Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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[quote=""Valkrist""]What?!? Money overrides common sense in Hollywood?!?

NO WAY!!!

:rolleye: [/quote]
In everything Val, money overrides common sense in everything.
What was that quote by Steve Buschemi in Armegeddon? "Built by the lowest bidder". :(
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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I seem to recall Lucas saying that puppet Yoda would be replaced with CG Yoda at some point. Normally I'm not one for changes, but I just watched all the prequels last weekend, and I thought puppet Yoda looked dreadful, not nearly as real as puppet Yoda in the OT or CG Yoda in Eps II and III.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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[quote=""Valkrist""]Since Lucas is up for some tinkering, can we ask him to replace Jar Jar with a blank space? The character's acting and dialogue would be so much better that way.[/quote]

In a rare instance of being aware of and responsive to public sentiment, Lucas greatly curtailed JarJar's screen time in Eps II and III. But I think his abundance in Ep I is here to stay.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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Y'all know I am probably by far the most lenient and forgiving person when it comes to what directors will do in movies, especially, with Lucas, when the movie is their baby.. but jeez, Jar-Jar was by far the most useless, annoying, waste of screen time and character development ever... he was more annoying than the kid that played Anakin in Ep I

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I know we debated a bit about the packaging and that the complete set packaging artwork looks a little lackluster. However, here's a new trailer for the set, and at the end it has a quick flip-through of the packaging, which is one of those digibooks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLhGoc%2 ... r_embedded

I have yet to see anything on either of the two separate trilogy sets, packaging-wise.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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Artwork aside, is the 6 movie box worth the extra 10 dollars for the 3 extra discs?

Right now amazon has the 6 movie (9 disc) set for 90

But they have the original and prequel sets (3 discs each set) for 40 a piece.

You can get strictly the movies and the better cover art for 80 or get the ugly art work and the extra features for 10 dollars more.

If artwork wasn't an issue, would the 3 extra discs of features be worth the 10 bucks more.

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Blade Collector, here is the answer to your question. Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits got invited up to Lucas Land over the weekend for an inside look at putting these sets together. Like him, my e xp ectation has gone from a sigh of resignation at being double dipped yet again to cautious optimism. Here's what he had to say:

[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]The 2011 Star Wars Saga Blu-rays - First Insights

All right, so I wasn't really able to talk about this in advance, but some of you may have wondered why I posted the Friday update here on The Bits so early. The reason is this: I was fortunate enough to spend the morning Friday - along with about ten other members of the international media - at Lucasfilm's Letterman Digital Center compound at the Presidio in San Francisco. The reason, as you might e xp ect, was to get a first-hand look at the upcoming Star Wars Saga Blu-ray Disc release (due in stores on 9/16). Throughout the morning, I was able to see and sample check discs from the set, to ask lots of questions and to learn more about the overall content and quality of the set. What I learned was... well, I think the best word to describe it is this: encouraging.

Now, before you all bombard me with questions, know I'm waiting for some of my technical questions to be answered in the next week or two, so I'll have an additional comments then. Also, there are some things I can't talk about related to this set for a couple more weeks yet, specifically the content of the deleted scenes. But I'll tell you this: I've been feeling somewhat ambivalent about this release up until now - as I'm sure have many of you longtime fans. As a result of this hands-on e xp erience, however, I am more excited about this release than I was before.

I know that many of you have questions about the video and audio quality of these discs, as did I. So here's what I can tell you at the moment...

Obviously, the Prequel Trilogy is mastered directly from the original digital files - the actual final source masters that appeared in digital theatres around the world. However, I'm told that - particularly with Episode I - when the original DVD master was created from the source files, the state of the technology at that time meant that some of the image area was lost all around the frame. In other words, you weren't seeing the complete "film" image in the DVD master. Today's mastering technology corrects this, so you are now finally seeing the entire film image of Episode I on Blu-ray. Here's an example of what I mean. [Editor's Note: The following images were provided by Lucasfilm - they're not full BD resolution and so are meant only to illustrate the changes, not overall BD image quality.] This first image shows the image area on the original DVD version...

