Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[-RONIN-]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

I haven't watched them in a year or so, because I am eagerly anticipating to experience the Saga the way it was meant to be seen, apart from the theater, on Blu-ray!
DVD is joke, and SW deserves the best of the best, therefore I decided long ago to wait until they get released on BD.
I cannot wait!
This is going to be so wonderful!
Star Wars on Blu-ray is a dream come true!
I can't believe how many of you still watch them on DVD.

I enjoyed the DVDs but as soon as the blu announcement was almost guaranteed I decided I would hold off for them. It should be a year for me by the time the blu's are out. Can't wait!

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by -RONIN-

Another question for everyone here... How many of you have held off watching any of the films waiting instead for the Blu release? I'm coming up on 8 months since I've watched one and it's killing me, in a good way though. It will make the Blu release even sweeter.

I was going to, but couldn't resist watching Phantom Menace on Spike last night. I will assume that the Blu PQ is substantially better, because the PQ of the Spike broadcast was not good.

[-RONIN-]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

I was going to, but couldn't resist watching Phantom Menace on Spike last night. I will assume that the Blu PQ is substantially better, because the PQ of the Spike broadcast was not good.

haha.. yeah it seems spike plays them every other weekend. Looks like this weekend is the prequel trilogy. It's starting to get to the point where I'm having to try not to tune in. Almost feel like a junkie.

[KSS1992]

Is it just me or does the artwork for the separate trilogy boxsets look WAY better than the complete saga boxset?? Think I might go with the individual trilogies now lol

[-RONIN-]

Originally Posted by KSS1992

Is it just me or does the artwork for the separate trilogy boxsets look WAY better than the complete saga boxset?? Think I might go with the individual trilogies now lol

I think it's a matter of personal taste as everyone is different. I personally like the complete saga box but I know the next guy will hate it.

[dcowboy7]

Originally Posted by KSS1992

Is it just me or does the artwork for the separate trilogy boxsets look WAY better than the complete saga boxset?? Think I might go with the individual trilogies now lol

You might not care but you lose out on a bonus disk that way.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by greg_achen

AotC is easily the weakest of the six films. As others have stated, the film rests on the love story between Anakin and Padme, and it is quite clear that there is little to no sexual chemistry (or chemistry of any kind) between Portman and Christenson. You would think they would have done numerous screen tests with Portman and her leading man to find the right guy for the role, considering Anakin's whole turn to the dark side is dependent on believing their love story.

The other big problem is the characterization of Anakin himself. It is true that Luke Skywalker was a very "whiny" character, however, whereas Luke came across as likable, Anakin does not. If the Anakin of AotC had been portrayed closer to the Anakin at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, it would have gone a long way toward making his character more sympathetic and thus his fall from grace that much more tragic. Think about the buildup to Frodo finally succumbing to the corruption of the ring at the end of The Lord of the Rings. All three films were building up to that moment and it succeeds in two respects; it was a gradual and believable character arc for Frodo that makes sense while still managing to be shocking, and it was the epitome of tragedy. Revenge of the Sith still works as a tragedy, but it could have been that much more powerful had Attack of the Clones succeeded in making the audience fall in love with Anakin.

I think a large part of why AotC feels lost, narratively speaking, is because George Lucas was lost. Whether he will admit it or not, I think he was disappointed at the critical response to TPM and adjusted his game plan as a result. AotC comes across as a cheesey fanboy film at times because it appears the film was written in an effort to appease such fans.

The other problem I have with the film is the cinematography, editing, and music. Don't get me wrong. Some shots of AotC are quite beautiful. But overall, everything feels off, visually speaking, when compared to the other five films. The editing is not nearly as refined or polished and makes a mess of an already messy plot. The deleted scenes of the OT, TPM, or even RotS don't really improve the narrative, so-to-speak. However, the deleted scenes in AotC really would go a long way toward improving the story. I've already stated previously in this thread how big a disaster the musical score is in AotC. A large portion of its score is lifted directly from TPM, not even rerecorded, and slapped together and mangled by the sound editors to fit the scenes. If I could change one thing about the prequels, it would be for a complete original score by John Williams in AotC. However, most fans seem to be content with what they got, so this is basically an "in your dreams" kind of wish.

