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Starwars Episode 1 DVD?
|GopheR| writes "Mr. George changed his mind and is planning to release episode 1 on DVD before 2005? If The digital bits rumormill is right, then he probably did change his mind. " Note that they don't really have a date set, and Lucas hasn't said he *won't* release DVDs... just that it'll be years before they do. To bad. I own two copies of the original trilogy on VHS (Original and Special edition) but I've sworn off video. I woulda bought the DVD the day it came out, but I won't spend a penny on VHS.
I too have been watching DVD exclusively for several months, but I went ahead and bought the VHS EP1 because I knew it would be a long time before DVD was available.
I remembered how disapointed I was not more then 5 seconds into the movie. The duplication was crap, the quality stunk. I used to be in the dup business, I know that these were cheap, worn out machines that the dup work was done on.
Seems a shame that Lucas is having to pinch pennies. Can't wait to see the set for EP2 - his basement perhaps?
Director's cut? PLEASE tell me you're kidding!
Those are only supposed to happen when the studio won't let the director do exactly what he/she wants with the movie. Lucas had COMPLETE artistic freedom with Episode I, thanks to the revenues from the "Special Edition" re-releases, so a director's cut different from the PM we've already seen is just another way for him to get his hands in our respective pockets....
Unless he figures out a way to get rid of Jar-Jar.
:)
He's second only to Disney in this regard.
Actually, I think he's trying to sell it to everybody 3 or 4 times. The original Star Wars has been available in at least 4 different VHS releases, and he's said that he's planning yet another re-release (on DVD) because he's still not happy with the way the original 3 films look (read: he's still not happy with the cash he's milked from them). The only way to show him that we think this sucks is to not buy the VHS, but I read the other day the the Ep 1 video has made more money in less time ($100 million in 2 days, IIRC) than the theatrical release did. So scratch that idea.
The Digital Bits does have info on an imported Laserdisc version that is supposed to be excellent (if you still have your LD player), and there's also a VCD available, though it's obviously not going to look that great.
It isn't that because of DeCSS DVDs are evil, it is the responce the movie groups had to DeCSS that make DVDs evil. I am sort of surprised at all the slashdotters who are calling for EP1 to come on DVD. Guess the boycott is all good until something you want to watch comes out huh?
color me dissapointed.
Right now, I don't care too much about this. Besides, it's his movie -- he can do whatever he wants with it (well, within the confines of the law..) Besides, it can be argued that DVD isn't quite stable yet (there are plenty of old players that can't play new movies). Also, DVDs will be obsolete as soon as HDTV becomes common. There's also the very small possibility that he doesn't want to get involved in any way with the problems relating to CSS..
;-)
Anyway, I'm sure that Mr. Lucas has plenty of reasons to wait on this. I'm patient
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Ski-U-Mah!
Stop the MPAA
So why wouldn't you release EP 1 on a digital format?
Because the film sucked rocks?
Seriously, I find it odd that there seems (based on people I know personally, not reading /. comments) that there are a whole bunch of people who want to buy Episode I, even though they hated it. No wonder crap films keep tumbling out of Hollywood.
The only reason I want TPM on DVD is so that I can watch the Darth Maul/Obi Wan/Qui Gon Jinn duel with more clarity than my friends can.
I'm still swinging for an 'Episode 0.5', wherein we learn more about Maul and get to see some incredible lightsaber fighting.
Region coding is evil. While the US (and a few other countries, incld. Japan) use NTSC, and most everyone else uses PAL, DVDs use neither.
DVDs use MPEG2. The _player_ then converts it into PAL or NTSC or whatever. Just 'cos a disc says NTSC or PAL on it, doesn't make it true.
Otherwise people couldn't reasonably import discs. Funny thing is, they do. Region 1 discs are pretty common all around the world.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Wasn't LucasFilm one of the big proponents of Divx? If I were really cynical, I'd say that he's mad about having lost out on the really big cash cow that Divx releases of his movies would have been, and he's "punishing" fans of his movies for not blindly adopting the format that he promoted.
Of course, he can't *say* that - it would p*ss off way too many people. So he just puts all his titles on a DVD treadmill - it'll come out Real Soon Now, when he has a chance to Do It Right.
Just watch, if people ever get tired of the Do It Right excuse, he'll pull out DeCSS, and protecting his interests.
Once again this topic wastes space. A) The movie sucked B) Who cares?? Spend your money on something more interesting like a game or a few pizzas.
How about a different audio channel where Jar-Jar and the rest of his race just speak normally...?
It's called price discrimination.
The people who are willing to pay the extra money (the True Fans) will, and the marketroids know that.
The people who "just want to see it, you know, for the kids," aren't going to care. Heck, your average household doesn't even know what they're missing with pan and scan. And those people won't pay high prices.
This is why there are so many academic discounts (eg, software) -- its to sell more units at profit, not becuase the companies are compassionate.
--Jim
Lucas showed the movie to Joseph Campbell, an expert on myth, and he thought the movie was completely stupid.
If only that were true! Campbell mentions the movies in his books (which instantly lowered my respect for him), and I believe he and Lucas have appeared in tv specials together. What a bunch of shit!
The original movies hold up as somewhat decent campy sci-fi, but not much more. The newest one made me want to leave the theatre.
I believe that Lucas is controlled by an alien and his movies are a bizarre attempt to indoctrinate humans with his alien dogma. Did you see interviews with lucas before phantom menace was released? Tell me that giant growth around his neck could be anything but an alien.
Scuttlemonkey is a troll
>I'll never be able to buy PM or any movie in
>that format. It's my little act of protest.
I think an even better way of protesting would be to not buy any VHS movies from Lucasart. Then you could even buy a DVD player and buy tons of other DVDs.
I had hoped that a simple, omnidirectional antenna would be sufficient for HDTV. However, viewing tests in Baltimore (Sinclair) and Philadelphia (NBC) seem to show that an urban viewer with an indoor antenna is going to have severe problems with reception. Everything may work great with a 30' tower and an LPDA antenna, but that is impractical for many viewers who live in apartments or have restrictive covenants or zoning on outside antennas.
I live in an area that has poor over-the-air NTSC quality due to mediocre signal strength and strong multipath. The local cable system is rolling out "digital cable". They haven't said if they plan to carry HDTV from the local stations.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
As others have pointed out, DVDs are already obsolete. The HDTV standard which is being implemented right now blows them away in a few short years.
I agree that a boycott will probably not do much good in getting the MPAA to change their policies. Someone should have looked at the DVD spec and the DMCA a few years back when there was only 10,000 players out there and pointed out the problems with it. That didn't happen, and now DVD is established as a must-have techie consumer item.
Still, we see people on Slashdot moaning "I can't legally watch the DVDs I paid for!!" -- and the only real answer for that is to stop buying the movies if it's a moral problem for you. People can get quite preachy about the whole thing, but the bottom line is that they are still giving their hard earned cash to the movie studios. Maybe an organized boycott would be pointless, but some people here should start personal boycotts just to avoid the hypocracy of the situation.
Right now the MPAA views the whole DVD/DMCA thing as a success. We've lost this battle. What people need to do is to get involved with the process and win the next battle. The engineering community needs to make sure that HDTV and HD-DVD formats are open. They need to propose recordable media formats that are open enough for data use, and not driven by the needs of hollywood. The political community needs to make sure the DMCA is not extended and is challenged in court when possible. We can't let the MPAA win the next battle.
I hate to sound like a pessimist, but right now the future looks pretty dark. They've already got encrypted data bouncing around *your* Personal Computer that you can't legally manipulate. The next format will a better scheme than CSS that won't be so easily broken. There are standards on the board for encrypted monitor connections, encrypted sound conections (notice how the iMac is missing a 10 cent headphone jack?), and so on.
Lots of people here promote alternatives like Linux because they want to maintain freedom in their personal computing. However, what Hollywood is trying to do is far worse than anything Microsoft has done with their closed and extended protocols. They want to turn your computer into their payola entertainment delivery device, their sealed, encrypted box. It time that the people of conscience start to realize this, and if they think it matters, at the very least stop supporting this thing with their dollars.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
If I recall the story correctly, the big dish Satellite system was "cracked" by some guy with a Commodore 64, a BASIC program, and an eprom burner.
Very similar to the whole DeCSS situation where a weak system was undermined by some teenager in Norway with a Pentium II and gcc. They won't be making the same mistakes next time...
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I also have the big THX box with the original trilogy on LD. Yes, there are some crappy blue screen effects visible in the first movie, but that is way better than having to look at a bunch of cute squishy digital aliens. No need to upgrade...
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
16:9 DVDs look great on current widescreen technology. HDTV, however, will be 16:9, but will also be capable of much higher resolutions than DVD currenly provides.
So, your widescreen DVDs will look OK on HDTV, but not as "_REAL_ good" as upcoming HD-DVDs.
(I have a bunch of widescreen laserdisc stuff, and to me the quality difference isn't really worth 'upgrading; to DVD. I'll have to wait and see what HDTV looks like -- word has it that the difference is immense. As for anamorphic being "enhanced", it's more like not dis-enhanced for 4:3 pan-n-scan. However, since video is such a big market, most movies seem to be shot nowdays with all of the action in the 4:3 box to make pan-n-scan easier.)
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
My "DVDs are obsolete" comment was an attempt at a reference to the early "Linux is obsolete" flamewar. Obviously, DVDs (and VHS) are not obsolete in the sense of 8-Tracks. Hell, you can still buy new LPs, and that's 1950s technology.
Everyone talks about freedom, but where are the companies' freedom.
Well, according to their bottom line, they're doing OK and I'm not too worried. Their current VHS market is huge and very profitable. And with no copy protection. Do they really need a whole set of encryption technologies to protect their profit base? No -- what they are really protecting is their distribution system. Digital media and the Internet and high bandwidth have logical conclusions, and they are not selling $20 or $100 DVDs to video stores and end users. They wanted "convergance", and they are getting it. Now they don't want to play by the rules -- the outcome of the personal computing revolution that the end user has control over the resources and data on their computer.
The whole point of CSS and other forms of encryption is to prevent unauthorized access to some content
Look, I have no problem with them if they want to sell a sealed box (like a component DVD player) and have it talk to my computer through known, documented interfaces (S-Video, 1394, whatever). What I dislike is that they want to turn my computer into that sealed box, simply because software is cheaper for them to produce than hardware. We've already got a situation where you can play a DVD on your computer, but the software won't let you take a screenshot. At what point does DIVX resurrect itself?
(As for my boss reading my e-mail, that's a silly example. The company owns the computer, the e-mail system, and my 'work product'. Hollywood owns the content on the DVD and that's it. They don't own the hardware, the player, the CPU, my time or anything else.)
I'm not trying to make this a crusade. Obviously, what you want to do with your computer is up to you, and I respect your well-stated opionion on the matter. I just think there's quite a bit of moral inconsistancy on Slashdot about DVDs (People buy them and watch them but don't like the terms of the deal.) DeCSS is only a band-aid here. Hopefully a more fair longterm solution will be realized.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
You bring up an interesting point in the midst of all that -- Very few people bought VHS movies, with the exception of some kids films to keep the youngins docile.
Yet, for some reason, DVD owners feel the need to build "a collection". I know quite a few people that have bought several $20-30 DVDs of movies they had not seen, and in the end, really didn't like that much. Maybe it's just because the media won't degrade right away, but there's some other consumer instinct at work here. I mean, I can understand owning your favorite movies on whatever media, but buying something like "End of Days" just because you missed it in the theater seems kinda like flushing twenties down the toilet for fun.
As for VHS, first you say that you use it to dub DVDs, then you basically declare it an antique. Quite an inconsistancy.
One thing is true -- with the exception of the easily bypassed Macrovision system, VHS is an open format, and because of that will continue to live on. When the MPAA puts out "Recordable DVDs", you may go out and buy it because it's the latest and greatest, but you will probably never be able to rip rental DVDs with it. Back to square one and your antique VHS deck.
(A friend bought a low-end SVHS deck specifically for the purpose of dubbing rental DVDs and LDs. It's nearly the same quality of the original. And "open".)
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
That was Lucas's original story. The skeptics then said that Lucas simply wants to milk everyone for all they're worth.
I don't know what the real reason is, but I don't care because I'm actually glad that the DVD version isn't going to come out for a long time (whatever the reason may be). I am boycotting the DVD industry, until the DVD CCA is dismantled, all the pending CSS lawsuits are dropped, and an OSS DVD player is available. Not having Star Wars on DVD makes the boycott a lot easier.
Last year I was *that* close to purchasing my first DVD player. After some soul searching I decided against doing that. If Star Wars came out on DVD, it would probably be a much more difficult decision than it already is. I'm hoping that the entire CSS mess gets settled before I have to make some hard choices here.
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Is there _any_ reasoning behind all this silliness?
Actually, from what it says in the article linked from the story, one can conclude that Lucas really saw DVD as the ideal medium to place his unfinished scenes onto.
Perhaps he just doesn't want to release the DVD until he's finished them?
Buddhism is a religion with no Gods (there are two main branches, one worships the Buddha but the other one doesn't).
Funny. VHS prices dropped, DVD is flooded with incompetent idiocy, and I watch my movies linearly anyway. I swore off DVD's.
Yeah, I bought my LaserDisc SE set from George Lucas. It shipped direct from Skywalker Sound Ranch in Ca.
I asked him about the DVD release of Episodes 4,5,6 (PM wasn't out yet). He mumbled something about not being ready yet. But at that time he was taking heat in the press about the $1Billion in toy cash he was sitting on. So I suggested to him that he just go for it and release on DVD then I gave him the Phone #, Address, web page and personal reference to an Orfanage in Chicago that could really use the $.
It was at this point he stopped talking to me. True Story.
Adults are obsolete children. - Dr. Seuss
Re Question #1
I could almost understand seeing this question here about this time last year (I say almost because even then I thought people who believed that DVD was going to be another minidisc or worse, digital compact cassette were just a little strange) DCC and even mini disc, which is now, 6 years later, beginning to make a market for itself as a recording only medium, nevere had anywhere near the market penetration that DVD has. Yes, the stories you have heard are true, DVD has beat VHS in first and second year market penetration. And, because there is currently no competeing format that can give better quality and convenience, I think DVD will be around for a VERY long time. Pay perview is cool, PPV on demand is even cooler, but I still would rather have those shelves of movies lining the wall that I can point to and say "... and there's my movie collection"
I was certain when I first heard about the release, and I'm still convinced that Mr Lucas intends to time the sale of his movies in various media to maximize profits.
In other words,
Phantom Menace will be sold on DVD just as soon as the VHS sales taper off. The idea is to sell the movie to everybody twice.
hanzie.
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
I can't judge this behavior as bad. I think that if it works for him, it's OK, it's his movie and his money.
The most intelligent response to this posting thus far...
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The WWII analogy was in referance to the hate leading to worse crimes than the hated. While you could possibly draw parallels between Rommell and Vader, that was not my intention. The Harris controversy was to illustrate the point that Brin's concept of justifed hatred is a thin line, "If you look too long into the abyss, someday the abyss will look into you.". You should do what is right because it is right, not because of hate or anger. I could well have used the example of McCarthy and the hatred of communism that he and his established, leading to opression in the US rivalling that in the USSR. Or perhaps an example closer to home, the history of hatred in Ireland has led to similar things, unionist versus republican. The hate feeds off itself, one side hates the other, and in so doing justifies its actions as revenge and intensifies the hate in those they hate. It is a viscious circle. Another example of hate reinforcing itself could be found in the Balkan republics. In the end hate only leads to suffering, of those who hate and those who are hated untill in the end, the distinction becomes blurred and the only way out is to let go of the hate. Who is to say who is right and wrong, save perhaps to say that we are all wrong to hate.
Fear, anger, hatred, these are all of the dark side. There are no exceptions, think only of justice, not revenge.
Anyway, I thought the supposed boycott of MPAA things (and is there anybody actually actively boycotting anything? I don't go see MPAA movies, but that's because I just don't go to the movies. I haven't rented a movie in a looong time either. This is simply because I can't afford to go to the movies [me+girlfriend+popcorn+soda >= $25], not because of some high-and-mighty boycott mentality. I would be interested to hear from anybody who is actually boycotting on principle, otherwise I will assume that the "boycott this" people are just a gaggle of hypocrites) was due to the DeCSS lawsuits, not over making DVD an "open standard."
As a sidebar, I am actively boycotting Amazon. Which has worked to my advantage, because I've found that most of the places I've looked besides Amazon are much cheaper. Reel.com, CDNOW, fatbrain, textbooks.com, varsitybooks.com, etc.
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rooooar
ROFL!!! Finally! Old George is gonna release the movie the way it SHOULD have been! Is this considered the "Directors Cut"? ;)
"Klaatu, verada, necktie!" -Ash
HDTV provides a much higher resolution than current DVDs are encoded for... video-based content (DVDs of television shows, etc.) won't improve, but any FILM-based content will be re-encoded at a higher resolution. or am i mistaken about this?
smells to me like everything you purchased on VHS...
and then purchased again on DVD...
you'll get to buy YET AGAIN on HD/DVD (or whatever.)
but the film industry is worried about DeCSS cutting into their profits. seems they've already managed to sell the same content twice, and will soon be working on a third.
Frankly - I'm quite happy with my letterboxed, Dolby Digital LaserDisc edition of Phantom Menace I just received 2 days ago! It friggin blows away that VHS tape I've been watching all last week! The video is quite stunning and even the ProLogic portion of the sound is better IMHO. The Dolby Digital... ROCKS!!!
DVD? LD? Got 'em both.... The same to me....
Why not just get the LD? :-) :-) Especially on an HLD release! :-> It's all Japanese import, but hey that's where all the best film stuff is anyway. :-)
No compression artifacts, no region codes, no copy protection, no stupid non-skippable-FBI-warning, no annoying menus to navigate.... Just a great image!
I have the original trilogy on LD and boy does it look great with my Pioneer Elite CLD-99! I wanna get a Pioneer HLD-x9 or HLD-x0 and see what it looks like on those...
For those who don't know -- you can buy HDTV movies now... thanks to the HLD format!
I disagree. Luke saved Anakin by reaching out to him. Darth was really a puppet of Palpatine using Anakin's body. Luke reached out to Anakin, got him to destroy Palpatine and thus killed Darth as well. It would be as if Hitler had been drugged by Goebbels and induced to command things that he would not have if he were of sound mind. In fact, I think there was a Star Trek TOS show that mimicked this exact idea.
At 8 AM the 'Kevin and Bean' radio program on 106.7 KROQ (a local radio station here in sunny Burbank California) had a telephone chat with George Lucas and Melissa Joan Hart who are racing at the Toyota Grand Prix. After all the racing questions George was asked about EPISODE 2. He said that "the script was finished a couple of days ago" and that he would be leaving for Australia "in 8 weeks." Then he was asked about EPISODE 1 on DVD to which he replied "it's being worked on. The work on the supplemental stuff is taking longer. It will be coming at some point." This statement and his tone of voice suggests to me that we will see EPISODE 1 on DVD much earlier than 2006.
So, lets get one things straight: This is not a rumor. This DVD is real, and I agree with another post that this wait between releases was done to make money. He charged 40 bucks a pop for a widescreen VHS with a little piece of plastic they called "true frames from the flim!" This is also called a rip-off. Which is the reason I haven't bought it. However, to get back to the point, the DVD IS being made and it WILL come out. Maybe tomorrow, maybe 2006. But those who doubt are oblivious to whats out there, and haven't spent the time to find the facts.
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Obi
How did Sir Alec get on the cover? Not to mention the X and Y wings. It makes for a pretty montage, though.
Perhaps the most ludicrous thing about the PM release, aside from the lack of DVD, is that the "special" wide-screen version cost about twice as much and was limited in copies. Why should you have to pay more to get the whole movie? In fact, it actually costs money to edit something for pan-and-scan so that it doesn't look horrible.
While watching the "regular" VHS copy, I noticed a few silly little pans to have a close up on the face that is talking and it really detracts from the experience, I think so anyway.
no, if you look at it, thats the eviliso vcd with the z ripped out. the little wiggle at the top of the screen is the teller.
(Or more ...)
... DVD has been around for several years now, and is suceeding beyond my hopes and expectations. Wouldn't George Lucas like to release what would instantly and permanantly be one of the top selling DVDs ever? Millions of people are begging to let them give you money, George.
The VHS tapes came out in at least two major versions (special edition / normal) and I think there were others as well. I'm swearing off until the DVD is out -- but I've been saying that since I first heard of DVD, then when I saw pictures of players in the "upcoming technology" sections, then when I saw then in stores
[Aside:]
The first one certainly had a bigger impact on my mind than the subsequent ones.
Dear Santa Lucas: I want DVDs of the first three (episodes IV-VI), extra scenes, etc. I want a bonus disk of "The Making Of The Movie." But please, please make a concrete statement. For some reason, it's hard to place firm bets based on the word of a place called "the Rumor Mill."
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
All six episodes will be released on DVD about three seconds before the first HD-DVD discs and players start appearing on store shelves.
Rabid fans will rush out and buy the DVD versions (to add to their collection of nine million VHS varieties) when Lucas then announces that HD-DVD versions won't be released for several years...not until he completes Episodes 7-9, insisting that he "never said" there would only be six films in the series.
Ok its doesn't have all of the nice stuff of a DVD but at least you can play it on your computer.
I just saw Eps1 VCD in a nice box set last night.
(I know its a weak and difficult to find replacement for DVD but every computer has a CDRom and it does have a cool, elite factor.)
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
-- Winston Churchill, November, 1947
Well, I think it's a correct quotation.
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"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
Disclaimer: These are my opinions which I am entitled to.
I believe that DVD is going to be the video standard for a long time to come. DVD is incredibly popular even after being out only several years. It's way better than anything out now and is cheap. DVD is not going away and will eventually replace VHS (albeit not for awhile yet). I don't believe there is any real reason to wait and not buy a DVD player now and start your new movie collection. Have you ever watched a movie in DVD that you have previously watched on VHS? If you have, I'm sure you'll find it very hard to go back. Like CmdrTaco and many other people, including myself have said, we won't buy VHS anymore. It's DVD or it's not getting bought. This is how it was moving from audio cassette tapes to CD. Get DVD.
On the MPAA issue:
I am not a "zealot" as many of these people here seem to be. I am not boycotting DVDs anymore than I am going to boycott buying music just because people are getting sued by record companies. Anything can be abused. MP3's, DeCSS technology, encryption, etc. I believe companies have the right to protect their technology and fight against pirates. Is everyone using mp3 to pirate music? No, but they view the format as the easiest way ever to pirate music. I think that's how the MPAA felt about this DeCSS bullshit. They see how mp3's have caused this mass influx of music trading over the internet, and I'm sure they see DeCSS as possibly creating a way for people to easily trade DVD's online. Just DeCSS and encode the movie into another format with great quality but allows you to fit a 2 hour movie in to a reasonable download. I am not going to stop buying DVDs just because the MPAA is defending their right to make money. I believe many people feel this way. I don't think it's worth boycotting DVD. A few people may do it, but the majority of the community (read everyone else besides people ranting on slashdot) will continue to buy DVD players and movies. My local video rental place has hundreds of DVDs. I can go online and buy DVDs for very good prices. (http://www.bargainflix.com) DVD is awesome. CD music is awesome. They're way better than their previous formats and everyone is using them. Companies will protect themselves. I feel there is no way that any boycott or any complaining will be productive. DVD is the hottest thing in video entertainment and a few zealots aren't going to do a damn thing, in my opinion (of course), to change this. Get DVD. Stop watching those crappy VHS tapes.
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James Crawford
Yes these are my opinions and yes I believe them.
Just because there is a new and improved format doesn't render something obsolete. VHS is not obsolete because there are Laserdiscs and DVDs. Broadcast television is not obsolete because we have cable and sattelite. I don't agree that DVDs are "already obsolete" due to this "new" HDTV standard. None of these new technologies will make any huge impacts for any amount of time to come because DVDs are the hot tip. It doesn't make any sense to me that the movie companies would abandon the DVD format now while thousands of players are sold each day. Many new movies that come out on DVD are also on VHS because they're not stupid enough to abandon the VHS format because DVDs are so superior. When the next new technology comes out that's better than HDTV is that going to make it obsolete? From where I stand I don't see a huge popularity with HDTV. Sattelite TV and DVDs can give you some damn good quality inexpensively and doesn't require a TV set that costs tens of thousands of dollars and makes television companies change their method of broadcasting. Sure HDTV will pick up, but by no means is it making anything obsolete. To me obsolete is when something isn't produced, used, or mainstream like it used to be. Beta tapes - obsolete. 8-Tracks - obsolete. My TRS-80 - obsolete. The slide rule - obsolete. VHS, DVDs, non-digital TV - not obsolete.
Still, we see people on Slashdot moaning "I can't legally watch the DVDs I paid for!!" -- and the only real answer for that is to stop buying the movies if it's a moral problem for you. People can get quite preachy about the whole thing, but the bottom line is that they are still giving their hard earned cash to the movie studios. Maybe an organized boycott would be pointless, but some people here should start personal boycotts just to avoid the hypocracy of the situation.
I agree that people should be able to view DVDs however they want that they legally acquired, but companies view things like DeCSS and mp3s as alternative ways of acquiring movies/music illegally. "But I paid for it I should be allowed to do what I want with it!!!" - I agree. But what about those thousands of people who are watching that same movie you paid for and didn't have to shell out any money. That's the dilemma for these companies. Should they allow ways for people to watch/listen to movies/music illegally even though some people may use them legally? Everyone talks about freedom, but where are the companies' freedom. People are so bent on making everything free that they begin to forget what puts food on their tables and clothes on their backs. Anything that limits people in any miniscule way makes that thing the object of hatred. ex: Taxes and laws. What's the moral issue with a company protecting its own privacy (i.e. secret technology) and then people get all up in arms about companies violating THEIR privacy. That's the hypocracy here. Boycott DVDs, if you wish. But continue buying VHS if you want... or going to the movies... or watching TV. You're still giving your hard earned cash to the movie studios -- in exchange for their provisions of entertainment -- no matter what format you watch something in.
Lots of people here promote alternatives like Linux because they want to maintain freedom in their personal computing. However, what Hollywood is trying to do is far worse than anything Microsoft has done with their closed and extended protocols. They want to turn your computer into their payola entertainment delivery device, their sealed, encrypted box. It time that the people of conscience start to realize this, and if they think it matters, at the very least stop supporting this thing with their dollars.
Hollywood sees the computer as another entertainment device and also knows how much more powerful it is than a VCR and a TV. What "people of conscience" should start to realize is that there are people who will abuse technology and who can possibly harm the people who provide the entertainment for us. Without safeguards what's the point of using the new technology if it will just make it that much easier for people to muck up the system. People (that is mainly these "freedom fighters") are blinded by their desire to be able to do anything they want without restriction because it "should be free" that they don't care what the economic consequences are for the people trying to make a living. You can't compare the movie business to the computer business. A protocol (like TCP/IP) should be "free" (open) because the whole purpose of it is to allow communication over the internet. The whole point of CSS and other forms of encryption is to prevent unauthorized access to some content, in this case the movie that took loads of money to make. Encryption prevents your boss from reading your email (if you choose to encrypt it, of course). What are you going to say if your boss breaks your encrpytion and starts reading your email without your permission? Don't you see similarities in anything here? People don't seem to get it that when they do something to protect their secrets that a company should be able to do the same exact thing.
I love and enjoy freedom. I am a consumer who doesn't like getting a raw deal. But I am openminded enough to see the "other side of the tracks." I expect that if I reverse engineered some technology to learn its secret that I should be responsible for its use -- legally or illegally. I dislike hypocracy as much as you do, but I don't think you realize all the levels of hypocracy that surrounds people's beliefes.
------------
James Crawford
Whatever. What I was saying was just that analogies between Vader and Hiter are just dumb. Admittedly, analogies between Vader and any other nazi leader might be equally stupid.
--
"HORSE."
"HORSE."
-Flaming Carrot
I have to say that I agree with most of Brin's essay, especially the bit about the only good part of Return of the Jedi being how the final climactic Jedi battle had nothing to do with the Rebellion. The one thing I really can't agree with in the essay is Brin's Vader-Hitler analogy (as quoted above). If there's a character in RotJ that's supposed to be a Hitler analogue, obviously it's the Emperor himself. Vader, after all, is just a trusted lieutenant.
If we absolutely must make WWII analogies, Vader betraying the Emperor at the last moment could be (very loosely) seen as parallelling Rommel's involvement in the Hitler assassination plot. Most people do (correct me if I'm wrong) see Rommel's involvement in that attempt as being something which redeems him, at least a little bit.
--
"HORSE."
"HORSE."
-Flaming Carrot
Seriously, i thought the Phantom Menace was a pretty lame flick.
You don't see stories on Slashdot about all the other films that aren't immediately released on DVD.
FFS, this isn't 'Stuff that Matters'.. not IMNSHO, anyway.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
I think it was really because he killed the Emperor. Vader wasn't really Hitler, he was more like Heinrich Himmler. Imagine if Heinrich Himmler had assassinated Hitler.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Does anyone ever actually pay attention to the movie?? Despite the title, Queen Amidala stated that she recieved her position by democratic election , which seems to me to be the main point of contention. In fact, if anything, the point of Star Wars seems to be that, while a good despot may be the best form of government (in Lucas's opinion), a bad despot would definitely be the worst. The only difference between the two is the adjective.
[Seoman] "A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking."
I'm getting real tired of the "buy buy buy" culture when taken to this extreme. The encourage me to buy *useless* lower quality drivel and then later on allow me to by stuff they should have released in the first place.
Other examples -- Herc/Xena released on VHS then DVD. Now they are releasing whole Xena series in VHS only. What a waste of shelf space.
Another waist -- "Eyes Wide Shut". They release censored version first, then later they'll probably release a "Director's Cut" -- true to Kubrik's original vision (including full screen).
I just waited until the Eurpoean version came out and bought that. It's still small-screen format but at least it doesn't have the censoring.
Of course that requires you have regionless player, and a PAL-DVD converter, but what videophile doesn't have one of those these days? Some intelligent countried *ban* DVD-player sales that restrict play-by-region. It's censorship, plain and simple.
Besides censorship, owning a code-free DVD player and signal converter will allow you play European movies that never make it to the US. I'm interested the French language and culture, with code-free I can purchase DVD's that are only released in France. Of course it makes it challenging to follow the story line when your French is as poor as mine, but I get to practice
and often get the overall story line!
If only all of us would show *mass* intelligence and not buy the inferior products they convince us to grovel for but send a "we won't buy it" message back to the producers of this tripe -- we want the high quality stuff the first time!
-l
p.s. -- finding converters and "code-free" or "regionless" DVD players is easy via netsearch.
The way I was informed, Lucas was going to release episode I DVD when Episode II was released. Go figure
I agree, what the fuck was going through their heads with that bounty hunter scenes? Did they think viewers would like it if they saw one more freaking laser discharge in the movie? I own star wars THX version, I enjoy it more than the special edition version.
nice to see ppl staying on-topic
Because I want to hear in full Dolby Digital, George Lucas' commentary during the Jar Jar Scenes. I'd just like to hear his take on the significance of Jar Jar to the overall effectiveness of the plot. Either way, it would be a very satisfying commentary, where he appologizes or talks of how "Jar Jar adds a truly realistic perspective of youth and innocence on the whole situation." or some shit.