Image


Now here's the way the actual film looks, and what you'll see on the Blu-ray - more image all around.

Image


In addition, there are improvements in the image quality of the Prequel films on Blu-ray simply related to the improved "state of the art" of mastering from digital source material. In particular, since this is a new Blu-ray master from the original digital files, the unnecessary edge-enhancement and color-timing issues that plagued the previous Episode I DVD presentation should no longer be an issue.

Regarding the Original Trilogy films, I don't think it's quite accurate to say that these are simply the 2004 DVD masters recycled for Blu-ray. These films are NOT the 2004 versions. It would be more accurate to say that these are new 2011 Blu-ray versions. Let me be clear what I mean by that: It's accurate to say that these are probably built from the same negative scans that were done for the 2004 DVD release, at whatever resolution those were produced. (Note that I'm working to determine the exact resolution of the original digital masters of all the films - the resolution at which the restoration work for Blu-ray was done, and from which the final Blu-rays were mastered.) But I can tell you from first hand observation that many fixes and improvements have been made to these films. So what does that mean?

One of the biggest complaints people had about the Original Trilogy DVDs in particular was that the color timing was wildly uneven. As a result, lightsaber colors varied from shot to shot. Previously bright saber blades became dull. I'm told that all of this has been fixed. Particular attention was paid to properly correcting the color space throughout the films. And I'm told that not only have all the saber colors have been restored to their intended hue, their bright white "cores" have been restored as well. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about. The first image is how a notorious scene in Episode VI looked after the 2004 DVD restoration. Note the dull saber blades and the dark, messy-looking digital touch-up that was used to hide the visible edge of the Emperor's make-up...

Image


Now look at what's been done for the new Blu-ray release. The blades are the proper color, the blade cores are white hot once more, the overall image brightness has been restored and the digital touch-up is now invisible.

Image


In addition to these sorts of fixes, significant additional dirt removal has been done, more garbage matte lines have been cleaned up and other little "fixes" have been applied as well. Here's an example of one such fix done to Episode V. For years, fans have complained that in this shot of the Wampa attacking Luke's Tauntaun, you could see part of the puppeteer's arm because the costume didn't extend quite far enough...

Now, that's been fixed.

[Sorry guys, I had to cut the Wampa comparisons out as the forum will only let you include 4 images in a post. Maybe I'll post them separately. -Olorin]

I'm told that little visual issues like these throughout the films have been addressed - a fairly extensive list. [Editor's Note: The so-called "Humdinger" glitch in Episode IV was also apparently fixed.] Meticulous attention has finally been paid to getting things right - attention that wasn't unfortunately applied to the 2004 DVD release, because there simply wasn't time in the release schedule. (Read: the job was rushed.)

One thing I should confirm for you at this point: The original theatrical versions of the Original Trilogy are not included on these discs. Personally, I never e xp ected them to be. I know a lot of fans want them, but it's clear that Lucas has no intention of making them available at least for the foreseeable future. So for those of you hoping against hope they would be on here, best to start dealing with your disappointment now. I understand how you feel - don't kill the messenger.

On the audio front, you will be very pleased to know that most of the audio complaints fans had about these films on DVD - about particularly Episode IV - have been addressed and fixed for Blu-ray. For example, many of you will recall that in the 2004 Episode IV DVD release, the music in the rear channels of the 5.1 mix was often reversed. (Credit to Bits reader Neil S. Bulk who first brought that issue to our attention back in 2004.) You should all be very be pleased to know that that's no longer the case. Finally... fixed!

