Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by phansson

Hey everyone, I have been digging through the extras on 7. Pretty cool overall.

Navigating the discs is EXTREMELY slow, is this just my player or everyone's?

Everythings smooth on my PS3.

[Agent Cooper]

Originally Posted by tilallr1

I was watching the deleted scenes last night and really sat in awe of the brillance of Han shooting first. It really is the worst thing Lucas could had done to the character of Han. It shows what a bad ass he is. Even left me chuckling a bit on how bad ass he is. Really hope Lucas changes his mind on this and puts it back in one day. As much as I love/hate some of the the other changes, this one has to be the worst decision ever. And no I will never let it go.

Also, Han shooting first somehow perfectly mirrors Indiana Jones shooting the swordman in Raiders because he ain't got time for that shit. Perfect character moment.

Personally I'd nominate the new musical number in ROTJ and Jabbas exchange with Han in ANH as the worst added 'improvements'. The original music had a raw edge to it that fitted perfectly in those settings and I can't figure out why Lucas didn't have Jabba appear as a hologram instead in that scene. He would have avoided the problem with Han walking around him and he could have visualized the hologram so that Jabbas appearance was only suggested at. As such, the reveal of Jabba in ROTJ would be mostly intact.

Oh well...

[Norbie]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkadin
If 95% of other people aren't having problems, then that kind of tells you right there it's not the discs that are the problem.

Originally Posted by wafi

What are you daft? Ofcourse its the discs with the problems. I've never had issues with any BDs until these set(s).

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

But what if those discs that didn't work on your equipment work on somebody elses? Is it still the disc that is at fault?

Which one came first? The chicken or the egg?


peace

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Norbie

Which one came first? The chicken or the egg?

The egg.

FWIW, no problems on any of my discs. To the poster a few posts above, I've only watched the OT extras disc. It's not too slow in between, say, deleted scenes, but it's by no means rapid-fire quick.

[Mavrick]

'The chicken came first, not the egg', scientists prove

British researchers say the chicken must have come first as the formation of eggs is only possible thanks to a protein found in the chicken’s ovaries.

‘It had long been suspected that the egg came first but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first,’ said Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University, who worked with counterparts at Warwick University.

‘The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process,’ he added.

The protein – called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) – acts as a catalyst to speed up the development of the shell.

Scientists used a super computer called HECToR, based in Edinburgh, to ‘zoom in’ on the formation of an egg.

It showed OC-17 was crucial in kick-starting crystallisation – the early stages of forming a shell.

The protein coverts calcium carbonate into calcite crystals which makes up the egg shell, creating six grammes of shell every 24 hours.

Prof John Harding, also of Sheffield University, said the discovery could have other uses.

‘Understanding how chickens make shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials,’ he said.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Watching The Attack of the Clones, I still don't understand why people hate this more than The Phantom Menace? Is it the romance scenes with Anakin and Padme that killed the movie for most people? It's really not that bad because Anakin is an awkward creepy dude in AOTC and in ROS. I don't think those romance scenes are supposed to be intentionally creepy and more likely poor delivery of cheesy lines, but still Anakin is a creepy dude and those scenes don't seem as bad to me. Watching an awkward creepy dude is pretty embarrassing and can make anyone uncomfortable watching it. I'm literally sickened when Anakin touches Padme's back before he busts a move with that first kiss. But besides those bretty awful romance scenes that do make the movie inferior, I still think Attack of the Clones has more powerful moments than The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith:

1. Out of all the prequels, it has the best human-to-human interaction without being distracted by CGI characters (as in Phantom). Obi Wan talking and fighting with Jango. Obi Wan talking to Dooku. The two most emotional scenes in all the prequels are in Attack of the Clones - Anakin reuniting with dying mother, and Anakin spazzing about him killing all the sand people to Padme - more natural and more powerful than Sith's "You are breaking my heart" and "I loved you like my brother".