I'm pretty pissed about this information. I've been hearing on the news all week that SW:TPM sold a bazillion copies in the first two days of release (yes, that's an exact figure :), of those some 500,000 copies were the Widescreen special edition (seriously, that's the figure they been tossing around). How many of those "special editions" would have been sold had the DVD been available? He supposedly made it clear that there would be no DVD before the end of this second trilogy which HAD to have infuluenced the VHS sales... Of course, we don't know when the DVD is coming out, but still this on again, off again, on again after we've made a mountain of VHS money thing is gettign really OLD. Chris
Anyone remember the satellite TV thing in the 80s? for awhile people were able to get all the channels with an illegal decoder. this helped sell systems even when they were still expensive, and most local sat. shops could sell you an illegal decoder under the table. The sat. broadcasters knew, and made noises, but , as this helped improve the market base, they didnt do anything major. After a while, people with illegal decoders noticed that there were porn on some of the channels near 'religeous' broadcasts. then the shit hit the fan; American Triple exxtacy was taken off the air, and legislation was passed, and now hardly anyone has an old 10' sat. dish. Once the 'see everything' part was taken away, there wasnt the incentive for the people to go thru the hassles associated with the technology.
Now, HDTV is going to be all digital, MPEG-2 just like(or very similar to) DVD. NOTE that without decoders, your old TV isnt going to be able to see a picture at all. All or these decoders will have to have macrovision 'copy protection' on their outputs to 'ensure the rights of the copyright holder'. You wont be able to make tapes of stuff you've done for years. And, since DCMA, anything you do about it will be criminal. You may have to subscribe to'ER' if you want to see it. If they use CSS on broadcast, unless you subscribe, you wont be able to see anything. Remember, The deadline YOUR congress set is 2006 for ALL broadcast TV to be digital. You might want to keep some of that old VHS stuff in the garage, so you can watch something without a subscription. And get a TV composite output filter, capable of stripping macrovision, before theyre made illegal under DCMA.(May this year, i believe.)
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
is because he wants to sell each episode on VHS, and when he's done selling them, he will release them on DVD and cash in a second time.
As a kid, I used to think Lucas was a really "clean" director that would not let any commercial incentives interfere with what he really wanted to put on screen. Yeah right!
In any case, he is a business man before anything else. Episodes IV-VI were really good (except for the Ewoks and the "You're my sister"). But Episode I, even though it was a very entertaining movie, was really centered around selling TOYS TOYS TOYS.
Hey, ya... when you make the DVD Mr. Lucas, and there is the option to switch between Widescreen and formatted, can you also add the Jar-Jar and NO Jar-Jar version, thanks,
"011110010101111101110101 0110000101111001001100101 01100100011101010110110101100010 "
I walked around a local shopping mall the other day to see if I could get a WS version (I dislike P&S with a passion). In every store I was told, the WS version was all sold out while the P&S was there to be had.
One store managed to find a copy in one of their other branches - got it home and was sorely disappointed - IMHO, the transfer was just crap
Lucas is a hollywood businessman, and it's all about money to him. Well, not all about money -- I think he knows that he's going down in history for the Star Wars movies and tries very hard to make them first-rate. But when it comes down to this marketing stuff, it's all about money.
I mean, why else would he have done that god-awful Star Wars Christmas thing that got posted on Slashdot back in December?
I bought the $16 VHS version, but that's all Lucas is getting from me. I have some major reservations about DVD and only collect VHS movies, so it's sort of a non-issue with me. When the DVD movie comes out in 25 years or whatever, I won't buy it unless my VCR eats the VHS tape.
However, boycotting the release of Star Wars on DVD could send a powerful message if people actually got organized and did it.
========
Stephen C. VanDahm
"But I'm sure I won't buy a DVD player, so I'll never be able to buy PM or any movie in that format. It's my little act of protest. "
Don't you think you're doing this bit backwards? Better to buy a DVD player and trash the VCR. This way you can buy all the movies you want except for the ones that try the skip-dvd-for-profit-gouging routeen. Otherwise you're still paying too much for out-dated media and Lucas laughs all the way to the bank.
I think it's safe to say that unless you stop watching movies entirly you will eventualy own a DVD drive/player of some sort. When you do you will want movies for it. So why not get them now and save yourself from buying them twice?
Who cares. I don't plan on buying any DVDs until this whole DeCSS issue is cleared-up!
At the rate this is going I will not likly buy another DVD until 2005!!
Ok. Here's something that just makes me mad. The fact that I'm a die-hard Star Wars fan has something to do with this ;) When Darth Vader saved his son, Luke, yes, he did do something nice. But he was never praised and forgiven. If you notice.. Vader Dies? They arn't celabrateing for Vader there celabrating the Victory against the empire. Yes, Luke forgave his father, and so did Lea.. but there his kids! what do you expect.. It's much eaiser for them to look back and view there father as someone who changed and gave his life to save his son then it is for them to live with the fact that Vader was a jerk and hated them. Lucas did it exacily how it would happen with the human mind. I think some people need to look deaper into things then whats presented to them on the screens.
Ok. Lets take a look at this here. Lucas is trying to work as fast as he can to get Epi 2. Out, and he's decided that since we have all the posibilities of dvd, multipul langauges, alternet endings etc etc.. that he wants to do something special with dvd. He wants the dvd version to blow away most other dvd films. But right now he has 2 years of work to do in one year with Episoid 2. The fans are pushing him to get Epi 2 out as fast as posible and he relises that the new movie is a biger priority then dvd. Yes, I love DVD, it's grate. but lets get real here it's nothing to start a war about it's just a media format. Get a good Hi-Fi 4 head VCR and you'll be as happy as a clown (they sell for under 100$ now)
I was listening to a radio interview of George Lucas yesterday on KROQ radio in Los Angeles, and he commented that he is currently working on a special DVD version with added "extras" - From the sound of the interview I would expect to see it around the same time as Episode 2.
I finally rented TPM this weekend. I went out to my local video store, and picked up the tape (note: to rent, not to own). And asked the clerk "Are the DVDs out yet?" He replied with "Not until 2002." I assumed he knew something I didn't. I definitely would want it on DVD before I ever thought of purchasing VHS. (This weekend was some really nice weather, a friend on ICQ summed it up with "So geeks actually do go out into the sun every once in awhile?" :)
FLR
Fact follows:
"NTSC" DVD = 704*480*24
"PAL" DVD = 704*576*24
Notice that the vertical resolution differs ... but yes, the _framerate_ is converted from 24fps to 29.97fps by the player on NTSC DVDs, and the whole movie (including sound) is sped up from 24 to 25fps when playing PAL DVDs.
Score: +10, this Slashdot user has written this info loads of time and yet everyone haven't got it yet ...
it's in my head
While I am an enormous Star Wars fan (yes, even TPM, of which I own the widescreen VHS version) I simply can't understand the rabid hatred over this issue.
You have no more right to demand the release of this movie than you do to demand I show you every story I have written and song I have composed.
It's George's movie - he can do whatever he wants with it.
It's only a movie. Get over it. Obtain a life.
What we're really asking is "Please! Let me give you tons of money now, instead of later!"
So I ask the questions:
If these movies are such a large part of our culture, do we have some right to control them?
If they are such a large part of our definitions of ourselves, do we own them in some way?
Or are we just a bunch of PATHETIC FREAKING IDIOT LUSERS?
Flame on.
sig fault
I Belivethis is the scan you are referring to. It is the cover art for the HK black market DVD.. I dont know anyone who has managed to get ahold of this, but ive heard its craptastic quality.
no
...to break up the DVD boycott and test our unity of action.
Think about it, should I stick to the moral high ground and not buy the Star Wars DVD, or should I compromise my standards and buy STARWARS DVD?
Obviously, this is all a plot by the powers that be to crush our resistance and tread over our dead bodies.
I beseach all of you to resist buying...Star Wars...DVD...can't...resist...must...buy....
I do what the voices on my console tell me to do.
If we got a double-sided DVD, and you have the widescreen version on one side, and the NEW version where Jar-Jar isn't in the movie on the other side!
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
I remember reading of a rumor not too long ago, the Lucas was planning to realease TPM on DVD only.
Strange that. Glad he retracted on the one or we'd be waiting a very long time.
I read it on Slashdot. It must be true!
I'm going to live forever or die trying.
Until they cut this region thing, I am *incredibly* resistent to buying a DVD. Even though I want one, and I do want one.
So Lucas can wait. Less temptation for me.
Because the snark was a...
This takes us down that lovely stroll we call VHS vs. DVD. It's obvious that DVD is of a better quality - but right now there's just too much about VHS that is dominating the market. Lucas's decision to release E1 on VHS first was obviously all about marketing but i'm glad he did it. I don't own a DVD player and i'm seriously sick that i get punished for not being on the cutting edge of tech - no...most people still don't own DVD players, we just get to watch the movies released for DVD several weeks/months earlier at a friend's house.
While DVD is cool as hell - i seriously don't want to have to work at hunting down a subtitled version of Das Boot on DVD format. It's really nice to be able to stroll down to my local Media Play and pick that up. When DVD gets to that point - then i'll buy one. It's almost there, but not quite.
FluX
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
I mean, do we really want to see more of Jar Jar? Wouldn't you rather have the original movies with digital sound and picture?
OK, but for real, that lightsabre fight at the end of Ep 1 ruled. When Obi-Wan charges into that room and unleashes a major can of whoop ass on Darth Maul...awwww yeah.
I actually like TPM, it gets better every time I watch it (if you've only seen it once, watch it again). But I'd pay 20 dollars for a DVD that just had the fight scenes on it.
My other
I certainly am not buying a VHS copy of Jar Jar. It wasn't that good of a movie that I want to see it again anytime soon. However, the Jedi scenes alone are quite good and I'd like to see them a few time, but I am in no hurry.
If lucas was smart, he would release a crappy DVD version very soon with no commentary and only pan and scan format, then later on release the collector's edition with letterbox, lots of info, etc.
"Democracy is the worst form of government. Except for all the other kinds."
I believe that the quote belongs to Churchill.
-
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2
Re the restrictive covenents (CCR's) - that is what the fcc has overruled - it does get a little tricky w/townhomes, condos, and apartments. With houses, it has effectively overturned the ccr's.
About the testing - the sinclair test is very questionable, as they have an interest in adding CODFM as an acceptable transmit standard, ie use either system (AM stereo anybody?). Also, they used the worst first generation hd receiver they could get to stack the deck further. The new 3rd generation receivers are much better than the 2nd gen that ive been working with. They are not perfect yet, but getting there. I'll have to check on the NBC/Philly test.
