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11,000 Words on the Star Wars Trilogy DVDs
The Barking Dog writes "On Monday, September 27th DVD Verdict posted a bantha-sized review of the Star Wars Trilogy. Written by ten people and weighing in at over 11,000 words, it's probably the net's most thorough, extensive review of not only the DVDs, but Star Wars's impact on sci-fi and filmmaking in general. And as one of the contributors, I think that's a good thing."
You are a sucker for purchasing this for the third time.
Repeated 5,500 times?
Bah. Not impressive. Give me 11,000 words written in Gungan, then I'll be impressed.
And as one of the contributors, I think that's a good thing.
Well you would.
How is a large review of the DVD set of 25-year-old movies a good thing? Is the number of words supposed to impress readers? Does it provide any significant insight not already published about the movies? Is it full of "gee whiz, I sure liked Star Wars!" commentary?
Reviews are meant to be shorter than the movies themselves.
I'll try again later, but if I see even a paragraph on who shot who at the cantina, I'm going to fall on my lightsaber.
Wouldn't 11 screenshots be just as helpful?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
At least the submitter owned up to being one of the authors of the review. Others haven't been as scrupulous. :)
An 11,000 word group masturbation project based on the "Holy Trilogy".
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
The Cookiethievery review covers every released film, including a preview of the next one. Almost required visiting for any hardcore Star Wars fan (will you be standing in line for a week for the next one?)
It's not the size of the review its how you use it...err..
For The Best Jazz/Hip-hop fusion > COlD DUCK
"...and as one of the contributors, I think that's a good thing."
"Hey I know, I'll submit a story to /. ..." *KABOOOOOOM*
That server went down faster than a barge gaurd in a sarlac pit.
This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
"On Monday, September 27th DVD Verdict posted a bantha-sized review of the Star Wars Trilogy. Written by ten people and weighing in at over 11,000 words..."
That's nothing. I've seen more effort put into discussions concerning the far-reaching ramifications of Greedo shooting first and Han stepping over Jabba's tail alone.
While I did enjoy star wars throughout my childhood, I can't help but think that some people go a bit overboard. If you enjoy that sort of thing then great, but I personally have no use for a review that is that long.
It is a review, which as for as I am aware should be concise.
But I must admit it is nice to see people being enthusiastic about something benign.
And it did make me smile to read the headline.
So carry on, I guess.
I sense a great disturbance in the force.. as if thousands of MySQL connections cried out in anguish, then were silenced.
You mean...
For third time purchase, sucker you are.
Then, Gene Roddenberry saw his opportunity to resurrect Star Trek. Despite the fact that he used the same terrible actors and actresses, he convinced Paramount Pictures to fund "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".
Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible?
By the way, "Star Wars" is not really about science fiction. Science fiction is about belief in technology. Yet, when Luke Skywalker approached the rubicon in his ill-fated life, he faced a choice between technology (using a computer to guide 2 missiles into the Death Star's exhaust) and faith (using his belief in the power of good to guide the 2 missiles). He turned off the computer and followed his faith.
"Star Wars" is a knights' and princess' tale shrowded with buzz words from science fiction. The fundamental story is about the greater battle of good versus evil. In this life, evil seems to win too often, so we are enthralled by a movie that says, "Sometimes. Just sometimes. Good wins."
20. His chest-mounted life support computer also doubles as an electronic day planner.
Big deal, I hacked my pacemaker to double as an iPod!
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
DVD Remastered THX Collector's Set....$49
Forcing wife to watch the whole trilogy yet again....priceless.
Be Safe! Sleep with a Marine. Semper Fi!
The most significant change is the replacement of the Anakin ghost at the end of Return of the Jedi with Hayden Christensen.
I haven't bought the DVDs yet, but this is the one thing I read about the changes that really aggravated me. Is it not possible for Anakin to have aged? Obviously a great deal of time has passed since Episode III, and wouldn't it make sense for Anakin to look older? This seems to be George's biggest mistake in his second set of updates, in my opinion. As the article said, at least they didn't replace Alec Guiness.
In light of the massive restoration effort by Lowry Digital, who did an awesome job with Indiana Jones (and other movies) the color quality is messed up beyond belief. To put it simply, theres too much red, and everything on the whole is too saturated. It just doesn't look natural. On the other hand, its quite sharp and clean considering how bad Lowry Digital said the condition was when they got it. It probably wasn't their fault on the color. If I recall correctly, GL wanted it to make it look similiar to the prequels. Since they were shot on HDCam it was probably just naturally saturated. Trying to adjust the film to look the same way however, has just left it looking completely unnatural. Even more interestingly is how when Lucas transffered Phantom Menace to DVD, he went hdcam->film->dvd to make it match the film look of the original trilogy. Now, he's tried to make the original trilogy match up in quality with the prequels by making them look "more digital." Example #346 of GL not being able to make up his mind.
