Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[insomniac013]

Originally Posted by RyanPom

I thought it was hilarious the big new special extra on the BR set was that 2 hour long special of watching people try out to be Stomtroopers. All that extra footage they have for the movies, and we got that?

Exactly. Those precious GIGs of space could've been used for something much better! Like Empire of Dreams in HD! Or simply all the featurettes from the previous DVD releases. And dont get me started on that 90 minute reel of Star Wars parodies! Seriously? Who do they think these sets are for??

[klauswhereareyou]

Not sure how everyone else feels about how the extras were presented on the blu rays, but I hate it. You have to go to a planet...in order to see deleted scenes (and we still don't have all the deleted scenes on there..especially the prequel ones that were on the dvds but not on the blu rays), random crap is scattered all over the place (oh wow Luke's severed hand), it takes forever for anything to load, and just stupid crap that noboby cares about (40 year old dudes playing dress up and comedy crap).

[WorkShed]

Originally Posted by JavaJulien

Given Disney's latest track record though, if a UOT actually ends up happening, I wouldn't expect much in the bonus features department.

Considering Lucasfilm owns all the bonus materials (now Disney), I wouldn't be too surprised if all the previous bonus material (not on the 2011 Blu set) comes to this set. It would make fans happy and wouldn't take much effort on Disney's part to port everything over. Star Wars on Blu is a bigger release for Disney than Emperor's New Groove any day.

[MrJoeKalel]

Originally Posted by WorkShed

Considering Lucasfilm owns all the bonus materials (now Disney), I wouldn't be too surprised if all the previous bonus material (not on the 2011 Blu set) comes to this set. It would make fans happy and wouldn't take much effort on Disney's part to port everything over. Star Wars on Blu is a bigger release for Disney than Emperor's New Groove any day.

Star Wars OT, Platinum or Diamond editions?

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by 42041

Where do people get this stuff? Lucas isn't a psychopath, he's not going to be destroying irreplaceable material.
A lot of the original footage in the cut negative was replaced by necessity, since a lot of the opticals were unusably faded. The original un-composited elements are all archived.

As for the original version being released, I'll believe it when I see it. Lucas or no Lucas, it'd take quite a lot of work and money to restore it.

I don't think he is a psychopath, but indeed - some bits of Star Wars original negative (the actual physical film that ran through the camera) was destroyed in the process of creating the SE's.

The irony of the expense and time it would take to reconstruct at this point is that in order to cut it up for the SE's, they had to restore the original film fully. Kind of like restoring a historic building to it's original splendor, and then painting a bunch of modern art all over it in non-removable paint.

So it was completely restored - the original camera negative. Today that film would have been scanned at 4K or 8K and the special edition created on those digital files. But since technology wasn't there yet (like it wasn't for the SE's to begin with - it was the integration of CG with old footage that wasn't lit/designed for it was simply bad) they had to cut it up to all heck to do it. And, yes, frames were destroyed - you cannot cut/recut a film strip on the frame you want to cut it at, you have to cut half-way into the next frame, destroying that frame in the process.

You can read all about it at the link in my signature.

Originally Posted by JavaJulien

Hoenstly, there's got to be some type of balance. Keeping the fixes to mistakes while keeping out the really stupid changes.

Yeah, I think we wouldn't even be talking about this all these years later if they had just redone the space effects (which frankly, I don't even notice) and made added an embellishment here or there (particularly, things like the windows on Cloud City). But the problem people had was the fact that the changes actually change the tone of entire sequences and were so overdone and obvious in many cases that they felt like defacing, not enhancing.

Originally Posted by JavaJulien

+1

Blade Runner and Alien Anthology are the bench marks IMO over how to release films with multiple cuts.

I think the big issue is - especially with Star Wars itself - that practically the entire movie has been modified in such a way that they would pretty much have to have two copies of the film on a single disc to do that - which would make the bit rate much lower than we would demand it be at on a 50GB disc.

Originally Posted by WorkShed

Considering Lucasfilm owns all the bonus materials (now Disney), I wouldn't be too surprised if all the previous bonus material (not on the 2011 Blu set) comes to this set. It would make fans happy and wouldn't take much effort on Disney's part to port everything over. Star Wars on Blu is a bigger release for Disney than Emperor's New Groove any day.

And I think the rather "bare bones" package we got in 2011 makes perfect sense now. They sold like gangbusters, making the property more attractive, and at the same time holding back key materials so any potential buyer could have the ability to release an even more robust set later.

[Captain Mal]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

Not sure how everyone else feels about how the extras were presented on the blu rays, but I hate it. You have to go to a planet...in order to see deleted scenes (and we still don't have all the deleted scenes on there..especially the prequel ones that were on the dvds but not on the blu rays), random crap is scattered all over the place (oh wow Luke's severed hand), it takes forever for anything to load, and just stupid crap that noboby cares about (40 year old dudes playing dress up and comedy crap).

Yes, they did make it pretty tedious to watch the deleted scenes (faster and easier to watch them on youtube). I rarely watch those anyway. For me, the only Star Wars extra that stands up to repeat viewings is Empire of Dreams that came with the first DVD trilogy set.

