Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Revisited)

[Axel]

There's this guy named Adrian Sayce, or "Adywan" as he is called, who was allegedly unsatisfied with the Star Wars special editions, prequels, and the Blu-Rays, and decided he would redo it on his own.

He released his own version of A New Hope, and I must say it was fantastic. Color correction, modified special effects, a new sound mix, a few new shots, getting rid of the childish humor that wasn't in the film originally (i.e. Jawas on Rontos), and some recutting to make the film flow better. However, there were some bad things about it, and he has admitted this himself, and he has pledged to re-do his already fantastic edit in HD and to fix the few errors he made (including some color correction issues).

So anyway, he started working on The Empire Strikes Back a few years ago (2008). It was supposed to be released on 2010. Then it was supposed to be released in Christmas of 2011. Then his trailers just changed to "Coming Soon". Anyway, his release has been put back a bit, with power surges, having to film new footage, redoing special effects shots, and so on. Altogether, though, his work so far is fantastic and almost done on this film (he hasn't touched the audio yet, so all audio in the three clips I will show is temporary, except perhaps for the new (old) Boba Fett voice).

Anyway, I'm excited for these (he plans on doing all 6 films). He really knows what he's doing - it still feels like Star Wars when I watch and most changes are quite subtle.

Here are three comparison videos.

http://vimeo.com/42267082 - Imperial Fleet Approaching Hoth, Ion Cannon Firing

http://vimeo.com/45439199 - Luke Meeting Vader, Attempt to Rescue Han from Boba

http://vimeo.com/35673497 - Luke and Yoda on Dagobah, City in the Clouds

Note that not every shot is complete special effects-wise.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/swrevisited

WordPress: http://swrevisited.wordpress.com/

I just thought I'd share it here if anyone likes it.

[Antillies]

The only substantial and consistent changes I can see are that he tends to remove reds and blues and make the image more "white," or neutral, looking. As I hold the original cuts (especially of ESB) as sacred, I can't help but feel that he's removing part of the environmental aesthetic. Take the sequence of Leia addressing Rogue group. The image in actuality would be tinted blue because the light that is falling on the pilots is largely reflected off of the ice walls but he's removed that and it looks odd. The same goes for the Falcon as it is moving through the clouds - the hull of the ship should be tinted orange. Making it appear its true gray color as it would look under white light is frankly wrong.

I would also say that his re-rotoscopping of the sabres is incorrect. They are too crisp. Lightsabers (by their namesake) give off quite a bit of light and the atmosphere within the carbon freezing chamber is quite littered with dust/steam/smoke. The light we as the camera would see should be diminished because of this, as it is in the original edit.

The most major change I can see is how he saps the green out of the images on Dagobah. Why? It's a swamp. There's life and growth. Making it more blue (so much so that the vegetation appears brown and rotten) serves no purpose and drastically alters the environment. I'd be interested to see his reasoning behind the move as I honestly don't see any proper motivation for it.

Also, why'd he mess with the viewscreen? That sequence with Veers/Vader/Piett/Ozzle is one of my favorite and the "turning on" of the screen was perfect as it was. He did not need to add the screen embellishments - the viewscren is not a HUD. If Vader wanted to pull up a tactical display, he would do so. The sole purpose of the viewscreen is for seeing others, not looking up information.

I must compliment him though on removing the blue screen haze with the shots featuring Boba aboard the Slave I. That shot does look remarkably cleaner.

To be honest, I don't know if I like or dislike the sequence of the rebel transport fleeing Hoth. On the one hand, changing the color of the ion bolt to blue does bring it in line with the established norm for weapon colors (although, it's been determined that the color, generally, is arbitrary and not a specific byproduct of the functioning of weapons). On the other, with consideration of the context, the rebels may have intentionally colored the ion bolt red. It does make sense that the Star Destroyer would attempt to prevent them from escaping by firing at the incoming ships but that opens up the obvious flaw that damn, those gunners are horrible shots. Ironically, the smaller and faster ship (the X-Wing, presumably with full shields), which should be the most difficult to hit, is destroyed while the slower Gallofree is not even damaged by a single shot. In addition, it would be interesting to see whether the Star Destroyer was actually in range in order to fire on the incoming ships. Judging by the way the communication officer distinctly pauses and waits a specific amount of time before ordering the cannon to fire, it would seem evident that General Rieekan had his staff determine the exact moment to fire so that the ion bolts would reach the Star Destroyer and disable it before it could open fire on the transport+escorts. We know the X-Wings based on Hoth were specifically detailed for escort duty (and not an air support role versus infantry and armor on the ground) because the primary threat to the transports were TIEs, not the Star Destroyers themselves.

Those are my thoughts.

[Axel]

That response is more detailed and thought out than anything I expected from anyone on this. Good job. Though the Falcon does not look grey in the Bespin scene, as far as I can tell. It looks orange-ish to me. There is one particular shot I think you are referring to - it is not a finished shot - that causes the Falcon to appear out-of-place, lighting and color-wise. He only seems to have changed the background there; also, a good place to comment is on the Facebook page, because he will read criticisms and adjust when necessary .

Somebody was talking about how Vader's lightsaber looks orange-ish in one shot and a bit more red-violet in another.

And the Dagobah scenes were turned much greener by the Blu-Rays, were far too blue in the Special Editions, and so, compared to the Blu-Rays, Revisited Dagobah looks blueish, and compared to the Special Editions, Revisited Dagobah looks far more natural and less blue. I'm fine with it - the lighting is dim and it's coming from above - if it were brighter, I'd suggest more green. But I'm no expert on the matter; my art is mainly black and white.

Still, I'd suggest telling him. I totally agree on the lightsaber thing, but I don't like the Blu-Ray colors either.

[Antillies]

Though the Falcon does not look grey in the Bespin scene, as far as I can tell. It looks orange-ish to me. There is one particular shot I think you are referring to - it is not a finished shot - that causes the Falcon to appear out-of-place, lighting and color-wise.

I was referring to this one:

There might be a slight tint but it's still too gray.

[Axel]

That's what I meant. I'm pretty sure it's not a finished shot.