'Star Wars' Fans Restore First Film to the Way It Was in 1977
Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in the first ‘Star Wars’ (Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment via AP)
By Jen Chaney
Even the most casual fans of the Star Wars franchise know that the original movie – the print screened in theaters in 1977, before it was rechristened Episode IV: A New Hope – is not available for mass consumption. George Lucas’s re-releases and special editions of the Luke Skywalker origin story have long since replaced it in theaters and on DVD, and Lucas has famously, repeatedly said he has no desire to ever restore the version that first appeared on big screens.
But some fans are so eager to once again see Star Wars the way they first fell in love with it that they’ve taken matters into their own hands. As a result – as noted by Entertainment Weekly and covered in this recently published in-depth piece by Movie Mezzanine – a painstaking digital restoration of a 35mm print that screened in theaters in those initial weeks of Star Wars’ release was uploaded to the Internet last month. Because the uploading of that iteration – called The Silver Screen Edition – is not 100% legal, Movie Mezzanine won’t say exactly where to find it, but notes, “For those who know where to look, the film is available, in full HD, looking extremely close to what audiences at the time must have seen.” (Just be aware that, when you do find and start watching it, you’re tempting fate that Stormtroopers will burst into your apartment, confiscate your laptop, and zap your Wi-fi.)
The small group behind this labor of love, which took more than four years to complete, calls itself TeamNegative1; their leader, who spoke to Movie Mezzanine on condition of anonymity, goes by “Mr. Black.” According to Mr. Black, the digital restoration – which does away with all the Greedo-shooting-first moments and CG tweaks synonymous with the special editions – was based largely on an original print of the movie from Spain that he bought on eBay for $2,000. (He also bought another original print via eBay that suffered from more wear and tear than the Spanish one.) With assistance from cohorts, he inched along the laborious task of restoring the moderately damaged print, removing dirt and dust, and transferring it to the digital format.
The Movie Mezzanine piece goes into extensive detail about what was involved from a technical standpoint, which is pretty astounding. And before you ask the obvious follow-up question: yes, TeamNegative1 is already working on releasing similar digital transfers of the original Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The very, very first Force, it seems, can still be with us.
Watch the current young ‘Star Wars’ cast take the Obscure Characters Quiz:
