Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[DaveSimonH]

Originally Posted by chip75

Unless you're only after a single Trilogy, I think you're better off with this:

[Show spoiler]

at £59.99. If you're not fussed with the new masters you can get the first two Trilogies on the used market for quite a reasonable amount.

It's crazy how much the prices of the original 6 film 'Saga' sets have dropped. In 2016 I paid about £35 for mine (original boxset design) from CeX, now you can get that used for about £15-16. The jumbo amaray version, is around the same but I see one that's under £13. Same 9 discs.

Originally Posted by Billz

If Disney had taken the time to include the OT without the "Lucasifications" or even the holiday special in these new releases, I would've traded in the last box set.

But nah.

Just more rerelease milking from Disney to keep Star Wars relevant until they're ready to start shoving more Mandalorians down our throats.

Yeah I have no interest in repackages of the 'remastered' discs. If Disney don't bother restoring them properly to the theatrical trilogy, I'll just hang onto the 'Saga' box for the extras and watch the 'despecialized' cuts.

[The Apocalypse]

It never ceases to amaze me just how ignorant Lucas and Disney are and remain re releasing the OOT on Blu-ray. It'd be literally a win-win situation, release all the cuts, make more money. Would it be cheap to restore the OOT? No, but I'd be prepared to bet my left arm and pancreas that they would more than recoup the cost.

Still annoyed about the way they treated The Phantom Menace. It's a sight for sore eyes and shockingly bad. I've still go the original Saga Blu-ray from 2011, with the other three films standalone releases.

Maybe we'll get a complete super ultimate saga deluxe limited collector's edition one day with all cuts.

[RazorwireRyan]

They're George's movies, and that's the way he wants them to be seen. It's not a money issue really.

[Roonan]

Originally Posted by The Apocalypse

It never ceases to amaze me just how ignorant Lucas and Disney are and remain re releasing the OOT on Blu-ray. It'd be literally a win-win situation, release all the cuts, make more money.

The reason why there is no release of theatrical cuts is because Lucas doesn't want to. There's no ignorance at play and it's a fallacy to pretend that it's about gaining money.

[314carpenter]

Originally Posted by The Apocalypse

It never ceases to amaze me just how ignorant Lucas and Disney are and remain re releasing the OOT on Blu-ray. It'd be literally a win-win situation, release all the cuts, make more money.

Star Wars Franchise: Home entertainment sales = $9.068 billion.

Good thing they have you as their sales advisor. How many billion are you worth?

[The Apocalypse]

Thank you all for your kind words vis-à-vis my views pertaining to the release of the original unaltered trilogy. They truly warm my heart. I shall keep expressing such views with supporters such as yourselves.

[Roonan]

It's not a matter of support or lack thereof. Everyone knows that there is demand for the theatrical cuts. That's not a secret to anyone, so there's no point pretending that Lucas or Disney are ignorant about it.

[DrWally]

Originally Posted by Roonan

It's not a matter of support or lack thereof. Everyone knows that there is demand for the theatrical cuts. That's not a secret to anyone, so there's no point pretending that Lucas or Disney are ignorant about it.

See that's the thing - I'm not convinced that outside a diminishing band of ageing die-hards, there is much of a demand any more. The truth is, like it or not, George Lucas WON. He got the versions of the movies he wanted into the public consciousness and the UOT rendered into a footnote in history.

A generation has gone by. When you hear people wax nostalgic about seeing Star Wars in the cinema for the first time now, they mean 1997, not 1977 ('these people are still ALIVE!?'). The Special Editions are older now than the UOT was then. Jedi almost twice as old. To most people, Luke was always looking at Hayden Christensen in the Ewok Village, Temeura Morrison was.always the voice of Boba Fett, the Sarlacc always had those Venus flytrap extensions.

If hypothetically the UOT was released on Ultra HD or dropped on Disney+ tomorrow out of the blue, then the prevailing reaction would likely be along the lines of 'dafuq is this shit? Why is Cloud City just a bunch of plain white walls? Why'd they cut out poor Biggs? Why does The Emperor hologram not look like The Emperor? Why does Boba Fett not sound like Boba Fett? Who's that dude standing next to Obi-Wan and Yoda?' And so on.

[Roonan]

Originally Posted by DrWally

See that's the thing - I'm not convinced that outside a diminishing band of ageing die-hards, there is much of a demand any more. The truth is, like it or not, George Lucas WON.

