Fed-Ex Pope

(Puts on flame-retardant suit)

If I had to chose one version of the trilogy (since they can't really fit it all in the 4 disc set they are rushing out for 2004...seamless branching doesnt work when virtually every scene has some differences from the original)I would...

*GULP*

...pick the SEs. Other than CGI Jaba, I think they are better. Of course I think the originals SHOULD be made available. (Which I am sure Lucas will release eventually)

milo bloom

Ever hear of Moore's Law of technology? (or similar). The processes have improved considerably I'm sure in these seven years.

Lucas pulled them all back and gave them SE tapes to use. Even the Biography of Harrison Ford was recut with SE footage. He tried to do the same with some film preservation society, but they told him to go pound sand.


Then what's on my SE VHS? And on the digital tracks of the SE laserdiscs? And the ORIGINAL trilogy had not only a 2ch, but a mono and 6ch for 70mm. That's supposedly where the minor dialogue changes and the shotgun sounding blasters came from in the 97 release.

And I'd almost bet money that we'll see minor upgrades on the DVDs, like the rest of the lightsabers and matte lines.

Kal-El

What's with the sudden influx of LOTR fanboy threadcrappers? Are these people's lives really less fulfilling unless they get to proclaim on an internet messageboard how Jackson and his LOTR trilogy is more superior to Star Wars? sheesh. Consider Exhibit A here:

Did we really need all that other crap before and after the italicized parts?


Here's a question to those who are REALLY into the discussion: how sure are we on that commentary track? The announcement from the Official Site doesn't mention it, but the press releases do.

Keyser Soze

I bet they will... since all the extras commentaries, behind the scenes that I have on DVDr are taken from a first generation copy of the Laserdisc Boxset Luca$ put out years back. I have so many extras already, I couldn't justify spending $$$ on the remakes.

The Star Wars Holiday Special was something else I acquired on DVDr... and that's something Luca$ has went on record saying that it would never see the light of day w/ a release either.

Oh well... I'm happy w/ my DVDr set. Full color artwork, boxes, and disc art to boot!

-k
###

jough

The commentary is probably planned but not recorded yet. So no official announcement. But if Jim Ward says it'll be on there, you can bet it'll be on there.

And Lucas has done commentaries for the first two, so it's not like commentaries are out of the question.

ConanDestroyer

People who complain about the LOTR fanboys usually have goofy Star Warsian names themselves, including Qui Gon Job and Kal Jedi. Why don't you just shut up and let people talk? There is a reason for this discontent, but George Lucas' lapboys won't have any of it apparently.

Kal-El

Show me one post of MINE bashing LOTR in the LOTR board that's in any way comparable to these guys' and I'll shut up just for you. I'm not complaining about the discontent. What I don't get is how they find every nook and cranny to mention LOTR's "superiority" in comparison to Star Wars even when it doesn't even have anything to do with the discussion. I'd be told the exact same thing if this was the ROTK DVD discussion. The only difference is, I'm smart enough and have been a member of this community long enough to know WHAT to post, WHEN to post it and WHERE to post it.

El-Kabong

Ah, another person who is another member of the "Lucas owes me these movies" club.

No he doesnt. "The World" has no right to any say-so about these movies. One person does - the creator. If Lucas wants to go through and colorize Vader a pink hue in every third frame, then more power to him.

People bitch and moan about Lucas and his vision, but somehow remain strangly silent on other directors cuts. Hey - why dont you go find me a copy of the theatrical Blade Runner, hmmm?

Oh - right. Only the director's cut exists any more.

How about Aliens? Up until a couple of months ago, if you wanted the original cut you were shit out of luck. Directors cut or nothing for you.

And does anyone even remember what the original cut of Close Encounters was even like anymore? Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find that on VHS or LD, let alone DVD.

All these directors cuts and nobody raises a stink - and yet woe to the Greedy Bastard Luca$ and his Minions of Evil if he dare change *ONE FRAME* of his movie.

This double standard sickens me.

GuessWho

How about everyone stops comparing SW to LOTR anyway.

LOTR is closer to The Princess Bride (swashbuckling, kings, medieval-era fantasy) than Star Wars (spaceships & laserbeams) anyway. Compare those two for once.

Rooked

Did I miss something? I thought threadcraps were not allowed on this board. Or perhaps they are just discouraged. But shouldn't this thread be about the Star Wars Original Trilogy coming to DVD for the first time? It's fine if people want to discuss the merits of the Original version vs. the Special Edition, but I don't understand why people are posting in here saying how much they hate Star Wars and won't be buying it. If this were a topic of "From Kelly to Justin on DVD", I wouldn't even browse into the topic, or if I did, I certainly wouldn't post in it, much like I understood the concept of threadcrapping to be: If I am interested, I can start virtually any topic I would like. If I am not interested, I should keep it to myself and move on.

