Star Wars Trilogy DVDs - First Look

[Muffit]

Hello all! Since this is a HUGE subject on the news, thought I would give you all a very brief "first glance" kinda review. Just went to WalMart and bought it (thank God our town has a WalMart - it's our only mall, LOL). Check out the price there - $36.97!!! Wow, I paid more than that for ONE copy of A New Hope on Laserdisc!!! And that was yucky go lucky letterbox, ick.

Right now people are making LONG LINES in New York to buy the box set, just like a premiere of a new SW at the theatre. Pretty cool that.

Okay, very quick and sweet skinny. The packaging is very low budget. BSG could run circles around it. Looks like they were originally gonna make one color box for both the Full and Wide screen versions, and just change a little "wrapper" that has the screen format indicated on the spine and top, to save costs. But seems like at the last minute they decided to go ahead and produce 2 different color boxes after all. (Or else the wrapper is for non-English versions). I sighed big time cuz the Fullscreen was in pretty gold but the Widescreen was in blah silver, so I'm stuck with silver. The wrapper is awful, it's not even glued on right, I'm thinking of tearing it off. There are 4 DVDs in the box, one for each flik and one for the extras. No silly double-sided disks, that's good.

The video is near reference quality, like all Lucas releases, and looks stunning even on a projector TV. But funny thing about the sound - years ago we were told the delayed release of this set was because Mr. Lucas didn't want to go with anything but DTS. Yet, oddly enough, DTS is not even offered in the Setup menu. Weird. Chaptering is very well done, a whopping 50 choices(!), far better than most fliks that only have 10 or so. One question for you all... was there a planet beneath the opening chase scene in the original cut? I don't remember that.

That's all for now. I will be watching all of them very soon and give you much more info.
CHeers!

Muffit

[Muffit]

P.S. - Oh, and yes, Virginia, they ARE anamorphic, thank booshoo the plimpy bird! (???) No that's not a ref to anyone, just my weird humor.

If it weren't 16:9 enhanced, this daggit would never have shelled out for it, I guarantee ya that!

Muffit

[The 14th Colony]

One question for you all... was there a planet beneath the opening chase scene in the original cut? I don't remember that.

Sure. Just before the fleeing rebel ship soared into view, Tatooine came into view at the bottom.

[julix]

Originally Posted by The 14th Colony

Sure. Just before the fleeing rebel ship soared into view, Tatooine came into view at the bottom.

Way to hussle 14th

[Gemini1999]

Originally Posted by Muffit

One question for you all... was there a planet beneath the opening chase scene in the original cut? I don't remember that.

Muffit -

I've you've only seen "Star Wars - A New Hope" in pan and scan, you wouldn't be able to see the planet Tatooine across the bottom of the screen due to the limitations of such a small framed picture. I remember the vista quite vividly with the brilliant blue band of atmosphere above the sandy browns and tans of the planet itself. It was indeed always there....!

I know what you mean about the color of the packaging - when I bought the VHS tapes, the pan and scan game in gold and the widescreen in silver. Silver's not my favorite color either, but it's just packaging.

I hope you enjoy your DVDs!

Best,
Bryan

[kingfish]

Muffit how was the sound quality? The reason I ask is there was mention of some problems.

Paul

[Muffit]

Hi all! Wow, all kinds of replies! Thanks!

Hi Kingfish! I listened to the Death Star attack to help gauge the 5.1 surround and overall sound quality. Two thumbs up from the daggit (or is that two claws??? ;: ). The sound wraps around you beautifully, and they made good use of the surround speakers, unlike many other fliks that say 5.1 but are really just mono out the center channel speaker.

I think folks are being overly picky, as they expect nothing but the best after all this time and of course brouhaha. For $36, you get 4 DVDs of better quality by far than 90% of the DVDs you will find elsewhere. I will have to hear the whole thing, especially the parts DIgital Bits didn't like, to see if it's really a big deal. I have a feeling teh sound will be fine and I will only be miffed (muffed?) by the video doctoring which should have been left alone IMHO.

The flip side of ET with the "director's cut" will never see the light of day on my screen, LOL. Wish they'd release SW unedited and uncut too, but oh well, I can't imagine leaving free money on the table (millions at least) like that, but I'm not a producer so I guess a couple million here or there doesn't really matter to them.

