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O-OT Star Wars "Bonus Disc" menus (www.starwars.com)

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There are definitely some hardcore OT fans within the Luca$film Empire If only the disc content could've been treated with such reverence...

The Bonus DVD Menus -- A New Hope
August 22, 2006

Fans who grew up with the original trilogy and the poster campaigns that advertised them should enjoy the new menus devised for the bonus discs bundled with the original trilogy DVD singles being released on September 12.
New Wave Entertainment, who has developed a long-standing relationship with Lucasfilm on several Star Wars projects over the past decade, has created a series of stunning retro poster artwork menus for the original theatrical editions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, all of which have been enhanced with animated movement and a three-dimensional look.

New Wave, whose "Studio" department designed the Clone Wars Volume II menus and were involved with the more recent Episode III bonus disc menus, turned out to be the perfect choice to create poster-inspired menus for the new original trilogy bonus discs. New Wave's Creative department, after all, was responsible for designing both the domestic and international poster campaigns for Episode III.

Paul Schneider, DVD Senior Producer for The Studio at New Wave, says the idea to go with animated versions of the classic poster designs came from a desire to preserve the spirit of the films as they were originally presented. "During our initial creative conversations with Lucasfilm, we talked about the different ways we could celebrate these three original releases exactly for what they were, when they first burst onto the scene. We got very excited about capturing the nostalgia, and the way the fans felt about them as truly monumental 'moments of time' in film history. Lucasfilm mentioned to us that the posters were available for use on the menus, and while other options were discussed and even tested, the final decision was to go with these vintage film posters."

New Wave went to work fleshing out the concepts, including designs, storyboards, and animation tests to bring the classic artwork to life. For A New Hope (or rather Star Wars in '77-speak), the Main Menu opens with an animated trucking shot of the Death Star trench battle, culminating with the X-wings and TIEs falling into the familiar composition of Thomas Chantrell's classic Style "C" poster design, with a bit of Tom Jung's Style "A" half-sheet artwork thrown in for balance. Another welcome inclusion is the original "space-crawl" Star Wars logo, which has not been used for a video release since the early '90s, and never for DVD.

Keeping with the theme of classic poster artwork, fans will also be happy to see Tim and Greg Hildebrandt's stunning British quad artwork utilized for the Options Menu, John Berkey's frenzied Death Star dogfight for Chapters, and the ubiquitous Tom Jung Style "A" one-sheet artwork when the DVD is launched from a computer.

Look for Part II in next week's coverage of The Empire Strikes Back DVD.


(Edit) And yup, there are dvd chapters:

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/20060822_picview/img/5.jpg
http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/20060822_picview/img/5.jpg
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Ahh damnit. I really don't want to buy this release. I won't! At least I hope I won't.

Those menus are cool though.

"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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aww geez

amazing what can happen when they let people that care about them have a go

they look awesome

/shakes fist

I didn't want to buy them..but..power..to..resist..is..fading.

I feel so dirty.
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“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

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Wow, that is pretty cool. At least they're doing some work with this. Even if it is just the menu, it makes me feel a little bit better.

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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Originally posted by: LeoneNutThe Scene selection screen has a special edition screenshot from when they enter Mos Eisley.


Aaargh! ~ i didn't notice that More Jedi Mind Tricks for the O-OT fanbase... no fair!
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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Wow, that is pretty cool. At least they're doing some work with this. Even if it is just the menu, it makes me feel a little bit better.
If they committed to the menus - imagine what they committed to making sure the DVD bought out every detail on their master tape?
Some were not blessed with brains.
<blockquote>Originally posted by: BadAssKeith

You are passing up on a great opportunity to makes lots of money,
make Lucas lose a lot of his money
and make him look bad to the entire world
and you could be well known and liked

None of us here like Lucas or Lucasfilm.
I have death wishes on Lucas and Macullum.
we could all probably get 10s of thousands of dollars!
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Hmm...EditDroid, anyone?

http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/20060822_picview/img/6.jpg

I hadn't heard the radio ad here before.
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Originally posted by: THX


I hadn't heard the radio ad here before.


The announcer in the first few ads left something to be desired. "Rated...P. G." Cool to hear, nonetheless.

http://jgtwo.wordpress.com

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Originally posted by: boris
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Wow, that is pretty cool. At least they're doing some work with this. Even if it is just the menu, it makes me feel a little bit better.
If they committed to the menus - imagine what they committed to making sure the DVD bought out every detail on their master tape?

Well, it doesn't look like they spent much more than a few hours making these static menus. A day at most. So...

