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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

Updated: Phantom Menace DVD Release 114

Posted by Hemos from the not-goin'-do-it dept.
LTB writes "Regarding your story about the Phantom Menace DVD release - an update has been posted at aintitcool with news to the contrary. Sorry guys, If it's too good to be true... "
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Updated: Phantom Menace DVD Release More

Updated: Phantom Menace DVD Release

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  • Re:So? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Some kid working at Suncoast Video told me that. I believe him.

    so what you're saying is that you have no references. it's a silly statement anyway. DVD is competing with THX? one is a medium, the other is a process! it's like saying VHS is competing with bzip2! no sense at all.

    I fail to see the difference between a quality VHS player and DVD playback, aside from the silly frilly features.

    then you must be both deaf and blind.

    seriously. there is no comparison between a "high-quality" VHS player and even a mediocre quality DVD player and a good Dolby Digital surround setup. they're worlds apart. if you think otherwise, you must be basing your opinion off of really old movies or off of movies that had really shitty transfers. to see a GOOD transfer to DVD, try "wag the dog" or any other of new line's special editions. DVD has twice the vertical resolution as VHS and when you say that you can't tell the difference quite frankly I think you're full of b*llshit

    thank you

    you're welcome but may you still be struck dead where you stand

  • Re:So? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward


    I fail to see the difference between a quality VHS player and DVD playback, aside from the silly frilly features.

    You must be either really dumb or really blind. Try this technique next friday night:
    • Drive to your local Suncoast Video.
    • Buy the Matrix on both VHS and DVD from your George Lucas expert who works there.
    • Drive to your friends house (the one who has a dvd player, a vhs deck, and a 27" television).
    • Watch the DVD.
    • Watch the VHS.
    • Come crawling back to us marveling at the huge quality difference between a normal magnetic, analog VHS tape and an optical, digital DVD.

    Dood. You obviously have never actually watched a DVD. The difference is absolutely amazing.

  • Hey, It's All Right (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Jesus, the movie wasn't THAT bad. Everybody and their dog seems to crack on it at every opportunity. Didn't all of you guys secretly enjoy it? Isn't the whole idea of a prequel neat? We get to go back in time and explore a little bit of the past of a universe that most of us hold dear to our hearts! And, you all have to admit, Darth Maul was cool and the fight scenes kicked so much ass.

    Sure, it wasn't perfect; the movie got stuck with one of the worst child actors I've ever seen, and then there's Jar Jar Binks (however, I don't think he should be discounted as useless at this point). But the series has always been a little bit fruity with Mark Hamill.

    Anyways, to reiterate, episode 1 is actually a pretty good movie. WHEN the DVD comes out, I'll buy it because I enjoyed it.

  • Feh. (Score:1)

    by maelstrom ( 638 )
    With all this jerking around, I doubt I'll buy the damn thing if it ever does get released. You'd think we could get some official word from Lucas considering he is pissing off a lot of potential customers and fans.

  • There is a preference you can set in your user profile to filter out star wars stories, if you don't want to see them.

    Unfortunately, while this filters them off the main page, you still see them in the next/previous article links. So there I was, happily reading about running Linux apps on my Sharp Zaurus, and the next story was about Star Wars, rather than something about COPPA (what's that? dunno! I'm not up to that yet)

    Not that I actually have Star Wars filtered out - I enjoy the flamewars over what a rancid piece of shit TPM was. I only filter out Jon Katz. ;-) But it's a thought.

  • This really is a non-story. If Lucas wants to sit on TPM until people have forgotten how awful it was, then he's well within his rights. At least by that time, we'll have won the war against DeCSS.

    When do we get to moderate stories as well as posts, so that I can give Star Wars guff a -1?
  • Actually it does. :P

    Sorry I've been coding and just wanted to tweak
    out on ol' /. for a few minutes. Thanks for
    listening.
  • Bite me.
  • silence!
  • Some kid working at Suncoast Video told me that. I believe him.

    so what you're saying is that you have no references. it's a silly statement anyway.

    The kid working at Suncoast Video is an expert in his field. He has impecable credentials: he works at Suncoast Video. Suncoast Video!

    seriously. there is no comparison between a "high-quality" VHS player and even a mediocre quality DVD player and a good Dolby Digital surround setup. they're worlds apart. if you think otherwise, you

    I don't have high-vertical-res TV nor do I have Dolby Surround system. Unless you have a $7000 home theater setup you may as well buy widescreen VHS and good VHS player. Seriously if you did a Turing-test of VHS vs. DVD on a sub-$1000 home theater system I doubt anyone would notice the difference in playback quality.

    you're welcome but may you still be struck dead where you stand

    thank you.

  • it was a bit meandering and disjointed but all in all it was much better than most critics made it out to be, plus the effects were awesome.

    Yes.

    2. Lucas feels that DVD competes with his THX.

    references, please ..

    Some kid working at Suncoast Video told me that. I believe him.

    if you're happy with VHS you must not be very discriminating.

    I fail to see the difference between a quality VHS player and DVD playback, aside from the silly frilly features.

    may Christ Jesus strike you dead where you stand

    thank you

  • So? (Score:1)

    by Kurt Gray ( 935 )
    1. Except for the light saber fighting, TPM sucked.

    2. Lucas feels that DVD competes with his THX.

    3. I still refuse to buy DVD player due to the
    way Jon Johanssen has been (mis)treated by the
    DVD Mafia. I'm happy with widescreen VHS releases.