Digital cable is an improvement, but not that great - spend the extra money going with DSS - superior picture and some HDTV content. (I am biased - I hate my cable company, and have never been happy with one yet)
In any case, until there is programming worth watching, HD is not going to catch on - the Super Bowl was excellent, truly showing what the medium is capable of. Just have to sit back and wait.
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2
Most HDTV sets have component inputs (y,Pr,Pb)
this will provide a superior picture to composite or super video. Better DVD players also have this output.
DVD is a STANDARD. given how difficult it is to get people to agree to standards, it is going to be a while before you see a HD standard player, and a hell of a long time before a HD recorder comes along - and you think the DeCSS is a major fight?
now a quick rebuttal to some of the HD info
8VSB is a good technology, not the best but good. I have not seen the multipath problem, and I have worked with early receivers. During our tests at work, a 1kW transmitter produced a perfect picture, behind a hill. The MW NTSC transmitter couldn't even be received. We tested under all kinds of conditions, and it worked great. Current receivers are 2 generations better.
Receiver software - more incomplete than broken. The receiver/monitor interface is not yet standardized, but it is starting to.
The real problem is programming, or lack thereof. No one wants to produce programming if there is no one to watch, and nobody is buying sets because there is no programming. And again, there is the fight about copy protection, which is going to hold up hd vcrs.
Cable will become irrelevant. Hang a wire out your window, get a perfect picture. Cable doesn't want to supply the bandwidth. The FCC has also helped out, overturning CCR bans on having outdoor antennas. (info available at fcc.gov)
DVD won't quite be HD, but it will be superior to NTSC, assuming you use componet video. Besides, any good HD DVD player will be backward compatible, so anything you buy now will remain usable later.
Finally, Lucas is planning on shooting Ep 2 using HD equipment - its MUCH cheaper than conventional film, and 1080p@24 fps will provide excellent resolution, then print to film, if digital theatres aren't more prevelant by then.
-
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2
Uh, no. He saved the entire galaxy. By overthrowing the Emporer, he allowed peace and goodwill to once again rule the galaxy. He didn't undo the atrocities he committed, but he was the only one who could overthrow the Emporer and thus allow the galaxy to begin anew.
The Hitler analogy doesn't really hold, either. It's more the equivalent of Hitler's right-hand man killing Hitler and thus essentially ending WWII.
Besides, haven't you heard of the Christian concept of sin and forgivness?
John
Lots of people seem to think that just because Lucas puts a great deal of effort into making money for himself, he is the root of all evil.
I saw Lucas last Wednesday, and he was asked a question about his merchandising (actually, the question included "What is your favorite Star Wars action figure?" and he said his favorite piece of merchandise was the Wookie Mug). Lucas noted that the reason he exploits movies for all the money they are worth is so he has the ABILITY to keep making movies -- even if one fails.
Imagine (I know it's hard) that Episode II fails miserably and makes no money. Because of the money that Lucas made from Episode I, he has the ability to make an Episode III, whereas most filmmakers would have to give up because of a lack of funds. It costs mucho dinero to make movies.
Also, remember that most of the money from movies doesn't come from the movie itself anymore - it comes from the things that come from the movie... this means videos, action figures, wookie mugs, whatever. SO, if Lucas can make more money by releasing things on VHS then DVD later... let him. I like his movies, and I'm happy to see that he's taking steps to be able to make them in the future.
- Tony
// No comment
Go to Amazon.com and search Star Wars. The original trilogy is not avliable on VHS. But there are entries for DVD. There's no release date. Does this mean something?
"there's probably no better form of government than a good despot"
Which probably is true.
The hard thing is to define "good".
I'm not trying to get down on anyone, but come on people... IT WAS JUST A MOVIE!.. Let's keep that in mind... Let's not make it into a religous crusade with all sorts of hidden morals and and beliefs for us to follow... There was only one thing I learned about life from Star Wars, and that's, when you play alien chess with a wookie let him win, or he'll rip your arms off... :)
Yeah, God forbid he'd want to keep people from stealing his work or anything like that.
Every content creator (musician, movie director, etc.) wants to keep people from stealing their work. Their work is how they feed themselves. Why else are so many musicians speaking out against Napster? It goes without saying that bootlegging The Phantom Menace "...[contributes] to the overall piracy problem that the MPAA is fighting daily and globally."
My point was that Lucas, or his press writer, must be thinking constantly, "People are pirating my work!! People are pirating my work!!" In response to fans' demand for Star Wars on DVD, he (or his press writer), lashes out, unprovoked, at his public.
DVD is really big right now. People are buying DVD players, because they want the best picture and sound, and because they want the most out of their home theatre systems. Lucas has incensed a lot of people because of the lack of Phantom Menace on DVD. Other movie studios don't have to "stop work on [other movies] in order to concentrate on [a] DVD release," so why does LucasFilm? And if he "would like to do something special with the DVD release," why doesn't he just release a plain DVD now, and a special version later (like he's used to doing anyway)?
I just hope that if sales of the VHS-only Phantom Menace are poor, Lucas doesn't say, "Oh...!! People were pirating it!"
But I think he will anyway.
As long as we're talking about the movie in general, as well as the lack of a DVD release, I was wondering about the quality of the story in Episode 1.
George Lucas said in a interview with Wired magazine (in the May 1999 issue) that the story for parts 1 to 3 "[has] existed for 20 years." I assume he means "from about the time Episode 4 (Star Wars: A New Hope) was released."
But I have to doubt that. I get the idea he either made them up afterward, or that the stories for episodes before number 4 have existed since then, but only as a concept or in a largely undeveloped form. For example, "Before episode 4, we have a child version of Darth Vader, and R2-D2 and C3PO are created, and the Death Star is created, and all the regulars from Episodes 4 to 6 are born or shown in a younger form, and some cool and exciting stuff happens." I certainly don't think he had Jar Jar Binks in the back of his mind since 1977. Any reasonable person would go insane thinking about Jar Jar that long!! (Though one could argue that Lucas already is insane.) I don't think you could break into Lucas's mansion in, say, 1982, and find the complete scripts or even a rough draft of Episodes 1 to 3.
So, I think that he just made up Episode 1 very recently, probably as late as 1996 or '97. He was thinking:
As for the main topic of this discussion, Star Wars on DVD, I don't need to say anything; all the other Slashdot contributors have said it for me. I think anyone who owns a copy of the THX-remastered triology and then witnessed the release of the "special edition" versions of Episodes 4 to 6 on video knows how Lucas operates.
I have to think it's kind of stupid that he release that latter half of the Star Wars movies first. I mean, watching Episode 1, I had all sorts of foreknowledge. Why is Yoda so opposed to Qui Gonn training young Anakin? Never mind this nonsense about "fear leading to hate, etc." I know what the problem is. I honestly don't expect there to be very many (if any) surprises in Episodes 2 and 3, either.
I would like to think that Lucas don't relase the PM DVD because he wants to fight a holy war against the stupid DVD encryption/zoning fiasco. But I know his reasons are more economic than anything else.
Well, of course. In fact, I would think that, of all people, Lucas would like the DVD "regions" and encryption. Scratch that. He loves it.
I remember reading a news bulletin from LucasFilm about the delay of the DVD release. Apart from the usual party line about "Lucas [wanting] to do something special with the DVD release," the bulletin (which was also a press release, AFAIK) contained a large paragraph denouncing video bootlegging of Episode 1. Wow. Lucas really has copyright and control on the brain, doesn't he?
The Digital Bits were reporting on an interview with George Lucas from some radio station out in Cali. So, I'd say it's at least 10% better than a rumor. (since Lucas' word is shit)
I have a website. It's about Macs.
==
==
I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure it means something....
Anamorphic = enhanced for widescreen TVs = enhanced for 16:9 TVs
meaning, made to look _REAL_ good on HDTVs
meaning, gonna comply with HDTV standards just fine
not meaning, gonna be obsolete in a couple of years
Not only should people only buy DVDs, but they also should only buy Anamorphic DVDs. It's too bad not all studios release their DVDs with an anamorphic transfer. But, when HDTV does get more marketshare, I'm sure they will....
==
==
I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure it means something....
There are links to sites selling the LD here. The price, I believe, is somwhere in the $110 range. It's a Japanese import LD.
==
==
I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure it means something....
This comparison is entirely unfair, because the deed that redeemed Vader wasn't just saving his son, but was also rebelling against his master, even though he knew that doing so would bring about his own death. As Brin points out, saving one's own son is hardly remarkable, and would not be particularly swaying in a court of law, but self-sacrifice is entirely different. -ajna
> Brin makes one particularly interesting point about Darth Vader's redemption
> in Return of the Jedi. He writes:
>
> To put it in perspective, let's imagine that the United States and its allies
> managed to capture Adolf Hitler [...]
A BUSINESS CASE FOR ANAMORPHIC
-- nolesrule
I think less people then expected bought the wide screen version of the movie. It's like $35 and comes with a little book, so they probably thought that DVD people would pay for it since they pay that much for DVDs sometimes. But I'm not going to spend that much on a VHS!
Okay most of us like me want to buy Star Wars on DVD but George Lucas is being smart the day Star Wars (ANY) is release on DVD it will be all over the internet.
Okay, so if Lucas released PM on DVD we'd buy it, right? Probably even if it contained nothing but the basics, i.e. the film. If he then went ahead and released a special edition three years later with loads of additional goodies, or if he waited for the new trilogy to be complete and then released the lot, we'd buy that too, right? Seems to me like selling two DVDs is better than selling none.
It just dosent make sence to me. He pushes the envelope with sound. The whole movie is pratically shot entirely ditigal. Now he severly degrades the sound and the video quality by only releasing it on VHS. Hell why dont they put a mono sound track on the VHS tape and convert it to black and white. Jesus, when PM was out in the theaters i drove 30 miles to a theater that was worthy of watching PM in (and i live in LA). The day I bought my DVD player was the last day I will EVER buy a VHS tape... even if that means that I wont own PM for years.. or ever. Just like I stoped buying audio tapes when I got my first Audio cd player.... mp3z etc... I stoped throwing my money away on VHS a long tine ago. Whatever his reasons are.. ultimatly it is the HARD CORE fans, the people who enjoy seeing the movie as close as possable to the way the creator intended it to be seen who loose out here
Additionally, elections cannot be the sole criteria for a good government. Did people have another serious candidate to vote for? (Saddam Hussein is elected, but no one ever runs against him.) Are her powers limited by a constitution and other governing bodies once she is in office? (Unlimited power is never good in government.) We don't know any of these things about Queen Awidala; we just heard that there was an election.
