Books, Movies, Music & Entertainment - Star Wars Trilogy on DVD :(

Last night I found myself walking past a Suncoast Video Store and saw the newly released 4 disc set of the original Star Wars trilogy ... either silver or gold (widescreen or fullscreen) -- it was discounted for the release at a mere 49.99 (vs. 69.99) and impulsivly decided to make the purchase. Obviously I grabbed the silver (widescreen) edition and embarked to the counter as manned by 3 (soon to be four) well... video dorks (imagine High Fidelity with John Cusack, only no Jack Black and not nearly as... "cool"?) one - overweight in what I imagine was probably the same Star Wars t-shirt he had when he was younger - thus explaining its awkwardly tight fit. Three of them stood there as I put my purchase upon their checkout counter... upon which they all looked at each other and asked "who's on register?" And started shuffling around until they decided the one person who wasn't actually AT the register was "on register" so as I waited the head dork says jokingly "ahh very good sir and do you have a reservation?" To which I think to myself "wise-a**" so I say "uhhh, yes, hmmmm thank you, the name is Smith" chuckle and roll my eyes vacantly. The head dork (tight shirt) says "ah very good then you can put that one back and have from BEHIND the counter" I glance at the one behind the counter and... yes, it is exactly the same - he notes my obvious disdain and says "you get a free lithograph" - never one to pass up free **** to be thrown out later I say "Ah very good then" and return the DVD pack back to its place in the store. Now the dude who is "on register" has arrived... "Did you find everything you needed today?" Stupid question - "yes." On-Register then addresses Tight-Shirt - "where are the slips of reserved names?" And he pulls out this stack of slips and asks for my name. To which I respond by a) laughing at them and b) "What, you were serious? This is a video store, not a restaraunt." I was then told that I would have to go back and get the other copy of the Box set and I would not receive a free lithograph... Tight-shirt then kept repeating "Well, I asked you if you had a reservation and you said yes" And I insisted essentially that I was obviously not serious by my a) laughing, b) rolling of the eys, c) SMITH?! et cetera. Anyway, sooner or later I leave after being harrassed by the video dorks - which is really little trouble to me as I know something they know as well but I can revel in it - they're minimum wage video dorks working in a mall wearing clothes that don't fit (upon further recollection I know now I should have told them it was time to move out of mom's basement) ... so after me saying "Fine, I don't care nor do I really want a lithograph, I just want the damn movies" followed by "And I don't want a bag either" followed by "No, I don't want the R2D2 mocumentary for 2.50 either" followed by Video-Dork #2 chiming in "He probably doesn't want his receipt either" followed by "No, I definately want the damn receipt..." But this isn't the point, the point is this... George Lucas you are an a**. 50 bucks for the Star Wars trilogy, but not the original - dog dang re-release - you jackarse - I don't want any of your stupid new graphics or scenes in this now-classic. No one goes back and adds chapters to Hitchhiker's Guide, no one goes back and adds a new chorus to an old song... and if they do - they offer both versions - real and a**'ed. I want the un-a**'ed version of the Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Son of a...

The 1997 Special Editions were bad... and they made even more changes to this DVD set... yes yes - your art George, blah blah blah... but its also became a culturally significant thing... and for that - it is egregious to go back and re-write it.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2004-09-08-star-wars-main_x.htm

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/starwarschanges.html

I liked the sometimes bad track-mattes, I liked the cantina scene, I liked the sometimes poor compositing, I liked that pretty-boy Chirstenson didn't appear at the end of Return... that's part of the film!!!

I'm seriously considering just returning the box set and digitizing my brother's copy of the original VHS's onto DVD's myself...

HARRUMPH.

I saw the originals on laserdisc on ebay about a year ago for $15. Too bad I passed it up. I guess that leaves my options now as:

1.) Original VHS
2.) Crappy MPEG rips of original VHS
3.) Greedo shooting first (or at the same time, or whatever)

Some random slashdotter had a really good response to George Lucas commenting that technology didn't allow him to accomplish what he wanted in the 70's: "You're telling me that you didn't have the technology to make Greedo shoot first back in 1970?"

I honestly find the special effects in the original release more believable than in the special edition. I don't think they were improved upon in the least by the special editions and I have no immediate plans to get the DVD set. At some point, someone wowed him with some CG crap and he forgot what realistic looks like. Since then, everything has been shiny, new, expensive looking. Forget about part of the novelty of Star Wars was that space looked "lived in." Things were dusty, trash was littered about, delicate things always broke down, etc. That was also back in the day when a character could have a comical appearance or behavior but not ruin a story.