    4. STUFF DVD UP YOUR ASS!!!

    Yeah, mod me down.
  • And why would that be any better than a VHS copy, other than longevity and random access. Signal quality would still be crappy VHS.

    Yes. In theory it can be done. But (and LISTEN you MPAA morons!), why would it be worth the effort when eventually, we'll be able to plop down $69.99 for a commercial, legal, full-featured high-quality DVD. With a dust-jacket that's not a Xerox of the VHS dust-jacket.

    I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
  • Actually, TPM did please my 6-year old.

    I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
  • Lucas is a visionary. All visionaries are vilified.

    Are you saying Billy Gates is a visionary?
  • >>Rob and company, I love your site .. but on behalf of us all, can we put some talcum powder on the trigger fingers
    >>and exercise a bit of self-restraint when it comes to stories like this?
    >>The good reputation of Slashdot will thank you.

    My feeling exactly. I guess when one's in box is flooded with people trying to be the first to submit a story, one might be tempted to just post the story to get people off your back.....
  • because you can't wear out the dvd when you only keep watching the decent bits.

    personally i'd rather see 4-6 on disc (minus the stupid 'Greedo fires first' stuff on #4)
  • DEAR GOD, THANK YOU! I was not aware of that. I can finally, once and for all, filter out the stupid Star Wars banter in here. Ahhhhhhhhh..........
  • LOL!!!! There he is!!! I thought you'd appear.....
  • I agree... Lucas is a marketing genius!

    If there is anything I've figured out, it's that a child's memory is better than any movie. I remember Star Wars: A New Hope, I remember it being awesome... then I watched an older copy without the digital enhancements and discovered it wasn't actually all that great.

    I have felt the same way about most older movies... with a few exceptions.

    VHS, DVD, and the ability to watch movies on demand, ruin certain movies since they lean heavily on mestique. Very rarely have I found a film which merits watching more than once. Having a copy of the movie tends more to destroy it than to endear it.

    - // Zarf //
  • Merchandizing, Merchandizing, we buy the myth more than the movie.

    I also figure SW TPM will be strengthened more by repeated viewing then weakened... this is due to the hypnotic messages embedded in the VHS. The DVD is delayed in release because they can't get the "Jar-Jar is actually cool" hypno-trance to work on digital formats.

    - // Zarf //
  • It might actually be prudent for slashdot to avoid stories on SW TPM DVD... delaying them by a few days to a week to see how the stories shake-out. This would mean that those of us who use Slashdot as a "geek-media" filter would get better news and less run-around.

    I read slashdot for stuff just like this because I'm interested, but too busy to follow them with any zeal. I consider cmdrTaco and the slashdot crew my personal team of geek-news zealots hungrily scanning tonnes of canned internet spam and feeding me the meatier tid-bits.

    I was talking to one of my prof's... I said I don't have time to actually read all the industry journals but keep a jist because of slashdot.

    My prof. said... he's too busy reading all the industry journals to keep a jist on slashdot.

    I prefer slashdot thankyou.

    - // Zarf //
  • If you want the pod race, rent "Ben Hur".
  • ...I probably won't own any stinkin' proprietary hardware anyway. :)

    Lucas should release it while I still own a DVD player.

    Ah well, back to watching Cube again I guess....

    _Deirdre

  • Everyone complained about how lame this movie was. Now, all of a sudden, everyone is desperate for for the DVD. Doesn't make sense. Does everyone just LOVE to buy horrible movies on DVD?

    Why, for the same reason we all buy DVDs: the extra stuff. The better sound. The ability to hit mute and/or next scene whenever Jar Jar hits the screen.

    While Rick didn't see TPM more than once, I did. I liked the movie, but it was not designed to stand alone the way A New Hope was. It's act 1 of a longer story. Empire is still my favorite and I'd buy that on DVD too -- along with the other two. I own the three on video now, but I prefer LaserDisc and DVD formats.

    _Deirdre

  • Wait, I forgot the big reason!

    Natalie Portman.

    _Deirdre

  • I saw the movie in the theatre. I thoroughly loved it. Jar Jar was just as annoying as he was supposed to be (don't y'all realize, annoying characters are usually meant to be annoying??? Guess George got this one right! =P ). Yeah, maybe a 5-year-old isn't the greatest actor in the world, but I think he did a good job considering the pressure.

    As for DVD, well, until I see a news release from an official Star Wars spokesperson, I'm not holding my breath. As much as I would love to have it on DVD, and the others, as well, there's nothing I can do about it. We should all be waiting for official news, and ignoring these idiotic rumors. Meanwhile, if you really want it on DVD, go to the Star Wars Web site, click on one of their e-mail links, and write a polite letter requesting the movie(s) on DVD.

    Lastly, I really doubt that George Lucas either knows or cares about this discussion. This flame war wasn't created by some conspiratorial marketing machine! Jeez. It was created by the imagination of a select few who just can't wait to get on /. and flood us with uncomfirmed rumors and innuendo. This is not "Conspiracy Theory" here people!

    This is me, patiently waiting for word one way or the other, from the people who actually produced the thing....

  • What? George Lucas is known to want to have tight control over everything his name's associated with... He's working on episode 2 at this moment, so he released the VHS version of episode 1... People expect more from DVD's... especially one from him. How would all of slashdot feel if he did release a bare minimal DVD - just the movie with the two aspect ratios and cool sound... And then in a few years released a "special edition" version with new scenes, an interactive tour of the sets, interviews with the actors, etc... ? You'd all say he was ripping everyone off to make them all buy the DVD again.