The Supervising Sound Editor on the Blu-rays for Skywalker Sound, Matthew Wood, gave us a pretty detailed demonstration of the new 6.1 DTS-HD MA uncompressed audio mixes on these Blu-rays. (For those wondering why 6.1 and not 7.1, Matt said that 6.1 was chosen because it builds nicely on the 5.1 EX mixing work that was done for the Prequel films.) The first scene he showed us was the beginning of the assault on the Death Star at the end of Episode IV. Now, I suspect he showed us this scene for exactly the thing I noticed immediately upon previewing it. Some of you may recall that on the 2004 DVD, when the X-Wings begin their dive down to the Death Star, the familiar John Williams trumpet fanfare was buried in the mix so you could barely hear it. No longer! The trumpets ring true in the Blu-ray mix loud and clear. When I heard this, I couldn't help thrusting my arms up in the air in a bit of happy relief. I then turned to Matt, who as it happens was standing right next to me, and saw him give a little smile and nod - he knew exactly what I was reacting to. When I leaned over to thank him for fixing it, his simple reply made me smile as well: "Trust me, I read the blogs too..."

Matt and his team have been very careful to ensure that these new 6.1 DTS-HD MA uncompressed audio mixes reproduce in exacting detail the sonic e xp erience of these films we all know and remember, albeit with the added quality and clarity that the latest lossless mastering technology can provide. Matt reported that the 6.1 mixing process for Episodes V, VI and the Prequels was relatively straightforward, because all of the original audio stems and elements were readily available and were well catalogued. For Episode IV, however, "getting it exactly right" required a rather extensive forensic effort, as this material just wasn't cataloged with future surround remixes in mind. In many cases, Matt and his team went back to original analog tape recordings made in 1976 to get the best quality of all the required elements. As a result, it's fair to say that the surround mix for Episode IV was almost completely rebuilt from scratch, with Matt comparing his work to the original print master to ensure its creative accuracy. And at every step of the way, director George Lucas and original sound supervisor Ben Burtt were consulted to ensure that the mix reproduced as closely as possible their original intent for the film's sonic e xp erience. In fact, Matt says he played the film's reels many times for George, in 15-20 second chucks, to get his feedback.

That's not to say that there aren't new little tweaks here and there, but rest assured they're very subtle. A few additional audio details were apparently "added" into the mix as well. I put added in quotes, because in many cases these elements - mostly very subtle background sound effects and voices - were recorded back in 1976-77 for the original film and were even used in the original audio mix, but because of the poor state of the art for movie soundtracks at the time, nobody's ever really heard these things before.

In the scenes Matt sampled for us, the clarity, resolution and staging of what heard was really quite impressive. I have to say, talking with Matt was enormously reassuring. He just clearly gets it. He knows these films, and he loves them as much as anyone. He knows all the complaints fans have had with the 2004 DVD release and he made sure to correct them - to get them right at long last.

Now, you'll recall that a little bit ago, I said these should probably be best considered new 2011 versions of these films, and not the 2004 DVD versions. All the fixes and corrections alone justify this in my opinion, but there's another reason too... and you can probably guess what it is: Once again, George has apparently added a few new "surprises" into these films. I don't know what they are and didn't get to see any of them on Friday, but I was assured that there will be "new things to notice" when we watch the films. I think we can safely assume that one of them will be the new all-digital Yoda in Episode I. Way back when Episode III was released on DVD, ILM digital effects supervisor Pablo Helman confirmed to me that the puppet Yoda in Episode I was replaced with a digital version to better match his appearance in Episodes II and III. In fact, the Episode III DVD extras includes a clip of the Episode I digital Yoda. However, this Blu-ray set is really the first opportunity we'll have to see it in full. What the other changes to these films may be, I have no idea, but I suspect there will be no lack of blog posts on this very subject within hours of the first discs becoming available to fans.

So the next obvious question is, how to the films look in HD based on what we say on Friday morning? The answer is very good indeed. Do they look better than the 2004 DVDs? Absolutely. Do they look better than recent 1080p HD cable and satellite broadcasts? Again, yes - not just for the fixes to problem A/V issues that have been done but also because of the added video and audio data rate afforded by the Blu-ray format, and the fact that each film comes on its own BD-50 disc. And don't forget that Episodes I, II and III should look fantastic simply for having been mastered directly from the digital production files.

