UK Star Wars Laserdisc Question...

For those members "Across The Pond" Are the original release UK Laserdiscs in Widescreen format? This is the original and not the altered versions or 1997 releases. And does it say on the back of the covers for the discs that it is letterbox? I've seen a few UK auctions but it doesn't say anything about the Laserdiscs being in Widescreen format. Thanks for any members in the UK that might be able to help out. I'd like to get a set from the UK to compare them to the original US releases in Widescreen and see if there is a noticeable difference between the prints used. I don't think that Disney has any intentions on releasing the original versions of the movies anytime soon. I could be wrong...but Disney was one of THE most difficult companies to deal with when I used to run a video store. Every year they would put a title on moratorium and then a few years later it was re-release with a better version which they usually weren't. And don't even get me started on the fact that the macrovision that they used on their tapes literally DISTORTED the quality of the movies. And I'm not talking about copying the tapes...I'm talking about the original cassettes they would release. Had lots of problems selling brand new Disney movies to customers...never even opened tapes. Just a nightmare.

 

No laserdisc owners across the pond? Any info is gladly appreciated.

 

Hi Apollo

I used to have the 1993 SW Trilogy Definitive Edition laser disc boxset and from memory they were all in letterbox format.

 

I think we can assume the 1995 UK LaserDisc were Widescreen and respected the 2.35:1 aspect ratio as the Spanish 1995 Laserdisc were Widescreen 2.35:1 Pal, and all Pal LaserDiscs released in 1995 were sourced from the same master, only changing the languaje audio track.

 

This is one of the LD's I was talking about...they are pre-remaster from 93/94



I hope the picture shows up in this thread.

 

It usually says "Letterboxed" on the front cover for those laserdiscs that were in that format.

I believe the early-1990s version was mastered by Lou Levinson at Modern Videofilm. They did both 2.40 letterboxed versions and 1.33 pan/scan versions, all to digital standard-def. They also did additional passes for 25fps PAL countries, so that was essentially the same color but going 4.1% faster in speed.

 

That version of Empire is from 1985 and was Pan and Scan

LaserDisc Database - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [1425-70]

The only other version of ESB released in the UK as PAL was the Special Edition.

LaserDisc Database - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition [EE 1232-2]

 

I doubt it, even in Spain the Star Wars trilogy was released in a non-Special Edtion form in 1995 on Pal LaserDisc. I still have them somewhere at home.

 

LaserDisc Database - Star Wars: El imperio contraataca [00601]

That's listed here too. I don't doubt it. The UK was like Australia with Laserdisc, by the early-mid 1990s players were imported or NTSC with PAL playback. So people would have just imported the US discs.