My guess is that Lucas wanted the grandeur of royalty without the incomprehensibility of defending a ruler not democratically elected.
As for the despots, if you are correct about Lucas's view, then it's pretty sad that he's making movies where despots of one form or another are the only options!
-- Diana Hsieh
-- Diana Hsieh
GeekPress: The Weirder Side of Tech News
Since the creator intended moral lessons to be drawn from the movie, shouldn't we be able to criticize it if those moral lessons are warped?
-- Diana Hsieh
-- Diana Hsieh
GeekPress: The Weirder Side of Tech News
Hi Cowardly Antisemite: Wow, what an asshole you are. Moronic and lower-case-challenged, too. Can someone block this guy's pointlessly offensive drivel, please? --Glad to be goy, but I have friends in the tribe.
______________ I was gratified to be able to answer promptly and I did. I said I didn't know. -Mark Twain
well if mr george 'i'm not going to do release it on dvd yet and by the time i do get around to it most of the original fans will be dead' lucas *does* release it on dvd, it should be quite interesting to see what he's going to put on as the extra features..
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
What do you think of Star Wars on DVD?
Poll Mastah
mpgs/rm is good nuff media for me
I have a friend who runs a local BlockBuster movie house and he has told me that he expects Episode I to come out on DVD the middle of September 2000. Take it with a grain of salt, he said his order fullfillment clearinghouse quoted him that date. :|
I'd consider buying the first (or is that second) trilogy on DVD because "Star Wars" and "Empire Strikes Back" were so good. I'll even tolerate those damn made for selling dolls Ewoks in "Return of the Jedi" just to have the complete set and story line.
But "The Phantom Menace"? No. I don't think so. George Lucas can blame bad internet press all he wants, but "The Phantom Menace" just plain sucked. And if you are more than 10 years old, it sucked a lot. It's exactly the sort of film directors make when they've run out of original ideas but know they have a loyal fan base so they don't have to try very hard anyways and can concentrate solely on selling toys. The only reason I could see in buying it by itself is using Anakin and Jar-Jar "Meesa Gonna Sella Lotta Action Figures" Binx as suction cup dart targets on my TV screen.
If the next two films (assuming they bother making them) are back to the standards set by "Star Wars" and "Empire", I might include "The Phantom Menace" in my DVD collection just tohave the complete set. But the next two films will have to be abso-freaking-lutely amazing for me to tolerate "Phantom Menace" like I tolerate "Return of the Jedi". Given Lucas' recent track record, somehow I don't think they will be.
1) Lucas doesn't owe you anything for being a devoted fan.
2) He's got a known level of greediness.
This isn't entirely surprising. VHS tapes can be much more readily copied than DVDs can, so I seriously doubt that piracy is the issue.
There is also a third possibility, which I think is pretty likely -- the extra content being put together for the DVD will take quite some time to get together and polish, and maybe he's planningon doing something special with it, which will take extra time.
The Christmas special notwithstanding, Lucas' past releases have all been very well-polished, classy affairs. Maybe they're just taking the time to make sure that the DVD release will besomething very cool.
You'll only buy DVD? I thought all good geeks were boycotting DVDs to show support for DeCSS and the gang?
This means Star Wars: Episode 1 is NEVER coming out for beta! what the fuck?!?!?! I'm not down with this whole schmancy fancy VHS thing you crazy kids have got brewing!!! Seriously - it'll never catch on!
Usually I'd be agreeing with you except that this rumor actually comes from Lucas' mouth. Most rumors like this are just some guy hearing from some guy who knows a guy that delivers food to Lucasfilms.
...will he release a version without Jar Jar?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
By "You all," who exactly are you referring to? Last time I checked, the user base of Slashdot did not consist of one gestalt entity, but rather as thousands of individual entities. These entities, or "people," each have different ideas and opinions that make them unique from other "people" even though common interests draw them to a communal forum.
For instance, while some people who frequent Slashdot find that whiny, loud-mouthed latecomers who attempt to mask their own feelings of guilt and boost their sense of self-importance by spouting off-topic inflammatory garbage wherever they feel like it are doing the Slashdot community a severe disservice; others think that such persons are merely being dumbasses. However, all members of the Slashdot community can agree that such nonsense is unwelcome and not very well thought out.
Perhaps a more appropriate example is this: Some people like The Phantom Menace. Others don't. Some people agree with the MPAA's stance on Intellectual Property protection. Others don't. Some people read Slashdot. Other don't. Look Ma - all the circles in the Venn diagram intersect!
If everybody on Slashdot had the exact same opinion, there would be very little need for discussion forums at all, now would there? But there are forums, and those forums exist so that people with different opinions can share different ideas. That's why I read Slashdot. Not for posts like yours, but for the free exchange of different ideas.
But, I also hate DVD. Or rather, all the hassle with the MPAA/DeCSS etc etc. I hate region codes too. I could get my player fixed, of course.. but unless I do that there are tons of movies I can not view here in region 2. Not just the latest ones that WILL make it in time, also a lot of old classics that were only released for the North American market.
And forgive me for being so weak.. but so far the technical superiority of DVD seems to outweigh the other issues. I *am* getting more DVD's. Although more selective than what would-have-been in a more open market. Why must I buy my favourite Star Trek episodes on VHS? Why am I advertised to death with Episode 1 yet cannot buy the DVD?
DVD, can't live with or without you.
Stability: I don't know. I would think the industry doesn't like to switch formats a lot, lest they confuse the consumer and have trouble selling anything. Considering VHS has been around for so long, if they are serious about DVDs, the standard won't change very soon.
(more conjecture)
If the movie industry (read: major studios) could absolutely and unequivocally control the distribution of their movies, then we'd probably be able to buy anything. Maybe they should grab some bandwidth in the "500 channel" future of television. They didn't mind VHS because the quality degrades when you copy it but DVD brings up real problems so, they throw in the CSS thing and, well, insult most of us.
This leads into the issue of boycotting. I really can't decide what to do here. I love DVD quality and enjoy watching movies, but I really don't like the idea of having to use liscensed players/software (although I do have a DVD decoder card in my system since it really helps) and I absolutely hate the idea that I can't take this disc around the world and watch it wherever I go. I know you can't do that with VHS, but you can at least convert it.
I haven't bought some DVDs in some time, as I've been wrestling with the issues. I do maintain we should be able to write free software, if we so desire, to play DVDs with or without a decoder card and that I shouldn't have to purchase my DVD collection again should I choose to move to Europe or wherever.
For the time being, I'm going to refrain from purchasing much of anything DVD related.
Woz
Was it released on Laserdisc? I've got VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. I saw this thing rumored yesterday and canceled my order for the VHS Widescreen edition, but I'll buy a Laserdisc version. This is where the DVD story first broke, as far as I can tell. There's also some info about a radio interview with Lucas, where he supposedly said this himself. Anyone have a link to where I can get the Laserdisc?
---
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. --Robert A. Heinlein
I would happily pay for a special edition "No Jar Jar" release. :-)
Not flamebait, just an observation.....
/.'ers couldn't stand to watch, sure are making a big fuss about not being able to get it on DVD. For a movie that's as bad as it soposedly it(from posts when the movie was out in theaters), why would you care two pieces of monkey crap if it ever came out on DVD. Or can Lucas put shit in a handbag, toss a "Star Wars" label on it, and it's suddenly a must buy?
Why does anyone even care?
For a movie that most
The movie studios should be pushing DVD. It is much cheaper to manufacture a DVD disc than a VHS videotape. They may be trying to follow the example of the music industry with CDs by keeping the price of DVDs higher than that of VHS tapes.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
For those of you who haven't taken the time to go read the source material, this *rumor* comes from a radio interview with Lucas last week. The upcoming DVD, which is in production will most likely have previously cut scenes from TPM.
George Lucas has a myth that he wants to tell in the way he sees fit, that is why he left the large studios after Star Wars. This artistic vision is the reason he does some things that seem out of whack, why he waited 15 years to start the prequels, why he wants to do something special for the DVD. I personally feel that the reason that TPM seemed quirky and chopped up in some ways, is that it will only seem complete when the other two prequels come out.
Some may say that this film should stand on it's own, but I want to see Lucas' vision. This is also the reason that I haven't gotten into much of the extended universe literature that has come out surrounding Star Wars.
I read the Salon article that a reader posted earlier, and I thought it had some valid points, but I believe the author missed some others.
Star Wars takes place in a world where democracy is collapsing and racist dictators are plotting with greedy corporations to carve out their own empires. Star Trek takes place in a world with a strong democratic government that, while having threats to it's stablility, are not in the same mortal peril as the Star Wars universe.
The reason that conflicts are waged in the Star Wars universe with active warring rebellions vs. the Star Trek one with civil discourse and so on is the setting. Let's face it, Star Trek devolves into kill 'em all every time the Borg show up. In Star Wars there isn't even the mystery of where the enemy comes from. The enemy is something that has existed in that universe for millenia.
As for the demigod status that the Star Wars universe confers upon it's heros, it is demigods that inspire. For me, I always saw the ascetic Jedi as something to live up to. To fight the good fight, but to do so with honor and to not allow fear and anger to cloud a morally just cause. Quite frankly I've never been inspired by Star Trek, yes I've always agreed with most resolutions to moral quandries put forth in the various stories, but the characters always seemed more distant to me than those in Star Wars.
I think it has more to do with the universe that these to fantasies are set in, with Star Wars being one where there is a complex story of governments, history, religion and culture that mirror much of what has happened on Earth. A world where farm boys and smugglers find their path in life that leads to a righteous struggle. Not only is it a righteous struggle, but they must carry out this struggle in a certain manner in order to maintain righteousness. Studying history, I see more parallels with Star Wars than Star Trek, and so that universe always felt more real, or personal. Of course, there are others who may feel the same way about Star Trek.
To me the question of Vader's redemption at the end of ROTJ is more about the belief that anyone can change, and be personally redeemed. Was justice served? Did Vader pay for his crimes? Of course not, but that is not what the story is about, it's about personal choices and struggles.
A question that the author of the Salon article forgot, was what is Hitler was captured, and then became a devout Christian, believing that Jesus had died for his sins. Even if Hitler paid for his crimes against humanity with his life, according to Christian beliefs, he would have gone to heaven.
I am eagerly awaiting the DVD, and the next two movies, which may be the only reason I break my boycott against the MPAA. I have faith in Lucas' artistic vision to present an interesting way to give us a morallity tale. I think that the Salon author goes for some of the easier shortcomings of the Star Wars story without exploring many of the explanations and perspectives that have evolved around the story.