On the other hand, will Episodes IV, V and VI look as good as more recent films that have had state-of-the-art negative scans of 4, 6 or even 8K resolution? No, probably not. It will obviously be easier to say for sure when the final product is in hand in a few weeks, and we all have some time to really go over it and live with it a bit. In any case, this is one of those issues over which personal opinions are going to vary widely. The takeaway here is this: These films will look notably better than they ever have before at home, on any home format, and most (if not all) of the A/V issues that have driven fans crazy over the years - particularly about the 2004 DVD release - should be fixed on these Blu-rays. [Editor's Note: My belief is that the 2004 DVD negative scans of the Original Trilogy were produced at 2K resolution, which would roughly match the production resolution of the Prequel Trilogy. We also believe that Lowry Digital was involved in the Blu-ray production effort. When and if we're able to officially confirm this information, we'll let you know.]

Now then, let's move on to the extras. Is it really worth getting the Complete Saga set just to get the three extras discs? For me at least, the answer here is clear: Absolutely. Yes... I've now seen many of the Original Trilogy deleted scenes. No... I can't tell you much about them (believe me, that drives me as crazy as it does you). But I was pretty surprised by them and in a good way. What I can tell you is that they are substantial - at least for the Original Trilogy. This isn't just dribs and drabs stuff - it includes long sequences. And they're extremely cool. Frankly, for me this is the real draw of the entire BD release. As you've seen in some of the teaser clips Lucasfilm has released, they're not pristine, but most of them are in HD - at least the Original Trilogy clips. And trust me, they're well worth seeing. It's stuff some of you have wanted to see in good quality since 1977, along with a few things fans may not have known even existed. [Editor's Note: The one other thing I'll say is that the Prequel Trilogy deleted scenes appear to be IN ADDITION to those that were included on the DVDs. So this seems to be all-new material for those films.]

The main extras are split over two Archives discs - one for the Original Trilogy and one for the Prequel Trilogy. On each, there's a main menu screen that allows you to select which film you want to delve into. Then each film section is divided into worlds - as it happens, the worlds that appear in that particular film. In each of these worlds, you'll find relevant Interviews, Collection content (a.k.a. rare Lucasfilm Archive material, like model turnarounds), Conceptual Art and the Deleted/Extended Scenes. There are dozens of model turnarounds, which allow you to view various ships, props and costumes in extremely high detail - frankly, much more than you ever saw in the actual films. Who knew the soles of an AT-AT's feet were so dirty? You can fly around these models from different angles, and look at various portions of each in close up. Then, nearly all of these turnarounds have additional newly-produced video material - including filmmaker/artist interviews and more - talking about that particular model and/or the scene in which it appeared. In the concept art sections, I'm told that over 400 pieces of rare, original production artwork from the likes of Ralphs McQuarrie, Joe Johnston and others can be found. And there are "over 40" deleted/extended scenes in the Saga set in all. Nearly all of these extras are in HD (save for select older material shot on analog video).

Then there's also the Documentaries disc that includes many new and vintage featurettes and documentaries. We've listed these before. [Editor's Note: We didn't look at any of this material on Friday - and frankly it's of less interest than the two Archives discs, which are where the real gems are to be found. Be advised that you may wish to hang on to your previous Star Wars DVDs - in addition to the new BDs - if you want to keep ALL the available extras, as many of the documentaries they offered are not contained in the Blu-ray Saga set. Lucasfilm's intention was to try to include as much all-new, not previously officially released material as possible rather than simply recycling previously released extras. Just so you know.] What's more, each film has two audio commentary tracks - the ones that were on the previous DVD release as well as an all-new commentary compiled from tons of vintage and archived interviews with the cast and crew. Finally, I'm assured that there are indeed a handful of "very fun" Easter eggs scattered throughout the set.

