Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Geoff D]

Watched a bit of Phantom Menace earlier, the DNR's even worse than I remember it. The colour's very pallid at times as well. Such a disappointment.

[HeavyHitter]

I watched A New Hope and Empire last week (on 65" screen).

I also A/B'd scenes from each movie to the 2004 DVDs for curiosity reasons.

They look remarkably similar (I guess not surprising since they both stem from the same old transfer). In terms of sheer detail, there is not a big difference. Of course, the BD has somewhat more detail. The color and shadow looked a bit better on the BD, as well, but again, very similar to the DVD. Now, when you factor in the frozen grain and edge enhancement which is possibly more visible on the BD, they really look digital at times. Of course, the audio is definitely a notable upgrade on the BD. All in all, not horrible releases, but not very good either and a disappointment for movies like these especially when you watch the Indy movies on BD which show significant differences compared to the DVDs.

My best guess is maybe when the 3D versions are released down the road, they will do new scans for these?

[poke smot]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I watched A New Hope and Empire last week (on 65" screen).

I also A/B'd scenes from each movie to the 2004 DVDs for curiosity reasons.

They look remarkably similar (I guess not surprising since they both stem from the same old transfer). In terms of sheer detail, there is not a big difference. Of course, the BD has somewhat more detail. The color and shadow looked a bit better on the BD, as well, but again, very similar to the DVD. Now, when you factor in the frozen grain and edge enhancement which is possibly more visible on the BD, they really look digital at times. Of course, the audio is definitely a notable upgrade on the BD. All in all, not horrible releases, but not very good either and a disappointment for movies like these especially when you watch the Indy movies on BD which show significant differences compared to the DVDs.

My best guess is maybe when the 3D versions are released down the road, they will do new scans for these?

i here ya. but i never watched the dvds, and i hadnt seen any SW for about 12 years. anyway, i was blown away by the set. but it does sound like lucas skimped. the 3d conversions are probably done for the PT. no new transfer there. but hopefully the OT will get new scans for the theatrical 3d release (if it happens). regardless, love me some star wars.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I watched A New Hope and Empire last week (on 65" screen).

I also A/B'd scenes from each movie to the 2004 DVDs for curiosity reasons.

They look remarkably similar (I guess not surprising since they both stem from the same old transfer). In terms of sheer detail, there is not a big difference. Of course, the BD has somewhat more detail. The color and shadow looked a bit better on the BD, as well, but again, very similar to the DVD. Now, when you factor in the frozen grain and edge enhancement which is possibly more visible on the BD, they really look digital at times. Of course, the audio is definitely a notable upgrade on the BD. All in all, not horrible releases, but not very good either and a disappointment for movies like these especially when you watch the Indy movies on BD which show significant differences compared to the DVDs.

Yep, although thankfully the bizarre blue colouration of Star Wars was toned down for the BD. The rest of it - including the patented frozen Lowry Grain™ - is very similar to the DVDs.

My best guess is maybe when the 3D versions are released down the road, they will do new scans for these?

Not a chance. Lucasfilm has repurposed the 2004 HD transfers again and again, and the 3D editions will be no different. The CG rocks added in front of Artoo in the desert canyon are a blatant sop to the eventual 3D-ification of the movie, and it's right there in the BD master. Ugh.

[mrpink134]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yep, although thankfully the bizarre blue colouration of Star Wars was toned down for the BD. The rest of it - including the patented frozen Lowry Grain™ - is very similar to the DVDs.


Not a chance. Lucasfilm has repurposed the 2004 HD transfers again and again, and the 3D editions will be no different. The CG rocks added in front of Artoo in the desert canyon are a blatant sop to the eventual 3D-ification of the movie, and it's right there in the BD master. Ugh.

I just want a 4k scan of the UOT and I will forever be grateful. I doubt that will happen though.

[blonde_devil]

i wouldn't totally be surprised if Disney reissues these with a new scan but don't bet on it being any time soon. they seem to like this "vault" idea of thiers so i could see it being done but in like 10 years once the Fox releases are out of stores. they see, to put a lot of care into thier early cartoons so i would imagine they would do a good job with these but it does create a problem - right now, the original trilogy could be released because all they would need to do is scan and clean up the missing parts since the rest is already done. If they rescan the movie, this means bacially scanning 2 movies since everything - both original and "special edition" - would need to be rescanned. this would double the cost(well, maybe not double but significantly more). don't know if they will want to do that.

