Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[reneeatworld]

Originally Posted by svenge

I picked up the full 9-disc set once it was on sale for ~60 bucks for one primary reason, namely two bonus discs focusing on the OT. Of the OT bonus material, for me the best part was the 3 vintage documentaries from 1977-83:

• The Making of Star Wars
• SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back
• Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi

While the VHS tape of the "Making of SW" was plentiful, the latter two were incredibly difficult to get a hold of on any format and cost quite a bit more to import the Japanese LDs thereof. Of course bootlegged LD-to-DVDr copies were everywhere, but I wanted a legit copy of them for my collection.

As for the actual film discs in the set, I would much rather watch my THX LDs of the OT films than the desecrated SEs on Blu-ray any day of the week.

When was it on sale for $60? I'm wondering how often that sale would come around. At that price I'm definitely going to be in for the purchase. I'm relatively new to the Star Wars universe, honestly, so what does OT stand for, if you don't mind me asking? I'm assuming SE means special edition? Are the two separate trilogies any different than the nine disc 2015 bluray set, other than the dvd's and special features?

Although I'm a fan of special features, I am also wondering if there's any real benefit to keeping my current trilogies just because they include dvd's. I don't watch dvd's anymore, honestly, but there's something about these that makes me wonder if they're worth keeping. At the same time, I really don't want to keep both trilogies AND the nine disc set in my collection, I'd much rather just keep one or the other. Basically, I want the one that will stand the test of time better. It's a hard decision for somebody who's new to the Star Wars series because I hear so much talk about different dvd's and bluray releases being different than previous releases, and I'm only familiar with the movies that are on the two bluray trilogies, because that's the only version of the film that I've ever seen.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by svenge

I picked up the full 9-disc set once it was on sale for ~60 bucks for one primary reason, namely two bonus discs focusing on the OT. Of the OT bonus material, for me the best part was the 3 vintage documentaries from 1977-83:

• The Making of Star Wars
• SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back
• Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi

While the VHS tape of the "Making of SW" was plentiful, the latter two were incredibly difficult to get a hold of on any format and cost quite a bit more to import the Japanese LDs thereof. Of course bootlegged LD-to-DVDr copies were everywhere, but I wanted a legit copy of them for my collection.

As for the actual film discs in the set, I would much rather watch my THX LDs of the OT films than the desecrated SEs on Blu-ray any day of the week.

I've watched those three original documentaries several times including just recently. Very cool to have!

It's really sad there is all of this documentary and deleted material of the unaltered original trilogy in that set but not the actual unaltered movies themselves.

[Geoff D]

Thankfully I didn't have to hunt high and low for those documentaries back in the day, they were part of the superb Executor VHS set (along with From Star Wars to Jedi which was NOT included on the Blu-ray extras with the other three).

[HeavyHitter]

I recall as a kid (about 8 at the time I believe) recording the SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back on VHS when it originally aired on TV. I watched it countless times.

[Geoff D]

I found a VHS of SPFX in a charity shop for 50p a couple of years ago.

[thegoat]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

You mean like the Prequels with the fan sevice?

Not at all. Big difference between cameos and in-jokes and completely recreating the climax of a movie. Instead of being drawn into a new film, you're remembering the old one and wondering why you're not just watching that one instead.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by reneeatworld

When was it on sale for $60? I'm wondering how often that sale would come around. At that price I'm definitely going to be in for the purchase. I'm relatively new to the Star Wars universe, honestly, so what does OT stand for, if you don't mind me asking? I'm assuming SE means special edition? Are the two separate trilogies any different than the nine disc 2015 bluray set, other than the dvd's and special features?

Although I'm a fan of special features, I am also wondering if there's any real benefit to keeping my current trilogies just because they include dvd's. I don't watch dvd's anymore, honestly, but there's something about these that makes me wonder if they're worth keeping. At the same time, I really don't want to keep both trilogies AND the nine disc set in my collection, I'd much rather just keep one or the other. Basically, I want the one that will stand the test of time better. It's a hard decision for somebody who's new to the Star Wars series because I hear so much talk about different dvd's and bluray releases being different than previous releases, and I'm only familiar with the movies that are on the two bluray trilogies, because that's the only version of the film that I've ever seen.

• OT = Original Trilogy. In this thread it typically refers to the original theatrical versions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, but can refer to any version of them when comparing things between the two trilogies.

• SE = Special Edition. Always refers to several versions of Episodes IV-VI that were serially further altered by Lucas (theatrically in 1997, again on DVD in 2004, and once again on BD in 2011).

• PT = Prequel Trilogy. Refers to The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. While TPM underwent revisions between the 1999 theatrical edition, 2001 DVD, and 2011 BD, no one really cares because that film was garbage to begin with.

