Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[ObiTrentKenobi]

6 Days until Disney's D23 Expo starts on the 20th.. we will likely know these answers by that Saturday the 24th I'm sure.

"Hold on to your butts."
-Samuel L Jackson, Jurassic Park
(I'm sure thats a gif somewhere)

[ObiTrentKenobi]

Now that I'm thinking more about it. I don't know if Disney would really want to disappoint Star Wars fans anymore than they have as of late.

Since Last Jedi there has been so much negativity towards the brand. The fans have split into four camps. 1/4 of fans have walked away, 1/4 of fans have remained unchanged, 1/4 of fans have become even more fanatical (me), and 1/4 of fans are brand new to the franchise via Force Awakens.

Releasing a proper transfer of the UOT would bring back a significant amount of the 1/4 that have left I believe. I'm becoming convinced that this upcoming Sept. 22nd release will have a digital code for the UOT at the least, but not on the physical disc. Even though I want nothing more than the UOT on physical media. Harmy's has been impressive over the years, but I would pay up to 50$ each if they are done right officially.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by ObiTrentKenobi

6 Days until Disney's D23 Expo starts on the 20th.. we will likely know these answers by that Saturday the 24th I'm sure.

"Hold on to your butts."
-Samuel L Jackson, Jurassic Park
(I'm sure thats a gif somewhere)

[Davetek463]

Originally Posted by ObiTrentKenobi

Releasing a proper transfer of the UOT would bring back a significant amount of the 1/4 that have left I believe.

That wouldn't change people's opinions about TFA/R1/TLJ/Solo. The reaction would be more "yay, the proper films. Disney still sucks tho." I'm happy to be wrong, of course.

FWIW, I think either the 1997 or 2004 editions are (mostly) fine.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Davetek463

That wouldn't change people's opinions about TFA/R1/TLJ/Solo. The reaction would be more "yay, the proper films. Disney still sucks tho." I'm happy to be wrong, of course.

FWIW, I think either the 1997 or 2004 editions are (mostly) fine.

[wallendo]

Releasing the original trilogy in its initial version won't bring back the fans that have moved on from Star Wars as a franchise. Those that had moved on, or felt that SW moved on without them, have done so because the new show is not the same as it was. The current marketing target consists of the grandchildren of the original targeted cohort.

For me "Star Wars" has been the original trilogy. I find the prequels and sequels somewhat interesting, but for me, barring some renaissance of the franchise, movie #9 will be the end of the line. A lot has changed since 1977. I have changed. The movie industry has changed. Star Wars has changed.

I would buy the unedited originals on 4K, but to be honest, the changes made in subsequent editions were fairly minor, un-needed but still minor, and are a mild annoyance to me.

[Mister_Kidd]

The special editions are bad, but they are still bad versions of good movies. Ya'll should be using your energy to complain about The Last Jedi which is a legitimately terrible movie. That pile of garbage did way more to sully the legacy of the original movies than any tweeks Lucas made.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Mister_Kidd

The special editions are bad, but they are still bad versions of good movies. Ya'll should be using your energy to complain about The Last Jedi which is a legitimately terrible movie. That pile of garbage did way more to sully the legacy of the original movies than any tweeks Lucas made.

I actually enjoyed The Last Jedi probably because it was the closest Star Wars film for me to The Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, it did rip off a lot from it, but I was all about the Luke/Ben confrontation.

[Davetek463]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Those are the editions I grew up with, so there's probably some nostalgia glasses at work. Still, can you tell me with a straight face how fixing matte lines, transparency issues, and fixing things like the smear under the landspeeder going into Mos Eisley is a bad thing? I'll grant you that CGI Jabba has never quite looked right, and lightsaber effects have been...inconsistent. Yes, Luke's lightsaber should be blue in ANH and Vader's should be red in ESB. They're not perfect, but neither were the original versions either.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Davetek463

Those are the editions I grew up with, so there's probably some nostalgia glasses at work. Still, can you tell me with a straight face how fixing matte lines, transparency issues, and fixing things like the smear under the landspeeder going into Mos Eisley is a bad thing? I'll grant you that CGI Jabba has never quite looked right, and lightsaber effects have been...inconsistent. Yes, Luke's lightsaber should be blue in ANH and Vader's should be red in ESB. They're not perfect, but neither were the original versions either.

That's obviously not the stuff people take umbrage with, but I personally would welcome those back if it meant getting rid of the other stuff. Plenty of old movies have "warts" and I accept and love them regardless.

[stvn1974]

I just noticed that amazon put Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope With Extra Rocks up for order.

[imsounoriginal]

I can live with the 1997 and 2004 versions, I basically grew up with those anyway. It's the 2011 changes that take it too far.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I can live with the 1997 and 2004 versions, I basically grew up with those anyway. It's the 2011 changes that take it too far.

Same here. I didn't grow up with those versions (you kids today) but it was the 1997 SEs that got me into SW, I didn't really give a crap about it before then, so the nostalgia is strong with those ones. 2004 editions were okay, 2011 was one bout of Wildensteining too far when combined with how gauche those 2004 transfers looked in HD with their frozen grain, massive contrast boosting, shite colour timing etc. And while we'll probably get those same cuts on 4K, or near enough if Lucas has had any more bright ideas, I'll be buying them because at least it'll only be the changes that distract me, not the transfer too.

