Star Wars on Blu-Ray

Mr. K

It had to happen: http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=27612

I'm surprised they didn't hold off for the TV show, like how they released the DVDs as early hype for ROTS. Hopefully they'll have cool new extras!

Dont be at yourself

Couldn't give a **** about extra, but I'd like the THX remastered versions.

krudler

Digital Yoda for Episode 1 anyway, he was in the clips they showed during the Star Wars live in concert show, miles better than that godawful puppet they used, Yoda looks fine in Empire and Jedi, but in TPM he looked terrible, wouldnt mind them replacing him with the cgi version

bonerm

krudler wrote: »

Digital Yoda for Episode 1 anyway, he was in the clips they showed during the Star Wars live in concert show, miles better than that godawful puppet they used, Yoda looks fine in Empire and Jedi, but in TPM he looked terrible, wouldnt mind them replacing him with the cgi version

I agree with this. I find it amazing that the prequel puppet somehow managed to be worse than the ones from 20 years earlier!

Looking forward to this anyway. Lucasfilm have been traditionally slow when it comes to releasing DVD's (and now BluRays) but imho that's only because they want to do them right.

I remember when I first started buying DVD's in 1999 I was desperate for them to release TPM on DVD. I think it didn't happen until 2001 but I'm glad of the wait as it was a good product rather than a lot of the substandard DVDs (eg bare-bones , non-anamorphic , FLIPPERS! ) that was floating around at the time.

rgt320q

I have my ('03) remaster/theatrical double disc editions on DVD, I'm good.

krudler

"The Beginning" the documentary on Episode 1 is about 10 times better than the actual movie, especially at the end when the first screening is shown and McCallum, Lucas, Ben Burtt and a few of the ILM lads watch it, and only Burtt has the balls to say what a clusterfcuck of editing it is

jaykhunter

krudler wrote: »

"The Beginning" the documentary on Episode 1 is about 10 times better than the actual movie, especially at the end when the first screening is shown and McCallum, Lucas, Ben Burtt and a few of the ILM lads watch it, and only Burtt has the balls to say what a clusterfcuck of editing it is

i wish we saw what happened 2 hours later when the credits rolled and the lights turned back on :D

i'm sure i'll buy these at some point. I do love most of the Star Wars movies and would like to see them in full HD. i might give away the DVDs or something because i'd feel like a gimp having more than one copy....

Antar Bolaeisk

So long as it's done properly (ie the ability to choose either Theatrical Release, Special Edition or Special Edition sans Hayden Christensen) and is of benchmark quality both sound and picture wise (basically everything the Lord of the Rings release is not) then I will definitely be buying them but I will wait until they've come down a good bit in price.

krudler

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

So long as it's done properly (ie the ability to choose either Theatrical Release, Special Edition or Special Edition sans Hayden Christensen) and is of benchmark quality both sound and picture wise (basically everything the Lord of the Rings release is not) then I will definitely be buying them but I will wait until they've come down a good bit in price.

They wont, the versions that Lucas wants will be the only ones available, the uncut, unaltered versions that came out on dvd were basically a "here you go, now shut up complaining" version for the fans who wanted a Han shoots first edition

Theboinkmaster

krudler wrote: »

"The Beginning" the documentary on Episode 1 is about 10 times better than the actual movie, especially at the end when the first screening is shown and McCallum, Lucas, Ben Burtt and a few of the ILM lads watch it, and only Burtt has the balls to say what a clusterfcuck of editing it is

I agree - I was disappointed they didn't do anything similar for the other 2.

I love those last few moments:

Lucas - "I may have gone too far"

Yeah no sh!t George

rednik

George Lucas has announced the release of all six movies on blu ray for the fourth quarter of 2011. It is a long way off but at least we now know. All the info is over at blu-ray.com

Richard Dower

Lucas' toy franchise obsession destroyed SW: http://blastr.com/2010/08/producer-explains-how-toy.php

bonerm

Meh, ESB was also heavily geared toward the toys too so I can't really see where Kurtz is coming from.

