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Star Wars Episode I DVD Review
dswensen writes: "Theforce.net has an in-depth review of the forthcoming Star Wars: Episode I DVD (due for release October 16th). Looking at all the great features packed into this DVD, I'm glad Lucas decided not to just toss off a cheap version a year ago. Love it or hate it, it looks like they really pulled out all the stops." Plus Ant points out that there is some teaser movie available for Star Wars Galaxies, the upcoming massively multiplayer game.
first non-censored psot! w00t!
Slashdot, come for the goatse, stay for the trolls.
We still haven't seen the original trilogy that didn't suck on DVD, and there is no plan to release it. I find it somewhat ridickulous.
My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
What, me worry?
Maybe it was too hyped before release, but I was kind of let down when I saw. Maybe it's because George Lucas had such a strong role in the movie. My favorite is still ESB.
Now I would love to see some sort of special edition DVD for the PS2. They could add some cool stuff, and make it awsome.
Gaming Shizzle
He probably postponed it so he could include some teasers of Episode 2...
Didn't Lucas have a digital master of this movie? I know a significant portion of the movie was digital anyway, and I thought he was going to run the rest of the film through digital processing so he could get a digital master.
Moderators should have to take a reading comprehension test.
I was eagerly expecting this feature.
Yeah, but its going to be an RCE disc, and it isn't going to work on a region 0 multi-region player..
http://twitter.com/onion2k
10 bucks a month for endless replay value is not what I consider a nominal fee. Not to say that most new MMORPGs (everquest) don't suck though, because they do.
This question has been bugging me for a bit,
as I can think of no real reasonn why the
first Star Wars episodes arent out on DVD?
What reason can there be for delaying them?
I am sure it has something to do with money,
but just how long does lucas think he will wait?
Thanks for reading
Sigs are dangerous coy things
If only the movie were any good. Lucas should get Kasdan in on this one, too. "Yippee," indeed.
You save only 59 seconds over 8 miles by going 75 instead of 65. Do you really have to pass that guy? Do the Math!
Couldn't ILM find some way to remove Jar Jar?
Sleep is for the weak!
...and why can't I play them on a multi-region player? If this is true, I'll not buy it. To me it would be defective disc.
Was one hell of a Lego commercial... it's a one minute video with about 15 seconds of LEGO toys, 15 seconds of company logos, and 30 seconds of ingame footage that isn't that different from the pictures already on the webpage...
maybe if it showed some game combat...
--Loco3KGT
It depends on the player. There are patched BIOS files for the Apex600A that allow RCE disks to work if the player is in Region 0 mode. Also, it isn't too hard to put mulitple BIOSen in many players and switch between them. RCE is ineffective on players that can actually be switched to a target region. I would assume by now that many players other than the Apex have been hacked to deal with this.
Is there anything about Star Wars that the TheForce.net doesn't wet their pants over? Granted, the DVD is chock full of stuff, but it could've been encoded as MPEG-1 and they still would have been flipping out about how great it is.
This is the most childish and unprofessional review I have ever read. The editorials in the college newspaper I read this morning deserve more respect than this. It reads like a fanboy's wet dream.
The only criticism with the quality is that it does look perhaps a bit more static and less life-like or organic than film. It's a small price to pay for the clarity we've never been able to appreciate before.
One of the biggest drawbacks to the cinematography, in my opinion, was that the CGI did not look real enough. And if it didn't look real in the theatre, how much worse will it be on my TV? I remember the original glowing reviews before the film made wide release. And many people ended up complaining about how the film did not live up to hype and expectation. This hyper, Lucas-worshipping review points out the analogy clearly enough for me.
Yes, it's called the director's cut. I'm personally all for them, but they even appeared back in the days of *gasp* VHS. And some people might be a tad bit annoyed that they can't get the version that they saw in theaters on DVD.
50 does seem higher than many DVDs, I'll give that. But there is a point that's it's too much--you spend more time flipping through the channel selection (there's no way they show all 50 chapters on one screen) than actually watching the scene you want to see.
