Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

I always get nostalgic watching the 1997 editions because they're the versions that I grew up with and they introduced me to Star Wars.

There's questionable changes in them but Lucas didn't go as overboard with them as he did with the later versions imo.

Aside from the whole Greedo debate (No I do not want to go into that again), showing Vader leaving Bespin via shuttle and arriving on his Star Destroyer, and Jedi Rocks, there actually isnt much that was changed for the '97 SEs that IMO wasnt fully or somewhat justified.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

I always get nostalgic watching the 1997 editions because they're the versions that I grew up with and they introduced me to Star Wars.

There's questionable changes in them but Lucas didn't go as overboard with them as he did with the later versions imo.

Plus that version of ROTJ has my favourite version of the ending: Sebastian Shaw as Anakin and the Victory Celebration music cue.

Yes to all of that. It's the SE's (plus working alongside a rabid SW fan at the time) which really got me into Star Wars, I didn't much care for it when I was a kid because Ghostbusters and Knight Rider and A-Team and Star Trek and Dukes of Hazzard were more my thing when I was growing up. I'd seen the SW movies but I wasn't fanatical about them.

But having been given that silver boxset of widescreen SE tapes (I get nostalgic for the smell of that boxset, even) I actually wore out ANH from watching it so much because something in me just 'clicked' with the SEs, and I've been a huge fan ever since. I'd LOVE to have those cuts restored alongside the originals.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

Aside from the whole Greedo debate (No I do not want to go into that again), showing Vader leaving Bespin via shuttle and arriving on his Star Destroyer, and Jedi Rocks, there actually isnt much that was changed for the '97 SEs that IMO wasnt fully or somewhat justified.

I know it sounds sacrilege but I really like the CGI ships during the battle of Yavin. Unlike some of the other CGI, I think they blend in with the surroundings really well.

Fortunately the 1997 editions don't have the absolutely worst alteration to the films ever imo: Hayden Christensen at the end of ROTJ.

I think that alteration with a passion. It's even worse than Greedo shooting first, Jedi Rocks and Darth Vader shouting no in ROTJ imo.

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yes to all of that. It's the SE's (plus working alongside a rabid SW fan at the time) which really got me into Star Wars, I didn't much care for it when I was a kid because Ghostbusters and Knight Rider and A-Team and Star Trek and Dukes of Hazzard were more my thing when I was growing up. I'd seen the SW movies but I wasn't fanatical about them.

But having been given that silver boxset of widescreen SE tapes (I get nostalgic for the smell of that boxset, even) I actually wore out ANH from watching it so much because something in me just 'clicked' with the SEs, and I've been a huge fan ever since. I'd LOVE to have those cuts restored alongside the originals.

I'd be perfectly happy with a box set that only contains the TC's & 97 editions. I wouldn't miss the 2004 & 2011 at all.

But than the completest in me would like them included as well.

Regarding those VHS tapes: You lucky bugger! I had to make do with the pan and scan versions for years. Same with my VHS copy of TPM.

Watching these films in OAR when I finally got hold of the DVD's was a revelation.

[Geoff D]

Luck is not a factor. Even when I was a kid I was fascinated with widescreen, so whenever I asked for gifts of movies (I *think* I got the SE set for my birthday that year) I always made sure to tell them to get the widescreen ones.

I recently sold most of my SW VHS tapes that I've collected over the last 20 years (made some decent money too) but I made sure to keep the Silver SE set for sheer nostalgia and I'm never letting my Executor set go.

[CrossRhodes94]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I'm pretty sure that set is a bootleg (all be it, from what I hear, a pretty well done one) that uses the updated Blu-Ray saga set box art with Vader on it.. That set is also listed on Amazon, but not sold directly by Amazon. Basically it's just copies of all of the individual DVD releases of the films, each of which were 2 discs. The prequels had bonus feature discs, and the OT had the theatrical versions dumped from the laserdisc masters on the second discs.

Some reviews on Amazon claim it to be "legit," probably because it looks pretty official, but it's only available through 3rd party marketplace sellers and on places like ebay. It is not directly carried by any major legit store or site (i.e. directly through Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc.)


Unfortunately these things are getting more sophisticated to easily trick those who don't know better and don't know what to look out for. Shout Factory even has a page warning people about this on their site.

https://www.shoutfactory.com/editori...tleg-media-faq

Wow... read that article you posted from shout.. thanks for posting that.. It sucks that people have to go this far to make a quick buck! Glad I asked on here before I purchased that.... I won't be buying that.

[crissrudd4554]

I had a habit of owning both widescreen and full screen editions of movies. In some cases since I grew up in two homes I'd have one of each at each home. Mom was usually full screen while widescreen was at dads. Anyways the WS VHS of TPM as well as the DVDs for TPM and AOTC was the first SW films I owned in WS. It wasnt until 2003 when my dad got the 1992 Letterboxed Trilogy box set off eBay that I finally got to own the first trilogy in WS. That was so exciting. Not only was I gonna get to see my favorite SW films in WS but it would be the original cuts. The only annoying thing was the image for ROTJ wasn't properly centered (I believe this was done to accommodate the subtitles). For Xmas that year I got the 1995 and 1997 WS VHS sets as well as bootlegged DVDs of the original and SE cuts. Next would be the '04 DVDs which I got in both formats, ROTJ DVD which I also have in both formats (at some point I got the FS versions of TPM and AOTC as well), and lastly the '06 DVDs. At the time I was thrilled with those DVDs. Just having the original cuts officially on DVD at all made me happy plus I didn't have a widescreen TV at the time. Since then I too have become upset that we were basically taken with those DVDs but considering they were to date the last time the originals were officially released and since they're quite pricey these days I'm glad I still got them.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Luck is not a factor. Even when I was a kid I was fascinated with widescreen, so whenever I asked for gifts of movies (I *think* I got the SE set for my birthday that year) I always made sure to tell them to get the widescreen ones.

