Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (4K+2D Blu-ray SteelBook) (Zavvi Exclusive) [UK]

[Noodles]

Release date: August 3, 2020
Purchase link: Zavvi (Pre-order on May 21, around 9 AM for Red Carpet , at 12 PM general sale - UK time)
Price: £29.99
Note: 3 discs

Spoiler

 

[Stygian]

For all the people who think the originals will ever be released I just want you to know that the Earth is round, not flat, man did walk on the moon and Elvis is dead.

 

[GeoRattray]

For all the people who think the originals will ever be released I just want you to know that the Earth is round, not flat, man did walk on the moon and Elvis is dead.

Most of that should have been in a spoiler tag...

Spoiler

Really, the Earth is round...thought I heard it all

Yes, we'll never get the original cut's of any of these. Period.

 

[Stygian]

Most of that should have been in a spoiler tag...

Spoiler

Really, the Earth is round...thought I heard it all

Yes, we'll never get the original cut's of any of these. Period.

I keep meaning to ask, how do you create a spoiler tag?

 

[Stygian]

I keep meaning to ask, how do you create a spoiler tag?

I found it. I guess I just had to look lol.

 

[BDDB]

SE edition of Empire is better than the original anyway

 

[ChrisIW]

SE edition of Empire is better than the original anyway

Yeah I don't have a big issue with the SE versions, it's was the blu ray changes that made me think NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[FN-2187]

There is literally 0 chance that Disney of all companies would pay that much money for Star Wars and allow anyone, even Lucas, to dictate what they can and can't release. He is irrelevant.

The negatives being gone is a fair point, however there are still reels of the originals in existence that Disney could use as a base.

Yeah- Disney would’ve 100%, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, STILL have bought the franchise even without the ability to redistribute the original trilogy. And with Lucas being so adamant about “HIS VISION” of the original trilogy, I guarantee that that was a condition on

You only need to look at the many currently available 'despecialized' or 35mm 4K scans of the OT to know it is definitely possible for Disney to release high-quality unaltered versions. Given how little effort went into the 4K versions of TPM and Ep4-6 I don't think they ever will though. They'll concentrate on Disney+ rather than physical media for the forseeable future

Yup. Harmy’s despecialized is the way to go. But even that’s not technically correct. No known 60mm or 35mm of the original film exists in its entirety. There are sections of the films that illegally exist in private collections, but even the Despecialized edition’s main source of transfer is the 2012 Blu-Ray release of the film. And the original prints have probably deteriorated to the point where just upscaling them isn’t an issue. This is why the Film Registry should have received a copy to to preserve in perpetuity, but if Lucasfilm was stout on NOT preserving his work even before the special editions were made- I doubt an actual original restoration is possible.

lol. of course they would. Star wars is one of the most valuable IPs in history. If lucas said he'd sell only on the condition they never release the unedited movies or edit his work. Do you really think disney would walk away and miss out on billions over that ?

it's also not uncommon in these kinds of deals for there to be certain conditions/guarantees that are put into the purchasing contract. Especially because the creators often want to ensure the integrity of their creation remains intact.
You're also severely underestimating how much lucas despises the original cuts of the films. Lucas' views on these things are well documented I'd say there's zero chance he'd have sold star wars to any company who wouldn't agree to not alter his vision for the 6 movies. It's a very very george lucas thing to do.

& most telling of all, in the build up to rise of skywalker J.J publicly stated he tried to get the original cuts rereleased & he said this "But I’ve been told that, for reasons I don’t quite understand, that that’s not necessarily possible. I guess it’s what George Lucas wanted, and that’s what he did, and so I respect that." think that quote says a lot.

^ This

SE edition of Empire is better than the original anyway

I think Empire is the least affected, and the aesthetic changes like windows and exteriors being added to cloud city were a nice touch.

But Luke’s Suicide scream doesn’t make any sense to me, and I think that that scream hilariously detracts from the somber and soul-crushing decision to take his own life rather than join Vader.

