Finally on DVD: Star Wars, Sept 21st

Thanks for the heads-up.

I'll come out and proudly profess my eagerness to buy these, changed versions and all.

Sure, it's not the exact version I saw in the theaters as a kid, but when the alternative is 140 lines resolution VHS tape with Dolby Stereo vs. DVD anamorphic widescreen in 5.1, my home theater and eyeballs only crave one version.

 

Oh, of course most of us SW fans will buy them, if only for the 5.1 sound, which should be mind-boggling!


But one has to lament, in a way, Lucas & his team offering up yet another variation when the original is no longer in circulation. Kind of like the thing we were discussing in the Ron Furmanek thread: don't forget the mono....don't forget the original theatrical cut. There's no reason to, there will be plenty of fans who'll embrace not only the originals, but be curious enough about the updates to buy those as well.


ED

 

Ed, as I said before, I'll get them because of the sound.

But Lucas has definitely lost it. It's as if he suddenly went mad. He's not just destroying SW's legacy by creating the worst trilogy ever made (Ep. 1 - 3) - IMHO, but he can't seem to leave well enough alone in Episodes 4-6!

HELL, Luke missed the first time he tried to cross the abyss in Episode 4! Why on earth did he delete that scene? It's not even on my Faces LD's!

 

This time around, Greedo shoots himself!

 

You think there will be guns in this version? Probably remove all weapons and replace them with jedi mind tricks.

 

Ed, I love you, man, but those giant purple and green fonts are a bit much to take.

 

Yeah, maybe a big font in black would work ok. The green is almost unreadable when using the Minty Fresh theme.

 

I am excited!

 

I enjoy Star Wars but I'm no expert and am perplexed with the talk of "original" and "updated" versions. Will someone explain to me what the difference is?

 

In a nutshell,

The original Star Wars films are the ones released in their respective years: 1977, 1980, 1983.

As it goes, Lucas was never happy with the final cuts and always wanted to add some additional elements that he felt enhanced the story. Technology was not the same when the originals were released and therefore he felt those films were incomplete.

In the early 90s, work began on restoration of the original pictures as well as some additional editing (re-editing) of sequences into the original films. These new "special" editions were released in 1997. With the leaps in technology, Lucas was now able to realize a bit more of his dreams. Rumour has it though that even with the additional tweaks, he still wasn't 100% happy with the final products.

The only enhanced version I saw was of Star Wars and it was somewhat annoying. Little visual things here and there that weren't in the original. Outside of an additional scene with Han and Jabba the Hut, I can't exactly recall if there was anything else that enhanced the story.

I'm quite happy with the original films although I never picked up the trilogy on laserdisc. I'm stuck with the THX WS tapes from 95.

Some of the other experts could probably chime in with a bit more thorough explanation.

 

Not really. And Jabba looked very, very different from Return of the Jedi (let's be honest - he looked like a giant CGI turd) and so the integration of the new scene was far from seamless.

Anyway, this site provides a comprehensive list of changes to the SE:
http://www.theforce.net/swse/

I enjoyed the SEs in the theater. Great spectacle, great fun, excited crowds, etc. But, when I want to pop on Star Wars at home, I want the originals that I grew up on.

 

Well, I'm no expert (my wife was always the big fan), but the one example we keep referring back to is in the first film, with Han Solo and Greedo arguing over some owed money in the cantina.

In the original film, after their back and forth banter, Han shot and killed Greedo. This set up the Han Solo character as something of a mercenary who by the end of the film is redeemed somewhat.

When Lucas re-did the film in the 90's, he changed the scene so that Greedo fires the first shot, totally changing the character's story arc, making Han more of a "good guy" from the start.

I've heard more criticism of that particular move than pretty much any other changes he made to the films.

 

For some young enough these are the versions they grew up with. Still, I don't feel conected to these versions. They're not the friends I grew up with either.

 

I'm with L Bangs.... Even if STIR WARZ comes out on HD-DVD I may not buy them again. I gave him enough money during the LD age and he doesn't deserve my money now, maybe never again...?

 

I won't be spending any money on these updated versions. I know Lucas loves these updated versions but put the orginals on the DVD as well. It's ridiculous. If I ever met him I just yell at him until I was blue in the face on how he lost his mind.
This new trilogy (I-III) has been garbage too. Yes I'll be going to the Episode III when it comes out. I hope it improves since this is when everything comes together and the story gets pretty wild.
I'm not expecting much though.
I loved Star Wars when I was a kid and I felt Lucas has just ruined the whole thing for me. The updated movies were neat to see but to have those has the defintive versions is ridiculous.

 

Lucas wasn't content to be a hero to a generation, and let that generation and pop culture as a whole pass on his legacy. Instead, he tried to cram it down our throats himself, and the result is that the two words "Star Wars" no longer inspire smiles and excited chats, but sighs and regrets more often seen at funerals. Ironically, I don't think the kids of today could give two sh*ts about Star Wars, either. Figures.

In case you thought the worst was behind us, though, he's about to do it again with the Indiana Jones trilogy (Part IV, coming soon, oh boy). Thanks a lot, George.

 

Don't know how true this is, but I read on The Digital Bits a while back that Lucas has changed his mind about that scene & the original "Han shoots first" scene is going to be put back into the new special editions.

Personally, I didn't think the Special Editions were bad. Mostly I noticed a lot more going on in the backgrounds (ships flying by in windows, new monsters in crowd scenes, etc). The one problem I had with the special editions was having Greedo shoot first as it changed the perception of Han Solo in a big way.

If Han shooting first was really such a big deal, then Indiana Jones shooting his opponent instead of fighting with him (in Raiders) should have ben cut out as well.

Maybe I shouldn't say that outloud.....

-BZync

 

I wonder what else has been changed for the DVD release. Maybe Han gives Greedo a flower.

 

Maybe in these new enhanced versions RTD2 and C3PO will get married in Massachusetts.

 

I'm still glad George cut out those scenes where the young boy of the lost space family and the mincing boy-hungry pedophile go into the uncharted wlderness to look for "rocks" and other specimens.

Oh, wait....

 

I've never seen the SE's. What have they cut from the original film(s) to make it (them) so weak?

 

They didn't really cut anything. George added some scenes, "improved" some of the scenes by adding or replacing them with newer CG animation, etc...

I actually loved the ending of Jedi. They show different planets celebrating the destruction of the empire. Nice addition I thought.

Empire seems to be the least futzed with. New Hope had the most tinkering.

 

Sounds Ok, I only hope they are Anamorphic with a decent aspect ratio. 1.85:1 would be great for a perfect 16:9 screen fit.