Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[octagon]

Originally Posted by NYorker

Just thought of something...
If some day GL decides to release the "originals" - but only in 3D...what do you do...? get 3D sets...?

Duh, buy the 3d set and an eye-patch.

[Alpha]

Originally Posted by StereoMike

http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/t...7/720de7e9.jpg

I still play Jedi Power Battles from time to time

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by octagon

Duh, buy the 3d set and an eye-patch.

I'd just buy the 3D Set........


Already got the eye-patch

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Split Surround used 6 source channels, but was actually a 7.1 channel playback format. The way that it worked is that tracks 2 and 4, normally used in the Dolby "Baby Boom" format only for low frequency effects for Le and Re were also used for split surround high frequencies and the normal mono surround was used for split surround low frequencies. IIRC, the crossover was at 200Hz.

The 18 films that used the 70mm split surround process were:
Superman (experimentally - just a few scenes and only few prints)
Apocalypse Now
The Jazz Singer
Superman II
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Supergirl
Return to Oz
The Black Cauldron
Top Gun
Lawrence of Arabia 1989 restoration (maybe)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Hunt for Red October
Dick Tracy (also released in CDS digital sound)
Days of Thunder (also released in CDS digital sound)
Beauty and the Beast
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Shining Through
Alien 3 (this is disputed, but Michael Coate, an industry expert, claims it was)

after that, it was supplanted by 5.1 digital sound.

By the way, I dispute your contention that Dolby SR mag would have had higher dynamic range than 16 bit digital. 16 bit digital supports 96db dynamic range. The SR might have sounded better, but not because of dynamic range limits. In fact, the opposite could be true: a wide dynamic range can drive the theater's b-chain into distortion so a track with less dynamic range would have lower distortion and sound better.

That contention comes from the mixers at Skywalker Sound, where they said (as of 1995) the highest dynamic range in any film they had worked on was Last Crusade, and that the range had to be tempered for the LD PCM tracks to avoid clipping.

Myself I dispute that The Hunt for Red October and Beauty and the Beast had 5.1 mixes. Alien3 was indeed 70MM Dolby SR, as was True Lies (not listed). I saw both in the premiere houses in Westwood Los Angeles. THFRO had SR prints and a 70MM mix, but was 4.2 70MM from all the documentation I can find.

More trivia: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was the first SR 70MM release (called "Dolby Spectral Sound" at the time). It was 4.2 and VERY dynamic. Saw it at the FOX Westwood. Unforgettable.

I also thought the confguration where the surrounds were filtered was used only on the first couple films (Superman, Apocalypse Now), and from there the rest used the baby booms as the split surrounds and the former mono-surround channel for LFE.

[FlipperWasIrish]

Originally Posted by NYorker

Just thought of something...
If some day GL decides to release the "originals" - but only in 3D...what do you do...? get 3D sets...?

It will never happen, so no thought needed.

[JamesKurtovich]

I'm happy to see Star Wars for pre-order on Amazon... I even posted the link to my FB.

What's with all of the ghey ad banners on Blu-ray.com now? It makes surfing this place not as fun.

[TL OWNS U]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

I'm happy to see Star Wars for pre-order on Amazon... I even posted the link to my FB.

What's with all of the ghey ad banners on Blu-ray.com now? It makes surfing this place not as fun.

Get the add block extension for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Blocks them with no problem.

As for the Star Wars release, I am really looking forward to it. To be honest, I've never actually seen the original Star Wars films in the original edition. I've actually been thinking about getting a Lazerdisc player and the original trilogy for LD to see it for myself, but sadly I don't have the budget to do it at this time.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by TL OWNS U

Get the add block extension for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Blocks them with no problem.

As for the Star Wars release, I am really looking forward to it. To be honest, I've never actually seen the original Star Wars films in the original edition. I've actually been thinking about getting a Lazerdisc player and the original trilogy for LD to see it for myself, but sadly I don't have the budget to do it at this time.

Just get the individual DVD releases, it has the original unaltered version as a bonus feature. It's not anamorphic but that's not something you'll find on the LD versions either.

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by greg_achen

How do you account for the record-breaking profits of the theatrical and home-video releases of the prequels? I could maybe understand the success of the theatrical releases being a fluke, but if the prequels are so widely maligned it sure makes their success on DVD a mystery.