That and the altered Dialogue between the Emperor and Vader really make the battle of Hoth make less sense. In the original Version, Vader is already AWARE that it was Luke Skywalker that destroyed the Death Star, and thus, his vendetta to find Luke- coming down to Hoth personally, killing any Imperial Officer that gets in his way... nothing is going to stop him from getting to his son. BUT IN THE SPECIAL EDITION, it’s Palpatine that reveals to Vader that it’s Luke Skywalker that he’s looking for, and that Anakin’s son survived.... so it really detracts from the subtext to Vader’s actions in the film.

 

[burtbird]

Harmy’s despecialized is the way to go. But even that’s not technically correct. No known 60mm or 35mm of the original film exists in its entirety. There are sections of the films that illegally exist in private collections, but even the Despecialized edition’s main source of transfer is the 2012 Blu-Ray release of the film. And the original prints have probably deteriorated to the point where just upscaling them isn’t an issue.

Project 4K77 is now my preferred version - 97% of project 4K77 is from a single, original 1977 35mm Technicolor release print, scanned at full 4K, cleaned at 4K, and rendered at 4K - there's also a RotJ 4K scan (4K83) but no Empire scan as yet... thankfully Empire the least butchered of the OT Special Editions

 

[Lollard2002]

Now you know why I enjoy my CAV laserdiscs from 1995 so much

 

[a_o]

Project 4K77 is now my preferred version - 97% of project 4K77 is from a single, original 1977 35mm Technicolor release print, scanned at full 4K, cleaned at 4K, and rendered at 4K - there's also a RotJ 4K scan (4K83) but no Empire scan as yet... thankfully Empire the least butchered of the OT Special Editions

They're working on Empire now. The first reel is done.

 

[BDDB]

But Luke’s Suicide scream doesn’t make any sense to me, and I think that that scream hilariously detracts from the somber and soul-crushing decision to take his own life rather than join Vader.

That and the altered Dialogue between the Emperor and Vader really make the battle of Hoth make less sense. In the original Version, Vader is already AWARE that it was Luke Skywalker that destroyed the Death Star, and thus, his vendetta to find Luke- coming down to Hoth personally, killing any Imperial Officer that gets in his way... nothing is going to stop him from getting to his son. BUT IN THE SPECIAL EDITION, it’s Palpatine that reveals to Vader that it’s Luke Skywalker that he’s looking for, and that Anakin’s son survived.... so it really detracts from the subtext to Vader’s actions in the film.

I don’t even notice that scream.

Your comment about Vader is totally subjective, personally I interpret it as Vader did know and was playing stupid to the Emperor.
Besides, that scene is a vast improvement over the original, it needed the continuity.

If they ever release the OT sans SE changes it would have to included touch ups to the effects and sound or it would look like a pile of

I do think it will ever happen as they would have to release at least 2 versions just appease all the Holy Trilogy nutcases out there.

1. Enhanced Special Effects and Sound
2. Nothing at all besides cleaned up picture and sound.

Anyone crying out for truly untouched yet cleaned up scan will be ultimately disappointed, though they would never admit it.

 

[Doctor]

The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been waiting for an original Version of Star Wars for 31 years.

The official stance of Lucasfilm Ltd. and not Disney nor George Lucas himself, is that all negatives of the original trilogy were destroyed in the process of creating the 1997 Special Editions.

Optic wise- I doubt the company will want to admit fault to, should they again publicly acknowledge the destruction of the original trilogy. It’s not something they would want to reveal- HAD they been lying about the current state of the original films. Nor would they want to further disrespect the wishes of George Lucas in that the final versions of the original unaltered trilogy be re-released as he has stated before that those are not “his true versions” of those particular films. Would you even doubt, with a fraction of a percentage that there isn’t a contractual clause in that $4.4 billion contract that covers the re-release of the thing that George has so intently been keen on NOT doing? Going as far to say that people who still have VHS editions of the original film will have deteriorated their VHS copies to the point where they will have no other option to watch HIS version of Star Wars the way he intended it?