The movie discs themselves are identical between the separate trilogy BD sets and the 9-disc "Saga" set. The only difference is the three extra bonus discs in the Saga set. As such, if you want them then there's absolutely no reason to keep the two separate trilogy sets and the Saga set.

Regarding the DVD discs of the 2011 edition of the PT+SE found in the separate trilogy BD/DVD releases, they are of little to no significance since they have no content the BDs don't. For those who just don't care which version (SE or OT) of the films they watch, the BDs are clearly the best option for obvious reasons. Even for OT purists like myself the only DVDs that matter are the 2006 "Limited Edition" DVDs, which included a port of the pre-SE 1993 THX Laserdisc masters onto their respective bonus discs.

About the $60 price, I bought the British "Saga" BD box (which is region-free with identical discs to the US set) from Amazon UK when it was a "deal of the day", and the USD/GBP exchange rate was favorable at the time. Right now the re-release of the UK Saga set is about $70 shipped from Amazon UK, so if you don't mind nanny-state BBFC ratings logos it's your most cost-effective way to get those three bonus discs.

One more thing: If you want even more Star Wars bonus material that isn't on the 9-BD Saga boxset, then get the bonus DVD from the old 2004 DVD box. Its excellent "Empire of Dreams" documentary didn't carry over to Blu-ray, and used copies of said DVD are quite inexpensive on the secondary market. And if you still have a VHS deck, definitely get a copy of 1983's "From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga" (the only vintage Lucasfilm documentary left off all of the previous DVDs and BDs).

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Thankfully I didn't have to hunt high and low for those documentaries back in the day, they were part of the superb Executor VHS set (along with From Star Wars to Jedi which was NOT included on the Blu-ray extras with the other three).

Yeah, the UK had much easier access to SPFX and Classic Creatures than the US. And because of the PAL/NTSC thing importing the British VHS tapes really wasn't an option, which meant the Japanese LDs (which were NTSC-formatted) were the only viable option albeit a quite expensive one.

That said, I did manage to get the Japanese "Collector's Edition" LD box set (w/ "From Star Wars to Jedi") for $22 shipped back in January, so it can be done.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

There should be no changes at all, even including things like fixing mattes and lightsabers. If it's not how it came out in '77 it's not how I want it on Blu Ray.

Put that stuff on a bonus disc by all means, though.

I very much wish they fixed the mattes. They are extremely distracting, and that falls under typical remastering cleanup IMO.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by thegoat

Big difference between cameos and in-jokes and completely recreating the climax of a movie. Instead of being drawn into a new film, you're remembering the old one and wondering why you're not just watching that one instead.

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I very much wish they fixed the mattes. They are extremely distracting, and that falls under typical remastering cleanup IMO.

Yeah, I'm an absolute purist when it comes to recreating something as close to the original theatrical releases of the OT as possible, but I agree that the traveling mattes around the ships ought to be cleaned up. Fact is, you never (or rarely) saw that stuff in the theatrical prints, due to the different contrast range of projected celluloid vs. a home video environment. Keeping the mattes would preserve the original VHS experience, LOL… but not the theatrical experience.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Arawn

[Show spoiler]

OK, we get it, you don't like STID or Abrams. Still doesn't mean you need to spam that picture every other day. Then again given your posting history, you don't add much value even when you're not doing that.

Regardless, Abrams' directorial choices have absolutely no bearing on the fact that Lucas utterly failed with the Prequels.

[TitusTroy]

Originally Posted by svenge

OK, we get it, you don't like STID or Abrams. Still doesn't mean you need to spam that picture every other day. Then again given your posting history, you don't add much value even when you're not doing that.

Regardless, Abrams' directorial choices have absolutely no bearing on the fact that Lucas utterly failed with the Prequels.

there's an inherent problem with prequels in general- everyone already knows what's going to happen for the most part...so there are no surprises...Lucas gets a bad rap for the prequels but people need to understand that there's not much more he could have done...it was all about Anakin's turn to the Dark Side...I'm sure if Lucas had done Episodes 7-9 then the response would be better because he would be able to shock and awe the audience again

the prequels weren't as good as the originals but they're also not as bad as people would have you believe...there were quite a few standout moments- Ewan McGregor made an excellent young Obi-Wan, the pod race scene, Darth Maul, Ian McDiaramid was excellent as Palpatine/Sidious, the Clone War battles, the crashing Star Destroyer scene from Episode 3 etc

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by TitusTroy

there's an inherent problem with prequels in general- everyone already knows what's going to happen for the most part...so there are no surprises...Lucas gets a bad rap for the prequels but people need to understand that there's not much more he could have done...it was all about Anakin's turn to the Dark Side...I'm sure if Lucas had done Episodes 7-9 then the response would be better because he would be able to shock and awe the audience again

A big issues with the prequels IMO is that it's more a story about a republic becoming an empire than it is the story of Anakin's fall. I wish we got the latter more than the former.

