Yavin

I was just viewing it on youtube a few minutes ago. Just search "missing lightsaber" ...

Ranger

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I think it's a given CVI will be in 2013 so for that event, I expect Lucas to announce something big like the blu-rays for the OT.

TGM

I'm glad they didn't kill Han Solo off in the original trilogy.

mcnabb

I never like to generalize, so I will only give you guys my opinion on the Original Trilogy. For some perspective, I was born in 1972.

Star Wars: Love it the day I saw it, love it still just as much today. I remember watching it on HBO in 1983 about 300 times as they would show it almost everyday. You would hear the 20th Century Fox music....and your heart would start pumping that it was on again! The movie has everything, drama, action, humor, and a great ending.

Empire: Didn't like it that much seeing it in the theater as an 8 year old kid. Too dark for me at the time, and was too young to understand great scenes like Luke failing at the cave. Fast Forward to HighSchool in early 90's and I watch the Trilogy again after I finally get it on VHS. Damn, what a great fucking movie!! I totally get the cave scene, love the Yoda sequences, love the dark tone of the movie. As I get older, I appreciate it more and realize it is the best of the 6 movies.

Jedi: Loved it as a 11 year old kid in the theater. I remember walking out and I wanted to see it again and again. I was totally fascinated with the Jabba scene, and loved that it ended on a high note. Fast Forward to highschool, and I watch it again on VHS.... OK, maybe it wasn't as great as I remembered! Still a good sequel, still a good third movie, but pales in comparison to Star Wars and Empire. The Ewoks now get on my nerves, the jabba scene goes on too long, and Luke and Leia as sister, could have done without that. Still the last hour is better then anything in the Prequels.

mcnabb

Sorry for the double post, but here are my .02 about the BluRay release next year:

I can't stand that Lucas refuses to release the OOT in the same quality as the SE, but I am one of those diehard SW fans who 'put up' with the changes. I can still enjoy the movies, and have come to terms that Lucas is always going to give the SE the royal treatment, even though every release like Bladerunner, T2, Lord of the Rings have both versions, and there's no reason SW cant do the same.

I honestly love the movies too much, and I will be buying the boxset next year. I respect anyone who holds off and won't give Lucas money until he puts out the OOT. But he has a monopoly on us, so he's got me, and sadly he knows it.

nmr1723

I have to say, I will not buy these. And that is being completely honest. To me, the SE's feel like different films. I don't hate them and Lucas didn't ruin my childhood by creating them. I just prefer the original trilogy that I grew up with as a kid (born in '77).

I was able to see a pre-screening of TPM because my neighbor worked for Hasbro. I was completely deflated afterwards. I remember being very emotional when the music cued up and the opening crawl filled the screen...but that was all taken away by Nute Gunray saying "Are you brain dead...go in there with two Jedi?". That is when I new this was not going to be the SW that I had hoped for. "Duel of the Fates" kicked ass though. I purchased the prequel DVD's but ended up giving them to a coworker's kid a couple of years ago. I never re-watched them and realized I only purchased them because they had to do with SW.

For the SE's, I would have been fine with cleaned up effects, removed matte lines, etc...but the additional scenes take me out of the movie. Many have been mentioned so far (and I agree with all of them)...but I will add the droid hitting the other droid in ANH and the Ronto bucking the Jawa in ANH. These two scenes (along with the others stated earlier)...as short as they are...take me out of the film(s).

I still enjoy ROTJ to this day. I love the opening sequence at Jabba's Palace and Sarlac. Unfortunately, the new dance/music number makes the palace scene unbearable to watch. I also really enjoy the space battle at the end. The ewoks are ok. I loved them as a kid...but I don't exactly hate them now.

All this being said...it's not about the quality of the picture and sound that will get me to buy these...it's solely based on how much I enjoy the films. And unfortunately, I don't enjoy watching the SE's or the Prequels.

I'm not a super fan boy, but I'm a big fan. I still have all of my SW toys (heavily played with) from my days as a little guy. My 2 year old occasionally sleeps on my vintage ESB sheets too. I still love the holy trilogy and always will...I just don't enjoy the new versions.