All in all, The Phantom Menace does a great job of setting up the prequels. Revenge of the Sith does a great job of closing the prequels. And AotC provides a heavily flawed bridge between the two films.

Man, this was hilarious! Thank you!

[Show spoiler]We clearly aren't on the same page regarding AOTC.

[monkeyjb1988]

Originally Posted by greg_achen

I still don't understand fans who are against releasing the UOT. I prefer the Special Editions, love the prequels for the most part, and even I don't see a problem with releasing the UOT. In fact, from a completist standpoint, I was hoping they would've been included in this set. I understand George Lucas' position why he doesn't want to release them, but the fans who genuinely hope that he doesn't release the UOT absolutely flabbergasts me. How would releasing the UOT diminish your enjoyment of the Special Editions? Since when is being inclusive a bad thing? The UOT haters who seek to censor its existence are just as bizarre to me as the prequel haters who obsess about the prequels. Star Wars fans are a strange, petty lot.

I agree with Greg. I enjoy both versions and see no reason why they can't be released together (if Avatar can do it, Star Wars definitely can).

[beanham22]

Originally Posted by greg_achen

AotC is easily the weakest of the six films. As others have stated, the film rests on the love story between Anakin and Padme, and it is quite clear that there is little to no sexual chemistry (or chemistry of any kind) between Portman and Christenson. You would think they would have done numerous screen tests with Portman and her leading man to find the right guy for the role, considering Anakin's whole turn to the dark side is dependent on believing their love story.

The other big problem is the characterization of Anakin himself. It is true that Luke Skywalker was a very "whiny" character, however, whereas Luke came across as likable, Anakin does not. If the Anakin of AotC had been portrayed closer to the Anakin at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, it would have gone a long way toward making his character more sympathetic and thus his fall from grace that much more tragic. Think about the buildup to Frodo finally succumbing to the corruption of the ring at the end of The Lord of the Rings. All three films were building up to that moment and it succeeds in two respects; it was a gradual and believable character arc for Frodo that makes sense while still managing to be shocking, and it was the epitome of tragedy. Revenge of the Sith still works as a tragedy, but it could have been that much more powerful had Attack of the Clones succeeded in making the audience fall in love with Anakin.

I think a large part of why AotC feels lost, narratively speaking, is because George Lucas was lost. Whether he will admit it or not, I think he was disappointed at the critical response to TPM and adjusted his game plan as a result. AotC comes across as a cheesey fanboy film at times because it appears the film was written in an effort to appease such fans.

The other problem I have with the film is the cinematography, editing, and music. Don't get me wrong. Some shots of AotC are quite beautiful. But overall, everything feels off, visually speaking, when compared to the other five films. The editing is not nearly as refined or polished and makes a mess of an already messy plot. The deleted scenes of the OT, TPM, or even RotS don't really improve the narrative, so-to-speak. However, the deleted scenes in AotC really would go a long way toward improving the story. I've already stated previously in this thread how big a disaster the musical score is in AotC. A large portion of its score is lifted directly from TPM, not even rerecorded, and slapped together and mangled by the sound editors to fit the scenes. If I could change one thing about the prequels, it would be for a complete original score by John Williams in AotC. However, most fans seem to be content with what they got, so this is basically an "in your dreams" kind of wish.

All in all, The Phantom Menace does a great job of setting up the prequels. Revenge of the Sith does a great job of closing the prequels. And AotC provides a heavily flawed bridge between the two films.

...Said a Poet.

honestly that is very bang on.

[A-E-Martin]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

What!? No love for this cool dude below?

[Show spoiler]

YouTube - Max Rebo-gave the gig away-Robot Chicken

YouTube - max reebo's greatest hits

[STARSCREAM]

I love all 6 movies.

[ANDYBALLINA]

Originally Posted by riverbelow

140$AU on every aussie preorder vendor
89$US (basically SAME AU conversion) on amazon.com

Every Aussie pre order is not $140AU. BigW have the saga for $118AU (which is just under $20 per film) and Kmart and Target will no doubt be competitive on launch too.