This is turning into a rant...I'd better quit

Agreed... the CG looks - too shiny... and I think a lot of this is Georgie just changing his mind - how else can you explain the three different takes of Greedo now... original: Han shoots first, "SE": Greedo shoots first, DVD: They both shoot at the same time...

It all just seems plain wrong to me...

Same thing as Georgie replacing the shotguns in ET with walkie-talkies... LEAVE IT ALONE! It is what it is... Just like in life - you can't go back... or in this case - you shouldn't.

If you'd been keeping your ear to the ground, you'd have known that a) Lucas will never again release the films as they originally were - he has stated many times that the latest version IS the original. and b) more changes were going to be forthcoming on the DVD release in order to shoehorn it in with the prequels.

With that information in mind you could have saved your money and not bought them in the first place. That's certainly my plan, although I wouldn't mind watching the disc of extras, but I won't buy all four just for the bonus material.

I have a nice set of the untampered versions on VHS. This format seems to be on it's way out though. Is there an easy way to copy them onto DVD?

If you'd been keeping your ear to the ground, you'd have known that a) Lucas will never again release the films as they originally were - he has stated many times that the latest version IS the original. and b) more changes were going to be forthcoming on the DVD release in order to shoehorn it in with the prequels.

With that information in mind you could have saved your money and not bought them in the first place. That's certainly my plan, although I wouldn't mind watching the disc of extras, but I won't buy all four just for the bonus material.

I have a nice set of the untampered versions on VHS. This format seems to be on it's way out though. Is there an easy way to copy them onto DVD?

Yes well, sorry - i don't keep my eye on DVD boards or anything - I'd written the '97 SE's out of my memory until after I bought them... I was eating dinner and it hit me like a ton of bricks... I was giddy when I saw the set and for some reason just assumed they were the genuine thing... the real originals.

Yes, the VHS's can be copied by either a consumer DVD recorder or you can just send them to me and I'll dub/digitize them to DVCam and burn them on to DVD's.. for the ages ;) ... That's part of my job.

I have the original unaltered on VHS myself.

I did buy the DVD's yesterday too.

My BIGGEST problem with the new version is the cantinaa scene.

I mean if Han Solo didn't miss from that distance firing first, why did Greedo miss from the same distance. The original was much more true to what might have happened in real life.

That, and then Jabba just says almost word for ord what Greedo said in the cantina???? Isn't thaty a little monotonous?


How good would the copy be putting the VHS on DVD? Wouldyou be able to jump to scenes too?

I'd be willing to pop for a copy, since I have already give George his money for the movies.

Copy would look identical to the VHS copy - there would be no generation loss because the analog VHS would go right to digital - and compression is quite good nowadays... as for chapters, yes - its entirely possible to set your own chapters... What is not possible apparently is me getting my frozen burrito thawed... its been in the nuker for 10 minutes now I think at high...




I have the original unaltered on VHS myself.

I did buy the DVD's yesterday too.

My BIGGEST problem with the new version is the cantinaa scene.

I mean if Han Solo didn't miss from that distance firing first, why did Greedo miss from the same distance. The original was much more true to what might have happened in real life.

That, and then Jabba just says almost word for ord what Greedo said in the cantina???? Isn't thaty a little monotonous?


How good would the copy be putting the VHS on DVD? Wouldyou be able to jump to scenes too?

I'd be willing to pop for a copy, since I have already give George his money for the movies.

Contact tr47, his ioffer.com profile is here: http://www.ioffer.com/shops/tr47 his email is tr47@at@burntmail.dot.com (edited to prevent spamming him.)

He sells all 3 movies (IV, V, and VI) together for like, $30 including shipping. They're the original films, Pro Logic surround sound, and they're ripped directly from the 1993 Definitive Edition LaserDiscs. (Pre 1997 - not the "Special Edition" crap.) I think he has another deal now that's a little more, but you get more goodies. The $30 deal is still available as far as I know.

Here's the review that made me decide to get them last year, and I loved them!! Great sound, great picture, fast shipping! The review is about half way down the page.
http://www.prillaman.net/starwarsdvdreview-bootleg3.html

Do a google search for tr47 and you'll see tons of people saying his are the best of the bootlegs that are available.

I don't feel too bad about buying these because I really hated the "Special Editions" and I would never buy them anyway. I don't even consider them the same movie anymore. If Lucas were to sell the original versions on DVD I would buy them even though I already have these. Honest. :)

Keep in mind there's no menus, so the movies just start after you put the disc in. When they got here each movie was on it's own DVD, there was a 4th DVD with extra goodies, plus a CDR that had all the artwork ready to print out. The DVDs were not labeled and they came in paper sleeves with a number written on the outside so I knew which was which. Be prepared to make a trip out to Kinkos to print that stuff out if you dont have a color printer. Also, you'll have to find some DVD cases to put them in.

