107 replies to this topic

[Peter T Chattaway]

Links to the threads on Episode I, Episode II, Episode III, Episode IV, Episode V, Episode VI, Episode VII and the 2004 and 2006 editions of Episodes IV, V and VI on DVD, as well as The Clone Wars and the various rumoured TV series (plus one quasi-duplicate thread on the comedy series).

See also the threads on 'Star Wars Debate Redux' (which began as a place to bash Episode II; Jul 8 - Nov 11, 2003), 'Sci fi = spiritual? Star Wars, X2, etc.' (Apr 12-14, 2004), 'Best Star Wars Movie? (with poll; Apr 18-20, 2004), Top 100 Discussion: The Star Wars original trilogy?' (May 6-7, 2004), 'Is Star Wars Blasphemous?' (Jun 15 - Jul 25, 2005), 'Star Wars in 20 minutes' (Aug 8-9, 2006) and 'Star Wars: Uncut' (Apr 2010).

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‘Star Wars’ Films Coming to Blu-ray Next Year
A boxed set containing the Blu-ray versions of the movies, spanning from 1977’s “Star Wars” through the final 2005 prequel, “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” will mark the first time the films have been offered in a high-definition home format, and will include documentary features and previously unseen footage. . . .
Mr. Lucas said the versions of the first three “Star Wars” films – “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” – included in the Blu-ray boxed set will be the special-edition releases that were shown theatrically in 1997 and digitally restored for a 2004 standard-definition DVD boxed set.
Perhaps bracing for the reactions of fans who decried some of the changes made to the special-edition films – like, say, an exchange of gunfire between Han Solo and a certain green-skinned bounty hunter – Mr. Lucas said that to release the original versions of these films on Blu-ray was “kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good.”
“You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally,” he added. “It’s a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.” . . .
New York Times, August 14

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Note how the reporter completely neglects to ask what new changes will be made to the films in 2011. Heck, he even seems ignorant of the fact that the 2004 versions of the original films were NOT identical to the 1997 versions of those films.

Edited by Peter T Chattaway, 04 April 2013 - 08:28 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Presumably this deleted scene from Return of the Jedi will show up on the Blu-Ray -- and I must say, I hadn't realized before the extent to which that film was trying to make Luke look like the Emperor in his earliest scenes.

Edited by Peter T Chattaway, 11 May 2011 - 09:50 PM.

[Ryan H.]

Ooh, that's nifty.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Josh Zeber @ High-Def Digest doesn't believe this "deleted scene" is genuine:

Notice how all of the footage of Vader appears to be recycled from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, the audio was all sampled from dialogue spoken elsewhere in the trilogy, and Luke Skywalker’s mostly-obscured face looks nothing like Mark Hamill.

Also, in an interview at last year’s Comic-Con, Hamill explicitly said that he never shot such a scene.



Whoops.

I'm not sure about some of the arguments here. The footage of Vader, for example, does NOT look "recycled" from The Empire Strikes Back; I don't think Vader was ever shot from that angle in his little pod before, plus the hallway he walks down at the beginning of that sequence doesn't look like any hallway that I think we've ever seen before.

But it's interesting that Hamill says (or said, past tense) that he never shot a scene like this. Even there, though, he does leave open the possibility that such a scene may have been shot WITHOUT him.

[Buckeye Jones]

That scene is really bad. If it's genuine, good for the filmmakers for cutting it. If it's fake, the "STORMTROOPERS" video from ten years ago was better.

[Ryan H.]

The scene is real. Nothing like the internet for hasty judgments. The reason we know it's real is because John Williams scored the scene (we've had the music for the scene for quite some time now). John Williams doesn't begin scoring films until he has a full cut of the film in front of him. Either they shot it without Hamill, or (more likely) Hamill just doesn't remember doing it. Nevermind that I find it hard to believe that Lucas would create fake "deleted" material when he has plenty of real deleted material to put forward.

Anyway, I dig the scene. I fail to see what's so bad about it.

Edited by Ryan H., 16 August 2010 - 10:51 AM.

[Buckeye Jones]

Vader's dialogue is laughably bad. "Luuuuke, Luuuuuke. Joooin the Darrrk Siiiide...."

One of ROTJ's sins is the de-Vadering of Vader. He's a sympathetic and soft Vader. This scene, if real, would egregiously contribute to that. Good for them to cut it.

But let's say for the sake of argument that its real (hamill's comments are moot, anyway). The scene doesn't do anything--it doesn't go anywhere. Vader sits in his pod, moaning for Luke to join him. Luke (sans glove) tweaks his new lightsaber. Notices Vader's galatic moans.

Boring. Compare with Vader's call for Luke to join him at the end of ESB. Now there's real conflict--real power in Vader's call. Here, it's sad-sack.

My $0.02.

[Ryan H.]

Buckeye Jones, on 16 August 2010 - 10:57 AM, said:

Vader's dialogue is laughably bad. "Luuuuke, Luuuuuke. Joooin the Darrrk Siiiide...."

I dunno. Strikes me as par for the course for the franchise.

Buckeye Jones, on 16 August 2010 - 10:57 AM, said:

One of ROTJ's sins is the de-Vadering of Vader. He's a sympathetic and soft Vader.

An oft-cited criticism, and one I only half-agree with. At any rate, I think this scene would increase Vader's menace, not decrease it.

Overall, I do think it was right to cut the scene, but I don't think it's terrible. Just unnecessary.

Edited by Ryan H., 17 August 2010 - 01:59 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

It's amazing how these parody songs end up being so much more emotionally potent than the films themselves.

[Peter T Chattaway]

[Peter T Chattaway]

The details. I recognize the names of some of the vintage TV documentaries, but it seems the set won't include From Star Wars to Jedi (1983), which is the only one of those documentaries that I ever videotaped (and I believe it was included with one of the earlier VHS sets...?).

[Thom Wade]

Yeah. I ended up transferring that to DVD myself.

[John Drew]

Peter T Chattaway, on 11 May 2011 - 09:53 PM, said:

The details. I recognize the names of some of the vintage TV documentaries, but it seems the set won't include From Star Wars to Jedi (1983), which is the only one of those documentaries that I ever videotaped (and I believe it was included with one of the earlier VHS sets...?).

Probably because that's the documentary where Lucas talks about how special effects are there to serve a story, not vice-versa. I believe he says, "A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing." For evidence of this, watch the prequels.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Hmmm. I wonder if From Star Wars to Jedi will end up getting released on one of those "Best Buy exclusive" DVDs or something. At least one of the Star Wars prequel soundtracks had a bonus track if you bought it at a certain store, and I think one of the vintage Indiana Jones documentaries was only available if you bought the boxed set at a certain store.

[morgan1098]

It looks like the audio commentaries are the same ones that were included with previous DVD releases. Not that I'd expect them to record new ones, but it reinforces the idea that if I spring for this set, I'll be buying a significant amount of material that I've bought before. But what else is new in the world of Star Wars?

[Thom Wade]

[Peter T Chattaway]

My wife took a book away from my daughter today, telling her it was "too scary" or something like that. My daughter began to shout, "I'm brave! I'm not scared of anything!!"

And suddenly my voice went all Yoda, as I said: "You WILL be."

[Peter T Chattaway]

[bowen]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Ryan H.]

No. No. No.

Lucas now ruins the very, very best moment in RETURN OF THE JEDI?