Fox and Lucas

No, it's not. The other set is, based on the info we know. We think this is silly since it's just a re-issue of a boxset minus one bonus disc. 'Shame on Lucas for providing entertainment'? This is just milking, not quite as noble as you see it.

Every studio milks their films when it comes to DVD. I see no problem with it whatsoever. Usually the people who whine about double-dipping are the people buying the product more than once. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything. If you don't like multiple releases, the best way to show that is to not buy it. This is double dipping. But it amazes me that people whine about this, yet didn't seem bothered that Jackson and New Line had 3 seperate releases of each LOTR film, within a span of 4 months. It doesn't matter whether they announced it beforehand. It's still double dipping. Why did they do that? Because they knew fans would buy both. That's why. That's exactly why Lucas does it. Because he knows fans will spend money on it.

I honestly don't understand why people complain when corporations use every trick in the book to make money, which is why they're in business to begin with.

Three different editions of LOTR in four months? Man, you have gone mad. Are you really going to count both fullscreen and widescreen theatrical formats as two seperate releases?

Um, the 2-disc set came first. Then came the 4-disc set and the gift set approximately 4 months later. I know the gift set also contains the EE, but it's still a seperate release. Why did they do this, to make more money. Simple as that.

That's why Lucas is doing this. Money. That's why all corporations do it. To make money. Get used to it folks. It's not going to stop. Guess what, there will be more releases in the future. Get over it and stop whining. It just amazes that people go apeshit because a studio releases multiple copies of films on DVD, when they don't even have to buy it.

Terrel, I try to be on your side, I really do, but your constant attacking of the LOTR DVDs borders on the psychotic. There were two releases. Two. The theatrical and the Extended. Both were announced ahead of time, neither had overlapping extra material. I know you love Lucas, I still hold a soft spot for him myself, but you constant attacks on LOTR do you and your cause no good.

The big problem with this new SW release is just the pointlessness of it. They could simply do a $5 price drop and mark it as a re-release and it would move units. Unless they're doing something like releasing the original versions, then this is just a new push. We shouldn't be getting this upset about a new push when we don't even know what it's going to contain. There are people, believe it or not, who have stated they don't like all those extras on DVDs, maybe this is for them. More power to them. While I wish my four disc set could have had that artwork, I've got it on some of my VHS releases so I'll deal with it.

There is room on my shelf and in heart for both sagas.

I take exception to the New Line/LOTR detrimental comments. Firstly, the original releases can't really be considered "bare bones", so that's a plus... secondly the EE's were announced WELL ahead of time, so that's on the up-and-up, plus most people don't want to sit through the length of the EE version of the films. Thirdly, the gift set had the EXACT same EE package, so while it's two releases, they're targeted for two segments of movie purchasers. Please don't compare the LOTR releases in any way to the Star Wars releases.

OK, now everyone can get back to the Fox/Lucas rants.

That's no revelation. I'm not whining because there's no way I'd buy it, but atleast other studios have the decency to throw in a few extra incentives, this looks like just a shameless cash-in.

Yeah I don't get people who feel like these trilogies are football teams where you have to pick one and bash the other. Just don't get it. LOTR are 3-plus-hour long medieval fantasy epics and Star Wars are breezy space adventures.
One has horses, the other has spaceships. They're pretty different. It's ok to like them both.

About this dvd release, I couldn't care less because I have the one with the bonus disc. Since my sound system is just my t.v. speakers, I can't tell that there are problems with the audio, but if the audio is screwed up, it would be pretty cruddy of them to just fix them with this release instead of issuing a recall for those who have systems that make those errors apparent, because really, isn't that a defective product?? Why don't consumer agencies ride these studios who put out defective discs (like Universal with they're discs that skip and don't play right)?

Now that would be a reason to get upset, and I agree it would be a crappy thing for them to do. But this looks to be just a repackaging of the films themselves.

milo, please explain to me how I'm attacking the LOTR DVDs? I said I had no problem with the release, nor do I have problems with double-dipping, shameless or not. I also think they're great DVDs. If I had attacked them, I would have said something negative about them. I didn't. I have nothing negative to say about them. My point is they were released the way there were for the sole purpose of getting fans money twice, and you and both know it no matter how many excuses people come up with. My other point is people go apesh*t over a Star Wars re-release like this, but you barely hear a peep when other studios like New Line do it. Of course it's done for money. Almost everything in this country is done for money.

By the way, they were packaged in three seperate releases. That's what a release means. It doesn't matter if it has the same DVD or not. The gift set is a seperate release because it contains seperate items not included in the other sets.

I'm just trying to understand why people spew such vitriol for something they're not even forced to buy while cheering others. It's silly.

Who here has said otherwise?

Spare me the condescending remarks milo.

No one is forced to buy any DVD. Anyone who is complaing about this release NEEDS to quit whining.

I will be purchasing this as a Christmas gift for someone who does not care about the extras disc and I'm happy I'll be able to purchase this new set cheaper than I would otherwise.

