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Harmy's Despecialized Edition is a series of fan restorations of the first three films in the George Lucas-created Star Wars franchise: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, intended to reproduce their appearance as originally shown in cinemas. The edits were created by a team of Star Wars fans led by Petr 'Harmy' Harmáček, an English teacher from Plzeň, Czech Republic. The original Star Wars trilogy was released theatrically by 20th Century Fox for Lucasfilm between 1977 and 1983. Subsequent releases on home media, such as the 1997 'Special Edition' releases, introduced significant changes to the films, including additional scenes, altered sound-effects, and new computer-generated imagery – these changes were met with a generally poor response from critics and fans. As of 2019, the films are no longer commercially available in their original theatrical releases.
Harmáček felt that altering the films in this way constituted 'an act of cultural vandalism', and in 2010 was inspired to create his own series of fan edits that restored the theatrical releases in high definition. With no experience in professional film editing, he taught himself as he went, using programs such as Avisynth and Adobe After Effects. Taking the 1993 LaserDisc releases as a guide and a majority of source material from the 2011 Blu-ray releases, Harmáček and a team of eight other fans constructed the edits over many thousands of hours of work. In 2011, one year after the project had begun, the first version of Harmy's Despecialized Edition was published online. Updated versions have been created in the years that followed.
FAN EDIT REVIEW: The Star Wars Trilogy – Harmy’s Despecialized Editons December 11, 2017 April 17, 2018 / themoviemaestro Original Films Directed by George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, and Richard Marquand, Written by George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, and Lawrence Kasdan. Dec 14, 2015 - 10 of the worst changes to the Star Wars trilogy after their original theatrical release. He calls it the Despecialized Edition, and it's the version of Star Wars. Harmy doesn't offer the movie as a simple one-click download.
As a fan edit, Harmy's Despecialized Edition cannot be legally bought or sold, and is 'to be shared among legal owners of the officially available releases only'. Consequently, the films are only available via various BitTorrent trackers and through specialized rapid download programs using file sharing sites. Reaction to the project has been positive: Nathan Barry of Wired praised the films as 'an absolute joy to watch', while Gizmodo described them as 'very, very good'. Sean Hutchinson of Inverse placed Harmy's Despecialized Edition at number one on his list of the best Star Wars fan edits and called them 'the perfect pre-1997 way to experience the saga'.
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Background[edit]
Star Wars logo
The original Star Wars trilogy was a Lucasfilm production released theatrically by 20th Century Fox between 1977 and 1983, and was subsequently released on home media during the 1980s and 1990s. The films were distributed by CBS/Fox Video on several formats, such as VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc.[1] In 1997, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Star Wars, Lucas re-released new cuts of the trilogy to theaters, naming them the 'Special Editions'. The Special Editions made a number of changes to the original releases, including additions such as enhanced digital effects, previously unreleased scenes, and entirely new CGI sequences.[2]
Reaction to the new cuts was mixed, with commentators criticising unnecessary additions such as a computer-generated Jabba the Hutt in the first film and a new musical number in Return of the Jedi;[3] an alteration involving the bounty hunter Greedo shooting at Han Solo drew significant ire.[4] Further changes to the series were added to the 2004 DVD and the 2011 Blu-ray releases – these changes also drew criticism. The final release of the original cuts was in 2006, when unrestored masters used for the 1993 LaserDisc were added as a bonus feature to a limited run of DVDs – fans named this release 'George's Original Unaltered Trilogy' (GOUT).[5] In 2010, Lucas stated that bringing the original cuts to Blu-ray would be a 'very, very expensive' process;[6] as of 2017, the films are still only widely available in their altered versions.[7]
As a result of these changes, a group of fans met on various Internet forums to construct higher quality cuts as fan edits by using the available home media and blending the Special Edition DVDs with the LaserDisc transfers. One such edit for The Empire Strikes Back was created by Star Wars fan Adywan.[8]
Production[edit]
Conception[edit]
Petr Harmáček (known online by the alias 'Harmy') had watched a dubbed version of the original cut of Star Wars at the age of six, and had then seen the Special Editions of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on their 1997 release.[9] Although initially admiring them, he became disappointed when he learned how much the films had been changed retroactively; he argued that replacing the original effects with re-composited digital effects was 'an act of cultural vandalism'.[8] A fan of the original trilogy, he had written his undergraduate thesis on their cultural impact.[10] After seeing a trailer for Adywan's cut of The Empire Strikes Back, Harmáček was inspired to create a version of the film that 'undid' the post-1977 changes and restored the theatrical releases in high-definition.[11] He described his motivation as: 'I wanted to be able to show people who haven't seen Star Wars yet, like my little brother or my girlfriend, the original, Oscar-winning version, but I didn't want to have to show it to them in bad quality.'[8] Harmáček's edits were the first to recreate the theatrical releases in HD.[9]
Star Wars Despecialized Edition Download
Editing[edit]
'Look at this awesome film that was made in the '70s .. I want to show that to people. I wanted to show my brother. He was three when I started working and I showed it to him when he was five and he loved it.'
