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10th Anniversary of the "GOUT" dvd release

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At least in North America, the much maligned unaltered dvd versions were released on September 12, 2006 meaning it was 10 years to the day you could buy Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on dvd without the digital alterations made in 1997 and 2004.
While out of print since 2011, it’s still the best and most convenient home video way to watch the original versions since 1.) vhs sucks 2.) widescreen vhs was not that common 3.) laserdisc players were/are never common and still go for a decent price 4.) you don’t have to flip/swap discs in the middle of the movie.

But I haven’t seen a complete listing of all the store exclusives you could get. Best Buy had a tin, Wal-Mart had the comic book. Circuit city had something I think.

So what other store exclusives were there and were there any other promotional posters or materials to promote this release?

Take back the trilogy. Execute Order '77

http://www.youtube.com/user/Knightmessenger

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Here’s an awkward video from the GOUT release day 10 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDcH7ZSbYA

Rogue One is redundant. Just play the first mission of DARK FORCES.
The hallmark of a corrupt leader: Being surrounded by yes men.
‘The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly.’ - V.E.S.
‘Star Wars is a buffet, enjoy the stuff you want, and leave the rest.’ - SilverWook

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Knightmessenger said:
But I haven’t seen a complete listing of all the store exclusives you could get. Best Buy had a tin, Wal-Mart had the comic book. Circuit city had something I think.

Circuit City had really nice looking lithographs that each came in a cool folder like thing. I still have mine and I am glad I got them.

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Since my GOUT Star Wars (1977) “skipped over damaged area” last time I watched it and I hate using Ebay, a GOUT re-release would actually be something to celebrate in my book.

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Back in the days I was suprised to see this on shelves still. I bought it right away when it came out cause it was supposed to be a limited time thing. Is there a official reason it was expanded from a few months to 6 years?

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MathUser said:

Back in the days I was suprised to see this on shelves still. I bought it right away when it came out cause it was supposed to be a limited time thing. Is there a official reason it was expanded from a few months to 6 years?

The dvd’s were re-released as separate trilogy packs in 2008. Lucasfilm probably just wanted an equal number of discs in both sets.

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I found these buttons that Newbury Comics was giving away at the time when I cleaned out my closet a couple of months ago.

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Haarspalter said:

Here’s an awkward video from the GOUT release day 10 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDcH7ZSbYA

OMG I remember that video. Anyways I remember Suncoast carrying the GOUT. There used to be a video rental place near me called Movie City that I remember having a GOUT poster for a little bit. Can’t remember who carried it but the GOUT set I got came in a tin case.

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There was another amusing video I remember from back then. I wouldn’t know how to track it down now a decade later, but it was some dude in his room with the GOUT discs and he mentioned the non-anamorphic transfers and then proceeded to show the dvd cases of movies from his collection that actually were anamorphic. As I remember it, these titles included Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (“with Robert Picardo the doctor from Voyager” as the dude added).

This video also ended with a breaking of the GOUT discs.

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Fang Zei said:

There was another amusing video I remember from back then. I wouldn’t know how to track it down now a decade later, but it was some dude in his room with the GOUT discs and he mentioned the non-anamorphic transfers and then proceeded to show the dvd cases of movies from his collection that actually were anamorphic. As I remember it, these titles included Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (“with Robert Picardo the doctor from Voyager” as the dude added).

This video also ended with a breaking of the GOUT discs.

Come to think of it I remember that video too. I didnt really know what Anamorphic Widescreen was until the 2006 SW DVDs came about. I knew ‘of’ it but not exactly what it meant and that video pretty much spelled it out. Keep in mind I didnt get my first Widescreen TV 'til 2008.

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Fang Zei said:

There was another amusing video I remember from back then. I wouldn’t know how to track it down now a decade later, but it was some dude in his room with the GOUT discs and he mentioned the non-anamorphic transfers and then proceeded to show the dvd cases of movies from his collection that actually were anamorphic. As I remember it, these titles included Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (“with Robert Picardo the doctor from Voyager” as the dude added).

This video also ended with a breaking of the GOUT discs.

Could it possibly be this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZVxC1hNDY

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That would be the one.

The only other thing I remembered was the “He hates the fans, he hates me” line at the end, but I forgot about plush Yoda.

I remembered the Jedi costume, though.

Oh, and it was the main feature disc with the 2004 version that he snapped in half. Breaking the GOUT disc wouldn’t have made much sense now that I think about it.

Haha, Masters of Universe. I knew there was one more anamorphic title he rattled off. I’ve still never seen it, but then again I never watched He-Man.

On a side note, I noticed the Power Rangers movie playing on HBO in HD several weeks ago.

Interesting that Street Fighter was one of his only two non-anamorphic dvds, as I can think of several other Universal releases from the early days of the format that also weren’t anamorphic (Dune and The Thing both come to mind). Brazil was another non-anamorphic transfer from Universal that Criterion simply ported over for their own multi-disc set. Actually, I want to say it was also ten years ago when Criterion finally got around to remastering Brazil in a single-disc anamorphic release.

Which brings me to what I remember most about when the GOUT was released, and that’s how many other movies just happened to receive a remaster the very same month as well.

The Doors, another conspicuously non-anamorphic release, was finally remastered by lionsgate.

Blade Runner was reissued with a better-looking transfer. The previous disc, while technically anamorphic, was one of the very earliest releases on the dvd format and suffered for it.

Seven Samurai received a new restoration by Criterion. Toho is currently working on a new 4k restoration.