Yes, I'm fairly sure I've heard of the rare DVD have 5.1 surround sound.
I can't make a judgement here, since the reviewer doesn't mention the only aspect I truly care about with menus: do I have to spend 8 hours watching flashy menu transitions just to watch the movie? On the other hand, if the DVD bucks this trend, it's approximately the only DVD in existence that does, and I salute the makers.
As for the huge wait, I would like to point out that this DVD seems ~about the same level in terms of effort as the Gladiator DVD, which was a 2-disc set released simultaneously with the VHS version. If Lucas was _so_ intent on spending hours upon hours to make this DVD, I don't quite understand why they didn't release a standard DVD (with the usual "extra" of 5.1 surround sound and widescreen) at the same time as the VHS, and then market this as the Director's Cut/Collector's Edition, which it obviously is.
~=Keelor
Actually, there were quite a few things I liked about Episode I.
First of all, he established the groundwork for what are sure to be two very dark and combat-filled movies.
Also, the lightsaber fight at the end was the best filmed so far.
Even during a second viewing, I was still laughing every time I saw the "thin client" attack droids in action. IMHO, anybody who doesn't think an entire army of Crow T. Robots getting their asses kicked by lizzard men is funny needs to lighten up a little. That battle alone was worth my seven bucks.
On the downside, turning The Force into super-intelligent germs was a huge mistake. In two brief scenes, he ruined the whole series by turning a beautifully impossible fantasy into a very implausable sci-fi load of crap.
This was even less forgivable than the cartoony Jar Jar, the Bat-Grapling-Guns that Amidala's royal guard used, or the fact that Brian Blessed (voice of the Gungan King) put in the corniest performance of his carreer since his hammy appearance in Flash Gordon.
Everything but Z
Also conspicuously missing from DVD releases are two major triologies: Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. You'd think having both of these out as well as SW on DVD, all in maximum featuritis, would help to improve the acceptance of DVD.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Anyone else think that as a bonus feature they should have included the video for Weird Al's "The Saga Begins"?
When I decide whether a DVD is right for me, I look at the technical details; I'm looking for sound quality, picture quality, framerates, ease of navigation, and other technical aspects. Yes, the movie is important, but not nearly as important as quality; that's what DVDs are all about! It's great that they included new scenes, but who cares about it if the picture is shoddy and the sound poor?
I mean, it would be like CmdrTaco reviewing the latest Linux release... oh, wait a minute...
If you're looking for another review that doesn't involve Force.net drool, here's one from The Digital Bits which has a lot of the same information, but some different criticisms.
"The Episode I DVD is even worth your investment in a DVD player if you have continued to delay the purchase."
Well, I decided to go all the way to setup a full-size, no expenses spared, home theater nearly two years ago, just to be able to see 'The Fifth Element' again.
Since my family and I have been watching hundreds of rented movies on DVD, and we all agree that the investment has been utterly worthwhile.
Why invest $10000 in a home theater when you can go and see a movie on a much bigger screen with a family of four for $25 ?
Well, there are a couple of reasons:
All said, even if this movie isn't going to make anyone go out and buy a DVD player, I'm glad it's finally there.
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
I guess my question is how many people will try to download it as soon as someone rips it, or will we all be law-abiding and get it from a store? Also, do you think this will slow down internet access allover the world and cause routers to spontaneously combust? Oh wait, I forgot that no one here would ever illegally download copyrighted material. ;)
*Off topic, but when you herd of the Nimda, did anyone else immediately remember The Secret of Nimh? I love that movie!
A crappy film with a bunch of extra crappiness thrown in - why should I want that?
Well, there's also another good review of the disk over at The Digital Bits. Been up there about a week or so now.
- Re-master the sound
- Make flashy menus
- Make a director's cut
Digital techniques are supposed to reduce production time, not lengthen them.It's such a marketing decision. Classic supply and demand. Most starwars fans will have probably bought the DVD and the VHS by the 16th! What's that, $40-50 per fan for the same work?
