Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Merlinpants]

I can easily see Disney agreeing to put Fox's logo on Episodes VII-IX, as well as a percentage of the box office grosses, in exchange for the rights to A New Hope returning to disney. Marvel did the deal with paramount for avengers and iron man 3, marvel is owned by disney, it has worked once, it will work again.

[Scarface32]

I wanna see OUT on Blu-ray, and a new SE based on the 1997 ones but with all the stupid stuff taken out (no Jabba in IV, Han shoots first, no extended singing in Jabbas palace), keep just the good stuff (a more spacious Cloud City, the better Speeder footage in IV)

Disney should totally do that. Release the original unaltered trilogy and a modified special edition based on the 1997 SE. And throw out all the other versions. And as a bonus, Disney could acquire the rights to the Holiday Special from CBS (assuming there is a useable print in the archives to do an HD scan)

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

I wanna see OUT on Blu-ray, and a new SE based on the 1997 ones but with all the stupid stuff taken out (no Jabba in IV, Han shoots first, no extended singing in Jabbas palace), keep just the good stuff (a more spacious Cloud City, the better Speeder footage in IV)

Disney should totally do that. Release the original unaltered trilogy and a modified special edition based on the 1997 SE. And throw out all the other versions. And as a bonus, Disney could acquire the rights to the Holiday Special from CBS (assuming there is a useable print in the archives to do an HD scan)

I would rather they release the special editions unaltered - give you a history of the evolution of the films. Plus the only of the original films I got to see was A New Hope Special Edition so it has good memories for me.

[gregmasciola]

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

...I can totally see at some point you going to a website, and a list of all the changes made from top to bottom of all the films, and you fill out the form to order your own custom Blu-ray. To be honest, I can totally see it happening, LOL.

I've been thinking the same thing for awhile. It seems like the only way to make all the fans happy.

[Yojimbo68]

Originally Posted by gregmasciola

I've been thinking the same thing for awhile. It seems like the only way to make all the fans happy.

If I was running Disney, that would be my first olive branch to the fans. A quality release of the original theatrical versions on Blu-ray. That would generate a lot of good will and bring some "lost" fans back into the fold.

I'd also like to have the Imax cut of Attack of the Clones (a superior cut of the film) but that's pushing it..

[blonde_devil]

this is incredible(and not neccessarily in a good way) but we are almost 3000 pages into a thread for a blu-ray that came out 2.5 years ago, and it keeps going!

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

this is incredible(and not neccessarily in a good way) but we are almost 3000 pages into a thread for a blu-ray that came out 2.5 years ago, and it keeps going!

Subtract all the Lucas hate, and we are probably pushing 500 pages.
Nobody "moves the meter" like Georgie.

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

And as a bonus, Disney could acquire the rights to the Holiday Special from CBS (assuming there is a useable print in the archives to do an HD scan)

The Holiday Special was recorded on glorious late 70s variety show standard definition broadcast video tape, so nope.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by rickah88

Subtract all the Lucas hate, and we are probably pushing 500 pages.
Nobody "moves the meter" like Georgie.

500? I bet it would be down to 50 and most would be where to get a good deal on it.

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by octagon

Heavily rumored? Aside from net chatter (ie wishful thinking) has there even been a serious whisper that these are in the works?

I've heard it from several various places - heck even Digital Bits mentioned it awhile back (with the proviso that it was a rumor, of course).

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

I would rather they release the special editions unaltered - give you a history of the evolution of the films. Plus the only of the original films I got to see was A New Hope Special Edition so it has good memories for me.

It'd be great if they did something like that. I love the 1997 cuts. Yeah, some of it's pretty half-baked, like the terrible CG Jabba and other Mos Eisley additions in Star Wars, but you've still got the non-blinking Dianoga eye in the trash compactor, you've still got Sebastian Shaw (and his eyebrows) as Anakin's force ghost, you've still got Boba Fett's original voice and other little bits 'n' pieces.

People often say that branching wouldn't work with the original and the SE(s) because there are so many changes - and those people are correct - but there'd be nothing stopping LFL from doing branching with the various post-'97 versions because the differences are minimal (in terms of running time, anyway ).

So let's say you'd have the 1997 SE, 2004 DVD and the 2011 Blu-ray cuts on one disc, the restored original (with the original sound mixes) on another, with an individual extras disc for each film and one 'unified' disc with stuff like Empire of Dreams on it. Even the prequels could get in on the 'archival' act, they could branch in the theatrical cut of Phantom Menace (I prefer it to the DVD version) and the shorter IMAX cut of Attack of the Clones. I'd crawl over broken glass to get a Blu-ray boxset like that, and THEN hand the mother ****ers my money.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

this is incredible(and not neccessarily in a good way) but we are almost 3000 pages into a thread for a blu-ray that came out 2.5 years ago, and it keeps going!

1148 pages...

[cricepng]

Originally Posted by KaineKinetic

1148 pages...

Differences are based on your settings for how many posts to show per page.

[Scarface32]

2296 for default setting.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

My own side note: I said this earlier in the thread, but since Disney is all about "customized" experiences these days (the stuff they are doing at the theme parks in terms of customizing things is crazy), I can totally see at some point you going to a website, and a list of all the changes made from top to bottom of all the films, and you fill out the form to order your own custom Blu-ray. To be honest, I can totally see it happening, LOL.

