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[Windu]

I watched A New Hope for what I think is the second time ever last night. Yeah, like I've said, not a big Star Wars fan. Up until Obi-Wan rocks up, nothing that noticeable. After? Whoa.

• Obi-Wans dragon scream or whatever sounds like it's supposed to trigger a dance track. What the hell is that?
• Those dewbacks look horrible. They're completely out of place and the bad CG will age worse than any physical effects, which at least have charm.
• The stormtroopers are accompanied by a flying droid of sorts. Also out of place. Also bad CG. Get that out of there.
• Han and Greedo? Not that bad. Not that bad.
• Han talking to Jabba is abysmal. Bad CG Jabba, natch. Han stares at his mouth throughout the scene, then steps on his tail. I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I'd imagine that if you step on Jabba's tail, you better be prepared to have your eyes forcefully removed from your head. Ruthless space gangster my arse! The scene's entirely superfluous and about as welcome as a punch to the nuts. My least favourite addition.
• Assorted stuff that I imagine got added like this:
  "And then there's this bit with the random floating droid and-- what the hell is that?"
  "What, George? I don't see anything."
  "Exactly. There's no random CG crap in there. I told you, mar every shot. Why is this shot not marred?"
  "Well, I, uh--"
  "WHY IS THAT NOT MARRED!?"
  "I-- I, uh--"
  "Never mind! Gotta do everything myself. Here, Spielberg lent me his Jurassic Park stuff. Grab that brontasaurus, drop it awkwardly right in front of the camera so it looks entirely out of place and gets in the way, aaaaand we're done."

most of that is from the special edition (1997)

 

[KevinCow]

If Cowboys and Aliens limps past $100 million, Ford will have been in a movie that has grossed $100 million or more in each of the past five decades. That's a testament to his staying power, appeal, and ability to pick good films.

It's currently at about $99 million.

Hmm? I thought I heard C&A flopped?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Hmm? I thought I heard C&A flopped?

It did. It's still about to go over $100 million. That isn't the landmark that it once was considering the budgets of films these days.

 

[Risette]

[*]Han talking to Jabba is abysmal. Bad CG Jabba, natch. Han stares at his mouth throughout the scene, then steps on his tail. I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I'd imagine that if you step on Jabba's tail, you better be prepared to have your eyes forcefully removed from your head. Ruthless space gangster my arse! The scene's entirely superfluous and about as welcome as a punch to the nuts. My least favourite addition.

Well the scene was originally filmed with a person so it just doesn't look right. The tail stepping is somehow more noticeably bad once you realize that it's because he was walking around a person lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqocT1slhwA&feature=related

 

[NekoFever]

I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I'd imagine that if you step on Jabba's tail, you better be prepared to have your eyes forcefully removed from your head. Ruthless space gangster my arse!

This is my biggest problem with that scene, and it's not helped by all Jabba's cronies who stand around and just watch. Imagine what would happen in The Godfather if someone talked to Don Corleone like that, finger-pointing and all, and then booted him up the ass for good measure.

 

[bill0527]

1 million in sales worldwide week 1.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/23/us-starwars-idUSTRE78M5PI20110923

Blu-ray "Star Wars" sales soar

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The force is definitely with "Star Wars: The Complete Saga" when it comes to Blu-ray sales.

The nine-disc collection has racked up worldwide sales of 1 million copies, raking in $84 million across the globe, according to Lucasfilm Ltd. and Fox Home Entertainment, making it the top pre-order and top catalog title in the format's history.

Of those numbers, North America accounted for 515,000 in the first week of release alone, and $38 million in sales.

"Star Wars: The Complete Saga," which hit North American store shelves on September 16, includes all six "Star Wars" films, in addition to a myriad of bonus material such as vintage documentaries, making-of footage, commentary, and numerous spoofs of George Lucas's space opera.

Said Fox Home Entertainment executives Mary Daily and Vincent Marcais of the release, "With the Blu-ray, audiences can go deeper into the mythology than ever before and reconnect with everything they love about the saga in the best possible quality."

Lucas has said he plans to re-release the films in 3D.

I'm curious as to the breakdown on those sales between OT, Prequel, and Complete Box Sets.

 

[shantyman]

The people who are seriously worked up about the changes need to realize they are the edge cases, not the majority.

 

[ReBurn]

1 million in sales worldwide week 1.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/23/us-starwars-idUSTRE78M5PI20110923



I'm curious as to the breakdown on those sales between OT, Prequel, and Complete Box Sets.