*cha-ching*
Trolls, it must be cool to be that bored.
I mean this in all honesty:
1. Phantom Menace was a poor to mediocre movie no matter what your point of view, unless you saw it when you were 7 without seeing the original movies. It does not deserve to be talked about any more that Waterworld does.
2. DVD extras cannot change #1.
The Easter Eggs for the 2 Discs have already been exposed, I just hope they are, shall we say, legit. Check em out at DVD Easter Eggs.
If you want to check out a world class dvd, check out the Sleeping Beauty special edition dvd. THAT dvd truely is an amazing feat. It includes commentary put together from old recordings from Walt Disney himself and a plethora of other features that make Starwars features look standard.
Does it have the alternate ending where Jar-Jar dies a horrible death ?
This disk sounds like a crappy movie with a bunch of crappy "features" (5.1 sound is a bonus now, is it?) thrown on. It sounds like utter crap.
Interestingly, my other post stating this opinion has been deleted. Why are the admins here censoring this opinion? Is it because they're wetting their little pants over the turds that George is producing and don't like to be reminded how much of a ride they're being taken for?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is all well and good. But when is the DVD of the Star Wars Christmas Special coming out?
s ta r_wars_tv/index.html
http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/feature/2000/12/05/
I guess we're going to go through that whole long, drawn-out discussion of TPM:It Sucked vs. TPM:I Loved It again. The way I see it, TPM was no more hokey or badly acted than ANH. The casting was about the same, maybe better than ANH. The story is still classic space opera.
I don't bother comparing the SW films to truly great moviemaking much. ANH is obviously a far inferior film when compared to the earlier 2001:A Space Odyssey. What's important about the films is the sea change they brought in the acceptance of SF in mainstream American culture, and the role it played in many of our childhoods.
Bringing TPM do DVD in such a spectacular way can only be a good thing. If you don't like the movie, you shouldn't even be wasting your time reading this thread.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
Lucas has publicly stated that he will release the original trilogy on DVD, but after Episode 3 comes out. He wants to release all 6 films in a special box set. If the review of Episode I is any indication, it should be worth the wait.
Personally, I hope there is an option to watch the original trilogy before they mucked it up with that "Special Edition" crap....
It's $9.50 a pop here not counting snacks, beverages, & transportation. More along the lines of $30 for two.
If only there were a special director's cut that took out Jar-Jar, the stupid DNA test thingy and put in a better plot! It would sell like, hmm, I guess it IS all just about marketing. Lucas' artistic "vision" is becoming more myopic with every movie.
No, what he SHOULD do, is release the original trilogy on DVD soon, one at a time, then a boxed set with maybe a fourth disc of extra crap, then episode 2 on vhs, then on dvd, then epsisode 3 on vhs, then dvd, then a boxed set of all three 'episodes' with an extra feature disc, then all six with a ton of crap. Only then will Lucas have "Used the Force" (of marketing).
I wish he'd just hurry up and release the original trilogy like everyone else though....
Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
will the special features included on this DVD include never-before-seen backstage footage of Natalie Portman pouring hot grits down her pants?
*grin*
The bitmap can easily be ignored, but it's hard to put six or eight integers simultaneously into a single register without resorting to quantum computing, which is still a few years off. So-called "region zero" players have the bitmap bypassed, but "region switchable" players let the user choose (and maybe automatically try based on the bitmap) which region number will be presented to the DVD's scripting code.
Region switchable players also let you take advantage of discs which enable extra features (like subtitles in Asian languages) based on the player's region number.
Anyhow, I don't expect to be getting this disc because I don't f'ing care about Episode I. I know it's heresy, but I never saw it in the theatres, and aside from Wierd Al Yankovic's summary of the movie, I have only the vaguest idea of what is contained within. I do know that I would hate Jar Jar, though.
