. Keep in mind too that film (actual celluloid) can represent certain colors more faithfully than a CRT or Plasma or LCD - yellow being the biggest problem. (I think this is why Sharp added that yellow dot into some of their screens - to overcome the lousy yellow fidelity). So we're never going to get 100% of the way there unless we watch it projected from a piece of film. And you can't blame age of the prints or negs for any differences- when they archived the neg, they archived black and white separations for later recombining to prevent fading. Now whether they went to the trouble of using those separations to make all these version is unknown. But I know they didn't use them for the 4k77 version. Given the tinkering Lucas continues to do I would imagine at least Lucasfilm's blessed versions used the separations for best fidelity.
In the german translated intro screen in the cinemas for "the empire strikes back" there was a huge typo. It read "Das Imperium schlägt züruck" instead of "zurück" the "funny" character "ü" was misplaced. There is no word "züruck" in german and it sounded pretty funny that way. For years we called the second Star Wars film that way.
Love that folks took the time to clean up and re-create the older versions. For most of the first 2-3 minutes, I thought the 4K77 version had the best color, but then the Silver Screen Edition looked better for a bit. What definitely looked the worst of the bunch, during the entire 9-minute clip, was the 2011 Blu-ray version. It's really hard to believe George Lucas could look at this comparison, and think the color from the 2011 Blu-ray was preferable.
I agree that the colour is bad. But the detail is the best. The 4K77 has way less detail, look at the lines on the bottom of the ship as it comes into view. What I want is the 4K scan of the cleaned up negatives but without so much colour change.
The sharpening is detrimental to the illusion of props. Things now look more like cheap plastic and foam core... the original effects are administered in accordance to lighting and lenses.
The 4K77 version is burnt out and hasn’t been colour corrected, you can see how the lighting changes between shots, that’s a mistake that Lucas didn’t have the technology to fix back in the seventies.
I just notice an interesting plot assumption. The Empire assumes that they can be only one copy of the plans. If it were found in the ship's computer, they would have looked no further. It has to be somewhere means it can't be two places. But remember this was written when computer mean mainframe or mini.
To my old eyes, the Blu-ray version is the cleanest and to me, the one I keep going back to. The 4K is OK, but has a brownish tinge to it can't get into, it's really noticeable on the Stormtroopers and makes Darth Vader look almost brown, not black.
Honestly I agree the bluray visually is far superior to watch and really isn't that all movies really are anyway? visual eye candy? I completely understand why people might want the originals though as lucas's attitude always stunk on this topic, and the special editions in the late 90s or early 2000s were fucking horrific
I don't see that at all. The colours are oversaturated and often have a strong reddish tint on the blu-ray. Also there are a lot of stupid edits and pointless terribly done cgi additions that looked bad even at the time they were done. Would much rather 4K77
The best image and color reference can be found in the promotional/merchandising tie-ins from '77. They best reflect the original aesthetic of the film, which is one of the things I always appreciated about it and find disgusting about he alterations over the years.
This was cool able to view each version side by side . Blue ray is crisper. I could even see the freckles on a rebel. But the other editions are just as enjoyable. I guess if money had no determination on my life... I buy blue ray.
The blu ray has alterations though, replacing the original effects with CGI, adding scenes, changing scenes, changing actors, re-shooting scenes 10 years later, changing music ..
never actually seen the originals in theater so i take your words for it. Colorwise the 2006 version is the closest of what i remember from the old VHS but that must have been different from the theaters due to old tech retrictions during conversion. good job guys and most of all thank you for doing the right thing by preserving these sacred gems from oblivion
yes, but the 4K77 on the other hand has that annoying green tinting going on (its even more agressive than the bluray's magentha tinting) and the blacks/darks are lifted too much
I never realised how much I missed that grimy green on the original. It gives everything such a different atmosphere, everything looks grimy and lived in :)
@@knwr Yeah. It’s hard pick apart in the hallways, but as soon as we see Vader’s suit and all the metallic surfaces in the darker area, with Leia as she’s finishing her recording with R2... Immediately kicks in the nostalgia!
The Blu-ray is better... except when all those CGI modifications are introduced. I hope the fan restoration/despecialization projects get even better, amazing work! Thanks.
BluRay looks sharp but something is weird going on with the colour. I’m surprised something something as unfinished as this could be released for sale with a straight face, particularly that pink flashing garbage. 4k77 looks more real but it also seems to have a slight greenish tinge to it in places.
Notice how the music was originally composed to sync up perfectly with the crawl and the reveal of Tatooine, and how that was messed up when the "Episode IV: A New Hope" text was added.
Alls I can say is your best bet is to resurrect you a VCR, find copies of the original 80s trilogy on VHS Cassette. It will really give you the original 70s and 80s grainy film in the cinema feeling. Next, take out a strip of carpet under your feet so you have concrete, then spill some coke on the concrete and let dry so it will be all nice and sticky on your shoes. Finally, make you some popcorn and put real melted butter on top. You now all set to watch the original Star Wars the way it was meant to be!
Great work putting all this together! I'm thinking that the 2011 Blu-ray version is just as the 1977 version that I saw in the theater back in Baltimore at the Senator Theater! I distinctly remember looking around to ask someone how did I miss episodes 1 - 3??!! Seeing Up on that beautiful screen Episode IV simply blew my mind away!
@@noahkrause2835 Wrong. It was *officially* retitled Episode IV when it was re-released in theatres in 1981, but the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle was first made public in a behind the scenes book in 1979.
Fascinating stuff, the main thing this emphasises to me is all the pink flashes they added into the 2011 blu ray version whenever there’s a shoot out. I don’t envy anyone trying to do the definitive HD version anymore, there have been so many now where the heck do you draw the line?
If you can freeze the frame at 4:17 just at the right micro-moment -- the issue you are describing here is on horrifying display... WTF were they thinking? it's sooo bad XD
orghast - you know what it reminds me of? That effect you get on 70s UK TV video recordings whenever there is a bright light or flash. Old TV studio cameras used to produce a weird pink edge and afterglow that smeared across the screen whenever a candle, bulb or bright flash was on screen . The 2011 blu ray looks like an old 70s Doctor Who ray gun shoot out, lol!
With how much bad star wars movies and shows have come out in the past few years, I started to question whether I wanted to still be a fan. But, when I watched the opening crawl and the camera pans down to the star destroyer, I still feel the goosebumps on the back of my neck. This is a breathtaking film! You can't take your eyes off it from start to finish. It melds with your heart on so many levels. 50 years later, people need to be able to see it in its original format, and 100 years later, and 200...
It must be impossible to make so many choices for alterations of sharpness, color, tint, etc. These are not complaints: GOUT seems sharper at 02:00, otherwise it's less so. At 02:50, 1.6 has nice reflections off R2, why not with 4K77? In 77, The closeup of Vader at 04:45, he's looking kind of brown. At 05:07 - 05:31, I'm seeing green now in 77. It seems the Blu-ray and GOUT are either very red or blue. The stuff at 06:21 still has greenish background in 77, but the facial color tones look more natural, less red. (What a job you've got!) I don't know. While the clarity of the Blu-ray is nice, I like 1.6 very much. I'm surprised you changed so much tint from there to 77.
I didn't work on 4K77, but the reason given for the green tint is because 4K77 is a technicolor preservation. The color references for 4K77 all have a green push in certain shots.