If you're counting put me down for the complete saga. I haven't opened it yet, but I will sooner or later. I like Amazon's lowest price preorder guarantee. I gave Lucas $10 less than I would have if I had purchased at Best Buy.

Take that Lucas!

 

[jaxword]

If you're counting put me down for the complete saga. I haven't opened it yet, but I will sooner or later. I like Amazon's lowest price preorder guarantee. I gave Lucas $10 less than I would have if I had purchased at Best Buy.

Take that Lucas!

Pretty sure that's not how franchise selling works...unless Lucasfilm has a Manufacturer's Recommended Price, which I doubt, he's ALREADY made the profit by the franchises buying from him. Then they sell as their sales/advertising department dictates.

 

[ReBurn]

Pretty sure that's not how franchise selling works...unless Lucasfilm has a Manufacturer's Recommended Price, which I doubt, he's ALREADY made the profit by the franchises buying from him. Then they sell as their sales/advertising department dictates.

Don't take away my dreams.

 

[Anth0ny]

It's kinda sad that Lucasfilm couldn't be bothered to clean up some of those deleted scenes, yet a fan was able to do this in less than a week.

 

[NekoFever]

The people who are seriously worked up about the changes need to realize they are the edge cases, not the majority.

I don't think anyone was expecting to lead an uprising against Lucas or anything when they decided not to buy these. I just decided I didn't like what was being offered and wasn't going to pay for it, and I'm still not. If other people want to, fine.

 

[FyreWulff]

It's kinda sad that Lucasfilm couldn't be bothered to clean up some of those deleted scenes, yet a fan was able to do this in less than a week.

I don't think I've ever seen a deleted scene in a release that was touched up. There's ones from the later TNG Star Trek movies where the windows still have green screen on them.

It'd cost more to finalize the scenes versus just transferring and making available. Lucas can't win even when he leaves a scene untouched!

 

[Dead]

I don't think I've ever seen a deleted scene in a release that was touched up. There's ones from the later TNG Star Trek movies where the windows still have green screen on them.

It'd cost more to finalize the scenes versus just transferring and making available. Lucas can't win even when he leaves a scene untouched!

All the deleted scenes in Titanic were 100% finished IIRC

 

[Anth0ny]

I don't think I've ever seen a deleted scene in a release that was touched up. There's ones from the later TNG Star Trek movies where the windows still have green screen on them.

It'd cost more to finalize the scenes versus just transferring and making available. Lucas can't win even when he leaves a scene untouched!

Well I'm not really talking about unfinished effects and shit. I'm guessing most of the prequel deleted scenes are still unfinished, and I expect that.

For the OT video I posted above, there is dirt all over the place and the frame is bouncing around. They should clean it up. No excuses.

But this release is completely half assed, so meh.

 

[Suairyu]

Those deleted scenes are so poorly shot and composed (especially when Luke is checking the device alone with the robot) that it always amazes me that they were shot at the same time at all.

 

[Anth0ny]

oooooooooh interesting little tidbit:

First-day DVD sales of the long-awaited 'Star Wars' trilogy topped an estimated $100 million worldwide, but entertainment industry analysts said the multi-disc set was unlikely to break records soon.

The nine-disc collection has racked up worldwide sales of 1 million copies, raking in $84 million across the globe (in the first week), according to Lucasfilm Ltd. and Fox Home Entertainment, making it the top pre-order and top catalog title in the format's history.

That drop off is the Star Wars nerds who are angry about the changes boycotting the release.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Following along from that link to suggested video to suggested video, I ran across this one I like, that takes one of the unpopular changes to the extreme: Greedo Kills Han.

 

[DJ_Tet]

Just wanted to say fuck Barnes and Noble. It's been over a week and I still don't have my 'launch' Blurays. Apparently they spent nearly 48 hours in Atlanta for no particular reason, delivery estimate isn't until Tuesday still. If it takes 12 days to ship a bluray across the US then you're fucking doing it wrong.

 

[Jin34]

I don't think anyone was expecting to lead an uprising against Lucas or anything when they decided not to buy these. I just decided I didn't like what was being offered and wasn't going to pay for it, and I'm still not. If other people want to, fine.