Most importantly, Han shoots first!!

Vincent "Happy customer" Macaluso

How does it even come to a question of Han being a righteous guy? Greedo had a gun on him and said that he was going to kill him for the bounty. Beside that, SMUGGLER.

Also, you know this is how Kevin Smith wrote Clerks. Except we would all be in the same room drinking beer.

How does it even come to a question of Han being a righteous guy? Greedo had a gun on him and said that he was going to kill him for the bounty. Beside that, SMUGGLER.

Also, you know this is how Kevin Smith wrote Clerks. Except we would all be in the same room drinking beer.

Well, finally watched the new new scene of Han and Greedo on the DVD... its just as unnaturally terrible, Han's movement to avoid being fried is ... like a crash test dummy of a string, its like physics didn't apply... its rediculous - as is the whole exchange in the hanger with Jabba... rediculous.

I abandoned any intention of buying them when I learned about all of the "corrections". Like I need a $50 reminder that I may never see Star Wars again.

I don't care how authentic Han's and Greedo's combat appears. I fell in love with Han Solo (in a healthy heterosexual way, of course) when he fried poor Greedo becuase he had depth, a feature shared with only one or two characters in the movie. He was smart, ruthless, and efficient. If the only way to escape Greedo was to kill him, why wait for him to daw a weapon?

Who are these guys who are so proud of the work they did when they were younger (and good), that they need to fix what they made? The scenes added to E.T. with ET climbing into a bathtub behind Gertie looked as fake as the new Yoda.

Maybe MGM can release a new version of the Wizzard of Oz, with the bookending Kansas scenes coloured, too. Might as well slip in some effects from Twister. Maybe Kowalski can jump the bulldozers, and Ilsa can stay with Rick.

Here's an improvement we's all go for: completely replace every frame of Terminator 3 with the screen-saver of your choice.

Here's an improvement we's all go for: completely replace every frame of Terminator 3 with the screen-saver of your choice.



LOL!!


I have not seen the movie, but I take it you didn't like it..??

I actaully think Terminator 3 was the best of the bunch. Of course, they all suffer from the time travel bug: How could John Connor send Reese back in time to save his mother if Reese had to come back first to be his father? They never should have added that twist.

Vincent

To be sure - the scene with Greedo and Han still looks terrible - even now that Han's whole body shifts - it looks horribly unnatural.


I abandoned any intention of buying them when I learned about all of the "corrections". Like I need a $50 reminder that I may never see Star Wars again.

I don't care how authentic Han's and Greedo's combat appears. I fell in love with Han Solo (in a healthy heterosexual way, of course) when he fried poor Greedo becuase he had depth, a feature shared with only one or two characters in the movie. He was smart, ruthless, and efficient. If the only way to escape Greedo was to kill him, why wait for him to daw a weapon?

Who are these guys who are so proud of the work they did when they were younger (and good), that they need to fix what they made? The scenes added to E.T. with ET climbing into a bathtub behind Gertie looked as fake as the new Yoda.

Maybe MGM can release a new version of the Wizzard of Oz, with the bookending Kansas scenes coloured, too. Might as well slip in some effects from Twister. Maybe Kowalski can jump the bulldozers, and Ilsa can stay with Rick.

Here's an improvement we's all go for: completely replace every frame of Terminator 3 with the screen-saver of your choice.

I actaully think Terminator 3 was the best of the bunch. Of course, they all suffer from the time travel bug: How could John Connor send Reese back in time to save his mother if Reese had to come back first to be his father? They never should have added that twist.

The two Terminators had some of the best use of time travel in movies I've ever seen. For a look at the opposite end of the spectrum, see Back To The Future, especially BTTF part 2.

The message is that the future does not exists, except as a probability. Only the past exists, so one can travel to the past and effect any changes desired, including the supposed paradox of preventing your parents from meeting.

I particularly liked the idea that Kyle Reese gave John life, by concieving him, and the Terminator gave John freedom, by freeing him from his assumed fate.

Terminator 3 (audience nothing) added nothing to the series, violated numerous consistencied from the other two movies, had absolutely no visual impact, pace, timing, worthwhile dialoge, or courage. How can anyone respect a movie that deliberately avoided the lines "I'll be back" and "Come with me if you want to live"?

I came closest to liking it when the Terminator said he had killed John. Then they chickened out by not going anywhere with it. How would you feel if you met the man who would/had kill you? remember, to John, the Terminator is not just a man, but an idealized father figure. But the scene had no weight.