More like George Lucas earned it. He fought for his independence and artistic freedom, it's only natural that he gets to reap the fruits.

Unfortunately most people in the medium don't get that privilege.

And I disagree that there's not much demand. Ever since Disney bought the company the noise has died down (what a coincidence), but if tomorrow they released the theatrical cuts it would top the sales charts.

[Kinard717]

I just want the Clone Wars Micro Series and Ewok films on BD. Is that possible?

[chip75]

From a certain point of few it's kind of ironic that Disney/Lucasfilm can't promote them as the Oscar winners they were because George gonna George.

Wouldn't mind seeing GL's final cuts along with proper restorations, which is all folks have ever wanted.

[Krynoid-Man]

Originally Posted by DrWally

See that's the thing - I'm not convinced that outside a diminishing band of ageing die-hards, there is much of a demand any more. The truth is, like it or not, George Lucas WON. He got the versions of the movies he wanted into the public consciousness and the UOT rendered into a footnote in history.

A generation has gone by. When you hear people wax nostalgic about seeing Star Wars in the cinema for the first time now, they mean 1997, not 1977 ('these people are still ALIVE!?'). The Special Editions are older now than the UOT was then. Jedi almost twice as old. To most people, Luke was always looking at Hayden Christensen in the Ewok Village, Temeura Morrison was.always the voice of Boba Fett, the Sarlacc always had those Venus flytrap extensions.

If hypothetically the UOT was released on Ultra HD or dropped on Disney+ tomorrow out of the blue, then the prevailing reaction would likely be along the lines of 'dafuq is this shit? Why is Cloud City just a bunch of plain white walls? Why'd they cut out poor Biggs? Why does The Emperor hologram not look like The Emperor? Why does Boba Fett not sound like Boba Fett? Who's that dude standing next to Obi-Wan and Yoda?' And so on.

I can confirm this. I grew up with the 97 special editions on tape, so I had no idea they weren't the originals for years, and when I did eventually get my hands on the GOUT DVDs the theatrical cuts felt a bit incomplete to me.
This also applies to the prequels as well. I have a friend who first watched Phantom Menace on DVD, so he had no idea the pod race scene had been extended from 2001 onwards until I offhandedly mentioned that I thought it worked better in its theatrical cut form a couple of years ago.

[2-J]

I can only assume that Disney value good relations with George Lucas more than the money they could get (which, as some have pointed out here, shouldn't be overestimated) from releasing the original editions in best possible quality on blu ray. For example, they not only invited George to the set of the Mandalorian but they also publicized that.

The net result is I still watch my official UK DVDs containing the original versions more than I watch the official UK 4k blu rays of those movies (though I still gain some enjoyment from the 4k versions) :-) and that will have to do. I like some of George's changes (mostly, where it's cosmetic stuff, effects and the like) but I hate a lot of the significant changes (Jabba the Hutt in the first movie, ugh).

[Roonan]

Originally Posted by 2-J

I can only assume that Disney value good relations with George Lucas more than the money they could get (which, as some have pointed out here, shouldn't be overestimated) from releasing the original editions in best possible quality on blu ray. For example, they not only invited George to the set of the Mandalorian but they also publicized that.

I don't think Disney cares about honoring or keeping "good relations" with Lucas at the expense of making money. They didn't hesitate in sacrificing those "good relations" when they made their sequel trilogy.

It's more likely (and logical, knowing his history in regards to studios altering works without the consent of the artist) that Lucas protected himself in regards to his works when he sold the company. And Disney is left with no choice but to honor that. That's why the decision to release those versions is still up to Lucas.

Lucas visited the set of The Mandalorian because of the people involved in it, not because of Disney.

[2-J]

Well I wouldn't say they sacrificed the good relations making the sequel trilogy if George is willing to visit the Mandalorian and be filmed, and for that to be publicized by Disney. I guess good relations have been maintained, at least to some extent.

I could well imagine George feeling very differently about them doing the sequel trilogy in a way he hadn't intended, like not being as upset about that, compared to Disney releasing the original trilogy in good quality, especially as he has this vision that the original versions of the original trilogy are just going to be forgotten (as we have seen from this thread that really does seem to be the case for some people).

