Star Wars BLU-RAYS in the works!

[cayman shen]

I HATE how the SE has Han step on Jabba's tail. It would be like somebody going up to Vito Corleone and doing the "got your nose!" bit. All they had to do was start to show Han going behind him, cut to a close up of Jabba's face, eyes tracking to his left, then cut back and Han's on the other side. It's THAT FIRGGIN EASY. Instead, there's this camp crap where Han steps on his tail, and it probably cost a fortune.

Seriously, didn't Lucas go to a really prestigious film school or something?

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I HATE how the SE has Han step on Jabba's tail.

I hate that too. In the special features they say that there is a point where Han walks behind Jabba, and they didn't know what to do, so Lucas comes up with the idea of having Solo walk on Jabba's tail.

But then like 8 seconds later as Han walks away, Jabba turns on a dime to face the Falcon. Why couldn't Jabba have just turned as Han walked around him ?

 

[Mr. No Stripes]

I just can't wait to get HD stormtrooper reference pics from ANH and Boba Fett pics from ESB! I'm gunna have to get a blu ray laptop though

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I just can't wait to get HD stormtrooper reference pics from ANH and Boba Fett pics from ESB! I'm gunna have to get a blu ray laptop though

Don't forget all the never-before-seen documentories and behind-the-scenes footage we'll have in BR as well.

 

[Nightwing Returns]

well, if its gonna take til next october to come out, hopefully their fixing the cgi. The dvds dont hold up well in 1080p thru a dvd upscaler. That, and I really hope they make the Emporer look skinnier and not so fat faced in ESB to match how he looks in ROTJ. That bothers me so damn much.

-Kevin

 

[Solo4114]

Here's hoping that do a PROFESSIONAL cleanup job this time around, regardless of which edition it is.

Setting aside the SE vs. pre-SE debate, the color and sound work in the 2004 SE releases was inexcusably poor.

 

[cayman shen]

No pink sabers in ROTJ please!

 

[tripoli]

Hot Dog! Another version of the Star Wars DVD's coming out, YIPPEE!

OK, I do really want the Blu-Ray and obviously they need to update them unless you want to see those neat boxes popping up around the spaceship scenes. By the same token, I am not looking to the collectors editions, premium edition, gold edition, diamond edition, boxed edition, 3D like Avatar edition, micro digitally enhanced edition, anniversary edition, almost original content edition, added features edition, added footage edition, our accountants want more money edition editions.

 

[HAL9000]

Something people who are talking about the 'original versions' should know;

There is no digital master version of the 1977 release of 'Star Wars' at 2Oth Century Fox, Skywalker Ranch, Industrial Light & Magic or even George Lucas' house for that matter!

In order to facilitate the (ahem) 'improvements' for The Special Editions, all the exisiting 35mm interpositives, negatives and dupes were raided and taken apart for scanning and assembling the special edition.

This was a fairly intensive process and there was alot of issues with locating certain elements, to the point that George Lucas donated his own 35mm release print.

I'm not suggesting that Lucasfilm don't have access to a 35mm copy that they could scan at whatever resolution they want. I am just trying to point out that there is no call for it as George will categorically not entertan the original as being called 'A New Hope' anymore - he truly considers it a kind of beta / demo version. Seriously.

I know from a source (who spent 5 years trying to buy a 35mm on the black market) that the amount of 1977/1978 release prints still 'in the wild' and unaccounted for by Fox's International listings is somewhere between 80 and a 100.

Just an FYI

 

[WebChief]

I don't know why everyone's in such a tizzy over it. You all KNEW it'd eventually be out on Blu-Ray. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Hopefully they'll do what they did in the last DVD release (which I didn't buy)... have the SE AND original versions on the discs. Blu-Ray has plenty of space enough to do it.

 

[smurf]

The only thing that REALLY bothers me is the replacement of the YUB YUB song at the end of Jedi. As dumb as it is it just feels right to me. The new version is very depressing.

