Last June, fans of Comedy Central – the long-running channel behind beloved programmes such as The Daily Show and South Park – received an unwelcome surprise. Paramount Global, Comedy Central’s parent company, unceremoniously purged the vast repository of video content on the channel’s website, which dated back to the late 1990s.
The only way to watch the original Star Wars movies before George completely fucked with them is piracy.
The 4K77, 80 and 83 editions are what you’re after. Enjoy. There are apparently reduced noise versions as well, but I thought it was perfect as is. It’s old. It’s supposed to have noise and grain. The desert scenes in the first one are really noisy and I’m not 100% sure why. Maybe he filmed those on cheaper film stock in smaller cameras, but that’s just a guess.
The late 90s dvd versions are gold.
I do have a double set with original (or as much as you could get) along with the post-prequels completely broken one. I think there was a pre-prequels version as well. But then that is DVD quality, which is getting on a bit.
The likes of Disney+ doesn’t even acknowledge the originals even exist.
Same with their Alien and Aliens versions as well. No director’s cuts at all, which is a shame as I far prefer them. They should have both.
There was a storm in the desert where they were filming which destroyed a lot of the equipment and almost doomed the film.
I think I remember reading that they had to use cheaper film stock in those scenes for that reason.