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Classic Star Wars Trilogy Finally on DVD
chinton writes "From starwars.com: 'In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie, as well as the original theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.'"
If only they could now release episodes one through three with remastered versions that don't feature lousy acting, shallow characters and crappy plots.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
Well, now we know that even someone like George Lucas can be influenced by the promise of a ton of money. Well... probably not Lucas himself but all the people who can influence him.
So now we'll have the opportunity to purchase yet another copy, bringing some people up to 5 seperate copies of the same set of movies.
That's pretty impressive.
Come on. Let's not kid ourselves. As much as George likes to pretend he's taking the high ground and being true to his artistic vision (which annoyed me, but at least I could respect), we all knew this would come down to $$$$. In the grand scheme, it's a trivial amount of work to get these DVDs ready to go and the cost of production is trivial. This decision will bring in millions upon millions of dollars into Lucasfilm and there's no way they could turn that down.
It has nothing to do with the pressure we collectively put on them. It has nothing to do with George caving on his desire to keep tweaking his movies.
It has to do with bringing in more moolah. Just keep milking the cash cow.
Um... and I... um.... well... I'll probably be first in line to squeeze the teet.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
I am still waiting for the Jar Jar Binks edition. The one where the movies are done as they were meant to be, with Luke being replaced by Jar Jar Binks.
... that actually might explain a lot of the plot twists and acting style.
You know
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
They are "attractively priced" at $200 so the MPAA can recoup the losses that occur when someone who buys the set makes a copy of each disk for individual usage, at 6 disks, $35 for each disk (conservative estimate by the MPAA), they lose $210 (What does the MPAA expect? A user to buy 2 copies?). The MPAA, in their generosity and wisdom, is prepared to accept losing $10 per sale, hence the price of $200
"Sure there's porn and piracy on the Web but there's probably a downside too."
Personally ( and I know I might be in the minority here) I preferred the original theatrical release to the 'Director's Cut'.
Mr Scott I have a lot of time for - but in this case, I have to disagree.
It's not possible to "enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977."
Watching a DVD is NOT the same as watching projected film on a screen in a theatre.
But the big problem is, I don't know of any safe way to erase, then subsequently restore, my memories of the past couple of decades so that I can see the film knowing nothing about the movie except a Time magazine review and a friend saying it was great.
How can I watch the 1977 Star Wars without the burden of twenty-nine-years'-worth of accumulated "spoilers?."
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Thus proving the validity of this story.
/. proves the validity of of an extremely speculative study?
Gosh, one poster on
You're easy to make an impression on!
Just because you think Lucas has made enough money doesn't justify stealing his works.
No - I think that something that is thirty years old belongs in the public domain & the continual extensions of copyright is unjustly impoverishing the public domain.
I'm presuming you feel it's acceptable to fill your tank with gas and drive off without paying because the oil companies have made enough money.
I'm presuming you love to make childish analogies & enjoy projecting your prejudices on other's behavior. Let me explain it for you.
Taking Petrol deprives the petrol station of petrol, they can't sell the petrol you've taken to anyone else.
Copying a 20-30 year old work does not deprive the artist of that work. They've had plenty of opportunity to sell it & can continue to sell it.
Yes, many people will argue the latter case is bad - but anyone who believes it is the direct equivalent of the former is.... well... let just say I think your world outlook is probably simplistic (at best).
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
He did say that, but then his pizza budget hit an all-time high so he decided to milk this withered udder one more time. Until the release on BluRay and HD-DVD are available, that is.
Trolling is a art,
If this is the original, Han doesn't shoot "first" since, in the original, Greedo NEVER shot!
That's just silly... the whole point of "shoting first" is to kill the other guy before he shots you.
So yes he shot first but he also shot last.