I was rather intriuged by the explanation of how SciFi in general goes against much of the storytelling tradition in our world. I found it a very interesting discussion and I must say that I agree with the author on many of his points. I do however disagree with the insinuations that our age old tradition of creating heros to overcome our enemies no longer has value. I believe that these heros do much to show that one person can make a difference in the world and inspire people, especially children, to become more like those ideals.
In the end, I'd say it's all about perspective. Much like whether or not Obi-Wan and Yoda lied to Luke or merly offered a way of looking at the fall of Anakin. You can say that the Star Trek is a more mature universe and the the egalitarian views are more noble, and I might agree, but I think that Star Wars has always held the personal inspiration for me to attempt and forward those ideals.
I guess you could say, Star Wars for personal insperation and Star Trek for an ideal of what our society should strive for. But remember, it's all perspective.
So....
May the force be with you!, oh yea and, Live Long and Prosper!
Arrogance is Confidence which lacks integrity. -- me
I want to mark this entire story as "Redundant"
Me? I'm just a-waiting for my Laserdisc of Phantom Menace to show up in the mail...
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
..while the previous 2 posts where AC's, I'll be more than happy to place my name on this one. I agree with the AC's about this subject..isnt' the idea to boycott DVD's with Region coding (which I'm MORE than sure SW:TPM would have) until those WHORES from the MPAA drop their stupid ass lawsuit? Either we stick with the boycott or we don't. Which is it? I for one am not about to give into the corporate bullying that the MPAA is trying to pull off. I've sworn off of buying any new DVD's and even if SW:TPM had been released on DVD, I wouldn't be buying it. Even though Lucas wrote, produced, financed, etc the ENTIRE project, he has become The Man, Inc. just like RIAA, MPAA and all the others are. Lucas needs to stop playing these BS games of his and make some REAL statements. I guess the $$ is just too much too resist. Kinda like Metallica. Sorry, my ethics aren't for sale. And neither should anyone else that supports OUR choice of OS. So CmdrTaco, which is it going to be? You have my email if you want to respond. Hell, you can even call me on the phone if you want.
"Klaatu, verada, necktie!" -Ash
Why should you have to pay more to get the whole movie?
Well, if you buy the pan-and-scan version, aren't you essentially paying less for less of the movie?
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Whereas Brin taught us that you can take on of the great series in Science Fiction history, namely Asimov's Foundation series, give a well thought of author a pen, and he can produce a complete piece of crap.
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Now, while I'm not boycotting the MPAA, seems like most people here seem to *say* they are and are not. I have a DVD decoder card that happens to work great under Linux (Creative DXR-2) so I really don't care about DeCSS and all that crap. I understand the freedom issues at stake here, but I paid 200 bucks for this damn thing, and fuck if I'm not gonna use it.
You all bitched when Episode 1 came out - everybody went on for hundreds and hundreds of comments about how much it sucks. And every time a story about the MPAA is posted, there are hundreds and hundreds of comments about how much they suck and how you're all boycotting them.
So why the fuck are you all bitching about how you can't get Episode 1 (a bad movie by most accounts) on DVD (an evil format by most accounts)??? You need to either stick to your convictions or stop bitching about things.
I have seen many posts on /. indicating they are boycotting DVDs, and many other posts saying how they are also doing so but torn over the choice.
Well, I'm here to play devil's advocate, to give you reasons why boycotting the DVD format is not in your best interests. I'm really interested to see the counter arguments to the ones I give, as I think it's an interesting discussion.
First the monetary angle - you not buying a DVD player or DVD's is hurting the MPAA.
Let's say that you get one million followers of the boycott going. Pretty impressive, surely that would stop the MPAA and make them reconsider the evil of there ways!
But wait - the estimated population of the United States in July 1999 was 272,639,608. The estimated number of televisions is 215 million. If even a quarter of the people with televisions buy a DVD player, what impact does the loss of a mere million people worth of revenue have?
Consider also how you are fighting them. By simply not buying a player or DVD's, you may think you are fighting them. But unless you are writing to the studios explaining that you are boycotting the system, you are really doing nothing except making them market a bit harder than they were before to your demograohic. That means you are helping a SALESPERSON make more money!!
But all that is just pointless jabbering unless I have some kind of soltution to replace the boycott (and even then no doubt some will still consider it pointless). As you might have guessed, I of course have such a plan.
I propose that to really make a difference, you see who is already in the fight and is making a difference. Though there may be other forces, the main ones I can think of are:
The EFF (providing legal help in many cases, including the deCSS case).
The people who make (essentially) regionless DVD players.
To support the EFF is easy - send them money. Lots of it. If you got that same hypothetical million people to donate $100 each to the EFF, don't you think that would help a lot more than simply not buying "It's a Bugs Life"?
In the second case, buying a DVD player where the region encoding is easy to defeat helps to make this a more desired feature in all players. This is already true in Euorpe where the DVD players in which they can play region 1 DVD's are selling like hotcakes. If you provide enough of a profit incentive then eventually some of the brand name DVD players will have to follow suit.
But more than buying one of these for yourself, explain to others around you why they should buy one as well. Let's face it, are you going to be able to convince more people they simply should not buy a DVD player at all, or that they should buy a really cheap one that can play DVD's from anywhere?
I will add one final argument. By not getting a DVD player now you are missing out on some DVD's that will not be around when the fight is won. Things like Disney movies that cycle into the market every few decades. Thing like the "Army Of Darkness Special Edition".
And in addition if you really don't want to give the MPAA money while still getting DVD's, buy them all from used CD stores.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's worse than that. As noted at AICN, the DVD versions of the first trilogy (4-6) will be released with MORE "new special footage" as well. So if you didn't already buy the first four releases of the movie- here! pay the entire price of the movie over again for some new footage! But it isn't just that- Lucas is talking about litterally CHANGING the movie itself AGAIN. Sigh. It's not like this isn't a great bussiness idea, but it hardly makes him worthy of anyone's respect as a human being or a filmaker. As far as TPM, the more suspiscious of us believe that they _deliberately_ claimed that the DVD wouldn't be out anywhere in the near future so that everyone (especially video chains) would be more likely to buy more of the VHS version. Now that the initial rush is over, why not release the DVD version as soon as possible and grab some repeat buyers as well as those that boycotted the VHS? It's an important lesson about intellectual property- you don't just get the "movie" in raw and abstract form. You get the movie in whatever decaying format it's stuck in. I hope that someday I'll be able to purchase viewing rights to movie, and when "extras" are released, I'll only have pay for those instead of the whole shebang again. Course, I never bought ANY lucas movies. I just taped em off Tv. So what am I complaining about?
"wherein Darth Vader is forgiven all his sins, because he saved the life of his own son."
Is it not more that he renounced the evil that had controlled his life, thereby being forgiven of all sins.
Sounds like another Christian idea George Lucas has pinched...
Still I agree with the rest of the comments (or can't think of anything against them)
Putting whether DVD is a good technology aside, it blows as a medium. But as far as a medium goes, it redefines "closed." To distribute a DVD movie, you must license the technology; to play a DVD movie, again you must license. Pay to play.
Compare this to the historically most successful medium, paper. No one owns the patent to make paper, and you don't have to pay license fees to read it. As a result, no one controls what can be put on paper.
As long as your movie distribution format is closed, you better get used to someone else telling what you can and cannot see on it.
That said, I doubt that Lucas isn't doing DVD to protest a closed medium. More likely, he is protesting that it isn't his closed medium.
We already ripped his theories to death eight months ago on this thread and flooded his email box, prompting him to post this response, which we then also tore to shreds on this thread over here.
Actually, perhaps "tore to shreds" is a bit too strong. Really, we just ignored Brin and alternately bitched and creamed our pants about the great event of visual masturbation that was/is StarWars TPM. Or at least that was my gist from the audience.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
But even still, it is not the same as saying that Adolf Hitler "saved his son". Vader did more than save his son; he killed the emperor. He turned his back on the dark side and sacrificed his empire out of love for his son. He "redeemed" himself... at least in the eyes of the movie. So yeah, if Adolf Hitler saved his son AND destroyed the Third Reich, sacrificing his life to do so... I think that would be a redeeming quality.
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
I saw the VHS in a local store and was tempted, but I just don't want to own any more video tapes. They're big, the're clunky, they break and the picture quality sucks (though, I hope the DVD-compression hardware gets better, I'm sick of seeing squares in dark backgrounds).
Other then the slightly annoying Japanese subtitling.. (not that it wasn't expected in a Japanese import!) the Laserdisc version is great. Bright vibrant color, digital sound.. The only thing I found odd was that the credits were almost unreadable. The font was too small, and the picture quality was aweful during it. (At least the rest of the movie was good..) :)
BTW I paid $120 after shipping for it.
--Mark
You'd expect a so-called technology supporter would promote something like DVD. What's the matter, it wasn't developped by ILM or LucasArts? Why is it that even Star Wars IV: A New Hope is not available on DVD, and that Raiders of the Lost Ark is just coming out?
I'm amazed at how big a technological boat Lucas is missing here. This is mind-boggling, until you realize that Lucas has always been motivated by profit. No, Ep. 1 is not available on DVD, but please, buy this $30 VHS package with lots of crap inside so we make a little more money off of you.
Anybody who has a DVD player should boycott the VHS release and wait. Don't justify this shameless money-grabbing scheme. I know it's probably too much to ask for a boycott of Star Wars (we're so spineless), but at least stick to your guns when it comes to buying it in video.
>---------- Forwarded message -------
> Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 08:02:26 -0500 (PDT)
> From: George Lucas <xxxx@thx.com>
> To: LocalYokel@Rednecks.com
> Subject: RE: TPM DVD
>
>Hello, Mr. Slackjaw!
>
> Thank you for a very well crafted flame urging me
> to release TPM on DVD. I have read your arguments,
> and followed the link to the "Slashdot" site hat you
> gave me, and have decided that I am being quite
> foolish about this business.
>
> We have been secretly working on a special DVD
> release of this movie, but from what I see on this
> website you sent me to, the cat is already out of
> the bag. The TPM DVD will be released shortly as
> Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace SE. We had
> intended to make the "s" stand for "Special", but it
> is clear that it should stand for "Slashdot". ILM
> has been working quite feverishly to add a subplot
> involving the capture of Queen Amidala in her quar-
> ters. As she is changing into the costume of her ser-
> vant, the captors will freeze her in a block of car-
> bonite. For all intents and purposes, Natalie
> Portman, naked and petrified.
>
> Thank you, and please be patient. The final touches
> will be made as soon as we complete our open source
> Beowulf cluster. Thank you.