Rotcod. Согласен. Silver Screen вне конкуренции по естественности и живости картинки. Попытка сделать контрастнее, как в Blu-ray, приводит к эффекту детской раскраски и мультяшности, и соотвественно, неестественности. То же наблюдаем и в Despecialized.Edition. GOUT, по-видимому, также не лишен недостатков по части цвета в некоторых сценах - слишком блекло и серо местами (особенно страдает черный), красные и желтые цвета превращены в бледно-розовый, и не хватает зеленых оттенков (к которым человеческий глаз наиболее чувствителен). Излишнюю зеленость 4K77 спишем на расширенный цветовой охват (10 бит?) формата 4K. По сравнению с Blu-ray и GOUT в Silver Screen обрезаны края (слева, справа, сверху и снизу) - геометрическая разница влияющая на содержимое!
Seems green to the others, but it's actually more correct. Look at the scenes with both greenish background (I noticed in the wall compartments) but also human skin tones. On a colour calibrated 4k monitor, the 4k77 colours are correct, the others are oversaturated, oversharpened (in some cases), and have a bad magenta cast. It looks like the original theatrical release, which I stood in line for in 1977.
All these people saying the Bluray looks better. lol Of course it does. It was processed to death to look sharp on modern TVs. The 4K77 version looks the most like the original theatrical release...because it is directly scanned from it. If you grew up never seeing it and are used to super sharp modern production, the Bluray is what you want. For us that grew up watching these in theaters and on VHS w/o all the extra CGI, the 4K77 & 4K83 versions are perfect. Can't wait for 4K80!!!
@Josh Beane 1997 SE Laserdisc, 2004 DVDs, 2011 Blu-Rays and the 2019 Disney+ streaming transfers are all struck from the orignal negative, but you are correct all of those releases are the Special Editions with the added CGI and changes.
It was not processed top death, LOL. The original negative was restored. Went through a complete restoration! That's why it looks superior. The skin tones, color and contrast also looks much more natural now. It's fine to be nostalgic. It's not fine to be stubborn and delusional.
Really love the way 4k77 is looking but the SSE looks so much better due to just the small color corrections. There's blaring inconsistencies with the technicolor print like the green and magenta pushes. Just because the technicolor system was a bit difficult to normalize, doesn't mean this is the way it was supposed to look in 1977. I would love to see an OAR (is this cropped?) version with NO DNR and some light color correction to match the SSE. Down to help with this, also...
not sure, but i think (a guess) it had to do with stabilizing shakiness - there's a Vimeo series by the 4k77 editor where he talks about the shaky thing... though I didn't hear him speak about cropping - so I'm wondering if the assumption might work? Good eye though... And check out those vimeo vids of him working through the restoration - they are simply incredible EDIT: It's been brought to my attention Mike Verta didn't work on this project. my bad. His videos are still valuable for insights into similar restoration work.
It's actually not cropped at all, and has more image info on the left side than any retail version. This random youtube video comparing versions doesn't actually represent the quality of the 4K77 release.
First, we saw R2-D2 and C-3PO seemingly walk through the shootout between the Rebels and the Stormtroopers. But, just as they exit the scene, there's an unexplainable explosion. So...how did they manage to survive the explosion (as they are seen alive moments later)? When I first watched this scene, I thought they were destroyed in the explosion, which would have verified C-3PO's comment about being destroyed for sure.
Blu Ray unfortunately still looks the best overall to my mind. Yes, it is too blue instead of white, the whole movie is colder on BR. Yes, it has a magenta tint that makes leïa's cheeks a bit too pink and everybody's faces too dark and don't start me with the smoke in that scene. The theatrical version is warmer, and warmer suits the movie better. BUT, I have to admit that space is darker (real black) and stars can be really seen, they also are more details so that you can see elements in the background on BR that you cannot really see on other versions, making ships more beautiful in the BR. BR has a more "balanced" brightness throughout the movie. 4K77 has the upper hand with resolution, but it loses when it comes to color accuracy (too much green, yellow or red depending on the scenes,, at 2:45 = too orange, at 8:24 = white, while they are on the same location), brightness and contrast. BR is great when upscaled from good TV/sources, colors aren't perfect and I will deal with it. But it still was nice to see the 4K77 for a change.
the problem with the blu ray version is that it is based on the SE version...many fans, myself included, want a high def original Star Wars version for blu ray and 4k blu ray...
@Pierre Terrien Except for the fact that the color timing off 4K77 was fully restored from a theatrical print!!!!! The pinkish magenta skin tones and cold colors off the Blu is not at all what a film of the 70s looks like. Plus it scrubs grain which kills detail and sharpens the hell out of the image which flattens the detail and has a horrific revisionist color grade that you would only see in a 2000s film. No offense but your comment of "loses when it comes to color accuracy" is just a excuse to double down on your preference for the revisionist Blu Ray.
I'm split between GOUT and 4K77. I think they're warmer and more suited to the original feel I remember as a kick. That original death star scene used to feel like it went on forever. 🖤
@Jimmy S No, The Despecialized is based off of the Blu Ray which scrubbed most of the grain/detail and made everybody look like wax models. 4K77 has actual original color based on original 35MM prints, with gorgeous lush color and grain that is nowhere to be found anywhere else. I think you're too used to many older movies getting over processed on home video, so you would never know or understand how movies like Star Wars or even other movies of that time in general are supposed to look.
Am I the only one that notices that the 4K77 has a cropped image? The bottom particularly is slightly cropped (look at the shot of the planet @ 2:09 or the shot of R2 @ 3:11).
The biggest difference with the Blu-ray are the light levels. Whenever a color approaches white in the original, it smoothly gets whiter. In the Blu-ray, the colors change hue and saturation as it approaches white. There's a lot more white "detail," but the images looks sickly as a result.
I've noticed that there are a lot of shots in 4K77 where the color grading seems rather inconsistent. Perhaps the color grading from the film print they used didn't hold up as well as they thought.
Older films are generally less consistent to the modern eye because the grading tools were pretty basic compared to today. Much of the inconsistency was likely in the print even when it was new. It has been speculated on the forum that some of the inconsistency as well as the green shift is due to the fact that Star Wars was among the last prints made at the Technicolor plant in England. The facility closed later that same year in 1978. Quality control had probably gone out the window by then. Some of the colour shift may have been introduced during the scanning process. Either way the colourist for 4K77 actually toned down the green considerably from the raw scan.
Look up MIKE VERTA on Vimeo to find the 4k77 editor discuss the remastering process... according to him, all the original prints have these "yellow globs" especially in all the Tatooine sequences (actually it wasn't clear to me if he was saying ESPECIALLY in the Tattooine sequences or EXCLUSIVELY in the Tatooine moments) - so I'm wondering if the task of getting rid of all the yellow (which he explains doing and his rationale) impacts the greens of this version? In any event, if I'm wrong here, his editing videos are just so incredible. EDIT: been brought to my attention Mike Verta didn't work on this project. my bad. His videos are still valuable for insights into similar restoration work.
Mike Verta's restoration would have been better although he was missing scans because he knew how to do a quality job resolving thing that many wouldn't know how. The sad part is rumor has it that Verta has had an ultimatum from Skywalker Ranch and had to cease his restoration.
While Silver Screen has bad red push, significantly less detail, and is artificially sharpened. You complain about the so called green as much as you want, but that's what was on the original Technicolor prints. How a film was originally presented is far more historically important than a joe schmo's preference.
I'm liking 3 of these, obviously the Blu-ray version is the most crisp, but some of the colour tinting looks weird, the 2006 does have a good colour appearance to it for the most part and the 4K77 keeping the original movie presentation is awesome, as I am not a fan of the bad CGI that was inserted, however I do think a lot of colour correction could be implemented, keep the colour consistent and would make the version look better in the long run.