Why are all these threadcraps even being permitted?


Live and let live.

mljones99

I will be buying them regardless.

DarthMarino

Amen. This is possibly the most intelligent thing I've ever seen posted on these boards.

Wannabe

From E! online news:

According to Peter Bracke, editor of DVDfile.com, some fanatics are griping because Lucas didn't heed some Internet-based petitions to release both versions of the trilogy on DVD, something akin to what Fox did by issuing multiple cuts of Alien on the recent Alien Quadrilogy box set.

"It's actually pretty disappointing. Star Wars is the holy grail of DVD and the most requested title ever, and I think fans were expecting more like the Alien Quadrilogy," says Bracke.

"One extra disc and a couple of hours of supplementary material isn't going to cut it. Hundreds of millions of people saw these movies in the '70s and not to make it available...it's as though history has disappeared."

Of particular ire to original trilogy fans is the cantina confrontation between Han Solo and the bounty hunter Greedo. In the 1977 version of Star Wars, the proactive Han simply outdraws Greedo. In the newer version, Greedo infamously fires his laser first and misses, leading Han to shoot in self-defense. Star Wars hardies say Han would never have let Greedo shoot first. (There's even a site dedicated to Greedo Conspiracy Theory.)

Bracke also compares the Star Wars set unfavorably to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings special-edition discs.

"Extras-wise, every Lord of the Rings film gets a six-hour documentary," says Bracke. "Star Wars deserves more than."

Johnny Zhivago

How so? The extended cut of Aliens features many scenes which were cut for time concerns or whatever reason... Some of those scenes are not just filler, they tell some pretty crucial background IMHO... Example - Ripley's child and her tie to Newt. Also the colonization scenes at the start of the film lend a feel to the area pre-Alien invasion. The SE's of Star Wars change the facts and add digital filler because Lucas likes CGI... I don't see the comparison.

I'll not threadcrap on the Star Wars thread, but my personal opinion on this release is this... The Star Wars films don't interest me much these days and I have no intention of buying the DVDs - for myself - in any form. However.... My GF loves the Star Wars films (original trilogy) and I would have gladly picked them up for her as a gift... But not the SE versions... No money from my pocket. Now, if she wants to buy this DVD set, then more power to her... Lucas can do what he pleases with his space opera, it's up to the consumer to make the purchasing decision...

GuessWho

There went Bracke's early copy for review.

bboisvert

Again, I think there would be fewer people complaining if the vast majority felt that the SE actually improved the films.

But, like it or not, most people think that Greedo shooting first is stupid. Even people who hadn't seen the original film in 10 years had a WTF? kind of reaction to that scene. Not only does it change a memorable scene, but the current staging doesn't make any damn sense. Han's "Yeah" is inexplicably removed (even though his lips still move). Greedo is two feet from the guy and misses. Han doesn't even frigging flinch. The whole thing is silly.

A lot of the other changes (digital critters all over every frame of Tatooine, Luke's girlie-man scream, major musical number in Jedi) are questionable as well.



Notice that most people don't complain about the ending battle at Yavin. That had a TON of changes, all of 'em CGI. But they were done in a way that improved the end result -- and done in a style that didn't deviate from the original intent.

If all of the other SE changes were done in a similar manner, I don't think people would be so up-in-arms.


I think the big difference between Star Wars and, say, Aliens or Terminator 2 is that Cameron isn't out there saying that the theatrical editions "don't exist". He's eventually made them available to people, and even said that he prefers them in some ways to the "Special Editions".

Lucas, on the other hand, has compared the original, blockbuster, AFI and Oscar-award winning films to workprints. And gone in to make wholesale changes to the films. And then removed the originals from circulation. Forever, if you're to believe him. How can any fan who grew up on these films not be at least a little bit upset?

This being the Internet, some people definitely take it too far ("Lucas raped my childhood"; "I have all of the toys/books, Lucas OWES me.") But I don't think there is a strong argument that can be made in favor of removing these films from distribution forever. What possible purpose can that serve?

Terrell

That's no different than LOTR fools who have LOTRsian, if that's a word, names! The difference is Star Wars fans don't shit in LOTR threads the way LOTR fans seem to do. Frankly, I find LOTR to be a boring and tepid as sh*t. But I don't seek out LOTR threads to say that in.

So it's you who need to shut up.