Sweet

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Just because they offer doesn't mean you have to buy it.
Vote with your wallet. Organize a boycott on the Blu-Ray release.
Oh, you're too lazy for that? I guess you get the SEs then.
Enjoy.

LOL... like THAT's gonna make him realize people want the original versions. All that would generate is a: "Oh, guess people don't want the movies anymore, so I might as well just stop making them available again... any of them... ever.

Something people who are talking about the 'original versions' should know;

There is no digital master version of the 1977 release of 'Star Wars' at 2Oth Century Fox, Skywalker Ranch, Industrial Light & Magic or even George Lucas' house for that matter!

Why should there be a digital copy? And I don't see how it would be any more difficult to restore Star Wars than it was/is to restore Metropolis or any other movie that has been transferred to Blu-Ray.

 

[SithLord]

By the same token, I am not looking to the collectors editions, premium edition, gold edition, diamond edition, boxed edition, 3D like Avatar edition, micro digitally enhanced edition, anniversary edition, almost original content edition, added features edition, added footage edition, our accountants want more money edition editions.

:lol

And then after all those editions, due to fan pressure, they will finally end up going back to the edition we always wanted in the first place....the original theatrical edition. :unsure But I like the sound of that "micro digitally enhanced edition" :love

I think with the time they are taking they must be doing something to improve on the SE version which after all was 13 years ago and surely they are able to improve on it given the advances during that time. But I won't hold my breath. They did relent finally and put out a theatrical version on DVD but that was a joke.

 

[niennumb1]

Digital Copies are pretty worthless to me and are not big selling points for the home market. I buy Blu-Ray to get the full big-screen theatrical experience at home, sans the annoying moviegoers who love to text and talk during movies. I cannot get into a film on a 2-inch screen on my ipod, or even a laptop. I suppose they would be good for your kids on a long trip or something, but I don't have kids yet, so I don't have that to worry about for now.

For Star Wars though... these better be the ULTIMATE. I want to see amazing things I've never seen before and while I embrace some of the SE changes, I would like there to be both versions included, completely restored.

 

[ihs]

...It's like you have a really good French Onion Soup but someone dropped a cat turd in it. You SE defenders are like "You'll give up this GREAT soup because of ONE little cat turd?" Think about it. Maybe if Lucas removed even SOME of the cat turd, I'd bite...

Great analogy! As I always say, I don't fault those that like the PT or SEs but they just ain't for me. Your analogy holds true for my perspective on it. I know the chance of me ever seeing a bluray of Star Wars sans SE is zip. Sad considering it's one of the best films of my generation.

I think "cat turd in the soup" is a bit strong of an analogy; anyone with even half a brain wouldn't eat soup that had a turd in it. A better analogy would be if your favorite soup began to come with onions in it, when it never had before. A lot of folks are fine with onions, and some may even prefer it that way, but it's not the soup you've eaten and enjoyed before. To say that the SE changes are equal to a cat turd is an insult to anyone who does enjoy the revised films.

 

[dualedge]

I think "cat turd in the soup" is a bit strong of an analogy; anyone with even half a brain wouldn't eat soup that had a turd in it. A better analogy would be if your favorite soup began to come with onions in it, when it never had before. A lot of folks are fine with onions, and some may even prefer it that way, but it's not the soup you've eaten and enjoyed before. To say that the SE changes are equal to a cat turd is an insult to anyone who does enjoy the revised films.

We'll have to disagree then. I don't see how saying something is particularly distasteful to me while stressing it's my personal opinion is insulting to anyone... I'm sorry if you feel it was insulting but if you're that sensitive about it, I'm a bit worried for you. And lemme just say, the worst of what you'll experience here is *nothing* compared to the profanity and hate laden posts on some other forums.

Did you read that thread about the "worst movies ever"? There were quite a few films listed there that I actually liked that other people consider absolutely unwatchable pieces of crap (and they didn't hesitate to say as much either). So should I then take similar offense every time somebody hates something I like?