I have to say, the color on the GOUT is best and closest to how I remember it. If you look at the grays they are always nuetral gray. In other words, if you were to click the nuetral eydropper in photoshop levels and click on a gray spot in a GOUT frame, there would be very little change. However, in the 4K77, I see the grays wandering from redish (3:48 in this clip) to greenish (5:13) while the greys are staying nuetral the whole time in GOUT. I think nuetralizing the grays is key to getting the color right. Clicking the grey eyedropper tool on a nuetral area is one of the best ways to color correct stills any way. I think it should be used to color correct the 4k77 version. As an aside, I distinclty remebering the gray color in 1977. I even asked my father about what color paint to use for the make-believe Millenium Falcon cockpit I built on our veranda! He called it "gun-metal" grey. Point being, I was always fascinated by the greys in the movie. I later realized that it is the "neutral" tone of the greys that is what is so distinctive to me. This is still clear in the GOUT version. Having said that, I think the 4K77 is much closer than the SSE and I am eternally grateful for this immense work of art you have brought us.
@@reuvengershon6625 The point is, if the grey is not neutral when it is meant to be, ALL the colors will take on the hue that can be seen in the grey. That is why you use the neutral eyedropper in photoshop to color correct photos. All you have to do is get the neutrals (greys) neutral and all the other colors fall into place. Very simple really.
@@alienproductions9948 One of the reason the GOUT is more neutral i think is that it is washed out. So the scene to scene slight pink/yellow tint is almost invisible.
@@kikooe I agree the GOUT look is less saturated, but that's true to the technology of the time. I don't agree its washed out. The bonus DVD has excellent detail in the shadows, which is considered high quality photography. Look at the top left quad of the opening titles (20th Century Fox card) and you'll see detail in the dark, center of the base that is completely missing in the other 2 versions that use the same graphic. Yet there is complete blackness inside the "C" and the "0," indicating there is a full range of tone (pure black and pure white). Less saturation would take some of the tint out of the greys, but I still think there are inconsistencies with the color grading from scene to scene in all other versions. As much as I adore the 4k77 version, I still think the color grading should be taken from the GOUT version. That way you get the detail of the 4k transfer and the consistency and originality of the GOUT.
@@kikooe Take a look at 3:20 and you'll see the Star Destroyer is way too blue in 4K77 compared to GOUT. That's beyond just a little desaturation. Other scenes it swings around from too red to too yellow. I understand what an immense task restoring the old Eastman archival reels are. But I think a simple (not necessarily easy) way to get consistency is to color-match to the GOUT version.
Proud to say that I was one of the kids who saw Star Wars upon its first UK release - OK, couldn't get in to see it in December 1977, so it was early '78. Never went for all this 'Chapter IV' shit. The film was called Star Wars. That's it for me.
I had a friend back at high school who positively objected to any notion of a sequel and when it was released, I could hear the nashing of his teeth. When Jedi was released he refused even see that, too. So you are not alone in that.
I didn't see the 1977 version until I purchased the Gold DVD with bonus movie disc. The only versions I have known were the 1980 ones with the new subtle of A New Hope. I'm betting that most so-called fans never saw the original version for 30 years and never complained about the changes Lucas did to the films until the release of the Special Editions. Further more I almost certain that they wouldn't have minded the Special Editions if the Computer Graphics were introduced slowly and if Han never stepped on Jabba's tail.
@discocrobotfication Ummmm wrong, 4K77 went through color correction to restore and stabilize the color back to its original condition and is very accurate to original Technicolor prints. It is the only way people should watch Star Wars PERIOD if you want something as accurate as the original 1977 theatrical release.
Hold your fire? Because a few laser bolts are so much more expensive than dispatching ships, large search teams, and a very large space station and the million plus crew on board.
What happened to "Episode IV A New Hope" in the 1977 version? I remember seeing that in theaters and thinking "that's weird"? We all talked about it as kids.
They first added "Episode IV A New Hope" to the opening crawl in the 1981 theatrical re-release. As for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, they always said Episode V and Episode VI.
Weird that the 2006 GOUT version has the Star Wars logo fade into black sooner than the theatrical versions... Is that just an artifact of it being sourced from laserdisc or something else?
Overall, while the Bluray isn't perfect. It still takes the cake for me. It brings out all the details in certain scenes that are completely washed out in the others. Yes the CGI creatures suck BUT that aside the Bluray is better than the others enough for me to to look past that. I grew up in the 90s and used to bingewatch my VHS original trilogy, so I have an appreciation for "the way it should be". Just that on modern 4K OLED TVs, Bluray is best. The originals are ideal for the playback mediums of their era. 4:3 CRT TVs, VCRs and LaserDisks. I used to think the VHS looked AMAZING on my Panasonic TV/VCR Combo unit back in the day, cause it did.
4k 77 has crushed highlights and is miles too green, as others have observed. The whites on the corridors are very bad looking. The best colour is on the GOUT, it just requires a tiny bit of desaturation, and a minor contrast boost, but it did come from a much younger print.They should try to match their 4k print to that.
![REVISITED Battle of Yavin | A New Hope (1977) [Revisited, DeEd, Blu-ray, Puggo]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m2iiQuGn-oM/mqdefault.jpg)
My eyes during this: ↗️↖️↙️↗️↘️↙️↗️↘️↙️↖️↘️↖️
No shit. Me too.
Same
Same
The 4k77 edition is taken from a 35mm print shown in theatres in 1977. It has been cleaned up but no other alterations were made. It is star wars in its purest form whether you think the picture quality is better or not. Its was also scanned at 4k so is much grainier but also has more detail in the image. The reason some of the other editions look cleaner is because of dnr and other such digital tinkering resulting in a loss of detail i hope this clears this up so everyone can understand.
Is it better than Harmy's
@@MadChristoph it depends what you want. Harmys has a cleaner look if that is what your after. 4k77 is exactly what star wars would have looked like in 1977 on the big screen. Huge detail but warts and all. Lots of grain in scenes on tatooine with 3po as an example. But the color grading is unultered a 4k scan of the original print.
@@kier4548 4K77 if that's how Star Wars looked like in theatres, then that means 4K77 is the most valuable
Do you think no DNR 4K77 and 4K83 is better than with DNR? It seems the with DNR is too bright in certain indoor scenes.
@Jason Lee in Taiwan - 李源生 I would say the non dnr version is better because it's true to the original film elements. If you can deal with it looking more grainy in certain scenes. However for detail go for the no dnr version. It's really down to personal preforance.
Takes me back to seeing this the first time in a crowded theater. After the camera pans downward to show the planet, and the ensuing brief starship battle, you could hear everyone's gasp at what we were seeing. A truly unique experience.
???How did you not notice that??? The only fear she ever shows is when Aulderon is going to get destroyed. That's why she is such a total badass.
Nothing is ever truly NEW anymore...
I guess Avengers is our generation’s Star Wars.. oh boy, I probably got that movie comparison wrong..
so.. go ahead everyone.. chew my not properly informed head off.
No, a STAGED HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTION “alien invasion” by the TERRORIST WORLD GOVERNMENTS,
trying to hold onto planetary power, only BECAUSE EMPATHY/COMPASSION/UNDERSTANDING/JUSTICE/TRUTH.. is trending.. globally...
no.. that will be OUR.. REAL LIFE.. NEW.. STAR WARS. Omg.. and George Soros is the Emperor, while Bill Gates is “Darth Vadering” in Africa.. Africa might as well be Aulderon at this point.
@@upandaljm lol you responded to the wrong post
@@CesarM780 To be fair that totally sounds like me.
@@upandaljm 😃
I never noticed before, but Leia had zero fear of Vader when meeting him.
