DonnachaOne

Next thing you know, Lucas will reveal that "Leia" was his nickname for Carrie Fisher's... um, never mind.

chrismcg

Holly,

I really enjoyed your review... I just got this one myself and 100% agree on everything you said (click here if you care). I also just read over at Yahoo....

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/ap/2004...528362000.html

However that it doesn't seem likely George is planning on giving the "Original Trilogy" the treatment that we want... Very, very sad news

mutt2020

Hey I am in Bradford UK....passed the local HMV last night and it seems like they are sellin the trilogy today, 17/6...it's in a gold edition box for the widescreen version....for 29.99 pounds!

TommyMc

isn't the platinum one the widescreen? I'm 100% confident it is...

Grizzly

Holly,

since you've seen it, maybe you could help clear this out.. i'm wondering about whether or not subtitles for the alien languages are burnt in, or if they come in an automatically turned on subtitle track that only translates those few bits and pieces of alien language throughout the films.. i'm pretty certain they use a subtitle track, but i just want to make sure before i decide on whether to get the R1 or the local release.

MaxH

Thanks for the very thorough review, Holly. The one thing I didn't see addressed is the audio mixing. There was an online chat with Van Ling, the producer of the SW Trilogy DVD set and the amazing T2 release, in which a lot of people complained about the audio and he seemed to agree...well, this explains it better than I can:

and...

Any comments? Did you notice any of this, or do you think only geeks on the order of The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy will care?

Holly E. Ordway

My general observation is that yeah, it's pretty much a geek-only issue. I didn't notice anything odd in the first go-round, but after reading the long thread on the SW audio quality, I popped in the DVD and checked out the Tarkin/Leia and Han Solo/Luke scenes that some people had mentioned as being problematic, specifically looking for sound quality issues this time.

I replied in the Audio Quality thread, but I'll copy and paste my comments here as it's relevant:

----
It's not something I noticed on the first viewing, or would notice if I weren't actively listening for it, but I can see what people are talking about in the Tarkin scene. It does have a shift in the "feel" of the dialogue from one line to the next, which incidentally coincides with a camera cut. However, I wouldn't say it's any less clear, or that it sounds bad; it just has perhaps a bit less timbre to it, which strikes me as the sort of thing that's probably from the source material. In the scene with Han and Luke I didn't really notice any variation at all.

Maybe it's because I'm not a really die-hard Star Wars fan, just someone who really likes the films a lot, but frankly in light of all the movies I've seen and reviewed, I am inclined to accept a few imperfections in the soundtrack --especially ones that you have to really *listen for* -- as pretty much par for the course in a 1977 film, the same way that there's really no way to get around the extra touch of grain in A New Hope compared to the other two films. Now, if you argue that we should have "perfection" (whatever that is), you can go on forever; on the other hand, if you are willing to accept a really outstanding transfer that's a treat to watch and listen to, even if it's not the Holy Grail of Star Wars perfection, the DVD set is fine.

Yes, A New Hope would get a very slightly lower mark for audio than the other two films, if I were to rate them separately, but that's something that I already took into consideration when I rated the audio quality as 4.5/5 overall, averaging all three films together. Even after reading this thread and going back to the film to look at it again for myself, I stand by my overall rating. (In the past I have in fact revised ratings and edited reviews when new information comes to hand - rarely, but I'd do it if I felt it was warranted. Here I don't.)
-----

As for the other changes (to the music and sound effects), I don't have an opinion, really, since I didn't notice them (the same way I wouldn't have noticed if Lucas tweaked the color of the badge on the left shoulder of the fifth rebel soldier on the left as Vader boards the battlecruiser). I think these are things that are going to be noticed by a very small minority - the people who have seen the film 50 or 100 times.

I've seen the Star Wars films probably 3 or 4 times, which is a lot for me (and probably for most viewers) - and while I know that Lucas did some tweaking (and I'd rather he hadn't, but it's not a catastrophe) I don't notice the little things, and I'm not personally interested in watching the films with a checklist in my hand. That's not the point, to me.

IMO, the fact that the action scenes are a shade too aggressive with the volume is more of a genuine "problem" than the oddities that people are tracking down, but that (rightfully) is being treated as a "OK, the audio isn't quite perfect" issue rather than an "OMG!!!! Recall! Recall!" issue.

My judgment as a reviewer is that these are really really fun movies, with really great audio and video transfers. They're not perfect, but I've never reviewed a DVD that was perfect (though The Fellowship of the Ring: EE is a mere half-star away from all 5 stars - the closest I've ever seen to perfection!). Could the Star Wars set have been restored so that it earned 5 stars instead of 4.5 for audio and video? Very likely, and that would have been cool. But I think we're talking about 99th-percentile stuff that the vast majority of viewers (including sophisticated ones with nice equipment) are just not going to notice or care about.

My advice would be to just buy the DVD set and enjoy the movies - and don't read all the threads with people obsessing about the audio/video transfer, as it'll just tend to put you in the frame of mind that you're looking for problems while you watch. That's sure to put a damper on the enjoyment *of the movie*. It looks great, it sounds great, it's lots of fun.

And that's all I have to say about that!

TommyMc

Short comments: I bought mine last night at midnight. The box set casing isn't as impressive to me as the indiana jones one was. The inside leaflet is a one pager, but the art on it is pretty nice. I always loved the poster that they stamped on the cover of the actual dvd disk for Empire strikes back.

I noticed a couple of sound issues as well (particually the tarkin scene...sound was louder, then quieter). The dual layer switch was VERY apparant on my dvd player, where as LOTR EE's are unnoticable. plus there was a wierd video "roll" that happened in one scene in the death star for me.

but even still, these are movies that are really close to my heart, and am still completely happy to have them on DVD, with small flaws or cheap cases or not

MaxH

Wow, thanks. You addressed exactly what I wanted to know about these supposed audio problems. At first I was upset because I've heard how painstaking the restoration was, since the only existing masters were fairly dirty visually. I expected the audio tracks would receive the same attention, and it sounded like they haven't, although according to Lucasfilm, the audio "changes" were all intentional and actually part of the restoration. But although I've probably seen it one or two dozen times, from what you said I wouldn't notice the audio changes either. I feel much better about buying this set for myse...er, my wife for Christmas.

NaturalMystic79

I find the SE changes/alterations more difficult to accept than the minor audio glitches/quality.

devilshalo

Finally, got my discs and popped in SW:ANH and was happy that they seemed to fix the lightsaber duel between Vader/Obi Wan but was astounded to find how many matte lines around the tie fighters were left unfixed during the Falcon escape from the Death Star.

FreeDVDDude

I haven't watched a Star Wars movie since... well... long, long ago.

I've been thinking about picking up the trilogy set, but... so many movies... so little time.

Other than the changes I've read about here (and around) I probably wouldn't know the difference.

Well, Ok... maybe I would. Star Wars was a memorable experience.

felcher

well like some of our dvd maniacs here, my widescreen set is still sealed...........i'm waiting for a good sleepy snowy hav nuthin else to do around the holidays but watch the trilogy time and will tell you all about the imperfections while i am sipping a good blend............touche'