Star Wars: A New Hope (FOX) (1977) [1130-85]

Thank you rein-o the ways of the first two Force, STAR WARS and EMPIRE have arrived in-tract in bullet force proof packing that, not even a Death Star can penetrate.

A few short videos of thank you to rein-o. and the unwrapping which didn't take me long to get it out.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... =2&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... =2&theater


I'll do STAR WARS first and then do THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on the next thread.

"Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose 'em".
Han Solo "STAR WARS A New Hope" (1977)


















Laserdisc cover is of reasonable condition for a used one.

Picture quality has that vintage, vintage 1977 look with a few white specks and little bits of mild dirt (and that is what I want, too bad its got no "que dot marks") as that would be a plus.

No visible EE that I can see and certainly not, none of that annoying DNR!

Screen capture using (text mode) on the Fuji FinePix S4400. I'll do a few Laserdisc to DVD captures later in the day or over the weekend.



















The framing of the SCOPE does change on this edition as I read around the LDDB boards over the past weeks and it doesn't bother me that much it could have been, far, far worse.

























































More camera captures later on...


The DOLBY STEREO playback was though the Dolby CP500 USER 1 DOLBY STEREO with Lucasfilm Ltd THX Sound System is thrillingly outstandingly original (okay there is an extra C3-PO dialouge but least its not been messed up like the later editions as I like DOLBY STEREO, I embrace the force in DOLBY.

With the smaller LCR JBL 12" sub bass extension switched and the rear JBL sub bass for the surrounds only and larger 18" sub bass that sums LCR and set at 50Hz along also with The Puck subs for the cinema seats STAR WARS is rocking sound fun for the afternoon with seat vibrating.






Pressure door hisses on stage left when Darth Vader exits to question the princess and thinking bcak all the long years back those type of sound effects I vaguely remember hearing but I wasn't listening at the time (until 1987 Platoon) also when one of the Y-wings gets blown up and its a huge Kaboom on stage channel left. (well listening today its partly left and centre mixed on the explosion sound effect and sounds awesome).

I can tell where the deeper lows (or should I say where the discrete subwoofer track would cut in on 70MM and add in that extra impact!) there is strong bass support across the LCR and milder lows on the mono-matrix-surrounds, with Tie-fighters attacking the Millenium Falcon on chapter 11, time start on the John Williams score, 9m.02s. The 35mm DOLBY STEREO optical release, wouldn't have included the deep "Baby Boom" subwoofer track found on the 70MM six-track DOLBY STEREO release or the THX CAV edition where Ben Burtt remixed this classic film but some of the extra added new sound effects was taking me away from the STAR WARS December 1977 flashback that UK fans like.

The later '97 also has new and more re-re-mixing added in "love it or hate it" along with CGI. The use of stereo-split-surrounds was a nice touch but it never was intended with go out with SS in 1977 as that hand't at the time been thought of until 1978 Superman the movie and later Apocalypse Now (1979). The DVD and bluray is just a tragic end to these classic films that set a new benchmark in film making only to be slowly ruined by George Lucas who once said something about "preserving films" not butchering them up with tons of CGI and loads of "Nooooooo".

Parts of the John Williams score as deep low end omph. I'll have to see what Spectrum Lab shows later on.

Cool moment on chapter 12, time 27m.22s when the photon is fired and appears to move along all the surround speakers down to the front.


This is as close to STAR WARS (*1977) 35mm as we can get.

No reported Laser rot issues found.

I'm going to give this STAR WARS LD a fair and square for picture and Dolby Stereo mix

glad you got them in one piece, remember i said that the only way there could be damage is if there is an ice pick

sleeves were a little more worn than i like but what can you do sometimes.

what is the extra dialog that c3p0 says?
i missed this at the theatres, had to be born that year

the only disc that i know of with moving black bars is zardoz, the US release, never had the Japense release to find out.

Well glad Sharon Stone wasn't handling packages at the airport.

The line was.

"The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave."
C3-PO STAR WARS (1977)

Yep, they added that from the mono release for the 1985 home video remix. This is used on the Widescreen Fox LDs and is essentially the original '77 Dolby Stereo with the line added in addition to some tweaking of the surround information. IIRC there may have also been a widening of the stereo separation.