He hadn't blown up her home planet yet...
Of course she didn't have any fear - it's just her dad! Doh...
:P
Daughters are like that
Cause she knew who he was.
Omg that’s the moment I remember the MOST about her! It sort of defined Leia in an instant. She is one of the most fearless, Badass characters in Star Wars.
And that's how I remember seeing it in the theater in 1977. The opening crawl didn't have Episode IV, A New Hope. It was just a movie called Star Wars by an up and coming young 32-year old director named George Lucas.
Yeah, at some point people started referring to it as A New Hope. I had no idea what they were talking about. 🤔 I only new the original version for years.
Some coworkers had big argument over whether IV was on screen or not. Dark ages before google and internet
@@michaelkoga2541 Episode IV subtitle was added in the opening crawl for the 1981 theatrical re-release.
@@sky1luv793 When the special editions came out, the videos had "a new hope" written on the spine. That's when it started.
@@jamespilcher5287 Really it was the 2004 DVDs that cemented it. On the initial release of the Special edition on VHS and Laserdisc, it says "STAR WARS Special Edition", and subsequently the other movies The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. When the 2004 DVD comes out it's "STAR WARS A New Hope, STAR WARS The Empire Strikes Back, and STAR WARS Return of the Jedi."
The 4K77 looks really good. The colors are perfect.
My son said 4K77 for the ships and 2011 for the characters. He's 9. He has no biases from knowing all the changes made and hate online. Now after the smoke clears he says Silver Screen looks the best.
The original 20th Century theme always excites me. It just has a feel to it.
4k77 looks so good, especially the pace of the opening crawl and the lack of blue filter. Awesome.
Blue ray version sucks
Well, for me it's never perfect. :D 4k77 replaced the blue/pink tint with a yellow/green tint.
@@starlighter93 🤣
@@starlighter93 check the last version "1.4", no more green tint i would say
Exactly, that green tint looks horrible
Viewers must keep in mind that the Blu-ray was sourced directly from the negative thus will appear sharper. It never looked like that in the theater nor would ANY film, as all projection prints are a few generations from the negative. The SSE and 4K77 are sourced from actual prints so they are as good as you would have actually seen in the theater. Plus, they are the ORIGINAL versions. The Blu-ray, despite being sharper, is the F*cked With version. It's interesting as a comparison, but it's not the reason the SSE and 4K77 exist. I am thrilled to finally have the version I saw in 1977, in my living room.
4K77 has more detail and looks like analog film. The Blu-Ray has the contrast and colour pumped up and has a modern digital grading, it does not look like how it should.
@caligulathegod Even if it was sourced from the negative, the grain was still scrubbed away, artificially sharpened to heck and with a color grade that makes it look like a 2000s film.
So the 4K versions are the original versions without the stupif added scenes? Like the stupid cgi music scene in Jabba's palace fron ROTJ?
@@kennethgubbels2041 yes 4k77 is the original 1977 thearical edition
I’m sure if they had access to the original negatives they could get a sharper version but not entirely necessary, just more detail.
I grew up with the "pre enhanced" version of Star Wars. Always used to see them on TV in the 80's and on VHS tapes and never saw them in the cinema because I was too young for that. Now I'm watching the 4K77 and 4K83 version on my big projection screen with DTS-HD MA audio and can finally enjoy the original version again. This time it feels like I'm in the cinema in the 70's and 80's without the ugly CGI scenes. Thanks so much for this!!!
@Mixedhero I think you're in the wrong place Lol
@Mixedhero because the special editions are bad. Greedo did not shoot at all, the films name is NOT A New Hope and it ruins the Jabba reveal in Jedi so......
This is coming from a 14 year old who grew up with the special editions
@Mixedhero jabba was never in a new hope. it was a deleted scene with the human and then they added it in the 97 VHS with CG shitty Jabba.
@Mixedhero Star Wars Special Editions happened when you were 4 years old. I doubt you ever saw the original versions in a manner that you can recollect. You're just mad you missed out and still can't accept it.
@Mixedhero there's nothing wrong with liking the special editions. I personally find them hard to watch. Theres nothing inherently wrong with CGI, HOWEVER in my opinion a movie sets up its own reality and rules throughout the course of it. The random CGI additions in the case of Star Wars stick out like a sore thumb because the rest of the movie is practical, made with late 70s tech. They shatter the reality the movie has set up for itself. At least that's how it is for me.
The Jabba scene is bad for a number of reasons. First, it completely ruins Jabba's reveal in Return of the Jedi. Originally, the audience had no clue what Jabba looked like throughout the first two movies. He was just someone relentlessly after Solo.
Second, it adds nothing new to the movie. The dialog is exactly the same as the conversation with Greedo.
Third, it ruins the reveal of the Millenium Falcon. Originally, we first saw the ship along with Luke and the line "what a piece of junk!" In the special edition, it gets a lackluster reveal in the Jabba scene, and we already know what the ship looks like when Luke walks in and his surprise and exclamation has less impact.
If Lucasfilm or 20th Century Fox would treat Star Wars like, say, Blade Runner and offer a set of different cuts of the movie, rather than trying to brush the originals under the rug, none of this would be as big a deal. This is where most of the outrage from fans comes from, I think.
I feel sorry for those people that did not get to experience Star Wars in 1977 on the big screen. The first “Block Buster” I was 10 and waited in line outside and around the theater for 3 hours. When that Star Destroyer came overhead in the opening sequence it mesmerized the entire audience. No one had seen special effects like that ever before.
i agree,i was 8 when it came out,as soon as i saw it irt changed my life for good.i never stopped loving these movies,and as you say there was something special about watching it in 1977 as a kid too.no movie today would excite any kids like it did back in 77
Uhhh..the first blockbuster would be Jaws.
Yes they had. They had seen it in Kubrick's 2001 almost a decade earlier.
What they hadn't experienced up till then, was such a 'realistic' space battle along with.... THE SOUND.
Star Wars was a TOUR DE FORCE of SOUND. Masterful synergy of sound effects and score And dialog phrasing ..... close your eyes and listen to Star Wars, it's unbelievable.
And put it ALL together, Picture and Sound, and .....
WHOA.
I just watched 4k77 last night and had a blast. Beautiful.
I was 9 in 1977. We were the perfect age for sure ! lol
I use to have the VHS original. I wish I never sold it. To watch it now would be awesome.
Google the 'despecialized' version
The VHS copies of "star wars" shouldn't be that expensive just make sure you buy one made before 1997, alternatively you could get the 2006 DVD
Was there opening nite at Manns Chinese theater in hollywood 1977. My brother also took me to see them put there foot prints. Awesome still remember even at 54 years. Will never forget.
What fantastic memories. I saw Star Wars at a theater in Australia. Couldn't stop talking about it for days. How lucky you were to see it at Mann's. I think that was the location for the beginning of the first documentary, 'The Making Of Star Wars', viewable on TH-cam.
What an awesome experience!
Somehow, the 2011 Blu Ray makes the film look like it was shot far more recently due to how the lighting in the shots has been tweaked and the image made sharper... But I much prefer that dated look on the Silver screen and the 4K77 version
That was the whole idea of the special editions George wanted the films to feel more modern so they could survive with modern audiences, and wether you like the Special Editions or not you have to agree he succeeded on that front
The Blu-Ray was sourced directally from the original camera negatives which is a far cleaner source of video when doing a film restoration. 4k77 was sourced from a theatrical filmprint which has less detail than the camera negatives. Of course 4k77 was scanned and edited in 4K resolution which will always give you the best results when scanning 35MM film
The blu-ray looks better, not modern LOL, because it's RESTORED. All the negatives went through detailed restoration. That's why the blu-ray version looks so good and detailed. The skin tones, colors and contrast it much more natural. It's by far the best looking and superior version. The UHD blu-rays is beyond fantastic looking!