[klauswhereareyou]

It takes longer to navigate the blu ray and load up some of the shorter deleted scenes then it actually takes to watch it. They really just needed a play all for every deleted scene contained on each disc.

[bharbeke]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

It takes longer to navigate the blu ray and load up some of the shorter deleted scenes then it actually takes to watch it. They really just needed a play all for every deleted scene contained on each disc.

There is a "Play All" button at the bottom of discs 7 and 8. You can choose between Interviews, Deleted Scenes, Collection, and Concept Art from there. It's similar to how the LOTR Extended Editions did their "Play All" feature.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by bharbeke

There is a "Play All" button at the bottom of discs 7 and 8. You can choose between Interviews, Deleted Scenes, Collection, and Concept Art from there. It's similar to how the LOTR Extended Editions did their "Play All" feature.

Well, my own stupidity I guess.

[insomniac013]

I'd hope that Disney would pull off making awesome blu ray releases for Star Wars films but judging from how they handle their own movies, it's pretty doubtful. Hopefully they'll make them Platinum Editions or something...

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by insomniac013

I'd hope that Disney would pull off making awesome blu ray releases for Star Wars films but judging from how they handle their own movies, it's pretty doubtful. Hopefully they'll make them Platinum Editions or something...

I think the Star Wars films are higher profile for the Mouse right now over, say, Pete's Dragon, Robin Hood, Oliver and Co., Home on the Range, etc.

Disney brings the goods on their prestige titles, though.

EDIT

Sure is a lot of pessimism out there lately...like Marvin the Robot suddenly spread despairing nanobytes into the human bloodstream.

[Captain Mal]

Originally Posted by Deckard757

I had no idea so many liked the prequels.

I personally thought they were terrible.

To each his own.

I'm guessing that these are younger folks that didn't grow up watching the original theatrical trilogy. I like Episode 3. Episode 1 at least has Liam Neeson and the awesome lightsaber duel at the end. Pretty much hate Episode 2 - not much to like except for the first Yoda fight and the alien at the bar trying to sell Obiwan "death sticks". "You don't want to sell me death sticks. You want to go home and rethink your life."

[klauswhereareyou]

I don't really have a problem with the prequels on their own, but when you put them together with the original films, even with all the Lucas Retconning that went on with the DVD and blu ray versions, they just don't seem to be the same series of films.

[stvn1974]

I like how when you watch them in order with the prequels first when you get to the original trilogy everything Ben tells Luke is a lie or how he seems to completely forget things. I guess it was old age.

[Geoff D]

Don't start with that shit. Lucas was retconning his story while he was still making the OT, let alone the prequels. "From a certain point of view..."

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Don't start with that shit. Lucas was retconning his story while he was still making the OT, let alone the prequels. "From a certain point of view..."

No doubt, but with eps 1,2,3 it got even worse. So bad in fact that he felt the need to go back with the DVDs and blu rays and make little changes that make the orginals conform more to the prequels, when he should've been trying to conform the prequels to the originals.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by JavaJulien

Hoenstly, there's got to be some type of balance. Keeping the fixes to mistakes while keeping out the really stupid changes.

When the SE's were announced, that's what most people expected to get. Lucas basically said he was restoring the film and replacing some of the worst model shots and mattes.

I never had a problem with this. I love the redone battle sequences over the Death Star in ANH, or the opening up of Cloud City to make it feel more alive, but like many, I hate all the other crap (the Jabba scene, Han shooting last, the disrupted Cloud City escape, the dumb musical number at Jabba's palace, Hayden's ghost, and so on).

Given the choice between the two, I'll take the junk mattes and bad model work any day of the week.

[Ernest Rister]

EMPEROR
We have a new enemy...Luke Skywalker.

VADER
Who? I don't have a son. How can that be?

EMPEROR
You were just talking about him with your men.

VADER
Oh, THAT Luke Skywalker.

EMPEROR
How stupid do you think I am?

VADER
Well, he's just a boy. I'm not, you know, plotting anything.

EMPEROR
I'm not going to let that kid become a Jedi.

VADER
Hey, maybe he can join our side. Like Simba with Timon and Pumbaa.

EMPEROR
If I had that kid, I wouldn't need you anym-- um, I mean, yes. Yes. Can it be done?

VADER
He will join us or die. (ha, ha, we're so going to cut off your hands and your head)

EMPEROR
What?!?

VADER
Oh, oops -- Did I say that? I meant to say, I must obey my master.

EMPEROR
We're going to have a serious discussion during your next performance review.

VADER
I am an excellent worker. I haven't taken a sick day in months.

EMPEROR
Just go get that kid.

VADER
As you wish...(so going to drop you down a cooling shaft)

EMPEROR
What?!?

VADER
I said I'm going to do as you ask.

[stvn1974]

I just want the Unmolested Original Trilogy so I can act like the prequels never happened. The way Star Wars stands now is the rise/fall/redemption of Anakin Skywalker. It wouldn't be so bad if Lucas hadn't turned him into a whiny brat who kills children and ushers in a dictatorship because he had a temper tantrum. As it stands I don't care if Anikan is redeemed. He doesn't deserve it.

[Geoff D]

Not bad Ernest, not bad. I love the idea of Vader getting a performance review. Perhaps that's why he's Tarkin's ***** in the original film.