Three?
1. Fox video stereo edition
2. "THX" edition
3. Laserdisc
4. Special Edition
5. Special Edition - Letterbox
6. Special Edition on DVD
That's just what I'm sure of off the top of my head. I would guess that the Fox video version was also available on Betamax, but I'm not sure.
-Peter
In Star Wars, the future is a mess. From the rough-and-tumble welded and plated spaceships to the brushed concrete buildings full of dingy flickering lights, to dusty deserts and seedy cantinas, the universe envisioned in Star Wars had a gritty, industrial look, a jaded cynicism that had rarely been expressed in cinema before
Eh? I can't agree with this. Outside of Mos Eisley, the world of the first three Star Wars movies was industrial, yet clean. Just go to the scenes inside the spaceships, the Death Star. The Imperial design was "blocky", but that is far from dystopian. It was more Victorian SF than say 1930's Futurism. Even the rebel base at the end of New Hope was pretty clean.
And even Mos Eisley wasn't that bad (apart from being a wretched hive of scum and villainy). Dark? Ok... it was a bar. Outside it look about as dystopian as the ape town in Planet of the Apes. And that movie got dark and wierd when they found the remains of NYC (especially in Beneath with its post-apocolyptic underground).
Bleek futures had existed in Hollywood before, and some were on a more grimey tip than SW: Soylent Green, The Omega Man. Basically anywhere you had a post-fallout society, you had some pessimistic views, a pessimism that Star Wars lacks.
And that's just film. Dystopia was pretty stock in SF literature. The world of the proles was bad in 1984 or that even that of the Morlocks in Time Machine.
The true thrust of dystopianism in film is usually agreed to be the merger of SF and Film Noir. This achieved critical mass with Ridley Scotts movies (Blade Runner, Alien both mentioned in this article). And many would point to Godard's 1956 Alphaville as the first movie to explore this connection. It even used a form of Orwell's Newspeak.
There's probably more geneological ties to those movies than the pretty standard rebel v. evil empire aesthetic in Star Wars. And all of this does nothing to diminish the series' gargantuan impact.
What is music when you despise all sound?
(sticking head out of car) Nerdddddddddddddddd!!!!!!
How is this interesting?! If I posted
"I bought the DVD, and it's definitely NOT worth it, regardless of other people's opinions."
would that be modded up too? lunacy
better than the prequels.
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
I thought the point of the "ghost" was to show the Jedi at (presumably) the latest point in their life they were "good".
If that's the case (and maybe it's not), isn't the importance of Anakin Skywalker's redemption somewhat diminished if his apparition doesn't really reflect the fact that he abandoned the Dark Side at the end?
This is probably a debate for bigger Star Wars nerds than I, but I thought I should at least throw that out to the discussion.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Where do you get this "future?"
Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible? By the way, "Star Wars" is not really about science fiction...
Is the parent suggesting that Star Trek is science fiction? Since I am a fan of both, I don't want to invite a flame war, but...
I agree that Star Wars is "a knights' and princess' tale shrowded with buzz words from science fiction". But I would also go on to say that Star Trek is "an ongoing soap opera shrowded with buzz words from science fiction".
Both are a lot of fun, but I don't consider either Science Fiction. [Quick! Raise shields and angle the deflector arrays!!!]
This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
This isn't text of the linked article.
You know, I really don't mind Lucas going in and tinkering with SFX, and when he says he puts stuff in he wanted to get in originally but couldn't because of budget and technology, I'm happy to give him the benefit of the doubt. Even if the newer SFX are digitally fakey, even if they're somewhat _silly_, I can get over it.
What I _CAN'T_ get over is changing lines of dialogue and neutering characters at the editing deck for inscrutable purposes.
Han fired first. Period. The fact that he did speaks to his character, and changing that changes his character. If Harrison Ford cared, I'm sure he'd be pissed.
The A&E documentary released to hype up the DVD set goes into how during Empire they kept shooting takes of the Carbonite scene between Han and Leia, how Ford couldn't get a good take with "I love you too" in response to Leia's "I love you". Ford ad-libbed Han's most famous line, and the only reason it survived and made cinema history is because Lucas wasn't directing.
In the time it takes to read through 11K worth of review, you could have watched the movie.
