"Star Wars Trilogy" on DVD?

[SNS]

Another bad change was Luke screaming after he chooses to jump. However, I like the other changes in the Special Edition.

 

[MajorTom]

I don't see why it's such a big deal if it's SE or not. In fact, I think they should include both versions. But this "Archival Edition" crap is stupid.

-Major Tom

 

[RKillian]

That's IF the original versions still exist. I have heard rumors that George Lucas destroyed the negatives of the original versions & only the Special Editions remain.

::starts handing out standard issue mob equipment and pointing people towards the castle::

Seriously, though, you might not be that far off base. The story goes that, when the Special Editions were worked on, the original negatives were in pretty poor shape. It turned out that they ended up using Lucas' personal backup print to do the restoration. This is all stated, I believe, in the interviews on the VHS releases.

The film was scanned into a computer and digitally repaired frame by frame. Now, most power users make alot of backups when they use a computer. Were I to restore a film, I'd certainly save the edits to another file. Granted, I'm a little more paranoid than most, but I find it slightly implausible that there isn't an original digital version somewhere.

The fact is that they _could_ do an orignal release as well. Science and Hollywood have worked miracles on many occasions before. The question is whether or not anybody feels like it. Hopefully, Mr Lucas will realize how much this film has touched 2 generations of movie fans and do the right thing.

 

[RKillian]

I don't see why it's such a big deal if it's SE or not. In fact, I think they should include both versions. But this "Archival Edition" crap is stupid.

-Major Tom

The thing I'm most afraid of is having the original trilogy soiled by the presence of Jar Jar Binks...

 

[Yash]

Mesa JarJar Binks! Mesa see big laser! Mesa wonder what that big laser is! OH NOS! MESA RUN! MESA RUN FAST! MESA DIE!

 

[William C. Maune]

I have no problems with these "Archival Editions". Some say they are our films, some say they are George's films. Both sides have their points. They are George's films and thus he should be able to do whatever he wants to them, but the fans deserve the original they love as well. As long as the original editions are made available I could care less what he does with other editions of the film.

 

[Zero Signal]

I got one of the sets of DVDs about a year or so ago. Felt kinda bad at first for getting bootlegs, but when I found out that the orignal version isn't coming out I'm glad I did.

I'm one of the ones who hates the Special Editions with a passion. I remember sitting in the theater watching the Star Wars Special Edition and just freaking out quietly about what had been done. See, I thought all that had been done to the movies was restoration and minor effects clean up. Ugh, wrong. It's kinda pointless to argue the whole Greedo shoots first thing (because SJJ nailed everything perfectly to me) other than to say it looks really bad. And God, don't even get me started on the new version of Jedi with the new songs and giant penis monster in the desert

I think Lucas won't release the originals on purpose. He knows a vast majority prefer them before he added all the new scenes. He should release both versions and see which ones sell better, but he won't. He knows the answer, and nobody likes to admit that they screwed up. If all he wants to release is a version with tons more tweaks and shots that look put of place, that's good for him. But I'm not buying it

 

[SNS]

The music scene was added because Lucas always wanted to do that but he couldn't due to the puppets being so limited in the facial expressions & movements.

 

[Mynd Hed]

That's IF the original versions still exist. I have heard rumors that George Lucas destroyed the negatives of the original versions & only the Special Editions remain.

Well, if absolutely nothing else, there are still plenty of copies of the original versions on laserdisc still floating around, and unless I'm sorely mistaken, laserdiscs, like DVDs, don't degrade over time, so they could just do a transfer from that.

 

[RKillian]

Unfortunately, a transfer from Laserdisc wouldn't be as good as a film transfer. The resolution is about half of what DVD offers. I mean, it beats VHS by quite a bit but it's not fantastic.

 

[Char Aznable]

The thing I'm most afraid of is having the original trilogy soiled by the presence of Jar Jar Binks...

That's why I don't own Episode 1 on DVD and only own Episode 2. He wasn't much of a pest in Episode 2.

 

[justicefan61]

I can wait until all the movies are out on DVD and watch them in order to see how the storyline unfolds.. if george can make the movies have some sort of tie-in scenes or even a stand alone DVD showing the history of the star wars universe as related to the main characters , that would be cool. arter all, lucas has stated that the star wars saga is his version of a old movie serial from the 1940's and if you really watch one of those, like buck rodgers or flash gordon or rocketman, you can see what he is trying to do even if his movies are spread over a 30 year period with different actors and changing high tech digital effects and so on.. the main villian is Darth Vader and it is mainly his story and how the good of his son finally stops him and restores him to good again. and don't forget, there are three more films to make after that happens and who knows when or if we shall ever see them made.. nine movies or chapters in all.. I think they should all tie in together as if they were made at the same time..

