Introducing the Despecialized Edition and Its Sources - 4K Reupload 

Despecialized Edition should be submitted to the Library of Congress.

The amount of strings fans are pulling to collaborate on a project of this cultural magnitude is staggering. The equipment, effort and efficiency displayed is so much more vast than most will give credit for. Keep up the good work, folks.

One day they’ll release a version where Greedo just commits suicide for no reason.

I saw STAR WARS 18 time in its original run. Then 6 times with the Episode IV 'A New Hope' tag added, finally 4 more times the Specialized versions for a total of 28. Who knows how many time including VHS, DVD etc. I got a copy of the the Despecialized version and realized as I played it for the first time this was actually my 19th time seeing the real 1977 STAR WARS.

I'm glad I got to see Star Wars at the theater in 77. I was 9 years old. It was the most awesome thing I've ever seen. Seeing the text roll and then the huge Star Destroyer was/is the biggest one, two punch in movie history.

I saw the original trilogy movies on each of their first week's of release from 1977 to 1983. Im now 55, and I only ever watch Harmy's versions, as I want to see the versions I fell in love as a kid. That's where the nostalgia of my childhood is with these movies. I can not thank Harmy enough for giving me that privilege 🙏

Harmy you're still around! Thank you for everything, I show the despecialized edition to all of my friends and it has completely changed the way we watch Star Wars.

Harmy's version should go into the national film archive.

To anyone wondering why 4K77 wasn't included, the original video was made and uploaded before the release of 4K77.

The amount of passion, work and effort put into this is incredible

What I distinctly remember is that in 1996 or thereabouts, over the course of several months, each of the film in the original trilogy received a theatrical re-release and they were specifically marketed as "the last time to see the original films before the new special editions replace them". Then, after those re-releases, a second round of re-releases occurred, this time it was the updated versions, where the FX were updated, the ship-to-ship dialogue was elevated above the musical score in the final battle, etc. So this struggle to find the "original" was deliberately set up by Lucasfilm in order to create a demand that had never been there before - a demand for preservation. The funny thing is that copyright law was conceived in such a way that it should require that the original material be available for evaluation of any copyright claims. Failing to do so should be considered a strike against the defensibility of infringement claims. But in practice it isn't. Because American IP law has deteroriated into basically a garbage can of special interest industry folks with powerful lobbyists. Combined with judges who have about as much understanding of artistic creation as Donald Duck has with a Shakespearean actor.

I was able to get my hands on the Harmy editions from a friend. My mind was absolutely fucking blown away!!!!! To every person involved in all these projects thank you all so very much! There are millions of us who are grateful to be able to share our childhood with our children.

Prequel fans: We want the 4 hour cut of ROTS Original Trilogy fans who still haven't gotten the original cuts of their trilogy: First time?

Still so sad to remember Lucas' attitude towards the original movies. Thanks Harmy and others who have helped.

He's starting to remaster his own videos. xD

This is awesome! I have the 2004 realeses and I keep telling my kids how much better the originals on VHS tapes were when I was a kid.

10:52 "Crushed Blacks" Too funny. A friend of mine went up to Skywalker Ranch many, MANY years ago for a job interview for a video engineer position. During his interview, as they were walking around the facility, he actually had to point out to them that... iirc, some of their equipment was calibrated incorrectly. The problem? You guessed it: crushed blacks. As I remember it, they offered him the job, but the pay was so low, it was below a living wage for the bay area, so he had to decline. Seems like they didn't pick up on his observation, as this was definitely pre-2004. *sigh*

Never get tired of telling people that 'Star Wars' was an Oscar winning film - 'A New Hope' was not!

Thank you Harmy for all of your effort to save Star Wars for future generations. The history of the film is important. Watching the original masterpiece in its original form is glorious!

" _Star Wars_ is best viewed in the original Turkish." -- Chancellor Gorkon, probably

@Petr Harmy your work is a gift to the fandom. I applaud you not only for having the courage to restore the films, but most importantly your dedication to it. You did what many Star Wars fans thought was impossible. You deserve an award, or something for it. I grew up with the Special Editions. I saw the theatrical versions (the GOAT DVDs) for the first time in 2015. A few months ago I saw the Despecialized Editions and they blew me away. Anyway, thank you!

i have the despecialized versions on blu ray and they are simply the best versions.