This. Plus only a small fraction of people actually knew about the changes ahead of time. I still remember when I bought the 2004 DVDs and thought: "this Emperor scene in Empire is way too direct about Luke being Vader's son but everyone knows that by now". Then I saw Hayden there at the end... FUUUUUUUU

 

[Anth0ny]

This. Plus only a small fraction of people actually knew about the changes ahead of time. I still remember when I bought the 2004 DVDs and thought: "this Emperor scene in Empire is way too direct about Luke being Vader's son but everyone knows that by now". Then I saw Hayden there at the end... FUUUUUUUU

Yeah I had no idea about the additional changes being made to the 2004 DVDs. I literally stood up out of my seat in shock when I saw Hayden at the end of Jedi. Did not see that coming.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Yeah I had no idea about the additional changes being made to the 2004 DVDs. I literally stood up out of my seat in shock when I saw Hayden at the end of Jedi. Did not see that coming.

I'm imagining someone seeing this and saying "What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

oooooooooh interesting little tidbit:






That drop off is the Star Wars nerds who are angry about the changes boycotting the release.

$84 million is insane given that the install base of Blu-ray players right now is probably much smaller than the DVD player install base in 2004.

 

[meljeff]

Okay, I think we can all agree that you either feel strongly or not about the aesthetic changes Lucas has made to these Blu-Rays.

However, you cannot argue the sound on these Blu-Rays is phenomenal. The DTS sound track is to die for. The channel separation is amazing and everything sounds crystal clear.

The Blu-Rays may be worth this alone.

AMAZING!

 

[Medalion]

Just wish the video quality overall was better, I KNOW they can do better than this, they were just rushing it so they can get to work on the next versions..the 3D ones

 

[Windu]

just watched Empire, didnt notice any new chnages. Someone posted a video of a scream added to luke's fall awhile back. Well that wasnt in there so i dont know what that was all about. Anyway, the movie is just as good as ever.

 

[Medalion]

just watched Empire, didnt notice any new chnages. Someone posted a video of a scream added to luke's fall awhile back. Well that wasnt in there so i dont know what that was all about. Anyway, the movie is just as good as ever.

Luke scream was added in 1997 SE
taken out in 2004 dvd and this one

New changes mostly from 2004 version with the scene of Vader getting back into his shuttle flies back to the Executor and proceeds to harass Luke telepathically

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

just watched Empire, didnt notice any new chnages. Someone posted a video of a scream added to luke's fall awhile back. Well that wasnt in there so i dont know what that was all about. Anyway, the movie is just as good as ever.

The scream was a cinema and VHS SE change that was changed back for the 2004 dvd's and the Blu-rays.

 

[Windu]

ah ok

 

[mrklaw]

It's kinda sad that Lucasfilm couldn't be bothered to clean up some of those deleted scenes, yet a fan was able to do this in less than a week.

maybe they left it as it was to emphasise the deleted and/or 'archive' nature of the scenes?

 

[mrklaw]

Okay, I think we can all agree that you either feel strongly or not about the aesthetic changes Lucas has made to these Blu-Rays.

However, you cannot argue the sound on these Blu-Rays is phenomenal. The DTS sound track is to die for. The channel separation is amazing and everything sounds crystal clear.

The Blu-Rays may be worth this alone.

AMAZING!

how is the sound in the asteroid field chase in Episode II? Tempted to fire it up to see.

 

[Medalion]

Black and white deleted scene that showed Han shooting first, close as you'll get for that scene in HD on blu-ray from Lucas

 

[meljeff]

how is the sound in the asteroid field chase in Episode II? Tempted to fire it up to see.

Haven't watched the prequels yet. I'm sure it sounds incredible though.

 

[BocoDragon]

Black and white deleted scene that showed Han shooting first, close as you'll get for that scene in HD on blu-ray from Lucas

I'm sure fans are working on colorizing it as we speak!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

The only sound moment that especially sticks out for me is Episode II's Battle of Geonosis. It was louder and bassier enough that my speakers started knocking things over, including themselves.

 

[truly101]

This is my biggest problem with that scene, and it's not helped by all Jabba's cronies who stand around and just watch. Imagine what would happen in The Godfather if someone talked to Don Corleone like that, finger-pointing and all, and then booted him up the ass for good measure.

I'm more leniant on the scene since the other option was a jump cut, but that may have been better. My brother in law HATES that scene for that very reason, its inconsistent with Jabba's character. It also mucks up Han even more. He's not going to shoot Greedo first who gives every obvious sign he means to kill Han there, but Han will step on Jabba's tail in a scene that was largely non confrontational. Its just bad. To be fair to Lucas, Fans really wanted that scene added back in, though Lucas seems to seldom listen to them anyway.