@@dongmong7215 Yeah but it has the changes, the new CGI, the Greedo shooting first, the Jabba scene. In Return of the Jedi it replaces Darth Vader's heavenly figure with Christianson and even the music, so I'm told. (Just watched the first 2 tonight, haven't seen ROTJ yet.) It ruins the film in that way. What we really want is a Blu Ray (4K) transfer from the cleaned up negatives without the changes. And a billion dollars. And perfect health. :-)
.
EDIT: Most of the changes I can live with but the music change at the end of Return of the Jedi I can't. Swapping from the Blu Ray to Harmys right at the end of the movie kills it for me though. So I still haven't got what I want. Anyway, life goes on.
Damn I need the original cuts. Those special additions ruined my childhood
Best version ever outside the original theatrical release is the 1992 release of the Star Wars Trilogy Definitive Collection THX Laserdisc Box Set viewed through a Pioneer Elite Widescreen and Player using a BNC composite video and digital audio connection.
2:24 idk why but the lights on the star destroyer engines in 4K77 hit way different :)
Dang 4K77 version is HUGE! Can't wait to watch and see how they did.
Honestly I think the 2006 bonus (GOUT) looks pretty good, and when comparing the 4k77, it seems like some of the picture is too bright in the bright scenes (like it's lost some information) -- I'm sure it's not, but I can see more detail on gout -- Also noticed at 4:31 - the 4k77 seemed to show less image area than the other 3. Quite interesting. Also 4k77 looks a bit green to me. One has to realize that even though it was sourced from original theatrical prints, it's been 40+ years, and even if it was kept in great condition, it's not necessarily going to look as it originally did when shown in 77.
Ahh I remember stills of that scene in promotional matierials of the time and it was GREEN! I was 13 years old and the 4k77 is correct, the blue might have been considered a bit less dingy and more attractive
at 2:10 the GOUT version is definitely superior in detail.
Amazing work! This is the Star Wars I want to see and remember, including Brian De Parma’s written title crawl without the later added “Episode IV”....also I saw this in 77 in theatres as a 5 year old and these are the colors I remember.
To my Eye SSE has a yellow tinge, GOUT has a bit of red/magenta push, Blu-Ray has too much blue filter applied and the 4k77 too much green.
Best colour correction I've seen so far is Harmy's 720p despecialised editions.
archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Star+Wars+Despecialized%22
Here they are in full
@@battledroid224 thanks! any link for harmy's ROTJ 720p?
@@rennmaxbeta I found the link to the first two Harmy's after just a bit of searching on the IA. Unfortunately, I don't know where Harmy's ROTJ is located, but 4K83 seems to be quite good, excellent colour by the looks of it ( www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/starwars/page/Project-4K83 ). I'm new to this film restoration thing, but the 4K site gives this link for people interested in watching the restored films > forums.thestarwarstrilogy.com
To my eye (and I'm a professional colorist in the industry so take that for what its worth. And I was watching it on a CC monitor) I was bouncing between GOUT and 4k77 for as-close-as-you-can-get to the original (some scenes were better than the other in each but mostly the GOUT version got it right). One of things that affected me so deeply in 77 was the color. It became part of my DNA. I wish there had been some footage in this teaser of the Falcon because that's been burned on to my retinas and I could make a definitive call on those clips. In the 4k77 version, R2's blue panels aren't even blue!
At least I know where the Blue-Ray name came from now - it turns everything blue! (at least CC blue- which is a mix of cyan and mag). This just saved me from searching out the 4k77 80gb file and from getting the Blue-Ray version. I'll stick to the ones I have already. I was already yelling at the screen watching this short so imagine my sore throat after seeing 2 hours of the 4k77.
Keep in mind too that film (actual celluloid) can represent certain colors more faithfully than a CRT or Plasma or LCD - yellow being the biggest problem. (I think this is why Sharp added that yellow dot into some of their screens - to overcome the lousy yellow fidelity). So we're never going to get 100% of the way there unless we watch it projected from a piece of film.
And you can't blame age of the prints or negs for any differences- when they archived the neg, they archived black and white separations for later recombining to prevent fading. Now whether they went to the trouble of using those separations to make all these version is unknown. But I know they didn't use them for the 4k77 version. Given the tinkering Lucas continues to do I would imagine at least Lucasfilm's blessed versions used the separations for best fidelity.
4K Legacy is the best, followed by 4K77 [80, 83], then Blu-ray, GOUT then LaserDisc.
In the german translated intro screen in the cinemas for "the empire strikes back" there was a huge typo.
It read "Das Imperium schlägt züruck" instead of "zurück" the "funny" character "ü" was misplaced.
There is no word "züruck" in german and it sounded pretty funny that way.
For years we called the second Star Wars film that way.
That’s very funny. Oh, to be in that cinema at that time.
Love that folks took the time to clean up and re-create the older versions. For most of the first 2-3 minutes, I thought the 4K77 version had the best color, but then the Silver Screen Edition looked better for a bit. What definitely looked the worst of the bunch, during the entire 9-minute clip, was the 2011 Blu-ray version. It's really hard to believe George Lucas could look at this comparison, and think the color from the 2011 Blu-ray was preferable.
I agree that the colour is bad. But the detail is the best. The 4K77 has way less detail, look at the lines on the bottom of the ship as it comes into view. What I want is the 4K scan of the cleaned up negatives but without so much colour change.
I saw Star Wars in theater when I was 3 years old. I remember so much of it. Blew my mind.
The title sequence of the blu-ray really stands out with its different timing compared to the music.
In an ideal world, we'd have the sharpness of the Blu-Ray but without that crapped pink tinting.
But that's like literally one of her primary character traits
The sharpening is detrimental to the illusion of props. Things now look more like cheap plastic and foam core... the original effects are administered in accordance to lighting and lenses.
Google the 'despecialized' version
The 4K77 version is burnt out and hasn’t been colour corrected, you can see how the lighting changes between shots, that’s a mistake that Lucas didn’t have the technology to fix back in the seventies.
I believe this is version 1.0. The grading supposedly looks different in 1.4
Yes the 1.4, is color corrected to remove/diminish the green push amongst other things
1:59 The Blu-ray totally ruined the synchronisation with the music swelling. Why did Lucas do that?!
thunderpeel2001 because he’s Lucas. What do you expect??
@@repulore13 :(
@@thunderpeel2001 I know I said it. I respect this man as he basically built my childhood, but he is pretty stupid sometimes
@@repulore13 I agree. I do think he's very talented, ultimately, but he makes some poor decisions.
Y'all get bummed by the most simplest things. Of all the wierd changes that has been done, this is one of the most insignificant ones.
3:49 *_MAGENTA_*
What the hell? What's causing that? It's not even close to what's happening on the others. It looks like a total specular malfunction.
KillThad 3:50 even clearer
But look at the horizontal laser on the left, and the smoke on the bottom-right. 4K77 loses so much detail.
@@coldblackice A really bad color grading.
other than the magenta I like the way the blu ray looked for most of it
I just notice an interesting plot assumption. The Empire assumes that they can be only one copy of the plans. If it were found in the ship's computer, they would have looked no further. It has to be somewhere means it can't be two places. But remember this was written when computer mean mainframe or mini.
Well remember the space fighters had less technology than F15s in 1977 lol
To my old eyes, the Blu-ray version is the cleanest and to me, the one I keep going back to. The 4K is OK, but has a brownish tinge to it can't get into, it's really noticeable on the Stormtroopers and makes Darth Vader look almost brown, not black.
