Star Wars Original Trilogy (Unaltered)

[Lunkenstein]

There are so many versions and releases of the original 3 films.  I'd like to get them either on blu-ray or dvd, but I want the original theatrical releases before George Lucas altered them.  Can anyone recommend which set to get?
Thanks in advance.

[Mike Scott]

As far as I know, the only place you can get them is in the 2004 (I believe 1st) DVD releases that have the new versions in 16:9 and the originals in 4:3 Letterboxed. Says "Widescreen Limited Edition" at top on the front.

[Lunkenstein]

Thanks Mike.

[Mike Scott]

They look pretty bad, compared to BD of newer, or remastered movies.

[Lunkenstein]

Understood. I still want to see them as they were though.  I did the same thing with Star Trek TOS. Bought the 2004 sets over the revised versions. I'm a stickler for the originals. I was very happy though to get the War of the Worlds blu-ray with the wires digitally erased. I never used to see them until the original dvd changed that. I saw the film twice in the theater and countless times on tv and they weren't visible.

[MonsterBaker666]

I HATE the "Special Edition" versions of the original trilogy, which have even been modified and changed and added to since then ("Maklunkey!").  And the bluray has a weird magenta tint to it (at least the first film)

I downloaded the Despecialized versions, and they bring back those happy memories of seeing the films in the theaters way back when.  SO much better.

[Mike Scott]

I downloaded the Despecialized versions

How did they do those? Can you just edit out the new stuff and be left with the movie as it was in 1977?

[MonsterBaker666]

How did they do those? Can you just edit out the new stuff and be left with the movie as it was in 1977?

Well, in a nutshell, they took the blurays and made adjustments to them (color correcting, etc), then they went with other sources to put back the parts that were changed (audio, scenes deleted, trimmed scenes, etc).  Some were from previous DVD releases, some from 35mm prints, etc. 

Here's a video explaining it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGrXO2RDzLg

[Mike Scott]

A lot more work put into it than I imagined!

[MonsterBaker666]

Yep.  And all because George Lucas won't release the original versions. 
Very strange because he's funded film restorations like Mystery of the Wax Museum and Doctor X.

[Mike Scott]

Very strange because he's funded film restorations like Mystery of the Wax Museum and Doctor X.

Phyician, heal thyself.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

There's also Project 4K 77 and Project 4K 83. In essence those are preservations, by fans, of original theatrical prints of the movies, in complete movie theater quality. Those are huge digital files though, as they're literally meant to preserve the movies so that they can be shown in theaters for future generations.

[Lunkenstein]

Wow. Thanks everyone for the info. I have the original trilogy on VHS, but only had The Empire Strikes Back on DVD. It's the limited edition which has both the original and revised versions. I found the other 2 films released the same way and ordered them off Ebay the other night.  One of my sons told me about the fan made restorations, but we never got around to finding them. For now, I'll be happy to at least have them on DVD.

[MonsterBaker666]

I have the Project 4K 77 version as well as the despecialized version.  Because the despecialized version used the bluray as the main source, it looks a lot sharper and has more detail in it. 

And, yes, it does take a looooooong time to download these videos. 

It's really odd that Disney, which now owns Lucasfilm and essentially calls the shots there, hasn't just given into the fans and released the original version.  Yes, they'd likely have to do restoration on the film elements, but still...the fans would buy it. 

[Anton Phibes]

Where does one find such links to download said items?