Originally posted by: SilverWook
[...]SW with Vader speaking in Japanese. So it's curious a Japanese dub track has never appeared on any of the imported LD's.
[...]SW with Vader speaking in Japanese. So it's curious a Japanese dub track has never appeared on any of the imported LD's.
Not really, I don't think. In Japan, most movies are subbed for theatrical release. The exception being animated films for kids (think Shrek, for example) which get both dubbed and subbed releases. Usually playing at the same theatre, but at different times of the day -- early showings are dubbed, and later showings are subbed.
There are sometimes both dubbed and subbed VHS releases, too, but the subbed versions are way more popular (as they should be). Not sure how most DVDs are these days.
On TV, films are usually dubbed on one audio channel, and the original language soundtrack on the other channel.
All these situations sort of point to dubs being the lowest common denominator sort of thing (i.e. for the young and/or dumb), whereas subs are preferred by film buffs, audio- and videophiles. LD was always a sort of elitist format, so it sort of stands to reason that LDs are subbed.
It could be that some of the earlier releases on LD have Japanese-language audio, but I know the four best releases (the Collector's Set, the DC, 1997 SE and 2000 SE re-release) are all English-language only with subs.
On a sort of related tangent, I wish Disney would stop messing with Miyazaki movies by adding crappy Hollywood dubbing. I want to see Howl's Moving Castle with the original voice talent, not some Hollywood has-beens and never-weres!