— Petr 'Harmy' Harmáček explaining his motivation for creating the Despecialized Edition[10]
Harmáček began creating his new cuts in 2010.[6] At the time, he was working as an English teacher in Plzeň, Czech Republic, and had no professional experience with film editing.[9] Instead, he taught himself as the project progressed, beginning with Photoshop skills that he had developed in college.[2][10] To remove the post-1977 changes, Harmáček was required to go through the film frame-by-frame, correcting colors and rotoscoping.[1][12] Undoing some shots took only an hour, while others took hundreds. Lightsabers were color-corrected, shots of the Millennium Falcon cockpit were cropped, Boba Fett's voice was changed, and CGI characters and backgrounds were removed.[2] Most of the source material used for Harmy's Despecialized Edition was taken from the 2011 Blu-ray release, while other sequences were upscaled from the 2006 GOUT DVDs.[13] To create the cuts, source material was taken from the 2011 Blu-ray releases, HDTV broadcasts of the 2004 DVDs, GOUT, digital broadcasts of the 1997 Special Edition, the 1993 LaserDiscs, digital transfers of a Spanish 35 mm Kodak LPP and 70 mm film cels, a 16 mm print, and still images of the original matte paintings. Harmáček edited these sources together using programs such as Avisynth and Adobe After Effects.[8]
To help, Harmáček was assisted by a group of similarly-minded fans from the website OriginalTrilogy.com,[5] whom he knew by their online aliases Dark Jedi, YouToo, Puggo, Team Negative 1, Belbucus, Hairy_Hen, CatBus and Laserschwert.[2] In total, the project took thousands of hours of work between them.[8] In 2011, one year after the project had begun, the first version of Harmy's Despecialized Edition was published online;[14] new and updated versions have been created regularly in the five years that followed.[4] As of February 2017, the most recent 'despecialized' versions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are v2.7, v2.0 and v2.5 respectively.[10] As a result of the project, Harmáček was able to quit his teaching job and in 2015 was hired by UltraFlix to prepare and restore a library of 4K-encoded films for sale and rent. He has since joined UPP, a Prague-based VFX house, as a 2D digital compositor and worked on such projects as Blade Runner 2049, Wonder Woman, and AMC's The Terror.[2][6]
Legality[edit]
The legality of downloading Harmy's Despecialized Edition is contentious.[1] As a fan edit, the cut cannot be legally bought or sold, and treads a line between fair use and copyright infringement.[15] OriginalTrilogy.com states that the edits are 'made for culturally historical and educational purposes' and that they are 'to be shared among legal owners of the officially available releases only'.[6] Consequently, the films are only available via various BitTorrent trackers and through specialized rapid download programs using file sharing sites.[3][16] Harmáček himself remarked: 'I'm convinced that 99% of people who download this already bought Star Wars 10 times over on DVD.'[10] As of November 2015, he has received no legal issues from Lucasfilm over the Despecialized Edition.[8]
![Star Star](/uploads/1/3/3/2/133280270/439588866.jpg)
Reception[edit]
Reaction to Harmy's Despecialized Edition has been universally positive. Writing for Inverse, Sean Hutchinson placed it at number one on his list of the best Star Wars fan edits, and described it as 'the perfect pre-1997 way to experience the saga'.[4] Whitson Gordon of Lifehacker called the edits 'the best version of Star Wars you can watch', and named them 'the version of Star Wars we've all been clamoring for the last 20 years'.[3] Similarly, Nathan Barry of Wired praised the films as 'an absolute joy to watch',[12] while Gizmodo described them as 'very, very good'.[14] In an article listing Ars Technica's favorite Star Wars items, Sam Machkovech selected Harmy's Despecialized Edition, calling it 'a treat'.[16]
