George is at it again!

[xortam]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
See sig.

I have the CAV THX laserdiscs, but they aren't dolby digital. Being CAV, they also have more breaks, having 5 sides per movie. I just need some video-editing equipment so I can make them into DVDs and sell the patootie outta them.

I just checked and mine are 2-disc CLV versions, CBS Fox Dolby Digital "Special Wide Screen Edition". The sealed copy shows a price of $69.95 from Tower. I was also recently given a copy of Return of the Jedi. I guess I just didn't bother getting the set in CAV though most everything else I own is CAV, including a number of Criterions. CAV isn't much of an issue for me since I own that unique beast, a dual disc LD player, the Pioneer LD-W1.

Amazing how many people have sold DVD rips of their Star Wars LDs.

[Marshmallowman]

So the first 2-3 movies were great classics that almost everyone enjoyed as is...and the last three look to be a full set of stinkers...yet he is hacking the good ones ups and leaving the lame sucqels as is..

I have not bought any of the movies yet, I have been waiting for a collectors set but I guess I'll just give up on that , might as well just download them...that way I might be able to get the originals

[KvHagedorn]

One reason I think the first movies blew away the more recent ones is the editing. The original editing was masterful, and when combined with the music made these films the phenomena they were.

Perhaps some people still realize that the sum total of a film's quality is not how high-tech the CGI is, but apparently Lucas is not in this more enlightened camp.

His tinkering is really unforgivable. Remastering the sound into DTS is about the only thing that could have been done to improve these movies.

I really, really hate what he did in Mos Eisley. The very idea that Han would wait and assume that Greedo scum would miss him from 6 feet away so he could then somehow be justified in killing him.. what moronity! The original scene was raw and realistic.. the rehash is Disney.

[Paddy]

I guess there is nothing to say that this third version will be final...

[Tjalfe]

he did not even get the surround track right

http://www.jwfan.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=557&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

John Williams' score to Star Wars has been re-mixed for the new DVD with disastrous results.

Neil S. Bulk reports:
During the first dive to attack the Death Star (1:14 into Chapter 45 or 1:46:13 into the movie) the music is completely dialed out of the main channels and is inaudible during the movie. This is a section of music that previously had a very prominent role in the action. The remnants of the music (a grand statement of the Force theme) can be heard in the surround channels, but with all of the channels engaged in a properly calibrated home theater, you cannot hear this music. The next fifteen seconds has the music coming and going as finally the music seems to come back in fully at the 1:46:27 mark (1:29 into the chapter), but that fifteen seconds is enough to make anyone question this new re-mix and really miss the music that was always there.

The other problem with the music lasts throughout the entire 124 running time of the film. The music that is mixed into the surround channels is reversed, completely throwing off the music sound stage. The front speakers have the music mixed into the proper channels. The error with the surrounds can be most easily heard during the opening and closing titles as well as the Throne Room. A section that I'm fond of occurs in chapter 7 (2:16 into the chapter, 13:38 into the film). It's a very close mic'd recording of a tuba. It should come from the right side of your home theater, but instead the sound comes from the right front channel and the left surround channel! And this is not an isolated incident.

Keep in mind that all of the sound effects that come from the rear speakers are mixed properly. This flaw oÂ_nly effects John Williams' Oscar winning score.

Neil

[Technoid]

bleh, that Sucks

[KvHagedorn]

And there has been so mych media hype surrounding the DVD release.. I hate the way some people get free advertising like this.

[isochar]

Next up, he's going to "fix" the saber-fighting since Vader and Obi-Wan apparently lose all their skill from Episode 1,2,3 -> 4,5,6. *edit* This is just a joke since a comment this ridiculous might actually be taken seriously considering George's previous actions.

[The Rock]

In response to this entire thread, SO WHAT? They are HIS movies, and like Lucas says (and I'm paraphrasing here from memory): "I'm sorry so many people fell in love with an unfinished film that didn't get released anywhere NEAR the state I wanted it to be released in". The original version was not even close to what Lucas wanted, so give the man a break. He's doing it the way HE wanted it to be done. You don't like it, stop whining like little babies and DON'T BUY IT!

[High_Jumbllama]

This Isn't Your Father's Trilogy

[Jon P. Inghram]

Strange how some people get so angry when people make fun of Lucas for totally f'ing up what used to be some decent movies... as Spock would say, "Fascinating."

[KRSESQ]

I like to use the "high school love" analogy. I think I've mentioned it before.

The original Star Wars is like your first true love in high school. She was a bit rough and unpolished, but that was a big part of her charm. She was pretty to look at and smart and sassy and you really enjoyed seeing her as often as you could.

Now you see her years later, and she's obviously had a lot of work done. Her boobs are bigger, her nose is straighter, her complexion is perfect, and she wears the finest clothes money can buy. In short, she looks terrific. But for some reason she isn't as much fun as she used to be. So part of you (maybe a BIG part) really misses the girl you fell in love with, and the only way to see that girl again is through rapidly fading photographs.

THAT'S Star Wars.

Feel free to spread the word.

Kevin

[KvHagedorn]

Good analogy, Kevin.

This film was an icon. One of the great milestones in cinema. It was more popular than anything I have seen before or since, and that is hardly the hallmark of something inferior and unfinished. People loved it because it allowed them to dream, not because its stupid computer effects were state-of-the-art, as they actually were for the time. Having less going on in Mos Eisley or fewer Stormtroopers on the Death Star was perfectly fine. In fact, it probably made things easier to grasp because the world was not so overwhelmingly full. Imagine actually being able to see Alec Guinness' face the first time we see the Jedi mind trick performed instead of having some stupid animated Giraffoppotamus lumbering by in front of him.. Imagine having Han Solo behave in a realistic manner and shooting first.. Imagine a tighter plot and storyline because we don't have to really deal with Jabba the Hutt, but can concentrate on the cool ship when we see it for the first time.. The effects are there to serve the story, not the other way around, and the effects that were there served the story wonderfully, in part because they were so minimal. Furthermore, we got to see how the technology improved with each succeeding film.

The ideal re-release of Star Wars would remaster the original sound into DTS, clean it up a bit, clean up the video, and that would be all. I did see the redone versions in 1997, and noticed how shrill the Dolby Digital soundtrack was. Luke's whining about going into Anchorhead to pick up some power converters is much whinier.. so much so that it produced a laugh from the audience.

For God's sake, leave it well enough alone. Remember colorization? That died a well-deserved death, and our classic films remain as they once were in all their glory. What if someone took a computer and phuqed with Casablanca and Citizen Kane and spiffed them all up with CGI crap? Just imagine some stupid dinosaur walking in front of Bogey just as he says "Here's looking at you, kid."

[KRSESQ]

Exactly. Star Wars is an important piece of film history. Revising history for no other reason than to 'prettify' it is almost always a Bad Idea.

You'd think someone who claims to care as much about films and filmmaking as George Lucas would realize that.

Kevin

[leech]

To be a little fair on the "Han shoots first" thing.... the actual novel of Star Wars simply states that there is some some blasters fired and smoke filled the area... or something to that effect. It never actually said who shot first.

As far as a lot of the other edits... why couldn't he just do what Stargate did... it had the choice on the DVD if you wanted to watch the theatrical release or the special edition with deleted scenes. It'd be much better than forcing (pun not intended) us all to watch the changed one. Not to mention he could have just released it with a commentary saying, "well, originally I wanted this a different way...." Or something.. He could have easily had the original and the special edition on the same disks.

Leech