Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Lemmy Lugosi]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

I guess I'll be spending another $100 on these films by the time 2015 comes around.

Not me. Poor George waited sooooo long, that I no longer have interest in SW at all. Ha!

[Captain Mal]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

I guess I'll be spending another $100 on these films by the time 2015 comes around.

That's why I think it's very likely that they'll release the original theatrical versions on bd. They want people to buy these movies again and at this point, the ONLY reason many of us would ever buy these again is if we got the original theatrical versions.

[dvdmike]

So censorship then if you say something provable about Bill Hunt and Fox

[BluMonday]

Originally Posted by Lemmy Lugosi

Not me. Poor George waited sooooo long, that I no longer have interest in SW at all. Ha!

I kind of feel the same way. Those Star Wars movies were a huge deal for me as a kid, and the 1997 Special Editions were OK and all, except for the extended Jabba scene and Greedo shooting first, but the prequels and then changing the Special Editions again to crowbar in prequel stuff pretty much destroyed any interested I had in Star Wars. I've wanted the unedited originals for about 15 years now (when I sold my laserdiscs), but I'm fearful that if and when I do get them finally, will I care anymore? I can't recapture my childhood and there are tons of films since then and still to come out that are above and beyond "Star Wars" for me now. Probably best to just keep them as good memories in my head...

[stvn1974]

I recently got out my old VHS tapes of the original trilogy and tried watching them. Every time it would get to a point where a CGI garbage scene would have been added in for the Special Editions that scene popped into my mind. I couldn't even enjoy the unaltered trilogy anymore. I can't even enjoy Star Wars at all anymore.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

I recently got out my old VHS tapes of the original trilogy and tried watching them. Every time it would get to a point where a CGI garbage scene would have been added in for the Special Editions that scene popped into my mind. I couldn't even enjoy the unaltered trilogy anymore. I can't even enjoy Star Wars at all anymore.

You need Harmy in your life

[Falaskan]

I watched Adywan's version once and somehow got the same old feelings I used to get when I first saw the OT.

I wonder how this set will be restored, if it's true that George destroyed the original after making the SE. Even though Fox still owns the distribution rights, I'm sure they'd love to release them as well since their cut would be huge however way you slice it!

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

I recently got out my old VHS tapes of the original trilogy and tried watching them. Every time it would get to a point where a CGI garbage scene would have been added in for the Special Editions that scene popped into my mind. I couldn't even enjoy the unaltered trilogy anymore. I can't even enjoy Star Wars at all anymore.

Just give it more time. I have Vidjunkie's transfers of the UOT burned onto DVD's, and haven't watched the old 2004 DVD's in at least 4-5 years (I never bothered buying the Blu-Ray set).

At first, I would watch the movie and specifically notice where added Special Edition stuff was missing, but after 2-3 viewings over the last few years, you kind of start to forget about all that nonsense and just start enjoying the movies again.

Also, I really hope the UOT Blu-Rays come out-- imagine how awesome it will be to revisit the original movies just in time to go see Episode VII!

[kenkraly2004]

I would buy the original un altered cuts of the original SW Trilogy on Blu-Ray if they where released one day. But also understand this if Disney and Lucasfilm restored and released the UT OT on Blu-Ray it would be the process of restoring the films like it was when they did the Special Editions all over again and it would also cost some money to restore them. Again though I would buy the Unaltered versions of the OT if they came out.

[42041]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

I wonder how this set will be restored, if it's true that George destroyed the original after making the SE.

Where do people get this stuff? Lucas isn't a psychopath, he's not going to be destroying irreplaceable material.
A lot of the original footage in the cut negative was replaced by necessity, since a lot of the opticals were unusably faded. The original un-composited elements are all archived.

As for the original version being released, I'll believe it when I see it. Lucas or no Lucas, it'd take quite a lot of work and money to restore it.

[rexcrk]

I would gladly buy a Blu-ray set of the original unaltered trilogy. Hell, I'd settle for a proper nice-looking anamorphic widescreen DVD set (while it's nice to have them on disc from the 2007 releases, they look awful on an HDTV).

Star Wars is one of my favorite things, but I'm not as nit picky as most fans. I LIKE the prequels, I don't get upset at the Han/Greedo thing (the way I see it, Han is going to shoot Greedo ANYWAY, it's not like his shot was a reflex or anything), I don't even mind a lot of the changes he made to the original trilogy. It's the principle behind it that I hate. If you're gonna change something, at LEAST make the original available too (like Steven Spielberg did with E.T.).

