Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Who knows which planet this is?

[Rodney-2187]

Rebel Bass

image.jpg

[bobbyh64]

I can't believe the original versions of the first three movies still aren't available. It really makes no sense at all. Spielberg came to his senses and realized his Lucasized version of E.T. was a mistake. Even before he realized it was a mistake he still made both versions of E.T. available.

I don't understand Lucas's reasons for not releasing the trilogy. They just don't make any sense to me, especially considering that literally all the re-releases of the Star Wars movies have changes, even the 1981 theatrical re-release of Star Wars. 99% of the fans saw the movie how it was before the DVD versions anyway. I don't think it's really debatable that the original versions should be available on Blu-ray. If Francis Ford Coppola changed The Godfather so that the cop's and mob boss's heads exploded in the restaurant scene, could it be argued that's an improvement? There are too many extremely obvious changes in these films, like giant dinosaur aliens walking by blocking the entire shot. I'm not that against changes that improve the film in terms of a little mistake that's barely noticeable or removing matte lines, but I don't think it can argued that the changes in the Star Wars films improve the movies in any way.

[Captain Flint]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

I can't believe the original versions of the first three movies still aren't available. It really makes no sense at all. Spielberg came to his senses and realized his Lucasized version of E.T. was a mistake. Even before he realized it was a mistake he still made both versions of E.T. available.

I don't understand Lucas's reasons for not releasing the trilogy. They just don't make any sense to me, especially considering that literally all the re-releases of the Star Wars movies have changes, even the 1981 theatrical re-release of Star Wars. 99% of the fans saw the movie how it was before the DVD versions anyway. I don't think it's really debatable that the original versions should be available on Blu-ray. If Francis Ford Coppola changed The Godfather so that the cop's and mob boss's heads exploded in the restaurant scene, could it be argued that's an improvement? There are too many extremely obvious changes in these films, like giant dinosaur aliens walking by blocking the entire shot. I'm not that against changes that improve the film in terms of a little mistake that's barely noticeable or removing matte lines, but I don't think it can argued that the changes in the Star Wars films improve the movies in any way.

Feel better now?

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

I can't believe the original versions of the first three movies still aren't available. It really makes no sense at all. Spielberg came to his senses and realized his Lucasized version of E.T. was a mistake. Even before he realized it was a mistake he still made both versions of E.T. available.

I don't understand Lucas's reasons for not releasing the trilogy. They just don't make any sense to me, especially considering that literally all the re-releases of the Star Wars movies have changes, even the 1981 theatrical re-release of Star Wars. 99% of the fans saw the movie how it was before the DVD versions anyway. I don't think it's really debatable that the original versions should be available on Blu-ray. If Francis Ford Coppola changed The Godfather so that the cop's and mob boss's heads exploded in the restaurant scene, could it be argued that's an improvement? There are too many extremely obvious changes in these films, like giant dinosaur aliens walking by blocking the entire shot. I'm not that against changes that improve the film in terms of a little mistake that's barely noticeable or removing matte lines, but I don't think it can argued that the changes in the Star Wars films improve the movies in any way.

The only reason i can think of for the absence of a fully-restored Blu-Ray release of the OUT is Mr Lucas.Sure he did the fans a (dis)service when the OUT was released back in 2006-as bonus features.By calling it a bonus feature he could get away with the archival laserdisc-quality image.

If nothing happens in 2017 i doubt it ever will.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

The only reason i can think of for the absence of a fully-restored Blu-Ray release of the OUT is Mr Lucas.Sure he did the fans a (dis)service when the OUT was released back in 2006-as bonus features.By calling it a bonus feature he could get away with the archival laserdisc-quality image.

If nothing happens in 2017 i doubt it ever will.

Disney haven't even owned the thing for long, it could take years to properly restore the OT and find a good release method and window. I don't know why you see 2017 as some kind of deadline, other than to be dramatic.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Disney haven't even owned the thing for long, it could take years to properly restore the OT and find a good release method and window. I don't know why you see 2017 as some kind of deadline, other than to be dramatic.

Whose being dramatic? It's just my opinion.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

Whose being dramatic? It's just my opinion.

Who's

[HeavyHitter]

Sometimes if feels like we're going to be stuck with these forever. lol It's interesting how we have largely unknown or smaller catalog titles that have gotten newer high quality transfers, yet we still have Star Wars with 13-year-old scans and plenty of artifacts/flaws.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jonezzz...

I think I would've preferred to see Han having grown more as a character, instead of going back to just being an older version of his old self. I remember hearing rumours that he was now captain of a star destroyer for the Republic, I thought that sounded really cool! And he could still have had the Falcon as his personal ship. However, I still thought he was good in TFA, though I really wish it could've been him and Chewie in the dogfight on Jakku instead of Rey and Finn, showing their skills piloting the Falcon one last time.