    He's stuck in a no win situation... But by sticking by his word, at least he's preventing people from having to buy multiple DVD's...
  • The man has already made his intention clear.
    He is going to fleece all of you for as long as possible, then get you to buy it in another format, be it DVD, PPV over the web, video, Laserdisc, etc.
    How about this for an idea. *Don't buy it.*
    Yup, sorry to burst any bubbles here, but it's an average sci-fi film at most, and nowhere near as good as the Matrix from last year. With regard to the whole mythos, I collected the figures, bought the chewing gum, bought the comics, but after the disappointment of ROTJ(which I suspected was in trouble after the renaming from Revenge to Return), I figured the films would never be as good as I hoped. And I grew up.
    TPM might be a trainspotters dream, but it's not a very good movie.
  • I motion for a permanent, global slashdot ban on people complaining, or at least a way to filter it out just like there is way to filter out Star Wars stuff.
  • at least according to Entertainment Weekly.

    I received the latest Entertainment Weekly issue, April 21, 2000 #536, in today's mail. It has Natalie on the cover, but no mention of grits. On page 34, there is an article about Phantom Secrets Revealed. Towards the beginning, there is this line:

    Yes, any fan with a VCR (or DVD player) can now search for what Coleman calls the movie's "Easter eggs,"...

    So according to EW, it is already out on DVD and fans can pause the DVD version to find the Easter eggs. Do they know something we don't?

  • Which, btw, you can buy here [laserdiscdivision.com]

    Glad my home theater's fully equipped ;)

  • DAmn, you are soooo right.
  • sorry to burst any bubbles here, but it's an average sci-fi film at most, and nowhere near as good as the Matrix ...I grew up... [TPM is] not a very good movie.

    Phew! Thanks for saving me from my own stupidity. I thought I liked the movie, but thanks to your compelling argument, I now know how wrong I was. Now I can spend my money on better things than movies you don't like. Thanks.

  • You want to see a GREAT example of the quality difference? Take a look at the original Highlander, and the DVD version of Highlander. When one of the immortals die, and all the lightning effects are going on, on VHS these lightning strokes are fuzzy and distorted. The same lightning effect are sharp and clear on the DVD version. This was one of the first things I noticed when I got my DVD player, since of course Highlander was one of the first movies I bought, along with The Matrix.
  • I don't have high-vertical-res TV nor do I have Dolby Surround system. Unless you have a $7000
    home theater setup you may as well buy widescreen VHS and good VHS player. Seriously if you did a
    Turing-test of VHS vs. DVD on a sub-$1000 home theater system I doubt anyone would notice the
    difference in playback quality.

    WRONG!!!
    I do not have surround sound, but god I want it, and I only have a 27" Sony that cost me about $800 a couple of years ago, and I definitely noticed the quality difference between my "high quality" VHS player, and my new DVD player.
    The playback quality is indeed phenomenally better on DVD, and no degradation. This doesn't even begin to bring to the table the issue of searching and added features/footage.
  • > Lucas is a visionary. All visionaries are vilified.

    Are you saying Billy Gates is a visionary?

    He said "All visionaries are vilified", not "All vilified are visionaries".

  • Please name for me one movie in which a two or more on one exists that you do not see another opponent waiting to attack so the hero CAN defend himself.
  • I completely agree. The movie wasn't that great but I'll buy the DVD for the Darth Maul fight and the music during sed fight.

    I'm voting with my $$$, I will not buy SW:TPM until a DVD version is released. If everyone who wanted a DVD version did the same, I think Lucas would notice. That's the only power we have over corporate America...mass denial of cash.
  • Who're you kidding -- you know you will ;)

    -----------

    "You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."

  • Are you saying Bill Gates is a visionary?

    Absolutely not. While all visionaries are vilified, it does not stand to reason that all who are vilified are visionaries. Some are vilified for very good reasons, and Gates is a perfect example. He is vilified because he uses his wealth to buy those ideas which have been created/discovered by others. There is no respect in that.

    Another good example would be talk radio hosts: Schlesinger, Limbaugh, etc. They are (rightfully so, IMHO) viciously vilified, and for good reason. They are far from being visionaries; they're "conservative", which by its very nature is somewhat static and backwards-looking.

    -Rev.

  • Re:So? (Score:1)

    by Tower ( 37395 )
    I'm still trying to figure out why he thinks that DVD is in competition with THX in any way... okay... so you have Dolby Digital and DTS, but many good surround decoders and power amps get THX certification because... guess what? THX and Dolby Digital have nothing to do with each other! They are complimentary, not adversarial. THX defines the quality of the reproduction (the kind of thing you *really* can't get off of a VHS cassette), and Dolby Digital is the encoding scheme....

    From THX.com:
    --BEGIN SNIPPIT--
    Is Home THX compatible with Dolby Digital and DTS?

    Absolutely! The goal of the Home THX System is to accurately recreate the xperience of the film mixing theatre. All mixing theatres are capable of creating both 4 and 5.1 channel mixes. The acoustics, equalization curves, and loudspeaker arrays used in a mixing theatre remain thesame for a digital 5.1 channel soundtrack as they do for a 4 channel Dolby Surround soundtrack. Home THX Technologies are needed to reproduce these movie soundtracks accurately.
    --END SNIPPIT--

    So... DVD offers 5.1 channel encoding, higher S/N ratio than a VHS cassette, with greater dynamic range...

