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The Official 2006 Discs Will Be No Better Than What We Have! — Page 3

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So glad I didn't buy any of the Star Wars DVD's. You're all dogs lapping at Lucas' tit. Nah, I'm just kidding... as I will be too when these hit the stores. Wouldn't it be funny if their exhaustive search was actually of the LD bootlegs from here. Have the X0 masters been stolen recently?
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I'm sorry I am confused. I guess I always thought people made movies to make money. Lucas was never Santa Claus nor did I ever expect him to be. Sorry Santa is not real or realistic. I do think they are doing this to make the fans happy, but also because it is a way to make some more money for the company. Let me break it to you. 100% of all business works this way and personally I don't feel bad about that. I know that if my company started giving there product away I would be out of a job as I suspect most of you would be too. The price may be steep but all of us are going to pay for it, and after we pop the DVD in and see Han shooting first we will have forgotten how much it cost. Also they are selling the three movies separately so we will have time to space out the purchases if need be. Finally if you are not happy when you hear the reviews of the product I suggest you don't buy it. No harm no foul, at the very least you are in the same boat you were in before, I suspect however most of us will be happy enough. Plus I for one am confident that some enterprising person here will create discs that have the 5.1 surround sound and what not.
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That's an excellent point there Bomma. If anything, if the picture quality of the DVD's are better than the LD transfers, They'll just be used to make a superior "Classic Edition".
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Originally posted by: bomma
I'm sorry I am confused. I guess I always thought people made movies to make money. Lucas was never Santa Claus nor did I ever expect him to be. Sorry Santa is not real or realistic. I do think they are doing this to make the fans happy, but also because it is a way to make some more money for the company. Let me break it to you. 100% of all business works this way and personally I don't feel bad about that. I know that if my company started giving there product away I would be out of a job as I suspect most of you would be too. The price may be steep but all of us are going to pay for it, and after we pop the DVD in and see Han shooting first we will have forgotten how much it cost. Also they are selling the three movies separately so we will have time to space out the purchases if need be. Finally if you are not happy when you hear the reviews of the product I suggest you don't buy it. No harm no foul, at the very least you are in the same boat you were in before, I suspect however most of us will be happy enough. Plus I for one am confident that some enterprising person here will create discs that have the 5.1 surround sound and what not.


Yeah, that's why I said he wasn't Santa Claus, and that this was to make money.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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If these DVDs are to be from a 1993 video master, I can't imagine they'll look any different than Laserdisc. However, I have two reasons to believe that Jim Ward's references to 1993 are not to a video master. I believe it's very unlikely that the original Star Wars opening crawl without "Episode IV A New Hope" was transferred to video in 1993. I also believe that it's very unlikely that any video masters made in 1993 would have been recorded in anamorphic widescreen.
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hahaha wow i was wondering when people wold stop saying thankyou lucas, to when they would start saying we want more.
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The amount of pessimistic people in this thread, honestly... I haven't seen so many people who don't know what they're talking about since I had a family of Creationists over for dinner.

Take a good long look at your calendar. Is it September yet? No? Hah! So stop your miserable bitching, you don't even have a clue!

Look - when you buy the thing, and you can show it to me and have hard evidence that 'Lucas is a whore, he's screwed us over *again*' then sure, I'll agree with you. You have it in writing, right here - I will 100% support you in your bitching.
But this sucks. So many months before it's even out, and you're crying like babies... hahaha.
VADER: Let me look on you with my own eyes...

LUKE: Dad, where are your eyebrows?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WO_S6UgkQk0
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"I haven't seen so many people who don't know what they're talking about since I had a family of Creationists over for dinner."

Hahahahaha, that was brilliant.


But seriously, can't we just be happy about the release and then start complaining as more details surface? Right now people are just really jumping to conclusions.
Don't forget: with Lacuna, you can forget.
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One thing no one as pointed out yet is that the 1997 and 2004 versions were actually censored slightly now I don't know if it was just here in the UK or if it was done to all countries, things like laser shots hitting imperial officers if I'm not mistaken. Now I wonder if LFL is going to put those edits into the OOT release? I think I'll wait until someone has gone through these dvd's with a fine toothed comb before I shell out my hard earned.
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They were indeed censored.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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Originally posted by: Skyranger
If these DVDs are to be from a 1993 video master, I can't imagine they'll look any different than Laserdisc. However, I have two reasons to believe that Jim Ward's references to 1993 are not to a video master. I believe it's very unlikely that the original Star Wars opening crawl without "Episode IV A New Hope" was transferred to video in 1993. I also believe that it's very unlikely that any video masters made in 1993 would have been recorded in anamorphic widescreen.


