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Star Wars Movies on Blu-ray (and some documentary) News

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Who cares unless it has the real versions of the original trilogy, you know the theatrical releases from 77, 80, and 83 that we got in non anamorphic bootleg quality bonus discs a couple years ago, means that is the best they will do and not restore them for dvd much less for blu ray.

I also highly doubt the 97 versions will be included either.

It will be the 2004 set with the botched colors and sound, unfixed to continue the deliberate creative decision they made.

If the true films are on not on there but the old docos are and even if there are deleted scenes i won't buy it, the only set i would ever purchase is the original 3 films restored.  No 97, no 2004 and especially no  shitty prequel films.

The evidence shows that they have just re-released botched dvds time and time again.  I doubt the 2004 willl even be given any repect either, probably bare bones dumps of the HD masters shown on tv and no new blu ray scan of the negatives.

It will be shown even less care and planning that was done for the indiana jones IV and Clone Wars Blu Rays.

You see fans have to make their own releases that fix the colors and the audio, or remove the retarded cartoon cgi.  Would Lucas ever relent?  i don't think in any way ever if hell froze over.

In any case it would still have the bizarre color cast and the bad things caused by the lowry automatic algorithm that removes details as noise like ruining lightsabers or making the garbage mattes stick out like a sore thumb.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I think the lightsabers in ROTJ were caused by careless quality control after Lucas messed with the films post-remaster. 

I doubt those old documentaries will see the light of day, despite whatever hopes some of the staff have.  They go against everything Lucas has said for the past 10 years about his "vision", even stating that Leia could end up with anyone (I do not recall which this is stated in).

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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"I can say with pretty good confidence that at some point in the next several years there will be a complete set of Star Wars movies."

 

That's as vague as Leia's memories of her mom:)  Lets' see what will come first, the 2012 Summer Olympics, or Star Wars movies on BluRay....

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This is from a guy on the LFL payroll. He'd be unwise to say something out of step. He's pretty much skirted around the questions rather than answering them directly, And even so I'd STILL take comments from him with a grain of salt.

 

 

 

 

 

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CO said:

 Lets' see what will come first, the 2012 Summer Olympics, or Star Wars movies on BluRay....

 

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LOL, I was just on my over here after reading the news at digitalbits.

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Anchorhead, you have to photoshop a picture of Lucas shrugging his shoulders in the backround saying, "We are waiting for mass support of BluRay to release SW on Bluray.  In 2026, you should be watching all 6 movies in 1080i!"

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A box set of 6? Screw that. That's more pushing the movies as a "saga" of 6, one big six part movie and all that guff. Sell them as two trilogies like they're being sold now. Or sell them individually, so people can pick and choose. People should be able to buy the OT without buying all that Annie crap and the Mustardfart scene and jumping jackrabbit Yoda and baby Boba and all that traumatic shit. 

At one point there in that article Sansweet says there will be a complete set of Star wars movies with deleted footage and lots of extras and "anything anyone could want" and then he says he says that with "trepidation" because fans want everything and then he goes "Why the Holiday Special wasn't on there, you ruined my life!"  Is that a dig at us OOT fans who'd want the OOT on there? Because I want the OOT and I'd rather have that than a whole lot of bloody extras. No point in having extras without having the actual films. Does the OOT not count in "anything anyone could want"?

I'm certainly not buying a Star Wars set of movies that doesn't include the OOT.

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And btw, I think it's a fucking outrage that the Holiday Special is not on dvd and was never on VHS. So what if Georgie doesn't like it, it's a piece of Star Wars history and he shouldn't get to erase history. Yeah, it's pretty crappy, but it's not any worse than the first ewok movie or the horrible Ewoks tv series. If those can have VHS and dvd releases, then the Holiday special should too. At least the Holiday Special has Han and Luke and Leia and Chewie. What does the ewok crap have? A bunch of ewoks.  

I read this bit about how Lucas was bothered by how badly the Holiday Special turned out so he got involved in making the ewok movies to ensure a quality film. WTF?! You call that quality?! Ok, the second one was better -Noa was an excellent character. But the first one? It makes the Holiday Special look Oscar-worthy by comparison. And then there's the Ewoks show he allowed them to make, which was probably used in Guantanamo Bay to torture the inmates.

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Anyone can download the Holiday Special from google video. If the fan preservations of the OOT laserdiscs didn't count as piracy back before the GOUT was announced, neither does this.

regarding the OOT:

What gets me .... what really gets me is that the OOT on blu-ray has been built up so much by everyone that for LFL to not include it at this point would just be milking the cashcow. "Gasp, oh we have to buy this because this is all we'll ever get." Yeah, fell for that with the dvd back in '04, not falling for it this time.

