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Star Wars DVD Set Previews/Reviews
Reducer2001 writes "USA Today has an article up that has a couple more details about the upcoming Star Wars DVD release. The cantina shootout between Han Solo and the green-snouted bounty hunter Greedo is virtually identical, but now it seems their guns fire almost simultaneously." Reader Jutebox150 writes "Time magazine has an early preview of the Star Wars DVDs and gives some justification for Lucas issuing the updated versions of the trilogy and talking about his many mental and physical battles to finish filming. The article also describes a 2.5 hour documentary by Kevin Burns that traces the origins of the saga. 'The first cut of Star Wars,' Burns' narrator says, 'was an unmitigated disaster.'" Reader spoco2 writes "The Star Wars Original Trilogy is due for worldwide release on the 21st on DVD, but the first reviews are appearing already in Australia (obviously of the PAL version). Yes, they are the SEs with even more differences (Now Gredo and Han shoot at the SAME time!). I'm afraid I'll be waiting for the day when George reconsiders and releases the untouched originals."
he's embarrased by the original trilogy. he should just get it over with and release the damn thing.
I'm afraid I'm going to wait a couple of years until George ends up releasing all six with even more changes. I hope they took the wussy scream that Luke lets out as he falls from Vader at Cloud City though.
I bought VHS cassettes of the original trilogy, and I remember a compaign to the effect of, this is the only time you will be able to get "The Original Star Wars" trilogy. (Altough I would have bought it anyway.)
Then a while later we had big creen Special Editions, but of course this didn't contradict the previous offer, becuase it wasn't the "Original Star Wars Trilogy" even if it was only slightly different.
http://perso.club-internet.fr/willow/Index.html
I wasn't sure how seriously to take it, but it seems to be corroborated by the article. (talking about having a better CG Jabba in ANH)
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
One thing that was done on the Terminator 2 DVD was provide the original, plus the extended version with the deleted scenes. Both can be played all the way through as a movie even though the extended version is merely the original with deleted scenes spliced in, thanks to the wonders of random access media. My question is why Lucas hasn't taken advantage of that to allow certain scenes to be added/remove/changed to look like the original or enhanced version?
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Dust off your VCR! I still have my original tapes, complete with grey bounding boxes on the models, etc. They still work. No need to wait for DVD really if you want to see the 'originals'. Sure, it isn't widescreen but at least the story is the same (one can argue that changing the shooting order is fairly significant for Han's character) and no new actors have been added!!!
$#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???
The article also describes a 2.5 hour documentary by Kevin Burns that traces the origins of the saga.
Which might make it worth it. I know I'll buy it anyway.
This, however:
'The first cut of Star Wars,' Burns' narrator says, 'was an unmitigated disaster.'
Would be very, very cool to see.
Sola Deo Gloria!
I still have the originals on laserdisc (widescreen) and my laserdisc player still works - so some of us can keep the dream alive.
You are confusing respect with pragmatism. Lucas is firmly convinced that his way is the right way. However, since a rerelease is about making money, he's trying to "preserve his vision" (how about preserving the fucking movie? is that not his vision?) while still making it more palatable to SW fans so he can sell it to them. It's not because he cares what you think on a personal level. He cares only on a financial level.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's called branching. Didn't T2:Ultimate Edition have a lot of problems with many DVD players even software players until updates came out? I know WinDVD did when T2:UE first came out.
Not sure if this still happens now.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Amazon have the DVD [US] | DVD UK both with delivery on the day of release.
Amazon often dispatch items a day or so before the release date, meaning you could get the edge over the masses by following this route!!
UK Laptops
At least the new CGI Jabba doesn't look like he's about to join forces with Pikachu.
As for the Jabba scene, Jabba was pasted in... both in the old one and the new one. The scene was shot with a human actor, they kept the footage before Jabba was made into a giant slug, and then superimposed CGI years later when it became technically possible. The original edit is horribly animated, although in this new one, like you say, the shininess and dust does seem like an oversight... although he is a good slimy slug-creature.
The CGI slug thing was certainly an afterthought, else Han wouldn't have walked full circle around the actor playing Jabba... that causes a lot of problems for the edit.
Lucas apparently wanted really badly to show Jabba moving in the original edit, but it would have been too costly to devise a huge slug-puppet for such a brief scene.
Also, if possible, imagine you're seeing the movie for the first time. You haven't seen the trilogy. You didn't dress up like Han four Halloweens in a row. Hell, you haven't even seen an Indiana Jones movie yet, and as a 10-year-old, you surely didn't watch American Graffiti a few years earlier. You don't know Harrison Ford from a hole in the wall and you don't know Han is a great guy. He ices some ugly green dude minutes before he agrees to take Ben & Luke on a ride. We know something they don't. We worry for their safety in this lunatics hand's. Etc etc etc.
Jesus, I'm posting to SW:EP4 threads. Anything to take my mind off Ivan, I guess.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
You know, the problem with this whole discussion is that if Lucas *did* decide to release the "original" versions, we would still expect him to cleanup the matte lines, fix the light sabre glows, digitally clean-up the prints, tweak the soundtracks, etc., so they wouldn't really be the "original" versions.
Of course, replacing actors with their prequel equivalents, making Han shoot first, changing bad songs to even worse ones (ROTJ), and adding more burping and farting creatures goes a bit beyond cleanup and director's cut land.
