Harmy's Despecialized Edition

Harmy's Despecialized Edition is a series of fan edits of the first three films in the
George Lucas-created Star Wars franchise: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and
Return of the Jedi. The edits were created by a team of Star Wars fans led by Petr
"Harmy" Harmáček, an English teacher fromPlzeň, Czech Republic.

The original Star Wars trilogy was released theatrically by 20th Century Fox for
Lucasfilm between 1977 and 1983. Subsequent releases on home media, such as the
1997 "Special Edition" releases, introduced significant changes to the films,
including additional scenes and new computer-generated imagery – these changes
were met with a mixed response from critics. As of 2017, the films are no longer
widely available in their original theatrical releases.

Harmáček felt that altering the films in this way constituted "an act of cultural
vandalism", and in 2010 was inspired to create his own series of fan edits that
restored the theatrical releases in high definition. With no experience in professional
film editing, he taught himself as he went, using programs such as Avisynth and Blu-ray cover
Adobe After Effects. Taking the 1993 LaserDisc releases as a guide and a majority
of source material from the 2011 Blu-ray releases, Harmáček and a team of eight
other fans constructed the edits over many thousands of hours of work. In 2011, one year after the project had begun, the first version
of Harmy's Despecialized Editionwas published online. Updated versions have been created in the years that followed.

As a fan edit, Harmy's Despecialized Edition cannot be legally bought or sold, and is "to be shared among legal owners of the
officially available releases only". Consequently, the films are only available via various BitTorrent trackers. Reaction to the project
has been positive: Nathan Barry of Wired praised the films as "an absolute joy to watch", while Gizmodo described them as "very,
very good". Sean Hutchinson of Inverse placed Harmy's Despecialized Edition at number one on his list of the best Star Wars fan
edits and called them "the perfect pre-1997 way to experience the saga".

Contents
Background
Production
Conception
Editing
Legality
Reception
References
External links

Background
The original Star Wars trilogy was a Lucasfilm production released theatrically by 20th Century Fox between 1977 and 1983, and
was subsequently released on home media during the 1980s and 1990s. The films were distributed by CBS/Fox Video on several
formats, such as VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc.[1] In 1997, to coincide with the 20th anniversary ofStar Wars, Lucas re-released new
cuts of the trilogy to theaters, naming them the "Special Editions". The Special
Editions made a number of changes to the original releases, including additions such
as enhanced digital effects, previously unreleased scenes, and entirely new CGI
sequences.[2]

Reaction to the new cuts was mixed, with commentators criticising unnecessary
additions such as a computer-generated Jabba the Hutt in the first film and a new
musical number in Return of the Jedi;[3] an alteration involving the bounty hunter
Star Wars logo
Greedo shooting at Han Solo drew significant ire.[4] Further changes to the series
were added to the 2004 DVD and the 2011 Blu-ray releases – these changes also
drew criticism. The final release of the original cuts was in 2006, when unrestored masters used for the 1993 LaserDisc were added
as a bonus feature to a limited run of DVDs – fans named this release "George's Original Unaltered Trilogy" (GOUT).[5] In 2010,
Lucas stated that bringing the original cuts to Blu-ray would be a "very, very expensive" process;[6] as of 2014, the films are only
widely available in their altered versions.[7]

As a result of these changes, a group of fans met on various Internet forums to construct higher quality cuts as fan edits by using the
available home media and blending the Special Edition DVDs with the LaserDisc transfers. One such edit for The Empire Strikes
Back was created by Star Wars fan Adywan.[8]

Production

Conception
Petr Harmáček (known online by the alias "Harmy") had watched a dubbed version of the original cut of Star Wars at the age of six,
and had then seen the Special Editions of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on their 1997 release.[9] Although initially
admiring them, he became disappointed when he learnt how much the films had been changed retroactively; he argued that replacing
the original effects with re-composited digital effects was "an act of cultural vandalism".[8] A fan of the original trilogy, he had
written his undergraduate thesis on their cultural impact.[10] After seeing a trailer for Adywan's cut of The Empire Strikes Back,
Harmáček was inspired to create a version of the film that "undid" the post-1977 changes and restored the theatrical releases in high-
definition.[11] He described his motivation as: "I wanted to be able to show people who haven't seen Star Wars yet, like my little
brother or my girlfriend, the original, Oscar-winning version, but I didn't want to have to show it to them in bad quality."[8]
[9]
Harmáček's edits were the first to recreate the theatrical releases in HD.

