Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Dotpattern

For quite some time now, and I may get flamed for this, I've felt that a "change" that needed to be made to ROTJ was to include CGI Ewoks and Stormtroopers for just 1 or 2 shots. 1) To show how incredibly outnumbered the Stormtroopers are - this would help give credibility that the Stormtroopers could be over-powered and 2) to show that Ewoks actually have the strength of chimpanzees which would also easily help explain just how devastating their attacks are on any given Stormtrooper.

This is a great idea. Changes like this I can get behind.

On another note, I only saw matte boxes one time, and that was in ROTJ. When they are flying into the Death Star's reactor core when Lando tells them to split up and head back to the surface to draw away some of the ties some of those ties have some ugly matte boxes. That was the only ones I spotted, though.

[KS76]

Originally Posted by Cook

I just finished watching A New Hope on bluray, and all I can say is WOW!!! It was great! This is the best I've ever seen the movie look and sound. On a technical note I don't think the bit rate dropped once below 30 and that is awesome. Well I'm gonna watch ESB.

I agree, these movies look and sound phenomenal on this blu ray set. Star Wars is the only series of movies I can watch over and over again that still get better everytime I watch them - all 6 of 'em! I recently installed a 60 inch plasma, and so far, I've watched TPM, ROTS and ANH on it, I'm gunna have a drink or two and rock out to The Empire Strikes Back tonight

[Pokewhiz7]

They do look good, but I'm not buying any Star Wars release that isn't the unaltered original trilogy. I'll probably just track down the other two GOUT discs that I need.

[al cos.]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

That was the original intention but it was pointed out that Wookies are relatively technologically sophisticated and the whole theme of a backwards society taking down the state of the art Empire (Vietnam parallel) would be lost.

Not only that, but how could you ever be the underdog with an army of wookiees on your side?

[AlexSing]

So after all my protestations and refusals to purchase the blu rays, it's finally happened! Well, not really, my brother bought the uk set for me for my birthday!

I've promised myself to watch all the movies again with an open mind and while writing this I am currently 20 minutes into TPM. Initial thoughts are:

PQ is very mixed. City shots on Naboo were beautiful while close ups can vary wildly. To be fair the AQ is absolutely superb.

I won't go into my feelings on the movie so far but Jar Jar is even more annoying than I remember and the story seems incredibly complicated for a movie primarily aimed at a younger audience.

More later....

[georgec]

Originally Posted by al cos.

Not only that, but how could you ever be the underdog with an army of wookiees on your side?

Maybe the wookiees could have been inbred and unintelligent to add a handicap to their physical strength.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by georgec

Maybe the wookiees could have been inbred and unintelligent to add a handicap to their physical strength.

Wouldn't that be like putting the brain of a Gungan in the body of a Wookiee?

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Cook

This is a great idea. Changes like this I can get behind.

On another note, I only saw matte boxes one time, and that was in ROTJ. When they are flying into the Death Star's reactor core when Lando tells them to split up and head back to the surface to draw away some of the ties some of those ties have some ugly matte boxes. That was the only ones I spotted, though.

Look at the shot when they look out the viewscreen as the Rebel fleet comes out of hyperspace. Large garbage mattes around the Death Star II and some fighters.

As I've posted before, JEDI was the last SE to be done and they were up against the wall time wise. They did not have time to recomposite the majority of shots and only a couple with the most obvious errors got redone (the TIEs through the Falcon). For me, the worse than the stereotypical old-Asian-movie lipsync in the shuttle Tyderium sequence is the worst thing that went unfixed.

[Monolithium]

Originally Posted by Rambaldi47

It would have been much better if Death Star II was being built above Kashyyk. We could've gotten a pretty sweet battle. After all, Wookies are known to pull people's arms off when they lose...

If Lucas had made the Wookies all slave labor, who after being liberated by Chewbacca, rise up to fight the Empire...sigh...that would have been sweet.

[shelldweller]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

I pretty much agree with you, though TPM could have looked better without the DNR. ROTJ's faults are most likely in the source material, so there is nothing that can be done (referring to the soft parts on Endor.)

If they had fixed all the lightsaber inconsistencies in the OT, and the boxes around some of the starships, it would have been close to perfect.

I am happy with it! That's a given! Glad you enjoy them too.

I totally agree with you, Bluyoda.

[iamsometal]

Originally Posted by AlexSing

So after all my protestations and refusals to purchase the blu rays, it's finally happened! Well, not really, my brother bought the uk set for me for my birthday!

I've promised myself to watch all the movies again with an open mind and while writing this I am currently 20 minutes into TPM. Initial thoughts are:

PQ is very mixed. City shots on Naboo were beautiful while close ups can vary wildly. To be fair the AQ is absolutely superb.

