Josh Z

I think this would depend on what resolution those shorts were produced at. Do we know they were done in HD?

OldBoy

nmr1723

^^^^^
Ok....that image looks all kinds of sweet. I'll throw it in my Netflix Queue when it comes out...at the very least.

Thanks for the fanedit recommendations and information. I'm going to check out Adywan's edit this weekend. Should be fun...

Shannon Nutt

Ford has been saying for years that he begged Lucas to kill off Han Solo in ROTJ, because his character had absolutely nothing to do in that movie (he was right). Empire was darker than Star Wars, so if ROTJ went darker than Empire, it may not have made a zillion dollars, but it might be a trilogy seen more along the lines of The Godfather films than just a series of kids movies (which, honestly, most people see them as).

Doctorossi

I don't know how it could be more like the Godfather movies: the first is very good, the second is even better and the third is a terrible piece of crap that ends the series on a sour note.

TGM

revisionist history.

I don't recall it like that at all.

Travis McClain

I always thought it was a tremendous waste for the first entire act of Jedi to be dedicated to the rescue of Han Solo. In the scope of the rebellion, he's one guy. Having Luke and Leia both committed to springing him made no sense to me.

I was always unclear by Luke's line about keeping a promise to an old friend. It's an implication that he's following up on his promise to Yoda that he would return to Dagobah to complete his training. But if that's the case, where did he pick up the Jedi mind trick and the ability to build a lightsaber from scratch?!

I think killing Han Solo might have been the right choice, but they should have done it in Empire. There's no way I would have sat through the convoluted rescue of Han Solo just to see him killed off and been satisfied. And the rescue had to be difficult; otherwise, we'd have all wondered just what the big deal about confronting the hyped-up Jabba the Hutt had been.

As for whether or not the movies are regarded as "kid's movies" or held in high esteem like The Godfather, I think that's nonsense. To a lot of people (myself included), The Godfather is just another gangster movie. Solid, yes, even iconic, but still just a movie about criminals. Star Wars never set out to be high brow art; it was escapist fantasy through and through and it stands near the top of that heap. No reason to think that's somehow insufficient.

Trevor

coli

It amazes to me how Lucas still has this big a following since he hasn't really made a great Star Wars movies since 1980, IMO of course.

I say that in the context that Jedi got a pass in 1983 because it was the last movie of the trilogy, it was OK, with some really good moments, so you looked at the trilogy like that Meatloaf song, "Two out of three aint bad." Now many will argue they like the Prequels, but just like Jedi, they don't hold a candle to Star Wars and Empire, as those movies are in a class by themselves.

Now with the Prequels, you essentially only have 2 great movies out of 6, yet people are willing to spring for a huge boxset when more movies in the set suck then are good?? Or if you are an OT fan only, you are essentially buying a boxset where half of the movies you won't even watch!

It's a shame because the Star Wars fanbase has let Lucas get away with shitty quality for years now, yet they keep going to well and buying anything he puts out. The Special Editions didn't enhance the movies, the Prequels were not memorable, now the Clone Wars TV show is made for kids, so I am OK with that.

Seriously, if you look at the overall quality of the series, it hit its peak in 1980. How does Lucas get away with it?

Travis McClain

All a matter of taste. Personally, I find a lot of A New Hope outright boring. I'll pick Return of the Jedi over it every day of the week. And I outright loved Revenge of the Sith with no qualifiers or apologies. I'll take that over Hope or Jedi. I liked Phantom Menace alright, and everything with Christopher Lee and/or on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones.

I think you either have an undue high opinion of the movies or you sell The Clone Wars short; it's intended for the same audience as the rest of the franchise: people looking for escapist fun. Let's not pretend that the movies were somehow intended for mature audiences. They were always popcorn movies intended to pay homage to the sci-fi serials of yesteryear. If a fan elevated them beyond that in his or her mind, that's for that fan to reconcile.

I do wonder, though, whether we'd be hearing this tired old rant had Lucas taken the time to direct anything else but the Star Wars movies in the last 30-plus years. It's funny, though, that no one ever seems to include THX-1138 or American Graffiti in their appraisal of Lucas.

Jay G.

Well, he was also involved with Willow, which is a childhood favorite, and the Indiana Jones movies, which was looked on fondly until the 4th installment.

To be far, there's a good number of people who like the prequel trilogy. Kids tend to love all the films. Granted, some of them may grow to dislike the prequels later in life, just like many people's opinion of Jedi decreased as they got older, but they may still look on the prequels with nostalgia, and there's always more kids being born.

The current TV series is. However, the original 2003 - 2005 short series by Genndy Tartakovsky is pretty bad-ass.

coli

You can look at Lucas career two ways: He took the path of Star Wars sequels/prequels and it didn't enhance his career but made him a billionaire. He could have walked away from Star Wars and probably strengthened his resume with other great movies yet wouldn't be a billionaire. Very ironic.

As for the Star Wars movies being made for mature audiences, there is a huge shift in the tone of the movies starting with Jedi in 1983. Now don't get me wrong, kids loved Star Wars and Empire, but those movies weren't MADE for little kids, kids like me could enjoy them too. Jedi started with the Ewoks, Menace continued with Jar Jar, and the rest is history. It is obvious that Jedi was the start of Lucas realizing he could maximizing his fanbase by catering the movies to a younger audience. The ironic thing is that he had us kids with Star Wars and Empire and didn't need to go to the Ewoks/Jar Jar route!