Thank you very much for this work Harmy and to all the people involved in it who did a luxurious job!. For years i have followed your editions and they are the best thing that has happened to me, to go back a little to remember the versions that i saw as a child is a breath of pure nostalgia!, i can't wait to see version 3.0 in 4K!!!, greetings from Argentina!, Que la Fuerza te acompañe, SIEMPRE!.

I'M IN LOVE WITH THE DESPECIALIZED VERSIONS AND HAVEN'T WATCHED ANYTHING ELSE IN YEARS! THANKS HARMY! There's even a despecialized version used for a recent reaction, first time watching video.

Ironic that the despecialized edition is so special.- Palpatine.

Of all the films this could have happened to, why did it have to be the best film, and best trilogy of all time? It’s insane that they would mess up masterpieces.

I thought this meant the 3.0 trilogy with 4K sources has been finished. And the documentary has been updated to explain those sources. But no, it's a 4K reupload of the documentary itself. Lol.

I just cannot THANK YOU enough for doing what you are doing!! It just Baffles me that the powers that be a Lucasfilm do not understand how truly special this film(s) (especially the original Star Wars) Really is - It was a life changing “experience” for a generation. Thank You Thank You Thank You!!🙏

Thing is, the original release wasnt some pristine print. Back in the day in the movie theaters sometimes part of the charm was the grain, cigar burns in the print and soundtrack crackle.

Hey Disney, do you like money!? Well why dont you release the original print in digital 4k and you can make a bunch of money!

See it Again…for the First Time.

… many Bothams social lives died to bring us this information. Powerful collaborating.

This is what happens when someone has George Lucas original passion. Amazing work gets done.

its amazing how much effort goes into this project! Big THANKS to everyone who helped bringing the original Star Wars Feeling back... Special thanks of course goes to Harmy itself... this is really amazing!!

I never realised how much we need this. The originals are so much better. Absolutely fascinating video.

I have all three despecialized editions on Blu-ray. Best set I ever bought.

Thank the maker! Harmy deserves all the credit in the world for his passion and dedication to making this happen, and for keeping our love of the original films strong!

I'm old enough that I remember seeing the original films on the big screen. As much as I liked the enhanced versions, I always had this longing for the original experience. I am very grateful for the time and effort put into patching together the originals. Thank you for this.

All “Congratulations” and ‘Thank you”, is not enough.

With the exception of how the downloader times out, it is worth downloading. The picture is very detailed.

Thank you Classic Star Wars fans. The Best of the best!

Now if I could only download it without a computer science degree.

This is a service to humanity. Thank you for this!❤

Thank you Petr for your fantastic work. Star Wars fans will be discovering and celebrating your tireless efforts for decades to come!

You're doing work that cannot be praised higher, Harmy!

The fans are doing the best work.

The color correction looks off in the intro of episode 4. Btw, that argument about Oscar winning does not hold up, no movie edit or cleanup ever got an award, if that were true I would expect at least on HD release to have an Oscar. The original negative deteriorated in the time from 77 to 97, that is why it now exists only in the 1997 configuration, it needed to be fixed in some areas. And also, the people that made the Oscar winning decisions agreed with Lucas for the changes or at least talked with him to tweak them. You did a very good job Harmy and i commend you for that, i just think you spread a bit of misinformation when talking about some subjects.

I'm glad to say that I got my hands on a 'despecialised' trilogy set of BluRay disks, and will NEVER watch any other versions again. They take me back to the original experience of watching them for the first time at the cinema in the 1970s / 1980s.

Harmy, thank you so much for all the hard work and dedication! We the fans and all future fans appreciate you and your work.