Speaking of the bonus content, Lucasfilm's Senior Director of Marketing, Kayleen Walters, noted that the company made an effort with this release to appeal to fans new and old. Vintage documentaries and deleted scenes were included to provide substantial value to longtime fans, giving them a worthwhile reason to upgrade to Blu-ray, while younger fans will appreciate the newly-created content on Star Wars spoofs and the like. Also, by providing three SKUs - the Complete Saga box with substantial extras, as well as the movie-only Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy sets (note that the movie discs do have the commentaries at least) - there's essentially an option for every level of fan.

By the way, legendary special effects pioneer and ILM Creative Director Dennis Muren, who was on hand to speak of the extras, said that the turnarounds "are like a time machine for me. As I watch them, all these memories come back." Muren, who participated along with many others in the newly-shot video material that accompanies the turnarounds, noted that fans who like to build replica models of Star Wars vehicles will really appreciate the high level of detail you get to see.

On a side note, I had the chance to ask Muren what he thought about the advance of CG for visual effects and if he missed working with physical models. He said that he did, but that the old way of doing things "hit a wall in the 1980s and 90s. We took those techniques as far as they could go." CG, he says, is really just another tool that extends what can be achieved. "The goal is does it look real?" I also asked him if he thought there were some things that just weren't possible even with CG, noting The Hulk as an example of a visual that's difficult to sell to audiences - a 10 foot tall green guy is just never going to look real. Dennis suggested that he didn't so much think it was impossible, just extremely hard. "You know, if you painted a real guy green and photographed him, you'd believe he was really there. Some things we just haven't quite gotten right yet." He also noted that one day, we'll see a completely convincing, all CG-created human character carry an entire movie... but that day is probably still many years off. "It'll happen eventually, but it's just very, very difficult." He added an interesting follow-up to that, revealing that a lot of big-name Hollywood actors had themselves digitally-scanned about ten years ago, thinking that by doing so, they could continue appearing in films looking young even as they aged... but that nothing has really come of it yet because the technology just isn't there yet. Fascinating.

In any case, we'll obviously have more to say about the Star Wars Saga Blu-ray release as we get closer to street date, and you can certainly e xp ect our full, in-depth review in the weeks ahead. (No, we don't have the discs yet.)

I have to say, I'm very encouraged by what I've seen so far with regard to these Blu-rays, and by the answers I've gotten to the questions I've asked about them. Like many of you, the last few DVD releases of these films have always left me... wanting. It just always felt like they were rushed somehow, and that all too many little important quality details just were overlooked. But this Blu-ray set feels very different. Finally, it appears that these films may have gotten the attention they deserve on home video at long last - especially the Original Trilogy. In fact, I think this may be the first time since that 1994 Definitive Edition laserdisc box set that the films have been so carefully handled, and that so many of the fan irritant A/V problems have been properly addressed. So can I say that this Blu-ray box set represents the "ultimate" release of the films on disc, or that these films will look absolutely perfect? No. But I think it's now possible for me to believe that Lucasfilm may - just may - have finally done these films fairly proud on disc. We'll see.
[/font]
Last edited by Olorin on Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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OK, here's the Wampa comparison:
[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]In addition to these sorts of fixes, significant additional dirt removal has been done, more garbage matte lines have been cleaned up and other little "fixes" have been applied as well. Here's an example of one such fix done to Episode V. For years, fans have complained that in this shot of the Wampa attacking Luke's Tauntaun, you could see part of the puppeteer's arm because the costume didn't extend quite far enough...

Image


Now, that's been fixed.

Image
[/font]
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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Just noted one thing that didn't get fixed in that shot of the sabers crossed in front of Palpatine—his eyes. The contacts were sitting on his eyes in such a way that his sight lines were not parallel, making him look slightly wall-eyed. I suppose it makes him look more maniacal, although it's hard to imagine Palpatine more maniacal without crossing totally over into camp.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

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[quote=""Olorin""]Why O freakin' why does this forum software strip out the pictures after I post them? They were in their initially! Their URLs show in the code if I click on "edit."[/quote]


Its because you are getting up in age my friend!