The last time the original Star Wars Trilogy was released was in 1995 according to my VHS box. One of the big selling points (VHS and Laserdisk) was how THX "digitally mastered" the original film. They supposedly cleaned and fixed the video digitally. Therefore, I would assume that this master was done in 1993, which was just prior to 1995. On both Laserdisk and VHS, widescreen versions of the film were available. That means that the "master" done in 1993 was probably of a quality where an "anamorphic widescreen" DVD release should be possible.

I've been studying the differences between DVD and Laserdisk, and DVD outclasses Laserdisk in a number of ways. The most obvious is that DVD has a much higher image resolution. I found it interesting to learn that Laserdisk used no compression since it's video was an analog format, not digital. That means the compression artifacts, visible on poor DVD productions during high speed movement on screen, are not experienced with Laserdisk, and it actually mimics film better in this regard. Yet modern DVD compression techniques elimate this problem almost entirely. All in all, I believe the same digital master from 1993 should look better on DVD.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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The Official Discs Will Be No Better Than What We Have!
Even if they are using the same master as the 1993 release (from a D1 tape? who knows?):

Master -> DVD

will be better than:

Master -> Laserdisc -> Intermediate Capture File -> DVD

If the detail smearing, caused by THX lab's "dirt concealment" processing in the '90s, is present on these new DVDs, then we can have a go at combining the best aspects of both the 2004 and 2006 DVDs together to produce the ultimate restoration of the OOT. Some of us enjoy challenges like that. I'm sure the Star Wars Preservation forum will be buzzing with new projects come September.

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This entire place is falling apart. This place is starting to look like TF.N. George lucas is doing this so that he can say, "He they wanted, now they got it! and he is probably laughing his ass off right now watching us fight over which transfer it is coming from.


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Everyone needs to calm down. We don't know what will happen yet. The press release IS confusing. That's for sure. We will just have to wait until more information is released. Patience.

I never purchased the Star Wars DVD's, so I absolutely will buy these. No matter what they will look better than the laserdiscs or the fan releases we have come up with. The DD2.0 sound sucks, but I can always add the PCM tracks myself. You guys should know by now how much I prefer the PCM to shit DD2.0.

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I don't like the fact that the OOT is an EXTRA in the set. I say people should use those to make two new copies for each movie. A copy that marries the 2004 DVDs sans SE alterations and these orignal "extras" discs with the non SE stuff. Also, a straightforward copy of the extra disc, not to be labeled as an extra. They aren't extras. They ARE the movies. It's insulting to release them this way.
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I totally agree with you, skye. I think it's possibly to blur the demand for the originals, because Lucas can always say that a certain number of people bought it for the 2004 releases rather than the originals.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Agreed. I think it's probably for two reasons. One, to keep those that bought the 2004 version anyway(the casual fan), as they're basically rebuying something they'll feel they already have. Two, to get diehards like me to finally own a copy of "Lucas' definative vision". All in all, it's just to keep SE dominance. they shouldn't be an extra. Though I suppose it's ideal for those that want both version and have inexplecably not purchased the 2004 set.

I also agree it so Lucasfilm can downplay sales. After all, wouldn't it be great if an OOT only set outsold a SE one. That would wound one's pride, wouldn't it. The fact that the 04 set is owned by most casual fans doesn't hurt either. Since this is the third release, only diehards and other holdouts will get it. So basically the SE prevails.


Made for IE Forum's Episode III theme month - May 2005.

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I don't agree about the spin, if this set outsells the original release on DVD the press will defiantly spin it that the reason why it did better is that the public supports the original versions then the new ones. I don't think LFL will be able to deny that. Who care really if we get the original? You can always throw out the new ones if you want. Personally I am hoping they correct the f-ed up mix so that it can be used to marry the 5.1 mix to the original footage. Most of all I am looking forward to some of the projects that will come out of here.
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All right, listen, I think everybody's looking at this a little backwards.

The image quality isn't the real issue. Yes, with the information we have, it's basically going to be a Laserdisc port. Laserdisc -> DVD does look good, so it will obviously look better. I'm sure there will be more than a small boost in quality. They're not going to give the OT the same treatment they gave the 2004 release. But, that doesn't matter. I hope they leave it as alone as possible. Less of a temptation for Lucas to mess with it.

But none of this is really the point. I'm seriously considering boycotting these new releases as well, but not for picture quality or anything like that. Think of it this way:

Studios put a DVD box set on the market. Let's take the Alien Quadrilogy. It's out for about a year, it sells a bunch, then sits on shelves and the sales start going down, naturally. Then Fox puts out the exact same discs with the exact same content, only in individual releases. Nothing's different about them, they're just repackaged and you can buy Alien without buying Alien Resurrection. This is EXTREMELY common, if not the standard.

