[darth_paul]

Well, Wal-Mart sure expects these things to sell like hotcakes, it is Star Wars after all, there must be something like six different locations around our store where they put them! Like I stated in my previous post, it will be interesting to see how well they sell.

[barend]

love it.

i expect t o see alot of second hand copies of the 2004 box set popping up on ebay over the next few weeks...

heheheh

[Despondent]

love it.

i expect t o see alot of second hand copies of the 2004 box set popping up on ebay over the next few weeks...

heheheh

I'd sell mine, but they were a gift.

[miladyblue]

I gave my 2004 DVD set to my brother, who had been kind enough to purchase Star Trek movies 3, 4, and 6 for me. A trade I do NOT regret.

I just bought ANH for the theatrical release.

NO artificial additives!

Attention George Lucas:

WAS THAT REALLY SO HARD TO DO AFTER ALL?!?

I realize the theatrical release was NOT his vision, but damn it, once it was out, it was no longer solely "his" movie.

I met one of my favorite authors, Terry Brooks, about 10 years or so ago. Not only a very nice, funny guy in real life, but he can provoke thought with a simple sentence. I asked him a typical fangirl question about some character or other, and he replied, "What do YOU think?" When I did not "get it" right away, he very kindly explained that when he wrote the novels I had come to love so much, he deliberately left some things ambiguous so the fans could make up their own minds. "After all, it is YOUR story as much as MINE."

[barend]

more importantly they weren't HIS to do with as he pleased.

one thing i've learned is that NO film is soley any one persons work. and such a claim is dumb.

[darth_paul]

Might I offer a solution for anyone who doesn't wish to spend the money on these just to get the orignial versions on the second discs, because the first discs in the 2-disc sets are a waste of money since they just have the special editions again. What I did was order them on Netflix and when you do that all you get is the bonus disc with the orignal version. Which was all I wanted to see anyway. The only advantage for me purchasing these would be to own widescreen copies of the originals on dvd, since I only have full screen vhs copies. Yet, with Netflix you can order them as many times as you'd like without paying $20 a pop for each 2-disc set. Plus, since Netflix often sells pre-viewed copies there might be a way to just buy the bonus discs from them, but I haven't tried that nor have I checked to see if it's even possible, but it isn't outside the relm of possibility.

[miladyblue]

I'm with you, Barend. For GL to say that SW is only "his" movie is insulting to the cast, the film crew, the FX guys, wardrobe, lighting....

There is an ASSLOAD of people who helped make "his" vision what it is, and to call it "his" alone is idiocy.

Steven Spielberg, who has a larger body of films, many of them arguably better, has never been arrogant enough to call a movie solely "his." But it may be because Spielberg is much shrewder than GL.

[mireaux7]

A long time ago, in a galaxy,.well,.not really so far away..there was but just 3 Star Wars films,..and before the advancement of current digital technology,.there was a director named George Lucas who was not "entirely" satisified with his work on the 3 films he released.

On the contrast, fans around the world praised and hailed the films as being the best sci-fi films to date. the accolades were endless.

Once technology had changed, Lucas saw that he could actually go back and alter these films and show the world a somewhat closer vision of what his true artisitic intentions were, back in 1977, 1980, and 1983.

Of course, what may have not been taken into account was the fact that many fans loved the films just the way they are. Some even prefer to watch them with no audio or video remastering at all. Countless alterations to both sound and video segments have been made, and consequently formed many versions of the same film, likewise, it also created many different critics,.each critic liking a different version of the same film from the other critic's perspective.

This more than likely wasnt at all what Lucas envisioned when he decided to do his own tinkering with the films, but what had been created. One could say that he has been under much fan pressure to release the current installment of films in their original form due to demand. Others will insist Lucas simply saw an opportunity for further financial gain from a relentless dedicated fan base.

The collective world awaits the 30th anniversary of the franchise, and the highly anticipated box set to be unveiled by Lucas. Im quite sure that with this upcoming release it will spark its own controversy of those satisfied and those displeased with its offerings. The only real winner is Lucas,..everytime, as he cashes in on us.

[KurganX]

Ah, but who cares about another Special Edition. Weren't two in seven years enough for the world? Now we're getting another one only three years after the second!

You can screw Lucas over by selling your unwanted discs or buying used. 100% legally.


The May 2007 SE Mark III's are the gushers' problem.


If there's a deleted scenes OT disc to try to tempt us, I'm just buying it seperately off amazon/ebay.

This post has been edited by KurganX: 05 October 2006 - 07:58 AM

[barend]

I'm with you, Barend. For GL to say that SW is only "his" movie is insulting to the cast, the film crew, the FX guys, wardrobe, lighting....

There is an ASSLOAD of people who helped make "his" vision what it is, and to call it "his" alone is idiocy.

Steven Spielberg, who has a larger body of films, many of them arguably better, has never been arrogant enough to call a movie solely "his." But it may be because Spielberg is much shrewder than GL.

exactly, if the movies were HIS work and HIS to do with as HE pleases... what's with all those credits? there's like 5 minutes at the end of each film.

maybe the next set can just end like an old 50s movie with THE END (a film by george lucas and no one else) with a single note of music.

[KurganX]

Btw, in case anybody cares, I finally bought all three of the 2006 sets. I ordered them from Wal-Mart (no free shipping to my part of the city, and no car) and I paid a few dollars more because they each came with a graphic novel.