The movie was made to make money, period. It had no story to tell, no moral, no mrality, no impact. It was pure popcorn. And while pure popcorn movies have their place, they do not deserve to be called Terminator anything.

I thought the third was the most consistant. At least Back To The Future's continuity made sense.

By Reese concieving John, it made the entire plot impossible. You can't explain it away by saying that's part of the message - it still violates logic. The future doesn't exist - but it has to exist if you're using it to come back in time from and creating yourself. That's not being deep, that's sloppy storytelling. Fate may be what you make, but there has to be a first time if you're telling a story in space-time circles like this. I've seen an interview with the cast where they acknowledge the flaw and they even said it doesn't make sense but that it made for a good plot twist. Read into it what you will.



It was pure popcorn. And while pure popcorn movies have their place, they do not deserve to be called Terminator anything.
LOL I can't believe you just said this. I have to go back and reread it to be sure.

LOL

The third one is the only one, IMHO, that tried to bring the Terminator series out of the "blockbuster" toilet. I'm glad they deliberately avoided the lines "I'll be back" and "Come with me if you want to live"? Those are "popcorn movie" cliches now and to use them is to make the movie a parody of itself. Which, it already is.

It's sort of silly to debate the validity of anything that comes out of Hollywood anyway.


Back to the topic and my original reply: Check out TR47's bootlegs of the Original trilogy. Very cool. I highly reccommend it.

Check out TR47's bootlegs of the Original trilogy.
Have you seen them? I'll buy thm in a heartbeat if the quality is worthy of the titles. How was the sound? How was the picture? How accessible are the features for a DVD? What's your setup (likely superior to mine).

I just have a JVC DVD player and a 19 inch TV but the quality is pretty damn good. It's not as good as the ones from the store of course, but better than a 15 year old video. The really light parts are a little blown out, and the really dark parts are a little too dark - but far beyond worth $30 for all three movies in their original format. It's better than your other option for these, which is none. :(

The review I posted goes into detial about sound and video quality. It's right ont he money.

Vincent

ALLRIGHT Give the first Teminator a little cred. It was not a big blockbuster, it was a low budget flick with a bunch of unknown actors(one was not even an actor at the time) It was only the third movie Cameron directed. These guys all had to start somewhere. Look at Sam Raimi, remember Evil Dead.
I only bring it up because I am watching "Escape from NewYork" on AMC. Early John Carpenter and pretty entertaining (Better than the debate) And any StarWars fan can't question the plausibility of Terminator time travel when the space ships in their favorite movie swerve and dart. :)

Rev.Chuck: heheh I know. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Terminator films, but I just don't consider them high art or anything.

Yes I remember Sam Raimi. I think his earlier stuff was genius. Look at some of the camera work in the Evil Dead movies, it's amazing - then look at the camera work in Spiderman. It's like comparing ripe apples to rotten oranges. He fell victim to the "I've got a big budget now, I don't need to do anything creative." slump that Lucas fell into. Give me a low budget movie that takes chances and does something different (Blair Witch, anyone. Open Water? Dark Days? Hedwig and the Angry Inch? Pulp Fiction?) over some mega-budget blockbuster anyday.

Anyone see Sean of the Dead yet? I saw it over the weekend and loved it. Probably the most enjoyable film I've seen all year. A unobtrusiv love story, truely funny comedy, AND zombies? How can you go wrong?? :D

VIncent

Anyone see Sean of the Dead yet? I saw it over the weekend and loved it. Probably the most enjoyable film I've seen all year. A unobtrusiv love story, truely funny comedy, AND zombies? How can you go wrong?? :D
VIncent

Going to see Shaun of the Dead today, and I'm psyched! A reviewer in our local newspaper stated that it was superior even to 28 Days Later, and that's sayin' somethin'!

As to the Star Wars franchise: I don't mind the 'enhanced' versions, as unnecessary as they are. At the least, these were modifications made by the director of the original versions and even if one may carp about Lucas' penchant for retro-management, the intellectual property remains his. I wax much more indignant when a classic is 're-imagined' by some hack to cater to more modern and 'sophisticated' audiences (The Haunting anyone?).

Star Wars Isn't a trilogy........... its a Sextology

Star Wars Isn't a trilogy........... its a Sextology
WTF? I don't remember any sex in Star Wars!

Yeah, give me a good director with no budget over the same guy with fifty million.
Kevin Smith is a great example Clerks $70K GREAT movie v/s MallRats $8mil OK(barely) movie. Or George Miller MadMax(Best movie EVER :) ) $100k v/s ThunderDome ??millions, mostly weak

Right now A StarTrek movie is on AMC, the one where a plot is hatched to split the budding union of Klingon and Earth

WTF? I don't remember any sex in Star Wars!