I think most ROTJ haters do so just because they'd gotten one "serious" ending in 1980 so now nothing else would do for them. Ironically I'd imagine these were the same fans who were cheering the throne-room scene in 1977.

The end of ROTJ is no more silly or unsuitable than ANH's.

I do think the merchandise side of things definetly impacted negatively on the prequels. There's clearly dozens of characters in those movies who have absolutely no reason to be there beyond getting reproduced in 10cm scale and sold to kids.

Ridley

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/CV_Star_Wars_On_BluRay_133242.asp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdJ0E7HbTKc

bonerm

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4996

The original versions won't be on it either (as expected).

johnny_ultimate

From http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4996

George Lucas wrote:

"It's a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version."

Must. Resist. Cynical. Comment...

Aghh! Can't do it:

George Lucas wrote:

"It's a very, very profitable process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the inferior version. Then we can re-release the originals with even more hype and the Star Wars schmucks... I mean fans... will buy it again!

I don't know, I genuinely don't get the whole hype about re-releases of stuff on Blu-Ray. Personally, I just see it as buying the film again, although I'm sure many are excited over this move (the reaction from the fans to that fairly dull deleted scene is insane). The whole only releasing the inferior version first business (Lord of the Rings is the same) is a particularly sour, cynical move IMO. They'll make their money though, and plenty will buy this, but can't say I'm enthusiastic about this at all! The Star Wars industry is increasingly more prominent than the films themselves, which is a shame.

bonerm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I don't know, I genuinely don't get the whole hype about re-releases of stuff on Blu-Ray. Personally, I just see it as buying the film again. And the whole only releasing the inferior version first business (Lord of the Rings is the same) is a particularly sour move IMO. They'll make their money though, and plenty will buy this, but can't say I'm enthusiastic about this at all!

I don't think SW is really as bad as LOTR when it comes to rereleases. LOTR had the standard versions and then the extendeds released on DVD and despite fans clearly preferring the latter set on DVD when it came time to release BD they repeated the process to get people to buy another 2x versions of the LOTR trilogy. I'd call that cynical marketing.

By comparison, to my knowledge there's only only be 2x official releases of SW on DVD since 2004 and the second (rather than seeing as an opportunity to cash in again) was more of a "shut the hell up" to fanboys who were endlessly demanding the original cuts on DVD. I didn't buy the second set as Lucasfilm made it clear to fans that the second set had nothing new on it other than a garbage non-anamorphic 1993 laserdisc version. They almost seemed to be warning people from buying it rather than pushing it in any serious way.

I disagree waht you say about BD. BD is definetly a step up from DVD so I'll defo be picking this SW set up when comes out. Plus I don't think SW will be getting several re-releases on BD. I'll say here right now that the TRUE original Star Wars will never get a release on BD so this 2011 version is not the "inferior" version. I'd say it's as definitive as they're gonna go on this format.

johnny_ultimate

bonerm wrote: »

I don't think SW is really as bad as LOTR when it comes to rereleases. LOTR had the standard versions and then the extendeds released on DVD and despite fans clearly preferring the latter set on DVD when it came time to release BD they repeated the process to get people to buy another 2x versions of the LOTR trilogy. I'd call that cynical marketing.

By comparison, to my knowledge there's only only be 2x official releases of SW on DVD since 2004 and the second (rather than seeing as an opportunity to cash in again) was more of a "shut the hell up" to fanboys who were endlessly demanding the original cuts on DVD. I didn't buy the second set as Lucasfilm made it clear to fans that the second set had nothing new on it other than a garbage non-anamorphic 1993 laserdisc version. They almost seemed to be warning people from buying it rather than pushing it in any serious way.

I disagree waht you say about BD. BD is definetly a step up from DVD so I'll defo be picking this SW set up when comes out. Plus I don't think SW will be getting several re-releases on BD. I'll say here right now that the TRUE original Star Wars will never get a release on BD so this 2011 version is not the "inferior" version. I'd say it's as definitive as they're gonna go on this format.

