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378 Terabytes Of Star Wars on 600 G5s
Mrbill points to this USA Today story on the
digital makeover given to the original Star Wars trilogy, noting that the digitized films have also been converted to HD for later release as high-definition DVDs.
>Though I guess if consumers keep buying them, then you can't really blame Lucas too much.
Yes, yes I can.
Why exactly did it need to be restored again anyways? I mean, wasn't it restored for the THX video re-releases a decade ago and further restored for the theatrical re-releases with new scenes?
I have been refusing to give any more money to Lucas, be it the new DVDs or Episode III, but the commercials for the trilogy DVDs almost (ALMOST!) changed my mind) they change is very apparent, even if you've watched the LDs or especially on cable. All three films look much crisper and brighter - I almost thought for a second that Lucas had added some new stuff.
I still won't be buying the trilogy, but I'm amazed at how good the restoration looks.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
Like honestly, I understand keeping with the original, but in retrospect if you really wanted the true triology, you would pull out your VHS tapes, and watch it into oblivion. When you put in a dvd that is low-quality, poor sound, yeah the novelty will be pretty cool, and the story carries it, but it would get old fast. In comparison to everything we have now, the late 1970's were not known for their technological feats. And while I would rather him not add the extra scenes to the movie, the fact that he remastered the audio, and is hidef'ing the video is a plus. Basically its either original and crappy, or hidef sweetness and alterations.
je suis parce que j'aime
"Go for it George Lucas. Ruin all of your movies. "
Empire Strikes back, despite being 'special', is still entertaining.
Though I agree with the sentiment, we've been around this block a million times. Don't buy it. Let the people who do enjoy it. In the mean time, let's talk about something a little more up-beat:
- Lots of people were employed to work on this.
- The technology and experience will help ILM make better effects for upcoming movies.
- SW in HD will hopefully make broad adoption of higher-resolution DVD players an easier transition.
- Just the number '378 Terabytes' is enough to cause underwear tents to rise all over the Slashdot population.
"Derp de derp."
People keep complaining that Lucas keeps re-releasing the trilogy over and over to milk the populace of their money, and while I do agree that changing the movies is a cardinal sin, I think it's great that he keeps putting out improved versions of the movies.
Would you honestly prefer that he not release these movies on DVD or HDDVD and instead wait 15 more years for Super-Uber-HDDVD? I mean, that way he couldn't be accused of milking us right?
In fact what does piss me off is that he waited all this time to release these on DVD -- he should have done this sooner!
This is a somewhat biased point of view from someone who saw the first film on the Friday of the week it opened, and several times in the same theater after that, where it ran for a full year! And I compare it with seeing "episode 1", which made such an impression that I refuse to ever watch episodes 2 or 3.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I'm still far, far happier with my little cardboard box containing a digitally remastered but unaltered Star Wars Trilogy on VHS tapes.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Its nice to see that we're finally getting the original 3 films on DVD
We certainly are not.
You people are getting something very close to it though. With a few inane and useless change here and there. The orihinal, these are not.
You can't take the sky from me...
What, and not have something to bitch about? Ye gods, you are crazy!
stuff
If you want to see what real bilking is all about, take a look at the various versions/packaging of the Die Hard series. Or, how about the hosing taken by those who bought the South Park discs with four episodes a piece while the series is now being released season by season with more extras. In the "for kids" category it gets even worse with shows like Justice League and X-Men released in multiple un-numbered editions only to be collected in yet another edition - at particularly high risk for accidental re-buys since often the parents don't even pay much attention to the cartoons.
In short, George Lucas is NOT a multiple-release offender except in the imagination of those projecting his future actions. Of course, I don't think taking advantage of new technology (such as HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, etc.) even counts - it would be like complaining that since Star Wars is out on VHS, there's no reason to buy the DVDs (there are other content reasons not to buy the DVDs but that's a different discussion entirely).
"...people have to buy the trilogy six times..."
Really?
As far as I know, nobody is being forced to buy it even once.
Then I wonder why they credit a special effects person?
Not to take away from the intent of your post. But I think there are levels of effects technology, and levels of the audience's saturation thereof. Groundbreaking effects years ago, the ones that really made us think "how'd they do that an make it look so real", really come apart at the seams 20 years later. Look at Star Wars, or Terminator 2, or the Matrix. In their day, they were at the tops of their games. But the cost of those effects has come down, and they've become commonplace.
While I agree effects should be secondary to the story, I think the real talent is in creating effects that are as realistic as possible, so that the audience doesn't question what they're seeing, and can get swept up in the story. That's probably why there was an effects guy on Shawshank, and why you didn't notice him... he did his job well.
This sig intentionally left justified.