[JamesKurtovich]

It'll be profitable. A lot of people, including myself, aren't buying until the originals are offered.

[financially stable]

When TPM 3d going to be released on blu rày? It's been almost (a year) since it came out.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

It'll be profitable. A lot of people, including myself, aren't buying until the originals are offered.

Not only that but a lot of others like me who have the special editions would still buy the originals if they came to Blu-ray

[blonde_devil]

yeah but how profitable? i am a star trek fan but i didn't buy most of the original dvd movie releases because it wan't worth it at the time. i also haven't upgraded most of my dvds to bluray yet as i don't see the point. could be the same thing here -while there are people who didn't buy this version because they are waiting for a better set, there are people who won't upgrade because they already own this set and don't see a reason(3D isn't a selling point for me). remember, Hollywood doesn't consider a movie profitable unless it makes at least 3-5 times it budget back. If Disney looks at this and figures out the profit just isn't enough, they might not do it.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

If Disney looks at this and figures out the profit just isn't enough, they might not do it.

Disney could basically put any price-tag on re-releases (especially if they're new transfers of the original theatricals) and they would sell. They could charge $100 a film with limited-edition-going-in-the-vault-soon packaging in it would sell out on-line in 30 minutes or less!

Disney knows the Star Wars Saga is all gravy....

[Mavrick]

There's still 7 years left until Disney even get the rights to episodes 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Then they would have to dish out more money to buy episode 4 from Fox, or come up with a deal to release a boxset in partnership with Fox. Either way Disney have got a hard time ahead when it comes to the originals. Even if they did do new scans it wouldn't involve Star Wars.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

It'll be profitable. A lot of people, including myself, aren't buying until the originals are offered.

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Not only that but a lot of others like me who have the special editions would still buy the originals if they came to Blu-ray

I actually doubt there's much audience for the original unaltered editions at all. You can't evaluate the demand based on the fanboys on sites like this one. Those probably don't even amount to more than 500 people. And the chances are that even if Disney did elect to reconstruct the originals, aside from what can be done using automated processes (if they even went that far and didn't just use the DVD masters uprezzed (or not) for BD), they would not put money into a restoration, so they probably wouldn't look all that great and there would be the usual complaints. The fact is that most people don't give a crap - if they like Star Wars, they're perfectly happy with the BD versions that have already been released and as the fan base ages, younger people probably aren't even totally aware that the movies had been altered.

What I can see Disney doing is putting the SD DVD versions as an extra on some future Star Wars movie release package - perhaps after the first three new films are released, assuming that they don't bomb and they get that far and also assuming that they have the rights to do so. I know this has been discussed a zillion times already, but doesn't 20cFox retain some distribution rights to the OT and PT?

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

I actually doubt there's much audience for the original unaltered editions at all. You can't evaluate the demand based on the fanboys on sites like this one. Those probably don't even amount to more than 500 people. And the chances are that even if Disney did elect to reconstruct the originals, aside from what can be done using automated processes (if they even went that far and didn't just use the DVD masters uprezzed (or not) for BD), they would not put money into a restoration, so they probably wouldn't look all that great and there would be the usual complaints. The fact is that most people don't give a crap - if they like Star Wars, they're perfectly happy with the BD versions that have already been released and as the fan base ages, younger people probably aren't even totally aware that the movies had been altered.

What I can see Disney doing is putting the SD DVD versions as an extra on some future Star Wars movie release package - perhaps after the first three new films are released, assuming that they don't bomb and they get that far and also assuming that they have the rights to do so. I know this has been discussed a zillion times already, but doesn't 20cFox retain some distribution rights to the OT and PT?

Yes, until 2020, and thats just for 1235 and 6. 4 will always belong to Fox unless they decide to sell it. Which I think is unlikely. They could probably get more money from owning that 1 film than selling it.

They could let Disney put it in boxsets as long as Fox get a cut of the money on every unit sold.