They didn't break the records set by the original films in the theater, if you account for adjusted gross (the only real way to compare). Star Wars, ESB, and ROTJ are #'s 2, 12, and 15 respectively, and Ep I, II, and III are 20, 85, and 58 on the all-time list. I don't have the DVD numbers right in front of me, though.

Regardless, personally I believe they sold because they were Star Wars. They were the only prequels that were made. And, I don't hate them at all. They are OK movies, parts of them are very good (to me, mostly the parts that relate to the OT). Just no where near as good as the first three, even though they share many common flaws (acting, directing, writing - particularly dialogue).

I was just pointing out that, in terms of the "Classic" vs. SE's, we've never had a mano-e-mano fight between them for sales. If Lucas offered a single-disc BD release of Star Wars, in two versions - one, the SE, and two, a cleaned up negative of the original version, then we'd know how people felt.

It's largely academic, but it's interesting to think about nonetheless.

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

The 18 films that used the 70mm split surround process were:
Superman (experimentally - just a few scenes and only few prints)
Apocalypse Now
The Jazz Singer
Superman II
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Supergirl
Return to Oz
The Black Cauldron
Top Gun
Lawrence of Arabia 1989 restoration (maybe)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Hunt for Red October
Dick Tracy (also released in CDS digital sound)
Days of Thunder (also released in CDS digital sound)
Beauty and the Beast
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Shining Through
Alien 3 (this is disputed, but Michael Coate, an industry expert, claims it was)

That is so funny...a good portion of that list are some of my favorite movies that I hope to see on Blu someday but don't dare count on. Such an eclectic group of films, too.

Originally Posted by FlipperWasIrish

It will never happen, so no thought needed.

Never say never.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were attached to the eventual 3-D releases on Blu...as a way to get people like me that couldn't care less about Star Wars in 3-D to buy the stinkin' thing.

[Nightshade]

I cant wait!!!!!








-itwez

[Yojimbo68]

I'm in for the whole saga. (Just in case you're keeping score!) This is cool news but what I was hoping for was something more along the lines of the recent ALIEN BD's. Here's what I really would love to see in this set:

TPM-Original theatrical cut plus extended cut.
AOTC-Theatrical and IMAX cut. (The Imax cut, IMHO, is a better version of the film)
ROTS-Theatrical and extended cuts

As for the original trilogy, I want what most fans want. The original cuts and the SE cuts. 30 hours of extras is cool but it's just gravy. Give us alternate cuts and make EVERYBODY happy!

[riverbelow]

With regards to the debate over how good or crap the Prequels are, as versus the OT. Certainly redlettermedia made a meal out of the "lucas hate" with this scathing breakdown of how and why the prequels failed to live up to the original movies, for a lot of OLDER fans.

Im sure new fans of star wars that made prequels 1/2/3 bankable were born around 1985-1990. Therefore you can't count them as understanding really why the originals are better. This is why they watched those movies at the theatre over and over. OMG candy my dad told me star wars is great! Now i believe him!! Dad let me see it again

Part one and navigate from their on your own http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

Me personally, I loved TPM. Feel like liam neeson saved that movie with his acting being the ONLY acting that was great. Everyone else was average. The SFX/music and story was fine. The execution of the story was average. A re-edit might be able to make the pacing better. But that will never happen.

I didn't love episode 2 and 3 nearly as much. Redlettermedia sums it up for me. I still watch the movies, but I think at the end of them "what could have been"
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I will buy the saga on Blu. I will buy the originals on blu (if the unedited gets released). I will buy any 3D version that gets made. I am not a lucas fanboy, I am not a star wars fanboy. I appreciate the movies and the universe! And most importantly I adore john williams score. He elevates the movies to "classics"

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by TL OWNS U

As for the Star Wars release, I am really looking forward to it. To be honest, I've never actually seen the original Star Wars films in the original edition. I've actually been thinking about getting a Lazerdisc player and the original trilogy for LD to see it for myself, but sadly I don't have the budget to do it at this time.

Why not watch them at a friend's place, or rent them somewhere.
Cant' be that hard to find.

