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Disappointing DVD package (re the 2004 OT SE release)

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 (Edited)

A lot of people recieved their dvd in the office this morning and i have to say its a hugely disappointing set of discs.

Ignoring the already known ‘touch ups’ putting it kindly the bonus disc offers nothing apart from maybe an interesting casting reel showing Kurt Russell etc.

The documentary, Empire of Dreams, doesnt do enough for me, there should have been more interviews with the cast AT THE TIME of making it as well as present interviews, there is also a lack of deleted footage and to be fair, not enough backstage and location footage for a supposed free haul of lucasfilms archives.

What this package should have been should have been like this:

The Lucas cuts plus the original cuts, giving the viewer the choice.
The bonus disc as well as the nice trailers for every film should have contained the making of documentaries of all three films, that were released on video and broadcast on tv in the 1980’s.
There should have been a feature on all the deleted scenes everyone has been talking about over the last twenty odd years and maybe optionally, there should have been the holiday special, although i guess lucas would not have wanted that.

The way i see it, and this is my opinion, those who say Lucas has the right to do whatever he pleases is wrong. The way i see it this setup is a 50-50 partnership, a two way street if you will. Without Lucas’s creativity, we would never have had star wars, i grant him that and thats fine, however, without the likes of you me and whoever, investing over the years in his films and tie-ins, he would never have been in the position he is to do what he wants, and i think that its sad that he thinks its all me, me, me, and that goes for the fans who bemoan our reasons for wanting a perfect release.

He owes the fans as much as we do him, that he would do the very, very best in providing a quality release for all to enjoy, but he’s only thought about himself which is a crying shame, and what makes it worse is that he comes across as if he is milking the fans, i mean i saw lots of people buying the dvd today in our local dvd store and just how many peple realised of the changes made in the films and that they werent the originals? I mean not everyone has the internet or are as clued up as to finding out for themselves what this release contains.

Well, as for me i have held back my cash, i know i would be disappointed viewing them, i may get the originals on bootleg, a risk i know, but the originals ARE STAR WARS.

cheers
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LostIT, I'm glad you held out. You won't regret it honestly. There are several people on this forum offering up bootlegs of the O-OT and they're pretty damned good quality. I've got a set from a guy I haven't seen back on the boards for a while and I'm quite happy with them.

You want to know what I find kinda funny? I was watching VH-1 this past Saturday and they had a special called "When Star Wars Ruled the World". Part of their "Ruled the World" series. It had some great interviews and could easily have been longer than the hour that it actually was. They probably did a better job than LFL.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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bossk was it the 7 disc edition with the makings of? is it any good?
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My set is only a disc per film set. Taken from the Definitive Collection LDs. The guy who burned them for me did a great job, IMHO, and the DVD-Rs even work on my non-DVD-R compliant DVD player (I got them expecting to have to run them through my PS2 - alas, I don't need to).
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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cheers bossk.

i just ordered 7 dvd rs with the makings of on them as well, i hope they are ok.
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The video quality makes the bootlegs look like VHS. But then, we must not cave. Here's a screenshot:

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Originally posted by: DanielB
The video quality makes the bootlegs look like VHS. But then, we must not cave.


But at least they are the originals and they're on DVD. My video quality is pretty damn good. Maybe not as good as an original LFL remastering would be, but I'll take my content over their revisionism any day.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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I can't get over the fact that Lucas doesn't tell anyone in the commercials that it's not the original release... In the commercials, it says this "The original Star Wars trilogy on DVD, September 21st!"

It never says ANYTHING about the changes... And yet, it mentions the special features. That just really... bugs me.

By the way, I baught a bootleg copy of the OT on Ebay... was this a smart move?
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No way to tell for sure until you get it.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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Well, I've been told it's possible to get sued if you buy bootlegs of the OT off Ebay... I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for Lucasfilms to get my personal information if they told Ebay I baught something illegal... Does anyone know if my odds of getting sued are high, or what?
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According to the legalese definition, for something to be truly "bootlegged" it must be a black market version of a work of art that is readily available or will be available for purchase in the near future. Since Lucas has said that the original versions of the OT "no longer exist", these don't legally qualify as bootlegs.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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Oh? Awesome. that makes me feel less un-easy about the whole thing.
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Hi there.

I bought the OT off of eBay a little while ago. The quality is pretty good, actually. I was impressed. Yeah, it has the fake 5.1, but even that wasn't horrible. The capture is pretty good and the compression isn't THAT bad. Much better than VHS.

I also bought a set from someone on here (tK47.. something like that -sorry, very bad memory). I've heard these will be better. Ethically, I'd rather give money to a fan than some "bootlegger."

But I'm sure you'll be happy w/ the ebay trilogy.

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I don't think you can be sued for 'buying' anything on ebay, save for maybe child porn. Selling copyrighted stuff on there is a different story.
40,000 million notches away
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One problem is I'm comparing anamorphic pal to non-anamorphic ntsc, so the official version has 30% more resolution, and no 2:3 pulldown, and that alone makes a huge difference.

-edit- 30% more resolution? Anamorphic NTSC is 17% less resolution... Non-Anamorphic NTSC is 38% less resolution...

Official Anamorphic PAL DVDs use 432 lines. The non-anamorphic NTSC laserdiscs use 276 lines... which makes the actuall LD resolution 36% less than the official (PAL) DVDs.