The only way Star Wars stops going further down the rabbit hole is if George Lucas is dead.

 

[markot]

You guys think George is just stringing along these SE editions and changes and 3d and crap, and then like 5 years from now he is gonna 'ORIGINAL RESTORED BUY BUY BUY!' everyone >_<?

So is it greed or stupidity? Thats the question!

 

[WillyFive]

You guys think George is just stringing along these SE editions and changes and 3d and crap, and then like 5 years from now he is gonna 'ORIGINAL RESTORED BUY BUY BUY!' everyone >_<?

So is it greed or stupidity? Thats the question!

No. He just does what he wants.

 

[Anth0ny]

You guys think George is just stringing along these SE editions and changes and 3d and crap, and then like 5 years from now he is gonna 'ORIGINAL RESTORED BUY BUY BUY!' everyone >_<?

So is it greed or stupidity? Thats the question!

In 5 years, we'll get the original theatrical versions on bluray.

dvd quality and as bonus features.

 

[Locke_211]

I found the longish deleted scene from A New Hope of Luke hanging with his friends REALLY interesting.

 

[DrForester]

I found the longish deleted scene from A New Hope of Luke hanging with his friends REALLY interesting.

Did he ever get those power converters?

 

[FOOTE]

You guys think George is just stringing along these SE editions and changes and 3d and crap, and then like 5 years from now he is gonna 'ORIGINAL RESTORED BUY BUY BUY!' everyone >_<?

So is it greed or stupidity? Thats the question!

It wouldn't suprise me if he releases the origionals with the 3D blu rays(if that format is still around by then).

 

[jackdoe]

I just managed to put myself through Episode 1. Ugh. It was like ripping off a band-aid. You know it's going to be painful, but when you actually do it, it ends up being more painful than you expected. That aside, Lucas's few changes to Episode 1 actually improved on the movie (ever so slightly). Some of the expanded frames looked nice and the CGI Yoda is definitely a step up from the old crappy puppet used in Episode 1.

 

[Snaku]

I just managed to put myself through Episode 1. Ugh. It was like ripping off a band-aid. You know it's going to be painful, but when you actually do it, it ends up being more painful than you expected. That aside, Lucas's few changes to Episode 1 actually improved on the movie (ever so slightly). Some of the expanded frames looked nice and the CGI Yoda is definitely a step up from the old crappy puppet used in Episode 1.

You'll look back at Episode I fondly after viewing Episode II.

 

[jackdoe]

You'll look back at Episode I fondly after viewing Episode II.

Going to do it quickly tomorrow. Ugh. Why the hell are all the neat special features exclusive to the complete collection?

 

[Mr. Sam]

After A New Hope, I watched - you guessed it - Empire Strikes Back. I'm sure you all know this, but it's very, very good. From what I understand, this is the one that's been revised the least, and it shows. There's no CG clutter and no scenes that feel like like puzzle pieces mercilessly beaten into place.

I was surprised by how this got a U rating, considering just how dark and gruesome it is. Within the first twenty minutes, Han Solo's spilling an animal's entrails and then stuffing Luke Skywalker into where they used to be. While it's still pretty hammy in places - it is Star Wars after all - there are still some absolutely badass lines:

"The force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a jedi yet."

On paper, that looks ludicrous. The delvery, however, is downright chilling.

 

[NekoFever]

I was surprised by how this got a U rating, considering just how dark and gruesome it is. Within the first twenty minutes, Han Solo's spilling an animal's entrails and then stuffing Luke Skywalker into where they used to be.

It also has an arm being chopped off, and numerous people being choked to death. The weirdest is still ANH, which is rated U even with Owen and Beru's corpses burnt to a crisp on screen.

I've always said that I don't mind because I wouldn't object to showing anything in them to a child and I don't think there's anything wrong with kids' films having a bit of a dark side (no pun intended).

I can only imagine that they predated the current ratings and when everything was changed over they kept their old ratings because by that point they were culturally important and routinely shown to kids anyway.

 

[Mr. Sam]

So I'm on to Return of the Jedi. They inserted a CG musical scene? What on Earth? Why? What is even going on?

Edit: Apparently Jabba has put on weight since A New Hope. Enough to suddenly make him essentially immobile.

 

[Windu]

So I'm on to Return of the Jedi. They inserted a CG musical scene?

yeah, 14 years ago

 

[RPGCrazied]

I will laugh when it releases again on 3D, much higher price, and he fixes stuff again. The only thing that didn't belong was Vader's first "no".