I recently sold most of my SW VHS tapes that I've collected over the last 20 years (made some decent money too) but I made sure to keep the Silver SE set for sheer nostalgia and I'm never letting my Executor set go.

lol I've been unofficially collecting Star Wars VHSs over the last couple of years, I always had the gold box SE and TPM but now I've got the silver widescreen box and a couple of other OT sets. Haven't watched em (no VCR) but each of them cost me like $3 tops, so why not.

[crissrudd4554]

About four or five years ago my dad snagged a copy of the '95 'Faces' set at an estate sale for 25 cents! Not that we needed it but c'mon can't beat that! It was in pretty good shape for a used set as well!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

lol I've been unofficially collecting Star Wars VHSs over the last couple of years, I always had the gold box SE and TPM but now I've got the silver widescreen box and a couple of other OT sets. Haven't watched em (no VCR) but each of them cost me like $3 tops, so why not.

Heh. I love me some Star Wars but I didn't want to keep hoarding all these editions for the sake of it. I sold three various widescreen editions of the trilogy for £75 altogether on ebay, so you can probably appreciate why I sold them. Also got £50 for the Definitive laserdisc set too.

[oldgame]

I still have a Star Wars bootleg tape recorded from the movie reels, and I like not seeing Episode IV. I don't care what it says. I'd like to have the stereo and mono as audio options.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

I've said this many times before but Disney should release a Blade Runner type box set that includes all versions of the films with good transfers.

That way everyone is happy.

Even setting aside the people who will always find something to complain about, pleasing everybody really isn't in the cards here.

In addition to all the obvious changes we all talk (and talk and talk and talk) about, there were a lot of general visual tweaks made over the years. For instance, I think a lot of people who consider themselves UOT purists might be a bit taken aback if/when some of the color timing changes are undone.

I'm certainly not going to pretend to remember exactly how films looked in theaters decades ago but there has been some pretty obvious digital tinkering over the years with things like the clouds on Bespin or the sky/landscape on Tatooine.

That's not to say Disney couldn't put together comprehensive Blade Runner-ish sets for each of the episodes. But 'comprehensive' might be something of a moving target depending on who you're talking to at any given moment.

[Geoff D]

^ A LOT of the regular opticals (wipes, fades, dissolves) were also redone for the SEs which no-one probably noticed, so the UOT seen 'as is' might indeed come as a shock. And that's why branching would never work for the originals and the SEs, especially for New Hope, because the changes and fix-ups and tweaks were so extensive that you'd virtually need to put two different encodes of the film on there anyway so you'd be better off keeping them separate. (This would also free up space for some of Star Wars' original audio tracks to be carried across too.)

BUT I still think the three versions of the SEs (1997, 2004, 2011) could be branched together on one disc respectively, as the changes between them aren't as extensive.

[Guydowood]

When you went back and watched the original films did you take copious notes?

On day one, we were in Lucasfilm in San Francisco with Industrial Light and Magic and John Knowles, our supervisor, he said that they’ve got a brand new 4K restoration print of A New Hope – it had literally just been finished. He suggested we sit and watch it. Obviously, I was up for that. Me, the writer, lots of the story people and John all sat down, we all had our little notepads, we were all ready for this. I’ll add that I’ve seen A New Hope hundreds of times. So I was sat there, ready to take notes and really delve under the surface of the film. You have the Fox fanfare, then scrolling text with ‘A long time ago…’, and then the main music begins. Next thing we knew it had ended, and we looked around to one another and just thought – shit, we didn’t take any notes. You can’t watch it without getting carried away. It’s really hard to get into an analytical filmmaker headspace with this film. It just turns you into a child.

Source:
http://lwlies.com/interviews/gareth-...ar-wars-story/

[Hardback247]

Which version is it a 4k remaster of?

[Guydowood]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Which version is it a 4k remaster of?

A New Hope. So if that one is done, Empire & Jedi should follow suit.

[crissrudd4554]

Originally Posted by Guydowood

A New Hope. So if that one is done, Empire & Jedi should follow suit.

He said which version implying theatrical cut or special edition.

[CrossRhodes94]

I hope one day Disney releases the original theatrical cuts of the film at some point.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by CrossRhodes94

I hope one day Disney releases the original theatrical cuts of the film at some point.

Don't we all?

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by crissrudd4554

He said which version implying theatrical cut or special edition.

Yeah, that's what I meant.

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

I think that was more Alan Ladd, Jr. than Fox. He convinced the president of Fox to be hands off and Ladd ran interference with the Fox board of directors which was critical for Lucas to achieve his vision. Remember this was the same studio convinced Damnation Alley was going to be their blockbuster sci-fi event of 1977...and signed over merchandising rights to SW to Lucas because it seemed worthless to them.

Biggest. Mistake. Ever.

Nowhere near Fox's "Biggest. Mistake. Ever." That would have to be either (a) Cleopatra or (b) selling Paramount the domestic rights to Titanic.