Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

It's the revisionism that is the problem folks have. Lucas was painstaking with these films, nothing appeared without his original approval, it's just that he continually changed his mind over the years, to such an extent that if you really look at various interviews from different periods over the last 30 years, he contradicts himself quite consistently to the extent of even changing what the films were "about".

Lucas (via Richard Edlund) Cinefex #2 August 1980 - "for Star Wars we got 35% of what we wanted. For Empire it was over 50%, I'd say 65%."


Pre-SE he was never happy with the effects of the first film. That never changed.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Lucas (via Richard Edlund) Cinefex #2 August 1980 - "for Star Wars we got 35% of what we wanted. For Empire it was over 50%, I'd say 65%."


Pre-SE he was never happy with the effects of the first film. That never changed.

So did that percentage drop again for Return of the Jedi? I say this because if Empire was 65% complete pre-SE and to this day it has the least amount of changes/updates applied, than I wonder how ROTJ is/was judged.

[sarah_wentworth]

Originally Posted by Takeshi666

I was going to point out how foolish this assumption is, until I realized who wrote it, so I'm not gonna bother.


Better yet, include them on actual videotape. With the old style clamshell case!

tee hee cool

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

The funny thing is, which one of his "original intentions" should they go by?

Many of the changes are revisionist and altering things that actually go against what his intention was at the time. Reading Rinzler's books on the making of the three films are fascinating because they go draft by draft of each film, and his intentions varied so wildly. These are official Lucasfilm books, based on the Lucasfilm archives, and the whole "grand story vision" that was maintained for years as fact is completely blown out of the water. Vader and Anakin were two different characters, well into the development of ESB, for example.

That's one reason folks have a problem with all the changes, because Lucas kept changing his mind. For example, there was no technical nor money reason why Han shot first - it was a story choice. Years later, he re-thought that choice and changed it (multiple times now).

Very little of the SE's are simple technical enhancements. One of the few examples is things like the windows on Cloud City. You'll find quite a few of us are pretty soft on those, I personally think they work and I like them (it never made sense that they'd have this beautiful city in the clouds and then all the inside space had a generic white corporate headquarters look). If that's all the SE's had been, there would have never been the kind of controversy that has been going on for nearly 20 years over them.

It's the revisionism that is the problem folks have. Lucas was painstaking with these films, nothing appeared without his original approval, it's just that he continually changed his mind over the years, to such an extent that if you really look at various interviews from different periods over the last 30 years, he contradicts himself quite consistently to the extent of even changing what the films were "about".

well it would be cool to have the originals then. i like the new versions myself.

in the end lucas should not have created sequels. sequels 99 percent of the time suck. Star Wars was meant to be a standalone movie but it made money so he started making up a whole bunch of stupid stuff to create a story for the sequels.

he made sequels for profit, SE's for profit. its all about profit, not story for him i think. there is probably not enough profit in releasing the original trilogy theatrical versions because not many people want them so i doubt they will be released

[B72]

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by sarah_wentworth

tee hee cool

well it would be cool to have the originals then. i like the new versions myself.

in the end lucas should not have created sequels. sequels 99 percent of the time suck. Star Wars was meant to be a standalone movie but it made money so he started making up a whole bunch of stupid stuff to create a story for the sequels.

he made sequels for profit, SE's for profit. its all about profit, not story for him i think. there is probably not enough profit in releasing the original trilogy theatrical versions because not many people want them so i doubt they will be released

Since The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite film of all time

and a MASTERPIECE , I'll have to disagree with you about Lucas making sequels

As far as releasing the UOT , they could always make it a limited edition

Wait, are you just joking ?

[lupinskitten]

Is the current price ($79.99) worth jumping on for a casual fan, or does anyone see it going lower in the future?

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by lupinskitten

Is the current price ($79.99) worth jumping on for a casual fan, or does anyone see it going lower in the future?

You'll get 100 Yes's, and 100 No's.
Personally I love the set, and am quite happy to have it. This set has not experienced many deep price drops, I think $60 was the lowest on Amazon. So $80, again IMO, is a good deal for 6 films and a wealth of bonus content.
As a casual fan, I think you'll be quite happy if you were to purchase.

If you can wait a month, and see if it drops further for either a BF deal or Christmas deal. Although nothing is guaranteed on either front.

Enjoy if you do opt to purchase.

[Gold Ranger]

Target will be having a Boxed Set sale on thursday.
This is listed, but the headline says between 15% and 50%.

[lupinskitten]

Originally Posted by rickah88

You'll get 100 Yes's, and 100 No's.
Personally I love the set, and am quite happy to have it. This set has not experienced many deep price drops, I think $60 was the lowest on Amazon. So $80, again IMO, is a good deal for 6 films and a wealth of bonus content.
As a casual fan, I think you'll be quite happy if you were to purchase.

If you can wait a month, and see if it drops further for either a BF deal or Christmas deal. Although nothing is guaranteed on either front.

Enjoy if you do opt to purchase.

Thanks. Roughly $13 per movie isn't bad for Blu Ray.

Target will be having a Boxed Set sale on thursday.
This is listed, but the headline says between 15% and 50%.

I guess I'll keep an eye on this (online sale? won't be going anywhere on Thanksgiving) and if it's not less, I'll go ahead with the Amazon order.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Why? The changes are absolutely trivial in every respect. Yes, the new scream was totally unnecessary, but it really doesn't make that much difference. And in the Sarlacc Battle, the 2011 looks far, far superior to the 1983- it's sharper, better lit and the color is far more accurate. If you really think the 1983 looks better, either you have a huge problem with your monitor or you're totally in denial.

