Time to milk the punters again!
Will this be the ultimate, definitive collection? (until the next time!)
Yet we still keep buying them :(
George Lucas names Star Wars Blu-ray release date
All six Star Wars movies will be released on Blu-ray, George Lucas has confirmed, but not until October... 2011. The release will bundle all six films into a single box set, the Skywalker Supremo said this weekend at a gathering of fanboys in Florida. Why wait? Lucas doesn't appear to have said, but the wait gives him plenty …
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT Kevin7
Sounds good :-)
Given the almost peerless technical quality of Lucas's releases the long wait is hardly surprising. Converting the original saga to HD will probably be quite an epic job in itself and no doubt Lucas will tinker with them yet again. Given the greater portion of the original saga is more than 30 years old whether they stand up to HD scrutiny is another question. The chances are most fans will be buying them for the extra stuff rather than films which by this stage are probably a bit over familiar.
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 12:59 GMT RichyS
How
So, where did you get these magic 1080p copies from?
Has someone somewhere managed to get hold of the digital or print originals, and converted them themselves? Doubtful.
So, what you probably have is the 576p (at best) DVD release up-converted to 1080p.
Nothing worth bragging about, really.
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT Thomas 4
Hmmm
I have nothing against him improving the picture quality or adding small minor scenes, like the stormtroopers in the desert. What I do take umbrage with is screwing around with important details, like the Emperor's face in Empire Strikes Back, losing the "Yub-Nub" song at the end of RotJ, replacing with it victory shots of Naboo, etc and the replacement of the old Vader with Mannequin Skywalker.
Not that the old scenes were particularly good but letting those..things...from the prequel trilogy infect the old Star Wars films almost seems like sacrilege.
-
-
Tuesday 17th August 2010 09:33 GMT Pascal Monett
I still have the VHS
Quite worn out, I admit, but there is still enough detail to notice that HAN SHOT FIRST.
And, as has been outlined in quite a good argument somewhere else, making Greedo shoot first is a disastrous decision for Han's character. In the original version, Han went from being a true selfish smuggler to an actual good person.
With Greedo shooting first, Han goes from semi-innocent good guy to . . good guy, with a bit of selfishness in between that, all of a sudden, is not so comprehensible.
Way to screw up your own story, Lucas.
-
-
-
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 14:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Unfortunately...
...the first three were utter shite too. The difference is that all of us were kids when we saw them. C3PO is honestly incredibly grating, R2D2 is cheesy as hell, and the acting is generally atrocious. That's exactly as it -should- be, but saying that the original three were good and the later three were bad is just rose colored glasses.
-
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT jason 7
Must have....more money........
So great George, putting in crap that wasnt considered good enough at the time by you (or the real directors that did a better job) to boost an already very tarnished legacy.
Just like Cuppola did with the Apocalypse Now Redux. All the stuff he added in at the time he swore would never be seen as it was (to quote)..."shit!"
But when you need the cash...........
All the folks that were between the ages of 5 and 15 when they saw Star Wars for the first time in 77 will tell you..."less is more".
All you had to do was clean and tidy up the prints, re-composite the optical effects shots, re-do the scene fades and use a smidgin of CGI to tidy up some other shots.
Thats all.
Saying that sorting out the original trilogy prints would be too expensive is pure BS as he knows full well that version would outsell the (not so) Special editions.
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Please oh please...
Do not let him tinker anymore with the originals, I mean Han not shooting the bounty hunter Gredo (was it Gredo? not really that sure or bothered to wiki it) in Star Wars was an absolute joke...
Maybe a lawsuit to block Lucas from changing anything, I mean its America where everything and everyone can be sued, right?
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT DrXym
Star Wars extra money edition
No one should be surprised that Star Wars is coming to Blu Ray. The series gets reissued every 5 years or so, each time touting some dubious reason why its better than the last. Collectors edition, digitally remastered edition, special edition etc. You can bet that after next year's Star Wars there will be another one. Perhaps they'll revamp the shitty CGI effects in the special editions for example and dump that out. Money for old rope.
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT Andy 115
A Title
I wonder if Oct 2011 will also see the release of Mac's with Bluray drives? Perhaps it wont be such a "bag of hurt" when Star wars is available on Bluray? Don't Apple and Lucasfilm have some sort of history?
