Lost Star Wars Footage Found On LaserDisc 157
drxenos writes "A LaserDisc purchased on eBay was found to contain raw footage from Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi. From the article: 'The origin of the LaserDisc isn't entirely clear, but it was purchased for $699 off eBay, apparently once used to demonstrate Lucasfilm's EditDroid station — one of the first digital film editing systems sold nearly 30 years ago. Ironically, George Lucas himself never used EditDroid to make a movie; the Star Wars clips were loaded simply to show off its capabilities to prospective buyers.'"
footage (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Digital? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Content Control (Score:5, Informative)
Since it was not a part of the released film, it could be argued that it was never copyrighted. Of course the argument would cost millions...
Er... what? The act of creating something - no matter what you do with it - assigns copyrights to the person who or group that creates it. If you run out with your smartphone, right now, and shoot some never-plan-to-"release it" footage, you own the copyright on what you create. Period.
You're probably confusing that basic fact with the question of whether or not the person who creates the work registers that work with the US Copyright Office. Registering the work allows you to go after an infringer in federal court, and to seek damages beyond the normal value of the work. If you don't register the work, you still own the copyright, and can use the courts to stop someone else from infringing on it, and you can sue them for what you'd normally have charged them for that use, if they'd asked you first. No punitive damages.
Federal venue for infringement or not, you make something, you own the copyrights. If you assign those rights to someone else, they own the copyrights. But someone who finds some media that contains the work? That doesn't convey copyrights.
Re:Content Control (Score:4, Informative)
It's my understanding that copyright is bestowed at the moment a work is created, whether it is officially filed or not.
Re:But did Han shoot first? (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, can answer the second question quite easily -- When they were filming the original film, they hadn't decided that Jabba would be a giant space slug yet, and used a human stand-in. The idea was that when they decided what he'd be, they could edit the alien in during post production.
They included a copy of the original footage on a LucasArts bundle CD of the early LA StarWars games that I picked up some time around 1997, or so... along with film interview with Lucas explaining it. I still have the CD somewhere, probably in storage at my parents' place.
Re:Content Control (Score:5, Informative)
Until 1989, either a copyright notice or registration within 5 years was required, something which may apply in this case. My understanding is that the 1989 change in law also brought pre-1978 works which lacked a notice under copyright.
As Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] puts it "Until the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, the lack of a proper copyright notice would place an otherwise copyrightable work into the public domain, although for works published between January 1, 1978 and February 28, 1989, this could be prevented by registering the work with the Library of Congress within five years of publication."
No doubt, an IP lawyer will pop up and clarify things, but the GP may be correct in thinking this may not be copyrighted. I doubt a copy of this work was registered, and it may lack a notice.
Re:But did Han shoot first? (Score:3, Informative)
Lucas is a huge liar. He continually says he "meant" for certain things to happen. The truth is the stand-in WAS Jabba, and everyone realized it looked stupid, and they removed the scene. It also kills the film's pacing, Jabba repeats everything Greedo just said. It also kills the big reveal in ROTJ.
They added it because Lucas had useable footage for the SE, and figured why the hell not. Anything to make more money.
Re:Some more star wars footage? (Score:5, Informative)
You seriously think Lucasfilm (now Disney) doesn't have in their archives ALL possible footage pertaining to Star Wars ?
If George Lucas is to be believed, then no they do not. The original, unaltered footage which was released on the LaserDisc format was damaged irreparably when they were making one of the special releases in the 80's. I don't recall the whole story but supposedly they were cleaning up the original filmstock and in the process damaged it. Suspiciously the only portions to be damaged in such a fashion are scenes such as the "Han vs. Greedo Mos Eisley Shootout" scene.
The originals allegedly had shown Han clearly firing first, in contradiction to Lucas's claims, but the VHS versions were far too low resolution to serve as a final word on the matter. With the loss of the originals, the matter was never fully resolved.
So you can say that "nobody cares" about having original, unaltered footage from one of the most popular and successful sci-fi franchises of all time. And you can even believe that if you choose, but it doesn't make you right.
Re:Some more star wars footage? (Score:3, Informative)
I have all the releases on VHS and laserdisc up to the "Special" Editions. The scene goes like this:
Greedo: "I've been looking forward to this for a long time."
Han: "Yeah, I'll bet you have!"
(BLAM - smoke rises, Greedo's face hits the table)
That's the way it was in the original release, Lucas-retcon notwithstanding.