First reviews of Star Wars DVDs

[Spruce Goose]

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/545/545786p1.html Click on continue to SW top right corner

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarstrilogy.html

Looks very promising. So far everybody doesn't mind the new changes and actually say that they fit.

List of changes:
Episode IV: A New Hope

# Lots of matte lines removed. The space under Luke's speeder looks much more realistic.
# R2D2's blue parts are much cleaner and more consistent.
# The 1997 animation added to the entrance to Mos Eisley is much smoother.
# Greedo and Han shoot at the same time, and Han's dodge is far more realistic.
# Jabba has been retexturized and looks considerably better. Han still walks on his tail, but it's much smoother.
# The lettering on various Death Star panels are written in Aurebesh rather than English.
# The matte-painted hall in Leia's detention block looks much more realistic.
# Lightsabers look much better. Colors are far brighter and the blades are more defined.

# Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

# The battle of Hoth is enhanced with a ground battle between the Rebel soldiers and stormtroopers
# Ian McDiarmid has refilmed scenes as the Emperor instead of that near-fossil they had.
# The conversations between Vader and Palpatine has a few new lines. Palpatine knows that Luke is Vader's son.
# Light sabers are again fixed, making them more consistent.
# Temuera Morrison does the voice of Boba Fett
# Luke's inane scream when he jumps to escape Vader on Cloud City is gone. And there was much rejoicing.

# Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
# Like the other two, the light sabers are fixed.
# The Rancor looks considerably better, with its matte lines removed.
# When Vader's helmet is removed, his eyebrows are gone and his eyes are recolored to match Hayden's.
# Celebrations on Naboo, Coruscant and one other planet, where a statue is toppled right before we see the celebration with the ewoks.
# Perhaps this was in the 1997 special editions, but in the various background shots of the new Death Star, its appearance changes and you can see progress as the station takes shape.
# Hayden Christensen replaces Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost. Lucas explains this in the commentary, which is spoilerish for Episode III.

 

[Spruce Goose]

I liked this part from the 1st review.

The Special (Superior) Editions

When Lucas revisited the Trilogy in 1997, I was there on opening day for each one. They may have been titled "Special Editions" then (that subtitle no longer exists as there is only one version as far as Lucas sees), but they really are the "Superior Editions." You can bitch and moan all you want about the changes. You can wish death upon Lucas (believe me, I've seen people say worse about Lucas recently) on your little message board where you feel special. But allow me to give you a little reality check:

YOU DID NOT CREATE STAR WARS. IT IS NOT YOUR STORY TO TELL.

This story was created by "George Lucas", not "kewld00de420" on some message board. Lucas had Kershner's blessing to polish up Empire, so your argument that Lucas had no right to alter that movie is moot. As for Jedi, well Marquand is dead and according to a recent interview with Kershner, Marquand technically didn't direct Jedi, but rather it was Kershner's assistant director and Lucas doing the job.

In fact, after the Superior Editions I have a hard time watching the originals. They look almost unfinished now. I can't stand the Vaseline under the landspeeder in A New Hope, the transparent AT-AT and snowspeeders in Empire, and the matting problems in Jedi. The Superior Editions fixed all of that.

I can respect the opinion that the originals should be available for historical purposes. The problem I have is people who spend their entire life bashing Lucas for making changes to his movies. The movies are completely owned by Lucasfilm and he can do whatever the hell he wants with them.



-Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox
Don't mess wit da man.




As for Han, shut the hell up. If I have to hear "Han Shoots First" one more time, I may shoot someone myself. The only thing that bothered me about that in the Superior Edition was the horribly jerky animation they gave him. You can spam your message board until your fingers fall off from typing "Han Shoots First," but you are not going to force a change on Lucas and his vision for his story.

Once again, you did not create the character of Han Solo, and if you really understood the entire storyline of the Star Wars saga, you would see where Lucas was going with the change. For one, Han at the end of his arc was a reformed scoundrel not a reformed murderer. On the larger scale, one of the themes Lucas was trying to put forth with the entire Star Wars saga was that aggressiveness and violence brings a bad end.

In a scene cut from The Phantom Menace, we see Greedo fighting with Anakin Skywalker. At the end of the scene, Anakin's Rodian friend Wald tells Greedo: "Keep this up, Greedo, and you're gonna come to a bad end." And hey, Greedo did come to a bad end.



-Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox
Just change the oil and check the fluids.




