Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Scorch]

Originally Posted by PixarPerfect

i'm only watching one a day.

Originally Posted by PixarPerfect

onto aotc and rots tomorrow!

I.. what? But you just said..

I impulse bought the set tonight.. debating on taking it back. I don't know what to do. I'm just a casual fan of SW, I've seen each movie once.

[superdude]

Still no news on the easter eggs? I thought someone would have at least found something by now. I tried looking around on the bonus discs lat night, but had no luck.

[Bill Clay]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I always took that comment as a not-so-subtle insult on Han's part. After all, Jabba's certainly no friend of his; he's more like a galactic "bookie". Combined with stepping on his tail, it really stresses the fact that given a choice, Han wouldn't be anywhere near Jabba for all the money in the galaxy.

You know that scene was originally filmed with just some fat actor playing Jabba though, right? So he was human at that point. The cg was added over it for the special editions.

My question for those that have it, did they improve the Jabba in that scene? I remember that looking incredibly bad the last time I saw it.

[CodyCourtBlack2]

Originally Posted by Scorch

I.. what? But you just said..

I impulse bought the set tonight.. debating on taking it back. I don't know what to do. I'm just a casual fan of SW, I've seen each movie once.

sorry. meant tpm last night, aotc tonight, rots tomorrow.

[Rizor]

Originally Posted by 22soultaker

Love the way he uses the force to grab his lightsaber lol

I think on the DVD documentaries, Lucas tells the animators to have Yoda pull out his lightsaber "like Clint would".

[Snowmaker]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

LOL


Plus we have this 'hippie alien' that Lucas gave us for the SE.

That's just Ketwol with his head backwards and a hat over his snout:

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by Bill Clay

You know that scene was originally filmed with just some fat actor playing Jabba though, right? So he was human at that point. The cg was added over it for the special editions.

My question for those that have it, did they improve the Jabba in that scene? I remember that looking incredibly bad the last time I saw it.

No they didn't

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by Snowmaker

That's just Ketwol with his head backwards and a hat over his snout:

Ketwol, Lowtek spelt backwards, because he was a lowtech practical head rather than CG for the '97 SE

[Hatter]

Originally Posted by hipster.doofus7

Reviews for Star Wars: The Complete Saga are coming out steadily. Either all these people are drinking George Lucas' koolaid... or the box set is actually pretty damn good.

http://bluray.ign.com/articles/119/1195029p1.html

8/10. Do note the impressive tag associated with 8.0. It seems that too often these days 8/10 is seen as crap as if they've been scared into making the floor grade 7/10.

[-RONIN-]

Originally Posted by hipster.doofus7

Reviews for Star Wars: The Complete Saga are coming out steadily. Either all these people are drinking George Lucas' koolaid... or the box set is actually pretty damn good.

It's good... The haters just want to hate. It's easily the best the series has ever looked and sounded.

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

LOL


Plus we have this 'hippie alien' that Lucas gave us for the SE.

Originally Posted by Snowmaker

That's just Ketwol with his head backwards and a hat over his snout:

I didn't know that.


I wondered why they gave him that weird 'dew rag'.

Now I know.

Thanks

.

[happydood]

Thanks for posting the links. I read them all and am most on board with the Home Theater Forum review in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of all the films from a narrative standpoint. I haven't yet had the chance to look at the films on this set, so I can't speak to the truth of the transfer or audio reviews.

A word about the High Def Digest review: everyone is absolutely entitled to their opinion and so there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to questions of taste. (There are informed answers about aesthetics, but not necessarily right or wrong approaches to matters of taste. You like what you like.) But I'm always bothered by the use of 'abomination' when it's applied to works of art or popular culture. Actually it bothers me in general as I don't think there is a piece of art that doesn't belong or have the right to be if it found it's way here somehow or someone thought what it said was worth saying. You can make judgments about whether it's worth your time, of course, but these solemn pronouncements decrying something as not fit to exist or fit for consumption by other people kinda gets on my nerves.

I'm a big fan of symphonic music. I'm in no way comparing the following works of art with the Star Wars movies because that would be pointless, but: both Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring met the same kinds of criticism when they were first performed. I only bring these up here, I guess, to ask the question: who critiques the critics?

I'm not an elitist by any means and I think most people's criticisms of The Prequels that I've read are valid. Wooden acting, confusing plot, annoying characters, etc. I get it. That's all there in those movies, alright. I agree.

Lots of folks like them in spite of these things. Doesn't mean we don't know they're there. Doesn't mean we're idiots. Doesn't mean we don't know how to tell a good movie from a bad one. We just like what we like, possibly because the rest of the aesthetics of these movies appeal to us. Or maybe we just like the stories. Or maybe we just like to watch light sabers. Whatever. They aren't 'abominations.' You just don't like them. It's cool. But something made by human hands with the intent of entertaining or enlightening people, whether using computers as a tool or not is not an abomination. Cloned beef is an abomination. The Prequels aren't the films you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.