To those of you that are going to get these...that is awesome. I hope you enjoy the hell out of them. I can only imagine how great the lossless audio will be. For me, I'm going to stick with my LD rips and non-anamorphic DVD's. I just got a receiver with the Qdeo processor and I'm hoping it can clean these up a little bit and make them more enjoyable to watch. The audio can't be helped...unfortunately.

boogieman03

That's what puzzle's me the most.

bunkaroo

Regardless of how much the Ewoks hurt Jedi, it's still the coolest space battle of any of the films in my opinion, and everything with Luke-Vader-Palpatine is just awesome. Still love it to this day.

StephenX

What changes is everyone talking about? I love the movies but am not a die hard fan like most. I see everyone mentioning stuff that still hasn't been changed, but am curious as to what those changes are.

Jay G.

This page lists some unchanged issues in with the changes that have been made:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_...rs_re-releases

Some examples:

Timber

All this I agree with.

Just too much Endor and Ewoks for my tastes.

Luke meeting Vader on Endor is a GREAT scene and really shows the growth Luke has had through the course of the movies.

lizard

Exactly. The dislike of the Ewoks by some was immediate and vociferous. There was also considerable disappointment in the second Death Star instead of coming up with something new and original.

IIRC, many viewed the creation of Ewoks as a line of teddy bear toys but it was more complicated than that: Lucas had originally intended to use Wookies for "Revenge of the Jedi". He wanted to show a primitive culture overcoming the Empire's minions. But since he showed Chewbacca as a starship pilot in the original Star Wars, Wookies were no longer a viable option for the primitive culture, hence the Ewoks. [The "Revenge of the Jedi" title was also changed during production to "Return of the Jedi" because the Jedi don't believe in vengeance.]

People have been mentioning various changes made in the SEs but nobody has mentioned the one that bugged me: the change in the line when R2 is spit out of the swamp on Dagobah. I preferred the "You're lucky you don't taste so good" to the blah alternate take "You're lucky you got out." (It's been years since I've seen any of these, so I may not have those lines quite right, but that's how I remember it.) Most of the other changes I don't care much about, including the infamous "Greedo shoots first" controversy, so I guess we all have our "least favorite" changes.

It is hard to describe now how impressive a character Yoda was when first introduced in ESB in 1980. The Dagobah sequences were a BIG DEAL on first viewing back then. It was one of the many parts of ESB that made it my favorite of the trilogy, then and now.

As I've mentioned before, the incessant carping over the prequels and the revisions in the SEs of the OT has taken the fun out of Star Wars for me. While I'd like to be wrong, I disagree with those who think we will see the original OT remastered and in high def. Those who say that the originals will appear after the death of Lucas are forgetting that Lucas owns Star Wars lock, stock, and light saber. He can specify in his will that the originals never be released again if he so chooses. It will be a long time before they enter the public domain; I'll be long dead by then. But they're just silly, fun, movies after all, it's not that big of a deal.

tylergfoster

My bigger issue with RotJ is that it's very clearly an awesome opening and an awesome conclusion with about 50 minutes of filler in the middle. It's cool, Star Wars-ian filler, but the plot doesn't move forward an inch between the time they leave Tatooine until, really, Luke gets on the ship with Vader. People go places, move around, but what actual progression is happening? Not much. How long does Luke stare out that window in the Emperor's chamber? The speeder bike chase in the middle of all that is fucking great, but it's like the only action scene in the original three films that doesn't progress the plot at all.

Jay G.

Actually, Lucas doesn't own the rights to the original Star Wars, Fox does. Lucas owns the trademark, and the rights to all the sequels and merchandising, but not the first film. Fox does let Lucas be in charge of all the decisions for the first film though.

AnonomusBob15

some super die hard fan completely color timed A New Hope and fixed the changes himself. I wouldn't even call it a fan-edit. It's my definitive edition of A New Hope.

I_Like_Movies

Depending on the price will dictate when I fork over the $$$ to pick this up.

mcnabb

I thought that Lucas finally got the rights to the Original Star Wars when they released the SE in 1997? I think Lucas made a deal that FOX could distribute the Prequels and in return he would get full rights to the Original Star Wars.

Now I could be wrong on this, so anyone who knows can correct me, but I do remember reading about this a few years back.