I think it's more that if they are to release a definitive version, it should probably have everything at this point. Since there's a DVD that has both original and remastered, personally I'd feel it would be fair to give the fans a more complete package if they truly want to release something final and definitive. If they only want to remaster the new ones, I could live with that, but including the original cuts would be a welcome addition to the set IMO! I only have A New Hope on DVD, which I bought when it was on sale with the original edition, out of curiosity (I should point out I'm nowhere near a fanboy when it comes to Star Wars!). Perhaps you're right and that this will be all they'll release. Personally, though, if they do ultimately come out with a 'better' set at any point I'd be concerned that it was unfair for the fans who have invested countless times in the series in different formats! And ultimately I'd feel it's the obsessive SW fans who get shafted with re-releases, special editions etc... And personally I'd feel there are a few too many alternate versions of Star Wars available at this point! Blade Runner is a fine example of a definitive package - no reason why Lucas couldn't do the same. That's why I'm a wee bit cynical about the whole endeavor!

I'm not the biggest Blu-Ray fan in general though. If I'm buying a film on and it's available at a reasonable price on Blu-Ray, I'll go for it instead, no question - any big recent release I've want to buy for myself, like Star Wars or Up, I wouldn't even consider DVD! But at the same time I just don't think it's worthwhile reinvesting in many of the DVDs I own already. There is clearly an improvement, but I never feel the improvement is entirely worth the high cost of most Blu-Rays when I already own a relatively decent transfer. Again, this is just me though! There are only very few Blu-Rays that would cause me to buy a film again, although the Toy Story boxset is mighty tempting (luckily I skipped the DVD release when it came to those films!).

I will, though, totally agree with you on LOTR, which is certainly a nasty trick by the distributors! They've made their money, no doubt, but it's a bum deal for fans of the series.

bonerm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I think it's more that if they are to release a definitive version, it should probably have everything at this point. Since there's a DVD that has both original and remastered, personally I'd feel it would be fair to give the fans a more complete package if they truly want to release something final and definitive. If they only want to remaster the new ones, I could live with that, but including the original cuts would be a welcome addition to the set IMO! I only have A New Hope on DVD, which I bought when it was on sale with the original edition, out of curiosity (I should point out I'm nowhere near a fanboy when it comes to Star Wars!). Perhaps you're right and that this will be all they'll release. Personally, though, if they do ultimately come out with a 'better' set at any point I'd be concerned that it was unfair for the fans who have invested countless times in the series in different formats! And ultimately I'd feel it's the obsessive SW fans who get shafted with re-releases, special editions etc... And personally I'd feel there are a few too many alternate versions of Star Wars available at this point! Blade Runner is a fine example of a definitive package - no reason why Lucas couldn't do the same. That's why I'm a wee bit cynical about the whole endeavor!

I'd agree that it'd be best for fans to have a collection with everything in there (originals / special EDs / all docs / deleted scenes etc etc). But
whilst LOTR comes from the usual place of a company/hired director/adapted source material etc, SW is in a unique position in that it's creator pretty much calls the shots when it comes to the artistic and business applications of the franchise.

It's important to consider that Lucas actively wants to consign the theatrical original versions of the movies to oblivion. He doesn't (unlike in the case of Blade Runner you mention) want 4-5 different versions of the movie floating around that fan can watch and debate as to which is the best. He wants one single version of the movie out there and (whilst he is alive at least) that will always be the most current one.

This is why whilst most of us would consider putting the original version into the package as a nice little extra, Lucas would consider that very act counterproductive to his vision. He's not ripping is off by holding out on the "good stuff" for later. Rather he's actively trying to destroy it.

I'm not the biggest Blu-Ray fan in general though. If I'm buying a film on and it's available at a reasonable price on Blu-Ray, I'll go for it instead, no question - any big recent release I've want to buy for myself, like Star Wars or Up, I wouldn't even consider DVD! But at the same time I just don't think it's worthwhile reinvesting in many of the DVDs I own already. There is clearly an improvement, but I never feel the improvement is entirely worth the high cost of most Blu-Rays when I already own a relatively decent transfer. Again, this is just me though! There are only very few Blu-Rays that would cause me to buy a film again, although the Toy Story boxset is mighty tempting (luckily I skipped the DVD release when it came to those films!).