Nice captures, you often forget how vibrant the film looked before the DC 1993 master.

Well if you squint you're eyes a little bit it looks like this HD1080. Well the squinting softens out the CRT tv scan lines which is what I notice when I do it and you should see the same thing, or stand back 7 feet away from the screen as I have large monitor in front of me.

I used mostly (TEXT MODE) Zoomed in from 9 feet away on the camera for the shots and a few I used (Shutter Mode ISO800) as the camera didn't like what it was seeing and it added in too much artefact colour that wasn't even on the picture on the CRT.

I think that added in extra dialouge I might not have heard that in a mono cinema in 1978 as I think the same print that was shown in DOLBY STEREO might have been handed to the other cinema The Galaxy where it played for many more weeks after it left the Gaumont.

I need to get this. I have the Empire disc from this era but not the other two. The covers are great.

I've often toyed with the idea of getting one of the later SW boxes, but these discs are pretty good (Empire is anyway) and cheap and I'm probably too burned out on SW to pay $100 or whatever.

Well I think the price might or might not double if word gets around that I like these earlier editions.

I wouldn't think I would play the CAV THX edition or the DVD or bluray again. The '97 okay as I can hear small hints of what the 70mm release would have been like if it had been a 70mm Dolby AC-3 all the way though. I can hear it in the dialouge track that is often at times spread across all three front channels. Its also heard in the bluray but the mix is a little different sounding in tone, plus it has annoying extra R2-D2 bleeps on a few scenes. But I like some parts of the DOLBY AC-3 on the '97 not all just some parts.

The matrix mono surround was great I can hear the rebel blockade runner engines wining in the on the surrounds as it whooshes overhead and onto the LCR fronts. The bass level I think I mentioned about that as when watching parts of the '97 AC-3 the LFE.1 subwoofer track only comes in as and when they wanted it and so some members/people might feel a little unsatisfied about the bass. It has plenty that should down to around 40Hz or shy lower maybe 35Hz a few times, I'll have to give it another spin and see what it looks like on Spectrum Lab.

I thought I was in the minority liking these older editions
I feel like the sound has slightly more dynamic range on the faces editions but the audio on these is no slouch.

I do have a problem with empire though, the color balance seems way off, which is likely due to the aging film stock, but star wars and Jedi are not nearly as far off.

Empire had colour it in. turn up you're colour level a few notches.

My problem isn't the level of overall color, it's the prevalence of Yellow in the print. That's why I mentioned it was likely due to the film's age.

i have the same disc, laserbite34

Pressure door hisses on stage left when Darth Vader exits to question the princess and thinking bcak all the long years back those type of sound effects I vaguely remember hearing but I wasn't listening at the time (until 1987 Platoon) also when one of the Y-wings gets blown up and its a huge Kaboom on stage channel left. (well listening today its partly left and centre mixed on the explosion sound effect and sounds awesome).

I can tell where the deeper lows (or should I say where the discrete subwoofer track would cut in on 70MM and add in that extra impact!) there is strong bass support across the LCR and milder lows on the mono-matrix-surrounds, with Tie-fighters attacking the Millenium Falcon on chapter 11, time start on the John Williams score, 9m.02s. The 35mm DOLBY STEREO optical release, wouldn't have included the deep "Baby Boom" subwoofer track found on the 70MM six-track DOLBY STEREO release or the THX CAV edition where Ben Burtt remixed this classic film but some of the extra added new sound effects was taking me away from the STAR WARS December 1977 flashback that UK fans like.

The later '97 also has new and more re-re-mixing added in "love it or hate it" along with CGI. The use of stereo-split-surrounds was a nice touch but it never was intended with go out with SS in 1977 as that hand't at the time been thought of until 1978 Superman the movie and later Apocalypse Now (1979). The DVD and bluray is just a tragic end to these classic films that set a new benchmark in film making only to be slowly ruined by George Lucas who once said something about "preserving films" not butchering them up with tons of CGI and loads of "Nooooooo".

should i set the mains to either 50, 80 or 100hz for the thx disc?
Parts of the John Williams score as deep low end omph. I'll have to see what Spectrum Lab shows later on.