2. The action scenes in Attack of the Clones are the most balanced, varied, and not overkill as with Phantom's endless pod-racing scene and Sith's endless Anakin vs. Obi Wan fight. Yes, Phantom has memorable fight scenes such as Phantom's Darth Maul and Sith's Yoda vs Palpatine, but the action just seemed more interesting in AOTC: Blade Runner-like chase scene, Jango vs. Obi Wan, Anakin vs. Tusken Raiders, conveyer belt factory scene, arena battle, Clone trooper battle, Dooku vs. Obi Wan, Anakin and Yoda.

Hayden Christianson does act better in Sith because he's a bit more mature and he's older. So I can understand why people like him more in Sith than in Attack of the Clones, but I think he's supposed to be awkward and creepy in Attack of the Clones because he's a teenager with problems.

And by the way, my Attack of the Clones blu-ray had no problems or glitches.

I hated AOTC more in retrospect, having not seen a prequel movie since the theatres, but revisiting them yesterday, AOTC is better than TPM to me. Really the only big offender was the Anakin-Padme scenes and it's his delivery that makes it a little worse than the average CW teen drama. Otherwise it's not that bad a flick. It definitely feels more like a Star Wars movie than TPM. In fact TPM feels like a Nickelodeon version of a Star Wars movie.

I actually... LIKED Revenge of the Sith. I found it very enjoyable the second time around and while it didn't redeem TPM for me, it added nicely to AOTC and I really don't have such a hate on for the prequels anymore.

I would rate them:

The Phantom Menace - 2.5/5 - Completely average, only the Jedi, Darth Maul and the music saved this one from being below average.

Attack of the Clones - 3/5 - A better actor (I'm even talking like, I'd settle for Twilight level of acting) for the Anakin-Padme love scenes would have saved this one from mediocrity and made it a fairly worthy Star Wars flick.

Revenge of the Sith - 3.5/5 - Even Christensen steps it up here, he doesn't exactly sizzle but he at least delivers well enough that I can focus on Anakin the character and not Christensen the actor. Some lines are still very hokey, but Ewan does an excellent job here, Natalie finds her groove a bit more, Yoda is excellent, Jimmy Smits is fine, Samuel L. does a better job than I remember.

Btw Ian McDiarmid KILLS IT in all 3 movies. He single-handedly injects the prequels with more Star Wars than anyone else, aside from maybe John Williams. His transition to the Emperor is way over-the-top but it just works so well in the context of the newer, more obvious Star Wars flicks.

All in all I'm actually pretty happy with the PT upon a second viewing, at home. I was very discouraged watching The Phantom Menace, since I had the fondest memories of it in theatres out of the 3, but strangely both AOTC and especially ROTS got better with age.

On to the original trilogy tonight... YIPPEE!

[Weirded Wonder]

Originally Posted by Mavrick

I'll have to watch it back, I think it was the one on the left? All I remember is her looking so fake, everyone sort of had a shit eating grin at some point in that clip though lol.

He does explain the force much better there than in any of the 6 films. Which is kinda strange

That's because he has had 35 years to come up with a good explanation.

It's funny that the guy to his immediate right is looking straight down most of the time. He's probably thinking, 'oh great, here we go again.' or 'jesus, I think we've all seen the movies George.'

[NYorker]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Actually that point does not hold very well in your agument. If Lucas was greedy he would release the original as well as the special editions

I don't know if it's just greed, but it's probably one of the reasons why he did release this edition, which is a mixed bag in terms of PQ and extras. It's almost a given they'll be another release.

Btw, over at the DVDactive there's a very interesting article, comparing "before" and "after" the Star Wars blu ray release.