Dune and The Thing, the two early non-anamorphic Universal titles I mentioned earlier, had both been remastered by the time the GOUT hit store shelves. Hell, The Thing just received yet another remaster this year.

All of the movies I mentioned have since been released on blu-ray.

Yet here we are, a decade later and nearly four years into Disney’s ownership of Lucasfilm, and the highest quality these movies have seen in an official home video release is a laserdisc master from 1993.

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I’ve said this elsewhere, but with njvc’s custom Blu-ray project featuring Despecialized, I’m not sure I care about an official original release any more. I don’t see how it could compete.

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TV’s Frink said:

I’ve said this elsewhere, but with njvc’s custom Blu-ray project featuring Despecialized, I’m not sure I care about an official original release any more. I don’t see how it could compete.

I think we’ve reached a point that unless whatever Lucasfilm puts out is perfect, then what the fans are doing will surpass it.

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They have access to the original negative, but they can’t compete? (facepalm)

Han: Hey Lando! You kept your promise, right? Not a scratch?
Lando: Well, what’s left of her isn’t scratched. All the scratched parts got knocked off along the way.
Han (exasperated): Knocked off?!

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Z6PO said:

They have access to the original negative, but they can’t compete? (facepalm)

In terms of accuracy, most likely no. In terms of overall detail, yes.

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Past Lucasfilm releases have always been an exercise in how to get the most money from the least amount of effort. In the extremely unlikely scenario Lucasfilm issues a new improved OOT home video release, er, ever, it’s going to have the 81 crawl, the 93 audio, effed up colors, and degrain/regrain, at the very least–and likely some horrifying audio remastering as well, because that’s the established workflow and changing that would require effort. Access to the original negative only matters if you care about the film.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

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Wasn’t it reported somewhere back around December that Disney had in fact requested a copy of the LoC’s original '77 print of the film?

As I recall, the prevailing theory was that they could very well be using it as reference for what the actual content of the initial theatrical release actually was.

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slumberdore said:

Fang Zei said:

There was another amusing video I remember from back then. I wouldn’t know how to track it down now a decade later, but it was some dude in his room with the GOUT discs and he mentioned the non-anamorphic transfers and then proceeded to show the dvd cases of movies from his collection that actually were anamorphic. As I remember it, these titles included Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (“with Robert Picardo the doctor from Voyager” as the dude added).

This video also ended with a breaking of the GOUT discs.

Could it possibly be this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZVxC1hNDY

Yep that’s it.

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CatBus said:

Past Lucasfilm releases have always been an exercise in how to get the most money from the least amount of effort. In the extremely unlikely scenario Lucasfilm issues a new improved OOT home video release, er, ever, it’s going to have the 81 crawl, the 93 audio, effed up colors, and degrain/regrain, at the very least–and likely some horrifying audio remastering as well, because that’s the established workflow and changing that would require effort. Access to the original negative only matters if you care about the film.

Even THAT would be something.

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Thinking back on it now, would it really have cost all that much money in 2006 (compared to your average dvd of just about any other film) to simply do a new telecine of the same '85 IP elements that were used for the '93 laserdiscs?

I know Lucasfilm’s form response letter said “existing prints are in poor condition,” but come on.

Are you gonna tell me they were in worse shape than whatever film element was used for the examples I listed in my long-ass post like Dune or The Thing or Blade Runner?

George’s whole thing was “don’t spend a single cent of my money remastering it,” but was it really worth the backlash?

I know, I know, “he was surrounded by yes men.” It’s still hard to comprehend.

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CatBus said:

Past Lucasfilm releases have always been an exercise in how to get the most money from the least amount of effort. In the extremely unlikely scenario Lucasfilm issues a new improved OOT home video release, er, ever, it’s going to have the 81 crawl, the 93 audio, effed up colors, and degrain/regrain, at the very least–and likely some horrifying audio remastering as well, because that’s the established workflow and changing that would require effort. Access to the original negative only matters if you care about the film.

I dunno about that, for the SE they actually recreated a scene and refilmed it. And for the DVD releases of 1-3 they actually went back and added special effects to deleted scenes. This lead to many fanedits including them.

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MathUser said:

CatBus said:

Past Lucasfilm releases have always been an exercise in how to get the most money from the least amount of effort. In the extremely unlikely scenario Lucasfilm issues a new improved OOT home video release, er, ever, it’s going to have the 81 crawl, the 93 audio, effed up colors, and degrain/regrain, at the very least–and likely some horrifying audio remastering as well, because that’s the established workflow and changing that would require effort. Access to the original negative only matters if you care about the film.

I dunno about that, for the SE they actually recreated a scene and refilmed it. And for the DVD releases of 1-3 they actually went back and added special effects to deleted scenes. This lead to many fanedits including them.

Oh, they put plenty of effortenthusiasm into changing stuff, don’t get me wrong. When there’s no budget for re-scanning negatives, or fixing the color grading, your staff will definitely find stuff to keep themselves occupied–going out into a parking lot and yelling for Obi-Wan, that sort of thing. But that stuff is really not even peripherally related to what’s needed to get a quality film transfer for home video. And while I haven’t spent a lot of time examining every altered scene in detail, I have seen definite signs that even when they put some effort into a change, they were often pretty sloppy and cheap about it. Maybe not every single job gets shortchanged like that, but historically, Star Wars releases have never come off as top quality releases. At least in my opinion, of course.

Also, as this was regarding a theoretical OOT release, re-filming scenes and adding special effects would actually be pretty much the worst possible thing they could do, regardless of how much effort went into it.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)