I'm also luckily enough to get staff discount at BigW, so I'll be paying around $113AU for the Saga. I'm more than happy to pay an extra $24 and support the local release for the fact that for once we actually get something before the US.

$24 might be a big deal for you, but for me, it's not to much difference for a major release like this and then I don't have to worry about region locking or waiting a few weeks to get it.

[RYJAPE21]

Originally Posted by starscream

i love all 6 movies.

+1

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by A-E-Martin

[Show spoiler]
YouTube - Max Rebo-gave the gig away-Robot Chicken

YouTube - max reebo's greatest hits

I have never seen those, thanks for posting them.

[PRO-630HD]

What is the skinny on the original trilogy scans? 4K? I heard all the effects shot of the SE films were done in HD. I also read that the films were scanned in HD or 1.9K when Lowry did them. Anybody know, I predict if they do release these using the 2004 dvd masters in HD PQ is not going to stun like it did on the original dvd's. No different than if they would have used 525i masters for the dvd's. HD is capable of less than 1/2 the resolution of 35mm film and simply won't knock anybody's socks off. All of the the best bluray transfers use 4K scans of the 35mm OCN end of story.

[bladerunner1]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

I was going to, but couldn't resist watching Phantom Menace on Spike last night. I will assume that the Blu PQ is substantially better, because the PQ of the Spike broadcast was not good.

Yes. This is a worry. The Phantom Menace has never looked that great for the most part. I was/am hoping that this will be fixed.

Originally Posted by PRO-630HD

What is the skinny on the original trilogy scans? 4K? I heard all the effects shot of the SE films were done in HD. I also read that the films were scanned in HD or 1.9K when Lowry did them. Anybody know, I predict if they do release these using the 2004 dvd masters in HD PQ is not going to stun like it did on the original dvd's. No different than if they would have used 525i masters for the dvd's. HD is capable of less than 1/2 the resolution of 35mm film and simply won't knock anybody's socks off. All of the the best bluray transfers use 4K scans of the 35mm OCN end of story.

Yeah..we don't know anything regarding the scans. As it stands now, the Lowery restoration was scanned at 2K and we haven't heard anything about a rescan to 4-8k. I am really starting to fear that these are going to be the 2004 transfers..

You would think we would have heard something by now. Hope i'm wrong.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by RYJAPE21

+1

+1...I enjoy them all and I'm ecstatic that these are coming out in just a few short months.

[42041]

Keep in mind that Phantom Menace, like Fellowship of the Ring, represents a very early evolution of digital post-production. Most of the movie was shot on film, scanned into digital (presumably 2k resolution?), then recorded back to film, and the film IP is probably what you're seeing on existing video masters... which means a lot of quality loss.

Like the upcoming extended version of Fellowship, they'd likely need to go back to the original digital files to make it look nice.

[aiman04]

Watching The Phantom Menace on DVD right now. I already had an eargasmic just 12 minutes in, reckon I'll have another one during the podrace. I can sense that the sound on the blu-ray will be an experience that we've never heard before, the bar will be pushed higher than ever.

[ZoetMB]

I happened to be an in electronics store today while SpikeHD was playing Episode I. I obviously don't know what their source was and I don't know if Spike or whatever cable or satellite company the retailer uses compresses the video, but it looked incredibly bad. Also, they were feeding the signal to about 80 sets, so there was probably some degradation there.

But I was shocked at how bad it looked. In some scenes, it was bad because there was more obvious detail than we saw in theatres, and the details aren't pretty. Puppet Yoda didn't bother me in the theatre, but close up and (presumably) in HD, you can see the rubber. Only the eyes looked good. In a scene with Padme and Palpatine with CGI stuff going on outside the windows, I could swear that each time a ship went by, the edge of the window frame moved a little. And other shots looked bad due to color blurring and other artifacts. I think these look better on an old analog CRT.

This either proves that HD cable can't come close to BD or it's a sign that the BDs are going to be really bad.