Originally Posted by Yojimbo68

I'm in for the whole saga. (Just in case you're keeping score!) This is cool news but what I was hoping for was something more along the lines of the recent ALIEN BD's. Here's what I really would love to see in this set:

TPM-Original theatrical cut plus extended cut.
AOTC-Theatrical and IMAX cut. (The Imax cut, IMHO, is a better version of the film)
ROTS-Theatrical and extended cuts

As for the original trilogy, I want what most fans want. The original cuts and the SE cuts. 30 hours of extras is cool but it's just gravy. Give us alternate cuts and make EVERYBODY happy!

Humble requests indeed.

[aiman04]

I was born in 1977, I love all six movies. Though I obviously love episodes 4-6 more.

[monkeyjb1988]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

John Knoll's "Creating the Worlds of Star Wars 365 days" answers those questions about whether or not Lucas just shot nothing but bluescreen and used computers to do the rest...blows a whole right through that argument of Lucas being lazy.

You won't believe the amount of model work that went into the Prequels.

Prime example. More model work done in Episode I than the ENTIRE ORIGINAL TRILOGY.

The podrace in Episode I has a lot more model work than even I realized...

Sounds like a cool book. Thanks for sharing.

I find it funny that one sequence in Phantom Menace, one of the supposed "CGI Porn" films, beats the entire trilogy. Gotta get this book so I'm prepared for September.

[monkeyjb1988]

Originally Posted by TL OWNS U

\As for the Star Wars release, I am really looking forward to it. To be honest, I've never actually seen the original Star Wars films in the original edition. I've actually been thinking about getting a Lazerdisc player and the original trilogy for LD to see it for myself, but sadly I don't have the budget to do it at this time.

The original versions are available on DVD. You don't need a Laserdisc player. They're available as two disc sets, disc one having Lucas' preferred versions and disc two has the original versions. They're the same transfers from the laserdiscs, except that New Hope has the 1977 opening crawl, ie. when it was just Star Wars, not Episode 4: A New Hope. They're non-anamorphic widescreen, with black bars staying on top and bottom no matter what, and not as good looking or sounding as Lucas' versions. However, they are still decent and (Original fans, don't hate me) better than nothing.

New Hope: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Epis...4578040&sr=1-7

Empire: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Epis.../dp/B000FQJAJG

Jedi: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Epis.../dp/B000FQVX78

Trilogy Boxset: (Includes to DVDs with original versions) http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Tril.../dp/B001EN71DG

There are also fullscreen (1.33) versions, but that only applies to the Lucas versions. No matter what you get, the original versions are widescreen. I just posted these links because I'm not a fan of cropping and, if you so choose, you can go to Lucas' version without losing any of the picture. Just a guide if you, or anyone's interested. I got them (before I got a Blu-Ray player ) and I'm not sorry.

Edit: Thank you to s2mikey for reminding me: the original versions have 2.0 audio. Lucas' versions have 5.1. Both are Dolby Digital, though the 5.1 is DD EX.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by monkeyjb1988

The original versions are available on DVD. You don't need a Laserdisc player. They're available as two disc sets, disc one having Lucas' preferred versions and disc two has the original versions. They're the same transfers from the laserdiscs, except that New Hope has the 1977 opening crawl, ie. when it was just Star Wars, not Episode 4: A New Hope. They're non-anamorphic widescreen, with black bars staying on top and bottom no matter what, and not as good looking or sounding as Lucas' versions. However, they are still decent and (Original fans, don't hate me) better than nothing.

Dont those have 2.0 sound? Thats lame an unacceptable. Being non-anamorphic also sucks. To each their own but these were horrible releases unless you are speaking of something else.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Dont those have 2.0 sound? Thats lame an unacceptable. Being non-anamorphic also sucks. To each their own but these were horrible releases unless you are speaking of something else.

Please read the post he quoted. We're only responding to TL OWNS U's post about trying to buy the LD, it was too expensive for him that's why we recommended the DVD as a cheaper alternative. We're not in any way saying that the DVD is the best quality.

[Beta Man]

I wouldn't mind getting the whole saga..... but don't "really" want the "new" ones..... The extras I'm on the fence about, but not sure I really care.

I like the original trilogy, and $15 each is an easy sell..... but $60 for the whole saga would sell me too..... so I don't know if I should wait, or just pre-order the original trilogy

I have the OT on DVD, but never bought the "new" ones...... so if they were cheap enough, I'd get them.... just don't know if I'd watch them more than once or twice.

[greekak229]

Although the prequels are the worst thing since Hepatitis, I feel obliged to get the entire Saga.