Just shut the fuck up. Please? They're movies, for fuck's sake. Some of us enjoy them and would like to continue doing so without you and your gloomy band of whiners coming along to piss in the pool. I love the original movies too. I've watched them more times than I can count and can recite my favorite lines, but it's not my religion. I cannot relate to you whiners who consider these films to be some cornerstone of your existence. I wish you would all just fuck off and stop spazzing out every time the words Star Wars flash in front of your face.
There... much better. Now on with the comment.
They were part of my childhood too, but I had lots and lots of other great things in my childhood that had nothing to do with Lucasfilm Ltd. so even if Lucas decided to replace the characters in films with Looney Tunes animations, it wouldn't really make that big a dent in my life. If Lucas wants to futz around with the originals to make them his ultimate vision, then more power to him. Yeah, it sucks a little because it drills a little hole in that precious bag of nostalgia that we carry around, but in the end, is it really that big a deal?
Seriously? Did you really feel the need to scream rape of your childhood like that?
Get over it. Quick. And please stop drawing attention to yourself every time you feel your precious youth has been violated by a fucking movie. It gets tiresome REAL quick.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
As far as I know, nobody is being forced to buy it even once.
That's because you don't think like a fanboy.
Why for the love of whatever god you pray to, if any, do you feel the constant desire to further destroy this set of films?
Did your read the article? "Even though the original film elements of the three movies have spent most of their time resting in vaults, they had gathered wear and tear that would have been noticeable had they been transferred, as is, straight to DVD." ""They have been printed more often and been duplicated more often, and each of those passes adds scuffs, dirt, scratches and the like."
Are you such a damn purist that you love every scratch on the film? And if so, do you love them all or only the ones that were put on before the original theatrical release or perhaps the ones that occurred only during the 70s and 80s but not 90s?
If whoever had RTFA correctly they would have noticed that it did *not say the new star wars was 378TBs but instead said that in total that is what all the Mac workstations can hold. Conclusion - New Star Wars 378TB
Indeed, but special effects done with vision and detail last for a long time. I'm taking 2001: A Space Odyssey as possibly the only valid example of this. I can watch the film now, almost 40 years later and still believe that it's real. The stewardess rescuing Floyd's wayward pen in zero-g and returning it to his pocket still astounds me, the way that shot is done so very deliberately and in slow, careful detail so as to compel the audience to watch rather than get it out of the way quickly with a sleight of hand distraction trick.
--is not to be confused with user #672982 - Bame Flait
Then when Episode III comes out, release that DVD, then a DVD set of I-III, then the DVD set of Episodes I-VI, then the HD DVDs, then the limited edition HD DVDs...
I just saw the restored (and enhanced) version of THX1138 at the theater and I was pretty impressed. It looked like the film was done yesterday.
The enhancements are questionable, but the restoration process worked wonderfuly. The newer process Lowry uses is able to keep some "grain" in the film depending on how much the director wants.
It did not have the "hard" look of a digital film.
making it so that people have to buy the trilogy six times
TPM taught me pretty quickly that there was no "have to" involved with Star Wars... I guess time had washed away my memories of the Ewoks seeming to me like a cheap marketing gimmick, even as a 9-year-old.
deus does not exist but if he does
Funny. This is modded up as +informative.
;)
Personally I found the comment both funny and insightful but I suppose that is beside the point.
There is so much bitching going on here about Lucas not releasing the original versions on DVD. I for one would love this as well but I do have to wonder about some of the posts being made. The claims that Lucas is screwing us all for more money doesn't really make sense seeing as how this is the first release of the Trilogy on DVD.
I think we all know it will happen eventually as new medium/media becomes available but that is to be expected is it not?
There are plenty of other movies that have been released several times on DVD (Stargate, Terminator 2, anything "Criterion"), this is nothing new and has literally been going on for years now.
Is it really worth getting mad about the possibilty that there _might_ be another release of this _movie_ on DVD one day even though nothing has been announced as of yet?
The main thing that will get to me about this release is changing Boba Fetts voice. Was this really necessary? Could they not have just added a scene in episode 3 where his throat gets punched or something?
He's not holding anyone over hot coals to buy any of them, is he?
I, for one, will purchase the DVDs for this simple fact. They are entertainment. A way to blow 6-7 hours of time away to be entertained. Not to relive childhood fantasies (I owned a vast majority of the SW universe in action figure form, the first time), not to find historical inaccuracies (enough of the "who shot first?" drama), but to be entertained by one of the best overall stories ever put to film by someone who, although he has succumbed to the ever-present need to make money, made the majority of your lives a little bit better by making something that everyone so feverishly fights and nitpicks over.