Thanks all!

[julix]

We watched A New Hope last night and the sound was great....didn't see the problem...but I am not a sound expert by any means

[Raymar3d]

Originally Posted by Muffit

One question for you all... was there a planet beneath the opening chase scene in the original cut? I don't remember that.

That's all for now. I will be watching all of them very soon and give you much more info.
CHeers!

Muffit

Muffit,

I got to see this sequence re-done for I-MAX theatre presentation, WOW it was cool!

Despite the drawbacks of the Special Edition treatments on these films, I'll be getting the DVD's. All I have are the fullscreen versions of the original trilogy, and I really want to see the widescreen versions at DVD quality.

Do the extras cd's have any of the original sequences without the SE treatment? For example, before and after looks at the scenes? If so, someone industrious could reassemble them, LOL.

Ken

[ernie90125]

Hi all,

Can I warn people of one thing - This isn't the last time that the movies with will played around with and re-released. Many reviews say that Lucasfilm is holding back...and they are right !

We still have the 6 movie box-set re-release to come ! It is a certain thing it will happen, Lucas has said so much, and that there will be more changes....

Also, there were legit releases on DVD of the original trilogy on Hong Kong who exposed a contract loophole. I duuno if they were straight video conversions of the original trilogy, but they are out there.

Personally, a friend is loaning me this re-release, and I am holding out for the final (if there is such a thing) re-release of the 6 movie set.....

[Ian_W359]

I picked up a box-set on Monday with a special free slipcase (from my local retailer MVC) - The UK is only getting the 16:9 silver widescreen version (although HMV is selling it in the gold sleeve as an 'exclusive').

I've only played the extras disc so far (Van Ling's menus are excellent as usual - one question tho- should the Star Wars fanfare be on the opening menu too, as well as the main discs?).

One thing thats amazed me is the trailers and TV spots (of which I've seen the majority of on this disc only for the first time), they just don't make 'em like they used to! (I kind of got the same feeling from the Star Trek : TMP spots too...)

I think I'll be watching A New Hope this weekend!

Ian W359

[Charybdis]

OMG!!!! Those trailers are terrible!!!! I can't believe that anyone would want to go see that movie with those trailers!!! Wow, I can't believe that movies and television back in those days were that bad

BTW, I have a set of those Hong Kong DVD releases. They are the 1997 Special Edition versions of the movies, so I have all three main versions of the movies now: the original version on VHS, the Special Editions from 1997 and now the 2004 official DVD release...

[Eric Paddon]

Anyone who wants good THX Laserdisc versions of the original cuts, check out my e-bay auction (I've already got the CAV set and am getting DVD transfers of all three films).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...326059197&rd=1

[kingfish]

Originally Posted by Raymar3d

Muffit,

I got to see this sequence re-done for I-MAX theatre presentation, WOW it was cool!

Despite the drawbacks of the Special Edition treatments on these films, I'll be getting the DVD's. All I have are the fullscreen versions of the original trilogy, and I really want to see the widescreen versions at DVD quality.

Do the extras cd's have any of the original sequences without the SE treatment? For example, before and after looks at the scenes? If so, someone industrious could reassemble them, LOL.

Ken

I don't know if this will help but:

http://s4.invisionfree.com/Battlesta...topic=239&st=0


There are two links to the before and after. I even showed an example.

I picked up the DVD set as well. Picture quality is to die for. Just what I've been waiting for a long time. I think the changes made to the films were okay too although seeing Hayden Christiansen in Return of The Jedi was unexpected.

What I noticed in A New Hope:

1. Greedo fires at Han and Han takes him out quickly. It almost appears as if they fire at each other simultaneously.

2. A new CG Jabba appears in the scene where he confronts Han before leaving Tatooine (looks more like the Return of the Jedi Jabba).

3. Lightsabre colors are clearer and the final duel between Vader and Kenobi is faster. Obi-Wan doesn't appear as "feeble" as he did in the original.


Empire Strikes Back:

1. The dialogue between Vader and the Emperor has been altered and Ian McDiarmid (who played the Emperor in ROTJ and as well as Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in the prequels) appears in place of the original "holographic" Emperor with the funky eyelids.