I also doubt I'll be getting the Episode 4-6 DVDs, because they'll likely only be available in the "Ministry of Information approved" edition. I've got the widescreen stereo release and the widescreen THX release on LD, without the "Han Solo didn't really shoot first" crap. I'll live with the disc change to watch the end of the movies on side 3, if that's what it takes to avoid the Politically Correct version.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
This review is dreadful. Are the reviewers suffering from tunnel vision? Did they have their Lucas goggles on? Were they paid by Lucas? It's a bit of a brown-noser and the tone suggests to me that even if the quality of DVD had been really crap, they would still have written good things about it.
4 /starwars_episode_i.html.
I prefer the review at dvdfile.com. When they discuss the transfer to DVD, you can't but help feel that they know what they're talking about. Perhaps I also share the same opinion as the reviewer: this wasn't a great great film, but we all liked the *idea* of a Star Wars film. The review is here: http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_
He should have tossed in Marlon Wayans jar jar impersonation from the deleted scenes Requium for A Dream dvd. Twas better than all of episode 1. The sight is completely wacked in any event.
It doesn't matter if you put it in a beautiful carved sandalwood box, wrap it with expensive paper, tie it with fancy bows, and scent it with expensive perfume...
... a turd is still a turd.
I'd rather have had a decent film, than an overbloated DVD.
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
Now I'm not interested...seen the show too many times...
It's too bad I'm not six anymore or I might have really enjoyed Star Wars Episode I. There's no way in hell I'm going to pay money to see the next Star Wars unless reviews say that it's not a film for young children like the last one. I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of Lucas' next effort. They say you can't go back home and this was most certainly the case with Star Wars. I had great hopes as the series moved on but this was one of the biggest letdowns of my my life. Sorry George, you may have done some great things in the past but don't you have enough money? How much more do you need you greedy bastard? Clearly EP I was made as a cash cow instead of with the intention of making a great film.
I had it on Laserdisc for almost a year now.
No region encoding, No content controls.
Same resolution you have on your DVD and in Dolby 5.1
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Check out IGN.com for a seriously in-depth review. (It's 8 pages long.) I'm not sure about the movie, but it sounds like the extras are great. I guess the DVD is actually a director's cut sort of thing, with footage that was cut from the theatrical release reinserted for the DVD release. Who knows? Maybe in 10 years Lucas will give us a cut worth watching. We can hope, anyway.
-- Hobbits suck!
New Order fan since 1982. Never disappointed (even by Republic).
Star Wars fan since 1977. Disappointed numerous times except by TESB.
The Winners are the Boys (and Girl) from Manchester
Waaahay!
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
With the possible exception of Episode V, each and every episode is bubblegum, and Episode V is marginally above that. They have always been bubblegum, and they will always be bubblegum. If you want a serious move, watch any movie by Akira Kurasawa (especially Ran!), and you'll soon realize how much bubblegum they all are, especially the original. You're off your rocker if you somehow think that Episode I somehow breaks some chain of spectacular moviemaking. This comes from someone who has seen each episode during their original theatrical releases, and has all the youthful memories of the original (which is still my favorite, I know for that reason).
That said, they are *all* great fun, including Episode I. You just have to be in the right frame of mind.
Chill out!!!
phantom menace sucked really really bad. watch the original dune movie for some real special effects. those models look 100x better than shitty cgi.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Phantom Menace was a poor to mediocre movie no matter what your point of view...
So no matter what I actually thought of it, it was a poor movie? And here I thought movies were subjective! Good thing your comment was moderated as +1 Insightful, or I might never have learned this valuable information.
P.S. I thought it sucked ass, too.
"And like that
Is there another URL for the movie or a mirror site? I banned doubleclick.net a long time ago from my computer and the URL without the doubleclick.net part doesn't work either:? ht tp://aka1.starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/swg_fi nal.mov
o ck .shtml
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;3350543;4317604;z
how to block web ads/bugs:
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/%7Eatman/spam/adbl
Those guys on theforce.net are a bunch of nuts. I liked the Star Wars movies (I even enjoyed Episode I despite its many pitfalls), but if there's one thing I hate about Star Wars it's those nuts whose lives revolve around it.