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain
There are a lot of people who have a particular memory of how things were, and want that memory respected. I think, in all seriousness, there's only one serious flaw in the 2004 remakes, the whole Han-on-Jabba's-tail thing. The Han and Greedo shoot each other simultaneously is, really, nothing. It doesn't matter. It would never have been an issue, nor changed anyone's view of Han as a character, had it been that way in 1977. It only matters because it's a change, and because it replaced an even bigger change in the (awful) 1990s releases. For the most part, the 2004 versions fixed the ugliness of the 1990s versions. The CGI is fixed. There are no serious characterization issues (beyond Jabba's tail.)
I think this release is a good thing. There are people who'll watch both and will say "1977's for me, it's the real deal, I'm never going to like anything else", and there are others who'll watch both and say "You know, now I've seen it, I don't think my fears about the 2004 version are realised." We'll see.
Hopefully the number of valueless idiots who keep comparing Lucas's wish to keep his movies true to his vision to an act of terrible violence perpetuating largely against women will dwindle too. There's no excuse any more for it.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
That one galled me more than Han shooting first, and it was mostly because there was so little reason for it to have been there -- I as a 10-year-old understood perfectly that Vader could have caught a shuttle to his star destroyer in the time allowed. I didn't have to fucking have it spelled out for me, and I especially didn't need to see it done so badly. I mean, there were maybe 2 or 3 things in all of the special editions that were done so well they were a pleasure to see -- the re-done Mos Eisley, and the liftoff of the Millenium Falcon from same, but they didn't clean up a lot of the obvious green blotches on the screen left over during the final battle scene, and almost all of the extras were in some way slopped in there. It's like we've got a clone of George Lucas monkeying with his films, because whatever touch he had in the '80's with filmmaking he's completely lost -- he thinks nothing of shattering the rhythm of a scene with gratutious special effects or fanboi money shots. This applies to the new films as well. It's like they were made by a different person.
I still own the originals on laserdisc, but like a complete tool I will probably be buying these re-issues because the resolution is higher on DVD. And my LD player is broken and I can't think of a good reason to replace it.
My book, podcast
Here's what bothered me about that scene. Imagine you're the biggest crime boss in the galaxy. You're chewing out some underling that just cost you a lot of money. And he steps on your tail! Don't you think you'd do a little more than give a quick squeal?
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Copying a 20-30 year old work does not deprive the artist of that work. They've had plenty of opportunity to sell it & can continue to sell it.
If our copyright terms hadn't been extended so many times, the movies could very well be in the public domain already; Lucas could keep selling them, but others would be free to distribute them as they please.
Klingon programs don't timeshare, they battle for supremacy.
Well hell, if it doesn't exist, then he shouldn't mind if I make a few hundred copies and hand them out at conventions.
As far as I can tell, the original trilogy had been the subject of more "labor of love" really well done fan DVD sets than anything else I can think of. I personally have three different DVD sets, all well done, some with nice extras and good menus.
Honestly, I've already bought the original trilogy at least 3 times, once on CED videodisc (!), once on VHS, then again on VHS special edition (I recently put that box set on a "freebies" table at a convention and nobody took it). I'd probably buy the original series on DVD, but I'm not buying a combo original+SE copy; I wouldn't want anyone to think that I actually bought it because of the SE.
Next will be the Blu-ray/HD-DVD releases. Then it will be the Star Wars 3D releases. I lucked out on episodes 4, 5, and 6 - I bought all three of them on DVD in China for $3.
This reminds me of Game Boy. As soon as I buy one, they come out with a new one, or make a slight improvement. Just bought a DS? Here comes the DS Lite on June 11th. I feel like a sucker, but I buy them anyway. Marketing schemes suck, but high quality entertainment makes it acceptable. Hopefully I'm in China in 2030 so I can get a deal on the Holographic Edition of Star Wars episodes 7, 8, and 9.
I know it's trendy to bash George Lucas and Star Wars and all, but I'm getting a little tired of hearing the same arguments against them over and over.
"George Lucas makes a lot of money, therefore he's a sell-out and evil." Well, gee, I never would have guessed that a guy should expect to make money off a venture into which he has poured 32 years of his life and millions upon millions of dollars of his own money. And let's not forget that when he was first starting out, he fully expected failure. He produced ANH with the movie studios laughing in his face. Even the actors working for him thought it was a little silly.
