Special Edition Truck Chase?

Major West

Member
It probably isn't a big difference. High Def shows up the flaws more in old special effects so it's probably mostly making them blend in more.
 

ATMachine

Member
The following text is from the 1995 book From Star Wars to Indiana Jones: The Best of the Lucasfilm Archives, by Mark Cotta Vaz and Shinji Hata, p. 140:

One of the greatest chases ever filmed is the truck chase in which Indy pursues Nazis who are making their getaway with the Ark. The sequence intercut both live-action stunt work and ILM's visual effects magic. A key ILM shot had Indy drive a Nazi jeep off a cliff, an effect executed with a matte painting of the cliff's sheer drop in which opticals composited separate elements of a miniature jeep and puppets. Longtime ILMer John Ellis points to the shot as a signature example of Lucas's understanding of his audience, explaining that when Lucas viewed the shot in dailies he told his team to print it, despite a chorus of concerns that there was still work to be done--color timings, additional painting details, some work on the matte lines. But Lucas instinctively knew the shot couldn't be improved upon and that audiences would cheer it in the theaters.

Offered without comment.
 

Kooshmeister

New member
Now that I've finally seen it I know for certain it's different. I can tell. The cliff behind the falling car moves instead of being static. Like others, I'm uncertain how I feel about it...
 
They might as well redo the shot of the raft going off the cliff in Temple of Doom while they're at it. It's practically the exact same shot as Raiders.
 

Darth Vile

New member
I prefer the original cliff shot in Raiders to the crashing plane and cliff shot in Temple... Worse still are some of the Zeppelin and Messerschmitt shots from Crusade... They would be on my "fix first" list.
 

Indy Jones

Active member
I'm not against digital recomposition of the original elements to remove matte lines/artifacts, but not redoing the effects. That's not original.
 

Major West

Member
If it tells the story and looks better, that's all that matters. These films are too popular to belong in musuems. I haven't seen anything that looks offensve yet, it's all perfectly faithful looking.
 
Darth Vile said:
Worse still are some of the Zeppelin and Messerschmitt shots from Crusade... They would be on my "fix first" list.

Although I really don't need them to fixed up, the jerky movement of the sky background when Indy and Henry spot the planes chasing them always stands out for me...
 
God'sRadio said:
While we're at it I hate the sound effect for the fighters in LC


In the theatre, the sound of those fighters was incredible! It sounded like they were coming at you from behind. I nearly looked to the back of the theatre.
 

God'sRadio

New member
Digital Bits mentions that Blu Ray editions of the movies are expected and that "work has been done" - suggests to me that HD broadcasts are using new masters. I wonder if it means work has been completed, in which case the changes are few
 

Tydirium

New member
Here is a better version I just found on youtube. I think that the original shot was a bit off compared to the rest of the movie, but I don't think this new CGI version was needed. If anything, they should have maybe tried to do it in miniature to keep in style with the rest of the film.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e_sFW8grQtU&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e_sFW8grQtU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
 

Kooshmeister

New member
Thanks, Tydirium. A good comparison of the two allowing for the (admittedly mostly minor) differences to be seen like the different mountains in the background, and the fact the redone shot adds a shadow of the falling car on the cliff.
 

Crusade>Raiders

New member
I'm all in favor of these CGI fixes. I know you Indy fanatics take offense with even the slightest change, but if it improves the movie(which in my opinion it looks better), why not?

Now if only they can fix that zeppelin in Last Crusade.
 

Kooshmeister

New member
Crusade>Raiders said:
I know you Indy fanatics take offense with even the slightest change,

I don't necessarily take offense. I just overplay my reactions a bit sometimes. This is mostly a minor annoyance for me. :)

I'm all for change, like maybe reinserting some of the many deleted scenes we keep hearing about.

Crusade>Raiders said:
but if it improves the movie(which in my opinion it looks better), why not?

Because for better or for worse these movies used the effects available at the time. They're products of their era. Why make an 80's film's effects (or a 70's one's or whatever) digital? And why do it with only one shot, and a shot Lucas himself was quoted as saying he had no problems with?

Editing out matte lines and reflections and such is one thing but completely replacing elements in a scene (as they did with the cliffs here) is what I'm against.

So, my motto when it comes to digitally messing with older films is, subtract, don't add.

(Having said that I will confess that I liked the extended sequence with the wampa in the Empire Strikes Back Special Edition.)
 

Michael24

New member
Kooshmeister said:
(Having said that I will confess that I liked the extended sequence with the wampa in the Empire Strikes Back Special Edition.)

I also liked the additional Wampa shots. The only SE stuff in Empire I didn't like was the extension of Vader leaving Cloud City and arriving back on the Star Destroyer. I thought it was disturbing to the suspenseful pacing of the Falcon's escape, not to mention interrupting Williams' great "Hyperspace" track.

I mean, did "Bring my shuttle" really need to be replaced by "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival?" The original was short and sweet, not to mention Vader actually sounded a bit pissed that things weren't going as planned and he still had work to do in capturing Luke. But the replacement line sounds like he's giving an order while relaxing in a bubble bath or something, knowing he has to leave soon by is in no real hurry.
 
Top