I must admit that I have been double-dipping on blu-rays lately myself but fortunately I have certain criteria in this regard eg I have to watch the main feature twice off the disk and all the extras on the disk or I'm "not allowed" to upgrade the BD version (my own rules ). That way I feel like the DVD has gotten its money-worth and it has definetly saved me from rebuying a lot of stuff on nothing more than impulse.

me-skywalker

I was talking to Lucas last week and he tells me he's making a new trilogy in 3D. He was also telling me is in talks with Spielberg and Cameron to Make a super-project where Avatar and Jurassic Park are 2 of the new planets in the new Star Wars 3d trilogy.

jaykhunter

I'll try to resist since i have it on DVD already and it looks great, but me wants on BluRay :pac: maybe I can offload the DVDs to someone lol

Sad Professor

I'd love it if there was an isolated score on the prequels. Visually they are magnificent films. The actors look good, the action is great, the pacing is fast. If only I could hear the music without having to listen to that horrid dialogue. Probably won't happen though since Williams wasn't too pleased with how Lucas chopped up all his cues.

Re: the lack of original versions, tbh I really don't give a sh*t anymore. Empire is the only one I really want. I f**king love that film. Most of the changes to it were fairly minor and actually improve the film. The shuttle scene was unnecessary and ruins the flow of the finale but I can live with it. As long as Lucas doesn't go inserting Hayden Christian's ghost in there somewhere.... *shudder*

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'd love it if there was an isolated score on the prequels. Visually they are magnificent films. The actors look good, the action is great, the pacing is fast. If only I could hear the music without having to listen to that horrid dialogue. Probably won't happen though since Williams wasn't too pleased with how Lucas chopped up all his cues.

Re: the lack of original versions, tbh I really don't give a sh*t anymore. Empire is the only one I really want. I f**king love that film. Most of the changes to it were fairly minor and actually improve the film. The shuttle scene was unnecessary and ruins the flow of the finale but I can live with it. As long as Lucas doesn't go inserting Hayden Christian's ghost in there somewhere.... *shudder*

always hated how they changed Vader's line, now its something like "tell my star destroyer to prepare for my arrival" or something to that effect, the old "bring my shuttle" was much more menacing and abrupt. And now his costume jumps from Empire Vader to ROTJ Vader when he leaves the shuttle as its just B roll from the opening of ROTJ, the helmet is different and way cleaner than in Empire.

Wouldnt be suprised if Lucas Cgi;s Yoda and sticks Jar Jar Binks into Dagobah or something :rolleyes:

Sad Professor

krudler wrote: »

always hated how they changed Vader's line, now its something like "tell my star destroyer to prepare for my arrival" or something to that effect, the old "bring my shuttle" was much more menacing and abrupt.

Yeah. I much prefer the old line as well. It was such an inexplicable thing to change. No need for it.

Anakin.S

I'll buy the Blu-Ray, but only because I'm a sucker!

Is it due for release around the same time as the new TV show?

Richard Dower

^ with a screen name like that, who can take you seriously?

Roar

krudler wrote: »

Wouldnt be suprised if Lucas Cgi;s Yoda and sticks Jar Jar Binks into Dagobah or something :rolleyes:

jar jar IS in the return of the jedi!

at the teddy bear's picnic
victory celebration at the end, there's a shot of naboo, and there's some gungan's celebrating, and you can faintly hear "weesa freeeeeee!".

How depressing is that?

bonerm

Roar wrote: »

jar jar IS in the return of the jedi!

at the teddy bear's picnic
victory celebration at the end, there's a shot of naboo, and there's some gungan's celebrating, and you can faintly hear "weesa freeeeeee!".

How depressing is that?

The Emperors first task when he seized power should have been to solve "The Gungan Question".

