Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

As much as teh "NO" sucks, there is nothing I can do about it. My only other option is to watch piss poor DVD quality. No thank you!!

There is not what I would call a huge difference in PQ between the Blu-ray and DVD.

Yes, the Blu-ray is better.

But it's not that much better like it should be. However, such is the case with a 10 year-old Lowry master.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by svenge

The "Episode IV: A New Hope" title was added beginning with the 1981 theatrical re-release. As for the audio, there's 3 versions that would qualify as "original": The 6-track (for 70mm presentations), stereo, and mono mixes were all exhibited in 1977 to various theaters depending on installed equipment.

There were subsequent audio remixes done in 1985 and 1993 for various home video releases as well, but those likely wouldn't be archived by the LoC or NFR.

Yes, I've posted that same info many times, including:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=48304

And I know that "Episode IV" was added for the re-release - that was my point. If this is what was listed, it's not the true 1977 original.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

Strange to remember a time when the only feedback you got on movies you liked/disliked pretty much came from your circle of friends.

The movie was a hit for me and my friends at the time. I remember I asked my mom to push my B-day party back a week just so I could show Episode I (which came out on VHS the first week of April, I think). We all had such a blast. I remember my best friend Tim and I were so excited to be able to watch the Podrace and the lightsaber duel over and over again.

Simple times.

But then with my foray onto the internet, I distinctly remember there being an air of negativity surrounding the coming release of Episode II. I always wondered if that influenced my feelings toward that one (though it's just as likely that I was simply maturing as a moviegoer).

I think you've hit upon some important points. Both home video and the internet have changed the way we watch movies.

Back before home video, you'd go to the movies and see a film once. Maybe if you really loved it, you'd see it again. There were Star Wars fans who saw the film many times, but that was the exception that proved the rule.

In seeing a film once, you'd still form an opinion about it, but you weren't able to obsess over every single scene and every single flaw. Criticism was largely about the broad strokes of the story, character development and acting.

Even in the early days of home video, largely watching on VHS, the quality wasn't good enough to obsess about every single thing and we were so excited about being able to watch a film uncensored and uninterrupted by commercials, we were mostly positive. Same when HBO happened.

The advent of HD at home, the relatively low costs of discs and the trolling of the internet has changed everything. Now everyone (well everyone on sites like this one) do obsess over every little aspect of every film. And if one obsesses over every little thing, then the only logical result is a negative opinion. We're looking so closely at the bark on the tree that we no longer see the beauty of the forest. In addition, every idiot with a video camera and a microphone now considers themselves to be a film critic regardless of whether or not they've ever formally studied anything about the history of film, critical analysis or film production.

There was an article in the NY Times yesterday about trolling that begins:

Web Trolls Winning as Incivility Increases
By FARHAD MANJOOAUG. 14, 2014

The Internet may be losing the war against trolls. At the very least, it isn’t winning. And unless social networks, media sites and governments come up with some innovative way of defeating online troublemakers, the digital world will never be free of the trolls’ collective sway.

That’s the dismal judgment of the handful of scholars who study the broad category of online incivility known as trolling, a problem whose scope is not clear, but whose victims keep mounting.

“As long as the Internet keeps operating according to a click-based economy, trolls will maybe not win, but they will always be present,” said Whitney Phillips, a lecturer at Humboldt State University and the author of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” a forthcoming book about her years of studying bad behavior online. “The faster that the whole media system goes, the more trolls have a foothold to stand on. They are perfectly calibrated to exploit the way media is disseminated these days.”
...

While I am as big a critic as anyone about the plot holes in the six films and the poor scripts and acting in the PT, I think that the level of hatred for Lucas is unwarranted and the result of trolls. The problem is that most of the trolls probably don't consider themselves to be trolls, but rather as someone with a valid opinion. Now one could consider this all harmless (or even positive), but at the very least, it seems to have played a role in Lucas' decision to sell the company. Personally, I consider it a big negative in that we seem to be forming a society in which no qualifications are needed to criticize anything. I'm always amazed (although maybe I shouldn't be) when people post absolute facts like sales numbers and those who engage in wishful thinking resort to name calling because they don't like the facts.

I re-watched all six films a few weeks ago (BD versions, and the PT for the first time since I saw them theatrically - I had only spot checked them when I first bought the BD set) and they were both better and worse than I had remembered them. But in spite of all their flaws, and there are many, they were still a hell of a lot of fun (even the PT) and I think that we've forgotten that. And I think part of the reason for that is that more people are watching movies in their "man caves" at home and not out with the crowd at a movie theatre where there's a shared experience.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

As much as teh "NO" sucks, there is nothing I can do about it. My only other option is to watch piss poor DVD quality. No thank you!!

Oh, there are other options. The Force is weak with you.

[happydood]

Zoet, I 100 percent agree with what you say on just about every count and couldn't have said it better. The 'critics' armed with a few misused buzzwords like 'apologist' and ' Luddite' and some making of documentaries and an anonymous online identity are suddenly freed of all civil responsibility and will say horrible things they would never say in a bar to a stranger. They are so much more transparent than they could guess.

[octagon]

What's this? Obnoxious jerk-offs will always be present???

I don't know who this Whitney Phillips is but Humboldt State University oughta hang onto her.

She sounds like a keeper.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

As a counter-point to that, I think Episode I can be frightfully dull for a movie supposedly "made for little kids," especially for that middle hour after the pod race where the characters get to Coruscant and all the political "vote of no-confidence" jargon starts up.