But, I guess I will be getting the complete box set even though the cover art is horrendous! But I want the extras

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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[quote=""BladeCollector""]But, I guess I will be getting the complete box set even though the cover art is horrendous! But I want the extras[/quote]
As well you should.
Regardless of cover art for any films release, having THAT determine whether you buy it is about as dumb as I can think. I mean what the hell does that have to do with the content of the film? There are times when packaging discussion seems to weigh in way too heavy (almost to the point where one would think those plastic discs aren't important).

It adds a whole new meaning to the question, "Paper or plastic?", when grocery shopping (not that I don't understand peoples preference in this case), but to me I always want to say, "I don't really care; I just want the food. :coolsmile
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

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Packaging and cover art are extremely important to me and a lot of people actually. And apparently they are important to the companies that produce the dvds, if not why would there be some movies, like the latest Narnia movie that has a cover sleeve that you pull out and then the case with the movies opens up from the left and right and the center dvd folds down all with elaborate artwork and pictures all around. That is one of the things I originally hated about BDs was the fact that the movies came in basically a slim blue jewel case with minimal art.

If I just wanted the movies, I would be like half the other people I know and download them and put them on my own discs (legalities aside). I don't do that because I would much rather pay the price of the BDs at the store than have my self burned BD/DVD with my chicken scratch sharpie label written on it on my bought in bulk Office Depot case on my shelf.

The majority of the time, my movies are going to be on my DVD shelf being displayed as part of a collection, so 99% of the time my movies are DISPLAYED, not being watched.

To me, there is a reason that you go to your favorite movie store, whether it be a WalMart, Target, Best Buy, etc and you see the Single Disc edition, in the regular blue slim case and then you see the multi disc edition in the pretty flashy packaging with the outer sleeve, etc. They could have just put the movies a basic case with the little flip holders like they did when they released the Special Edition/Director's cut 2 disc Star Trek movies, or better yet the ones that were part of that series that had one disc overlap the other, so you had to take the top disc out to get the bottom disc out, those were great (sarcasm intended)... that was crappy packaging!

Its the same reason I didn't download and burn CDs back in the day... because I wanted to the case and I wanted the real disc!

For the current example of the Star Wars movies, you have the Prequel set that has a beautiful collage of pictures of scenes and characters with an overall green hue and with the Original set you have the same scenario but with an overall blue hue, for me these 2 capture the gist of the movies... sci fi, space battles, excitement, interesting characters!

For the complete saga, you have a desert scene with a boy walking towards the viewer and a man walking away from the viewer? Is it the same person, is this a somber drama taking place in the desert, is it taking place in a post apocalyptic world, I see a hut with not a lot of supplies?

Yes I know what is going on, but they could have taken the idea for the 2 sets and came up with something brilliant for the Saga set. Heck, the box art for the Saga set could have worked for the movie The Road with Viggo Mortensen!

You can't tell me that the original EEs on DVD of LOTR werent something special because of the leather bound edition book look to them... or the current LOTR BD EE are so majestic with the gold... packaging is important

But to each his own, I'll get off my rant. Trust me, it isn't "dumb", well at least not for me... and when it comes right down to it, thats all that matters now isnt it?

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Well BC you've made a very good point of it. :thumbs_up I guess it becomes a, "To each his own", kind of thing.

I guess where I'm coming from is that I wouldn't allow a theaters marquee poster make a determination to go see a film or not.
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

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I agree that the packaging, or at least the art, for the Saga set is pretty lackluster. They certainly could have done better. The glorious packaging of the LOTR EE BDs comes to mind....

But it is the content that's ultimately most important. However, BC raised an issue, how's this going to look in the rack? I just looked at the pic on Amazon, and the spine of the set is pretty non-descript, the same desert pastels. However, I think the light spine color with dark "Star Wars" logo will stand out in the rack, so the packaging might be ok in that regard.