"George Lucas says one thing, then a few years later changes his mind." Such high standards! I know that something I said a few years ago sure doesn't hold much much water with me now. What do you expect him to do? Read the future?
"Star Wars sucks!" Wonderful. It's great that you're outspoken and all. I don't think you're gonna be able to talk Lucas out of releasing this new box set, but you're welcome to try.
So, we've had an original VHS release, a special edition release, and a DVD box set release of the original trilogy. So what if he wants to release the originals again on DVD? No one's forcing you to buy them. If it's really that big a deal to you to see the original cut vs. the remastered/re-edited versions, then buy them. If not, then don't. It's as simple as that. Don't put the blame at Lucas' doorstep.
Me, personally, I'm probably going to hold out and see what the impending 6-DVD box set will be like. I already have the special edition VHS tapes and the remastered box set. If the 6-DVD box set doesn't include the original trilogy as it was before the special edition re-editing, then I'll just buy this set that coming soon.
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
I think the fact its on laserdisk will maintain the price.
Its like holding onto old wax recordings, the disks themselves are a piece of history - its a bonus that theres movies on them.
liqbase
Lucas releases Star Wars Trilogy on DVD!
Slashdot: You suck! We don't want Han to shoot first! Gives us the original version, not the Special Edition!
Lucas releases Classic Star Wars Trilogy on DVD!
Slashdot: You suck! I... uh... asked for this a year ago.
Against stupidity the Gods themselves contend in vain.
Greedo didn't shoot, but he was sitting there with a gun pointed at Han saying "I'm going to kill you."
Han killing Greedo before Greedo can get a shot off doesn't make Han a bad ass, it just makes Greedo an idiot.
Sorry George. I bought bootleg copies (very nice bootlegs) a half a decade ago when you stated publicly that you would NEVER release these.
:) And it's all Lucasfilms fault that I'm not giving them any more of my cash. I didn't buy the 2004 editions (raping the memory of dead actors by replacing them digitally was the limit for me), and I won't buy these.
Now that you've changed your mind, I'm not just going to run out and buy them. Why should I? I already have them. Sure, they may have a bit better video quality, but I'm refusing to give you my $ just because you realized you needed the cash and it meant more than your supposed "artistic integrity".
Too little, too late. You had a good 15 years of me buying everything you put out (FS VHS, Widescreen VHS box set, Definitive Collection LD's, "face" CLV LD's)....but your attitude towards fans, in spite of this 11th hour reversal, just make me not care.
I have no problem paying good money for great product, but conversely when someone like Lucas dicks fans over and over I have no problem going the bootleg/download route. I bet the BitTorrent sites will have it before it even comes out.
AE
For a lot of people, Han Solo made Star Wars. I really don't care about the Jedi, good vs. evil, all that rehashed crap... the cool part is a cocky, badass smuggler with a cobbled-together tin can of a spaceship living on the frontier. Han's the only remotely interesting character in all six films aside from Obi-Wan, Lando, and a couple of minor players.
As a similar change, what if we edited it so that in the Emperor's room at the very end, Vader attacks first instead of Luke striking out in anger. That sorta changes the mood of the whole scene and Luke's entire character. Same thing with Han allowing Greedo to get a shot off at point blank range, and also Greedo somehow missing from two feet away.
Honestly this is probably one of the Dukes of Hazzard's few strengths. Those "very special episodes" almost always fall flat in most dramatic shows, and especially fall flat in comedies. They're generally worthless, don't make you feel empathy for the characters, and too often involve blatant heartstrings-manipulation.
I bought mine a year ago. Bootleg? Yes. But I had been waiting for a long time, and Lucas sounded like he meant it... so I don't feel bad about paying for a bootleg DVD (transferred from the laserdisc edition, very nice quality).
How many times will I pay for the same movie? Let's see...
So I've already paid for these movies approximately 4 times each. I don't feel the least bit bad about owning a bootleg, at this point.