[MrFixit]

I'm sorry to ask this because I'm sure somewhere in the 2000+ post there's an answer and explination to this...

Why are the DVD versions especially the 1977 and 2004 release commanding such a high price (New)? I saw over on "online retailer" where some of these are up there in value big time. The 1977 DVD LE DVD's values are stunning.

The New Hope LE DVD with Enhance and Original 1977 version is at $99.00 new. The other two episodes; The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi comes in at $63.00 and $58.00.

And going forward to the new episodes, The Phantom Menance WS 2-Disc set is at $68.00 new. The Trilogy Set prices are even more with the 2004 set at $191.00 and the 1977 Trilogy Set at a whopping $319.00. Of course some of the used prices are more modest but the question is why? Was it something about the PQ, the CGI, certain scenes, etc...on the newer releases?


I've got the Phanton Menance and Revenge of the Sith Widescreen DVD's and also the 2004 Trilogy 4-Disc Set. I may have to lock them away now if they hold some sort of edge over the BR versions. i'm just curious as to why? Thanks


Kenny J

[Blu Warrior]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

It'll be profitable. A lot of people on the internet, including myself, aren't buying until the originals are offered.

Fixed

[chip75]

Originally Posted by MrFixit

I've got the Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith Widescreen DVD's and also the 2004 Trilogy 4-Disc Set. I may have to lock them away now if they hold some sort of edge over the BR versions. I'm just curious as to why?

Anything not included with the BD sets has jumped in value. The non-anamorphic DVD versions of the original trilogy now command a high-price as they were only available with a limited edition trilogy box set and separate limited editions (along with a more widely available 6-disc trilogy set). I think all of those are out-of-print and only available with third-party-sellers.

The trilogy box set also has the excellent documentary Empire of Dreams included and this is also much sort-after for fans new to the series who didn't pick up the trilogy set when it was first released.

The prequels on DVD are also OOP and have jumped in value. They also contain a whole host of extras not available with the BD set (deleted scenes and three excellent documentaries).

I'd keep hold of your DVD's but don't expect them to be worth a fortune in years to come!

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

I actually doubt there's much audience for the original unaltered editions at all. You can't evaluate the demand based on the fanboys on sites like this one. Those probably don't even amount to more than 500 people. And the chances are that even if Disney did elect to reconstruct the originals, aside from what can be done using automated processes (if they even went that far and didn't just use the DVD masters uprezzed (or not) for BD), they would not put money into a restoration, so they probably wouldn't look all that great and there would be the usual complaints. The fact is that most people don't give a crap - if they like Star Wars, they're perfectly happy with the BD versions that have already been released and as the fan base ages, younger people probably aren't even totally aware that the movies had been altered.

It's all speculation, but there is a bigger demand than what you suggest. There was far more than 500 people who signed that UOT petition from years back. There are far more people who remember and prefer the original versions than those who discuss it on message boards. I know a ton of people who want the originals, and they ain't a bunch of basement-dwelling nerds, or even Star Wars fanboys who have ever seen a Star Wars message board at all.

Personally, I think a restored UOT would be a big seller. Maybe it wouldn't break records as the biggest selling Blu-Ray release of all time-- I do agree that there are likely plenty of people that bought the original set, are perfectly fine with it, and wouldn't really care about buying another set with different versions of the film.

But saying fans of the UOT amount to about 500 whiny internet fanboys is not only pretty insulting, but it just isn't true. At all.

[The_Donster]

I have no doubt that they'd do a limited, buy it before its back in the vault situation. Fingers crossed that happens. If not, I have my previous copies of the movies.

[MrFixit]

Thanks for the info on the DVD versions. Would it be wise then to get the DVD Attack of the Clones (one I'm missing) instead of the newer saga of those episodes in BR? Read some of the reviews of tha set and seems the Phantom Menance has some PQ issues, The Attack of the Clones gets better and the Revenge of the Sixth appears to be the best of the lot.

I may have to pop in The Phantom Menance to see how it looks with the new Plasma TV and BR player. Right now I'm working on getting the BR sets of the animated Clone Wars. I'd rather pay $6-8 for a used DVD instead of $40 for a BR set which I have two of in DVD WS format.