Star Wars! pt. two

Now, here's where the bottom falls out. Did you realize there were originally three different sound mixes for Star Wars when it came out in 1977? One was mono, one was dolby stereo, and one was six channel (70mm version). Did you know the '77 mono version has a different actress voicing Aunt Beru (pitched lower) than the versions commonly available on video through the years, and that neither voice belongs to the actress who portrayed Aunt Beru? Did you know that "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was not part of the title crawl in 1977, and was not added until the 1981 re-release? Do you even care?

Well, I do, I hate to say. I find it fascinating in the same way I find different cuts or versions of any film fascinating, but then there's the Star Wars geek in me to rachet it up another notch. Apparently, a lot of people agree with me. Dissatisfied with the twice-removed Star Wars DVDs Lucas has released, many people are making "archival preservations" of the original theatrical versions of the original trilogy. I've known about the cheap Hong Kong bootlegs for years, but this phenomenon of "archival preservation" is new to me (I've been into it for about a week). This involves more than just recording a VHS or Laserdisc to the DVD burner and calling it a day. This involves sophisticated capturing, comb filtering, editing, sound-picture sync, etc. It's way gonzo. Most of the people who do this have extensive DVD creation experience. Some are even professionals.

There have been three distinct versions of the first three Star Wars films (perhaps four for Star Wars): the original theatrical versions, the 1997 special editions, and the 2004 DVD versions. The 2004 DVDs closely track the 1997 versions, but have enough distinct differences to warrant a separate classification. For one thing, "Ghost Anakin" at the end of Return of the Jedi has been changed from the older Sebastian Shaw to the younger Hayden Christiansen. This seemingly arbitrary artistic choice has added much to the inconsistencies of how Jedis die in the films, inconsistencies which may or may not be resolved in Episode III. Why should Anakin be rewarded by the Force for years of killing Jedis and wreaking havoc with great hair and a perfect bone structure of his youth, while Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda have to spend eternity as creaky old people? Why did Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda disappear, while Darth Vader/Anakin and Qui-Gon Jinn's corporeal forms remained (only to be burned at the funeral pyre)? Did Qui-Gon do something to be undeserving of disppearing?

Other changes are just as arbitrary, if less controversial. They've changed the dragon scream Obi-Wan uses to scare away the sandpeople from a midrange croak to a high-frequency whistle. (Again, who cares? Well, I do, inasmuch as why go to the expense of changing a sound I'd known for all these years? The original sound is burned in my mind. This is what happens when you watch Star Wars a lot as a kid. My friend Wes and I both noticed that we could hear the isolated Star Wars scores and tell exactly where they were at which point in any of the movies. I'm sure I could undergo hypnosis and perfectly recite all three films). They've also gone in and digitally altered the forced perspective of the corridor right before the trash compactor scene to make it look more realistic. Geez, that was really distracting me all this time.

Other changes are restorative. Case in point: in the original theatrical cut of The Empire Strikes Back, after Luke's hand was cut off and he found out Vader was his father, he threw himself off the bridge to get away from Vader. Some said there was a sense of noblity, of self-sacrifice. In 1997, a long, drawn-out scream was added that annoyed people almost as much as Greedo shooting first. The 2004 DVD release removed it again. Speaking of Greedo, that scene has been tweaked too, with them now firing near-simultaneously.

Here are some websites that detail the changes between old and new. They are:

Star Wars: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=8&c=28
Empire: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?s=8&c=29&n=1&burl
ROTJ: http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?c=7867673&s=8

These rationale for these changes are at times odd and hard to track. Some of them, like the 2004's replacing of Boba Fett's voice with Jango Fett's (to indicate that Boba Fett is a clone) are a result of Lucas having to alter the original movies to tie up some loose threads and plot inconsistencies created by the prequels. Odds are that the next time the original films are re-released (either HD DVD or the rumored 3-D versions) there'll be more changes. And this is fine. I mean, they are Lucas's films, he can do what he wants with them. However, he'd be stupid not to take advantage of the market for the original theatrical versions, like Spielberg did with the DVD release of E.T., one disc for the 2002 version, and one for the original theatrical. I am interested in the original theatrical versions of Star Wars, not only because I grew up with those versions, but also because I disagree aesthetically with the Special Editions.

