Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[kurtlingle]

Originally Posted by phansson

$hit, I haven't even watched Episode 3! What the hell is wrong with it? Audio????

It's still awesome (did this site give it a 5 or 4.5?) but not as much LFE as 1+2. But it still have alot to offer on the AQ and the PQ is just outstanding... very nice on blu-ray!

[Uxi]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Restrained? Definitely disagree there. I watched it on my system a few nights ago and thought it was demo worthy.

Interesting. Anyone with an acoustically prepared room and calibrated system who is down on the audio in ROTS?

[Scorxpion]

Originally Posted by kurtlingle

It's still awesome (did this site give it a 5 or 4.5?) but not as much LFE as 1+2. But it still have alot to offer on the AQ and the PQ is just outstanding... very nice on blu-ray!

5 all the way for AQ and the best among them.

[Jay444]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

I don't think that's what Guinness was doing.

To him, he was a respected actor who was in it for the love of the craft, the challenge, being part of a society of like-minded actors... his entire body of work was completely overshadowed and practically forgotten because of a role he took in a hokey sci-fi movie in 1977. Instead of being "Sir Alec Guinness" he'd probably be called "BEN! HEY! BEN KENOBI! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!" on a day-to-day basis.

Imagine how tiring that would get. Nobody even knows your name or has any idea you were in other movies, and you're just "Obi-Wan" for the rest of your days. I can see where he's coming from, for sure. It's not "letting it go to his head", it's wishing he could still go to the grocery store without fanatic nerdboys popping wood and asking you to write "May the Force be with you" on their Tesco receipts.

Harrison Ford doesn't seem too fond of the SW movies either, but it doesn't affect how much I like his character in the flicks.

I agree with you 100%. What many keep forgetting (and its been brought up NUMEROUS times in this thread) is that Alec Guiness was from a different generation of actors. With the emergence of home video, celebrity magazines and conventions, life for actors was changing in the late 70s/early 80s. The fanaticism this created would be completly foriegn to an actor like Alec Guiness (and perhaps a bit frightening). The world was changing, and to say Alec Guiness was an ass is ignorant.

[dcowboy7]

Originally Posted by kurtlingle

Anyone know the numbers that LOTR EE sold?

LOTR extended week 1 sold 336,441 units.

LOTR theatricals week 1 sold 188,878 units.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

To him, he was a respected actor who was in it for the love of the craft, the challenge, being part of a society of like-minded actors...

I'd be surprised if lots of actors weren't like that. If you don't enjoy your work, you won't be excelling as much as you could.

...his entire body of work was completely overshadowed and practically forgotten because of a role he took in a hokey sci-fi movie in 1977. Instead of being "Sir Alec Guinness" he'd probably be called "BEN! HEY! BEN KENOBI! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!" on a day-to-day basis.

I once asked Dean Stockwell about the whole idea of celebrities getting agitated about their lack of privacy, and I think his response works well here, too. "It goes with the job."

Imagine how tiring that would get. Nobody even knows your name or has any idea you were in other movies, and you're just "Obi-Wan" for the rest of your days. I can see where he's coming from, for sure. It's not "letting it go to his head", it's wishing he could still go to the grocery store without fanatic nerdboys...asking you to write "May the Force be with you" on their Tesco receipts.

I sympathize with that kind of thing, and I do agree it would get old after a while...but ultimately, that's one of the prices you pay for living a high-profile life. Like it or not, you become a role model for people, and what you do reflects it.

Harrison Ford doesn't seem too fond of the SW movies either, but it doesn't affect how much I like his character in the flicks.

I think both Alec and Harrison just wanted to be accepted by more of the filmgoing public, not just the sci-fi crowd. In and of itself, that's not a bad thing...but to take that aim to such a height that you actively discourage fans from seeing certain roles you've done, just because you're not happy with the notoriety...that's going too far, in my opinion.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Uxi

Interesting. Anyone with an acoustically prepared room and calibrated system who is down on the audio in ROTS?

I think what a few people are arguing is that the overall volume of ROTS is slightly lower than TPM and AOTC, but that's not a big deal. Just turn your receiver up a little.

[Jay444]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I think what a few people are arguing is that the overall volume of ROTS is slightly lower than TPM and AOTC, but that's not a big deal. Just turn your receiver up a little.

WHAT!??! How dare you attempt to use common sense to fix something?!?! Just who do you think you are?

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by dcowboy7

LOTR extended week 1 sold 336,441 units.

LOTR theatricals week 1 sold 188,878 units.