--
--
E2 IN2 IE?
You have to realize that rumors are... just that, rumors. Earlier this year, another site also rumored that Lucas would be releasing it on DVD early. Then, they retracted their statement....
If there's one thing about Lucas, if he says he's going to do something, he does, and he doesn't go back on it. Just as he said he's going to release it in 2005, he most likely will not release it anytime sooner. Even if he did release it early, do you think these guys would know about it?... I don't think so.
By the way, you've heard of redundant posts... this is a redundant story...
Star Wars: TPM NOT on DVD in 2000
No Star Wars TPM on DVD
Rick McCallum Answers "Why No Star Wars DVD?"
Mr. Lucas said that Episode I will be released on DVD soon. Unfortunately, it will only run on an Amiga that will be bundled with a version of Microsoft Office for Linux. Just for fun though, he'll infect every fortieth DVD with the Goodtimes virus, so be careful!
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
I know this is offtopic -- get over it.
Question 1: I really like the idea of DVD but am afraid of buying a player and a movie collection only to find that the standard changes on me, or that the weird copy-protection and region codes scare people away and DVD evaporates like that digital audio cassette system from several years back. I don't want to have the 21st century equivalent of an 8-track collection. Do you think that this really will be what replaces VHS? Or should we all wait for these court cases to settle down? Do you think that consumers will be turned off by the fact that they don't have the freedoms that they have with CDs? These are things that churn around in my head when I think about taking the plunge into DVD.
Question 2: In response to the MPAA's charming behavior towards free software developers, people occasionally say that they are going to boycott DVD until the standard gets opened. What do y'all think about this? Is this something people are serious about, and do you think it will be productive? I ask because I'm willing to boycott if I know it is a part of a larger effort and if I think there is a chance it will be productive, but if it isn't going to do any good, then that's different.
If y'all have any opinions,it would be cool to hear them.
Take care,
Steve
========
Stephen C. VanDahm
As for the first question, I think that DVD will only replace VHS if serious interoperability problems don't arrive. The average joe won't even notice things like region locking, and likely won't even care that they won't be able to make backup copies. But if the DVD folks create a whole new format, thereby rendering obsolete all existing players, and all existing movies (go to a Blockbuster - there are a _lot_ of movies on DVD) then people aren't going to like it too much.
:)
And as for the second question, that one's easy. Before I knew about the whole DeCSS thing, I was planning on buying a DVD-Rom drive, and some DVDs to watch with it.
I have no plans to do that now.
I can't speak for those who already have DVD players, but I personally am not getting anything DVD related until this ends - and ends in our favor.
I know of others, too - one friend of mine is carrying the boycott to everything MPAA related. She won't see movies, or rent videos, or even buy from a tie-in venture (like, for instance, the recent Pokemon: The first movie items at Burger King).
So, yes, there are at least two of us doing a boycott. Likely, there are more. And yes, support would be appreciated
-Denor
If only if it means we may see a bastardization on detonate.net from the guy who did the matrix one, he only seems to work from DVD.
Well actually for what phantom menace was it was pretty on the ball. It was mainly plot building. Alot of people missed alot of the subtle things like Senator Palpatine. If you pay close attention to the later movies you notice somehow he becomes Emperer Palpatine. It was a plot builder and thats about it. Meet the characters. When viewed alot it was fairly mediocre but when thought of as a prolugue its alot better. Granted had the whole series been started with PM it probably would have flopped, the middle 3 books as they call them were a much better way to start. If you have ever read the book Shogun you can see a shining example of this. The first 250 pages basicly suck ass. After that it gets good for 750+ more pages. Id venture to say after recently reading the terry books novel Phantom menace that the movie stayed true to form and that we were just watching the prologue. Personally I think Jar jar was pretty cool although he probably should have had a joint hanging out his mouse and hung out with Jedi Elder Bob Marley instead.
I used to work in a video store so i know where you're coming from. In point of fact...some movies actually cost up to $500 a tape depending on their "worth" to the movie renting public. I believe that's what we got some crappy Tom Cruise movie for several years back.
:P
However, these videos are generally only sold by resellers so they are nearly impossible to come by for joe video buyer as the resellers usually only sell these in bulk. Yes - you can buy just about anything at any time...it's just a question of price. but WTF - maybe i'll pay that much when infinite jest is made into a movie
FluX
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
I know that with DeCSS that DVD's are evil now, but wait ... does this really mean that because of some computer software we have to watch a analog version of a digital movie?
I may not be the smartest man around, but I do know that you do loose something when you go from digital to analog ... so why wouls george do this?
I mean ... let's do it for jar jar here ...
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
Maybe parts of the post you responded to and the article went overboard, but I also think they raise valid points.
I get sick and tired of all the people who want to draw social, economic and moral conclusions from a damn movie.
And why, exactly, shouldn't we? The amazing success of this movie indicates something about us. The mere fact that people respond to the story says that we find it compelling -- I don't think there's anything wrong with comparing this plot with other widely known tales and placing them inside the context of the environments from which they were created. There is a truth that stories and tales we find interesting and personally entertaining reflect on us and who we are. In fact, today's mass-media culture in certain ways requires that we define ourselves to others, in part, through our consumption of books, music, clothes, food, or operating systems (ahem).
Maybe some of those Indie artsy-fartsy movies are trying to send a message, but most Holywood blockbusters are only trying to do one thing; make money.
Exactly. I'm not going to try and blame Lucas or "hollywood" or "the man" for things we like and enjoy - I just happen to think that the very fact we have hundereds of posts here discussing some rumor about a minor facet of the movie says something about us.
Maybe it means that we (meaning most people) have an inherent apathy or disregard for the common good and the average citizen, or maybe it means we're all too obsessive about this movie. Either way, it has to mean something.
Finally, I'd like to point out that I posted a response instead of moderating down, and I'd like to thank you for doing the same to the post you responded to. Oh, and no, I didn't spell check, and yes, I should have.
.sig last updated Jan. 14, 2000
Granted, this was a far cry from universal sufferage; but then, universal sufferage is a 20th century concept. It is not difficult to imagine an electoral monarchy evolving universal sufferage over time, once you have an understanding of how modern Democratic governments evolved.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
There are many people that feel the same. Is this because this is a freedom we assume we have, or a freedom that we are losing in today's "high tech world" like many other freedoms.
If you are going to protest something, do it for the right reasons.
I read "Don't buy DVDs!"
I read "Don't buy PM1 VHS!"
Decide, then go further and block the companies that support the very thing you oppose.
See DeCSS Movie Boycott Helper
Question: Wasn't there a boycott of PIII's because of a Hardware ID in the chip of some sort?
What if a company only made software that would work on an Athlon chip?
If I were protesting Intel, I would be happy for this. Maybe the people unhappy about no PM1 DVD release are not protesting the DVD industry?
Keystone Light! Ahhhhhhh
cheers
Let's examine the facts of the case:
You'd think that we geeks would be used to that whole "don't trust everything you read online" thing by now, eh?----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Mr. Lucas has learned as the years went on since the first trilogy was relased, he was capable of keep making money from it.
We, the stupid consumers, pay for anything "new", no matter if it is useless or not. We teached the lesson!
Now, in a very smart move, Lucas delays the DVD relase of his picture in order to make the consumer, specially the Star Wars Fan, to pay/rent the movie now (maybe several times), and then relase the "New Thing", in this case, DVD and get profit again, years from now...
I would like to think that Lucas don't relase the PM DVD because he wants to fight a holy war against the stupid DVD encryption/zoning fiasco. But I know that his reasons are more economic than anything else.
I can't judge this behavior as bad. I think that if it works for him, it's OK, it's his movie and his money.
But I'm sure I won't buy a DVD player, so I'll never be able to buy PM or any movie in that format. It's my little act of protest.
These rumors fly around every few months. They have been since May 1997 when DVD hit the shelves.
This same rumor mill (that is at The Digital Bits) is the same rumor mill that in Sept. 1997 was saying "Star Wars on DVD in Feb. 1998!" Then it became "There is a warehouse full of DVDs!" Then it became "Here is the cover art!" which was basically cover art from the Hong Kong black market VCD. Then we got to hear about "They have a warehouse full of discs they are sitting on!"
In other words, unless starwars.com says it is so, don't believe a bit of what you hear on from Digital Bits, E-Town, DVD Resource, or any of the other "In the Know" websites. They don't know.
PURE ENTERTAINMENT
Why should we infer any moral lessons from Star Wars? In case you didn't catch it, Star Wars is a Science Fiction movie. Meaning it isn't real. Meaning you shouldn't read too deeply into it.
I get sick and tired of all the people who want to draw social, economic and moral conclusions from a damn movie. Maybe some of those Indie artsy-fartsy movies are trying to send a message, but most Holywood blockbusters are only trying to do one thing; make money.
Get over it.
Gentoo Linux http://gentoo.org/
On a more serious note, David Brin wrote a thought provoking article for Salon a while back entitled "Star Wars" despots vs. "Star Trek" Populists. He seriously examines the moral themes of the Star Wars series and compares them to Star Trek.
Brin argues that the moral lessons that we are supposed to draw from Star Wars include:
Elites have an inherent right to arbitrary rule; common citizens needn't be consulted. They may only choose which elite to follow.
"Good" elites should act on their subjective whims, without evidence, argument or accountability.
Any amount of sin can be forgiven if you are important enough.
True leaders are born. It's genetic. The right to rule is inherited.
Justified human emotions can turn a good person evil.
Not too surprising given Lucas's view that "there's probably no better form of government than a good despot." (New York Times interview, March 1999)
Brin makes one particularly interesting point about Darth Vader's redemption in Return of the Jedi. He writes:
-- Diana Hsieh
-- Diana Hsieh
GeekPress: The Weirder Side of Tech News
Personally, I'd much rather see the original (you know, the "good") Star Wars episodes on DVD before anything else, including an episode 1 DVD or even before the theatrical release of episode 2.
I think Lucas ought to hand Ep. 2 over to a director who knows how to make movies not suck ass and work on doing his required lot of smarmy, self-congradulatory psudo-interviews which he seems to think we all want to see on the DVD version and just get them out.
I mean, do we really want to see more of Jar Jar? Wouldn't you rather have the original movies with digital sound and picture?
----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
It was my understanding that when they released the DVD it was to be done "right" meaning with deleted scenes, directors cuts, etc. and that Mr. Lucas would not have time to do this until after the other 2 episodes are completed. I for one would like to see it on DVD and will not pay for VHS but I can see where he does have a point. I dont see why there cannot be two versions, one of the movie released now and a collectors edition a few years from now. just my 2 cents