When I look at all the bd releases I thought would never happen....

-The original versions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek VI

-Both versions each of Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick

-Close Encounters: all three versions

-Blade Runner: all five versions (for fuck's sake)

....that's when LFL holding out on the theatrical versions of all six films just seems beyond ridiculous. No one ever started a petition to get the original version of Star Trek VI on video at all and yet we got it anyway, in high-definition no less! Yes, I'm aware it's a sub-par 1080i upconversion job, but that's far, far more than the OOT can say for itself.

Warner Brothers should get the original version of THX-1138 out there, Universal should do the same for Graffiti and LFL, well, if they haven't gotten the message by this point they never will.

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I wonder if Warner Bros could release the original THX1138 even if they wanted to. Maybe Lucas gained control of it when they made the deal for the rerelease (by Lucasfilm paying the bills for an extensive restoration and new effects for a movie that has never been a big catalog title)

On side note, the making of documentary on the THX dvd has an anamorphic clip of Star Wars and it's the original version (Luke looking at the sunset, before the little mountain in front of the lower sun was digitally erased). I wonder what the source was, it looked pretty good.

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TCM has shown THX a couple times,  and it's the new version. Not a good sign.

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Where were you in '77?

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It's as if the original version of THX has been completely erased from people's minds. Really want the laserdisc now...I just have a feeling all we are ever going to get are the HD transfers from the 04's on blu-ray.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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Fang Zei said:

Anyone can download the Holiday Special from google video.

Not good enough. It deserves to be out on respectable dvd release like the piece of classic Star Wars history it is. The issue is this business of Lucas (as it looks to me) wanting to erase Star wars history. I think the treatment of the Holiday Special was the first sign of the attitude that has put the OOT in its present situation. Back before the SE, even bloody Ewoks episodes got VHS releases back in the day, but the Holiday Special with the actual OOT main characters and actors, made during the classic film era? Nope.

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Baronlando said:

I wonder if Warner Bros could release the original THX1138 even if they wanted to. Maybe Lucas gained control of it when they made the deal for the rerelease (by Lucasfilm paying the bills for an extensive restoration and new effects for a movie that has never been a big catalog title)

On side note, the making of documentary on the THX dvd has an anamorphic clip of Star Wars and it's the original version (Luke looking at the sunset, before the little mountain in front of the lower sun was digitally erased). I wonder what the source was, it looked pretty good.

 

Well, that's certainly what I fear, and with our luck it's probably the case. Although I should point out that on the dvd packaging there wasn't a single copyright notice for GL, Coppola or anything. It was all WB. Of course, that doesn't mean they didn't sign some kind of deal saying "we'll never release the old version."

Oh, and I never knew until now just exactly what was done to that sunset shot for the SE (or the '04, whenever it was). I only remember someone commenting on the family guy star wars episode that "they used the '93 colors" for the sunset.

SilverWook said:

TCM has shown THX a couple times,  and it's the new version. Not a good sign.

 

Yeah, but don't they simulcast in HD now when they can (I don't get cable channels in HD, that's why I ask)? In that case, since there is an hd master of a version, they'd show that. Besides, they'd probably show the newer version anyway. Like the other week they showed the not-original version of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Robert Osborne pointed this out in his intro. Wish I'd known they were showing THX, would've loved to hear what he had to say (assuming it was during a timeslot where he does an intro). Actually I don't get TCM at all anymore as of two weeks ago. My cable service (Cox) scrolled a notice across the top of the screen for the last month or so leading up to it, saying we'd have to get a new cable box just to continue getting TCM at all, and I don't even like using one in the first place (QAM ftw).

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Isn't one of the fan made DVD's allegedly sourced from a broadcast master found in the basement at a CBS affiliate?

Lucasfilm does not pretend the HS doesn't exist. The characters have listings on the official site, and Hasbro released a Boba Fett based on the cartoo segement.

If they finally decided to officially release it, there might be music rights to sort out with Jefferson Starship, etc. Nobody was thinking of a video release back in 1978.

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

Lucasfilm does not pretend the HS doesn't exist. The characters have listings on the official site, and Hasbro released a Boba Fett based on the cartoo segement.

Doesn't count. They've refused all these years to release it on vhs or dvd, which is as good as trying to erase it from history and from what I've read Lucas has made it clear he wishes it were gone. Character listings in the official site's bullshit and toys are nothing compared to the issue of it being on legitimate dvd/vhs or not. And Lucasfilm is not Lucas. It's been demonstrated that Lucasfilm and Lucas can diverge in attitudes (such as on the canon issue). However some of his employees might feel about the special, I think it's clear Lucas is against it and I'd bet that's why it's never been released. Whereas he may not bother stopping them making the odd toy from it or sticking some stuff from it on their site, as long as the thing itself doesn't get the real recognition an official release gives.