    Or maybe I don't understand your point 8^)

    BTW, I don't *own* a VHS player (when I bought a system after college, I opted out of that one - very minimal need.... haven't missed it yet)...

    and I'm not happy with VHS sound/video degradation - I can send you my copy of Spaceballs... very worn out :)

  • Well, I won't buy the VHS... I only have a DVD player (marching into the future)...

    Got a great 5W mono tube amp from 1953 somewhere around here, too...

  • Re:So? (Score:1)

    by Tower ( 37395 )
    Yes, but for those of us with halfway decent equipment, it's pretty lame... I won't be happy until I hook up some Andra s to my Krell FPB ;-) oh wait... gotta win the powerball first.

    Guess my Polk/Rotel/Trinitron setup will have to suffice for now...

    And there is a marked quality difference on a 32"+ screen between cable/VHS (both suck) and DVD (though the remastered Monty Python doesn't really count).

    If you are watching *anything* on a $150 tv/vcr combo with a mono speaker facing out the side of the back, I pity you. Andover should pay you more.

    Your $7000 price point is a little wrong...
    Let's see (note that I'm using components that an average person could find...)
    27" Trinitron - $600 (you could get it quite a bit cheaper on sale)
    Sony Mid-grade DVD - $400
    An acceptable A/V receiver with 5.1 DD/DTS - $350-500 (pick your brand)
    A cheap pair of decent stereo front speakers (too many brands to list here): $350
    Another for the rear $350
    The matching center $250
    A small sub: $300

    Hmmm... that's still way under $7k... maybe delivery is more where you live 8^)

    And yeah.... I've got a Suncoast in town... I wouldn't trust the guys there to tell me the time of day if they were staring at a clock... they even get things wrong when they read them of of the release sheets at the counter... highly trained, minimum wage.... oh, my!
  • While I don't grok Old Navy's commercials (or the Gap's), why, praytell, anre they on the list with those others? Have they been clubbing baby seals, and I just haven't heard? Or does that old lady really scare you? -she's not half as bad as that old guy from the Nissan commercials a while ago...
  • just like every other Star Wars posting on /. since the theater release 8^)
  • YOU STUPID FUCK! She doesn't have to be wearing her pants to pour hot gritts down them.
  • Not only that, but if anyone even BOTHERED (novel concept, I know) to read the article on AICN, it says in plain text:

    Hola Harry!

    Just wanted to drop this little nugget of info. I went to Suncoast today and the employee there mentioned that the Phantom Menace DVD should be out Sept. 12, and that it will have deleted scenes, story board comparisons, and 3 different audio tracks including commentary by Lucas. There are other extras also, but I forgot what they were.He said the price was going to be $39.99.

    See ya,

    Double Down


    Man... Someoen misreports the news, and /. posts it. Is ANYONE suprised?
  • I've always wondered if some of the issues in not releasing star wars and jurassic park series on dvd was due to the high resolution and easily available format of some of lucas's fundamental product, i.e. computer graphics thingies that can be accurately recaptured off of dvd. videotape is too damn noisy save for amateurs, but dvd data is rich enough to swipe, redigitize, and then alter just enough to be legal. The fan market for merchandise would be cannibleized, and the actual properties themselves could be used by competitors to cut down on their workloads.
    Wait six years as 3d,computer,tv,blahblah converge, and between amortization and changes in fundamental cost structures, the point is moot. But right now, put out a dvd, and quite a few companies will have cute digital dinos for one thing or another, just far enough off you can't sue em.
    If there's any mba's out there, what's the net present value of dvd sales against the cost of cannibleizing the fan market and potentially aiding competitors ?

  • Actually, I think he could fleece even more money
    out of everybody by releasing just the movies on DVD right now. Then, go back and release special editions with all the goodies after the next two movies are done. With 4+ years between the next two movies, that'd give plenty of market saturation with the bare movies, and then get even more with the special versions.
  • You can still get SW:TPM on DVD. You can buy the japaneese version on ebay. Last I checked, they were going for around $80. It is english sound with japaneese subtitles, but if you want it bad enough to complain about it, buy it, and get a DVD player that you can disable region checking.
  • What's that you say? the Elian Gonzalez saga is coming out on DVD? with 45 hours of bonus news coverage saying the same goddamn thing over & over? *pants with anticipation, submits story to /.*
  • I can, off the top of my head, think of five /. stories in the past couple of months that used aicn as a primary source.

    1 of them turned out to be correct. 2 of the others were retractions of the other 2.
  • No, there will not be a TPM release on DVD soon. Yes, TPM will be released on DVD this year. No, TPM is definitely not going to release on DVD anytime soon. (and so on...)

    Is anyone else getting bored to tears about this?

    --

  • I think the post did just what it intended. A lot more eyeballs saw the ads that pay Andover and the salaries of the people behind the scenes.

    Slashdot is a business. If posting a news item about Star Wars gets people to read more AND gets hits, then guess what......they are going to post it.

    BTW, it isn't that SLASHDOT SUCKS, its SLASHDOT SOLD OUT.

    Welcome to the real world. It couldn't be free forever.

    jas
  • You know, you should never say "I told you so," but... [slashdot.org]

    One rule of thumb for life... don't trust everything you read.
    That goes hand and hand with "if its too good to be true, it probably is"

  • Now instead of boycotting Phantom Menace for not releasing on DVD, I can boycott the DVD version because of the despotic attacks on DeCSS. Woohoo!
  • It should be informative. Not everybody likes Star Wars and not everybody cares about TPM on DVD because it's really not a good movie.
  • I might speculate that there is one.. slight difference about security on DVD and security on digital distribution of films:
    There are a few thousand movie theatres, and a few million consumers... The solution for security in the first case is simply lawyers, while the second case really neads reason and technology... ;-)

    Just my 2 pennies...