The thing is though, all of these "trivial" changes when added up together make a notable, sustaining negative impression for many. Speaking of Jedi, that changed and dreaded dance/singing sequence...oh my.

That sequence, in my opinion, defines and sums up George Lucas of the last 20 years.

[Adam_WM]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

The thing is though, all of these "trivial" changes when added up together make a notable, sustaining negative impression for many. Speaking of Jedi, that changed and dreaded dance/singing sequence...oh my.

That sequence, in my opinion, defines and sums up George Lucas of the last 20 years.

Nothing bothers me anywhere near as much as the friggin' ROTJ dance scene. For me, take that out, and I'd basically be ok with the changes.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

Very few Star Wars fans (even the really hardcore ones) are THAT anal about it.

Over 51,000 posts in this thread alone (and there are others) says you're incorrect.

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Speaking of Jedi, that changed and dreaded dance/singing sequence...oh my.

That sequence, in my opinion, defines and sums up George Lucas of the last 20 years.

I don't know if it defines Lucas of the last 20 years, but I totally agree that it's a simply horrifying sequence that has no place in the movie. It looks like the Muppet Show to me, including the camera shots. There's a close-up of one of the musicians screaming that might as well be Fozzie Bear or Animal. In fact, I always wondered whether it wasn't Frank Oz operating that puppet. And that's aside from the fact that the music makes no sense. This takes place "a long time ago" and "far away". Shouldn't the music have been completely alien and use different scales than Western scales?

The question is why? Was it a misguided attempt (like Jar-Jar and the Ewoks) to make the films accessible to very young kids? Or did Lucas think that a Muppet-like creature and a realistic non-humanoid alien was the same thing? The other mystery is that if it was in that form in the original cut, it might be an understandable error. But how did it get added to the film as something important that was missing? And how did it get kept after they looked at it?

[stvn1974]

Jedi Rocks is not only a crime against cinema but all of humanity.

I don't understand why instead of having the Gungan scream "weesa free" at the new ending of Jedi Lucas didn't add Jar Jar as a force ghost. After creepy smirking Anakin is revealed Jar Jar ghost could have appeared, put one hand on Anakin's shoulder and the other on Obi Wan and then leaned into the camera over Yoda and yell "weesa one big happy family". Then cut to the credits. Jar Jar being there would make about as much sense as young Anakin.

[sarah_wentworth]

Originally Posted by Adam_WM

Nothing bothers me anywhere near as much as the friggin' ROTJ dance scene. For me, take that out, and I'd basically be ok with the changes.

that scene is stupid. lucas probably thought it would maybe hit the music charts or something and he'd make an extra million.

[klauswhereareyou]

The new computer effects in the special editions/dvd editions/blu editions that I think worked were many of the dog fight shots in the Death Star Battle in the first film and the clean up work done on the matte boxes and paintings in all three films. Some of the Cloud City stuff in Empire is okay even though we have windows that come and go from shot to shot, and a lot the stuff added for atmosphere looks too computery (and that shot of the people outside Cloud City listening to Lando say attention, attention look like they should be on the set of the Wing Commander III CD-ROM game).

Two biggest pieces of garbage: the arrival at Mos Eisley from the first film (way too busy now, and poor CGI) and Jedi Rocks from Jedi.

[sarah_wentworth]

since lucas likes adding stuff do you think he'd consider removing jar jar's slapstick comedy scenes in Phantom Menace to make it better?

i love Phantom Menace but slapstick comedy shouldn't be in Star Wars. or droids saying Roger Roger. also if deleted footage of Maul exist it should be put in.

[stvn1974]

I hate the new Mos Eisley too. Before it was a crappy looking little place where smugglers and thieves would hang out. Now it looks like there should be a shopping mall down the road. Lucas did the same thing with THX-1138, it was cramped and looked miserable and now it looks like and underground Apple store.

[Gold Ranger]

Possible Ep 7 teaser:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens International Teaser Trailer - YouTube

[klauswhereareyou]

My biggest complaint with the Special Editions is that a lot of times Lucas took moments that may have had somewhat dodgy SFX (X-Wings taking off from Yavin, Max Rebo Band, Landspeeder cruising into Mos Eisley), and replaced them with equally bad CGI SFX that are less subtle than the original and are so overblown that they can't be ignored. As bad as the original Max Rebo scene was from an SFX standpoint, it was so brief that it was bad, but you could laugh at it. The Jedi Rocks version is not brief and can't even be laughed at because it's so awful, it can't even work on the level of camp.

[DCW]

While I hate the new Jabba's Palace dance scene, and trust me I mean hate, I detest the Hayden force ghost at the end of the movie. Watching the film, feeling sad at Luke's loss of his father, feeling joy seeing Han, Leia, and Luke reunited in victory, seeing Ben, Yoda, and....wait...wtf?

Every single time I saw the new addition of Hayden it took me out of the movie. Right at the climax as the music is swelling to its triumphant finale the rug gets yanked out from under me.

It's nothing against Hayden. I don't love the prequels, but I don't hate them like others do. I'm just kind of indifferent about them. I just don't think he has a place, at all, in Jedi.

[jala12]

Originally Posted by KaineKinetic

Possible Ep 7 teaser:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens International Teaser Trailer - YouTube

Some nice effects but that looks too amateurish to be an official teaser. You can tell that most of the footage is spliced from other sources.