Also one of your premises is that Disney would make a (significant) amount of money from releasing the original versions as opposed to just releasing the updated versions, which as we have seen is increasingly questionable.

Apparently, it is possible that George Lucas got Disney to contractually agree not to release the unaltered original trilogy but it's not been confirmed by anyone.

[Roonan]

Originally Posted by 2-J

Well I wouldn't say they sacrificed the good relations making the sequel trilogy if George is willing to visit the Mandalorian and be filmed, and for that to be publicized by Disney. I guess good relations have been maintained, at least to some extent.

I don't see the correlation. George is still friends with a lot of people in Lucasfilm, specially in the team behind The Mandalorian. It has nothing to do with Disney. Disney will of course use his visits and comments for publicity, but that says nothing about Lucas himself.

Originally Posted by 2-J

I could well imagine George feeling very differently about them doing the sequel trilogy in a way he hadn't intended, like not being as upset about that, compared to Disney releasing the original trilogy in good quality

I don't disagree. My point is that the decision of not releasing them is up to George because he made it that way, not because Disney doesn't want to upset him.

Originally Posted by 2-J

Also one of your premises is that Disney would make a (significant) amount of money from releasing the original versions as opposed to just releasing the updated versions, which as we have seen is increasingly questionable.

How is it questionable? The fact that the special editions are best sellers doesn't exclude the theatrical versions from selling well. They aren't mutually exclusive (it happened back in 2006, and the theatricals then were just bonuses). These movies sell no matter what, and if you add the theatrical versions, the interest will only increase.

Originally Posted by 2-J

Apparently, it is possible that George Lucas got Disney to contractually agree not to release the unaltered original trilogy but it's not been confirmed by anyone.

Of course it's not confirmed, but what is confirmed is that it's up to George, not Disney. And since he sold the company and no longer owns the movies, that can only be true if he protected himself legally when he sold the company. Which is more than expected considering his long, historic stance against studios altering movies without the consent of the artists. The very issue that was the driving force behind his fight for independence.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by DrWally

See that's the thing - I'm not convinced that outside a diminishing band of ageing die-hards, there is much of a demand any more. The truth is, like it or not, George Lucas WON. He got the versions of the movies he wanted into the public consciousness and the UOT rendered into a footnote in history.

A generation has gone by. When you hear people wax nostalgic about seeing Star Wars in the cinema for the first time now, they mean 1997, not 1977 ('these people are still ALIVE!?'). The Special Editions are older now than the UOT was then. Jedi almost twice as old. To most people, Luke was always looking at Hayden Christensen in the Ewok Village, Temeura Morrison was.always the voice of Boba Fett, the Sarlacc always had those Venus flytrap extensions.

If hypothetically the UOT was released on Ultra HD or dropped on Disney+ tomorrow out of the blue, then the prevailing reaction would likely be along the lines of 'dafuq is this shit? Why is Cloud City just a bunch of plain white walls? Why'd they cut out poor Biggs? Why does The Emperor hologram not look like The Emperor? Why does Boba Fett not sound like Boba Fett? Who's that dude standing next to Obi-Wan and Yoda?' And so on.

I'm not bothered about addressing your main points in this post, only to point out/nitpick that Hayden and Temuera were first added to the 2004 DVD revisions and were nowhere to be seen/heard in the 1997 SEs.

I'll always have a soft spot for those 1997 versions as they were what really got me into SW. As an '80s kid then I missed out on the hoopla first time around, I was more interested in the A-Team, Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider et al and SW was kinda fading into the background, kept alive by the novels and other ancillary stuff. But in 1997 the marketing machine ramped up, preceded by remastered home video releases of the OG versions the year before, and it got me hooked.

[Roonan]

What I miss the most from the 97 SEs was a cool making of featurette that was included in some of the VHS releases. Unfortunately they never made it available elsewhere, not even in the official site.

[DrWally]

Originally Posted by Roonan

What I miss the most from the 97 SEs was a cool making of featurette that was included in some of the VHS releases. Unfortunately they never made it available elsewhere, not even in the official site.

Wasn't much of the footage repurposed into the 'Anatomy of a Dewback' feature on the Blu-Ray set?

[Roonan]

No, Anatomy of a Dewback was focused only on the Dune Sea sequence where the stormtroopers search for the droids.

The featurette was more thorough and covered almost all the SE changes.