  • Oh come now.. I'd buy Plan 9 from Outer Space on DVD, too! Then again.. Plan 9 didn't have Gungans..
  • foo
    -----
    Vikhozhu odin ya na darogu;
    Skvoz' tuman kremnisti put' blectit;
    Noch' tikha. Pystinya vnemlet bogu,
  • My thoughts exactly. I am not sure why so many people had such great expectations anyway! What did everyone expect from the movie? A heroin rush?

    I ignored all of the hype, and I simply went to the show (in the second week because I am not a freak) and I saw a very good movie with my girlfriend. Even she enjoyed the movie, and I figured she would be a harsher critic given that she has seen episodes 4-6 about 20x each.

    I wish everyone would just grow up and take it for what it is, a movie that you pay $7 for, not something to base your life\wardrobe on!
  • Gee, it was confirmed to be a hoax by the time I got to the article the first time it got posted on Slashdot. And I already posted [slashdot.org] to that effect.

    But alas, I am already too late again and nobody will even read this.
    --

  • Anyone stop to think that if George Lucas did call a rock radio station he would at least let the webmaster at www.starwars.com post the same story?

    Yes, it's because LucasFilm, Ltd., hasn't been ready to make an official announcement on it yet. The fellow at dvdfile.com said that LucasFilm, Ltd., would send him an official public statement "very soon".

    And the purpose of Lucas calling the radio station wasn't specifically to announce the DVD, it just happened to slip out in the middle of their conversation.

  • Alright....everyone's throwing knives at Lucas and saying that this is all his fault. But don't you all remember the hype and excitement that surrounds Star Wars? When Lucas was making ESB he had to have a whole phony movie set up with a fake script to prevent people from hearing about and gossiping about what he was really doing. When PM was coming out, people were planning to stand in line for the tickets a year in advance, etc....and now, suddenly someone leaks rumours about a DVD release, and it most certainly has to be Lucas? C'mon. You know that every fan who knows Lucas' second brother's hairstylists personal trainer thinks they have an inside line and is telling everyone one the 'OFFICIAL' word that has trickled to down to them direct. just chill out and wait for Lucas to speak, and then you'll know. 'nuff said.
  • Seriously. I love this site, but this infatuation with this stupid movie on DVD means nothing to me. I can think of about 50 more important stories to report on today. Hell, this is only one notch above yet-another-Elian-Gonzalez-story. Enough. If it comes out on DVD, fine. If it doesn't, then don't give G Lucas any more of your money and shut up.

    Maybe that Natalie Portman-obsessed guy was onto something...
  • Don't play his game, don't give him more money until he stops screwing us around.

    Let me tell you that George Lucas hasn't gotten a DIME out of me regarding Star Wars. Out of the entire series, I've only seen the first movie once. (NOT the first episode, the first MOVIE.) And that was borrowing it from a friend.

    I thought it sucked, so I haven't seen any of the sequels, OR the prequel. Sorry, but that's my opinion.

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • IIRC, they are releasing it on Laserdisc in Japan, so it could just be a confused guy mixing the two up.

    --
  • Hey, don't believe stuff just because it's in the legitimate press, either.

    A buddy of mine (with some input from me) once released a bogus episode list for an upcoming season of Deep Space 9, and it made it into Australian newspapers as a "studio employee leak".

    AICN probably would have spotted that list for what it was.
  • How many stories are deleted, later updated with a note ("Oops, turns out this story is wrong."), or corrected with a new story (such as this one)? Quite a few.

    Meanwhile with only 15 or so stories posted every day, there are GOOD stories posted that never see the light of day. I submitted a story a few weeks back that the Macromedia Flash SDK's were released to the public allowing anyone to make a Flash Plug-In or tie Flash export to any program on any OS and the story never gets posted.

    So now Slashdot is telling me that people would rather read about a rumor that is rumored not to be true on the release of a movie everyone hates, than start incorporating Flash export into a Linux program? Where are our priorities?
  • So this is the kind of person who works at Andover.net. No wonder your stock is in the toilet.
  • There is a preference you can set in your user profile to filter out star wars stories, if you don't want to see them.

    Too bad there isn't one to filter out your whiny ass.
  • Unless "Ben Hur" has been remastered to have Sandpeople taking pot shots at the chariots, I still need SW:TPM on DVD. Also in Ben Hur I cannot watch loose pod engines flying about the statium and secretly hope that this viewing, one will wander into Jar-Jar.

    Come to think of it, that would make for a really funny set of deleted scenes - every scene Jar-Jar is in, something catastrophic happens to Jar-Jar, Kenny style!

    Not that Ben Hur is not a fine movie (I have seen it before) that I also wish to own!

  • Arg (Score:2)

    by Foogle ( 35117 )
    Damn the man and his phony plan.

    -----------

    "You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."

  • I am pretty sure I'm going to get flamed for this, and maybe even deservedly so, BUT:

    Why is it that there seems to be so much anti-profit sentiment coming from the open source community? The majority of complaints regarding TPM I have seen posted in this thread are bitching about Lucasfilm "fleecing" the viewer, or "overmarketing", or whatever. The contradiction I see is between this attitude, and that of the libertarian capitalist whose main purpose in a marketplace is to return as much of a profit as possible.