[Fang Zei]

My perfect set would be if, for each film, they gave us the original unaltered, the ‘97, and then got George to come in one last time and do his “I may have gone too far in a few places” final cut, hopefully reversing some of his decisions and maybe even giving us “a few new surprises” while he’s at it. Changing a few things back to the way they originally were wouldn’t be unprecedented for George. He added the sound of the emperor’s falling-down-the-exhaust-shaft scream from RotJ to Luke’s fall in Cloud City in ‘97 only to get rid of it in ‘04, and it’s still gone in the 2011 version as far as I know.

[Dotpattern]

Originally Posted by Arawn

All you have is appeal to ignorance and misguided speculation not backed up by any source anywhere, while the Lucas version of the story is completely different and reduces the speculation to irrelevancy.

Oh gee...look at what Lucas approved...Anakin meeting a Force ghost. Yeah. I guess after this and seeing Obi-Wan disappear on the Death Star, he wouldn't be curious at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMd7...ature=youtu.be

[Platitude]

Originally Posted by Fang Zei

My perfect set would be if, for each film, they gave us the original unaltered, the ‘97, and then got George to come in one last time and do his “I may have gone too far in a few places” final cut, hopefully reversing some of his decisions and maybe even giving us “a few new surprises” while he’s at it.

I've had this exact idea cross my mind before as well. They can say that the updated versions are the 'canon' versions, advertise this as the ultimate final cuts of the films or whatever, but also hype up the inclusion of the SE and theatrical editions to honor their legacy and those who worked on them. Include tons of special features, really make a big deal about it being a collector's item. Makes them a ton of money and everyone would be happy.

Also, I was ten when Phantom Menace came out (the exact right age to enjoy that movie) and although as an adult I can now recognize its many problems it has a ton of nostalgia for me. I saw the movie a few times in theaters and watched the VHS to death, as such the DVD/Blu-ray version always feels weird to me with those scenes they extended. Would very much like a high quality version of the theatrical edition for that one in addition to the OT.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Davetek463

Those are the editions I grew up with, so there's probably some nostalgia glasses at work. Still, can you tell me with a straight face how fixing matte lines, transparency issues, and fixing things like the smear under the landspeeder going into Mos Eisley is a bad thing? I'll grant you that CGI Jabba has never quite looked right, and lightsaber effects have been...inconsistent. Yes, Luke's lightsaber should be blue in ANH and Vader's should be red in ESB. They're not perfect, but neither were the original versions either.

Come on now, that's not at all what anybody complains about and you know it. There's fixing matte-lines, and then there's doing stuff like adding a bunch of cartoon dinosaurs all over Mos Eisley.

I will say this-- if Lucas had done his Special Editions with the care and subtlety of Ridley Scott's Final Cut of Blade Runner, and just fixed all those effects issues and inconsistencies, I and likely many others wouldn't even really care about the UOT nearly as much-- it would probably be more of a curiosity at that point. But overtime, the altered versions have gotten so ridiculous over every iteration that it's really made me appreciate the straight-up original releases, warts and all.

[Cherokee Jack]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I can live with the 1997 and 2004 versions, I basically grew up with those anyway. It's the 2011 changes that take it too far.

My first set was the CBS/FOX release but I saw all the '97 Special Editions in the theater with friends during probably the happiest part of my childhood and watched the hell out of my widescreen VHS SE trilogy (I still have some of the 'Behind the Scenes' footage that preceded each film etched in my memory ). The originals are all I need in a UHD release but I wouldn't say no to them including the '97 versions as well. At the very least that would allow someone to seamlessly incorporate the the Victory Celebration music into the original RotJ (the only change Lucas ever made that I consider a massive improvement).

Christensen's force ghost in '04 and Vader's scream in '11 are my 'Han shot first' moments. I will never watch those versions again.

[Hardback247]

If there's going to be ONE version of the OT that I'll watch going forward, it will be Adywan's Revisited Trilogy, once it's all completed.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Cherokee Jack

The originals are all I need in a UHD release but I wouldn't say no to them including the '97 versions as well. At the very least that would allow someone to seamlessly incorporate the the Victory Celebration music into the original RotJ (the only change Lucas ever made that I consider a massive improvement).

I think it would be fairly simple to use seamless branching for '97, '04, and '11 versions, as the following two revisions are all mostly smaller additions built upon the 1997 Special Editions as a baseline. I'd probably every once in a while throw in the '97 versions for fun, since I have fond memories going to those at the theater, and extremely rarely revisit the later versions.

Ideally you'd have that as one disc and the UOT included as it's own disc. If I want to get really creative with my "what-if pipe-dream release," I'd have Lucas reteam with Disney/Lucasfilm and do a new overhaul of the Special Edition, called the "Final Ultimate Skywalker Saga" edition or something. It'd still be a batshit crazy altered version, but with redone modern effects, alterations that are more consistent across the board and thorough, and bringing back Hayden Christiansen to actually shoot the ghost footage by someone who could get a good take and not that awkward b-roll footage.