[olivehead]

FWIW i think overall the picture quality overall is about a 4.5 out of 5. TPM does show a bit of DNR, but frankly on my 50" panny plasma it just doesn't phase me that much. Ep. II and III look great. of the original trilogy, i think TESB fares best. it and ROTJ look much newer than their age of roughly 30 years. i have been enjoying the archival commentaries on the OT quite a bit, having listened to about half each of ANH and ROTJ and all of TESB. in particular, i find just about everything mark hamill has to say to be quite interesting and informative. i get the sense that a solo or moderated commentary with just him on each of the OT would be fascinating, as i get the sense he could comment on each 2-hr. plus film with hardly a pause. carrie fisher is a close second, and is hysterically funny at times. overall, i'm glad i got this set just for the archival commentaries and TESB 30-year retrospective (rest in pease irvin kershner). haven't had a chance to check out any of the deleted scenes yet. overall, if you're a fan of the series but just hate the lucas tinkering (95% of which really just don't add anything of substance to the films), there's still plenty here for you to enjoy. but if you can't see your way clear to give lucas anymore $$$, i can see your point as well.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Watching The Attack of the Clones, I still don't understand why people hate this more than The Phantom Menace? Is it the romance scenes with Anakin and Padme that killed the movie for most people? It's really not that bad because Anakin is an awkward creepy dude in AOTC and in ROS. I don't think those romance scenes are supposed to be intentionally creepy and more likely poor delivery of cheesy lines, but still Anakin is a creepy dude and those scenes don't seem as bad to me. Watching an awkward creepy dude is pretty embarrassing and can make anyone uncomfortable watching it. I'm literally sickened when Anakin touches Padme's back before he busts a move with that first kiss. But besides those bretty awful romance scenes that do make the movie inferior, I still think Attack of the Clones has more powerful moments than The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith:

1. Out of all the prequels, it has the best human-to-human interaction without being distracted by CGI characters (as in Phantom). Obi Wan talking and fighting with Jango. Obi Wan talking to Dooku. The two most emotional scenes in all the prequels are in Attack of the Clones - Anakin reuniting with dying mother, and Anakin spazzing about him killing all the sand people to Padme - more natural and more powerful than Sith's "You are breaking my heart" and "I loved you like my brother".

2. The action scenes in Attack of the Clones are the most balanced, varied, and not overkill as with Phantom's endless pod-racing scene and Sith's endless Anakin vs. Obi Wan fight. Yes, Phantom has memorable fight scenes such as Phantom's Darth Maul and Sith's Yoda vs Palpatine, but the action just seemed more interesting in AOTC: Blade Runner-like chase scene, Jango vs. Obi Wan, Anakin vs. Tusken Raiders, conveyer belt factory scene, arena battle, Clone trooper battle, Dooku vs. Obi Wan, Anakin and Yoda.

Hayden Christianson does act better in Sith because he's a bit more mature and he's older. So I can understand why people like him more in Sith than in Attack of the Clones, but I think he's supposed to be awkward and creepy in Attack of the Clones because he's a teenager with problems.

And by the way, my Attack of the Clones blu-ray had no problems or glitches.

I personally have AOTC as my favorite prequel. It has a nice storyline with plenty of revelations as the events in the movie cannot be deducted from having watched the OT. The water planet is very mysterious and the action scenes are great. I did fast foward in on one of the romance scenes, but other than that .

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Btw Ian McDiarmid KILLS IT in all 3 movies. He single-handedly injects the prequels with more Star Wars than anyone else, aside from maybe John Williams. His transition to the Emperor is way over-the-top but it just works so well in the context of the newer, more obvious Star Wars flicks.

I totally agree with you with Ian McDiarmid. He's the best thing about all three prequels. I would have prefered if the prequels focused on him rather than on Anakin. All of his scenes are gold. If they ever make a prequel to the prequels, they should focus on Palpatine - how and why he turned into a bad-ass (just as Lucas dug into the past of Vader). But then again, more prequels may hurt my positive impression of the Emperor (especially if Lucas wants to show 6 year old Palpatine)! Before the prequels, I always thought that Vader was bad-ass, but now the prequels have pushed the idea into my head that Vader was just a whinny creepy punk who's not as bad-ass as I thought he was.