SilverWook said:

If they finally decided to officially release it, there might be music rights to sort out with Jefferson Starship, etc. Nobody was thinking of a video release back in 1978.

I wouldn't be so sure they wouldn't have thought of that. Just two years after the special came out, the tv documentary The Making of Star wars was out out on video. If they could put out a docummentary on video then they could surely put out an actual piece of screen fiction. I think even back then it was noticeable that the Holiday Special wasn't out on video. 

 

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Yeah, but the Making Of didn't have Jefferson Starship playing a song in the middle of it.  They probably got the rights to broadcast it, but never got the rights for other types of distribution - that's why so many TV-DVD releases today have the music replaced with generic, royalty-free music, and why many haven't been released at all.  Look at any DVD release of That '70s Show, season 1 of Scrubs, and older shows like Mission: Impossible or WKRP in Cincinnati.  They even had to replace the theme song for one season of Married ... with Children, for Christ's sake.

So when you have something that's played live during the program, the studio might very well think it's not worth it to pay the royalties for home video distribution (which, for Jefferson Starship, would probably be fairly high) if they don't think they'll make their money back.

Of course, I don't think that's why the Holiday Special hasn't been released - I just think George hates it and never wants it to see the light of day.  Once he's dead, and he isn't personally responsible for these decisions, we'll probably get awesome Blu-Ray releases of the 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1997 versions of all the films, and a very nice DVD of the Holiday Special.  But that might be a while ...

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ChainsawAsh said:

Yeah, but the Making Of didn't have Jefferson Starship playing a song in the middle of it.  They probably got the rights to broadcast it, but never got the rights for other types of distribution - that's why so many TV-DVD releases today have the music replaced with generic, royalty-free music, and why many haven't been released at all.  Look at any DVD release of That '70s Show, season 1 of Scrubs, and older shows like Mission: Impossible or WKRP in Cincinnati.  They even had to replace the theme song for one season of Married ... with Children, for Christ's sake.

So when you have something that's played live during the program, the studio might very well think it's not worth it to pay the royalties for home video distribution (which, for Jefferson Starship, would probably be fairly high) if they don't think they'll make their money back.

Yeah, I'm aware of all that. But the fact remains that there's a good chance the idea of bringing out the special on video occurred to them before Lucas decided he wanted it gone, so they may have had some idea what to do about the Jefferson Starship bit. Maybe they would have simply cut the song (hardly a great loss -the Starship bit was probably the most un-Star Warsy part of the special out of a whole lot of un-Star Warsy things, and I found it even more annoying than the wookiee porn and the cantina musical number).

Of course, I don't think that's why the Holiday Special hasn't been released - I just think George hates it and never wants it to see the light of day.  Once he's dead, and he isn't personally responsible for these decisions, we'll probably get awesome Blu-Ray releases of the 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983, and 1997 versions of all the films, and a very nice DVD of the Holiday Special.  But that might be a while ...

As long as he doesn't put it in his will that they should never be brought out.

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I can see why some would want the Holiday Special on a good quality transfer. It is a part of the Star Wars history.

However, I never really knew how much THX had been changed. Saw the original on TCM when I was a kid and it completely blew me away. I knew some changes and CGI had been added in for the DVD, but it was supposedly seamless when compared with the original version and has been lauded.Here is a link to the only place that has done a comparison of the two versions:

http://www.maverick-media.co.uk/movies/thx_1138_1971/changes_001.html

After proudly owning the DVD for a couple of years-I now realize that it is completely different from the film I thought it was. That hurts. Ironically, GL's most profound and philosophical statement has been truncated by none other than himself.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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They were not thinking about music clearances for home video in 1978, any more than the producers of Heavy Metal were in 1981. That film took 15 years to come out on video.

And even the Making of Star Wars has been altered. William Conrad's narration was inexplicably replaced on the 90's VHS.

What's really troubling about THX-1138, is the changes are never talked about on the DVD. There aren't even restoration credits like the SE's all have.

You'd think all those ILM guys would want a screen credit for the new shots. Unless the people who animated that sex machine in THX's apartment are too ashamed! ;)

In the documentary, Lucas talks about filming in various locations around San Francisco to create his underground world, while a shot of a CGI cityscape is shown. That baked my noodle!

 

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Where were you in '77?

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And yet the disc does have a written message from Lucas  saying how great it's been to "restore" the movie. It's really weird, it has all the classy-sounding buzzwords like "restoration" and "director's cut" but it's deliberately misleading and a little creepy.