You could be right Cameron, but the history of these movies on vhs show that they will probably be repackaged over and over on dvd, as long as the format is viable.

yah, but there are still no hard facts on what this is. The link http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?...25&n=1&burl=): states "As far as we know". Since no official announcement has been made on the star wars website, fox website, or any other of the major site reporting in yet we have no idea what to expect...yah it looks like a cash grab, same disc and what not...but whose to say there are not some little tweaks here and there...new lines, more cgi, more changes...

or that the heaven's will open up and this won't be the special editions. At this point it is all speculation...

Eh, well the only way this can be worth anything is if it's the original trilogy, which ain't happening.

I agree. I'm not sure why some are so upset over this release. If this set is simply the previous release sans the bonus disc, what does it matter to you? If they were adding new features that would be one thing, but if you already purchased this last year and this doesn't offer anything new to you, I don't see why it would be anything to be upset about.

If anything, we can at least wait for more details about this set before attacking FOX/Lucas.

if it has easter eggs then it will be a diffrent disc...new authoring and such. They did this with the tapes so many times it hurts...who bought that vhs set for the episode 2 sneak peek....

The only way I would buy this re-release is if Lucas re-edits the movies with more Jar Jar and Hayden Christensen.

Someone says it much better than I. I couldn't agree more. It's done for money. There is no other point to it. But, who cares. None of us are going to buy it, because we already have the 4-disc box set.

Wouldn't it make more sense for Lucas to release the movies individually, instead of this pretty strange non-bonus disc box? I'm sure there's plenty of people who would be happy to buy only 1 or 2 of the movies, not a boxset. It just seems odd that another box is coming out that will be nearly the same price as the first. Does the extra few dollars for the bonus disc REALLY scare some people off?

Anyway, I will definitely not be buying it if it's anything short of the Original Versions.

There were plenty of people who peeped about it. I recall buying the TE of Fellowship at Best Buy, and another guy in line with it was reading the extras, and complaining about the preview for the extended edition! He saw that another edition was coming, yet he was still buying the first one. Folks like that have no one to blame but themselves and their poor reading comprehension.

Something I can't seem to make you understand about the gift sets is that you didn't have to buy both a separate Extended Edition box, and a gift set box to get everything. The extended edition DVD set in the boxes was the same as available separately. There was no trickery going on there. Would you have preferred the Ext Ed. be available only in the ultra big giftset? Forcing people to buy the trinkets and such just to get the EE's? Personally, I bought the EE's separately, and have managed to find used copies of the first two extra DVDs, I just need the Howard Shore one and I'm set.
I suppose it goes without saying the biggest comparison is of course the lack of Star Wars theatrical editions. Just because the chances of a release happening are slim to none (and Slim left town) doesn't mean we have to like it.



I suppose the fact that it wasn't announced ahead of time won't change your mind? And I agree it's quite silly to get so upset, but I also find this release quite silly (if it is just a reduced boxset of last year's versions).


I thought you had mentioned an actual dislike of the LOTR movies in the past, if that was someone else, I apologize.

That really wasn't meant as condescending, you just seem to be his biggest defender. I really didn't mean that to come off as nasty, more like a friendly jab Again, I'm sorry.

Cruddy, but not without precedent. If you think that's bad, imagine shelling out $250 for the "Definitive Collection" laserdisc box, only to have a bunch of glitches on the set. Glitches that I may add were completely and quietly corrected on subsequent pressings.

They accepted exchanges for the Empire disc that had 10 seconds missing (Leia welding), but they would not accept returns for other issues – misspellings in the subtitled dialog, digital smearing when you would freeze frame certain scenes, etc.

However, even though they wouldn’t accept returns, later pressings FIXED all of these errors. So, essentially, they fucked the major fans that preordered the set. Nearly 15 years later and I’m still bitter.

If this is just a pared down re-release at a cheaper price point, it would be the 9320895893209831204th such re-release by a studio. It would also be better than most, as an OAR version will be made available. Since when does such a normal move result in 3 pages of complaining?

If this release doesn't interest you, then don't buy it. But don't act like someone punched you in face just by releasing a DVD you don't want. It's not a personal insult to you from a studio when a DVD that you don't want to buy is released. If you're not interested in this release because you bought the original release, then obviously you're not the target audience for this release. Someone else may be. Let them buy it. Not everyone is in the market for a boxset with a bonus disc they have no interest in watching; it is not "milking" to offer such a consumer a cheaper alternative. If you like bonus discs, this isn't the release for you. Not every DVD that gets released must be approved by you first.

DJ

The only reason I'm a bit peeved is the box, which I like much better than the first. I would think that if the studio had any selling points for the set they'd have released those details already. Although I guess fixing audio miscues wouldn't be something to advertise...

And if the box was left the same, more people would be bitching that "Luca$$$$$" is trying to trick people into buying a box that doesn't have the bonus disc, when it looks the same as the box that does have it. I'm sure Lucas and Fox are very sorry that their attempt to distinguished a different release resulted in you preferring one packaging (with an image you can find in higher quality in a million other places) over another.

DJ