I completely agree with Harmy about the special editions. I would love to get his despecialized editions someday.

just a quick thanks, excellent work. i haven't watched original trilogy in maybe close to 20 years and the last time I saw it was special edition and don't remember particularly enjoying it, not like when i was a kid. so seeing this version today was like a breath of fresh air. grateful for the all the work you guys put into this. peace

Despecialized Edition v2.5 Sources 10:20 Official 2011 Blu-Ray 11:25 You_Too's preliminary CC 11:59 I.B. Technicolor print screening 12:03 Official 2006 "GOUT" DVD 13:04 Project Blu V1 13:30 Project Blu V2 13:47 Official 2004 DVD 14:04 2004 Version HDTV 14:33 "Flunk" 1997 Special Edition 15:06 Team Negative 1's LPP print scan (Silver Screen Experience) 12:53 Laserschwert's clean-up 16:29 Puggo Grande 17:29 Variety of still images

Seeing as how one of George Lucas' big motivations in film making, and life in general, is advancing the art and technology of film making (and a key reason why he's no fan of the sequel trilogy, the lack of innovation), I suspect that deep down, he gets a kick out of all these efforts to restore the films to their original versions, and the techniques that have been developed in the process.

Damn, I forgot he even "specialized" the Krayt Dragon sound Ben made. Such pointless changes. Very much looking forward to the next round of Despecialized, as I believe only the ANH of 4K77 has a "degrained" version that's remotely watchable on a modern TV. Thankfully the D+ editions fixed that, but they still technically have "specialized" content...even if the content is innocuous and almost impossible for most fans to spot.

Can I just say that you have a wonderful way with you. Your voice makes me happy :) I love your passion and the depth of your knowledge! Many thanks, I'm glad I found you, great work well researched but it is the overall warmth that makes your stuff so ace! :) x

A theory I heard years ago as to why George Lucas will never hand over his masters to the Library of Congress is so as not give royalties to his ex wife, who was one of the editors. I believe George is just petty enough to do that.

Wowww, ....Thanks for the docu. Harmy,to all involved w/ such lofty expectations, their hard work and time! Thanks to everyone in search of the original version! I LOVE that George was trying to represent the original the best that technology allows today, from "His original vision;" however, ... a lot is lost in translation! Thanks for trying to restore the original; with all its flaws, aging and lack of technology! from the time!

Harmy's version should go to the Library of Congress.

Thank you so much, this is an enormous amount of work. And well worth it, these versions are the absolute best of the Star Wars films!

Talk about a labour of love! Can't thank you enough for the work put into this ☺️🙏

well done by Harmy and others who are dedicated to authentic editions of the original classic Star Wars movies and love project 4K77 and 4K83

It being called Gout is hilarious

I know it's been said a trillion times but one more won't hurt.....THANK YOU!

Maclunkey! Thank you for everything you have done for fandom!

Thank you Harmy for your efforts. I was so glad to finally have a copy of the original theatrical release.

I love that there’s a 4K reupload of this little doc. It’s like Harmy had to enhance and upscale his own footage from his own “originals”. Lol. It all comes Full circle!

George Lucas is like the obsessive painter that return to retouch the original work every Time he can with the new technology available, never knowing that the Accomplishment is in the Time of the original release, that’s the real deal.

97 was truly when the seeds of distrust towards LFL were sewn.

THIS, is the only thing that still keeps me interested in Star Wars. Hear that Disney? I want only a proper release of the originals, unaltered. I WILL buy those, but I will never buy the awful new movies you make.

I like both the 4K77, 4K80 and 4K83 project and Harmy Despecialized. Plus any projects to restore and archive the originals.

Disney does a lot to try and demonize Star Wars fans to dismiss criticisms of their disasters (which let's be honest the "worst fans" are just a type that is found in all fandoms) but this, this right here is the real deal. The passion and love and care that Star Wars fans is like Zendotis of Ephesus at the library of Alexandria standardizing the text for Iliad.

I have the original version of this video, and I'm glad to have the original version.

Great work, looking forward to the 3.0 versions of the OT :)

Someone should do this with Queen's concerts for example, like my favorite one "Live At The Rainbow", my favorite Queen concert ever, which was heavily altered and edited changing the original sound and footage in its recent re-release, or concerts like "Live at The Odeon", "Live At The Bowl", "Live Aid", "Rock Montreal", "Live At Wembley", "Hungarian Rhapsody" and not only that, with many other historically significant concerts and music events, a great example if a company/estate properly doing these cleaning and re-release of footage is last November's release of Jimi Hendrix live a Maui, both the footage/audio was in fantastic condition and the edition and cleaning was beautifully done… People should put effort towards preserving history, "special editions" are it necesarilly a bad thing but we should always try to preserve and pass on our history and legacy as people, entities and collectively as a culture.