BTW, go here http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-Wars ... ray/14903/ and click "back" under the image to see the best closeup I've yet seen of the set.

I'm curious to see if this BD set will to any degree reignite my interest in Star Wars. I know there's no way I'll ever be as excited about it again as I was when I was a kid when the first one came out (not that not being that excited about it again is a bad thing). But I've been very blasé about it for well over ten years now. I hate to say it, because I know the prequels have their ardent fans, but I think the prequels dampened my enthusiasm. Not only were they not as good as I hoped, they also made me look at the original trilogy and say, when you get right down to it, it wasn't as great as I remember. Dialog that I may only have winced at then, I grimace at now. Oh well. It's only MHO. Then there's a friend of mine who's going to buy the saga set solely for the originals plus extras, film himself destroying the prequels discs, and post it on YouTube. Or so he says.
Last edited by Olorin on Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

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[quote=""Sedhal""]Yeah, I still remember how much I seemed to care about the DVD set that I got not even that long ago, or so it seems. Know how much I watched it? Once each movie. [/quote]

Ditto.

[quote=""Sedhal""]It's good to know after 56 different releases, all I needed to do was wait until a 57th for such glaring errors to finally be fixed.[/quote]

Cynical, but oh so true.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

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LOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/ ... lms&st=cse


Whelp. I know now I'll never buy this edition. :laugh:


They took the worst line from Episode III (and that says a lot with gems like "it's only because I'm so IN LOVE with you" and "so love has blinded you?" and "Anakin, you're breaking my heart," and "you underestimate my poweeer") and added it twice in the most crucial moment of ROTJ. Bravo Lucas, bravo. I bet you thought that was genius!
-_-

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It goes great with the bad packaging :thumbs_up
In fact the package artwork just got better.

A short time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...
They dropped off George Lucas on a deserted moon.
Lucas was quoted as saying, "NO. NOOOO!", when the ship left the surface. He was left with a weeks worth of food, a battery pack, a Blu-Ray disc player, and his latest edition of his six Star Wars films.
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

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Here's what Bill Hunt of the Digital Bits said about it all. I pretty well agree with what he says.
[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]All right... so, Star Wars. You guys hear any good rumors today?

Kidding. My e-mail box is full this afternoon, trust me.

As I said yesterday, we don't comment on posted screenshots from Blu-rays that we haven't seen yet. Yes, we know they seem to indicate more changes that George Lucas has made to the films. But as we don't yet actually have the discs in hand, and Lucasfilm has been a little slow to respond to inquiries over the last 24 hours or so, we haven't been able to confirm. However... Lucasfilm HAS apparently told the New York Times that at least one of the changes is true, which means they probably all are. To wit, the major reported changes are thus:

1. In Episode I, Yoda is now all-digital.

2. In Star Wars, the sound effect for Ben's eerie "dragon" call that frightens off the Sandpeople has apparently been changed.

3. At the end of Return of the Jedi, Vader now screams "Noooo!" as he throws the Emperor to his death.

There are numerous other changes as well, apparently, but they're all more minor (in Jedi, the Ewoks' eyes now blink, etc, etc). Again, we don't have the discs, so we can't confirm everything. But as Lucasfilm acknowledged at their press event, "new dialogue has been added" and there are indeed "new things to spot" when you watch these films.

Predictably, the online geek community is aflame today. Here's the thing: I'm really having a hard time getting worked up about it. We've just been through this too many times now. Every time these films are released, Lucas tweaks and changes them some more. And the tweaks and changes don't really improve the films, they just make them... different. The fact is, Star Wars stopped being what I loved and remembered a very LONG time ago. The combination of the prequels, repeated digital nips and tucks to the originals (Episode IV now reminds me more of Joan Rivers than a beloved classic film), the obvious BS about the original versions "no longer existing", etc, etc - it's all left me feeling fairly ambivalent about Star Wars.

