TerryAlexFan

So, being a kid of the late 80's, I didn't get to enjoy Star Wars until the re-releases came out in 1997. I wasn't ever a big renter or viewer of VHS, so I hadn't ever seen the theatrical cuts of Star Wars. I've longed to watch these for quite a while, but I had held out on the theatrical cut DVDs that came out not too long ago because I heard some negative reviews, and I hoped it might be out on the Blu-Ray set once it finally came out.

Low-and-behold as we all know now, they won't be on the darn set. I really want to enjoy the roots of Star Wars, as I feel like there is a piece missing. I've heard mixed things about the theatrical DVDs, but I figured I'd get it straight from you guys, the consumers.

I read the reviews that DVD Talk had for the theatrical cuts, but I had a few questions because from what I've heard elsewhere, and just wanted to clear things up before I decide to pick the theatrical cuts up or not.


Are these truly the theatrical cuts? I heard that there was a re-release of the Star Wars films in the mid-90s (prior to the '97 re-release?) and they cleaned up a lot of things, the matte finishes, etc. I own the VHS copies of the SE's, but I know those aren't the theatrical cuts of the good 'ol days.

The main gripe I've heard is about the video quality. Is it so bad of a transfer that it's unwatchable? Or is it just not as pristine as we all would hope out of a Star Wars DVD release?

Are there any other problems with the theatrical cut DVDs worth noting?

BillWatkins

The theatrical cuts were transferred to DVD from an early 90s Laserdisc source. The quality is not great but I definitely wouldn't call it unwatchable. It's much better than VHS and on par with early generation DVDs. The biggest problem, however, is that they are non-anamorphic.

It all comes down to preference. I would choose (and frequently do) to watch a low quality version of the theatrical cuts before I would watch an amazing quality version of the hacked & butchered cuts.

TerryAlexFan

So there's no tinkering with the actual film here? Nothing that George messed with from these cuts? It's just that it's non-anamorphic, and a little messy?

mdnitoil

You got it.

ben12

You can also find anamorphic versions of these transfers. I tested one out on a Blu-Ray player on an HDTV just to see how it looked. Definitely watchable, though there are boxes around some of the ships...

How come there isn't a film nerd somewhere working with these original films to clean them up for Blu-Ray! That seems like a great nerd project!

tylergfoster

In fact, they even went back and found a version of Star Wars without "Episode IV: A New Hope" at the beginning of the crawl, just like it was when it premiered in 1977. This was added fairly early on, but it was still added after the fact, and it's not on the DVD.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

That's the only way I remember it. I didn't realize it didn't carry over to the DVDs.

If anyone's interested, they had a Star Wars deal at a science museum awhile back that I went to and I took a bunch of pictures. They had costumes, props, a hovercraft to drive, and things we use today, like limb replacement and how it was used in the movie.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44835026@N03/

tylergfoster

If you mean the caption-free version, we're only talking about the "unedited" non-special editions. The fully-remastered anamorphic SE presentation says "Episode IV: A New Hope" at the head of the crawl.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I haven't watched my unedited DVDs and only remember the VHS versions.

Undeadcow

Excellent! Thanks for posting, color me green with envy.

Mabuse

Here's everything you need to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rs_re-releases

Alan Smithee

Other than the 16x9 issue, my gripe with these is that they don't have the original burned-in subtitles- you can watch them either with no subtitles at all, or have them shown as player-generated subs in the font Fox usually uses.

jjcool

I was able to catch this exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston 5 or so years ago. And it was a great exhibit.

tylergfoster

Sucks, but this is also true of almost any DVD these days.

Agent-0008

I miss seeing the boxes around all the fighters.

calhoun07

jjcool

And more useless posts with stupid cat pictures. Is this woot?

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I have the original version where you can see the boxes around the cats

DirkUSA

Hahahahahahahahaha niceeeeeeeeeee

Abob Teff

Just for the record ... the cat scratched first.

Ranger

In addition to being non-anamorphic, I think the theatrical cuts are in 2.0 stereo.

Still, I think the OT set released in 2008 looks good. I'd get that if I didn't already have the 2004 SE set.

captainsolo

They have the stereo mix from the 93 Definitive Collection LDs. Which was much better on the LDs in PCM.