2. Boba Fett's voice has been replaced by that of Temuera Morrison (who played Jango Fett in Episode II).


Return Of The Jedi:

1. No eyebrows on Vader when Luke removes his mask.

2. At the end of the film when the spirits of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda appear to Luke, a younger Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen) replaces the original actor Sebastian Shaw.

What do you guys think of the changes made by Lucas (aside from the 1997 Special Edition modifications)?

[kingfish]

It was rumored that Lucas was going to insert Natalie Portman into Jedi. Also the Obi-Wan death scene was going to be changed. Apollon did you notice this when you watched? I have been too busy to watch mine.

[bsg1fan1975]

We got the gold version last night. I might sit and watch the first one this morning! Pais around $50 for it but we got a $15 mail in rebate to go along with it. Those rebates sure do work when it comes to daving on a movie!



I still think Mark Hamill is cute after all these years!

[julix]

Originally Posted by bsg1fan1975

We got the gold version last night. I might sit and watch the first one this morning! Pais around $50 for it but we got a $15 mail in rebate to go along with it. Those rebates sure do work when it comes to daving on a movie!



I still think Mark Hamill is cute after all these years!

My heart still melts when I see him in the scence with the setting suns and the music swells........Fell in love in the theater a lifetime ago, and it brings up a wonderful feeling ever time I have seen it since.


I love our DVD set...........

[Gemini1999]

Originally Posted by julix

My heart still melts when I see him in the scence with the setting suns and the music swells........Fell in love in the theater a lifetime ago, and it brings up a wonderful feeling ever time I have seen it since.

Julix -

That scene has a lot for me too (no, I didn't fall in love with Mark!). When I first saw Star Wars, I was sixteen and my life was still ahead of me. I totally connected with that scene as Luke was wondering when his life would start happening for him.

It was even a weirder experience 20 years later looking at the same scene when it was released in the theaters in 1997. I could still understand that look, but with 20 years gone by, you almost wished you could be back in that moment and try some of it again....

A very powerful film moment indeed!

Best,
Bryan

[kingfish]

Hamill was in another fine film titled The Big Red One. He plays Griff, a soldier who can't bring himself to kill untill he sees the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp and shoots a german soldier over and over. The late Lee Marvin was also in the film as the Sergeant.

[Charybdis]

Dude, it's amazing that you bring up The Big Red One!!! That is my all-time favorite war movie!!!

It really is a great one. Stars Lee Marvin, Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill and chronicles the trials and travails of four dog-face soldiers and their sergeant through WWII....great stuff!

[kingfish]

Originally Posted by Charybdis

Dude, it's amazing that you bring up The Big Red One!!! That is my all-time favorite war movie!!!

It really is a great one. Stars Lee Marvin, Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill and chronicles the trials and travails of four dog-face soldiers and their sergeant through WWII....great stuff!

Besides liking sci fi, I also love war movies. Sam Fuller was an excellent writter of some of the best war flicks to date.

[julix]

Originally Posted by Gemini1999

Julix -

That scene has a lot for me too (no, I didn't fall in love with Mark!). When I first saw Star Wars, I was sixteen and my life was still ahead of me. I totally connected with that scene as Luke was wondering when his life would start happening for him.

It was even a weirder experience 20 years later looking at the same scene when it was released in the theaters in 1997. I could still understand that look, but with 20 years gone by, you almost wished you could be back in that moment and try some of it again....

A very powerful film moment indeed!

Best,
Bryan

Bryan....
I was 14 and know what you mean about wondering what life holds for you while watching that scence it is so powerful(the music hits it) I also look back over the last 25 years and think about what has happened and what I would change if I could and there is plenty let me tell ya. I wish I could say I wouldn't change a thing like a lot of people say...but i would be lying. I did a lot of dumb things mostly that hurt myself, not others. So I do wish I could do it different....sigh. alas I can not so I must move foward. It is funny how a scene can take us back to a place in time.

Originally Posted by kingfish

It was rumored that Lucas was going to insert Natalie Portman into Jedi. Also the Obi-Wan death scene was going to be changed. Apollon did you notice this when you watched? I have been too busy to watch mine.

No, Padme was not added to Return of the Jedi. Her name wasn't even mentioned.