References[edit]
- ^ abcGoldberg, Matt (December 14, 2015). 'Yes, an HD Version of the Unaltered 'Star Wars' Original Trilogy Lurks Online'. Collider. Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ abcdeMiller, Daniel (December 2015). 'Restoring Star Wars'. Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on December 14, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ abcGordon, Whitston (December 14, 2015). 'Watch the Original Star Wars Trilogy As It Was Before George Lucas Screwed It Up'. Lifehacker. Archived from the original on December 14, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
- ^ abcHutchinson, Sean (January 22, 2016). 'These Are the 5 Best 'Star Wars' Fan Edits'. San Francisco: Inverse. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ abSmith, Chris (December 15, 2015). 'How to watch the original Star Wars trilogy from before George Lucas altered it'. Boy Genius Report. Archived from the original on December 16, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
- ^ abcdBrew, Simon (May 20, 2015). 'Star Wars: Fan creates 'despecialized' original trilogy'. London: Den of Geek. Archived from the original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^Hutchinson, Lee (May 10, 2014). 'Could Disney finally give us the remastered, unedited Star Wars we want?'. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on May 11, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
- ^ abcdefHosie, Ewen (November 17, 2015). ''Star Wars: Despecialized Edition' Restores the Original, Unedited Trilogy'. Vice. New York City. ISSN1077-6788. OCLC30856250. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ abcJun, Dominik (November 8, 2014). 'The Czech guerilla restorationist battling to 'save Star Wars''. Prague: Radio Prague. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
- ^ abcdeEveleth, Rose (August 27, 2014). 'The Star Wars George Lucas Doesn't Want You To See'. The Atlantic. Washington, D.C.: Atlantic. ISSN1072-7825. OCLC783915762. Archived from the original on August 28, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
- ^Johncock, Benjamin (December 21, 2015). 'On Star Wars, The Craft of Writing and What Novelists Can Learn From 'The Force Awakens''. The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ abBarry, Nathan (February 12, 2013). 'Star Wars – The Fandom Editors'. Wired. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^Barry, Nathan (May 2, 2013). 'Star Wars – The Fandom Editors – A Real New Hope'. GeekDad. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ ab'Two Entirely Different Ways to Watch the Original Star Wars'. Australia: Gizmodo. December 18, 2015. Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^Broughall, Nick (December 18, 2015). 'Awakening the Force in my son was easier with the Harmy Despecialized Editions'. TechRadar. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ abMachkovech, Sam (November 26, 2015). 'Star Wars beyond the films: Ars' staff picks its fave games, toys, more'. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on November 29, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
External links[edit]
- Harmy's channel on YouTube
- Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Edition on Facebook
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition&oldid=893076775'
Since 1997, George Lucas has been hell bent on ruining the original Star Wars trilogy. Every new release—in theaters, on DVD, and on Blu-Ray—comes with more added garbage than the last. This fan-made version of the original trilogy is the best version of Star Wars you can watch.