Yay! Star Wars beat LOTR!





"There's only one "Return"... and it ain't "of the King", it's "of the Jedi!""

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Jay444

WHAT!??! How dare you attempt to use common sense to fix something?!?! Just who do you think you are?

Well, this thread definitely needs some. That's for sure.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Jay444

WHAT!??! How dare you attempt to use common sense to fix something?!?! Just who do you think you are?

NO!!!! Turning up the volume (and for that matter, using common sense) would go against Lucas's artistic vision and would ruin the deep symbolism that he put into ROTS by giving a lower volume soundtrack than the other films!

[phansson]

Originally Posted by kurtlingle

It's still awesome (did this site give it a 5 or 4.5?) but not as much LFE as 1+2. But it still have alot to offer on the AQ and the PQ is just outstanding... very nice on blu-ray!

Personally, I bet it will sound better to me. The LFE was a little "hot" on episode 1 and 2.....

[buckeye1]

This may somewhat off subject. But I was looking at my wifes old VHS videos this morning, I kinda remembered she had the Star Wars Trilogy special edition box set. It has the Digitally Mastered THX logo all over the video cases. The date on these says 1997. She had those before we met and got married. Since I don't have my VCR hooked anymore and have not seen these. What is the differance between those and the new blurays? Other than Lucas altered and butcherd them up somewhat? Are these worth anything becuase they are on VHS? Its a kinda cool looking box set. Its black and gold with Darth Vadar on both sides of the box case.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by buckeye1

This may somewhat off subject. But I was looking at my wifes old VHS videos this morning, I kinda remembered she had the Star Wars Trilogy special edition box set. It has the Digitally Mastered THX logo all over the video cases. The date on these says 1997. She had those before we met and got married. Since I don't have my VCR hooked anymore and have not seen these. What is the differance between those and the new blurays? Other than Lucas altered and butcherd them up somewhat? Are these worth anything becuase they are on VHS? Its a kinda cool looking box set. Its black and gold with Darth Vadar on both sides of the box case.

In real monetary terms, nah, not worth much of anything since that VHS sold more copies than the population of the world and is far from rare... but in sentimental value, oooh boy!

The VHS will be 4:3, dodgy picture quality, dodgy audio quality, and it will contain only some of the "enhancements" he's made. Jedi Rocks is still in there, though.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by buckeye1

This may somewhat off subject. But I was looking at my wifes old VHS videos this morning, I kinda remembered she had the Star Wars Trilogy special edition box set. It has the Digitally Mastered THX logo all over the video cases. The date on these says 1997. She had those before we met and got married. Since I don't have my VCR hooked anymore and have not seen these. What is the differance between those and the new blurays? Other than Lucas altered and butcherd them up somewhat? Are these worth anything becuase they are on VHS? Its a kinda cool looking box set. Its black and gold with Darth Vadar on both sides of the box case.

Those are the 1997 special editions that were released in theaters and then on video a few months later. I actually have the Widescreen versions of this release, which came in essentially the same packaging, except it was silver instead of gold and said "Widescreen" on the outer box and on each individual VHS tape cover. This was the first edition to have a bunch of changes done to them.

More changes have occurred since then starting with the 2004 DVDs and even more with the Blu-Rays.


Just a few of them from the 2004 DVDs are:

-The CGI Jabba in ANH was completely redone to look better than the one in the 1997 version.

-Hayden Christiansen appears in place of the original actor, Sebation Shaw, as Anakin in ghost form at the end of ROTJ.

-In TESB, they redid the holographic appearance of the Emperor so that it is now Iam McDiarmid playing the part (he plays Palpatine/The Emperor in ROTJ and all of the PT movies... TESB was originally the only one that he didn't play the part in, and was the first movie in which the character ever appeared in their original order of release) and some of the dialogue was changed.

-Boba Fett's lines were rerecorded by the actors who plays Jango Fett and all of the Clones in AOTC and ROTS, since Boba is supposed to be a clone of him.

-The Celebration at the end of ROTJ was changed a bit from the version made in 1997 to add in some of the planets from the PT into celebrating the fall of the Empire.

(There are probably more, but those are the bigger ones that I can think of off-hand).




For the Blu-Rays, all of the above DVD changes remain intact, and some new ones include:

-Vader yelling "No. Nooooo" at the end of ROTJ when he grabs the Emperor the throws him down the big vent shaft thing. In all previous versions, he didn't say anything.

-CGI Rocks being placed in front of R2 when he is hiding from the Tuskan Raiders (to make him look more hidden) at the beginning of ANH.