:lol:

There was the princess in that slave 'kini! :love:

I think big real-action effects reached their height in 'Apocolypse Now'. Coppola used real film shooting real-time events. Just too expensive to repeat now.
But what a beautiful look.

i think the dvd release is awesome it's been way too long.
if i had the original VHS i'd sell them at an overinflated price to some purist who actually thinks they're cool, who watches anything on a vcr anymore besides my grandma?.....
nobody who posted here to complain about this, fools me, EVERY single one of you either bought the trilogy or ripped it and have watched it all. And you liked it, i just can't see why people complain so much about this sentimental favorite we all enjoyed as kids.
i heard they changed the action figures too. OH GOD NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

sheesh.....

Skookz-"EVERY single one of you either bought the trilogy or ripped it and have watched it all. And you liked it,"

Actually, NO. It has been eight months now, and even tho I have a pretty nice collection of DVD's, I really don't want the Lucas remasters and the only reason I post now is because I came across this old thread while looking for a good bootleg* of THE TRILOGY I don't want the new I want the original. Don't want a Ted Turnered version of Casablanca or Touch of Evil either.

*It appears theat Lucas may have shutdown the best choice for the bootleg(I am not a fan of bootlegging(unless it is whiskey, family tradition and all) but there is no other way to get the originals.

Skookz-"EVERY single one of you either bought the trilogy or ripped it and have watched it all. And you liked it,"

Actually, NO. It has been eight months now, and even tho I have a pretty nice collection of DVD's, I really don't want the Lucas remasters and the only reason I post now is because I came across this old thread while looking for a good bootleg* of THE TRILOGY I don't want the new I want the original. Don't want a Ted Turnered version of Casablanca or Touch of Evil either.

*It appears theat Lucas may have shutdown the best choice for the bootleg(I am not a fan of bootlegging(unless it is whiskey, family tradition and all) but there is no other way to get the originals.
Are you saying tr47's been shut down? Lucas has his head wedged so far up his own posterior he has no idea of how bad he is destroying a cultural icon. That, and if you remember correctly, one of the biggest name directors to come out publicly against "Turnerization" was, you guessed it, Geprge Freakin' Lucas. It's still possible to find the Laserdisc versions very cheap on Ebay, but good luck on finding a Laserdisc player! I KNOW I'm a complete dork-a-roo, but every time I think of these "Special Editions" and that you CAN'T get the originals, it makes me furious.

I don't know if tr47 is gone. I found his I-somethingorotherforsell site and nothing was listed. I kept looking and found his email. So I sent him one, let us see what happens. As much as I hate bootlegging(stealing) anothers work, I want the originals. I really don't even consider this stealing as the guy that made them refuses to release what we want. Besides they are only like $25*, half what target sells the butchered version for. I would pay twice that.

*Not to imply that I would buy them because they cost less but that the guy doing it does not make the money he could from his enterprise

I've got the original, remastered Episodes IV, V and VI on VHS and, after waiting for years to see them released on DVD I get this crap! Now, it wouldn't faze me in the least if the new stuff was optional, but it's not. Lucas can do what he wants with 'em, but I'm gettin' a VHS->DVD recorder and digitizing my copies. I'm not sure I'll even buy the first 3 episodes. I still haven't been able to bring myself to watch them in their entirety. The FX seem to overwhelm any acting/storytelling that's attempted. I wonder how many people will end up thinking that the edited re-releases are actually the originals....

I was a little disappointed with the "remastered" trilogy as well. I was expecting the original. Oh well...still cool. I mean, how can Star Wars not be cool!!

I have the Original ones on VHS (the THX versions with the George Lucas interview at the beginning of each movie), AND the DVD versions. I win.

tr47 is still in the Biz. I just ordered the whole schmeer from him. Original, uncut and mastered from the Lazer disks(as I understand it) Plus many extras. Including, the StarWars Christmas special*, 70's show special, and a lot of other stuff. Ten dvds in all.


*Saw this the one time it was shown, in seventyeight, in a Sears, on like ten tvs at once. And then never again.

I was a little disappointed with the "remastered" trilogy as well. I was expecting the original. Oh well...still cool. I mean, how can Star Wars not be cool!!

I wasn't really clear on that, but I meant that I have the original trilogy digitally mastered as it was released in 1995...without the new-fangled special FX and additions. You're right, tho, Star Wars has a pretty high cool factor, regardless.