Get a f*cking life!
A Way Of Life
"hehe, website" - Homer Simpson
I went to see TPM, and I didn't expect it to have a very mature plot, developed characters, or that it would change the world. I went to see it because I wanted to see funny looking aliens, explosions, and cool lightsaber battles. I wanted to see what I saw when I saw ANH when I was seven. In my opinion, it delivered.
That being said, the movie could have done without the Midichlorian (SP?) thing or Jar Jar Binks, and perhaps Lucas wen't a bit too far with the marketing. For this reason, I think it isn't as "pure" as ANH was. No matter, TPM is enjoyable for what it is.
When most of us watch the old Star Wars movies, we watch it with the same mentality we did when we first saw it. Everyone who likes it reverts to the mental age of six or so when they watch it.
Suddenly, incredibly corny characters like Han Solo and Boba Fett become the greatest characters ever. When we watch ANH, we don't question the movie... we know it is cool.
I'm sure anyone who saw TPM when they were seven will be reminiscing about how cool it was when they are young adults.
Using the zoom feature of a DVD player to zoom in past the letterbox strips is not an option for me. It blindly cuts an equal amount off both the left and right sides, regardless of the scene.
I'd like to know why very few DVDs include pan-and-scan information to allow proper viewing in a 4:3 aspact ratio. Is it that much more expensive to produce a DVD this way?
...that somewhere in the huge amount of extras there might be the real version of the movie, the one that didn't suck.
Oh well.
The coolest voice ever.
Well, having established that the Phantom Menace was a shitty movie targeted at easily-marketable 7-year-olds, I'd like to bring your attention to a release much worthier of your attention. The Phantom Edit, as it is called, is an underground 'remix' of this movie, a remix that attempts to bring a small level of respectability, plausibility, and intelligence to this poor film.
No-one knows quite where to find a copy (seeing as it is a massive copyright violation), but I'm sure that Direct Connect, Morpheus, and WinMX users will be able to dig up a copy, somewhere.
Wah!
Plus with extra footage, and Dolby 5.1, it will be possible to do a BUNCH of cool edits. Like looping the crowd noise in order to get rid of the Howard Cosell "That's Gotta Hurt" English speaking alien announcer. And obliterating with finesse the final vestiges of 'Meta Chlorine' references.
The 'Phantom Edit' was a VERY good start. I was amazed at just how huge a difference it made, turning a wretched piece of 2 out of 10 puke film into a 7 out of 10 Star Wars entry. I'll be using my copy of the Phantom Edit as my master cut-list simply because of the excellent work of the Phantom Editor.
With that DVD in the hands of smart, tech savvy fans, it is very likely that Episode 1 will actually be rescued in a high-fidelity format.
-Fantastic Lad
In a DTS 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, there are 6 independent sountracks-- one for each speaker. The .1 bit refers to the fact that the Low Frequency Effects channel contains about one tenth as much information as a front or surround channel.
In the old Dolby Surround system, the surround and center channels were extracted from the left and right stereo channels...
For example, if the left and right channels contained the same audio at a particular time, the audio would be directed to the center channel. Don't ask me how the surround channel was extracted.
Unfortunately, such a system is essentially unable to play sound from two speakers at once. Dolby Digital 5.1 improved on this system by seperating the surround channel into a left and right surround, and futher, by eliminating the extraction step-- six tracks are recorded instead of just the right and left. This allows the sountrack to use all of the speakers simultaneously.
With Dolby 5.1 Surround EX, we're back to matrix surround. If the right and left surround channels contain the same audio, that bit is directed to the rear surround. 5.1 EX is 6 channels mixed so that a seventh can be extracted.
6.1 would imply that the rear surround channel is recorded seperately. I believe that DTS has a discrete 6.1 mode.