    As much as I personally dislike Ayn Rand these days, I see many similarities between the way Lucas is treated by the public (of which /. is a part, like it or not) and the way Howard Roark was treated in "The Fountainhead." Consider:

    Both followed what they loved

    Both were vilified by the media and the public

    Both were visionary in their own way

    Both insist upon total creative control of their projects

    Now, all of these are admirable qualities to have. And while I might disagree with some of the creative decisions made by Lucas, I certainly do not begrudge him his ability to make those decisions, nor to profit from it. I am in the minority in that I feel that Phantom Menace was actually a good movie [shock! heresy! blasphemer! mindless M$ drone!] I would certainly rather my hard earned dollars go to Lucasfilm than to the US Government, M$, Red Hat, organized religion, Old Navy, the RIAA or MPAA (of which Lucasfilm is not a member), or many other things I can think of.

    Lucas is a visionary. All visionaries are vilified. You can scream that he is a sell-out, but I remind you that he is selling out to himself, which is what the game is all about, friends.

    - Rev.

  • Ain't it cool?

    I just noticed that we can filter out Star Wars if we don't want to see it now. Way to go Slashdot people.

    Woohoo! (and all the rest of that.. I hate Star Wars, haven't seen the new one, and won't)

    ------
    Following line: Good example of Fair Use.

  • Everyone complained about how lame this movie was. Now, all of a sudden, everyone is desperate for for the DVD. Doesn't make sense. Does everyone just LOVE to buy horrible movies on DVD?

  • Re:So? (Score:2)

    by B-Rad ( 66696 )
    DVD competes with THX? How so? They're completely different things. And there are "THX-encoded" DVDs out there. My copy of Army Of Darkness does the whole THX song and dance.
  • Anyone stop to think that if George Lucas did call a rock radio station he would at least let the webmaster at www.starwars.com post the same story? AICN just ain't that cool, its a video store clerk's fantasy site and is more fiction than anything else.

  • just a question, but how many /. stories have been posted considerig this movie, both in terms of when it was coming out, details about the movie, reviews of the movie, and this whole dvd rumor crap?

    I bet you that there have been close to a dozen different Star Wars Phantom Menace stories on /., and all concerning a movie that wasn't half as good as the original trilogy and looked like it was aimed to please 6 yr olds.

    Enough is enough... this stuff should just be posted on the plethora of stupid sites dedicated to performing sexual acts on George Lucas and idol-worshipping him for a half-baked storyline which only contained about 30 min of quality footage.

    Why is this story here? To be honest, I think the stock story of this past weekend was a better addition to /. than the George Lucas worship.
  • These aren't the rumors you're looking for.
  • I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sure sick as hell about all the 'news' of the Phantom Menace 'release'. It's got to the point that I no longer care whether it's release or not -- I'm not buying it simply on principle alone. These mindgames that are being played with the consumer serve only to piss people off, not drum up suspense and anticipation for an impending release.

    --

  • As it was said before, it was pretty obvious this wouldn't happen, Lucas has stated plenty of times that he wouldn't release Star Wars on DVD because it was an untested medium (yeah right, DVD is a household word now). Besides that, it would've been all over www.starwars.com as some huge announcment to get some attention before it was leaked out. Oh well, we can all wait. It's just too bad I can't watch Episode 1 on DVD because it was such an outstanding achievment in the history of movies (end sarcasm).
  • But I think we can all agree that when Slashdot tosses journalistic integrity to the wind and prints sensationalistic stories like this that have not one single shred of evidence to back them up, it makes Slashdot look bad. Amateurish, you know?

    This needs to be said (sorry if it's offensive)...

    Slashdot is hardly a "news" site. Ignoring the book reviews, Ask Slashdot, Interviews and Jon Katz rants, you have a bunch of stories lifted from other sites, with (evidently) no verification whatsoever before the story is posted. How many stories are deleted, later updated with a note ("Oops, turns out this story is wrong."), or corrected with a new story (such as this one)? Quite a few.

  • I already own two copies of the original trilogy: the "original" original, and the special edition. I almost bought the letterbox version of the special edition when I saw that later. I was in the checkout line, and I asked myself "How many times are you going to buy Star Wars?" Luckily, I escaped, and decided to stop emptying my pockets every time another version of the same movie comes out. I'll wait for the DVD version with tons of extra features. I'd even pay a premium to get it! But I simply won't bother spending money on a crappy VHS tape or a DVD that's devoid of features. On the other hand, I'd pay almost any amount to get the theoretical full-featured DVD. $100? No problem!
  • The way I see it is that Lucas is going to do whatever the hell he wants to do. And he can do it becuse Star Wars is one of the largest movie franchises right now.

    The way that Lucas markets things you'd think that he got his ideas from Mel Brooks Spaceballs. "Spaceballs: The Flamethrower. The kids love this one" - Yogurt

    You would think that the logical thing would be to release it on VHS and DVD, considering how LucasArts has this whole big thing about the quality of their films and everything. What I dont understand is why they did NOT do a DVD release. VHS quality is so much lower than DVD quality, and with the digital prints that they were using for TPM, DVD would be a wonderful medium for TPM to be released on.

    IMO, I dont think that we will see a TPM DVD release soon. But if we do, I will buy it, even though I got up at midnight to purchase the widescreen VHS version.

    *sigh*

    -B

  • NO SHIT (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:43AM (#1123244)

    Jesus Christ on Popsicle sticks.