The Superior Editions weren't perfect. The Jabba CGI was bad, they still had Vader's white saber, and they put the Emperor's scream from Jedi in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke falls down the shaft. Thankfully these DVDs fix almost all of those problems, but they also bring forth more changes that'll surely cause more people to fire up the message board and spew off more babble of how superior they are to Lucas while sitting in their parent's basement.

 

[spawn]

George can fuck off and so can all the idiots saying they are "Georges" movies, ill complain all I like, I want to see the movies as they originally were, so just release those on dvd as well and everyone would shut the fuck up.

Half the changes are ridiculous. I can understand fixing the lightsabres, or remastering the audio/visual aspects, and maybe adding bits to explosions or something, but cutting new actors in, changing the script entirely, replacing actors voices. ITS BULLSHIT.

 

[Spruce Goose]

I am pretty pumped for the DVD release now though. Just the extra disc sounds amazing. 151 minute documentary with massive rare footage from the original. Thats longer than most movies! should be cool.

 

[Sydo]

I can understand fixing the lightsabres, or remastering the audio/visual aspects, and maybe adding bits to explosions or something, but cutting new actors in, changing the script entirely, replacing actors voices. ITS BULLSHIT.

Yep. I think they should have gone all the way and added lesbians and nudity.

 

[spawn]

Damn straight, its a travesty is what it is.

 

[Spiff]

I too am pumped for the DVDs. Should be top stuff.

 

[Wrathchild]

Keep 'em . I'll take good quality bootlegs of the *proper* original trilogy any day.

W

 

[Spiff]

That record is getting boring.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I agree that they are George's movies and he can do what he likes with them, but what I hate is this whole attitude of 'thats how they were meant to be in the first place' and stuff. Bullshit. I agree with Spawn, making changes that enhance the appearance and sound etc of the film are fine, but actually changing scenes, characters, dialogue, the plot, etc, is fucked.

If he is going to do this, fine, but the original trilogy should still be made available.

That said, I am still very interested in these new DVDs and will be getting them at some stage.

 

[Spiff]

You should be a politician, Blitz.

 

[Celestial-Todd]

I just heard rumours that they are going to bring out the original editions on dvd... which wouldn't suprise me in the least, just another money grab

 

[spawn]

I dont think its a money grab in this case, more like finally shutting a lot of us up If they had any brains they would do it so everyone would be happy.

 

[phlogiston]

Mark Hamill Talks Star Wars Epis. 7, 8, & 9
Source: Scott Chitwood
Friday, September 10, 2004


This past Wednesday, ComingSoon.net had the opportunity to attend Lucasfilm and Fox Home Entertainment's roll-out of the "Star Wars Trilogy" DVD set (Coming Sept. 21st.) One of the surprise guests at the event was Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. He ended up being one of the highlights of the presentation as he enthusiastically recalled humorous anecdotes about the making of the original films, working with Kevin Smith, seeing TROOPS for the first time, and more.

However, his comments towards the end about Episodes 7, 8, and 9 really got everyone's attention. Mark told those in attendance what Lucas told him the third trilogy would be about. Hamill also went into detail about Lucas' original plans for those films, when they would be made, and more. Plus, Lucasfilm's Jim Ward confirmed that a "Star Wars" TV series is on the way in the near future (though he didn't say when it would be set).

We thought you might like to hear Mark Hamill's comments in his own voice. Simply download this 5 minute MP3 file and enjoy! It's only 2 MB in size:

MARK HAMILL TALKS STAR WARS EPISODES 7, 8, & 9

Check back soon for more on this presentation as well as a full review of the DVD set. Look for Q&A sessions with "Empire Strikes Back" director Irvin Kershner, DVD guru Van Ling, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and more!


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http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=6318

 

[spawn]

This is a great idea. Completely ruin the originals, then make three really, really shitty prequels, then, once thats all done, make three more crap movies and destroy any semblance of what made the originals so great.

Its like Grandpa Simpson has taken over the Star Wars franchise.

 

[phlogiston]

If you listen to that interview, Mark says George's vision is actually FOUR trilogies.

 

[Spiff]

Or one dozology, or whatever the 12-ology is called.

 

[Spiff]

This looks like some quality reading on the changes:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarstrilogy.html

 

[Spiff]

Hmm, yes, I *know* that was linked in Sprucey's first post. Shut up.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I had a good thought while at work yesterday. They should release the original trilogy with no changes, just as the original trilogy on DVD now, and when it comes time for Episode 3 to come to DVD, they could release a set of the six films, but have episodes 4, 5, and 6 as the new "special" versions, as the reason they have been altered is to tie in with the new prequals. I think thats a good idea.