Post by: Arbok on May 03, 2006, 07:44:07 PM
Oh praise the lord!
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In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie, as well as the original theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy "Star Wars" as it first appeared in 1977, "Empire" in 1980, and "Jedi" in 1983.
I will be picking these up without a second thought, although I wish that the ESB release kept the old 1997 Special Edition version, which I thought was an improvment over the 1980 one and that it got messed up on the DVD with giving Boba Fett's voice to Temuera Morrison, who read the lines like he didn't care one bit, and the whole new "Emperor sequence". Regardless, I'm very excited about this and thought that we wouldn't see the day.
Post by: Bill Aurion on May 03, 2006, 08:03:53 PM
Post by: wandering on May 03, 2006, 08:55:45 PM
Star Wars will finally be able to take a place of honor on my DVD shelf.
Post by: Ian Sane on May 03, 2006, 09:52:06 PM
Lucas is a total dick to be putting the new cuts on the DVDs as well. I figured he would just make all the fans double dip and have to buy both versions but he's being an even bigger prick by making their first purchase redundant.
I'm happy at least though I feel a little sorry about those who fell for Lucas' little scam.
"I will be picking these up without a second thought, although I wish that the ESB release kept the old 1997 Special Edition version, which I thought was an improvment over the 1980 one"
Yeah, 1997 Empire was actually pretty good (except for the Wampa scene which has no suspense or sublety whatsoever). I have those on VHS though not widescreen. I liked the Special Editions as a kid but I really don't care for them now. For completeness sake all three variations should be available but it's not nearly as big of a deal for the 1997 versions to be out of print as it was for the original cuts to be.
Post by: Kairon on May 04, 2006, 01:05:47 AM
LUCAS I FORGIVE YOU WHATEVER I SAID BEFORE WAS IN JEST YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU!!!
~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com
Post by: King of Twitch on May 04, 2006, 04:40:30 PM
Post by: UncleBob on May 04, 2006, 07:34:39 PM
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Originally posted by: MJRx9000
At least there won't be Special Editions for Ep. 1-3.
Sure, sure...
Post by: Athrun Zala on May 04, 2006, 08:26:20 PM
Quotefor now........
Originally posted by: MJRx9000
At least there won't be Special Editions for Ep. 1-3.
Post by: wandering on May 04, 2006, 08:29:26 PM
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At least there won't be Special Editions for Ep. 1-3.
Actually, I imagine ep. 1-3 can only get better...
Post by: TrueNerd on May 04, 2006, 11:03:42 PM
Oh hoh ho, this is very joyous news. I care not that I will be buying the Trilogy a second time, it will be worth it to own the non-bastardized versions. I say this every time, but I mean it now: This will be the last time I buy Star Wars.
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on May 05, 2006, 05:09:21 AM
QuoteWell, at least those of us who waited are actually less screwed, not that I ever wanted to buy the new versions at all. I, too, thought this would have to wait until after he died, but I guess even billionaires can be swayed by greed.
Lucas is a total dick to be putting the new cuts on the DVDs as well. I figured he would just make all the fans double dip and have to buy both versions but he's being an even bigger prick by making their first purchase redundant.
Post by: BiLdItUp1 on May 05, 2006, 05:30:59 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on May 05, 2006, 08:51:20 AM
I think they're more in need of a complete redo. But if someone with actual writing and directing skills remade the prequels using special effects that fit in with the old films and rewriting the story so that it's actually consistent with the original trilogy I would be all over it. I think the best thing to do is to get someone who has never seen any Star Wars movies, show him the original films, and have him make his own interpretation of what the prequels should be like using only the original films as his source material. This is of course a total pipedream but it would be cool. When I first heard they were making prequels I thought about what they would be like and honestly the idea I had in my head was way different then the results. At the time I didn't even think about using CG. I imagined a prequel looking like the original films.
Post by: vudu on May 05, 2006, 09:16:30 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on May 05, 2006, 09:18:49 AM
I think the DVD has both versions of the film on it.
Post by: King of Twitch on May 05, 2006, 10:00:04 AM
Post by: wandering on May 05, 2006, 09:34:16 PM
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The only thing left for the prequels is a Non-Special Edition. No CG sets, no CG models, no CG armies. I bet he's pretty tired of Star Wars by now though.
So, nothing but actors and greenscreen? I'd buy it.