-Obi Wan having a new yell or whatever that he does to scare off the Tuskan Raiders in that same scene. This is the 3rd version of this sound (it was previously redone in one of the previous sets of revisions, but I forget offhand if it was the 1997 or 2004 versions).

-CGI eyes being added to Wicket and several other Ewoks so that they can now look around and blink, etc.

-While not part of the OT, Phantom Menace has an all new CGI Yoda in place of the awful looking puppet.

[The Doof]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Listen for yourselves. I really don't know how they missed it, it's baffling, since it was night and day for me, and a lot of other people.

It sounds neutered and restrained.

I actually like that the audio is restrained in ROTS. It makes it a bit quieter and you have to lean in more, thus grabbing your attention more. I don't like all of Lucas' changes, but this one I like.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by The Doof

I actually like that the audio is restrained in ROTS. It makes it a bit quieter and you have to lean in more, thus grabbing your attention more. I don't like all of Lucas' changes, but this one I like.

The audio wasn't changed.

[PrivatePixel]

Originally Posted by phansson

I think first days numbers on Star Wars were 2.5 million and Nemo was 8 million. Avatar sold 1.5 million copies on Blu Ray for the first day and 4 million first week.

I am not trying to start a flame war with all the "lucas lovers" and no, I am not 100% completely happy with this release (80% would be my number). I am just not impressed with the numbers. A lot of forum members expected this to "sell out" and "make sure you pre order a copy" . I saw a TON of copies on the shelf so obviously someone thought that more copies would sell.

I'm not impressed by the sales number either, but then again, the sales figure applies to the nine-disc set only. What about those that purchased only the standalone trilogies?

There was nothing to indicate that a sell-out at retail was imminent. If nothing else, Star Wars is always a safe and surefire bet for retailers, so pre-orders and on-hand inventories would have been substantial in anticipation of heightened consumer interest. With that said, you have to wonder just how much the backlash contributed to dampened sales. If anyone thinks that the changes made by Lucas and shown in the leaked videos leading up to the release date didn't have some impact on overall sales, then denial and delusion have gotten a stranglehold on their senses.

Of course, there is a minority among us who have no interest in the prequels (myself included), so the Complete Saga would have never been purchased to begin with, regardless of how attractive the price point is/was.

[The Doof]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Ah that's incredible! Next time you watch a movie, you should manually adjust the frequency range, randomly remove some of them, and then turn the audio way down. I bet it would make the movie that much more engrossing!

In fact, that's why I like The Phantom Menace's transfer so much... it's lacking fine detail, so you need to squint at the picture constantly and sit closer to the screen to try and squeeze smothered details out of it, which really gets you that much more engrossed in the movie. What a brilliant enhancement.

I would never alter a Creator's intended sound field. How many soundtracks have you mixed? But this is just my opinion and I am allowed to have one. Just because it differs from yours doesn't make it wrong.

[Shaft Windu]

Originally Posted by happydood

I like a lot of what you say. I've never been a fan of labels like 'apologist,' 'hater,' or anything else that attempts to blanket-categorize (I made that phrase up and you're all welcome) a work of art or way of thinking as one thing and one thing only. Getting into an artist's head is just not possible. The work itself is all you have to go on. So, there's really no wrong answer and if there is, who cares? The many requests in this thread to stop talking about one aspect of the movies just come across as someone desperately trying to get control of something because control of their own lives eludes them.

I don't think every last facet of these movies is full of mythological resonance- much of what's there boils down to cool lights, music and explosions. But to completely write off what is mythologically intended is short-sighted. To call someone uninformed does carry the weight of snobbery. But on the other hand, to laugh at somebody for the meaning they get out of something is the other side of the same coin.

I'm reminded of something Scorsese said in regards to Cape Fear when he got carried away taking about the plot as religious allegory- modern man as Job or something like that. He quickly corrected himself and said 'Forget it. It's a thriller. Go see it and if you like it, then look for whatever else is there.' I think this is a pretty good rule of thumb.

Finally, I've got to add to people making fun of what other people get out of Star Wars: you know, you ARE in a thread... about Star Wars. So, there's that.

Thanks for the pep-talk. I appreciate it! It wasn't my intention to appear "snobby" or anything... It just baffles me when someone posts questions about the logic of certain scenes and when you're actually trying to answer these questions by revealing the mythological underpinnings you get laughed at. What is this? Has it become "cool" to ridicule and brag with ones lack of knowledge? But you're right. A metaphor is best left unexplained.