Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[BNex99]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I'm not convinced the flopped surround field for Star Wars was a decision...clearly an error, but LucasFilm didn't want to recall the discs, so they claimed it was intentional. Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal have replaced discs for far less egregious QC issues. Shoot, WB replaced Matrix Revolutions because of a single frame.

Even beyond that, though, some of the sound effects were ridiculously overcranked, drowning out music and even dialogue. One example is the Force theme being completely dialed out during the X-wing dive in ANH.

[Nicolawicz]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

It's on my Pain List of "Movies I Want to Like So Much It Hurts"....but I just can't do it. I can't. Every time I feel the urge to rewatch it, I think of Anakin riding the giant tick cow and the dialog and "this is such a drag" and Jar-Jar bringing down the government and the utter failure to explain the mysteries in the follow-up, and then I need a new round of Chuck Jones/Spielberg/Gene Kelly/Monty Python cinema morphine to take the pain away.

Not to mention that 50's diner (which clearly shows that Lucas doesn't even get Star Wars). And the cheap digital video, the clone troopers being CGI even in close-ups, etc. It's an insult to filmmaking itself.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

Not to mention that 50's diner (which clearly shows that Lucas doesn't even get Star Wars). And the cheap digital video, the clone troopers being CGI even in close-ups, etc. It's an insult to filmmaking itself.

They had to make the Clone Troopers CGI, because they're clones. If they had to make a suit for each extra, stuntman, etc, they'd have to make sure each and every one of them was the same height, or else they'd have to take each shot in and have them alter the actors height anyways. It makes them actually appear like clones, they're exact copies.

By doing it all in CGI, you negate this step, not to mention it saves them a bit of money, no extras or stuntmen to pay for it, just the guys doing the CGI, and they're already going to have to do it anyways if you use an extra or stuntman.

[Nicolawicz]

They're CGI even in close-ups or when there's just one or two in a shot, so no. Lucas is simply obsessed with CGI.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

They're CGI even in close-ups or when there's just one or two in a shot, so no. Lucas is simply obsessed with CGI.

I thought they looked fairly real for the most part.

[Nicolawicz]

They look like obvious cartoons to me.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

They look like obvious cartoons to me.

No, THIS is an obvious cartoon:

[Nicolawicz]

Yeah, that reminds me of Jar Jar Binks.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

Yeah, that reminds me of Jar Jar Binks.

You never heard of Ren & Stimpy?

[Nicolawicz]

Of course I have.

[Hardback247]

If you actually think the Clone Troopers look unrealistic to the point of being "cartoons," then I don't get you.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

Not to mention that 50's diner (which clearly shows that Lucas doesn't even get Star Wars). And the cheap digital video, the clone troopers being CGI even in close-ups, etc. It's an insult to filmmaking itself.

Personally, I think that the Friedberg and Seltzer "spoof" movies are a million times bigger insult to filmmaking itself.

[Nicolawicz]

You know what's a real insult to filmmaking? Those motion capture "movies" like Beowulf.

[Hardback247]

What about those Dinesh D'Souza "documentaries," like Hillary's America?

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Popped in Attack of the Clones today.... god, I couldn't even sit 10 minutes through it. What an awful clusterf***. Literally, the only good thing about this movie is John Williams music but George butchered his score becasue of the f*cked up editing This movie hasn't aged well at all. It looks SO much like a PS2 video game. The worst Star Wars movie of them all imo.

Your opinion is certainly shared by the vast majority... but funny enough, CLONES has always been -- by far -- my favorite of the prequels. I can see absolutely everything wrong with it; every single criticism written here is right on the money... and yet, for me, the good still outweighs the bad. CLONES is actually THE prequel I'd always wanted to see: armies of lightsaber-wielding Jedi Knights fighting side by side, camaraderie between Obi Wan and Anakin, proof that Anakin was an excellent pilot, and beginning of the Clone Wars (the Battle of Geonosis is friggin' incredible). I'd go so far to say that if I were ever to do my own version of a "machete order", CLONES is the only prequel I need. Still leaves Anakin's turn a "mystery" to be revealed by Yoda in JEDI.

And the "cartoony" quality of the early-21st-Century graphics doesn't bother me at all; I love the look of the film; reminds of "space paintings" books my brother and I used to collect in the late 70's/early 80's. I dunno... SITH bothers me WAY more because of the manner in which Anakin finally turns and the last ten minutes. I think it's tough to get through those bits, and they kinda taint the whole movie for me. MENACE... well, the last twenty minutes of MENACE is amazing, but overall there's a lot more (for me) too wince at in MENACE than there is in CLONES.

Anyhoo... I dig me some CLONES. But I know I'm virtually alone in that opinion.

[brettxwt]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00VF0M7QE/ref=pd_sim_318_6

Woah, what is this? Usually, I wouldn't think much of it for something like this, but I checked A New Hope and Empire and this is the only one that's labeled the "Theatrical Version". Is this legit or just the special edition?

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by brettxwt

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00VF0M7QE/ref=pd_sim_318_6

Woah, what is this? Usually, I wouldn't think much of it for something like this, but I checked A New Hope and Empire and this is the only one that's labeled the "Theatrical Version". Is this legit or just the special edition?

The 134 minute run-time indicates "Special Edition". Original theatrical was 131 or 132, depending on who you ask.

[ambient_indie]

Amazon is really f&#king with us. Or Disney.

Those trolls.


(I'm not gonna lie, if the original versions showed up one day online as digital downloads, I'd buy them immediately. I prefer physical media, but to hell with waiting! I'm ready to throw money at Disney if this happens!)

[drush9999]

If Disney has any sense

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by BNex99

Even beyond that, though, some of the sound effects were ridiculously overcranked, drowning out music and even dialogue. One example is the Force theme being completely dialed out during the X-wing dive in ANH.

I'm actually more annoyed by the smoothed-out mix of Fantasia on Blu (still love the visual mastering - wooh, doggy, is that a beautiful disc -- not the colors we've been used to since 1990, but it's a beautiful disc), but sure, the DVD 2004 audio mix of Star Wars isn't a proud moment in sound mastering. Kinda surprising how such a thing could happen.