Star Wars - The *Original* Originals on DVD

Goodshape

W00t!
http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/news20060503.html
"In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983."

About. Bloody. Time.

Very limited release though, by the looks of things - September 12th to December 31st only. Still, I'm now quite happy I didn't rush out and buy the previous 'remastered' DVD set.

projectmayhem

cool. i have the remastered dvd set and i'm very happy with it.. but i'll probably get this for the sake of it (i'm a nerd).

despite the crappiness of them, i still want a boxset of the prequels. the hell am i forking out for each one individually

Bacchus

What's the word on the prequel boxset and the boxset for all 6. I have the original trilogy boxset which I'm quite happy with. It'd be nice if the prequel boxset was designed as a companion to it.

The Bollox

oh I can't wait for this! I am a complete SW nerd. I have the remastered ones, but there will be snapped up by me as soon as they hit the shelves

Pepe LeFrits

Whey, great. I'll definately be buying these to go alongside the original remastered boxset.

Maybe not.

nlgbbbblth

Despite Lucas's previous insistence that the unaltered versions were gone forever, the smell of money was always going to win out...

Two discs per edition; 2004 digitally remastered edition plus original theatrical edition as a bonus.

Guess we'll see ebay flooded with the VHS and laserdiscs of the original versions.

easy_as_easy

Oh look! Lucas films are ripping everyone off again. Pants to this.

Goodshape

Or, in my case, they're finally offering the product I want. And I intend to buy it.

Not really their fault that you shelled out for the previous sub-par releases.

monkeyfudge

Goodshape wrote:

Or, in my case, they're finally offering the product I want. And I intend to buy it.

Not really their fault that you shelled out for the previous sub-par releases.

But they didn't leave you much choice by saying the the originals were gone forever.

Crucifix

Goodshape wrote:

Still, I'm now quite happy I didn't rush out and buy the previous 'remastered' DVD set.

Ditto.

easy_as_easy

Goodshape wrote:

Or, in my case, they're finally offering the product I want. And I intend to buy it.

Not really their fault that you shelled out for the previous sub-par releases.

nope, never bought a star wars dvd in my life.

Pigman II

Whilst people come on here demanding to see 'the original' version of StarWars etc the irony of it all is that Lucas has been tinkering with these movies ever since 1981 so in all likelihood unless you're in your mid-30s or older you probably actually haven't ever seen the 'original' version of the movies (in particular Ep4:ANewHope - which wasn't even called Ep4:ANewHope either back in '77 btw ).

nlgbbbblth

Pigman II wrote:

Whilst people come on here demanding to see 'the original' version of StarWars etc the irony of it all is that Lucas has been tinkering with these movies ever since 1981 so in all likelihood unless you're in your mid-30s or older you probably actually haven't ever seen the 'original' version of the movies (in particular Ep4:ANewHope - which wasn't even called Ep4:ANewHope either back in '77 btw ).

I saw The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars on a double bill in 1980 just when the former came out.

Saw Return Of The Jedi upon release too.

Amazing the number of people who think A New Hope was always there.

J.R.HARTLEY

i'm delighted i rushed out and bought the 2004, i've been able to watch star wars whenever i want for the last few years, i also have the original 80's VHS the 94 remastered unaltered originals and the 97 special edition vhs.
the one thing i can say without a shadow of a doubt is that the one or two changes aside (like the greedo shooting first incidnet) the special editions are much better visually , i love the old vhs copies but the effects, which were groundbreaking at the time, are terrible compared to the new releases. i don't agree with the plot changes he made, but things like adding many more ships to rebel armadas and adding loads more guards at the end of star wars actually helped.

there's just something about the space scenes in the old versions that i love, the way you can see the faded square around the ship where the shot was added into the biger picture.

maquiladora

I thought Lucas said that this would never ever happen, I'm sure he said that less than 12 months ago...oh well.

Roar

excellent, delighted with this, i've always wanted to see the original versions. The only one i had seen was the empire strikes back. cool stuff

monkeyfudge

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

and adding loads more guards at the end of star wars actually helped.

Although adding the extra Storm Troopers on the Death Star probably wasn't such a great idea. The scene were Han Solo is chasing the Storm Troopers down the hall and runs into a room with a full squad of Storm Troopers, has him running into a room with a few hundred Storm Troopers in the new edition... it just makes the Storm Troopers look extra useless when they can't capture him with those numbers.

Standard Toaster

Roll on the HD-DVD/Blu-ray versions too.....:rolleyes:

J.R.HARTLEY

monkeyfudge wrote:

Although adding the extra Storm Troopers on the Death Star probably wasn't such a great idea. The scene were Han Solo is chasing the Storm Troopers down the hall and runs into a room with a full squad of Storm Troopers, has him running into a room with a few hundred Storm Troopers in the new edition... it just makes the Storm Troopers look extra useless when they can't capture him with those numbers.

yeah ok thats agood point, i was talking about the medal ceremony at the end of the movie though, where the carboard cut outs were replaced with digital people

mewso

The main point of this is that Han Solo is finally restored to the rogue we knew and loved. By the way I saw the film in 1977/8(whenever it screened first here) and I was sure the "A New Hope" bit was in the scrolling text at the start even then. Back then we uber nerds used to berate people for calling it Star Wars and now all of a sudden people are berating folks for saying it is called "A New Hope". Full circle.