But I can see why kids like it, because of all the funny aliens and stuff. When I was 8 the only part of Star Wars I liked to watch was the Jabba's palace sequence in Jedi. I used to watch it repeatedly and turn the tape off when it was over. I probably would have really enjoyed Episode I back then, though I would have always fast-forwarded the middle of the movie.

My point is (and this just my opinion) I don't think the prequels will hold up too well with a lot of those little kids who enjoyed it at age 8. I think they'll find that the originals are more engaging and hold up better when they get older. And I don't think that "the kids like it" is a very good defense for a movie-- when I was 10, I though "The Secret of the Ooze" was one of the greatest movies ever made.

It's frightfully dull for adults but for kids it's just more grown-up chit-chat that is largely over their heads anyway. My son tunes out just as much during lots of other films such as Batman, Superman or Indy films when they get into the love scenes or moments of overly detailed plot exposition.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Personally, I consider it a big negative in that we seem to be forming a society in which no qualifications are needed to criticize anything.

Seem to be forming? You're kidding, right?

'Unqualified' spectators have been booing and cheering all manner of performers for as long as there have been spectators and performers.

Monday morning quarterbacking is hardly a new phenomenon.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by octagon

Seem to be forming? You're kidding, right?
'Unqualified' spectators have been booing and cheering all manner of performers for as long as there have been spectators and performers.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

You and me both.
The 2004 Versions are the best versions as part of a Saga.
The Originals are the Best versions as far as being a stand Alone Trilogy!

These are the 2 versions that I want on Blu-Ray.

That and Adywan's...

[octagon]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

You just know that somewhere some early cut-up urinated all over a cave painting and his buddies thought it was the funniest ****ing thing they'd ever seen.

[popeflick]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

I also don't see Disney spending $4.8 billion on something that could never completely own. Pretty sure we have absolutely no idea of who owns what and for how long or any idea about what are in contracts.

I think it's closed to 4.05.

And even if the first film wasn't included that is still pennies on the dollar for the value of Lucasfilm. They'll make 4 bil in profit alone on just the next 3 films. Oh yeah, it also includes Indiana Jones which will no doubt go the way of James Bond and will get recast and another series of films once they get rolling seeing as how they worked out a deal with Paramount about a year ago.

WSJ had an article that placed the value of Lucasfilms at closer to 35 billion.

[ParkerAL]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

Was anybody else here actually a kid when Episode I came out? Seems like many of you guys were already fairly cynical about CGI VFX by the time it came out.

I was quite young when I first saw The Phantom Menace -about 8 years old. I enjoyed it quite a bit at the time (even Jar Jar Binks, to an extent), but my nostalgia for the movie doesn't stop me from seeing its blatant flaws today. Same goes for the Special Edition versions of the Original Trilogy, which I grew up watching on VHS.

The CGI in the Prequels frequently looks outstanding (the space battle over Courascant in Ep. III), but reaches new depths of terribleness just as often (most of the computer-rendered aliens). In the end, it simply doesn't pack the punch of the older practical effects for me personally. I can't look past how incredibly fake everything looks. To make matters worse, the heavy use of CGI was immensely detrimental the performances in the movies. The actors simply couldn't interact with the films' environments believably, because it was all done in front of a green screen.

[HeavyHitter]

I'm getting my audio system re-tweaked on Friday and decided to give all six movies a viewing through next week. I think I might change up the order for once as to how I watch them.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by ParkerAL

The CGI in the Prequels frequently looks outstanding (the space battle over Courascant in Ep. III)

The individual models are rendered nicely, but the scene itself is a visual mess. It's like a sandstorm where every grain in the desert is a different color and shape, so you have close to no idea what is going on.

And the battle itself makes no sense. It's just a bunch of random ships shooting randomly. The battle of Endor actually had a narrative to it:

1. We've been suckered!
2. Fighters engage and protect the cruisers.
3. The Death Star is shooting at us!
4. Mix it up with the Imperial fleet to prevent it from doing so and buy us time!
5. That super star destroyer is a menace. Kick its @$$!
6. Shield's down! Fighters: commence your main mission.
7. Split up and draw off some of the fighters.
8. There's the thing! Blow it up!
9. Move the fleet away, that s**t is TOAST!
10. Hooray!

[thebard]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

I've never really liked TPM much, and I don't know to what extent that is because of my massive expectations having grown up with the original films (I was 23 when TPM came out in 1999). But a couple of years ago when it was re-released in 3-D I took my son who was about 8 to see it, and he absolutely loved it! There was no bias, no cynicism, no snobbery about its plotline, acting or effects. As he sat there lapping it up, I saw the film through his eyes and had a great time. As adults, we tend to forget that the target audience for these films are young people and we tend to let our critical nature skew our perception of what we are watching. I still prefer the OOT/OUT because it's only human nature to favour what we grew up with but these days I tend to cast aside my nerd rage and just go with the flow - there are more important things to vex about than space fantasy movies.

Did you let your son watch episodes II & III?

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I'm getting my audio system re-tweaked on Friday and decided to give all six movies a viewing through next week. I think I might change up the order for once as to how I watch them.

Nice! What order?

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Nice! What order?

Good question! What would your preference be?

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Good question! What would your preference be?

Call me lazy, but I like 1-6. I think I'll try 4-5, 1-3, 6 next time though.

[Gold Ranger]

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1