This is not an excuse because I would like to see the originals as well, but the Alien Quadrilogy is silly. Most people don't realize that while the original transfers could be cleaned up, it would take a massive amount of work. There's no way they could have been done in time for this release. To get the original films ready for DVD would take at least a couple of years. It would need a massive overhaul, not just from Lowry Digital, but from Lucasfilm and a few other places. It could be done, but those of you that think they could be slapped onto a DVD in no time are way off the mark. Yes, they could be slapped onto a DVD, but they would be unwatchable. Even worse than a bad VHS tape.

tonyc3742

LotR is certainly *technically* superior, because, well, hey, there's been between 5 and 25 years of technological growth in the interim. And there's more 'features' and 'extras' [like there were for SW Ep I and II] because they were filmed with the knowledge of an eventual DVD release. Many of the extras on SW Ep I and II deal with the technology that helped make up the film, tech which didn't exist 5 or 25 years ago.

Should there be more extras? I'm all for extras, so yes, I'd *like* for there to be lots of stuff. I do think there would be *lots* of stuff still available, even if it's not in good condition--original trailers/commercials, toy commercials, tie-in info, etc.

Should he release it without those extra, extras? Well, any release of movies as classic and influential as these should be released in *some* form, on a relatively long-term medium like DVD. But they are his movies, after all, no matter how many fans consider it their birthright. There may not *be* all that many extras to be found, or the cost of putting them into usable form may be prohibitive. And maybe some of the extras, if included, Lucas feels would demystify the movies. His right to feel that way.

Is he sounding, or his proxy sounding, like a bit of a jerkwad about it? Yes indeed. But again, anyone can be a jerk.

Do I wish for SE or OT? I'd like to see the OT, just because I like for things to be 'as they were' [barring some technical cleanup making picture and sound clearer], but again, GL didn't ask me. I honestly don't recall many specific differences about the first releases, or the SE releases. I have read some of the links to MASSIVE amounts of info on the changes, and based solely on that, some of the changes seem to be for the better, some for the worse, some *why'd they'd do that?* Yes, without having seen it, reading the descriptions of the Greedo/Han thing seems very out of character for Han [and Harrison Ford, at that.] Does that make it a dealbreaker? Not in my mind, but I respect anyone's opinion who feels otherwise. I'd have to watch that scene again, and think about what 'originally' was, to decide more confidently if it's a 'meh, why' or a 'Oh God WHY?' type issue.

I'll probably buy it--I'm not a fan boy, but they are classic films; I have ep I and II, and I'd like to see 3-5 again to put the events of 1 and 2 in place in the timeline, and think 'Okay, now I understand why s/he did that/is that way.' Odds are the price point will be very reasonable, and I'm betting this will sell amazingly well. Plus, the cynic in me says that if they were released as separate releases, they might cost more for all three films, but some people might not buy all three [like for Indy, many didn't like ToD that much.]. Whereas in a box set like this, people who might not buy one of them, will buy all three because it's still at a good price [of course, price is TBD, I guess.]

Gatsby

I think it depends on the context in which it was used...

For example- I think it would be fine to say, I'm really upset about this release, unlike New Line/Peter Jackson's LOTR films, George Lucas isn't giving us the opportunity to own both the theatrical and extended/SE versions on DVD. That would not be considered thread crapping in my opinion :-).

Gatsby

Really?!? Damn ;-)

mrnededwards

thank god for laser disc players!

Terrell

I love the hypocrisy. I'm not trying to be an ass, but if you couldn't care less if they are out, why would you even borrow them.

Let's face it! Anyone who is a Star Wars fans and loves these movies will buy these sooner or later. Notice I said Star Wars fan. Confessing you won't on a message board is easy to do, and it's a hollow threat. Mainly because you know nobody could call you on it. For all we know, you could buy it and then come back here and slam them all over again, and claim you'll never buy them.

Gatsby

I thought they were cleaned up around 1997 with the SE... So wouldn't they only need Lowry Digital to further clean them the way the SE are getting re-mastered?

ThatGuamGuy

Dude, come on now. The fact that you don't like 'LotR' is the reason why you don't read the threads, and the fact that you don't read the threads is why you don't see the 'Star Wars' fans bashing 'LotR'.

I agree with the point people are making about thread-crapping, but to pretend that it's only 'LotR' fans crapping on 'Star Wars', and that it's not a mutual thing, is totally absurd. You may not, but take a gander at most 'LotR' threads. If the bashing has stopped, it's only because 'Attack of the Clones' was *that* bad.

[Note: that's not thread-crapping because 'Attack of the Clones' is not part of the original trilogy. However, I am kidding.]

The Valeyard

Hear, hear! I'm with you.

Hey, Keyser Soze! Where can I get a copy of your DVD-Rs?

Andrew