So, Lucas released the 2004 DVDs, and said that fans would have to find old copies of VHS tapes and laserdiscs to own the original versions. However, the DVD releases look far better than the old laserdiscs and VHS. So, many people online are trying to produce their own best possible versions of the original trilogy, some starting from the VHS or laserdiscs and improving the image, or starting from the DVDs and subtracting the Special Edition "improvements." As you can imagine, this is producing a melange of restoration efforts. One person's acceptable technological advance is another person's artistic sacrilege. I mean, I saw a 7-page thread on whether or not to leave the matte lines around the ships in the spacefight scenes.

In the course of my research on this fascinating phenomenon, I came across a few fan-produced DVDs.

1) Star Wars (The Mysterious Mysteries Edition) This DVD tried to reproduce the original theatrical experience of Star Wars, beginning with a computer re-created title crawl that does not feature the legend "Episode IV: A New Hope." (A glimpse of the original crawl was shown in the Empire of Dreams doc that came with the DVD set, but was not complete). The picture, grabbed from the Definitive Edition laserdisc set and tweaked, looks pretty good - not as rich as the official DVDs, but better than one would expect a grabbed copy to look. The DVD even includes special features - you can listen to the stereo mix, or an isolated John Williams score. There is also a gallery of Ralph McQuarrie's pre-production paintings, most done back when the movie was called The Star Wars, and Luke's last name was Starkiller.

2) Star Wars Rarities, Vol. One This is not a version of a movie, but, rather, a collection of related ephemera, including Siskel and Ebert's review of ROTJ, a collection of making-of-docs, Hardware Wars, and, most psychedlically, an episode of Donny and Marie featuring Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo, and a chorus line of Stormtroopers (!)

3) Empire Strike Back - Edit Droid collection Produced by the same folks who made the Mysterious Mysteries edition of Star Wars. Features an isolated score, and gallery.

4) The Star Wars Holiday Special - The Angrysun edition I was only two months old when this had its sole airing on CBS. My life was incomplete until I watched Bea Arthur dancing and singing in the cantina, fending off the advances of an alien Harvey Korman (who drinks through his head rather than his mouth). I'd purchased a version of this ultra-cheesy show, complete with the old TV commercials, two years ago, and have been trying to make it a holiday tradition since, much to the disgust of my sister Molly. This DVD removes the commercials, taking away most of the fun, but, as a special feature consolation prize, features over fifty Kenner Star Wars toy commercials, as well as the episode of the Muppet Show with Mark Hammil and C-3PO.

5) Deleted Magic By far my most favorite. A genius film editor has assembled an edit of Star Wars to illustrate its creative development. Original script dialogue flashes onscreen in subtitles, deleted scenes (like those with Biggs!) are edited back in, behind the scenes filming footage is woven in with the scene around it, and sequences are re-edited to follow how they appeared in script, or before reshoots. It's a very Godard-ian experience (for lack of a better term), as the film stops and another take, with unprocessed production audio, is done, only to have the film pick up again. There's even a little feature on the famous Wilhelm scream, showing how it's been used in all 3 Star Wars films (and the Holiday Special). I don't think I've done it justice. More info here. http://starwarz.com/deletedmagic/

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So, what would my ideal DVD set look like? (Yes, I've put thought into this. Hell, when I was 14, I put thought into what my own Star Wars toyline would look like. A Darth Vader figure with a removable helmet, for example - which Kenner/Hasbro actually did in the mid-to-late 90s). I'd want the original theatrical 1977 print with the option to hear the '77 mono, '77 Dolby Stereo, and '77 six-channel 70mm audio. I'd want all the deleted scenes/outtakes known to exist, with a good commentary track or two, perhaps a text-based "pop-up" trivia track. For more special features, I'd have a gallery of posters and production art, and a gallery of magazine covers, merch, etc. I'd like the contemporaneous Making of Star Wars to be on there, as well as any contemporary news stories, etc. on the Star Wars phenomenon. I'd also like to include, as an easter egg, the infamous Star Wars holiday special.

That is all. Man, I'm about geeked out.