[stvn1974]

Yeah, the prequels seem to set up Palpatine coming into power really well but skimps on Anakin's turn to the darkside. Anakin's mother should have died when he was a kid and first met Qui Gon and Obi Wan and to plant the seed and then have him go darker as the films went along. Not act like a spoiled brat.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Yeah, the prequels seem to set up Palpatine coming into power really well but skimps on Anakin's turn to the darkside. Anakin's mother should have died when he was a kid and first met Qui Gon and Obi Wan and to plant the seed and then have him go darker as the films went along. Not act like a spoiled brat.

From the commentaries I gather than Lucas' vision was spoiled brat equaling dark side. He goes on and on about attachment and not letting things go, that's his idea of the dark side. Which, you know, fair enough. I still think even with that concept they could have done a better job focusing on Anakin and Obi-Wan as the main thrust of things, rather than a macro view of the cultural changes going on.

There's a lot of political stuff going on during the original trilogy but the movies rightly focus on Luke, Leia and Han and THEIR story.

[Falaskan]

Technically, spoiled brats unchecked often turn to the dark side. What everyone wanted to see was an evil Vader for at least two movies

[Stinky-Dinkins]

Originally Posted by TitusTroy

Lucas gets a bad rap for the prequels but people need to understand that there's not much more he could have done...

Well to be fair he could've made good movies. Even decent movies would've been fine. Instead of, you know, total shit movies.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

From the commentaries I gather than Lucas' vision was spoiled brat equaling dark side. He goes on and on about attachment and not letting things go, that's his idea of the dark side. Which, you know, fair enough. I still think even with that concept they could have done a better job focusing on Anakin and Obi-Wan as the main thrust of things, rather than a macro view of the cultural changes going on.

There's a lot of political stuff going on during the original trilogy but the movies rightly focus on Luke, Leia and Han and THEIR story.

IMO Lucas bit off more than he could chew, the story he wanted to convey was SO big and so sprawling that it simply couldn't be contained in three films...well, not in three films written by him, anyway.

For me it seems like every aspect of the prequels' storytelling was half-arsed because each strand simply didn't have enough time devoted to it. Lucas paints the prequels as the story of a family, on another day it's the story of how democracy becomes dictatorship, on another day it's about the fall of the Jedi etc etc. Sure, there's no reason why a skilfully written series of films couldn't properly integrate all of those aspects, but that's the point: Lucas' ideas are amazing but his ability to mold them into a narrative that successfully binds them together fell way, way short of doing them all justice.

I moan a lot about the extraneous action scenes (dat foundry chase!) but in some ways Lucas would've been better served by keeping the action to a minimum and telling the story from more of a drama angle, that way he could've really fleshed out the story that he wanted to tell. Yes, I know it's Star Wars and people expect that shit but it's not like Empire was chock full of action. Lucas recently moaned about "doing something different" with the prequels and getting pilloried for it, but he didn't do it differently enough IMO.

[steel_breeze]

We're now in "Saga distance" of Episode VII! Tomorrow, the wife and I will begin our #twoweeksofstarwars with a screening of Episode I. Then we'll watch another Episode every-other-day, landing perfectly on December 18th for Episode VII. We're watching the 2011 blu-ray releases in Episode Order, even though I own and usually watch the Despecialized Editions of IV, V, VI. I'm in this weird "appreciate George Lucas despite all his many (many, many) flaws" phase of my life. So we're going to suck it up and view the six-episode saga as he intended. He sold the property; he's done… so the blu-rays are, for better or worse (mostly for worse, IMHO) his final vision of the universe he created. I think that's worth something -- especially since they've apparently ditched all his ideas for VII-IX. I'm feeling kinda weird about that. Certainly if we were watching the original trilogy separate from the prequels, I would ONLY watch the original theatrical editions.

As for our viewing order… we're not doing the machete thing 'cuz I find it very difficult to start with the best movies in the saga (IV, V) and then have to drop WAYYY down in quality for the prequels (again, IMHO). I prefer Episode Order, 'cuz the movies just keep getting better.

And for anyone who's curious, we're doing "every other day" instead of an intense "every day" marathon next week, 'cuz I'm happy to say we still have a life: Christmas parties & other real-world commitments to fit in… so the "every other day" thing allows us some flexibility of "moving pieces".

Anyhoo… I'm very excited, despite all my seeming negativity toward the prequels. I'm really enjoying the whole sweeping saga more than I ever have before… and it's all thanks to the "crashed Star Destroyer" image that appeared in the trailer, back in March. That one image made me want to give the prequels a second chance--and I found that, like Vader, they all "have some good in them". Go figure.