Fans remaster original 'Star Wars' for online release - CNET

If you saw the original 1977 "Star Wars" in theaters or grew up watching it on videotape or laserdisc, you may know every moment by heart.

When filmmaker George Lucas began revising scenes in 1997 in what became known as "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope," some die-hard fans vowed to lea lightsaber skills to one day exact revenge.

Luckily, you don't need to go to the dark side to get back those precious original moments. A group of ambitious fans who call themselves Team Negative One decided to restore and release the original version online.

Fans can already legally buy Episodes IV, V and VI on DVD and Blu-ray, but those are actually the special editions that Lucas altered. If you don't mind scratches and poor sound quality, the unrestored versions of the films from laserdisc were made available as bonus material on a 2006 DVD release.

But in Team Negative One's version, each frame has been painstakingly restored from a 35mm theatrical print of "Star Wars." The high-def print was released on a movie message board in January, under the name "Silver Screen Theatrical Version," according to MovieWeb.