All I’m saying is- if the United States government cannot get STAR WARS, then I will sincerely doubt that we will. If ANYTHING, maybe after George’s lifetime.

I have the Limited Edition DVD releases from a few years back, replacing my old VHS copies...

 

[steelmybeatingheart]

I keep meaning to ask, how do you create a spoiler tag?

you just need to put the word spoiler in square brackets before your text or images, and then a forward slash and the word spoiler in square brackets afterwards e.g. [/spoiler].

i did actually type that out properly to start, rather than spelling it out as i do above, but of course it put it in a spoiler tag!

 

[gAnX]

Project 4K77 is now my preferred version - 97% of project 4K77 is from a single, original 1977 35mm Technicolor release print, scanned at full 4K, cleaned at 4K, and rendered at 4K - there's also a RotJ 4K scan (4K83) but no Empire scan as yet... thankfully Empire the least butchered of the OT Special Editions

Will be another year at least imo for Empire but so worth the wait. I watch all my movies/series through plexplus anyways and most of my steelbook are still in their shrink wraps. The people behing TN1 have dedicated so much time and effort into that trilogy for no personal gain, its admirable.
I have multiple versions of 4K77 and 4K83 on my pc, not sure which is the 'best/perfect' copy to keep on my server. I only started downloading the TN1 project films for my father, he isnt very tech savvy and wanted to see the original theatrical version that he experianced as teenager

 

[virkia]

Looks like 4 possible choices for the steelbook front art:-

(1) Roger Kastell's 1980 poster in somewhat similar design to Tom Jung's 1967 re-release poster for 'Gone with the Wind':-
(Tom Jung - the artist responsible for the original 1977 STAR WARS poster):-

(2) Tom Jung's 1980 poster quickly released to replace ^ after a complaint from Billy Dee Williams that he as the sole African-American actor in the cast playing Baron Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III ...
(an Armenian sounding surname if ever I heard one made even more so as 'Baron' translates from Armenian to English as 'Mister/Mr.')
... was missing from the design.
The focus of the design - giant Darth Vader - was specified by Lucasfilm.

(3) Tom Jung's 1980 poster

(4)1980

The advance poster - the only teaser poster for ‘Empire Strikes Back’ - that was sent to cinemas at Christmas 1979.

Spoiler

 

[DMD4k]

I’ll be happy with option 1)

 

[BluSteel2012]

I’ll be happy with option 1)

Seeing as they've gone with the rear art used on the original steelbook for A New Hope, they'll probably do that again for Empire.

So you're probably right as that's what was used on the rear of the original Empire steelbook (only they changed the hue of it to green for some strange reason)

 

[GeoRattray]

I’ll be happy with option 1)

...but Billy Dee Williams won't be happy they left him off.

 

[FN-2187]

I don’t even notice that scream.

Your comment about Vader is totally subjective, personally I interpret it as Vader did know and was playing stupid to the Emperor.
Besides, that scene is a vast improvement over the original, it needed the continuity.

If they ever release the OT sans SE changes it would have to included touch ups to the effects and sound or it would look like a pile of

I do think it will ever happen as they would have to release at least 2 versions just appease all the Holy Trilogy nutcases out there.

1. Enhanced Special Effects and Sound
2. Nothing at all besides cleaned up picture and sound.

Anyone crying out for truly untouched yet cleaned up scan will be ultimately disappointed, though they would never admit it.

Different strokes for different folks.
I think it adds intention to Vader’s actions in the original film. I don’t know why Vader would be this intent on handling things personally if he didn’t already know it was Luke Skywalker in the special editions.

 

[Flloydo]

Seeing as they've gone with the rear art used on the original steelbook for A New Hope, they'll probably do that again for Empire.

So you're probably right as that's what was used on the rear of the original Empire steelbook (only they changed the hue of it to green for some strange reason)

I don’t understand why they changed that. I much prefer the purple. Still looks good on the old one but I hope with this one they stick to purple-ish