    Apologies for the inflammatory subject line, but how many times has a rumor like this been floating around before? Star Wars DVD rumors are a dime a dozen, and each one is "more legitimate" than the one before. And then, a couple of days ago, Slashdot reports that the rumor is floating around again! Of course, this time, the rumor is true! (Really, it is!) Then, a few days later, Slashdot is forced to print (hold on to your hats, folks) a retraction, because the initial story was (again, hold on to your hats, folks) wrong.

    Look, I like Slashdot as much as the next guy, and I think that all of these troll idiots who post nothing but "SLASHDOT REALLY SUCKS NOW" and related junk are severely without lives. But I think we can all agree that when Slashdot tosses journalistic integrity to the wind and prints sensationalistic stories like this that have not one single shred of evidence to back them up, it makes Slashdot look bad. Amateurish, you know?

    Rob and company, I love your site .. but on behalf of us all, can we put some talcum powder on the trigger fingers and exercise a bit of self-restraint when it comes to stories like this? The good reputation of Slashdot will thank you.

    That is all.

  • Re:Okay, here it comes. (Score:3)

    by Ralph Wiggam ( 22354 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @12:01PM (#1123245) Homepage
    The roller coaster will only stop when large numbers of hard core fans tell George Lucas to go screw himself and take their money elsewhere. The only chance of this happening in the near future is if Episode 2 is as poor as TPM. I would certainly consider myself a Star Wars "Fan", and I hope that Episode 2 is the greatest film of all time, but after TPM, my money is staying in my pocket until he shows me a good movie.
    This "No DVD until the box set" thing is rediculous. Lucas obviously wants millions of his most loyal fans to purchase two copies of an identical movie, and nobody seems to be calling him on it. Just because he made some brilliant movies a while ago and wears flannel shirts, doesn't mean he isn't as greedy as the Armani suit wearing CEOs we all love to hate.

    Don't play his game, don't give him more money until he stops screwing us around.

    -B

  • Re:Because people are stupid (Score:3)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @10:49AM (#1123246)
    I thought the movie was OK, but I really want a DVD so I can watch the two most interesting parts - the pod race and final darth maul fight - without having to wade through the annoying parts of the movie.

    Even if video tape didn't degrade the way it does, I'd still like a DVD just for the easy random access.

  • Dueling Jedi Rumors (Score:3)

    by ckd ( 72611 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:53AM (#1123247) Homepage

    The Digital Bits [thedigitalbits.com], which is a DVD news site (and therefore IMHO a more likely source for DVD news than AICN), claims to have actual Lucasfilm inside information (rather than just a "we don't have a release date" comment from an un-named source). These guys are part of the "Star Wars on DVD" campaign and have managed to get contacts with LFL as part of that.

    In particular, their Rumor Mill [thedigitalbits.com] page says that there won't be any Star Wars DVDs in 2000; they're currently hearing 1Q 2001 for Phantom Menace and "very tentative plans" for the original trilogy for the 2001 holiday season.

    You will note that this doesn't actually conflict with AICN's latest--there's no real release date yet--though it certainly conflicts with what "some guy at Suncoast" said in the original AICN article.

    (As for his credibility, if a mall store employee told me the sun would be rising in the east tomorrow, I'd be checking the other horizon. :-)

  • frustration (Score:3)

    by MicroBerto ( 91055 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @10:33AM (#1123248)
    I motion for a permanent, global slashdot ban on articles regarding this. Enough was enough 2 articles ago...

    slashdot is beginning to sound like a 5 year old on a long car trip: "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"...

    Mike Roberto (roberto@soul.apk.net [mailto]) - AOL IM: MicroBerto

  • Check your sources! (Score:3)

    by lconover ( 112984 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @10:27AM (#1123249)
    Remember that cranky old professor you used to have in college that demanded absurd number of verifiable sources? Turns out he's right - if it's an 'anonymous' source or someone who 'refuses to be named', chances are pretty damn good that the rumor is wishful thinking. (The only time I believe anonymous sources is when they're used to protect people from physical retribution, not when they're in conjunction with entertainment-industry rumors..)

    Who in their right mind uses "Ain't It Cool" news as a primary source? Shouldn't the title of the site and the lack of writing skills on the boards be a dead giveaway that it's mostly bogus?

    Let's put it this way - rumor-mongers though they might be, at least TheSmokingGun [thesmokinggun.com] has verifiable documentation of all the stuff they claim, unlike the 'news' at 'Ain't It Cool'. At least that makes it smell a little more like journalism.

    Always, always verify your sources, and don't always believe what's on the Web... I had thought Slashdot was a little better about picking-and-choosing source material, even on slow news days. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

    Best regards,
    LConover

    "Hope clouds observation." (Frank Herbert, Dune.)

  • Re:Surprise surprise (Score:3)

    by jcampb12 ( 173079 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:59AM (#1123250) Homepage
    How can Lucas say that DVD is an untested medium, while he also is pushing theatres to upgrade to all digital projection of movies? So DVD's, which have been around awhile and are a household name, are untested, but theatres receiving their movies from digital satellites or digital copies from mail or web is tested (and must be secure)--Riiiiiight. It seems that Lucas's definition of untested technology is something that takes power and control out of his hands.

  • Stop the Whining Drones.... (Score:4)

    by Stickerboy ( 61554 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @03:03PM (#1123251) Homepage

    ...it's hurting my ears. Everybody wants to be "cool" and post exactly the same thing that's been said five thousand other times on Slashdot, which invariably boils down to 1 of 3 things:

    1) "George Lucas is a flaming greedy capitalist whore, boycott his movies!!!!"

