Disc
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Star Wars Episode III, DVD, "Timecode" Bootleg, China 2005
The entire widescreen width of the image is included, but rendered in the 4x3 aspect ratio. This can easily be compensated for when playing back from software on a computer, but on your TV you can never get the aspect ratio right. Both Dolby Digital and DTS English tracks are included, but sound exactly the same. The leaked file supposedly had an authentic DD 5.1 track, but I can neither confirm or deny that this is what you get on this disc. Optional subtitles are available in English, Chinese, Malay and Thai.
The disc has a nice menu, but the "Special Features" option is anything but. All you get is a trailer for "A series of unfortunate events.
You'll note that by 2005, physical copies of bootlegs such as this, were more or less supplanted by illegal downloading in the West.
This is the infamous leaked bootleg that surfaced a couple of days before Episode III premiered at the cinema. It was reportedly sourced from an disloyal employee of one of the post-production facilities working on the film. The timecode (see below) is present the entire runtime. This proved a minor inconvenience compared to the novelty of having a near pristine source from which to dupe bootlegs. The VOB-files are dated May 20th, 2005. (The movie premiered May 19th.) It is plausible that this DVD was mastered at that time.
Main menu
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Scene selection menu
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Languages selection menu
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"Special" feature: A trailer
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Fox fanfare
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A long time ago...
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Title card
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Opening crawl
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Kill him
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Sidious hologram
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Grievous quad
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Padme's appartment
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High ground
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Sunset
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End credits
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End credits
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