Editing
Harmáček began creating his new cuts in
"Look at this awesome film that was made in the '70s ... I want to show
2010.[6] At the time, he was working as an
that to people. I wanted to show my brother. He was three when I started
English teacher in Plzeň, Czech Republic, working and I showed it to him when he was five and he loved it."
and had no professional experience with — Petr "Harmy" Harmáček explaining his motivation for creating the
film editing.[9] Instead, he taught himself as Despecialized Edition[10]
the project progressed, beginning with
Photoshop skills that he had developed in college.[2][10] To remove the post-1977 changes, Harmáček was required to go through the
film frame-by-frame, correcting colors and rotoscoping.[1][12] Undoing some shots took only an hour, while others took hundreds.
Lightsabers were color-corrected, shots of the Millennium Falcon cockpit were cropped, Boba Fett's voice was changed, and CGI
characters and backgrounds were removed.[2] Most of the source material used forHarmy's Despecialized Editionwas taken from the
2011 Blu-ray release, while other sequences were upscaled from GOUT.[13] To create the cuts, source material was taken from the
2011 Blu-ray releases, HDTV broadcasts of the 2004 DVDs, GOUT, digital broadcasts of the 1997 Special Edition, the 1993
LaserDiscs, digital transfers of a Spanish 35 mm Kodak LPP and 70 mm film cels, a 16 mm print, and still images of the original
matte paintings. Harmáček edited these sources together using programs such as visynth
A and Adobe After Effects.[8]
To help, Harmáček was assisted by a group of similarly-minded fans from the website OriginalTrilogy.com,[5] whom he knew by
their online aliases Dark Jedi, YouToo, Puggo, Team Negative 1, Belbucus, Hairy_Hen, CatBus and Laserschwert.[2] In total, the
project took thousands of hours of work between them.[8] In 2011, one year after the project had begun, the first version of Harmy's
Despecialized Edition was published online;[14] new and updated versions have been created regularly in the five years that
followed.[4] As of February 2017, the most recent "despecialized" versions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the
Jedi are v2.7, v2.0 and v2.5 respectively.[10] As a result of the project, Harmáček was able to quit his teaching job and in 2015 was
[2][6]
hired by UltraFlix to prepare and restore a library of 4K-encoded films for sale and rent.

Legality
The legality of downloading Harmy's Despecialized Edition is contentious.[1] As a fan edit, the cut cannot be legally bought or sold,
and treads a line between fair use and copyright infringement.[15] OriginalTrilogy.com states that the edits are "made for culturally
historical and educational purposes" and that they are "to be shared among legal owners of the officially available releases only".[6]
Consequently, the films are only available via various BitTorrent trackers.[3][16] Harmáček himself remarked: "I'm convinced that
99% of people who download this already bought Star Wars 10 times over on DVD."[10] As of November 2015, he has received no
legal issues from Lucasfilm over theDespecialized Edition.[8]

Reception
Reaction to Harmy's Despecialized Edition has been positive. Writing for Inverse, Sean Hutchinson placed it at number one on his
list of the best Star Wars fan edits, and described it as "the perfect pre-1997 way to experience the saga".[4] Whitson Gordon of
Lifehacker called the edits "the best version of Star Wars you can watch", and named them "the version of Star Wars we've all been
clamoring for the last 20 years".[3] Similarly, Nathan Barry of Wired praised the films as "an absolute joy to watch",[12] while
Gizmodo described them as "very, very good".[14] In an article listing Ars Technica's favorite Star Wars items, Sam Machkovech
selected Harmy's Despecialized Edition, calling it "a treat".[16]