Speaking of Vader's bad-assness, after watching A New Hope on blu-ray, I never noticed how Vader is pretty much subservient to Grand Moff Tarkin. I'm assuming if Lucas makes another Star Wars movie that takes place after Sith and before A New Hope, Tarkin will have a pretty big role as the main villain.

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Mavrick

'The chicken came first, not the egg', scientists prove

Oh sure, like I'm going to trust British researchers!

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

I totally agree with you with Ian McDiarmid. He's the best thing about all three prequels. I would have prefered if the prequels focused on him rather than on Anakin. All of his scenes are gold. If they ever make a prequel to the prequels, they should focus on Palpatine - how and why he turned into a bad-ass (just as Lucas dug into the past of Vader). But then again, more prequels may hurt my positive impression of the Emperor (especially if Lucas wants to show 6 year old Palpatine)! Before the prequels, I always thought that Vader was bad-ass, but now the prequels have pushed the idea into my head that Vader was just a whinny creepy punk who's not as bad-ass as I thought he was.

Speaking of Vader's bad-assness, after watching A New Hope on blu-ray, I never noticed how Vader is pretty much subservient to Grand Moff Tarkin. I'm assuming if Lucas makes another Star Wars movie that takes place after Sith and before A New Hope, Tarkin will have a pretty big role as the main villain.

If you read some of the books Tarkin was indeed a main character in the series. Palpatine liked him because he was ruthless and not afraid to advance the prosperity and reach of the Empire. A battle station with enough destructive force to destroy a planet was partly Tarkin's idea in the first place although this is never eluded to AOTC or ROTS. The only reason I think Tarkin was superior to Vader was because Tarkin had been in Palpatine's service long before Anakin turned to the dark side. Tarkin went from a planetary governor, to a regional governor, to a moff, to a Grand Moff in a rather short time period. This was because Palpatine liked the fact that he got things done.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

I totally agree with you with Ian McDiarmid. He's the best thing about all three prequels. I would have prefered if the prequels focused on him rather than on Anakin. All of his scenes are gold. If they ever make a prequel to the prequels, they should focus on Palpatine - how and why he turned into a bad-ass (just as Lucas dug into the past of Vader). But then again, more prequels may hurt my positive impression of the Emperor (especially if Lucas wants to show 6 year old Palpatine)! Before the prequels, I always thought that Vader was bad-ass, but now the prequels have pushed the idea into my head that Vader was just a whinny creepy punk who's not as bad-ass as I thought he was.

Speaking of Vader's bad-assness, after watching A New Hope on blu-ray, I never noticed how Vader is pretty much subservient to Grand Moff Tarkin. I'm assuming if Lucas makes another Star Wars movie that takes place after Sith and before A New Hope, Tarkin will have a pretty big role as the main villain.

Hahaha.

I dunno, I popped in A New Hope literally immediately after finishing ROTS, but it felt like such a drastically different movie that the prequels didn't affect it one iota.

Darth is still Darth to me, the prequels are interesting and expand on the story and characters, but I don't necessarily let it affect the way I view the OT at all. I view Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor as two completely separate Obi-Wans as well. It's not a conscious and deliberate decision to block the PT's effects, but I've been watching the OT for over 20 years, I guess the PT just can't have an effect on the Darth I grew up watching for so long.

What's incredible to me is the difference in tone between OT and PT. The second I popped in the OT, I was amazed at how much more gravitas all the actors have, how they play their cheesy lines straight, how Lucas allows himself to linger on shots or scenes that he didn't bother with in the PT. The 70's were just a fantastic era for filmmaking, I guess even with Lucas insisting the actors didn't need to do an Oscar-worthy job, they still kind of tried. The OT seems so much more serious.

I am grateful that I gave the PT another chance, though. The things it does right really expand the SW universe in meaningful ways. It's cool to see crowded, populous areas, the inside of bars/nightclubs, traffic... in the OT pretty much everywhere they go is so desolate (due to production costs): Tattooine is a vast desert wasteland and Mos Eisley is a much smaller town than Mos Espa, Hoth is well... Hoth, Endor is a sparsely populated forrest with some Ewoks, you never see Alderaan or Correllia or anything. Bespin is as close as they come to having a real city, and I still get the sense I'm looking at the same few hallways over and over, just shot from different angles. The PT will never be able to replace the OT for me, but at least now I've come to terms with it enough that I'm happy that they share the same box on my shelf.