Anakin.S

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ with a screen name like that, who can take you seriously?

When it comes to Star Wars? Nobody

Can anbody take yours seriously?

http://www.organfax.co.uk/players/richardbower/

Mr. K

I love Star Wars, so I'm gonna end up buying the Blu-Rays. I already own the OT on VHS and DVD(with TPM on VHS and DVD, AOTC and ROTS on DVD only), why stop now?!

The lightsaber scene doesn't make much sense though, why would Luke have waited that long to make a new one? In-canon, he made his new one during the events of Shadows of the Empire and...

...I'm thinking about this too much, aren't I?

rednik

I will wait for the reviews before I buy. I haven't been disappointed with to many releases so far and to be fair with recent releases like Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and gangs of New York they have taken on board the criticism of these discs and remastered them.

rednik

Star Wars blu ray will be released on Sept 26th. The best price I have found is €83.99 on sendit. This price is for the full saga edition which includes all six movies. Three bonus discs of over 30 hours of extensive extras.

Basq

I'd only buy so I could set fire to Episodes I - III!

:pac:

rednik

basquille wrote: »

I'd only buy so I could set fire to Episodes I - III!

:pac:

I guess this will be the one for you and most others.

johndoe99

damn shame we have to wait until september.

krudler

Meh, they'd want to look spectacular and have a mountain of special features, as good as the Empire of Dreams doc on the dvd set is there was kinda of a lack of other stuff considering the infinite amount of stuff available about the movies. Wonder will the "original trilogy" actually be the original trilogy, or the bastardised 97 rereleases with the "wheeeey look what we can do now!" cgi sequences that have actually aged the movie more than the puppets did.

I want Greedo shooting first, Vader demanding "Bring my shuttle" not politely requesting that someone "prepare my ship for my arrival" , Sebastian Shaw as the older Anakin and I want Yub Nub back as the ROTJ ending song sequence goodamit :pac:

Biggins

Pre-ordered mine last week.
Now here's hoping the fuller lenght version of Lord of the Rings comes sometimes.
(Yes, I know its supposed to be possibly years before that happens.)

Sad Professor

At least they are making both trilogies available separately.

I'll be surprised if Lucas doesn't take this opportunity to tinker with them a little more. He did the same for the DVD release. A lot of the CGI added to the SEs will look really bad in HD.

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

At least they are making both trilogies available separately.

I'll be surprised if Lucas doesn't take this opportunity to tinker with them a little more. He did the same for the DVD release. A lot of the CGI added to the SEs will look really bad in HD.

The Sarlacc, shudder , it looked way better and creepier when it was just a gaping mouth in the ground.

Ridley

krudler wrote: »

Meh, they'd want to look spectacular and have a mountain of special features, as good as the Empire of Dreams doc on the dvd set is there was kinda of a lack of other stuff considering the infinite amount of stuff available about the movies. Wonder will the "original trilogy" actually be the original trilogy, or the bastardised 97 rereleases with the "wheeeey look what we can do now!" cgi sequences that have actually aged the movie more than the puppets did.

I want Greedo shooting first, Vader demanding "Bring my shuttle" not politely requesting that someone "prepare my ship for my arrival" , Sebastian Shaw as the older Anakin and I want Yub Nub back as the ROTJ ending song sequence goodamit :pac:

And see-through snowspeeder cockpits.

I wouldn't be surprised if Phantom Menace has the CGI Yoda used in the Empire documentary. It would actually be an improvement over that puppet.

Sigh. The original 2003 Indiana Jones DVD set had a great making of documentary which was left off the 2008 release. Lucasfilm is always so reluctant with the content they give out.

krudler

Ridley wrote: »

And see-through snowspeeder cockpits.

I wouldn't be surprised if Phantom Menace has the CGI Yoda used in the Empire documentary. It would actually be an improvement over that puppet.