Obviously I can't prove you wrong, but I highly doubt this would ever happen and especially not while Lucas is still alive. It's also not clear (at least not to me) that Disney ever gains the rights to the six films. One has got to believe that anyone who has ever wanted to see Star Wars has some home edition and so the market for yet another release is not that large. While sites like this make it seem like there's mass demand for the unaltered OT, I bet in reality, it wouldn't sell worth a damn. The fanboys would find some minor flaw and refuse to buy it. I bet if it was released, there's be complains like "oh some scenes seem so empty...why didn't he add more ships?" or "the optical dissolves look terrible...why didn't he fix those?"...just the things he did fix for the existing BD release.

If there's any customization at all, it will be more along the lines of some software application which includes a bunch of scenes that the user can re-edit using a simple video editor.

For the most part, people either want the original or they want the changes. Few people want a custom mix.

If Lucas is to be believed, the original negs of the OT were cut up to make the special editions, so the OT doesn't exist, except as prints, perhaps the prints sitting in the Library of Congress, if nowhere else. Now if the original negs of the replaced scenes were saved, obviously it wouldn't be all that much work to edit the whole original thing back together (and it would be hard to believe that Lucas didn't save every single frame, although stranger things have happened). But if the original doesn't really exist, then a print would have to be used and that probably wouldn't look all that great and there'd be complains about that.

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Obviously I can't prove you wrong, but I highly doubt this would ever happen and especially not while Lucas is still alive.

It obviously was a kind of silly suggestion - but again, I can see it, seeing how Disney is doing the "customized" experience these days in the theme parks, etc. - they have designed an entire 1B system around building customizing experiences - "Next Gen" - give it a google) and with Star Wars about to become a much bigger presence, it wouldn't surprise me. It's something I don't think would be feasible technically for a very long time, though.

That said, Lucas has no say in it whatsoever. (See the first link in my signature.)

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

If Lucas is to be believed, the original negs of the OT were cut up to make the special editions, so the OT doesn't exist, except as prints, perhaps the prints sitting in the Library of Congress, if nowhere else.

For the full story on that, see the second link in my signature.

Long story short - yes the O-neg was cut to hell, and a frame lost on each side of the cuts - but it's believed the pieces still exist (it wouldn't have made sense to destroy them) and a proper restoration is entirely possible because of some Technicolor dyed, fade-proof versions do exist to fill in any gaps.

As to the unaltered OT to itself (customization fantasy aside) Lucas himself even admitted at the Blu-ray announcement (I'm sure the links are buried somewhere in this mountain of thread) that it would cost a few million bucks to do it but he wasn't personally interested in it enough to spend the money.

Disney is courting the fan community like crazy, it's insane - they realize that going after the "whales" is a smart move financially (those of us that may spend a thousand or more bucks a year on Star Wars product - heck a large number of folks plan Disney vacations around "Star Wars Days", some of the most massively attended non-Holiday times at the parks), Disney knows all about courting the super-fan from their experience with Disney-fandom.

And as far as Lucas' opinion, not only does it not matter (he's a consultant, nothing more at this point - something that he had trepidation about but finally conceded - all final decisions explicitly lay with Disney - again, see the Business Week article below) - but just the fact the new films are being done on 35mm and not digital, and they have staunchly stated there will be a greater emphasis on practical effects vs. CGI - not only does it not matter if he cares, since the guy is well-documented as changing his mind perpetually, at this point - I doubt he much cares. He seems to have made his peace with everything - and if not, hey, he can just go to the bank and swim around in the 4B he added to his fortune.

[Geoff D]

I love how people are using JJ's decision to go with 35mm as another brickbat to smack Lucas with, but if JJ's previous movies are any indication then it'll end up looking so 'digital' (for want of a better word) people will wonder why he bothered. Heck, everything's made up of ones and zeroes the moment that camera negative hits the scanner for the DI, so I don't see JJ as some sort of hero for using 35mm.

[rickah88]

"pre-judgement"...I don't think any other thread boasts more of it, than this one.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It'd be great if they did something like that. I love the 1997 cuts. Yeah, some of it's pretty half-baked, like the terrible CG Jabba and other Mos Eisley additions in Star Wars, but you've still got the non-blinking Dianoga eye in the trash compactor, you've still got Sebastian Shaw (and his eyebrows) as Anakin's force ghost, you've still got Boba Fett's original voice and other little bits 'n' pieces.

I tend to agree with you. I really didn't have a huge issue with the 1997 cuts (even though I definitely still preferred the originals) as they still retained so much of the original movies' essence. So many little things have added up since those that has really made things worse leading into to the BDs.

I also suspect their color timing was closer to the originals compared to the 2004 DVD and BDs although I am not 100%. Thoughts on that?

[Geoff D]

Yeah, it's kinda funny how the fanbase cried out in terror re: all the changes in the '97 versions, but the movies have gotten worse and worse with each iteration so the SEs aren't the worst option right about now. They were what got me back into Star Wars, so I'll always have a soft spot for them.

As for the colour, the brief of the 2004 transfers was to emulate the look of Lucas' personal IB Tech print (for the first movie anyway), but it was done in a very crude manner, adding FAR too much blue as I'm sure most of y'all are aware. This was dialled back a tad for the Blu-ray, getting rid of that ridiculous blue fringing around the Death Star explosion, but I can't shake the feeling that the colour is still too oversaturated on the Blu-rays.