I won't go into my feelings on the movie so far but Jar Jar is even more annoying than I remember and the story seems incredibly complicated for a movie primarily aimed at a younger audience.

More later....

Funny coincidence, AlexSing, I too am watching TPM on blu for the first time. Borrowed the set from a friend to watch the bonus features, and thought i'd demo my new sound system with TPM. I also wanted to give the film itself another shot, thinking the improved PQ and stellar AQ would help sway my feelings a bit.

So far i'm not swayed in the least. My main issue is that i'm bored to the point of posting here while i'm in the middle of the film. Jar Jar and Anakin are still as grating as ever, and the acting performances are lousy across the board (the only performances that aren't irritating are Neeson, McGregor and the few appearances of Ray Park). The story still makes no sense whatsoever. The sound quality is pretty amazing though, and the PQ is a mixed bag. Faces look waxy, but most all-CGI shots look pretty impressive. I just hit the Tatooine part of the film, so hopefully the podrace will be mind-blowing.

What bothers me the most is how much of a waste Kenobi and Darth Maul are in this film. Had there have been way more focus on those two characters, i might be enjoying this alot more. Jar Jar inexplicably has 10 times the screen time that Maul has, and possibly twice as much screen time as Kenobi. Had tehy actually fleshed Maul out as a character, he might have been a compelling villain, rather than just a cool looking action figure.

And holy crap are all of the child actors horrible in this. Why Lucas needed to put his and other crew's kids in this is beyond me. Okay, podrace is starting, gonna try to enjoy this one scene.

Edit: Yeah, the podrace is still an amazing sequence, and a visual and audio spectacle. It's definitely the highlight of this blu-ray. That was one of the sickest examples of DTS-HD audio i've heard on my system so far. LOVE the sound of Sebulba's podracer engines. The PQ was also uniformly terrific. Now i'm in the Coruscant sequence, and bored to tears again. I forgot Terence Stamp was in this! And like most other great actors in this film, a completely wasted asset.

Edit #2: Why the heck doesn't Obi-Wan have his super speed he had in the beginning of the film when Qui-Gon is fighting Darth Maul? And Anakin accidentally blowing up the trade federation ship is still absolutely, mind-numbingly dumb. The final battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul is way too choreographed and over-rehearsed. It looked more like a dance number than a lightsaber battle. I will say it sounded INCREDIBLE though. So did the space "battle." Also, the digital Yoda is an improvement over the rapey-looking puppet in the original version. That's one change i can support. Though i think it's a disservice to Frank Oz's fantastic performance. Oh well, at least his voice work is still there.

Overall thoughts: Looks good (even great at times), sounds FANTASTIC, but still a dreadful disappointment. Jar Jar and Jake Lloyd are still the two worst parts of the film, but it's got so many other problems. It's a boring mess from beginning to end, except for the podrace. That sequence still rocks! I so want to love this film, hence the disappointment. Sadly, i'd rather watch TPM than the other two prequels. Goes to show how much i loathe AOTC and ROTS.

[iamsometal]

Originally Posted by Jay444

I agree with you. Most of the hate he gets is self inflicted. If he released the originals in a modern format, more than half the hate would evaporate. If you want your fans to love you, give them what they want. If not, you have what we have here.

Anyway, I think the PT hate he gets really boils down to his choice of what story he chose to tell. He started too early (TPM doesn't really accomplish much in the grand scheme of the series) and he skipped the most interesting period (Between ROTS and ANH). But it is what it is.

I like George, I do, I just think he might want to stick to producing (which he was very effective at, i.e. Indy and the last two OT films). Seems his best work is accomplished when he works with others.

Exactly. His best work is when he's not in the director's chair (though Indy 4 is pretty aweful too). ESB, ROTJ, Raiders, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, Willow, those are all terrific films that were products of collaboration between Lucas and other great filmmakers.

I agree also that his fan-hate is definitely self-inflicted. Star Wars fans are the most outspoken fans of any series, and the fans have been asking for a quality home video release of the OUT for decades now. He just refuses to listen. Unlike other beloved filmmakers like Spielberg, Cameron, and Ridley Scott, who hear their fans request and oblige them, since fans are the ones that buy their product and make them wealthy.

As far as the prequel hate, it's been said time and time again, but i think there isn't one single Star Wars fan that didn't WANT to love the prequels. And nobody can be angry at Lucas for telling the tale he had in his mind, it just happened to have sucked. The fact that he wouldn't collaborate with any other filmmakers and accept some honest, helpful criticism of his scripts and ideas is exactly why the hate is self-inflicted. Alot of fans just take it too far and make it too personal, as does Lucas.

Now we can only dream of some younger, brilliant action filmmakers getting the chance one day to make a new set of Star Wars films. All new story and characters, but in the Star Wars universe. I vote Brad Bird or Joss Whedon!