OK Lucus, when are you going to release the FIRST three (OK the MIDDLE three) Star Wars movies on DVD?
because of the regional code
This *IS* Slashdot that I'm on, right? This *IS* about Star Wars episode 1, right? Natalie Portman *WAS* in this movie, right? Jeeze, has the AC who posted the Natalie Portman and hot grits posts died or something???
Thomas Dz.
The most important aspect of a good DVD IMHO is the number of languages I get.
On a region 2 DVD I want at least english, plus two others (german, french, spanish,..). Learning foreign languages was never so much fun. After all, that's what DVDs are about.
Yet recently, there have been alle these DVDs where you suddenly cannot turn the subtitles off anymore, if you watch it in a foreign language. Really annoying crippleware (their argument being "licensing reasons"). What? As if I would buy it twice just to watch it in another language without subtitles?
I'll wait and see how the region 2 version of Phantom Menace turns out in that aspect, before I make a judgement.
Idempotent operation: Like MS software, wether you run it once or often, that doesn't make it any better.
if George Lucas had called back Haley Joel Osment, who I just heard last night had auditioned for the part of Anakin Skywalker. This is the equivalent of the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
Of course, then he probably would not have been able to act in The Sixth Sense, which came out the same year, and made him a really HUGE star.
May the Curse of the Bambino II follow LucasFilm for the remainder of its existence. What is the nature of this curse? That no film in which LucasFilm was involved with in any way receive one single iota of attention from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, no matter how Oscar-worthy it might be.
Republicans are idiots.
There is a poll on century theaters to see the most anticipated upcomming scifi movie here.
yah, I brake it all.....
I want a copy of The Phantom Edit. Heck, I just want to see The Phantom Edit. Any hints?
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
I personally don't think it would have been possible for Jesus to give a better review of God.
Reread the sentence, consider the originating website of the article (theforce.net) and you'll see what I mean exactly.
I read about five paragraphs of it, and very nearly puked. I viewed source, expecting to see a suspected <drool> review </drool> tag set in there somewhere. No luck.
This isn't a review- it's Lucasfilm Masturbigratification.
I like how they, for no apparent reason, tied the SWG teaser into a download from doubleclick.net. Will I be expected to sign up for the game through doubleclick also? As far as I'm concerned, this is a criminal organization that bribes and lobbies it's way out of legal trouble. Why not just have the mafia handle the subscriptions? Does anyone have a mirror for the movie?
Yobthra@yahoo.ca
We can do the instant messenger thing. All you have to do is promise to make copies and distribute them to at least three other people. More than three is obviously better. It's important to the health of our culture to make sure that modern mythology stays in the hands of the people. Especially since Lucas can no longer be trusted.
-Fantastic Lad --Greed is evil.
it seems a little demographic research is lacking at this site??
Where do you want to be, What are you doing to get there.
Well, stop that bitching, and welcome yourself to the new millenium. No one needs plot, story or development. No one needs clever or witty interactions and story frames. Just get used to it and lobotomize yourself (then it is a GREAT MOVIE)
http://lumthemad.net/story.php?story=2314
2001-09-20 09:27:00
Kelly Flock, CEO for the company releasing Star Wars Galaxies said, in a magazine quote
"When asked if he takes into account consumer input Flock is dismissive, relying instead on the expertise of his staff. "No, we never talk to consumers - they just fuck us up. Someone asked for a copy of our market research which made us take the decision to do EverQuest. I said we hadn't done any market research. Had we done, the game would never have been made. We never focus on them. Gamers don't know what they want. We just want to know if they have a valid credit card"
Would you buy a Star Wars Game from that man ?
I'd like to a review from non-zealots as well.
Star Wars movies are never going to be dark. Blue Velvet is dark. Man Bites Dog is dark. Empire Strikes Back is a kids film with a cliffhanger instead of a happy ending.
I would NEVER watch a film with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 as pan-and-scan. You lose nearly half the film!!
We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.