Post by: Caliban on May 05, 2006, 09:46:03 PM
Post by: JonLeung on May 06, 2006, 04:51:31 AM
It'd be nice if we could get a format that would be large enough to hold everything on ONE DISC. ALL the Star Wars movies, all versions of them, all other related Star Wars material like Clone Wars, the entire series of the upcoming Star Wars TV shows, every DVD extra ever made, all in the highest possible better-than-actual-film resolution, THX uberrerereremastered, and all the PC games on it... There couldn't possibly be a better version, until Lucas (or most likely someone else by this time) makes something else that has to do with Star Wars. >_<
Post by: UncleBob on May 06, 2006, 05:04:09 AM
Post by: JonLeung on May 06, 2006, 10:07:20 AM
Post by: UncleBob on May 06, 2006, 10:50:35 AM
Post by: TMW on May 06, 2006, 07:10:31 PM
This is just awesome.
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on May 08, 2006, 05:59:01 AM
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Originally posted by: JonLeung
I was just about to say that. They're milking as much as they can out of Star Wars fans with the current DVD format, and probably could rerelease some of these versions barely changed on either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (only now maybe on fewer discs or better quality).
The quality is already too good. I watched the Special Edition DVDs with some friends on their 94" screen, and the amount of detail you can see breaks some of the magic. For example, you can see Anthony Daniels' skin between pieces of his C-3PO costume, or you can look straight through the gaps in R2-D2 to see that he's mostly empty. This is why I'm not so sure about HD being the future for movies. If you can see so much detail that you can tell the communicator prop is just an electric razor with an extra bit of plastic glued on, it's going to make supension of disbelief a lot harder. So much of movie magic is based on letting the human brain fill in the gaps automatically that I don't know if even movies made by crews aware of this problem can get around it.
Post by: Ian Sane on June 07, 2006, 11:54:35 AM
The original DVDs are actually just going to be ripped from the Laserdiscs. Apparently George Lucas "taped over" the original versions when he made the special editions. I personally think that's total bullsh!t. Some copy of the film somewhere must still exist. My theory is that Lucas doesn't want the accidental good versions of Star Wars released so he's half-assing it to shut people up and make a quick buck. He thinks the new versions are better, no one else does, so he intentionally sabotages the old versions to try to convince people the new version is better. Sounds pretty nutty but Lucas IS pretty nutty. It's setting up something to fail to support an arguement with no weight behind it.
I don't see why George Lucas cares so much about this. All he's done is piss everyone off. What a prick.
I want the original films in widescreen and in a format that doesn't deteriorate so I'll buy this half-assed crap. But that's it. I'll never buy Star Wars ever again.
Post by: TMW on June 07, 2006, 12:03:59 PM
Han shot first, and Jabba's just a guy you hear about, but never see.
I really don't see the issue, aside from a little quality degredation, but I can live with that.
Post by: Ian Sane on June 07, 2006, 12:12:32 PM
Well it's not as good as it should be. And I'm not asking for something exceptional, I'm just asking for the bare minimum amount of work that is expected when a film is transfered to DVD. This isn't even that. The sheer laziness just pisses me off.
It's like when a classic game is ported and the emulation isn't quite up to par. Or they reverse the controls in Mega Man. Or screw up the controls so that the Up-Start code in Mortal Kombat II doesn't work. I don't like sloppy work. It makes it quite clear that the company is just trying to get a quick buck from me and doesn't care at all about the product itself.
Post by: TMW on June 07, 2006, 12:31:28 PM
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on June 07, 2006, 12:40:52 PM
The only copy of the original Star Wars trilogy I own is the VHS set that came out along with those laserdisc ones, and I don't have a VCR anymore. I refused to buy the Extra Happy Special Edition on DVD, and resigned myself to waiting until George Lucas died so his estate, unencumbered by flawed artistic visions and motivated by pure greed, would actually do what a lot of fans wanted. Obviously, I was elated by the news about the original original trilogy coming out this year, but this news just saps the Star Wars fanboyness right out of my bones. I don't think I can financially reward this kind of behavior.
Post by: wandering on June 08, 2006, 08:19:52 PM
I was actually planning on getting the laserdiscs and a laserdic player from Ebay, so I'll be getting these regardless. Hopefully someone will get a high-quality version of the originals out there some day (I'm sure it's possible).
Actually, I might prefer the picture on these transfers to the picture on the super-deluxe special edition DVD set. I thought the picture there was a little too corrected and colorful and such.
Post by: BiLdItUp1 on June 09, 2006, 05:54:42 AM
There's no way Lucas doesn't actually have the original masters, not even he is that stupid. I'm probably going to buy this set nonetheless, but only because I also have the anamorphic Dr. Gonzo and Citizen sets, which could be had from the newsgroups and a torrent release site that specializes in LD transfers and old TV shows that haven't yet been or never will be given the DVD treatment (myspleen.net).