BTW, I have an iMac and I'm not in the least bit bothered it doesn't do Bluray films but some people seem to get all hot and bothered by the fact.
-
Monday 16th August 2010 09:43 GMT Doug 14
Can we please give this a rest .. ?
Look these films were great when they first came out ( the first 3 that is ) , but for crying out loud just how many times can Lucas keep going back to the well on this? I'm begging you all please leave this on the shelf , it only encourages him.
Our childhood has been and gone people , it's sad but there it is .. you can't buy it back.
-
Monday 16th August 2010 12:55 GMT LuMan
Sigh
I suppose we're all entitled to our own opinion and, Doug 14, your opinion is somewhat echoed throughout this forum. However, while there are grown men (and women) alive who claim that their religion is Jedi (please, DON'T get me started on this one!) and wander around dressed like Friar Tuck with a glowing sword, there will be countless numbers of Star Wars Special edition re-releases flying off shelves quicker than a modified YT1300 Correllian Freighter from Docking Bay 94. Love it or hate it, SW will keep Lucas' money-well well-stocked for many generations to come.
For the record, as an avid SW fan (who ISN'T a f**king Jedi!) I'll be buying the box-set and adding it to my ever-growing collection (cue: downvotes...) </sigh>
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 10:21 GMT Sooty
Victim of his own success
My theory is that for the original trilogy, the people working with him were prepared to slap him and say "No, that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard". Unfortunately he got famous enough that people stopped saying it to him.
This would be a perfect opportunity though, to release a version that had a "pure" option, that lets you watch the same film as when you were a child. And then, if you choose to, you could watch it with the "enhancements"
Although, I wouldn't be surprised if this blu-ray version had all the blasters replaced with walkie-talkies!
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 10:52 GMT Matthew 17
Good job he released it as one big boxed set
If no-one bought the 1-3 box and everyone bought the 4-6 then it would be further proof of how shit the new films are.
I like the original trilogy, I even liked the tweaked versions but I've seen them so many times can't really be arsed to watch them again.
-
Monday 16th August 2010 12:30 GMT jason 7
Star Wars wasnt shot in 70mm.
Star Wars were all shot on 35mm negative (except for the last two prequels which were digital).
The effects shots were shot on defunct Vistavision cameras which allowed different optical effects to be used.
The original negatives suffered from poor color retention and are in bad way. Nothing that time and money cant fix however.
Unfortunately, Lucas scrimped on the HD transfers done for the DVD boxset. He only gave limited time to Lowery digital and only scanned them at 2K maximum rather than 4K.
The real bummer (but actually no great loss) is that the last two digital movies were shot at around 1080p fixed. So in effect they can never be improved going forward.
Lucas really makes some daft decisions. I still feel he's a chancer that got lucky with one (quite frankly not that original) idea and has been riding the wave ever since.
-
Monday 16th August 2010 15:22 GMT John 62
The pizza rolls told him to do it
epic 7-part youtube review is epic. http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/17/watch-this-70-minute-video-review-of-star-wars-the-phantom-menace/
arstechnica's recent article is also informative: http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/05/star-wars.ars
Now where are my pizza rolls?
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 16:01 GMT Anonymous Coward
They're upscaled...
They may be 1080p (if not 1080i) but they were upscalled for SD broadcast versions. They are not 1080p versions taken from the originals.
I'll get them, along with the BR versions of the Extended LOTR which, of course, couldn't be released at the same time as the theatrical versions...
-
-
Monday 16th August 2010 22:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
1080P version exist and are available at the Mos Eisley Market*
They exist, they're not upscaled and I have no idea what extra crap is going to be layered in the official BluRays.
I still have a Laserdisc player and all 3 of the Original un mucked about with Trilogy since that's the best domestic quality version that exists of them.
If the upcoming release undoes the stupid changes and goes back to the original cut but with shiny bells I'll be first in line, otherwise Lucas can Sod off.
By having Greedo shoot first totally destroys the redemption arc of Han Solo starting out as being a nasty piece of work and ending as a true hero.
What's next? Vader kissing Captain Antilles?
*The location of which should be well known to El Reg Readers...
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