Honestly I agree the bluray visually is far superior to watch and really isn't that all movies really are anyway? visual eye candy? I completely understand why people might want the originals though as lucas's attitude always stunk on this topic, and the special editions in the late 90s or early 2000s were fucking horrific
I don't see that at all. The colours are oversaturated and often have a strong reddish tint on the blu-ray. Also there are a lot of stupid edits and pointless terribly done cgi additions that looked bad even at the time they were done. Would much rather 4K77
@vladix123 it's not at all, that's not how hd upscaling works
If you look cross-eyed at them and focus on the new middle image, it becomes 3D. It doesn't start happening until the opening scene after the scroll.
The best image and color reference can be found in the promotional/merchandising tie-ins from '77. They best reflect the original aesthetic of the film, which is one of the things I always appreciated about it and find disgusting about he alterations over the years.
I agree that is why I remember that scene in the recesses of the hallway being green, the 4K77 has it right.
This was cool able to view each version side by side . Blue ray is crisper. I could even see the freckles on a rebel. But the other editions are just as enjoyable. I guess if money had no determination on my life... I buy blue ray.
The blu ray has alterations though, replacing the original effects with CGI, adding scenes, changing scenes, changing actors, re-shooting scenes 10 years later, changing music ..
Silver screen edition is the best.
never actually seen the originals in theater so i take your words for it.
Colorwise the 2006 version is the closest of what i remember from the old VHS
but that must have been different from the theaters due to old tech retrictions during conversion.
good job guys and most of all thank you for doing the right thing by preserving these sacred gems from oblivion
The Bluray looks cleanest but all the shity pink visual effects are weird.
It's not effects, it's just an awful color correction.
yes, but the 4K77 on the other hand has that annoying green tinting going on (its even more agressive than the bluray's magentha tinting) and the blacks/darks are lifted too much
@@Capeau The green tint is only visible when viewed alongside/right after seeing the Bluray magenta.
Someone didn't change the ink in the Xerox machine again.
I never realised how much I missed that grimy green on the original. It gives everything such a different atmosphere, everything looks grimy and lived in :)
Would you say the 4k77 comes closest to what you remember?
@@knwr Yeah. It’s hard pick apart in the hallways, but as soon as we see Vader’s suit and all the metallic surfaces in the darker area, with Leia as she’s finishing her recording with R2... Immediately kicks in the nostalgia!
@@knwr I agree with craigridley, the green was there in the original and I was in my early teens at time
Happy 45th anniversary Star Wars.
4K77 is just way too green or pink and black levels seem a bit off. Color on the GOUT looks more accurate... at least the scenes on the ship.
colors look wrong on every one of these
the new UHD probably has the closest to original theatrical colors yet scene (although sadly they rid the grain)
@@megayetivsminigreatwhitex6194 There is a version that retains the grain.
Yeah, it just feels too warm. And the shadows feel too green/yellow. Doesn't quite feel right...
If you don't like the colors then fix it you self get a video editor and fix it
You're doing good work here. I'm really looking forward to sharing these editions with my family.
The Blu-ray is better... except when all those CGI modifications are introduced. I hope the fan restoration/despecialization projects get even better, amazing work! Thanks.
BluRay looks sharp but something is weird going on with the colour. I’m surprised something something as unfinished as this could be released for sale with a straight face, particularly that pink flashing garbage. 4k77 looks more real but it also seems to have a slight greenish tinge to it in places.
Now I know what it would be like if a fly was watching star wars
Notice how the music was originally composed to sync up perfectly with the crawl and the reveal of Tatooine, and how that was messed up when the "Episode IV: A New Hope" text was added.
Alls I can say is your best bet is to resurrect you a VCR, find copies of the original 80s trilogy on VHS Cassette. It will really give you the original 70s and 80s grainy film in the cinema feeling. Next, take out a strip of carpet under your feet so you have concrete, then spill some coke on the concrete and let dry so it will be all nice and sticky on your shoes. Finally, make you some popcorn and put real melted butter on top. You now all set to watch the original Star Wars the way it was meant to be!
Too many magenta splashes in the shoot-out scenes in the Blu-Ray version! Whoever edited it must have been in love with the color magenta.
Great work putting all this together! I'm thinking that the 2011 Blu-ray version is just as the 1977 version that I saw in the theater back in Baltimore at the Senator Theater! I distinctly remember looking around to ask someone how did I miss episodes 1 - 3??!! Seeing Up on that beautiful screen Episode IV simply blew my mind away!
um hate to tell you but that is impossible. it wasn't re-titled as episode 4 until George started making the prequels.
@@noahkrause2835 Wrong. It was *officially* retitled Episode IV when it was re-released in theatres in 1981, but the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle was first made public in a behind the scenes book in 1979.
Fascinating stuff, the main thing this emphasises to me is all the pink flashes they added into the 2011 blu ray version whenever there’s a shoot out. I don’t envy anyone trying to do the definitive HD version anymore, there have been so many now where the heck do you draw the line?
If you can freeze the frame at 4:17 just at the right micro-moment -- the issue you are describing here is on horrifying display... WTF were they thinking? it's sooo bad XD
orghast - you know what it reminds me of? That effect you get on 70s UK TV video recordings whenever there is a bright light or flash. Old TV studio cameras used to produce a weird pink edge and afterglow that smeared across the screen whenever a candle, bulb or bright flash was on screen . The 2011 blu ray looks like an old 70s Doctor Who ray gun shoot out, lol!
With how much bad star wars movies and shows have come out in the past few years, I started to question whether I wanted to still be a fan. But, when I watched the opening crawl and the camera pans down to the star destroyer, I still feel the goosebumps on the back of my neck. This is a breathtaking film! You can't take your eyes off it from start to finish. It melds with your heart on so many levels. 50 years later, people need to be able to see it in its original format, and 100 years later, and 200...
I will take 1977 any day. remember seeing it 6 times that year.
Rookie numbers I saw it 11 times in the cinema lol
@@glenchapman3899 that just makes you a bigger nerd than me.
@@soonerjontheconservative636 Yeah I guess I have to admit to that. Though that film went a long way to making nerds cool lol
@@glenchapman3899 That is true
It must be impossible to make so many choices for alterations of sharpness, color, tint, etc.
These are not complaints:
GOUT seems sharper at 02:00, otherwise it's less so.
At 02:50, 1.6 has nice reflections off R2, why not with 4K77?
In 77, The closeup of Vader at 04:45, he's looking kind of brown.
At 05:07 - 05:31, I'm seeing green now in 77.
It seems the Blu-ray and GOUT are either very red or blue. The stuff at 06:21 still has greenish background in 77, but the facial color tones look more natural, less red. (What a job you've got!)
I don't know. While the clarity of the Blu-ray is nice, I like 1.6 very much. I'm surprised you changed so much tint from there to 77.
I didn't work on 4K77, but the reason given for the green tint is because 4K77 is a technicolor preservation. The color references for 4K77 all have a green push in certain shots.
Rotcod I
Rotcod.
Согласен. Silver Screen вне конкуренции по естественности и живости картинки. Попытка сделать контрастнее, как в Blu-ray, приводит к эффекту детской раскраски и мультяшности, и соотвественно, неестественности. То же наблюдаем и в Despecialized.Edition. GOUT, по-видимому, также не лишен недостатков по части цвета в некоторых сценах - слишком блекло и серо местами (особенно страдает черный), красные и желтые цвета превращены в бледно-розовый, и не хватает зеленых оттенков (к которым человеческий глаз наиболее чувствителен). Излишнюю зеленость 4K77 спишем на расширенный цветовой охват (10 бит?) формата 4K.