[Bluyoda]

Can anyone tell me why the audio rating for the Saga is only 0,1? https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-...3/#UserReviews

Surely, it should be at least 4,9, right?

Can someone please fix this error? Thank you.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Can anyone tell me why the audio rating for the Saga is only 0,1? https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-...3/#UserReviews

Surely, it should be at least 4,9, right?

Can someone please fix this error? Thank you.

Not sure what you are looking at but the audio rating is and has always been 5.0.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Cook

Not sure what you are looking at but the audio rating is and has always been 5.0.

That's weird: Are you looking under User Rating?

The audio rating still says 0,1 for me.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

That's weird: Are you looking under User Rating?

The audio rating still says 0,1 for me.

I was looking at the sites review but I see what you're talking about now. I never pay attention to the user rating but that is strange. Perhaps only a few have rated the audio and someone gave it a low score so it averaged low. Either way except maybe ROTS this sets audio is reference quality. I've always been disappointed by ROTS audio mix. You can tell a different guy did the mix for it. The guy who did the mix for TPM and AOTC did an incredible job. ROTS mux isnt bad but when compared to TPM and AOTC mixes it has always seemed somewhat lacking.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Cook

I was looking at the sites review but I see what you're talking about now. I never pay attention to the user rating but that is strange. Perhaps only a few have rated the audio and someone gave it a low score so it averaged low. Either way except maybe ROTS this sets audio is reference quality. I've always been disappointed by ROTS audio mix. You can tell a different guy did the mix for it. The guy who did the mix for TPM and AOTC did an incredible job. ROTS mux isnt bad but when compared to TPM and AOTC mixes it has always seemed somewhat lacking.

Glad I am not the only one, who sees it that way.

I don't think so. There are, very amazingly so, only 3 negative reviews, and most people gave the audio very high scores, naturally, so it must an error in the system.

I am quite convinced it should be 4,9 instead of 0,1. No audio has a rating that low, and since almost all of the individual scores are 4,5-5, it's impossible to average on a 0,1. Lol

I just watched ROTS again, a week ago, or so, and turned the volume up to match the TPM and AOTC, and really enjoyed then.
I think the track is still awesome and have no complaints. You just need to turn it up louder than the others, or else it will sound lacking.
Not sure why the reference level is lower for this one, but as long as it sounds great, I don't care all that much.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Glad I am not the only one, who sees it that way.

I don't think so. There are, very amazingly so, only 3 negative reviews, and most people gave the audio very high scores, naturally, so it must an error in the system.

I am quite convinced it should be 4,9 instead of 0,1. No audio has a rating that low, and since almost all of the individual scores are 4,5-5, it's impossible to average on a 0,1. Lol

I just watched ROTS again, a week ago, or so, and turned the volume up to match the TPM and AOTC, and really enjoyed then.
I think the track is still awesome and have no complaints. You just need to turn it up louder than the others, or else it will sound lacking.
Not sure why the reference level is lower for this one, but as long as it sounds great, I don't care all that much.

The one thing that always aggravated me with the ROTS mix is that the guy cut down on the LFE. In TPM and especially AOTC the lightsabers set the subwoofer on fire but ROTS never did that. Even in the theater the mix just seemed somewhat flatter. Its not that the reference level is lower. ROTS mix is actually less dynamic than the other two prequels. Its just how the new guy mixed it. I can't remember why the original guy left but I wish they would havd made sure he stayed for the last prequel cause there is a marked difference you can pick up on.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Can anyone tell me why the audio rating for the Saga is only 0,1? https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-...3/#UserReviews

Surely, it should be at least 4,9, right?

Can someone please fix this error? Thank you.

I posted about it in the feedback forum

https://forum.blu-ray.com/5733638-post919.html

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Cook

The one thing that always aggravated me with the ROTS mix is that the guy cut down on the LFE. In TPM and especially AOTC the lightsabers set the subwoofer on fire but ROTS never did that. Even in the theater the mix just seemed somewhat flatter. Its not that the reference level is lower. ROTS mix is actually less dynamic than the other two prequels. Its just how the new guy mixed it. I can't remember why the original guy left but I wish they would havd made sure he stayed for the last prequel cause there is a marked difference you can pick up on.

I don't have a subwoofer connected, so perhpas I am missing on the ultra low frequencies, but my current setup has very nice bass IMHO, and I do feel it's a little light on LFE, but still pretty darn awesome, and the lightsabers, while not as powerful as in TPM, or AOTC, feature nice oomph for me. I am quite happy with the mix, but of course, it's not on par with the the sheer awesomeness of TPM and AOTC.

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

I posted about it in the feedback forum

https://forum.blu-ray.com/5733638-post919.html

Thank you.