This is not the sound track you are looking for. Nice touch using Holst The Planets :p Harmy, we love your work. Keep going.

Thank you so much for all you have done.

Shame you have to resort to knock off music instead of the actual SW music, but I think we all understand why.

give this man a medal or a mansion or something

Thanks, you did amazing work on these!

Thank you Harmy! Your passion is very much appreciated.

Hi Harmy, I have introduced many people to the Despecialised trilogy & it continues to be the only version my friends and I watch. I've had them all over the years, OT VHS, SE VHS, OT LD, various DVDs... and while we only have the v1 copy, for us it's a dream come true. Thanks for correcting this huge error!

All you have to do is attempt to watch the old DVD of the originals and 720p feels and looks like Ultra High Definition in comparison. The current files are absolutely amazing. They also don't take as long to download or take up as much space as a multipart massive group of ultra high res files would. That would be needed for 1080p or higher. I'm just fine with the current set of files. The crude original special effects and look of Star Wars is done absolutely no favors what so ever by upscaling it to 1080 or higher. You see more and more how bad they are and start to understand why George updated them. In Ultra HD this old film is not helped. I personally have no desire to watch an Ultra HD of Star Wars. I just wanted a decent anamorphic HD resolution that would be watchable on modern widescreen TVs. Thanks to Harmy and all those that helped, that goal was accomplished. Thanks Harmy. You have done what you set out to accomplish. One day I do believe the originals will be released again officially in some form maybe as an extra. Hopefully also back into theaters for the 50th anniversary. Until that day, your work is very much appreciated.

18:12 one of the changes in the one of the rereleases was that they added actors instead mattpsintings for that scene

Hyper Awesome 😍 Thanks Harmy Very Much 👏 Praise Star Wars 1978 Makers and people who helped makers release ❤

Saw Star Wars in a single screen theater in 1977. I was in the third grade and it was my first PG movie lol. Came in during the trash compactor scene and I thought Chewie was on one side of the wall trying to crush the other human characters lol. It’s amazing how technology has advanced to a point where we can recreate an earlier low-tech production for posterity 😆

Aliasing is "alias" as in "a false name" and "-ing" as in "-ing", not whatever the pronunciation is in the documentary. (From the signal processing field, it's the result of sampling a signal at too low a rate resulting in *false* information in the sampled data.) Nevertheless, thank-you Harmy et al from letting my kids see what I saw at their age.

Great job. Thank you forbyou hard work

While the 4K Projects are techincally more accurate, the DE's still are my prefered versions because they include a lot of the great upscaling official rereleases provided. If Disney released the original trilogy this is definitely how they'd do it.

Good job man, worthy of a cultural historian 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Great use of Gustav Holst's "The Planets" for background music. Did Luke's lightsaber-training scene on the Falcon change the blade'a color back to white?

Harmy rocks. I love you man! My grandkids watched “Star Wars” in HD and were as amazed as I was when I saw Star Wars in the theater for the first time. Thank you for doing this. It meant so much to me to see the look of awe in their faces as the story unfolded. This all on you. Amazing!

I really hope version 3.0 is done soon! I’ve been waiting for that version.

A lot of effort and care went into making sure the Despecialized Edition are as true to the original theatrical cuts as possible. I just assume Disney did not ask for and did not want copies of the original theatrical cuts otherwise 4K remasters of them would be on Disney+ by now.

thank GOD I still have my original Laserdisc versions.

The backwards SW fanfare should be an alternate theme a la what "Ballad of the Goddess" is to "Zelda's Lullaby."

all hail harmy!

Harmy, you are preserving culture. Thank you very much.

So what we're looking back to is, true, proper, STAR WARS.

Instead of reversing the Star Wars theme, you could always play the opening fanfare from Erich Korngold's score for "King's Row".

I always saw GOUT as not so much making quick money off the craze of laserdisc transfers, but more as "We've given you the original cut that you've been pestering us for. We've told you that's all your getting. Now SHUT UP and accept the version we want to present."