My Projects:
[Holiday Special Hybrid DVD v2]
[X0 Project]
[Backstroke of the West DVD]
[ROTS Theatrical DVD]

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I just might get these. By bootlegs don't have menus at all, and although this won't be anamorphic, it'll be nicer than my bootleg, especailly with those menus. They're perfect. And I thought they'd have a special features list on disc 2 like so:

LEGO Star Wars Trailer
Unaltered Film
Game Demo
Watch DarthEvil's Who Framed Darth Vader? video on YouTube!

You can also access the entire Horriffic Violence Theater Series from my Channel Page.
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Originally posted by: Zion
Originally posted by: boris
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Wow, that is pretty cool. At least they're doing some work with this. Even if it is just the menu, it makes me feel a little bit better.
If they committed to the menus - imagine what they committed to making sure the DVD bought out every detail on their master tape?

Well, it doesn't look like they spent much more than a few hours making these static menus. A day at most. So...


That's true, but do we really need animated menus that jump around for hours? The menus for the rest of the Star Wars DVDs get really old after a while, and they're by far not the worst offenders.

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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Originally posted by: Darth_Evil
I just might get these. By bootlegs don't have menus at all,


Sigh, my bootlegs won't play in my DVD player. It's really, really old ... but I keep it because it also plays laserdiscs, and I still have a ton of those that I haven't repurchased on DVD and don't intend to ... including The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which I will not be buying on September 12.

So I have to keep the ability to play laserdiscs as long as I can. If it were not for the (perhaps cheating) opening crawl, I doubt I'd be buying Star Wars on September 12 either. Certainly not just for the (admittedly) cool menus.


.

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Just think of the DVD's as mini-laserdiscs. The quality is going to be the same.
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Originally posted by: Darth Cracker
Originally posted by: LeoneNutThe Scene selection screen has a special edition screenshot from when they enter Mos Eisley.


Aaargh! ~ i didn't notice that More Jedi Mind Tricks for the O-OT fanbase... no fair!
No, no, no, it's not from the Special Edition. I had a moment of confusion as well. But look closely... there are no extra buildings there, just the buildings that doubled for Toshi Station.

It's the original shot.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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dammit those menus areso nice
must.....not...buy....but...menus....are....sooo......cool......aargh!
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Pffts, menus! I dream of having a DVD player that will skip EVERYTHING and go right to the feature, so I can have an experience akin to the movies - - which is what I am trying to emulate when I watch a MOVIE.


That's the one thing I like about laserdiscs ... pop one in, and the movie begins! So, yes, I will think of the new Star Wars DVD as a mini-laserdisc, and I won't bemoan the image quality. But I would rather it be like a laserdisc in simply starting the feature when I insert the disc ... though I will settle for a menu system this time, since the menus are, yeah, really frelling cool.


.
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Originally posted by: Zion
Originally posted by: boris
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Wow, that is pretty cool. At least they're doing some work with this. Even if it is just the menu, it makes me feel a little bit better.
If they committed to the menus - imagine what they committed to making sure the DVD bought out every detail on their master tape?

Well, it doesn't look like they spent much more than a few hours making these static menus. A day at most. So...
According to the article, they're animated. Don't know how much though. Maybe it's just the intro/outros.

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the scumbags, they['ve pinched my menu's yes, my menu's basically look like that for the main screen.

swines.
When a woman says yes, she means no - when she says maybe, she means no.

http://www.auky37.dsl.pipex.com/falconlogo_web.jpg
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Originally posted by: Zion
Animated transitions. Maybe the thumbnails in the scene selection. But that's it.
I don't like animated menus much anyway. I prefer really professional static menus.
Some were not blessed with brains.
<blockquote>Originally posted by: BadAssKeith

You are passing up on a great opportunity to makes lots of money,
make Lucas lose a lot of his money
and make him look bad to the entire world
and you could be well known and liked

None of us here like Lucas or Lucasfilm.
I have death wishes on Lucas and Macullum.
we could all probably get 10s of thousands of dollars!
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Those menus actually look nice. I wonder if they'll be similar to some of the art 'animation' done for the 'musical journey' DVD that came with the ep. III soundtrack? Who did that DVD?

To be honest, I find the 'fancy' menus on the 2004 DVDs to be annoying. They take too long to go where they're supposed to.
Originally posted by: Ozkeeper
aww geez
amazing what can happen when they let people that care about them have a go
they look awesome
/shakes fist
I didn't want to buy them..but..power..to..resist..is..fading.
I feel so dirty.
Originally posted by: Darth Richard
dammit those menus areso nice
must.....not...buy....but...menus....are....sooo......cool......aargh!

LOL! "You want this....don't you?"

Originally posted by: Sluggo
Just think of the DVD's as mini-laserdiscs. The quality is going to be the same.

No, I think the quality will be at least slightly better.