Jay G.

I've had this discussion before, previously on a Lord of War DVD thread, of all places:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk/44...ml#post6775013

Everyone who thinks that Lucas owns the rights seems to vaguely recall something they read somewhere, but nobody (myself included) can find anything from a verifiable source that the rights to the film transferred at any point in time.

Nick Martin

It's called "A New Hope Revisited", done by a guy named Adrian Sayce, or "Adywan".

It's a fantastic achievement and all of the fixes are what should have been done in the first place.

He made a few embellishments along the way, some good, some a little off, but the more silly changes Lucas made were removed.

He even made a 'purist' version, without his own embellishments!

He's currently "revisiting" Empire Strikes Back, which will be completed some time next year, and will be in 720p HD.

DieselsDen

Holy crap! A true voice of reason in yet another repetitive debate about George Lucas and STAR WARS.

Will some moderator please suspend or ban this guy before he becomes a bad influence on this thread?!?!?!?

Guru Askew

You've obviously seen "Clerks II" as per your sig but you apparently haven't seen the first film in which RotJ-bashing is the basis for an entire scene.

"Jedi" was immediately seen as the wink link in the trilogy no matter how you look at it. Metacritic gives a better idea because it notes SE-era reviews (which would still fall before your nonsense "around the time of AotC" terms) and the poorer reception is undeniable.

"Jedi" has always been overrated. People give it far too much credit for its association with the first two films. I'd personally put it below "Clones" in my ranking and above "Menace" but when I see people saying its better than "Sith" I see people who are completely incapable of re-evaluating an opinion formed in childhood.

When I was 15 I thought the "Star Wars" trilogy was literally comprised of the three greatest films in the history of cinema. Guess what? I got older. I saw more movies. I allowed myself to acknowledge undeniable flaws rather than sticking my head in the sand in hopes of maintaining my own ignorant opinions.

Ultimately it has allowed me to enjoy the entire saga so much more. Rather than seeing the first three as some sort of Holy document of cinematic perfection and equating the prequels as one of the most disgusting acts of physical violence a person can commit (child rape) I tend to look at the whole thing as a 6-film series of varying quality with successful and unsuccessful aspects.

Both trilogies are comprised of a great movie, a good movie and a bad movie, and even the bad movies aren't THAT bad. "The Phantom Menace" and 'Return of the Jedi" are thoroughly watchable and hold up a lot better than the vast majority of the truly awful sequels and prequels that most genre fans should know too well.

Lucas SHOULD be releasing these Blu-ray editions with all the various different incarnations of the films, it shouldn't matter if you fell in love with "Star Wars" in '77, '79, '97 or '04, the Blu-ray format allows studios to release multiple versions which means the consumer SHOULD be able to watch their preferred version. That said, Greedo shooting first is really the only change in the whole saga that I've ever blatantly opposed and that isn't nearly enough to affect my enjoyment of the saga so next year when this Blu-ray rolls around I'll take the day off work and start with Episode I and 12 or 13 hours later I'll finish Episode VI and it isn't going to be a Holy experience and it isn't going to change my life but it will be pretty entertaining and that's all I want out of the "Star Wars" saga, and I'm incredibly thankful that I can do that without getting myself all worked up imagining terrible things happening to George Lucas.

Artman

Anyone else hoping the two Tartakosvky Clone Wars volumes make their way onto Blu? I wouldn't expect them to be included in this set, but it'd sure be nice to have them as a single Blu-Ray release.

Travis McClain

I would think it's inevitable, but I would also expect it to come out after The Clone Wars runs its course. Or, at the very least, for that micro-series to be released on Blu during a lull between seasons.

What I'm waiting for is the entirety of Droids and Ewoks. The partial releases have been OOP for quite a while. They won't be on Blu-ray, of course, and I'm fine with that.

AnonomusBob15

Thats right. He's really good at what he does. Saw the Empire trailer and that is my favorite so I can't wait. I thought it was coming this year?

Nick Martin

The originaltrilogy thread about this is like 770 pages or something like that (!) but the gist of it is that it was supposed to be finished this year in time for the 30th anniversary of the film's release, but personal issues and computer drive crashes slowed his progress down and delayed things.