Return of the Jedi (1983)
Adventure, Action, Science Fiction • 2h 12m
Director: Richard Marquand
Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Sebastian Shaw, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Alec Guinness, Kenny Baker, Michael Pennington, Kenneth Colley, Michael Carter, Denis Lawson, Tim Rose, Dermot Crowley, Caroline Blakiston, Warwick Davis, Jeremy Bulloch, Femi Taylor, Annie Arbogast, Claire Davenport, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds, Jane Busby, Malcolm Dixon, Mike Cottrell, Nicki Reade, Adam Bareham, Jonathan Oliver, Pip Miller, Tom Mannion, Margo Apostolos, Eileen Baker, Michael Henbury Ballan, Bobby Bell, Patty Bell, Alan Bennett, Sarah Bennett, Pamela Betts, Danny Blackner, Linda Bowley, Peter Burroughs, Debbie Lee Carrington, Maureen Charlton, Willie Coppen, Sadie Corre, Tony Cox, John Cumming, Jean D'Agostino, Luis De Jesus, Debbie Dixon, Margarita Fernández, Phil Fondacaro, Sal Fondacaro, Tony Friel, Daniel Frishman, John Ghavan, Michael Gilden, Paul Grant, Lydia Green, Lars Green, Pam Grizz, Andrew Herd, J.J. Jackson, Richard Jones, Trevor Jones, Glynn Jones, Karen Lay, John Lummiss, Nancy MacLean, Peter Mandell, Carole Morris, Stacie Nichols, Chris Nunn, Barbara O'Laughlin, Brian Orenstein, Harrell Parker Jr., John Pedrick, April Perkins, Ronnie Phillips, Katie Purvis, Carol Read, Nicholas Read, Diana Reynolds, Danielle Rodgers, Chris Romano, Dean Shackelford, Kiran Shah, Felix Silla, Linda Spriggs, Gerald Staddon, Josephine Staddon, Kevin Thompson, Kendra Wall, Brian Wheeler, Butch Wilhelm, Mark Dodson, Simon J. Williamson, Richard Bonehill, David Gonzales, Peter Roy, Erik Bauersfeld, Mike Quinn, Bill Kipsang Rotich, Deep Roy, Alisa Berk, Hugh Spight, Swee Lim, Richard Robinson, Gerald Home, Phil Herbert, Tim Dry, Sean Crawford, Phil Tippett, Toby Philpott, David Alan Barclay, Jasper Jacob, Peter Allen, John Altman, Glyn Baker, Dickey Beer, Ailsa Berk, Paul Brooke, Ben Burtt, Maurice Bush, Trevor Butterfield, Vivienne Chandler, Tony Clarkin, Kenneth Coombs, Andy Cunningham, Peter Diamond, Richard Driscoll, Douglas Farrell, Alan Flyng, Ernie Fosselius, Stuart Fox, Isaac Grand, Gordon Hann, Alan Harris, Walter Henry, Philip Herbert, Larry Holt, William Hoyland, Colin Hunt, Monty Jordan, Michael Josephs, Eiji Kusuhara, Anthony Lang, Arnold Lee, Julius LeFlore, John Maloney, Paul Markham, Richard Marquand, Hilton McRae, Billy J. Mitchell, Amanda Noar, Terry Sach, Errol Shaker, Guy Standeven, Jules Walters, Robert Watts, Paul Weston, Corey Dee Williams, Michael Stevens, Michael McCormick, David Stone, Lynne Hazelden, Paul Springer, Ronny Cush, John Cannon, Larry Ward, Jason Wingreen
Best English-friendly & video release
OG: "4K83" or "OTD83" on the high seas
Special Edition: "4K97_VI" or "D+97_VI" on the high seas
Updated 3 months ago
Upcoming
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
Best audio release
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes (and usually included in fan restorations). There are 16mm/TV rips of the mono mixes.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
About the film
Luke Skywalker leads a mission to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, while the Emperor seeks to destroy the Rebellion once and for all with a second dreaded Death Star.
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- Alternative Titles
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars 6, Star Wars VI Despecialized, Star Wars։ Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Episode VI), Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Despecialized Edition, Star Wars 4K83
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
High seas for the recreated Theatrical Cut
Disney 4K Blu-ray is disappointing
OG: "4K80" or "D+80" on the high seas. If not, Disney 4K Blu-ray
Special Edition: "4K97_V" or "D+97_V" on high seas.
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: "4K80" or "D+80" on the high seas
Special Edition: "4K97_V" or "D_97_VI" on the high seas.
If not, the 4K Blu-rays are generally considered an improvement over the 2011 Blu-rays. (although both restorations are DNR'ed and have issues).
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes. 70mm six-track mix is included in 4K80 (taken from an actual 70mm print). There are 16mm rips of the mono mix.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
2D version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Disney 3D Blu-ray or Disney+/Apple TV Vision Pro Streaming
Director: George Lucas
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
OG: "4K77" or "D+77" on high seas.
Special Edition: "4K97_IV" or "D+97_IV" on high seas.
2027 Original Trilogy restoration/50th anniversary rerelease clips leaked plus release confirmed
OG: LaserDisc audio is the best option for the Dolby Stereo mixes (and usually included in fan restorations). There are 16mm/TV rips of the mono mixes.
Special Edition: Cinema DTS or 1997 LaserDisc for the Special Edition.
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
High seas for recreated Theatrical Cut or HDTV rip
Disney 4K Blu-ray is a mediocre upscale.
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
High seas for recreated Theatrical Cut or HDTV rip
Disney 4K Blu-ray is a mediocre upscale.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
More Adventure on Blu-ray
Director: George Pal
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: John Huston
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Eureka Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Older DVD or LaserDisc probably even better
All blu-ray releases so far is from the 2010 scan.
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Director: David Lean
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray Purist choice: Blu-ray
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray new improved master with color grading and slight issues. Blu-ray is old master with original color grading
Blu-ray 5.1
The Paramount 4K Blu-ray has a much better new scan that removes the original extremely dated color grading. This is an improvement on one hand but a definite revisionist change on the other. There is the expected grain management and slight HDR issues in addition to encoding quirks from Paramount. It is a giant improvement over the original Blu-ray but the color change and other issues means that the Blu-ray is one to keep for purists to have the as-is original iteration of the film's presentation. Audio wise the film has been remixed into Atmos but it merely seems like a slightly tweaked and frankly tamed version of the original 5.1. Of the two I prefer the Blu-ray 5.1. The original Blu-ray was Dolby TrueHD and the reissue Blu-ray in the four film Blu-ray collection boxset was DTS-HDMA.
DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal's 4K release is similar in encode quality, but has significant glitches in multiple frames. See comparisons 9-16 here: https://slow.pics/c/YkSVb3Ey
The pitch of the StudioCanal 4K's English audio is too high
Criterion has more extras than StudioCanal.
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Researched and maintained by
tyyux,vanshady,JojoTheMovieOtter,DISKANBGR8,Hydra Spectre,reubenward895· last reviewed 3 months ago
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