Sigh. The original 2003 Indiana Jones DVD set had a great making of documentary which was left off the 2008 release. Lucasfilm is always so reluctant with the content they give out.

what? one of the best reasons to buy that set, love Spielberg giving out to one of the snakes in the Well of Souls set "you're supposed to be afraid of fire not like fire, you're runining my movie!"

Deisler

The Lucas ca$hcow rolls on...

Venom

Deisler wrote: »

The Lucas ca$hcow rolls on...

At least until the 3D versions of the movies hit both the cinema and blueray 3D

the_monkey

Looking forward to these, will probably get the whole set.

I actually really liked Ep III , dunno what people have against it,
I and II weren't great but III sowed them all nicely together..

Nerdkiller1991

the_monkey wrote: »

Looking forward to these, will probably get the whole set.

I actually really liked Ep III , dunno what people have against it,
I and II weren't great but III sowed them all nicely together..

I'm kinda in the same camp. I can only assume that its just blind hate after the first 2. Well, that and Hayden Christiansen.

I know that this is a long shot, but I'm hoping for the original cuts of the old trilogy (like the 2006 release), just so we won't hear Star Wars "fans" constantly b*tch about the newer versions, 24/7...but if they don't, lets hope they change some of the already altered scenes (just like the original DVD release), like actually letting Han shoot first. Besides:

G-Money

I liked Episodes II and III but didn't really like Episode I but it's one of those you kind of have to have to complete the set. There are some good parts in it though, such as the fight with Darth Maul.

Anyway what I was thinking was, they will have to do something with the CG in Episodes I - III as the last time I watched Episode III the CG looked very obvious to the point where it stood out too much. I think the bit I'm thinking of is when they're on those hover platforms in the end battle, the background looked awful. I'm just thinking it will look worse on Blu-Ray.

Although then again, how good could the transfer be as I don't think it would have been originally shot in HD.

rednik

grandmaster wrote: »

I liked Episodes II and III but didn't really like Episode I but it's one of those you kind of have to have to complete the set. There are some good parts in it though, such as the fight with Darth Maul.

Anyway what I was thinking was, they will have to do something with the CG in Episodes I - III as the last time I watched Episode III the CG looked very obvious to the point where it stood out too much. I think the bit I'm thinking of is when they're on those hover platforms in the end battle, the background looked awful. I'm just thinking it will look worse on Blu-Ray.

Although then again, how good could the transfer be as I don't think it would have been originally shot in HD.

Comes down to the company given the task of doing the transfer to HD. Not being filmed in HD makes no difference once it is filmed in 35mm or better,

rednik

Venom wrote: »

At least until the 3D versions of the movies hit both the cinema and blueray 3D

Jar Jar in 3D :eek::eek::eek:

Ridley

krudler wrote: »

what? one of the best reasons to buy that set, love Spielberg giving out to one of the snakes in the Well of Souls set "you're supposed to be afraid of fire not like fire, you're runining my movie!"

Yep. Apart from the Interactive Menus™, the extras are different across the two sets. I suspect it's because The Complete Making of Indiana Jones book was released around the same time as the second set but I don't see how both couldn't have coexisted.

Minstrel27

grandmaster wrote: »

Although then again, how good could the transfer be as I don't think it would have been originally shot in HD.

They would have been shot at a much higher resolution than HD.

TheIrishGrover

I would imagine it would be the same here

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/20/star-wars-blu-ray-discs-to-arrive-september-27th-according-to-am/

Star Wars Blu-ray discs to arrive September 27th according to Amazon

By Richard Lawler posted Jan 20th 2011 3:48PM

Even a flashy CES announce event wasn't enough for Fox and George Lucas to reveal an exact release date for the arrival of Star Wars on Blu-ray, but now Amazon has updated its preorder ship dates to September 27th. We wouldn't schedule a day off of work to dive into the promised 30 hours of special features until there's some sort of official word, but since it is a Tuesday it seems a logical time to expect these discs (in full Complete Saga form or either trilogy set by itself, you choice) to touch down. Relive the somewhat underwhelming Darth Vader entrance and the much more inspiring Blu-ray boxed set trailer after the break.