Now, you've also got to recognize that that doesn't mean that I think it's a "cat turd" to everyone else. Maybe to you it's just a distasteful bit of celery you can pick out of your soup. To someone that would rather eat a cat turd than a piece of celery, a piece of celery might not be such a great thing, y'know?

So for me the analogy holds true.

If some folks like the scene where Greedo shoots first or if they can ignore it, great. I can't. I don't fault folks for liking what they like but I've yet to meet a single Star Wars fan that does NOT want a copy of the original movie just with some nice remastering and cleaning up to go along with the SE and PT movies.

 

[Solo4114]

Yeah, honestly, there's simply no excuse NOT to include a cleaned up but otherwise untouched original. I've found that the way Blade Runner was treated is ideal. You get both the U.S. and Euro theatrical cuts, the "Director's Cut", the FINAL cut, and the Rough Cut, all in one box. And while the FINAL cut probably is the best looking, there's no reason not to make sure the others are clean, too.

For me, it's also an issue of preserving history. Lucas might say "But that wasn't my vision. THIS was my vision. Or it will be right after I fix this on thing here..." but the truth is, the theatrical versions of the OT are what made it a cultural phenomenon. To simply eliminate that on the basis of "That's not what I meant to do" -- not just to say "Hey, here's my intended version but you can still look at the old one and we made it look nice", that's just stupid to me. I get that he'd want to spend most of his time and resources on "his" versions, but with something that is as much of a cultural touchstone as the Star Wars trilogy, you'd think the film student in him would actually care about creating an archive edition -- flawed effects and all -- just so that people could see how it was done before.

To be clear, when I say "cleaned up" I don't even mean "removed boxes from around TIE Fighters." I mean "sound is clean and 7.1 compatible" and "scratches, dust, etc. have been digitally edited out." Create the cleanest edition of the original that you can, but let's see what folks could do back THEN. It's a testament to the monumental accomplishment that the films were at the time, and it's important to take them in their historical context.


I tend to feel that way about all landmark films. I don't need the F/X to be all suped up to modern standards. Or at least, while you're doing that, let's make sure to preserve what came before.

 

[Lancer]

you know, the sick thing is, the original non SE elements exist in a digital form because when the SE's were done back in 97? they digitally scanned and restored the original print before they started monkeying with the fx work, its how they were able to digitaly remove the matte boxes etc.

so the elements are there, lucas is just to pig ignorant to put the original version out there and that is what infuriates me. its all very well saying

"the SE's are my vision."

but the original versions is what made it possible for him to do everything else he's achieved in this life, ie ILM, THX, other movies etc. the movies are part of cinema history so lets have the original unsullied versions please.

the AFI sent back the SE prints he sent them when they voted the trilogy into the archive, they asked for original prints of the original theatrical versions (and got them I seem to remember)

 

[niennumb1]

And look at E.T. There was the 20th anniversary special edition, but also available was the restored and remastered original edition because Spielberg felt the true original print should be made available to the hardcore film lovers who enjoyed it the way it was originally presented and enjoyed. That print looked great and wasn't treated poorly like the DVD Star Wars films were in the special release transfer from Laserdisc non-anamorphic format.

I agree with the above poster.... OF COURSE the original print is available because they HAD to digitize the original stuff before adding in all that stuff. I'll bet some ILMers out there have an HD version of this somewhere in their very private collection and sworn to secrecy under penalty of the worst punishment ever to not tell a soul about it!

 

[Nightwing Returns]

Digital Copies are pretty worthless to me and are not big selling points for the home market. I buy Blu-Ray to get the full big-screen theatrical experience at home, sans the annoying moviegoers who love to text and talk during movies. I cannot get into a film on a 2-inch screen on my ipod, or even a laptop. I suppose they would be good for your kids on a long trip or something, but I don't have kids yet, so I don't have that to worry about for now.

Who said anything about digital copies? Digital transfers are what the topic was.

-Kevin