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It's Official -- Star Wars on DVD
savagexp writes "There's yet to be an actual press release, but according to DVDFile.com, 20th Century Fox and LucasFilm have confirmed that The Original Trilogy will arrive on September 21st in a four-disc set. More info can be had here."
http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/news/2004/02/ne ws20040210.html
It's not the original Star Wars trilogy. It's the version that Lucas ham-handedly put together in 1997. It definitely won't be on my list of must-have DVDs, regardless of how much I would love to own the original trilogy on DVD.
Greedo did not shoot first.
-Todd
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential..."
It may not be too late to visit the Original Trilogy website and sign the petition to get the original un-updated version put on DVD. 50,000 have signed up already!
Well it may be too late, but the fans must be heard!
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Some superflous new scenes added, like computer generated spaceships flying around. More computer generated aliens in the background.
In the first film, they took some cutting-room floor footage of Han talking to Jabba as he's preparing to take off in the Millenium Falcon. (I thought I read somewhere that Marlon Brando was actually playing Jabba in that scene). Anyways, they put in a computer generated Jabba walking alongside Han, and it looks pretty cheesy to me.
I hate overused computer animation. I think it looks out of place and fake, and the world of Star Wars was much more believable made out of foam rubber costumes and cheesy props.
The big one that gets all the geeks riled up is they changed the Cantina scene, so that Jabba's bounty hunter shoots at Han, and he kills him in 'self defense'. In the original, Han just shoots him under the table and gets up and leaves.
It effectively changes Han's character from an outlaw who cares only about himself, to some sort of good guy who found himself in trouble.
I haven't seen the special edition versions of the other two movies.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Peter Jackson at least came clean ahead of time and told everyone exactly what he was going to do and why.
Finkployd
This has been done, and a nicely transferred version is floating around the internet already - complete with high resolution covers and a "bonus" DVD full of extra material. The quality isn't ideal (the transfer is for 1 single-layer DVD per film) but it's widescreen, better than VHS and the best version of the originals we're likely to get.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson have been very upfront about their release plans for the Lord of the Rings movies. Saying they are doing the same thing as Lucas is inaccurate... at least so far. Plenty of people thinking they will put out some form of mega-collector's set after the final (extended) movie comes out. But, up to now, they have been very fan-friendly in terms of their openness regarding the release plan.
If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.
Find the article on USAToday HERE.
Plus, in the starport Jabba's moving around, and has all these expressions, just like a lame-ass cartoon. It contrasts terribly with the stationary, smug, heartless Jabba we know and love from his palace and on his yacht in the Sarlacc Pit scene.
In the first film, they took some cutting-room floor footage of Han talking to Jabba as he's preparing to take off in the Millenium Falcon.
Want to hate that scene even more?
Notice the part where Han circles Jabba while proposing a deal. Originally, that was fine since Jabba was a fat guy who looked like the rancor handler. But now that they were pasting a big slug with a long tail over the guy, Han couldn't really walk around hom anymore. Unadjusted, Han would be walking right through the animation.
Their solution? Make it look like Han is stepping on Jabba's tail by cutting him from the background and moving him up a bit then down a bit as he circles Jabba. They even make Jabba comically cringe when Han "steps" on his tail. This looks about as real as when a kid bounces a doll along the ground to make it "walk".
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Original triology, SE on German DVD with 5.1 German audio and 5.1 upmixed (from 2.0) English. The original English 2.0 soundtrack is also available. Verdict: Very good, but all text is in German, including scrolling start. English 5.1 isn't real 5.1 unfortunately, but the German is.
Original trilogy, SE on DivX. Sound is prologic, one disk per movie. Verdict: A keeper until the offical DVDs are out.
The Phantom Menace Phantom Edit. A rip of the VHS version, minus as much Anakin and Jar-Jar bullshit as possible. Verdict: Worth checking out. Available in mpeg2, DivX and VCD. I kept the mpeg4 version I found on e2k.
The Phantom Menace Peoples Edition. A DVD rip including several deleted scenes. Verdict: Worth a look, educational purposes.
Finally, a someone I know made proper DVDs from his own LD-cap, supposedly very good but I never got to see it.
Fuck Lucas. Like the RIAA, he has learned that missing a business opertunity costs. We want DVD, you don't give. We go elsewhere and your products are forever tainted. Combined with the poorish recent movies, Lucas has almost succeeded in making Star Wars suck.
IMDb's "alternate versions" section is your friend: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi.
>What is this about Han shooting first?
In the original release, Greedo corners Solo, levels a gun across the table and threatens to turn him into Jabba unless he hands over the money.
Solo distracts him while unholstering his blaster under the table and then blasts poor dumb unsuspecting Greedo in the nuts.
Guess Lucas felt this was unsportsman-like, to blast a guy under the table instead of in a fair gunfight (ala Gary Cooper).
So Lucas changed it in the "Special Edition". Greedo pulls off a shot, misses (how can you miss at point blank range?) and _then_ Solo blasts him in the nuts.
Much more honorable. Han is going to be a major Alliance general and hero. Can't have him shooting first under a table - not Kosher. Bit of revisionist history, actually. Solo was presumably a smuggler scumbag before meeting up with Luke and Ben. I'm sure blasting Greedo from under the table is not the worst thing he did before getting the hots for Leia and joining her rebellion.
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
FireFly is the answer. You have a kick-ass writer/director who is more than willing and able and actors who have already put in some amazing acting. You have a plotline that grabs you by the gut and pulls you along for a ride.
I warn everyone who has not seen Firefly yet -- if you get the DVDs and start watching them, you will go one half of the best ride of your life. It will be like getting on the world's greatest rollercoaster (with 10 loops!), making through the first 3 loops and having the rollercoaster stop in the middle of the ride. You will love what you get and be disgusted that there is not more.
Still, if people continue to buy the DVDs and word of mouth continues to spread, there is still the movie in the works and hope for SciFi or someone else to pick it up. Fox should be smart enough to put it into production again as long as they are getting paid.
"High-end 11-megapixel digital cameras are generally considered to be slightly inferior to 35mm film."
Remember: 35mm _still_ frames go along the film, whereas 35mm _movie_ frames go across the film. Also, only a fraction of the frame is actually used in movies, due to the widescreen aspect ratio. That means a lot less pixels are required to get the same resolution.
A lot of 35mm movie effect shots are rendered at around 2048x1024-ish resolutions, so while 2 megapixels is a little low for the full 35mm movie resolution, it's not far off.