Lucas is doing the same thing here. This was planned from the very beginning. But, with Star Wars, you run into a problem.

First, there are VERY few people out there who are going to buy one of the original Star Wars trilogy without buying the other two. Even if you don't like Return of the Jedi that much, even the most causal of fans wants all three. So, everyone who wanted them has already purchased a box set.

Second, there are the people who didn't buy the box set in the first place because it doesn't contain the Original Theatrical Versions and certainly aren't going to buy the individual releases for the exact same reason.

So how do you get people who already own the films in their newest incarnation AND the people who won't go near it in the first place buy the new individual releases?

That's right, add the original versions as "bonus material."

Read the official press release closely:

"In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film."

It's no different from releasing a movie in a new edition with more extras after the bare bones has already been out a while. Only, this time, Lucas has one hell of a "bonus feature" that no Star Wars fan could resist. Short of making The Star Wars Holiday Special extra material, this is the holy grail of "bonus features."

It's still a victory for anti-cinematic revisionsim. The original films WILL be out there in the DVD format, that's a moderate success.

But, it's a very underhanded and sneaky "fuck you" to the very fans that made Lucas what he is today. It's the most brilliant way I've ever seen to get people to buy something they already have, whether it's the 2004 editions or bootleged Laserdisc DVD-Rs. Star Wars is Lucas' own private financial institution. The fans are his ATMs. This is just another trip to the bank.
http://vendaface.com
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I can't belive it either! How ungratefull and childish people can get. You finally get what you have screamed for all these years and the first thing you do is go screaming we don't want that. Grow up people! Seeing how you react to what should be good news for you makes me regrett signing your petition.
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There are people out there who are only happy if they have something to complain about. A lot of them are on these boards. If there is nothing to complain about, they find things, make things up. These people will NEVER be happy! If the OOT was released with pristine picture quality, ALL audio mixes available, and bonus features up the wazzoo, they will still find something to bitch about.

STOP COMPLAINING! We are getting the OOT on DVD. Is that not what we want? Life is too short. I am just happy it is happening at all.

Everyone who is complaining, please shut up and wait until September. Then we will know exactly what we are getting. Until then, it is all speculation. If you are pissed off because you feel Lucas is getting more money, don't buy it. Nobody is putting a gun to your head.

If you all really feel so strong about it, complain to Lucasfilm. Write a letter, post on StarWars.com. You all sound like a bunch of spoiled brats.

Go ahead and bash me for this. I don't care. I am just sick of all the pessimism around here.
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So you not only want the OT on DVD, you want an appology from Lucas.

Have you noticed anything about George "Orwell" Lucas' behaviour the last 10 or 15 years? He is never wrong. He never changes his mind. (George Lucas doesn't change his mind. Chuck Norris changes his George Lucas.) He'll change things, sure. Do things differently. But it was always his original plan. Really. Whatever George, you keep telling youself that, just give me my stuff.

So he will never come out and say "Ok, guys, you got me. I made a mistake." He'll quietly, sheepishly make it right. (Heck, he got rid of Luke's scream in ESB, and he's STILL trying to make Greedo shoot first. But he's never said "Yeah, that was a mistake.")

Now, the day that we win BIG is when you see an "I Love the 70's" special or the Academy Awards or some such and they show the 1977 Death Star explosion. It could happen. (Maybe?)

But for crying out loud - we LIKED the LD transfers (and I still think there's more to that story, wait and see). They LOOKED like the movies. The lightsabers (for example) in the SEs looked like crap! We're getting Star Wars on DVD for the first time ever!

I'm sure it's been discussed here before, but does anyone know how the SE DVDs did? I mean, the idea of not buying a SW release would have been UNTHINKABLE for me 10 years ago. I can't be alone. I mean, even if it was a 10 or 20 percent drop from previous sales, or projected sales, or whatever?

– Bill

Never tell me the odds.

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Why do people think we are getting LD transfers? Theres no reason to believe that until someone from Lucasfilm states "you are getting the LD transfer", and then the entire DVD community would disown them. Hence, i dont believe we are getting the LD transfers. We are probably getting a new transfer of the original OOT print that was restored in 1993 in preparation for the SE.
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I agree Zombie. Additionally, I just can't see Lucas including the original Star Wars title crawl (without Episode IV) in a video transfer at that time. Why would he?

I also don't understand why so many seemed so convinced that a DVD from an LD master will look so superior to a laserdisc. I have a few early DVDs that were made from masters made for laserdisc, and they just don't look signifigantly different than the laserdisc of the same movie. They look horrible compared to properly mastered DVDs.