References
1. Goldberg, Matt (December 14, 2015)."Yes, an HD Version of the Unaltered 'Star Wars' Original Trilogy Lurks Online"
(http://collider.com/star-wars-original-versions-hd-video/). Collider.com. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151
221205606/http://collider.com/star-wars-original-versions-hd-video/) from the original on December 21, 2015.
Retrieved January 27, 2016.
2. Miller, Daniel (December 2015)."Restoring Star Wars" (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/restoring-star-wars/6
994818). Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151214021859/htt
p://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/restoring-star-wars/6994818) from the original on December 14, 2015.
Retrieved January 27, 2016.
3. Gordon, Whitston (December 14, 2015)."Watch the Original Star Wars Trilogy As It Was Before George Lucas
Screwed It Up" (http://lifehacker.com/watch-the-original-star-wars-trilogy-as-it-was-before-g-1747927284).
Lifehacker. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151214232358/http://lifehacker .com/watch-the-original-star-war
s-trilogy-as-it-was-before-g-1747927284)from the original on December 14, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
4. Hutchinson, Sean (January 22, 2016)."These Are the 5 Best 'Star Wars' Fan Edits" (https://www.inverse.com/article/
10533-these-are-the-5-best-star-wars-fan-edits)
. San Francisco: Inverse.Archived (https://www.webcitation.org/6eq
Wk5IGq?url=https://www.inverse.com/article/10533-these-are-the-5-best-star-wars-fan-edits)from the original on
January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
5. Smith, Chris (December 15, 2015)."How to watch the original Star Wars trilogy from before George Lucas altered it"
(http://bgr.com/2015/12/15/star-wars-original-unaltered-trilogy/). Boy Genius Report. Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20151216045103/https://bgr.com/2015/12/15/star-wars-original-unaltered-trilogy/)from the original on
December 16, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
6. Brew, Simon (May 20, 2015)."Star Wars: Fan creates 'despecialized' original trilogy" (http://www.denofgeek.us/movi
es/star-wars/246390/star-wars-fan-creates-despecialized-original-trilogy) . London: Den of Geek. Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20150523025000/http://www .denofgeek.us/movies/star-wars/246390/star-wars-fan-creates-despe
cialized-original-trilogy)from the original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
 7. Hutchinson, Lee (May 10, 2014)."Could Disney finally give us the remastered, unedited Star W ars we want?" (http
s://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/could-disney-finally-give-us-the-remastered-unedited-star-wars-we-want/). Ars
Technica. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140511191954/http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/could-dis
ney-finally-give-us-the-remastered-unedited-star-wars-we-want/)from the original on May 11, 2014. Retrieved
April 19, 2016.
8. Hosie, Ewen (November 17, 2015)." 'Star Wars: Despecialized Edition' Restores the Original, Unedited Trilogy" (htt
p://motherboard.vice.com/read/star-wars-despecialized-edition-removes-alterations-to-the-original-trilogy). Vice. New
York City. ISSN 1077-6788 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1077-6788). OCLC 30856250 (https://www.worldcat.org/oc
lc/30856250). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151118153023/http://motherboard.vice.com/read/star-wars-d
especialized-edition-removes-alterations-to-the-original-trilogy)from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved
January 27, 2016.
9. Jun, Dominik (November 8, 2014)."The Czech guerilla restorationist battling to 'save Star W ars' " (http://www.radio.c
z/en/section/special/the-czech-guerilla-restorationist-battling-to-save-star-wars)
. Prague: Radio Prague. Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20141113070333/http://radio.cz/en/section/special/the-czech-guerilla-restorationist-battling
-to-save-star-wars) from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
10. Eveleth, Rose (August 27, 2014)."The Star Wars George Lucas Doesn't Want You To See" (https://www.theatlantic.c
om/technology/archive/2014/08/the-star-wars-george-lucas-doesnt-want-you-to-see/379184/) . The Atlantic.
Washington, D.C.: Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1072-7825). OCLC 783915762 (https://w
ww.worldcat.org/oclc/783915762). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140828030602/http://www .theatlantic.co
m/technology/archive/2014/08/the-star-wars-george-lucas-doesnt-want-you-to-see/379184/) from the original on
August 28, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
11. Johncock, Benjamin (December 21, 2015)."On Star Wars, The Craft of Writing and What Novelists Can Learn From
'The Force Awakens' " (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/benjamin-johncock/on-star-wars-the-craft-of_b_8838360.htm
l). The Huffington Post. Archived (https://www.webcitation.org/6eqZZPmUg?url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/benj
amin-johncock/on-star-wars-the-craft-of_b_8838360.html)from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved
January 27, 2016.
12. Barry, Nathan (February 12, 2013)."Star Wars – The Fandom Editors"(https://www.wired.com/2013/02/star-wars-fan
dom-editors/). Wired. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151031163755/http://www .wired.com/2013/02/star-wa
rs-fandom-editors/) from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
13. Barry, Nathan (May 2, 2013)."Star Wars – The Fandom Editors – A Real New Hope" (http://geekdad.com/2013/05/st
ar-wars-fandom-editors/). GeekDad. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130505032247/http://geekdad.com/20
13/05/star-wars-fandom-editors)from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
14. "Two Entirely Different Ways to Watch the Original Star Wars" (http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/12/two-entirely-differe
nt-ways-to-watch-the-original-star-wars/). Australia: Gizmodo. December 18, 2015. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20151221100315/http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/12/two-entirely-different-ways-to-watch-the-original-star-war
s/) from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
15. Broughall, Nick (December 18, 2015)."Awakening the Force in my son was easier with the Harmy Despecialized
Editions" (http://www.techradar.com/news/video/awakening-the-force-in-my-son-was-easier-with-the-harmy-despecia
lized-editions-1311467). TechRadar. Archived (https://www.webcitation.org/6eqZ032MK?url=http://www.techradar.co
m/news/video/awakening-the-force-in-my-son-was-easier-with-the-harmy-despecialized-editions-1311467) from the
original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
16. Machkovech, Sam (November 26, 2015)."Star Wars beyond the films: Ars' staff picks its fave games, toys, more"(ht
tps://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2015/11/star-wars-beyond-the-films-ars-staf
f-picks-its-fave-games-toys-more/).
Ars Technica. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151129133240/http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2015/1
1/star-wars-beyond-the-films-ars-staff-picks-its-fave-games-toys-more/)from the original on November 29, 2015.
Retrieved January 27, 2016.

External links
Harmy's channel on YouTube
Harmy Despecialized on Google+
Star Wars Trilogy Despecialized Editionon Facebook

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harmy%27s_Despecialized_Edition&oldid=815616645

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