10 of the worst changes to the Star Wars trilogy after their original theatrical release
There have been so many little changes in the original Star Wars trilogy since their theatrical…
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Between adding a silly Jabba the Hutt scene to the first movie, putting an absurd musical number in Return of the Jedi, and Greedo shooting first (a change so controversial it has its own Wikipedia page), it’s like Lucasfilm is trolling us. I mean come on—what does a big CGI alien walking in front of the shot possibly add to the movie? At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jar Jar Binks in the the 4K release of Return of the Jedi.
Unfortunately, you can’t buy the original version of the movie anymore, and it was never released in very high quality. The closest you can get is buying the laserdisc trilogy for $150 on eBay, the DVD with a low-quality version of the theatrical edition for $50, or break out those old VHS tapes from your closet.
But, with the help of many dedicated fans and video editors, an originaltrilogy.com forum user named Harmy decided to recreate the original, unaltered trilogy in high definition. He calls it the Despecialized Edition, and it’s the version of Star Wars we’ve all been clamoring for the last 20 years.
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What the Despecialized Edition Does
Star Wars Despecialized Edition Dvd
The Despecialized Edition is a “fan preservation”, aiming not to create a new version of the movie, but to restore the original trilogy exactly as it was in the 70s and 80s—little flaws and all. To recreate the original 1977 version of A New Hope, for example, he used clips from:
- The 2011 Blu-Ray edition
- An HDTV broadcast of the 2004 Special Edition DVD
- A low quality version of the original trilogy from the special features of the 2006 DVD, affectionately called George’s Original Unaltered Trilogy (or the “GOUT”)
- Various scans of 70mm and 35mm film prints and still images from the films
With the help of many other originaltrilogy.com members, Harmy took bits and pieces of the above sources and edited them together with the Blu-Ray footage to recreate the theatrical version of the movie—in 720p HD. Watch the video above to see how it was put together—it really is fascinating. (There’s a longer version here, if you’re really interested.)
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Not all of the Special Edition changes are bad, of course. (I rather liked the redone CGI space battles.) But there is no doubt that this is the best version of the film you can get today. The color correction alone puts it so far ahead of the Blu-Ray that it’s the only version I’ll watch.
You can see a full list of Harmy’s changes, with screenshots and descriptions, in this Google+ album. You can also read more on the Despecialized Edition’s forum post at originaltrilogy.com, as wells as the threads for Empire Strikes Back’s Despecialized Edition and Return of the Jedi’s Despecialized Edition.
How to Find and Download the Despecialized Edition
Since this is an unofficial community project, the only way you can get it is..well, “unofficially”. The legality of this project is up in the air, and while some have made a Fair Use argument in the name of preservation, Harmy doesn’t offer the movie as a simple one-click download. You’ll have to do a bit of legwork to download and watch it. Future commas download mp3. The creators also request that you legally own a copy of the Star Wars Blu-Rays, so that even if you aren’t on the most solid legal ground, you’re on solid moral ground.
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TehPARADOX.com is the most “official” place to download the Despecialized Edition, though obtaining it can be a fairly complex process using a download manager (like FreeRapid Downloader or JDownloader). I have not been able to get this method to work properly (it reports most of the download links as dead), so while you can try it using these instructions, know that you may not have very much luck.
Update: A few of you noted that you got the JDownlader method working with the help of this YouTube video, so if you’re trying to go the more official method, give it a shot! HanDuet, uploader of the above video, has also provided new instructions in collaboration with Harmy for obtaining the films.
Update 2: HanDuet reached out to us to emphasize that the “official” download method as described in “The Ultimate Introductory Guide” is now significantly easier and under continuing development through direct collaboration with Harmy. Visit Harmy’s official Facebook page for the Despecialized Editions to learn more and stay updated.
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By far the easiest way to obtain the movie, however—albeit a little shadier—is through BitTorrent. Just visit your favorite BitTorrent search engine (like torrentz.eu) and search for “star wars despecialized edition”. You’ll probably find quite a few options, though you may want to verify checksums after downloading to ensure you received an unaltered copy. Remember to use a VPN or proxy to keep yourself anonymous when you download.
I know that seems like a lot of hassle, but trust me: once you’ve watched the Despecialized Editions, you’ll never go back.
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