It's Official -- Star Wars on DVD 646
savagexp writes "There's yet to be an actual press release, but according to DVDFile.com, 20th Century Fox and LucasFilm have confirmed that The Original Trilogy will arrive on September 21st in a four-disc set. More info can be had here."
HDDVD (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone send this to George. (Score:5, Interesting)
Please bear with my rant..
When I read of the Star Wars DVD release I immediately thought of the speech Gordon Gekko give the board of Teldon Papers in the movie Wall Street (1987) [imdb.com] Years after the DVD has become ubiquitous they decide to release the original 3 on that medium. It was only a few years ago that they released the VHS set to the consumers. Wow! Thanks, George! The story makes it sound like they're doing us a favour! Yeah right. The only favour is to their bank accounts. The tide of cash flowing in from the "Official VHS set" has slowed to a crawl. They want the consumers to re-purchase the same stuff on a new format. George didn't "[find] some time", the market studies indicated that this is the right time to release the DVDs.
Thanks but no thanks George. After the embarassment of Episodes I & II and your blatant milking of the franchise you've lost a big fan in me. I'd only buy the set if I could guarantee that my money buys the exact slice of pizza you choke on.
Re:Yes, but it's not really the original (Score:5, Interesting)
Mike
Re:Gods Must Be Crazy (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not a democracy? (Score:4, Interesting)
It has nothing to do with politics, the final product is George's choice...not yours
Don't like it, vote by not buying it
Re:Gods Must Be Crazy (Score:2, Interesting)
By the way, my local deli now has coke in glass bottles again. (Western Australia).
Re:Gods Must Be Crazy (Score:3, Interesting)
The humor in "the Gods" movies is for all ages, really. It was so popular in Kansas City when the first movie came out that it ran continuously in a small private theater for over a full year. This is some of the best independent filmmaking ever. Ever.
"original" original versions? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Special editions only :-( (Score:3, Interesting)
Looks like we've never see the original... (Score:1, Interesting)
The original versions technically don't exist," says Lucasfilm's Jim Ward, who is the project's executive producer. "(Lucas) wanted to represent the films as they exist in his mind, and that's the special-editions versions."
Re:Special editions only :-( (Score:5, Interesting)
1) In LOTR, they told everyone up front was the plan was so the informed consumer could choose... instead of feeling ripped off.
2) In LOTR, they made sure that there was no overlap in the special features between the theatrical cut and the extended cut.
3) In LOTR, the extra features on the extended cut, plus 45 minutes of NEW footage justify the second purchase - instead of only offering a version that was modified (for the worse) for sale initially, and then relenting and offering the original at a later date.
In other words, with LOTR the extended cuts are actually GOOD, and are put out there for fans, while leaving the original theatrical cut available for everyone. In the Star Wars case, no one can get the original version they know and love, and are stuck with the extended/special versions, DESPITE the fans.
Peter Jackson and New Line are treating fans like people worth of respect, and offering them as much of the LOTR magic as they can soak up. George Lucas is treating Star Wars fans the way a school bully treats kids in cartoons - turning them upside down and shaking money out of their pockets, all the while trying to dampen whatever Star Wars magic is left with a thick blanket of corporate greed.
Do a Beauty and the Beast, George (Score:5, Interesting)
There are 3 versions of the film on the disc. Firstly, the original theatrical edition that means that if you want to watch what was first released at the cinema/on VHS, you can. Secondly, a 'work in progress' edition that was shown at the NY film festival - lots of non-coloured images/coffee stains etc. Thirdly, the Special Edition which includes "Human Again" which was a song added for the stage show and added in later (which as an add-on is quite entertaining and works with the rest of the film).
I imagine these versions were done by setting the film to just use different chapters, so parts could be added at different points.
Why can't Lucas do that? Give us the improved sounds and visual effects of the Sp. Editions, but give people a choice of Original or Pointlessly Remixed versions of the film.
PS If you've never seen the Platinum Edition of B&TB, do so. It's a great example of how to make a great DVD set.
Original rips? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Yes, but it's not really the original (Score:3, Interesting)
Did I miss something? I believe the parent poster simply stated that he probably won't be buying the revised DVDs...
Re:Can you believe it? (Score:2, Interesting)
It's because he's the only person in any of the (first three - not familiar with the newer ones) films who can act. Alec Guinness looked awkward, and absolutely hated the films. I don't remember seeing any of the other actors in anything else since.