I'd love to have the current Blu-ray set for if / when I do a watch-through of all six movies from Episode I-VI, but I'd also like to have the original versions for if I was doing just Episodes IV-VI.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I would gladly buy a Blu-ray set of the original unaltered trilogy. Hell, I'd settle for a proper nice-looking anamorphic widescreen DVD set (while it's nice to have them on disc from the 2007 releases, they look awful on an HDTV).

Yes, those non-anamorphic transfers are horrid looking.

Lucasfilm seems to always botch something on home video. I'm hoping under Disney this changes.

[RayCRP]

It's interesting to see how people here seem to strongly favor the unaltered original trilogy, probably because it hasn't been released in a new format since the DVDs based on the laserdiscs, but on Star Wars-centric sites, many people seem to want the UOT released simply for archival purposes, so people who want it can have it, but still preferring the SEs because that's how George wants it.

Personally, I like the SEs, because that's when I first got into Star Wars (was 10 in '97), but it'd be nice if some of the '90s-quality special effects were redone. Also, if I really wanted to revisit the previous trilogies before Episode VII, I would have preferred to do so in 3D. At the new rate they were going (or planning to), they could have finished the six episodes by the time VII came out.

[HeavyHitter]

I could see Disney wanting to release something regarding the originals as I don't believe they are receiving any money from the current boxset, current?

They would need to release some version of their own to really capitalize on the home video releases and something to get Star Wars back into people's minds before the new movie in 2015. Some kind of "Warm up."

I could see them them releasing the originals under various marketing slogans such as the "original, classic versions," "never before seen in high definition," "completed restored from 35 mm film elements," etc.

At least I can only hope.

[Eusthenopteron]

Funny, when the SEs came out in '97 I was all in favour of them and was quite happy to forget the UOT, to me the SEs looked so good.

However, slowly since then I have had a yearning to see the UOTs again. That feeling has become stronger over time. I have purchased many of the releases over the past 15 years or so but haven't seen the original cuts at all in that time. Every time I see added footage now, in any of the films particularly ANH, I get very irritated.

I would now love the UOTs to be released on BD, if possible with the special editions included too. If this did happen, I think I would sell off my copy of the BD saga boxset in a heart beat. I don't think I would watch the SEs, well maybe once in a while, but the theatrical cuts would be my preference. Have thought for a while that the story is better as a trilogy (As it was, compared to a six part story).

[JavaJulien]

Originally Posted by Eusthenopteron

Funny, when the SEs came out in '97 I was all in favour of them and was quite happy to forget the UOT, to me the SEs looked so good.

However, slowly since then I have had a yearning to see the UOTs again. That feeling has become stronger over time. I have purchased many of the releases over the past 15 years or so but haven't seen the original cuts at all in that time. Every time I see added footage now, in any of the films particularly ANH, I get very irritated.

I would now love the UOTs to be released on BD, if possible with the special editions included too. If this did happen, I think I would sell off my copy of the BD saga boxset in a heart beat. I don't think I would watch the SEs, well maybe once in a while, but the theatrical cuts would be my preference. Have thought for a while that the story is better as a trilogy (As it was, compared to a six part story).

Hoenstly, there's got to be some type of balance. Keeping the fixes to mistakes while keeping out the really stupid changes.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

I hope to god this happens. It would be one of the biggest home video releases ever and that's not an exaggeration.

Whilst they're at it, it would be nice if they included the original 1997 versions of the Special Editions seeing as those are the versions I grew up with and they haven't been available since the days of VHS and Laserdisc.

[stvn1974]

Do a Blade Runner like release for the both trilogies to please everyone.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Do a Blade Runner like release for the both trilogies to please everyone.

For me, that would be worth the 100 bucks or more they would charge for it, not the current blu ray "complete saga."

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Eusthenopteron

Funny, when the SEs came out in '97 I was all in favour of them and was quite happy to forget the UOT, to me the SEs looked so good.

However, slowly since then I have had a yearning to see the UOTs again. That feeling has become stronger over time. I have purchased many of the releases over the past 15 years or so but haven't seen the original cuts at all in that time. Every time I see added footage now, in any of the films particularly ANH, I get very irritated.

I would now love the UOTs to be released on BD, if possible with the special editions included too. If this did happen, I think I would sell off my copy of the BD saga boxset in a heart beat. I don't think I would watch the SEs, well maybe once in a while, but the theatrical cuts would be my preference. Have thought for a while that the story is better as a trilogy (As it was, compared to a six part story).

When I went to the theaters to see the SEs in 1997, I thought the changes were kind of cool despite having grown up watching the originals (I was five in 1977). However, the added effects and changes badly aged. I came to realize also how they hurt the pacing the films in some cases.