    Three words: get a grip. Do you know George Lucas personally? I don't. I'm sure you don't either. Making petty personal attacks is the #1 reason no one outside of the geek community takes the geek community seriously. It smacks of both penis envy and I'm-Sixteen-And-Pissed-Off-At-The-World Syndrome, and it's also defacing a quiet, unassuming geek himself who's a decent family man. If you don't buy Lucas' reasoning that he wants to be able to do something artistically special for the DVD, that's fine. Keep your name-calling to yourself.

    2) "Phantom Menace/ROTJ/the series sucks balls compared to Matrix/Dune/Cube/whatever!!!"

    Lucas set out to create a movie to capture the magic of both the Saturday cartoon serial and movies that he remembers fondly from his childhood. The reason most of you thought the original trilogy kicked ass and Episode I blew isn't because of any large qualitative difference, it's because you watched them twenty years apart. I was born in 1978, so the first time I saw Star Wars was on videotape, and it had exactly the effect Lucas wanted. I went into Episode I knowing it was a movie aimed at a 10 year old, and I enjoyed it for what it was. Are The Matrix and Pokemon aimed at the same audience? Would you compare the two? So quit making lame analogies that don't fit. Oh yeah, and I hereby predict that after Matrix 3 (or whatever it'll be called) everyone and their mother on Slashdot will be rushing to be "cool" as the people who call the creators "sellouts" and "profitmongers", as they were disappointed that Matrix 3 didn't have the same "magic" as the first. Well, no shit. There's only a first time for everything. Wouldn't you think after 3 movies, or 6, that they won't have at least some feel of "been there, done that?"

    3) "Lucas should stop letting down his fans with all this hype and give us the DVD/3 sequels/free movies/adult themes that we want!!!"

    I'm sorry, is this art by committee? Lucas is the rare artist (extremely rare) who has enough power and influence to do things exactly how he wants, and you people flame him for not pandering to the masses?? Jesus Christ!! Go back to listening to Third Eye Blind or watching cheesy summer action flicks. I'd rather see the rare something that was uncut and unprostituted to make everyone happy, warts and all.

    The bottom line is, if you don't like the series or the movie, don't contribute money to Lucas. He doesn't want it anyway - he's already one of the richest men alive, and the only reason he needs any more is so he can create more movies, which is what he loves. Don't say "well, I think the movie, but I'll buy it anyway." Just don't buy it, don't whine about it, and for God's sake don't spend your time making up mud to sling at Lucas.

    I'm going a step farther to say I'm disappointed in how mindless and drone-like Slashdot is appearing in non-issues like this subject. For every post that actually has something interesting or insightful to say, there are 20 more that fit into one of the categories above marked "Score 5: Insightful". Pass the barf bag.



    telnet://bbs.ufies.org
    Trade Wars Lives

  • Okay, here it comes. (Score:5)

    by Accipiter ( 8228 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:46AM (#1123252)
    To all you people who are so mad about this "sudden change of events" (cough)...

    Don't you DARE complain.

    I predicted this roller coaster. While all this hype over a possible DVD is brewing, it's keeping interest in TPM alive. So people throw out a rumor here....a rebuttal there. The main point is: Nobody Cares! Okay, so if a DVD comes out all you Star Wars fanatics can roll in delight, and talk about how Great it is. If no DVD comes out, you can roll in despair and talk about how great it would have been. Then you can fall back on VHS.

    George Lucas is laughing his ass off. He knows what's going on, and he knows it means one thing: MORE MONEY. For every statement that denies that a DVD will come out, X amount of people say "Screw it, I'll just buy the tape." Then another article comes out, and another rebutes THAT one. Then X MORE people buy the tape. the process repeats about 20 or so times, and then the hype dies down. When the hype dies down, there would be only one thing left to do:

    Release the standard DVD.

    Then, he'll start the whole process over again with the promise of a "Special Edition" DVD. (Or hell, maybe he'll release a "Special Edition" VHS, ride the hype coaster one more time, THEN release the "Special Edition" DVD.)

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • What the hell is wrong with you people???! (Score:5)

    by Pope ( 17780 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:50AM (#1123253)
    The so-called update (above) is from SUNDAY, ie BEFORE yesterdays statements.
    Not only is this NOT an update, it renders this entire discussion moot, since Lucas claimed that on Monday or Tuesday that he's going to release.

    I hereby call for slashdot to NEVER get their stories from AICN ever again.

    Pope

  • Only the video industry (Score:5)

    by Valdrax ( 32670 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:35AM (#1123254)
    I quote the ever wonderful Anime on DVD [animeondvd.com] in reference to the Maison Ikkoku controversy:

    "Much like the Star Wars discussions on its lack of DVD, this is another one that always gets a chuckle in my mind. How many other products do you have where the customer is practically throwing their money at the company and the company doesn't release the product. Only the video industry..."

  • Please.... (Score:5)

    by pmodz ( 123700 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @09:36AM (#1123255)
    So now the rumor is rumored not to be true.

  • ReCSS!!! (Score:5)

    by G Neric ( 176742 ) on Wednesday April 19, 2000 @10:01AM (#1123256)
    does anybody know if we could use DeCSS to put it onto a DVD?

    MPAA couldn't possibly stop us: how would it look in court? "Yes, your honor, we're suing these guys for taking it off a DVD, and we're suing these guys for putting it onto a DVD. We hate everybody."

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