По сравнению с Blu-ray и GOUT в Silver Screen обрезаны края (слева, справа, сверху и снизу) - геометрическая разница влияющая на содержимое!
Seems green to the others, but it's actually more correct. Look at the scenes with both greenish background (I noticed in the wall compartments) but also human skin tones. On a colour calibrated 4k monitor, the 4k77 colours are correct, the others are oversaturated, oversharpened (in some cases), and have a bad magenta cast. It looks like the original theatrical release, which I stood in line for in 1977.
All these people saying the Bluray looks better. lol Of course it does. It was processed to death to look sharp on modern TVs. The 4K77 version looks the most like the original theatrical release...because it is directly scanned from it. If you grew up never seeing it and are used to super sharp modern production, the Bluray is what you want. For us that grew up watching these in theaters and on VHS w/o all the extra CGI, the 4K77 & 4K83 versions are perfect. Can't wait for 4K80!!!
@Josh Beane 1997 SE Laserdisc, 2004 DVDs, 2011 Blu-Rays and the 2019 Disney+ streaming transfers are all struck from the orignal negative, but you are correct all of those releases are the Special Editions with the added CGI and changes.
@Jimmy S You are a fucking joke and clearly a Millennial.
It was not processed top death, LOL. The original negative was restored. Went through a complete restoration! That's why it looks superior. The skin tones, color and contrast also looks much more natural now.
It's fine to be nostalgic. It's not fine to be stubborn and delusional.
Really love the way 4k77 is looking but the SSE looks so much better due to just the small color corrections. There's blaring inconsistencies with the technicolor print like the green and magenta pushes. Just because the technicolor system was a bit difficult to normalize, doesn't mean this is the way it was supposed to look in 1977. I would love to see an OAR (is this cropped?) version with NO DNR and some light color correction to match the SSE. Down to help with this, also...
MY EYES ARE EVERYWHERE!
And 2011 Blu-ray for the win.
The Blu Ray has the most vivid colors but at the same time it seems the overall gamma is lower?!
Surprised at no-lost freshness of the 1977's.
I never realized how far off the colours are on the bluray release are. Thanks
I like the 2011 blu ray the best, it has the best picture.
When those four text crawls veered off in four slightly different directions, I got a little queasy!
Thumbs up for the silver screen edition. compresses but clear. I like.
4K77 is cropped on all 4 sides compared to other versions.
not sure, but i think (a guess) it had to do with stabilizing shakiness - there's a Vimeo series by the 4k77 editor where he talks about the shaky thing... though I didn't hear him speak about cropping - so I'm wondering if the assumption might work? Good eye though... And check out those vimeo vids of him working through the restoration - they are simply incredible
EDIT: It's been brought to my attention Mike Verta didn't work on this project. my bad. His videos are still valuable for insights into similar restoration work.
Yeah would be nice with a 4k77 that wasn't cropped this badly. Would also improve on the resolution.
It's actually not cropped at all, and has more image info on the left side than any retail version. This random youtube video comparing versions doesn't actually represent the quality of the 4K77 release.
@@foeof I wouldn't say it's a "random TH-cam video" since it's embedded and linked right from the Project 4k77 web page
@Der Hof 2007 Well they're not a Frankenstein creation, so that's good enough for me.
*_Visible tears of joy_*
Original - seems more real.
Newer - seems more 'movie'.
First, we saw R2-D2 and C-3PO seemingly walk through the shootout between the Rebels and the Stormtroopers. But, just as they exit the scene, there's an unexplainable explosion. So...how did they manage to survive the explosion (as they are seen alive moments later)? When I first watched this scene, I thought they were destroyed in the explosion, which would have verified C-3PO's comment about being destroyed for sure.
The 2011 Blu-Ray Has The Best Quality of Them All!
By very far!
you are a fool
a FOOL
Blu Ray unfortunately still looks the best overall to my mind. Yes, it is too blue instead of white, the whole movie is colder on BR. Yes, it has a magenta tint that makes leïa's cheeks a bit too pink and everybody's faces too dark and don't start me with the smoke in that scene. The theatrical version is warmer, and warmer suits the movie better.
BUT, I have to admit that space is darker (real black) and stars can be really seen, they also are more details so that you can see elements in the background on BR that you cannot really see on other versions, making ships more beautiful in the BR. BR has a more "balanced" brightness throughout the movie.
4K77 has the upper hand with resolution, but it loses when it comes to color accuracy (too much green, yellow or red depending on the scenes,, at 2:45 = too orange, at 8:24 = white, while they are on the same location), brightness and contrast.
BR is great when upscaled from good TV/sources, colors aren't perfect and I will deal with it. But it still was nice to see the 4K77 for a change.
the problem with the blu ray version is that it is based on the SE version...many fans, myself included, want a high def original Star Wars version for blu ray and 4k blu ray...
@Pierre Terrien Except for the fact that the color timing off 4K77 was fully restored from a theatrical print!!!!! The pinkish magenta skin tones and cold colors off the Blu is not at all what a film of the 70s looks like. Plus it scrubs grain which kills detail and sharpens the hell out of the image which flattens the detail and has a horrific revisionist color grade that you would only see in a 2000s film. No offense but your comment of "loses when it comes to color accuracy" is just a excuse to double down on your preference for the revisionist Blu Ray.
@@davepastern well it was not based on the 1997 it was based on the 2004 dvd film print
@@samuel-wankenobi and the 2004 dvd film print was based on the '97 special editions...so, your point is?
@@davepastern well the 97 print was based on the original but the 97 release has been forgotten
this looks incredible. if you can do this to both gremlins movies you would make me the happiest guy alive.
I'm split between GOUT and 4K77. I think they're warmer and more suited to the original feel I remember as a kick. That original death star scene used to feel like it went on forever. 🖤
Colour gradation is really depending on the scene.
One time it's 2011 BD, then next scene it's 4K77....
@Jimmy S No, The Despecialized is based off of the Blu Ray which scrubbed most of the grain/detail and made everybody look like wax models. 4K77 has actual original color based on original 35MM prints, with gorgeous lush color and grain that is nowhere to be found anywhere else. I think you're too used to many older movies getting over processed on home video, so you would never know or understand how movies like Star Wars or even other movies of that time in general are supposed to look.
Am I the only one that notices that the 4K77 has a cropped image? The bottom particularly is slightly cropped (look at the shot of the planet @ 2:09 or the shot of R2 @ 3:11).
The biggest difference with the Blu-ray are the light levels. Whenever a color approaches white in the original, it smoothly gets whiter. In the Blu-ray, the colors change hue and saturation as it approaches white. There's a lot more white "detail," but the images looks sickly as a result.
I actually don't mind the color grade on the Blu-ray I think it adds some much needed contrast, but WHY did the make the lasers SO. SATURATED.
I've noticed that there are a lot of shots in 4K77 where the color grading seems rather inconsistent. Perhaps the color grading from the film print they used didn't hold up as well as they thought.
A lot of green push in the 4K77 variant. FWIW, my monitor here is calibrated. But the cleanup work is pretty good.
Sem Skywalker do you think that color inconsistency may have come through aging of the prints?
Older films are generally less consistent to the modern eye because the grading tools were pretty basic compared to today. Much of the inconsistency was likely in the print even when it was new. It has been speculated on the forum that some of the inconsistency as well as the green shift is due to the fact that Star Wars was among the last prints made at the Technicolor plant in England. The facility closed later that same year in 1978. Quality control had probably gone out the window by then. Some of the colour shift may have been introduced during the scanning process. Either way the colourist for 4K77 actually toned down the green considerably from the raw scan.