To some extent, the only reason to release the really original release (which would still need a great deal of digital restoration as the film stock has aged) would be as an illustration of film history. All of those ground-breaking, breathtaking special effects that look a bit cheesy now will be lost. In 20 years, it will be nearly impossible to go back and see what state of the art effects were in 1977, or what Tatooine looked like when the cinematography was based on what cameras, filters, and lenses were used instead of what digital post-processing can do.
These are the reasons I want *both* versions. I don't really want to watch the originals for entertainment and be distracted by David Prowse's eyes in the Vader mask, the bounding boxes and matte lines, or Vader's sometime's white lightsabre. I would like to have them to show my kids what I watched in 1977 and as nostalgia.
-- stream of did I lock the front door consciousness
You jest, but why is this such a bad idea. I have no plans of buying this adulterated version of the trilogy. I could reconsider, however: DVD is a versatile enough medium that Lucas could really make it an option to view the original theatrical release (cleaned-up and digitized, of course) or the re-release with ridiculous aliens and dumb slapstick CGI which also includes Han and Greedo both shooting.
It's only a small number of scenes that were changed by Lucas for the re-release, and now he's just changed one more. Give me the option to turn his retrospect off and watch the movies like I've always watched them. Don't make me dust off my VHS copies!
Partial consession == lack of conviction. The fact that he edited this scene again, and into a third form, is the proof: Lucas is trolling. Have a nice day.
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From the article the first cut was never released, it was re-edited in a completely different form. From my recollection the original theatrical release actually won an Oscar for Best Film Editing in 1977.
Here's a online comicthat pokes a little fun at the "Han/Greedo shoots first" argument.
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
Looking at the screenshots at Digital Bits, at least Jabba doesn't look like the Golgothan any more.
Ok, ok, in all fairness, the Golgothan looks better than Jabba '97.
Speaking as a die-hard Star Wars fan from Episode III (1977), there is no way in hell I'm going to buy this travesty! The message needs to be sent loud and clear that NO ONE wants to see these epic masterpieces in altered form! The most obvious problem with these is that they just show how unplanned Lucas was when he conceived of the entire franchise in the 70s. Now he has to go back in and make changes to try and make all the films seem cohesive. What a lamer!!!!
Then there is all that bullshit with Yoda flying around like a greased up pig. For one thing Yoda was OLD!!! So there is no way he could fight that fast because when you're old you move slow! And that little old prune is WICKED old!!!! I mean like 900+ years old!! So there isn't any way that the known laws of physics would allow for a being that old to fly around and fight like that It's just not within the realm of possibility.
Now we also have the whole Backdoor Boys issue in the Phantom Menace. Why they picked one of them to play the teen-aged Anakin is beyond me. For one thing, he can't act (like he couldn't even sing when he had that beard in the Backstreet Boys). The other thing is that they stuck him in the altered version of Return of the Jedi. This completely flies in the face of the known law that has-been vocalists from teeny-bopper bands can't make more than one flop movie. And again, they used CGI to try and get around this. If there is one thing that I personally can't stand, it's when people use CGI to try and change history! Lucas should be hung for that crime.
Now, I don't know this for a fact, but I have it on good authority that the wrist watch in Episode III has been removed also using CGI. To this I have to ask W H Y ????! Is it really that intrinsic to the plot? Oh sure, I know a bunch of you are going to jump down my throat and say that the very fact that the watch is in there disrupts the suspension of disbelief and therefore ruins the movie. To that I say... It's ONLY a movie, don't take it so seriously!!! Besides, I prefer my reality to be unedited with warts and all. Lucas is screwing with reality and history. Someone needs to tell that guy that he isn't god or something!!! So in conclusion I'm saying that I won't be buying this box set and that you shouldn't either. In fact no one should. Make sure to tell all of your neighbors, friends, co-workers and trysting partners not to buy these discs. After all, when the market speaks, Lucas will surely reconsider and release the original versions of the movies. WORST MOVIE BOX SET RELEASE EVAR!!!!
Un-news
I for one will be happy with the new version of the shootout if george will only go back and fix the mix in "empire strikes back"
for those of you who might not have noticed, in the re-release on VHS, all of Han Solo's sarcastic one off remarks in the asteroid field have been mixed out. these few quick remarks were some of the biggest things that humanized that character.
among all the changes made in the original trilogy, this was the biggest mistake. as far as the others go I was thrilled to see the alteration of the ending of Jedi, which I generally considered the weakest of the three. (not actually for the ewoks mind you, but the overdoing of the "sensitive moments.")
side note, has anyone else ever noticed that the cinematographer from empire also has the rocky horror on his resume?http://imdb.com/name/nm0005893/
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
they're making the changes to restart the copyright clock... ie. get some 20 odd years back from us. It allows them to whop a big "copyright 2004" notice all over it.
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I've always been in favor of Han shooting first, but I can live with simultaneous shooting. It always bothered me that Greedo was like a James-Bond-movie-villain: too much talking before killing the guy he was after ended up in his own demise. Simultaneous shots makes Greedo seem more like a serious bounty hunter who just gets beat because Han is better.
I wonder how this affects actor's residuals... I see several possibilities:
(1) Shaw stops getting residuals because he's effectively no longer in the picture
(2) Shaw still gets residuals because he was in the picture, just you can't see him anymore
(3) Christensen sues Shaw for all the back residuals, since Lucas is effectively ret-conning the movie, and Christensen now always played ghost Anikin.
(4) Everyone dies. No, wait, that was Hamlet.