I'll admit, I've been somewhat optimistic about these Blu-rays after attending the Lucasfilm preview. And I'm still looking forward to the discs. On a positive note, it sounds like the A/V quality of these discs is excellent on the whole (at least according to the guys in Europe and China who have apparently gotten their hands on factory-leaked discs. We wouldn't know - it'll probably be week or more before we get to see them.) As e xp ected, numerous (though not all) picture and sound defects in these films have apparently been corrected. But while it's three steps forward in quality, it may be two and a half back for more changes. As for me, I'm just going to try to enjoy the films for what there are, as opposed to what they aren't at this point. The deleted scene material is the real draw for me in this Blu-ray release anyway.

Regardless, a lot of Bits readers have been e-mailing today me e xp ecting me to react with the same sort of outrage they're e xp eriencing right now. Been there. Done that. I wish I could tell you that I still share your pain, but believe me I certainly understand it. The thing is, this is just the reality of Star Wars in the 21st Century. We go through this like every 5 or 6 years. Despite past e xp erience, fans continue to e xp ect miracles... and every time, the curtain gets pulled back and we see the guy yanking on the levers again. For better or worse. And you know, I don't hate him for it. Hell... when I was ten back in 1977 and my folks were going through an ugly divorce, I saw Star Wars one afternoon and suddenly life was pretty good. So you know, I really can't get tweaked about this stuff anymore. Maybe it's reaching middle age, but I'm just like... whatever. Life goes on. George has been fiddling with these films for 34 years now. It's probably not going to change. Fans really need to come to grips with it at long last. Hell, maybe the 501st Legion can start up a worldwide support group - a 12 Step Star Wars Recovery Plan.

Anyway, to paraphrase a wise old wizard: Maybe these aren't the droids you're looking for anymore...

We'll be sure to post our full - and fair - review of the set as soon as we get the discs. Meanwhile, I find a good walk out in the fresh air helps restore your sense of perspective in times like these. Courage, friends!
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Personally, I'm more bothered by the changed dragon call than Vader's "No!" The latter is an unnecessary change, while the former is a deleterious one. I'd be happier about all this is Lucas would drop the ruse that these are the movies he always meant them to be. Once you're richer than Croesus like he is, you can make one round of changes and said it's what you always meant it to be. When you keep tinkering with every release, you either have to admit that you're addicted to tinkering, or you don't know what you wanted the movies to be, since you keep changing them.

But if you can count on three things in life, those would be death, taxes, and more changes to each release of the Star Wars movies.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

91
I feel that there are a lot of visual changes necessary to the original three. For example, cut out frames, remastering the film for digital world, remastering the Sandtroopers on Dewbacks was important in my opinion. FINALLY, they are changing Luke's lightsaber on the MF back to BLUE where is WAS and IS before and after that scene.

Simply:
Visual Upgrades :)
Audio Upgrades :)
Dialog upgrades :embarasse :angry:

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

97
[quote=""Valkrist""]Sed, Lucas made me do it. He said "Val, before I release Sedhal's post on Blu-ray, I think I need to tinker with it a bit. Go ahead and edit his dialogue to say this..."[/quote]
http://vaderloveschristmas.ytmnd.com/ :D
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

Re: Star Wars coming to BD in 2011

99
I just can't imagine they brought James Earl Jones back into the recording studio for the same line twice. I imagine it going something like this:

"George, just one line?"

"No, it's TWO!!!!!" *sniff*

"No... no?"

"Nooo, the second No has three Os!!!!" *burp*

"George, you flew me to Skywalker ranch for this??"

"Just read the damn lines, you old Bantha fodder!!!" *wheeze*

"Nooo, George... goodbye." *leaves*

"HEHEHEHEHEHHE I'M A GENIUS!!! *rubs hands like criminal mastermind*


And in case he needed additional dialogue from Mr. Jones, he could always take from other movies, like Conan the Barbarian.

(After Vader screams Nwwooooo and throws the emperor down the shaft) Turns to Luke and Thulsa Doom says "For who now is your father, if it is not me?"
-_-
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