Original/Unaltered "Star Wars" Trilogy on Blu-Ray in 2017

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Bowie Fett, Feb 23, 2017.

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  1. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    And introduced ewoks. Fail.

    I will respectfully disagree. It was way too predictable at that point. You "knew" (term used loosely) in 1983 that this was the "last" (again, used VERY loosely) Star Wars movie. And that the "good guys", who were actually Rebels, would win.

    For my money, and watching it through my eyes for the first time, the chase, capture, battle on and Darth Vader's entrance onto Tantive IV is the best scene of the series.
     
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  2. David Campbell

    David Campbell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luray, Virginia
    I meant to say RAY Park as Maul. I don't know this Andy fella. :)
     
  3. greg_t

    greg_t Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Probably heresy but I find a new hope the most boring of the original movies now
     
  4. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Add Jabba's palace, and ROTJ is an excellent film. It is no Godfather III, that is for sure.
     
  5. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Not heresy. This isn't religion (although too many people treat it like that.)

    You stated an opinion, a Wrong one, but it's still your opinion :)
     
  6. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Kids still love Ewoks, and so did we. Just because we all grew up, and want dark adult films, does not equal a fail. Would I have preferred Wookies as originally conceived? Yes. But I loved the Ewoks when I was 8.

    As to your other point, what we did not know was the how. There are some great twists and turns in the last act of Jedi.

    1. The Emperor setting it all as a trap: When he reveals to Luke that everything is playing out as he wanted is shocking. Especially the Emperor's line, "Now witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle station."

    2. Vader's turn: The most evil villain in movie history redeemed? I don't think that was predictable at all going into this film. And it wasn't predictable when in their fight Vader discovers Leia is Luke's sister and threatens her. Throwing the Emperor down the shaft to save Luke is emotionally powerful every time you watch the film.
     
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  7. supermd

    supermd Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Except when you add the "No... NOOOOOOOO!!!" from the blu-ray version. God, what were they thinking??
     
  8. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    It was Lucas’ one finger salute to his critics.
     
  9. bferr1

    bferr1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    George heard complaints about the Tarzan yell in ROTJ, so he recycled it in ROTS. He then heard complaints about the "NO!" in ROTS, so he recycled that in ROTJ-- you know, to further underline his notion that the two trilogies were variations on the same melody.... or something.
     
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  10. This scene was absolutely breathtaking by the 70's standards and still is no matter how good CGI has become and how awesome Dolby Atmos sound, that scene on its original incarnation will pass to history of cinema.
     
  11. Grunge Master

    Grunge Master 8 Bit Enthusiast

    Location:
    Michigan
    I can still remember the first time I saw it in the theater; it seemed as if the Star Destroyer went on forever!
     
  12. I remember it too, I was amazed, I thought" my God, that ship is massive".
     
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  13. El Bacho

    El Bacho Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paris, France
    You should watch Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels or the Hughes biopic by Martin Scorsese, The Aviator. The Star Destroyer filling up the screen owes up a lot to a similar shot in Hell's Angels, but with a zeppelin in the sky instead. Given how much Lucas took inspiration from WW1 or WW2 aviation films, it's very likely that this was a direct reference to the Hughes one. Kubrick (another aviation nut) was also a big fan. And the film also brought to the vernacular a very particular quote, spoken by Jean Harlow, "Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?"
    Curiously, the other WW1 aviation film from the same era, Wings, ended up being explicitly referenced in The Last Jedi. It is the tracking shot at the casino.

     
  14. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    I've seen some wonderful moving and trick shots in silent films - The Crowd and almost any Buster Keaton film as examples but that one is wild. I can't imagine how they did it with the equipment of the time.

    Back to the topic - sorry, I've got nothing. I jump in to see if the films will be released soon.
     
  15. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    From what I have read Lucas had had enough so instead of the original plans just lazily tied things up in Jedi, like making Leia Luke's sister and all that.
    My own opinion is that it is a weak film - the whole 2nd Death Star is lazy and silly, the Ewoks fighting the best trained army in the Galaxy, the new Jedi Knight Luke almost being killed by a Hutt (how is he supposed to take down the Emperor if he can't beat Jabba the Hutt) in a quite frankly stupid rescue plan that made no sense.

    The 'third act' should be the most exciting. Jedi fails for me. This should have been an amazing huge conclusion that should have bettered the first two. Instead it's Death Star 2, lots of time wasted in the jungle and in Jabba's Palace, and the only thing that redeems it is the Luke/Emperor/Vader end scene which I don't think is well written.

    And it's made even worse by the quite awful special edition with the scenes in Jabba's Palace that are so bad they are almost umbelievable.

    Rant over. Just my opinion. If you like the film that's cool.
     
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  16. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I always like your thoughts Jim. I could not disagree more with these though. :D

    If I were to grade the original Trilogy:

    Empire - A+
    Star Wars - A
    ROTJ - A-/B+

    The second Death Star works for one reason only. The Emperor knew it would draw the entire rebellion to one place. And if Vader had not turned, it would have succeeded, and the rebellion wiped out in one stroke. And then the Emperor would have had his super weapon to keep permanent control.

    I love the entirety of Jabba's Palace. He is very powerful, so no easy mark for Luke. Don Corleone could not fight anyone one-on-one, but was very difficult to kill while at home. The plan seems solid to me.
     
  17. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    But the Death Star still would have been destroyed. Vader turning didn't have anything to do with the Rebels taking down the shield generator and destroying the Death Star.

    I agree that it's a very good film. And once again, I'm going to defend the Ewoks. Yoda: "Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you? And where you should not."
     
  18. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    A wolverine is a ferocious small animal for instance. But they could have designed them a little more fierce.

    Going a little expanded universe here, but when the Emperor died, the fleet fell into chaos. There was more protecting the Death Star than just the shield. In the books, the Emperor was controlling the events in the space battle as well. His death made it possible for them to blow up the death star,
     
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  19. marblesmike

    marblesmike Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    It's not that they're small--it's that they're essentially a primitive people fighting against the best military force in the galaxy and handedly beat them.
     
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  20. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    They didn't beat them single-handedly. I would understand the argument if the Ewoks had defeated the Empire on their own, but the Ewoks were assisting the Rebels. It was the Rebels, with assistance from the Ewoks using their familiarity with the landscape to their advantage, who took down the shield generator and defeated the Empire.
     
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  21. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    True. But you can defeat a Wolverine with a Buckeye.
     
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  22. marblesmike

    marblesmike Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    So you don't think the whole scenario was a little farfetched at all? Yeah, it's Star Wars, I know, but it would have been more "realistic" had they kept the plan of using Wookiees rather than Ewoks.
     
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  23. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    I mean we know stormtrooper armor can't even repel blaster fire, so it not even being immune to Rocks Fall Everyone Dies isn't that far a stretch. :p
     
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  24. dprokopy

    dprokopy Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Seattle, WA
    I almost wonder if that one shot influenced the design/shape of the Star Destroyer - making it triangular like that meant that, as it flew overhead above the camera, it would just keep getting bigger and bigger on the screen. If it had been more rectangular (like the Tantive IV), it wouldn't have had the same impact.
     
  25. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    It's probably a bit far fetched, but like you said, it's Star Wars, and it was it is. It's set in stone. I probably would have preferred the Wookies, but I don't even think that was necessary. I would have preferred just the Rebels. Lucas intended the Ewoks versus the Empire as an allegory for the Vietnam War, a technologically inferior army taking down a technologically superior army. I think the Rebels would have sufficed in that role as the Rebels were a ragtag army, and despite having the weapons and ships, still weren't on par with the Empire and their massive Star Destroyers and Death Star.
     
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