Arrived each in a cheap cardboard box (only the cover image is different, nothing worthwhile for a "collector"). The graphic novels are of course collections from the original marvel adaptations of the movies that came out around the time of each movie. Of course they have been re-colorized (the dots are smaller, and the colors altered to match the movies, so for example Yoda is green in ESB instead of blue, and the lightsabers are the movie colors instead of everyone having red in the original Star Wars comics).

I actually owned issue three of the marvel Star Wars line (and also had the entire ESB line in comics digest form) so I could compare. I figure it's okay, so I downloaded scans of the original comics to compare. Also missing from these collections are the "pin-ups" at the end (and before you giggle, these were just large one panel illustrations at the end of specific characters or ships, much more highly detailed than the rest), the covers other than for the very first issue of Star Wars/ESB (which weren't anything special, but nostalgic) as the cover of ROTJ is a modern one (from the "Classic Star Wars" collection of the 1990's) and the "opening panel" title page of each one.

You actually lose some detail too in the comics, but they're still cool (I actually never even read the original ROTJ ones back in the day). If you're curious, these comics are identical to the Darkhorse collections released in the 1990's under the "Classic Star Wars" line (that's where the ROTJ painting cover comes from).

Various stores had various "bonus items" to come with the DVDs. I hear the collector's tin was offered at Best Buy.



About the DVDs:

What people are saying is true.

- The soundtrack is a remixed version like the LaserDisc/VHS soundtracks of the 1980's on home video. Basically a mixture of the theatrical tracks. So you won't get to hear Threepio talk about the Tractor beam, or "close the blast doors!" or hear the ".357 magnum" sound effects on the Stormtrooper rifles. It's just Dolby 2.0 for english track. At you get to hear the classic lines before the 1995 edition changed them. So "Blast it BIGGS where are you" is there, as is "You're lucky you don't taste very good", "It's alright, trust me!" etc.

- It's non-anamorphic "letterbox" for the Originals. On a Widescreen HD TV (I tested it on a plasma screen at work, from 2004). You have to zoom it with "zoom" or "cinema/theater mode" to get it to use the full horizontal length of the screen and it gets a little bit grainy, but not too bad. Sadly, the subtitles are cut off (this includes Greedo/Jabba lines).

- The opening crawl in Star Wars (NOT a new hope!) looks fantastic. It feels like it fits right into the movie, not looking out of place at all. If it's a modern re-creation, it's a danged good one (perhaps they used the original elements instead of CG?). The moon on the left side of the screen as the Star Destroyer first flies over looks different than the LaserDisc releases, so perhaps this was modified in 1993, I don't know. But otherwise the movies appear absolutely authentic to their original versions.

- The colors are perfect. Yes, Kenobis lightsaber looks teal throughout the movie, but perhaps this was how it was always intended. The rest of the colors in the movies look right. No green lightsabers for anyone but Luke in ROTJ.

- Yes, it looks better than all the non-SE bootlegs I've ever seen.

- Yes, it looks better than VHS.

- Yes, the only extras are the Lego Star Wars II crap (which is the same on ALL THREE "bonus" discs).

- Yes, the covers suck. Print your own at Kinko's/copyworks and put 'em in there on the amray cases.

- No, the 2004 Editions are not fixed. They are identical to the previous two releases. The actual covers on the discs appear to be the same as the ones from 2005 (huge FBI logo added, title in gold with words "widescreen" or "full frame" on them), except with the addition of "Disc 1" (Disc 2 is labelled "Bonus Disc" and is the OOT). The only "extras" on the 2004 are the same as before, just the audio commentary.


PS: The supposed "Limited Edition" box set from 2005 (which is just the 2004 set minus the bonus disc) is STILL being sold, as is the four disc 2004 set, PLUS this set. I've seen them all three actually side by side in stores. Now THAT has got to be confusing for customers... especially when you take into account the various widescreen/full frame variants.. ;P

This post has been edited by KurganX: 20 October 2006 - 11:18 PM

[Despondent]

Great report, KurganX!

We have something in common on the cartoon front. Loved the SW (have originals of some 1-6, and the large format compilation) and ESB (which was sold at the movie house at the concession stand) also, but never got around to reading the ROJ comic. Well, that would be refreshing, thanks for letting me know what to look out for.

As if I would buy the original version of Return of the Jedi.

[miladyblue]

The covers really disappointed me... there is a LOT of great poster art, done by artists like Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, and the concept stuff done by Ralph McQuarrie. There are better publicity shots, for crying out loud, of the characters on the covers!

Or is this just another "Fuck you, fanboys/girls" by GL for "forcing" him to make yet ANOTHER assload of money by releasing the "inferior, not MY vision" originals he should not have tampered with in the first place?

I'm with KurganX - the original opening crawl, without the added episode crap, was the stuff of dreams.

MR. LUCAS, WAS THAT REALLY SO FUCKING HARD?!?"

[KurganX]

Well here it is January 5, 2007 (the 6th by the time most of you read this), and word on the street is that you can still find these discs quite easily on store shelves.

So much for the "rumors" that Lucas was going to pull these from store shelves by New Years Day!


I predict then, that these will hang around, just like the 2005 "Limited Edition" sets were.


Bargain hunters... enjoy!

This post has been edited by KurganX: 06 January 2007 - 12:16 AM