[Rizor]

I watched the prequel trilogy this weekend for the first time in years. When they were first released, I liked them. In the passing years though, they seemed to get worse and worse in hindsight. I have to say I thought they were very entertaining despite all their flaws.

The Phantom Menace's biggest disadvantage is the movie feels so cold and alien. It's completely unlike the other SW films but I can't help but admire that old school epic quality of it. It's pretty ambitious and they weren't heavily dependent on CGI. There's a lot of practical effects and models on display. And even if it is boring and some of the explanations of the force are wrong-headed, it's a fairly well conceived story and script.

Attack of the Clones opens things up and you get that Lucas listened to some of the criticisms about TPM being so stuffy. It tries harder to entertain. Unfortunately, Anakin's character is too whiny and too creepy and the romantic elements are clunky. The film's last act, while fun, loses itself in the action and CGI.

I like Revenge of the Sith. Some of it is clunky, but there's a nice sense of foreboding in the movie. There's a nice Oedipus Rex quality to it (a man who knows his fate and slips deeper and deeper into hell trying to prevent it). The action is good and I think Lucas pulls off some of the prequel elements (setting up the original trilogy) nicely. It stumbles here and there, but is ultimately satisfying.

On the BDs, AOTC and ROTS both looked great. TPM is a huge improvement over the DVD which I looked at last night for the Yoda scenes. The DNR isn't too heavy save for that screenshot of Qui Gon which has been going around.

[Thus Spake Zathras]

Originally Posted by rgray_69

i have a Panasonic DMP-BD50 blu-ray player it happened at that spot and also at 1:19:28. I went to the store and tried the disc in another player and it didn't mess up. I tried a different copy in my blu-ray player and it messed up in those 2 spots.

I posted on the AOTC glitch a couple of pages back.
It happens twice, once at the tusken raider camp when Annakin is in the tent with his mother as well as the end of the shot where Yoda is stepping of the ramp of the gunship.
Disc surface immaculate.
I’ve got a Panasonic DMP BD30 with the latest firmware.
Exchanged the boxset but new disc has the same trouble spots.
Now planning to wait for the single disc editions and I’ll order one from Amazon.UK
Hopefully a later batch from a different area might be ok.

[The Bread]

Loving the blu-rays so far. Episode 1 was awesome. 2 was kind of a snoozer no? Good but not great.

I'll be watching the rest over the next few days!

[Digital-Man]

Originally Posted by vassillios

Is anybody else experiencing audio hiccups on IV?

I, II & III all have several audio dropouts throughout the movies in my 6 movie set, I would rewind to a few seconds before the dropout just to check and it is always in the same places. IV, V & VI have no audio issues. Is anyone else having this problem?

[poke smot]

Originally Posted by Digital-Man

I, II & III all have several audio dropouts throughout the movies in my 6 movie set, I would rewind to a few seconds before the dropout just to check and it is always in the same places. IV, V & VI have no audio issues. Is anyone else having this problem?

yep. problems here too. part 2 and 4 so far, but i played them on a different player and they were fine. so its not the discs, but my ps3.

[MEB]

Houston, we have a problem. Oops... wrong space movie.

I watched Episode 1 yesterday and had zero problems with playback. Today I watched Episode 2 and I had all kinds of problems with playback. The image froze up in 6 different locations. Each time playback restarted again (on its own) in a couple of seconds but without sound. Then, a few seconds more and sound was back. If I fast reversed the playback to the spot before the lockup and let it play again, then it would play fine.

Later in the disc I had 3 spots where the image became very pixelated and then snapped back, again all by itself. Again, reversing the disc and playing the same section again was without pixelization.

This is the only Blu-ray disc I've ever had a problem with. I managed to get the movie watched and then I visually checked the disc. I can't see any flaws or scratches or other problems with the disc. No paint flaking off of the label side or anything like that.

In the last few years I've easily played over 800 discs in my Panasonic BD35 without incident. This is the first problem disc. It will be interesting to see if the remaining 4 movies in the set give me any problems.

Mark

[MEB]

Originally Posted by tuck301

yep. problems here too. part 2 and 4 so far, but i played them on a different player and they were fine. so its not the discs, but my ps3.

That reminds me, in addition to the pauses/freezing and pixelization on Episode 2, there were two spots where the sound dropped out (movie was playing without sound). In both cases when I reversed the disc and let it play those sections again they played with sound on the second play.

Mark

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by Bill Clay

You know that scene was originally filmed with just some fat actor playing Jabba though, right? So he was human at that point. The cg was added over it for the special editions.

There was *always* a plan to "cover up" that human actor and animate over him. When the FX didn't work out in '77, they abandoned the scene.

Jabba was never intended to be a fat human.