I'm pretty sure we all understand the movie. Afterall, it has been around since the days Carrie Fisher looked hot in a bikini.
Live forever, or die trying.
I never purchased or watched the special editions of the movies prior to purchasing the DVDs. I felt that they were an abomination and should be avoided. Unfortunatly I was bored the other night and broke down and bought them (I just got a 51" widescreen tv and really wanted to see them).
Overall most of the enhancements are ok. There are only 4 things I would have eliminated or not changed.
1) Han shoots first.
2) The silly extended dance routine in Jabba's Palace.
3) Hayden Christensen as a spirit at the end of Jedi. This just doesn't make sense.
4) The celebration song at the end of Jedi. I missed the old one.
The biggest changes that I noticed:
- Ep 4 - Jabba was redone and looks a lot better than in the original special edition. Still obviously CG, but at least it's an improvement and not something worse. Also, Han and Greedo shoot at the same time.
- Ep 5 - The emperor is now the actual emperor when you see Vader talking to him through the big communicator. Before it was a fugly emperor that looked nothing like the Ep. 6 emperor. Also, they added dialogue about Luke being the son of Anakin Skywalker and yada yada.
- Ep 6 - At the end, it is Hayden instead of the original Vader guy. They did it well, but that one's left up to personal preference as to whether it's Good or Bad.
So if all you have is the VHS special edition, this is worth picking up. Even if you have the originals, the improved picture and sound is nice.1. 11 000 words = 22 000 bytes.
2. Assuming an average word is 5 bytes, the text is actually 4 400 words.
3. Repeat.
The review is actually just one quad word in hexadecimal notation: 10CA550CC5.
Oh what the heck:
4. Profit.
Comon, it's not like it's that unplausible!
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Overall, I was impressed with the DVD set, although at times Lucas is trying too much to link them to the first three movies.
Good things:
Most of the changes that were from the 1997 releases were good IMHO, such as making Mos Eisley look bigger and "more alive", making the Cloud City a little less claustrophobic, and making the Death Star and Alderaan explosions a little more impressive. I also liked Jabba's new band in Ep-6, it seemed the kind of excess a crime lord like Jabba would have.
The changes I didn't care much for includes changing the Han/Greedo shooting scene (again - that should have been left alone), changes in the shooting scene in the Prison Block (Imperial Personnel are no longer obviously shot), the new Anakin Skywalker ghost at the end of EP6 along with all of the firework scenes from various locations (actually, I have mixed feeling on this one -- I know that the Emperor was killed, but would the Empire crumble that quickly? We are talking about hours to a day or so from the destruction of the Death Star II to Vader's funeral pyre.
There are other changes (both 1997 vintage and new to this set), but they are for the most part do not affect the movie one way or the other, at least in my opinion.
The 3 movies are still fun to watch, so as far as I'm concerned, the purchase was worth it. It would be nice to be able to get the original movies on DVD, too.
Beware of Sleestak
the soundtracks...
Vinyl
Cassette Tape
Compact Disk
Special Edition Compact Disk
Hate to break it to you, but Gene Roddenberry began work on the new Star Trek in 1975 (Two years before Star Wars had any sway)... Originaly for TV, it evolved into a Motion Picture later on. Not to mention the cartoon between 1973 and 1975.
:)
Star Trek was HUGE in the 70s, moreso than when it was in original runs.
Methinks that maybe you weren't born when Star Wars or Star Trek made their original theater runs
Apparetly, yes. Maybe it was your use of the word "lunacy". lunacy.
Here's a situation where none of us has RTFA.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
...about the '97 release was that horrible sequence with Han and Jabba in EP4. What were they thinking?
In EP6, Jabba looked huge, and disgusting... like he was supposed to be. For some reason he didn't look either huge or disgusting, or particularly intimidating either.
And hell, they even had Han repeating lines from the Greedo scene ("Hey, even I get boarded sometimes"). Were they even trying??
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
(Now that is a good movie.)
This isn't the text you're looking for.
Move along, move along...
I wouldn't call it a total rip-off because he owns both of the previously released versions and this one is by far the prettiest.
The ripoff is that your friend was duped into buying the two inferior versions. Why wasn't the good version released first?
One wonders if a Davinci who lived long into old age, might have painted a smile face on top of the Mona Lisa in a fit of senility...
20% Troll
20% Overrated
according to a new poll, only 50% of slashdotters mastubate.
mod me up for not posting this anonymously!
This Sig is removed due to factual inaccuracy
(my first ever MPU! post)
Absolutely, it was all about the redemption!
And to erase the redeemed Anakin is to nullify the moment when he saw his son being zapped by the Emperor, deciding "fuck it, it was never supposed to be this way", and taking the Emperor out.