I can get behind all of this. When he's on, Ford is so great that it's impossible to not be invested in what he does. I don't mind the character reverting back to his old ways and he was definitely fun this go round. One of the biggest things I didn't buy were the two opposing smuggler teams that show up to start talking smack at him on the freighter. They had no presence at all compared to Ford, were all too young to be threatening, and looked like if he blew on them he'd knock them down. So there was a lot of noise in that sequence but it didn't really add anything to the movie at all.

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Sometimes if feels like we're going to be stuck with these forever. lol It's interesting how we have largely unknown or smaller catalog titles that have gotten newer high quality transfers, yet we still have Star Wars with 13-year-old scans and plenty of artifacts/flaws.

Yeah, and on top of that (literally), they added new changes for the Blu-ray release, without updating the quality of the masters themselves. It's very odd that Lucas never felt the need to do new restorations beyond the '97 versions. If THX was supposed to be some sort of stamp of quality, every time these see a new format, they should be getting fully restored/remastered with much more attention to pre-existing details, instead of adding more new, unnecessary elements.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by master gandhi

Yeah, and on top of that (literally), they added new changes for the Blu-ray release, without updating the quality of the masters themselves. It's very odd that Lucas never felt the need to do new restorations beyond the '97 versions. If THX was supposed to be some sort of stamp of quality, every time these see a new format, they should be getting fully restored/remastered with much more attention to pre-existing details, instead of adding more new, unnecessary elements.

Well, the '97 versions were a big deal as far as a purely photochemical rehabilitation goes (SE additions notwithstanding) so that was the big restoration in Lucas' eyes. Then a big song and dance was made about Lowry working on the DVDs (the underlying HD masters of which have been recycled ever since across TV, Blu-ray, digital etc) so that was it in LFL's mind, no need to do anything more even though these transfers have been left in the dust.

But we know that Lowry did a 16-bit 4K restoration of the trilogy in 2012 so it's just a waiting game to see what LFL do with it. My money's on a re-release of the OT next year, but what form they'll take (originals, SEs, 'final cuts', theatrical, Blu, UHD) is anyone's guess.

Oh, and THX is a bust anyways IMO, their "quality assurance" is fine for tech gear, but when it comes to video/audio quality it's a far more nebulous concept because some absolute shite has been put out with the THX seal of approval.

[HD Goofnut]

If it wasn't for Lucas' 1997 versions I never would have got to see the original three theatrically.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Sometimes if feels like we're going to be stuck with these forever. lol It's interesting how we have largely unknown or smaller catalog titles that have gotten newer high quality transfers, yet we still have Star Wars with 13-year-old scans and plenty of artifacts/flaws.

People will buy Star Wars no matter what, they don't need to put in too much effort.

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

If it wasn't for Lucas' 1997 versions I never would have got to see the original three theatrically.

Technically speaking, you never did see the "original" three theatrically then.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

If it wasn't for Lucas' 1997 versions I never would have got to see the original three theatrically.

i

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Well, the '97 versions were a big deal as far as a purely photochemical rehabilitation goes (SE additions notwithstanding) so that was the big restoration in Lucas' eyes. Then a big song and dance was made about Lowry working on the DVDs (the underlying HD masters of which have been recycled ever since across TV, Blu-ray, digital etc) so that was it in LFL's mind, no need to do anything more even though these transfers have been left in the dust.

But we know that Lowry did a 16-bit 4K restoration of the trilogy in 2012 so it's just a waiting game to see what LFL do with it. My money's on a re-release of the OT next year, but what form they'll take (originals, SEs, 'final cuts', theatrical, Blu, UHD) is anyone's guess.

Oh, and THX is a bust anyways IMO, their "quality assurance" is fine for tech gear, but when it comes to video/audio quality it's a far more nebulous concept because some absolute shite has been put out with the THX seal of approval.

Didn't Mike Verta claim to be meeting with Disney later this year? I guess there is always some hope for next year.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Didn't Mike Verta claim to be meeting with Disney later this year? I guess there is always some hope for next year.

But the heck of it is, there's no need to even use a 4th generation source(s) to recreate the original versions. Much of the original is still there on the reconformed SE negatives, and they can then use other pre-print elements like the YCM seps, IPs and whatnot to rebuild what they need to rebuild (that's if LFL didn't archive the negative trims from the SE restoration, I refuse to believe that they just threw them out).

It may have been a mission to piece the movies back together again in the photochemical realm which is why Lucas said "they don't exist any more" back in the day but, given the digital tools available now, restoring Star Wars to its original state wouldn't even be as troublesome as other restorations like LoA or Spartacus. Even the issue of recreating dropped frames due to the splicing was digitally fixable 10 years ago! It'd take a lot of time and effort and money to achieve for sure, but there are no massive dead-ends that would stop the project in its tracks; all it ever needed was the technology to catch up and the corporate will to carry it out.

To that end, fingers (and everything else) crossed that the stewardship of Disney/LFL isn't so myopic as it was under George Walton Lucas Jr. We WILL get a restored something next year, of that I'm convinced, but the questions remain as to what and how.

[m3racer123]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

i

No, 'I' is always a capital letter

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by Bobbyjoe766

i