Trust me, the OT was on Spike last weekend, and I was watching them throughout the weekend, and when you hit Jedi its almost like a different creator took over the series.

coli

I always thought that would be the case to all my friends/brothers kids and none of them love the Prequels, as I was very shocked when all of them finally saw the 6 movies on DVD. These kids range from 5-11 years old, so none of them were really old enough to see them in the theater, so they essentially grew up as 'saga' kids as they call them by episode numbers.

One of my friends has 2 sons and they like 'older' movies as they call them. The funny thing is my friend hated Star Wars growing up so he doesn't even have the knowledge to coax them either way on the prequel/OT arguments many have.

My nephews like the OT movies more too, as they are between 9-11 years old. Episode III is the only Prequel they will watch, and never watch I & II.

Again, many will think I am making this up because I am older SW guy here, but honestly I was in shock to see a new generation of SW fans not really warm to the Prequels. I will say that Star Wars to them is just another movie series like Harry Potter. Whereas we who grew up with the OT, that was almost biblical to us!!!

BuckNaked2k

Absolutely Hilarious:

Episode I

Jason

Well, that's the only one where anything important to the story happens. Episode II is backstory, and I is inconsequential fluff that could have been covered in expository dialog when Anakin and Obi Wan were in the elevator in the beginning of Episode II.

And that's the biggest fault I have with the prequels. It's not that they suck (well, Jar Jar does), but they waste too much time. There's entertaining elements, but they never move the story forward.

Timber

I always wondered this myself until I realized that Empire happens over the span of A LOT of time. Couple that with the 6 month to a year gap between Empire and Jedi. Also I assume Luke is in communication with Kenobi during that span. Something happens in that time because at the end of Empire Luke is still essentially a kid but once Jedi starts he a far more confident man.

I wish I could find the timeline of the movies I had years ago.

coli

If you look at the Prequels now, the Episode I & II story should essentially be combined to make Episode I. The Episode III story should be fleshed out to Episode II & III. I always thought Episode III felt rushed cause Lucas was trying to tie up every loose-end in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

GenPion

I've been reading a lot of these posts... and it's just depressing the hell out of me.

George Lucas would be doing his fans some good by releasing the original trilogy on Blu-ray, in their theatrical and special edition versions, separately from the prequel trilogy and letting us decide what we prefer. It's so insulting to think he finds restoring the original versions too expensive or thinks we should be forced to buy three or four movies (depending on who you ask) that we don't even care about.

It's an insult to the loyalty he has brewed. I've wanted these movies for years and have never owned them because of all the tinkering he has done and the unfair treatment they received on DVD. I figured I could at least wait for the Blu-ray set anyhow since surely that would have just the original three films presented in a pristine version (even if it was the updated editions). Sadly that was apparently considered too much to ask.

I'm going to try my best to completely avoid this set. At the moment the idea of owning the PT is just far too painful for me and I can see from reading other comments here it will be for a lot of others as well.

JimRochester

As much as I think these will look stunning in HD, I may not jump on the bandwagon immediately. I looked at my DVD set and realized I never even opened Ep 3 after getting it and the other 5 I think we've seen once or twice. Unlike most of this board I saw the original as a teenager in 77 so many of those movies I like for nostalgia's sake. I like the movies but I'm not a diehard fanboy With all the crap that Lucas has pulled with edits, re-edits, releases, re-releases, stalling on DVD and the like, I'm left feeling pretty underwhelmed about future releases.

StephenX

Thinking about it, Revenge of the Sith is really a very good movie. I remember watching it and comparing a lot of it to Empire. The problem is, like others have said, it really is too much for one movie. The ending of AOTC should have been in the beginning of that respective movie, and ending with Mace's death. Revenge starts thereafter, and allows a lot more time for the actual 'fall' of the Republic.

I just wish Lucas would be open-minded. He HAD to have someone say "hey, why don't we tinker with this." The prequel trilogy would have NEVER reached the level of the originals, but at least they would have been very good if only they were paced a lot differently and someone had told Lucas just how bad the first 1 1/2 were.

Jason

Exactly. He tried to put too much into three movies. If he felt he had to show the greatest villain in movie history as a cute little kid, he should have made a prelude, possibly releasing it between I and II or II and III. Make it a little shorter, ease back on the effects a little (maybe even make it animated). Or make it a cartoon series, rather than making a cartoon out of the best part of the story.

Sonny Corinthos

At the thought of George saying anything would be too expensive. The man has more money than he could ever spend in his lifetime. If he would release the blu-rays they way the fans want him to, he could make money hand over fist.

BuckNaked2k

That's a big part of the problem. If you watch the review I linked to above, the guy touches on the fact that Lucas has no one around him who is willing to provide criticism. Instead, he's surrounded by people who are thrilled to be working on anything Star Wars, and would never jeopardize that by providing constructive feedback.

Ultimately, Part I should have been scrapped and extensively rewritten and re-shot. It seems he had no "roadmap" in his head as to where the story was going within that film, or where it should go from there. As a result, the Prequels are all over the place, filled with useless ephemera, and among the worst scripts ever written.

WMAangel

Well, he did recently agree to give away 50% or more of his fortune to charity as part of the The Giving Pledge....so he could (theoretically) argue that he's not being greedy or selfish by not using some of it to restore and release the original versions, he's actually being more generous to the less fortunate by not "wasting" some of those dollars on his "inferior" originals!

Jay G.

He pledged part of his personal fortune though. Any restoration and/or transferring of the unaltered versions would be financed by the company Lucasfilm, so it wouldn't affect his personal finances at all.