[El_Jay]

Also, the pink frames that pop in during A New Hope literally every time a blaster fires are REALLY ANNOYING.

Have those always been there with previous home video releases? If so it's just much easier to notice on Blu-ray for whatever reason.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Also, the pink frames that pop in during A New Hope literally every time a blaster fires are REALLY ANNOYING.

Have those always been there with previous home video releases? If so it's just much easier to notice on Blu-ray for whatever reason.

Yeah, they were there in the 2004 DVDs and the 1997 VHS set. I had a recorded VHS version of the original TV airing of Star Wars when I was a kid and I think I remember on there as well.

[Weirded Wonder]

Lucas and symmetry...

During AOTC...

Obi-Wan falls from an impressive height only to use the cord attached to him via Jango Fett to latch onto an object and swing onto another lower platform.

During the final battle on Genosha, Jango Fett turns his wrist flame thrower on Mace Windu, who then jumps up and down an incredible distance to continue the fight.

Revenge of the Sith...
During the attempted arrest of Palps by Mace, Anakin enters the room and distracts Mace and then Palps forces Mace out the window... but Mace dies???

That scene never worked for me for other terrible obvious reasons, Ian is crying for Anakin to help him as he shoots lighting into Mace's lightsaber and Mace is simply in a defensive position blocking the bolts right back into Palps. It's not like Mace was beating up on Palps he was just deflecting the bolts back to Palps. Why doesn't Palppie just stop? The bolts are obviously ineffective and he is harming himself and we get to see Palpsapup's face melt.

You guys may like Ian's performances in the PT, but I think he's the worst overacting ham ever.

And if I hear that stupid Palps say, no no no again, Imma start cappin.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Beard Esquire

Lucas and symmetry...

During AOTC...

Obi-Wan falls from an impressive height only to use the cord attached to him via Jango Fett to latch onto an object and swing onto another lower platform.

During the final battle on Genosha, Jango Fett turns his wrist flame thrower on Mace Windu, who then jumps up and down an incredible distance to continue the fight.

Revenge of the Sith...
During the attempted arrest of Palps by Mace, Anakin enters the room and distracts Mace and then Palps forces Mace out the window... but Mace dies???

That scene never worked for me for other terrible obvious reasons, Ian is crying for Anakin to help him as he shoots lighting into Mace's lightsaber and Mace is simply in a defensive position blocking the bolts right back into Palps. It's not like Mace was beating up on Palps he was just deflecting the bolts back to Palps. Why doesn't Palppie just stop? The bolts are obviously ineffective and he is harming himself and we get to see Palpsapup's face melt.

You guys may like Ian's performances in the PT, but I think he's the worst overacting ham ever.

And if I hear that stupid Palps say, no no no again, Imma start cappin.

I agree with you in regards to that certain scene in ROTS, but Ian McDiarmid makes ROTJ. Without the him the film would have been mediocre. Just the way he says "Good!" for example is just spine tingling.

[Kizzo]

Watched the prequels this past weekend.. I enjoyed all the films and the action was great.

Not a huge fan of the originals. I guess after watching the prequels with it's updated technology and the cool special effects. The originals just look VERY VERY outdated and it distracts me. I wish he made a remake of those movies.

[Weirded Wonder]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I agree with you in regards to that certain scene in ROTS, but Ian McDiarmid makes ROTJ. Without the him the film would have been mediocre. Just the way he says "Good!" for example is just spine tingling.

I agree with you on ROTJ, it does it with just enough bravado to get it right. But I'm guessing he felt that he finally had the spotlight for the prequels and needed to go 200%. And I hate his face and voice-over for the ESB scene with Vader.