Wait - didn't the actor who played Luke Skywalker appear in some of the FMV in the PC version of Wing Commander 4?
The music, by John Williams, is a cheap copy of Stravinsky too, btw.
It's a shame, but there really aren't very many intelligent science fiction films. Bladerunner, and...um....er....
Re:I'll save my credits... (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is an interesting comment. While the 'special editions' suck less than the prequels, they do suck almost as bad as the original 'Star Wars' scripts before Lucas read Joseph Campbell's books, so we can conclude from this that if Lucas hadn't been kept in check by the studio he'd have released a 'Star Wars' movie that sucked in 1977 and would have vanished without a trace.
Of course, having seen the prequels, the fact that Lucas' "artistic vision" sucks shouldn't really be a surprise.
Re:Can you believe it? (Score:2, Interesting)
The effect was amazing. I saw it in one of those semispherical IMAX screens and the footage and sound completely enveloped you. Very impressive.
Re:Can you believe it? (Score:2, Interesting)
I can't recommend Stravinsky's music enough.
Star Wars? Overrated. (Score:3, Interesting)
What I want to see is THX-1138 on DVD. His one great movie.
New Coke? (Score:5, Interesting)
The public were unhappy with the new taste, and even more unhappy that they were no longer able to obtain the original product, and so the company had to backtrack and return to the older formula. However, when they went back to the original formula - now renamed Classic Coke/Coca Cola Classic - demand for the classic taste grew to a greater extent than before New Coke...
Sounds like something an evil marketer might want to try... Who knows, maybe we'll see Classic Star Wars in 2006, when all of the marketing from the newer Star Wars' is finished and Lucas is scrounging around for something to sell before making Episode 7. G'ah.
Re:what's the difference? (Score:4, Interesting)
I also agree that this scene just didnt work.
(all of this negated by starwars ep1)
Re:"Yub Yub" at least made SENSE in the STORY! (Score:1, Interesting)
If you actully read any of the extended universe books, you'd know that the Empire didn't fall when the second Death Star was destroyed. The Rebels just kept winning victory after victory, pushing them back. The stormies didn't just get fired by the Rebellion, because they wouldn't have listened. Besides, as small as the Rebellion was, they would have probably tried to get the stormies on their own payroll.
Re:Special editions only :-( (Score:2, Interesting)
I've experimented with recording ROTJ myself, but my BT878-based capture card is lame and the results were very poor (stripes of different color intensity, static, and sync problems). Can a videophile suggest an EXCELLENT capture card (i.e. the best)? Needs great audio capture too, so there aren't any sync problems.
Once we have DVD versions of both the old and new, it becomes possible for a good film editor (not me) to splice the movies together (between shots). Most of the special edition hasn't been changed, so it would be great to benefit from the better film transfer on the non-altered shots.
I wonder if the new DVD will include the original stereo tracks? I would assume not because of all the changes.
calamari
Re:what's the difference? (Score:5, Interesting)
All, in all the new scenes were a waste of time. Its sad that Lucas is such an arrogant that he refuses to put the originals out on DVD. I was actually hoping he'd do something similar that my T2 DVD does, watch the original, or watch the expanded version...
Oh well, I'm on the fence on whether I'll get these or not. I'm actually pretty sick of the whole Star Wars brand at this point which is sad, cause I was one of the die-hards originally. (guess I wasn't die-hard enough)
Bible? OT? (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah. Real violent.
In the OT, it's historical accounts of wars. Ok, check. For that matter, Homer's tales, and most other historical accounts are pretty bloodthirsty. So?
The Koran/Hadith/Shari'a, on the other hand, prescribe brutal punishments and the horrific treatment of women. They include direct calls to convert "infidels" by the sword, to wage war till all are converted.
They call for the enslavement of the "peoples of the book" and the destruction -- wholesale -- of any others.
Compared to the Koran/Hadith/Shari'a, the OT and Bible are childrens' novels about a Turle named Yertle.
Re:HDDVD (Score:3, Interesting)
At ISO (film sensitivity) at or over 800, digital will come out way ahead, since grain will be so large on the film that resolution is severely compromised. Digital will have a small amount of noise at higher ISO's, but it would be not nearly as severe in deteriorating the image quality as large grain fast 35mm film. This is one of the reasons why all the sports photographers are shooting digital now, even if it is with the lower resolution 4 or 5 megapixel cameras.
The Matrix trilogy (Score:3, Interesting)
Then for Reloaded and Revolutions, they were given free reign. Hmm.