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Just rented the DVDs...

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Here are my thoughts on "A New Hope" (I'll watch Empire and Jedi later).

George Lucas... Yea, he can spend the time to put new scenes in, but he couldn't remaster the audio or the video. Some things of note (and I'm probably not the first to mention these):

1. The audio was inconsistent. At times it sounded muffled, other times it was clear as crystal.

2. During Obi-Wan and Darth Vader's lightsaber duel, for some reason there's a lot of green flashes. At furst I thought this was just the swords clashing, but A) why would a red sword and a blue sword create a bright green flash? Red and blue makes purple. B) sometimes it flashed when they were *just standing there and talking,* and furthermore sometimes it covered the characters--even when the backs of the characters obscured the lightsabers.

3. Now, George Lucas once mentioned that the Tie Fighters always have these "boxes" surrounding them. In fact those boxes were something which was supposed to have been cleaned up. But they're not only present on these DVDs, but they're EVEN CLEARER AND MORE VISIBLE than ever before--I never even knew they were there on my VHS tapes until Lucas mentioned them, here they look like force fields!

I'm no longer convinced this is about his "artistic vision" at all. If it was, Lucas would've bothered to correct these errors.

Already I know I won't be buying these DVDs. Maybe it's in his right to add new scenes to the films or alter existing ones, but there is no way I'm buying an obviously faulty product.
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I found it funny when Luke enters the bar with the droids and the bartender goes "hey" it was still in the actors British accent as recorded on set, then the dub replaced it for the rest of the dialogue.
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Just watched Empire.

1. Replacing the emperor, surprisingly, didn't bother me, though his extra lines DID. Did someone REALLY have to repeat the "Search your heart, you know it to be true" line?

2. Again the boxes around tie fighters were still present, but nowhere near as blaringly obvious as on A New Hope.

3. Again there was flashing during the lightsaber duel, but this time it was more contained and thus a lot less noticeable, unlike in A New Hope where it was outright blinding and distracting.

4. (This might've been a problem in the original as well, but I don't remember) What color IS Bespin's sky? One minute it's blue, another it's an orange-ish hue, and one time it was even purple! Consistency, please! And BTW, SUN GLARES SUCK!

Otherwise, nowhere near as bad as the New Hope disc.

So far, the changes that bother me the most are the audio ones, not the visuals. Adding music to Luke and Vader's lightsaber duel, for instance, just totally took the emotion out of that battle and made it less suspenseful.
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Originally posted by: JamesEightBitStar1. Replacing the emperor, surprisingly, didn't bother me, though his extra lines DID. Did someone REALLY have to repeat the "Search your heart, you know it to be true" line?


Yes, that was a really good idea for a change. Heck, I’m surprised he didn’t think to do it for the SE, as it’s not necessarily prequel related. The bad part is he went overboard and added all those lines, as it really ruins the alteration. Why couldn’t they just have Ian repeat all the lines the female w/ chimp eyes emperor said?

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Because Lucas is an overzealous moron. He could make a little change. He had to make a big change.

Perhaps if we complain enough about it, he'll fix it in time for the Ultimate Editions, assuming they are made.
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The lightsaber fight between "Darth" and Ben has always had those annoying flashes.

But they are very much more noticable in the DVDs, making them all the more annoying.
What are they even there to begin with?

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So far, the changes that bother me the most are the audio ones, not the visuals. Adding music to Luke and Vader's lightsaber duel, for instance, just totally took the emotion out of that battle and made it less suspenseful.


Music wasn't added to any of the duels.
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Music WAS added to Luke and Vader's fight in Empire Strikes Back. Originally there was NO MUSIC (I've watched my original trilogy tapes too many times to have not noticed this). In these DVDs there is a somewhat dramatic music added that pervades the scene.

Unless you're implying that this music was already there in the 1997 SEs, which may be true (I only watched those once and don't remember the specifics).
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The only point where there is music in the duel is before Luke is sucked out the window. It's a variation of the Imperial March and it's always been there. Seriously.
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Key, I just checked, your right--there IS music there. My mistake.

Also, I had to turn my rentals back in before getting to watch Return of the Jedi. Just as well though--I would be embarrassed to have to sit through that stupid song again.