Look up MIKE VERTA on Vimeo to find the 4k77 editor discuss the remastering process... according to him, all the original prints have these "yellow globs" especially in all the Tatooine sequences (actually it wasn't clear to me if he was saying ESPECIALLY in the Tattooine sequences or EXCLUSIVELY in the Tatooine moments) - so I'm wondering if the task of getting rid of all the yellow (which he explains doing and his rationale) impacts the greens of this version? In any event, if I'm wrong here, his editing videos are just so incredible.
EDIT: been brought to my attention Mike Verta didn't work on this project. my bad. His videos are still valuable for insights into similar restoration work.
Mike Verta's restoration would have been better although he was missing scans because he knew how to do a quality job resolving thing that many wouldn't know how.
The sad part is rumor has it that Verta has had an ultimatum from Skywalker Ranch and had to cease his restoration.
Blu ray version looks the best to me.
C-three-pio has a silver lower leg through episodes 4-5-6. Never noticed that before. been 43 years and countless viewings.
To be honest, Silver Screen Edition looks less green and has less black crush...
While Silver Screen has bad red push, significantly less detail, and is artificially sharpened. You complain about the so called green as much as you want, but that's what was on the original Technicolor prints. How a film was originally presented is far more historically important than a joe schmo's preference.
I'm liking 3 of these, obviously the Blu-ray version is the most crisp, but some of the colour tinting looks weird, the 2006 does have a good colour appearance to it for the most part and the 4K77 keeping the original movie presentation is awesome, as I am not a fan of the bad CGI that was inserted, however I do think a lot of colour correction could be implemented, keep the colour consistent and would make the version look better in the long run.
The magenta tint on the BR is really ridiculous once you start paying attention to it.
I was there. loved it, I still have the pin
I have to say, the color on the GOUT is best and closest to how I remember it. If you look at the grays they are always nuetral gray. In other words, if you were to click the nuetral eydropper in photoshop levels and click on a gray spot in a GOUT frame, there would be very little change. However, in the 4K77, I see the grays wandering from redish (3:48 in this clip) to greenish (5:13) while the greys are staying nuetral the whole time in GOUT. I think nuetralizing the grays is key to getting the color right. Clicking the grey eyedropper tool on a nuetral area is one of the best ways to color correct stills any way. I think it should be used to color correct the 4k77 version. As an aside, I distinclty remebering the gray color in 1977. I even asked my father about what color paint to use for the make-believe Millenium Falcon cockpit I built on our veranda! He called it "gun-metal" grey. Point being, I was always fascinated by the greys in the movie. I later realized that it is the "neutral" tone of the greys that is what is so distinctive to me. This is still clear in the GOUT version. Having said that, I think the 4K77 is much closer than the SSE and I am eternally grateful for this immense work of art you have brought us.
Alien Productions An expert on gray.
@@reuvengershon6625 The point is, if the grey is not neutral when it is meant to be, ALL the colors will take on the hue that can be seen in the grey. That is why you use the neutral eyedropper in photoshop to color correct photos. All you have to do is get the neutrals (greys) neutral and all the other colors fall into place. Very simple really.
@@alienproductions9948 One of the reason the GOUT is more neutral i think is that it is washed out. So the scene to scene slight pink/yellow tint is almost invisible.
@@kikooe I agree the GOUT look is less saturated, but that's true to the technology of the time. I don't agree its washed out. The bonus DVD has excellent detail in the shadows, which is considered high quality photography. Look at the top left quad of the opening titles (20th Century Fox card) and you'll see detail in the dark, center of the base that is completely missing in the other 2 versions that use the same graphic. Yet there is complete blackness inside the "C" and the "0," indicating there is a full range of tone (pure black and pure white). Less saturation would take some of the tint out of the greys, but I still think there are inconsistencies with the color grading from scene to scene in all other versions. As much as I adore the 4k77 version, I still think the color grading should be taken from the GOUT version. That way you get the detail of the 4k transfer and the consistency and originality of the GOUT.
@@kikooe Take a look at 3:20 and you'll see the Star Destroyer is way too blue in 4K77 compared to GOUT. That's beyond just a little desaturation. Other scenes it swings around from too red to too yellow. I understand what an immense task restoring the old Eastman archival reels are. But I think a simple (not necessarily easy) way to get consistency is to color-match to the GOUT version.
Proud to say that I was one of the kids who saw Star Wars upon its first UK release - OK, couldn't get in to see it in December 1977, so it was early '78. Never went for all this 'Chapter IV' shit. The film was called Star Wars. That's it for me.
I had a friend back at high school who positively objected to any notion of a sequel and when it was released, I could hear the nashing of his teeth. When Jedi was released he refused even see that, too. So you are not alone in that.
I didn't see the 1977 version until I purchased the Gold DVD with bonus movie disc.
The only versions I have known were the 1980 ones with the new subtle of A New Hope. I'm betting that most so-called fans never saw the original version for 30 years and never complained about the changes Lucas did to the films until the release of the Special Editions. Further more I almost certain that they wouldn't have minded the Special Editions if the Computer Graphics were introduced slowly and if Han never stepped on Jabba's tail.
The Blu Ray has the best color.
Skin tones are so much better and the general white of the troopers etc.. Really like the extra sharpness from the blu-ray on the ships though!
I feel like in some areas if color correction was gone through with the 4k77 version it would be the absolute best version of Star Wars.
discorobotification there is a color corrected version that looks much better
@discocrobotfication Ummmm wrong, 4K77 went through color correction to restore and stabilize the color back to its original condition and is very accurate to original Technicolor prints. It is the only way people should watch Star Wars PERIOD if you want something as accurate as the original 1977 theatrical release.
Hold your fire? Because a few laser bolts are so much more expensive than dispatching ships, large search teams, and a very large space station and the million plus crew on board.
Outstanding work.
Blu-Ray has best quality and more natural colors.
Interesting, I switch back and forth between which version I like....each appeals at some point.
What happened to "Episode IV A New Hope" in the 1977 version? I remember seeing that in theaters and thinking "that's weird"? We all talked about it as kids.
They first added "Episode IV A New Hope" to the opening crawl in the 1981 theatrical re-release. As for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, they always said Episode V and Episode VI.
Weird that the 2006 GOUT version has the Star Wars logo fade into black sooner than the theatrical versions... Is that just an artifact of it being sourced from laserdisc or something else?
Love the 4K77 version
i like the original best. Never noticed 3po having a silver right leg until many years later though;)
Overall, while the Bluray isn't perfect. It still takes the cake for me. It brings out all the details in certain scenes that are completely washed out in the others. Yes the CGI creatures suck BUT that aside the Bluray is better than the others enough for me to to look past that. I grew up in the 90s and used to bingewatch my VHS original trilogy, so I have an appreciation for "the way it should be". Just that on modern 4K OLED TVs, Bluray is best. The originals are ideal for the playback mediums of their era. 4:3 CRT TVs, VCRs and LaserDisks. I used to think the VHS looked AMAZING on my Panasonic TV/VCR Combo unit back in the day, cause it did.
Look at how washout out those panels in the background of 4k77 are at 3:17
@croebot I guess you have never ever seen older movies projected on 35MM in theaters have you?
4k 77 has crushed highlights and is miles too green, as others have observed. The whites on the corridors are very bad looking. The best colour is on the GOUT, it just requires a tiny bit of desaturation, and a minor contrast boost, but it did come from a much younger print.They should try to match their 4k print to that.
agreed
Awesome