I didn't buy the DVDs, nor do I plan to, especially since now I wonder whether in "Lucas' Vision" Anakin ever got redeemed, or if Anakin was truly destroyed by Vader.
Not that it really matters, but it does change the premise of the movie.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
So how the hell did Luke recognize him?
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Is there such a thing ? Does this review offer it ?
Appeals to my inner nerd anyhoo.
-S
Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible?
These are the questions that haunt us. What sort of nightmarish world would we today inhabit had there never been a "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"? No, no, it's too horrible even to contemplate. Let us instead give daily thanks in our prayers that there was "Star Wars", and for all the blessings it has brought upon us. For we are huge nerds, and so forever shall be. Amen.
Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible? Maybe. But much, much more imnportant: without Star Wars, would the Buck Rogers series starring Gil Gerard have been possible?
my password is private, but unchanged.
"That is not the article you are looking for"
with all the zillions of dollars lucas spent cleaning it up, how did NO ONE notice the blocks still visible around the TIE fighters during the fight scene with the falcon in Ep 4?!?!?
trilogy owners: look at 1:35:16 for one example.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
1. Fox video stereo edition
2. PROFIT!
3. "THX" edition
4. PROFIT!
5. Laserdisc
6. PROFIT!
7. Special Edition
8. PROFIT!
9. Special Edition - Letterbox
10. PROFIT!
11. Special Edition on DVD
12. PROFIT!
(sorry I could not find out where to put the ??? patr)
If Yoda so strong in Force is, why words in right order he cannot put?
"Without "Star Wars", would "Star Trek: TMP" have been possible?"
Yes. TMP was originally 'Star Trek: Phase II', a new series that they started building sets for. When the change was made to TMP, it was still well before SW had come out. ST was coming whether SW was there or not.
A better question would be "Was STII a result of Star Wars?" I personally believe the answer is still no, as nothing in the first movie indicated there would be any sort of SW's action. But, still, I imagine somebody has an interesting alternative point of view.
"Derp de derp."
Why are you here?
or
This is not the discussion you're looking for. Move along....
I haven't seen anyone else, anywhere, mentioning the ONE thing that absolutely ruined ESB for me. The scene occurs right after Luke jumps down the shaft in Cloud City. Darth Vader is walking out, and the only words out of his mouth are a husky-sounding, "Bring my shuttle." There was a depth of emotion -- anger, sadness -- that I picked up on in that little scene.
... yeah, Han shoots first, but whatever ... more digital aliens, gives the ILM guys good practice ... but in my opinion that single scene took a great movie and made it into a merely good movie.
Now they've got this lame voice-over from Vader, "Alert the commander to prepare for my arrival," or something like that. Throw in some re-used footage from RotJ (Vader's Death Star II arrival) for when he lands on his flagship and you've taken ALL the emotion out of Vader's revelation and its consequences (at least on his part).
Everything else I could cope with
Yeah! In fact I am sick of constantly reading news for nerds! I wish it would stop!
Yeah, the Star Wars Universe was huge! Several planets! Dagobah! with, um, a shrimpy toad guy. Hoth! with, um, a scary snow guy! Tatooine! with, um, a big mouth in the desert. Coruscant! with, um 10 Jedi Knights! and about a hundred Storm Troopers
To be honest, I always found a certain "claustrophia" in the Star Wars movies. You understand the "universe" of the story is huge, but it never really feels like anything more than a handful of heroes, two bad guys and a small swarm of targets (Storm Troopers, Ewoks, Battle Droids). Look at the Death Star with it's thousands, er, hundreds, well, basically about 3 locations. Look at the massive battle on Naboo with millions, er, thousands, well... maybe a hundred Gungans.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Come, come, I like to bash Star Wars as much as the next guy
I began to make a serious point and just started having fun with it. Books often have the same problem too. Tolkien, Eddings and Pratchett created worlds which are both large and well fleshed-out. Science fiction is a little harder because a realistic scale means your universe is IMMENSE, but it happens. The problem with movies is that its easier to connect to a story that focuses on a single hero or a small group of heroes. The only good exception that I can think is Apollo 13, where all the NASA engineers, working together with the astronauts were the heroes.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
It doesn't help, though, that we keep going back to f&^$$ing Tatooine again and again
That's because Tatooine is the source of spice. Without it the empire would come to a standstill because ships could no longer travel through hyperspace. The spice is produced by Sarlaccs and.... oh never mind.
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
Who the hell wrote their software?
Star Fleet Redshirts.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.