I know that people tend to argue for/against something that they hold dear, but I know that when I put these DVDs in my player at home, I will be sure of one thing. I will be entertained. I hope everyone who buys these DVDs will get the same.
I find it pretty funny that people are angry they have more options as to what to buy. It's not like someone is holding a gun to your head, forcing you to buy the new release of star wars. What are people complaining about really? OH NO!! I HAVE THE OPTION TO BUY MORE STAR WARS STUFF!!! LUCAS IS SUCH A JERK!!!!
Well one could ease his or her conscience by recognizing that one can not actually buy these movies anymore, in any format. Even in music school we were allowed to photocopy music that was out of print. ;-)
I've downloaded the laserdisc rips you refer to, or at least, "some laserdisc version of the original Star Wars trilogy ripped from laserdisc and available online through various p2p applications." Disclaimer done.
Anyway, the version I looked at was pretty crappy; it was blurry like I would expect a VHS version to be.
I'd rather see a couple apocryphal scenes (obligatory reference to Han vs. Greedo) than look at grainy 200-lines-of-resolution rips.
Seriously, at this stage of my life, I understand the nostalgia, and I'll gladly trade 480p and surround sound for the price of Han vs. Greedo and the other additions of questionable worth. I *want* the cleaned up special effects transparencies, and I don't mind a little cleaning up here and there, although I would prefer the original soundtrack, not any substituted audio or music.
On another topic, at the risk of being shouted down by hordes of fanboys, the original Star Wars is overrated. It was a great trilogy (I was disappointed by Jedi, but it was Completion to the series, and I am a forgiving person), but there was something more behind it that caused all of us kids growing up seeing the movies to become fans like we did: marketing.
The marketing juggernaut behind Star Wars is what got the hundreds of action figures and model sets, fast food cups and posters and toys, t-shirts, towels, lunchboxes, watches, cookie jars, etc. etc. into our homes.
I would argue that the toys themselves are what kept Star Wars alive much longer had there been a mediocre marketing campaign behind it. When the movie was out of the theater (after an amazingly long run IIRC), we still had our action figures and toy sets to put them in. Personally, I had several friends with Star Wars figures, and we would pool our Star Wars toy resources and set up bases and enact elaborate battle scenes, scenes from the movies, and scenes we would create on our own. We still had the posters, the magazines, the watches, the lunchboxes (I had the original metal Star Wars lunch box, but the last time I saw it (about 15 years ago) it had already rusted up pretty badly.) the bedsheets, etc., etc., to remind us and keep Star Wars close in our thoughts.
This indoctrination of a whole generation in the Star Wars mythos created the best ongoing Star Wars marketing; fans who had SW so ingrained in their life that their favorite philosopher wasn't Socrates or Plato; philosophy and wisdom meant Yoda. Kids (mostly kids, some weird adults) who saw these movies as they were growing up, took Star Wars almost as a replacement for religion or oral tradition, or as a replacement for every Mother Goose story their parents never read them because they were too busy working overtime because they were single parents, or because dad was an emotional cripple as a result of his dad being an emotional cripple.
I'm sure if some interested college psych major wanted to, he could interview hundreds of 30-something children who gravitated to Star Wars and come up with a great dissertation subject about marketing and the psychological effects on young children who become overdoctrinated with commercialized fictional characters.
I don't see that at all.
George Lucas said this was the movie he wanted to make. Why are you guys bitching that he's stomping on your childhood when you're stomping on his vision?
How bad is it anyway? So what if Greedo shoots first?
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
George Lucas said this was the movie he wanted to make.
No, he made the movie he wanted to make, he's changing it to be the movie he would want to make now.
Look at the side by side comparison of the additional changes from 1997. Do you really believe they didn't have the technology to realise his vision to shave off people's eyebrows 20 years ago? Or is it that his vision has changed since then?
Why are you guys bitching that he's stomping on your childhood when you're stomping on his vision?
There wouldn't be a problem if he released both versions and let money do the talking. People aren't stomping on his vision, we bitch because he's not giving us what we want: his original vision. Not his revised vision after 20 years and tons of money and power. A youg man's vision is different from the vision of an old guy with his own firetruck.
So what if Greedo shoots first?
He's four feet away! How incompetant can you be? He misses a sitting target 4ft away from him. This is what Jaba hires as muscle? Ooooo, I'm so scared.
That Jabba must be one hell of a looser then. Hey, what's this, a scene with Jabba. He lets people litterally walk all over him! Oh, big scary mobster! I'm shaking in my boots.
In the original, Jabba is an unseen mobster who's henchmen are beast dealt with by shooting them in cold blood and getting the hell away from the planet. In the revised edition, he's some 2 bit slug with the worst henchmen half a sandwich can buy.
You can't take the sky from me...