 

[Yash]

Georgey Porgey cancelled the last three movies (Episodes VII-IX), because he said he was too old and didn't want to die while he was doing Star Wars. He's spent nearly fifteen years in production time on these films, he needs to rest.

Here's a fun little fact ~ George decided to do sequels to IV-VI instead of the prequels trilogy, and he started in 1994. The sequels were also supposed to be released in 1997. Then 1997 rolled around and he decided not to do sequels, but rather prequels, and started work on the prequels. At that time, he also did the SE's for IV-VI. I think the reason he added the stuff with the people cheering on the numerous planets, and the new music was because he wanted ROTJ to be the last film numerically.

So I guess George's Defenitive Vision will never be fully realized. Such a shame, too.

With that being said, I think the AE's need to be done, so that Lucas can finally complete his films the way he wants to.

 

[GL2k2]

I think George should have found other directors to do the films and maybe even his friend Speilberg to do one. After seeing Episode 2 (which was Lucas' best film yet), I feel he realized he had something to prove as a director, he didn't act angry, but you could tell he took a blow after the critics bashed Episode 1 and fans alike.

One thing that should not have been in the film was the opening buffer, sure it's a Star Wars movie, and we hadn't seen that in 20 something years, but Episode 1 was the beginning, let's start off fresh. I'm curious to see how he will handle Episode 3. Which must be very dark. I heard he's going for the gritty look in some scenes, as seen in "Saving Private Ryan's" and "Gangs of New York's" opening. I hear he's going to take a cue from THX-11 and get a kinda spooky feel. But these are all rumors, in the end, I hope Episode 2 stands as the best Star Wars film, but Episode 3 stands as Lucas' best film.

 

[SNS]

Episode VI was altered so much that Episodes VII-IX can no longer be done without coming up with an entirely different plot.

 

[Bakasama]

So I guess George's Defenitive Vision will never be fully realized. Such a shame, too.

Well, I've been following Star Wars for over 20 years and Lucas' vision of Star Wars seems to be subject to revision. For example, the opening scrolling text for Star Wars Episode IV never had "Episode IV".

About Greedo/Han shot, I remember one remember one irate fan ranting that that scene reduced Greedo from a menacing bounty hunter to a retard.

I think the OT should be avaible just for the fact it was OT that touched and influence a generation not the SE versions.

 

[SNS]

For example, the opening scrolling text for Star Wars Episode IV never had "Episode IV".

The only reason it wasn't called Episode IV was because Lucas was woried that people wouldn't watch the film because they might think that they missed the first three movies.

 

[James]

Another bad change was Luke screaming after he chooses to jump. However, I like the other changes in the Special Edition.

Not a fan of that either. The controlled resignation Luke has when facing his destiny is what made his silent fall so special. He is prepared to sacrifice himself rather than follow the path of Vader. The scream just belittles Luke's character.

In fact, the only SE change I've liked was the contenious Jabba scene. It may not look great but it is a relevant addition to the story. The Wampa scene takes from the original as the Greedo scene does. You lose the 'punch' the original scene delivered.

The SE's were very poor. I thought the Han meeting a bay of stormtroopers belittle the troopers. Initially, he balks when the three or so turn round because even Stormtroopers have guns and could kill.. I think the bay of troopers was just ridiculous and over the top. I liked the simplicity of the original.

And do the SE actually correct any of the dated mistakes and effects? Nope. Luke's lightsabre STILL has no extend/retract animation in ANH, the Death Star STILLS has it's dish on it's equator line on the plans, Ben's lightsabre still isn't animated fully in the Vader fight... he ignored all the things which would bring the films up to date with his new ones, in place of cheap gimmicks which just ruined the pacing.

*vent vent vent*

 

[JDuncan]

In my opinion, the only real "improvement" brought by the SE was the work done to erase/hide the matte lines of the ships during the assault of the Death Star. Every other change was unnecessary and a detraction. I'm afraid of how bad the new "Archive Editions" are going to be.

 

[SNS]

Not a fan of that either. The controlled resignation Luke has when facing his destiny is what made his silent fall so special. He is prepared to sacrifice himself rather than follow the path of Vader. The scream just belittles Luke's character.

Yeah & it wasn't even done good (that scream you hear is Palpatine's from ROTJ).

And do the SE actually correct any of the dated mistakes and effects? Nope. Luke's lightsabre STILL has no extend/retract animation in ANH, the Death Star STILLS has it's dish on it's equator line on the plans, Ben's lightsabre still isn't animated fully in the Vader fight... he ignored all the things which would bring the films up to date with his new ones, in place of cheap gimmicks which just ruined the pacing.

I'm sure the Archival Editions will correct those mistakes.