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George Lucas always said no prints of the original Star Wars exist but BFI have a Technicolor print. Maybe one day it will be released on home media. https://youtu.be/1bsCliOges0?si=KrlQKF8iEnreRJQ5
We can only hope. I don't know exactly what the source print was, but that Cineavision full feature of Star Wars on super 8
, has that original scroll at the beginning as well
I think George Lucas should read A Thousand Cuts: It's full of stories of prints being spirited out of projection booths late at night so pirate negatives could be struck before first show the next day and secret private film vaults full of illegal prints. Hundreds of 35mm prints circulated worldwide are pretty hard to keep under lock and key and sooner or later some will have to escape into the wild.
Even more than most films, there's just no way that there aren't both pirated prints and original theatrical projection prints out there for a huge blockbuster like Star Wars. Somewhere along the line some print or other got "lost in shipping" or got swapped out when it was meant to be destroyed.
The incentives to get a little creative were just huge! (Generally speaking enough that some people actually risked going to jail.)
A couple of CineSeas ago, we had a presentation by a group that is continuously seeking better film elements of the original Star Wars so they can compile a faithful restoration: one way or another, where there's a will, there's a way.
I think this is something George comes out with every few years to please Disney.
Either that or he actually believes it. There are numerous original 35, 16 and super 8 full length original film versions out there in the universe. Also, Betamax, VHS video and bootleg DVDs.
Maybe he has forgotten after the remastered amended DVD versions were issued HE authorised limited editions LOL 😂 of the 1st three movies as a 2 DVD set. Remastered DVD version and original theatrical version DVD.
You could sit for hours and analyse both versions. The Limited edition probably 1 billion copies are all still available from Amazon eight years after being issued . Don't all rush at once.
Im also sure it has been included as an extra somewhere in the Blu Ray versions. Wouldn’t be surprised if the super 8 digest version is there as an extra on the set.
In terms of changes the only one I disagreed with was Hans Solo fire first cut killing of the bounty hunter scene . The rest he basically tidied up the CGi and improved the movie.
He could do us all a favour and reedit The Phantom Menace to take out Jar Jar Binks character.
Any way I am happy with my 2x400 super 8 digests both good colour and Empire on LPP stock , trailers plus limited edition DVDs and special super doper Blu rays. I actually bought the Solo Blu-ray for £2.00 new bless Disney for over producing.
George Lucas has officially confirmed there are no 9.5mm full length original theatrical prints of Star Wars out there. Until told otherwise.
Did it ever get released on Standard 8 in digest form.
Who wants to but Revenge of the Jedi super 8 trailer for £1 million pounds?
I have a suspicion it is on the extras on Blu Ray version as well.
The theatrical extra on the DVD. It’s almost like Lucas gave into fan pressure to put it there but then made it look as awful as possible. They said it was based on the laserdisc version, but even it looked better.
I’m pretty sure Lucas owns a Technicolor print too. For technical reference only you understand…
Anyway, source that 774K if you want to relive your childhood. Bet nothing can beat those original Technicolor prints though.
Some years ago we had a thread on here about how George Lucas had a case of never-projected Super-8 Star Wars prints in storage. Maybe this is part of his efforts to take the original out of circulation.
Then again, there was another thread about an eBay sale of a really faded 16mm original Star Wars that started out at something like $20 plus shipping and ended at a little under $4,000.
I suppose it's possible that George Himself ponied up the money and it's in his vaults today, right there on the next shelf, but even if that's the case, this thing didn't grow so huge from just one bidder, there was at least one other that either ran out of money, time or will power at well over $3,000.
(Just try explaining THAT to the wife! "Honey? -remember how we want to go to Hawaii this February? Wellllll.....")
I really hope whoever got the thing wanted it purely as a collectable: it didn't sound like it would be either satisfyingly to watch or good raw material for a restoration.
Back in 1980 I entered a competition in a Stars Wars magazine to win what I believed to be a super 8 cut down copy of star wars. Long story short, I won first prize. What came next was even more baffling to me as a twelve year old, the post van delivered a large heavy box containing six 35mm cans. This turned out to be a new 35mm foxhole print of star wars. I remember I felt very disappointed not being able to watch it, as I wanted the super 8 version.
This print lived in the bottom of my wardrobe for a number of years, until a collector offered me a sensible sum of money for it, well enough to buy a decent first car.
Even years later I could never get my head around why this was sent to me, surely someone must have realized there had been a mistake, but more so after years learning about film, why did this print even exist? as it was no use to man or beast, even back in 1980.
I guess it's one of those mysteries of life that has no answers.
Brian, I believe that's right. Although somehow the DVD looks even softer than the laserdisc. I suspect it is very compressed.
Steve, that sounds intriguing. What is a foxhole print?
Those boxes of Star Wars; Lucasfilm has boxes of the Ken releases in their archive. I reckon they just bought a whole box because it was easier and then locked them away like the ark of the covenant for posterity.
Slightly off topic, but this weekend I'll be running my 36 year old Derann print for the first time in 4 years, having given it a new Filmguard treatment.
Hi Rob,
Foxhole prints were originally designed by Kodak for Twenty Century Fox back in the 50s, for the release of CinemaScope. Hence the name Foxhole. The sprocket holes were reduced in width to allow for the four track magnetic soundtrack.
In order to project the prints, all of the sprockets on the projector were needed to be changed over to special ones that have narrow teeth.
It was possible to run a standard print on a foxhole machine but not the other way around. As this would rip all of the sprockets off of the print in a split second. Of course this also needed a four track magnetic soundhead.
All of this tech was well over with by the early 70s, with the advent of stereo optical sound.
So why this print was ever produced at that time, I will never know. As it doesn't make any sense.
Wow, Steve. fascinating. So a real rarity and the whole movie it sounds like. But at the same time a huge disappointment to 12 year old you. I bet it makes you chuckle now though that you owned this?
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