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What!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#1 cause of DVD piracy? George Lucas.

Well, this just dropped off my purchase list.

Do you really think these will look as bad as the laserdisc ports? I can't imagine they will, but if Lucas really does this just to prove a point, he'll feel the backlash pretty strongly, 'cus the only people who are gonna be interested in buying these are those of us who really want to see the originals looking fine. I honestly don't care if they're non-anamorphic, I just want them without artifacts, with nice colors and decent sharpness.

There was that suspicion...I mean, the signs point to an old transfer with no real work done on it. A nice F.U. to the fans.

In a couple years we'll be able to buy the anamorphic restorations, along with these and the editions released in '04. All 3 together--thanks George!

Eh. I don't mind the changes that much. The musical number in the third is brutal, and Greido shooting (now) at the same time bugs me, but I'll live with them. I have the originals on tape and that's good enough. I was on the border with this one, maybe as a Christmas wish item, but this is the deciding factor for me. I'm not going to bother.

hearthesilence wrote:There was that suspicion...I mean, the signs point to an old transfer with no real work done on it. A nice F.U. to the fans.

Well, no one who seriously wants them will buy them, then, since there are bootlegs out there that are anamorphic ports of the laserdiscs. Yes, anamorphic. Plus they're significantly cheaper. Plus, you don't have to feel like you're supporting that evil fuck.

I'm sure the anamorphic boots just blow up the letterboxed image, how else can they possibly do it?

Man, I like Star Wars, but I don't even think they're THAT good. The first one's got too much cheese, the third one's mediocre, and as much as I like the second, I'm not big on the New Age-mumbo-jumbo surrounding "The Force," most of which is laid out in the second. Having said that, I still want to own them, but I want the ORIGINAL versions - there's enough cheese and bad jokes in the original, I don't want any more layered into the background.

I thought Revenge of the Sith was a big F.U. to the fans. If you squint just right, you can see Lucas standing behind every inane scene with both birds fully flipped. This is just more of the same. It's insane, because they'll still make a bundle on these.

Maybe I should buy them just so I can sell them on ebay in a year when they're OOP and we're told to wait 5 years for the next ones.

It would just be nice to have what was originally released. I'm tired of the tampering Lucas constantly does--why can't he just let go? And when I finally think he is, he goes and pulls this crap.

denti alligator wrote:Do you really think these will look as bad as the laserdisc ports? I can't imagine they will, but if Lucas really does this just to prove a point, he'll feel the backlash pretty strongly, 'cus the only people who are gonna be interested in buying these are those of us who really want to see the originals looking fine. I honestly don't care if they're non-anamorphic, I just want them without artifacts, with nice colors and decent sharpness.

My guess is he's going back to the masters created for the 1993 VHS/LD releases. I've read those masters were done on D2, which is less than ideal for DVD (it's a composite format, for one thing). And if the '93 masters were nonanamorphic then there's no way they could get an anamorphic transfer from them without uprezzing the image, so that might explain the lack of enhancement.

hearthesilence wrote:

Monsieur Verdoux wrote:Rather disappointing in the cover art i think... why can't we have the old art work from the film posters... and what's with the blue halos with the characters on the Return of the Jedi cover.

Was Carrie Fisher's bikini clad figure this prominent on the old art work? Yow-zah!

That's true... it does look ummmmm far clearer to her in this:

Although I would always like to see it in this cover more....

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:

denti alligator wrote:Do you really think these will look as bad as the laserdisc ports? I can't imagine they will, but if Lucas really does this just to prove a point, he'll feel the backlash pretty strongly, 'cus the only people who are gonna be interested in buying these are those of us who really want to see the originals looking fine. I honestly don't care if they're non-anamorphic, I just want them without artifacts, with nice colors and decent sharpness.

My guess is he's going back to the masters created for the 1993 VHS/LD releases. I've read those masters were done on D2, which is less than ideal for DVD (it's a composite format, for one thing). And if the '93 masters were nonanamorphic then there's no way they could get an anamorphic transfer from them without uprezzing the image, so that might explain the lack of enhancement.

Can someone explain the technical side to this. So masters exist, but in what form. Is D2 a digital format? If so, I'm assuming it's non-progressive. Or can the image be made progressive in converting D2 to DVD-ready form?

Didn't Lucas say, while he was still making the prequals, that when he was done he was going to make what he termed "pure cinema". So I guess his idea of "pure cinema" is 3-D and a sure-to-suck television show based on a tired and well wrung franchise

Thanks Lucas for saving me some money

I guess too many years of "The Force" has screwed up Lucas's mind!!! I have the two Star Wars laserdisc box sets so i guess i will save my money and watch them...

This is the form letter being sent by LucasFilm to disgruntled fans. Keep a vomit bag handy:

[quote]
I wanted you to know how much we appreciate the passion and enthusiasm you have for Star Wars, and thank you for sharing your concerns about our upcoming DVD release.

The DVDs being released in September will contain two versions of Star Wars: Episodes IV, V and VI – the Special Editions (which represent George's vision of the movies) and the first versions, which will be included as bonus material. We hoped that releasing those “originalâ€

My big Question is why was the existing prints in poor condition? If i were Lucas i would have kept the original prints of all of my films in pristine condition since they still bring in lots of money!!! Lucas puts in a lot of effort to make his films look good and he should have done the same after the movie has been released. He should know better than that!!

Since so many fans have been requesting them for so long, and they want to give them as a bonus just for "fun," wouldn't it have made just as much sense to include the originals with the SE the first time around?

Sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

what would Yoda say?

godardslave wrote:what would Yoda say?

Bullshit this is

To translate the letter:

Why the hell should I spend more money restoring the originals? Most of you will still buy these anyway; if I cut costs, there's greater profit to be had! Make me another $50 million, bitches!

George Lucas

Seriously, I have an LD player now, if the 1993 LaserDiscs plummet in value, I'd sooner scoop those up. At least I'd get better packaging and nice extras. Once I figure out how to edit DVD, I'll just cut up the special editions and make them more like the originals, burn THAT on a DVD.

hearthesilence wrote:To translate the letter:

Why the hell should I spend more money restoring the originals? Most of you will still buy these anyway; if I cut costs, there's greater profit to be had! Make me another $50 million, bitches!

George Lucas

Seriously, I have an LD player now, if the 1993 LaserDiscs plummet in value, I'd sooner scoop those up. At least I'd get better packaging and nice extras. Once I figure out how to edit DVD, I'll just cut up the special editions and make them more like the originals, burn THAT on a DVD.

Our consolation should be that the best of the films (the so-called "Episode V") is in its Special Edition form almost identical to the original release version. The DVD of that one as Special Edition wouldn't need any editing. The other two are a different story altogether.