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State of the Trilogy/ annual SW depression

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For me I feel that nothing is happening, besides the Clone Wars turkey out in four months, that makes me feel optimistic about the future of the OOT. We all know that the boxset we were certain would come out to celebrate the 30th anniversary did not come out, but that's old news. I fear that nothing's ever going to happen with regards to the improvement of the status of the OOT and we are going to be stuck with laserdisc quality DVD's for a very, very long time. But that's again old news and I honestly have no real motivation to buy the GOUT if its going to be the worst-looking picture I will ever experience, now and forever. And that's also sorta old news, as we all know about laserdisc technology.
The real reason I decided to create this post is that I am beginning to feel quite depressed when it it concerns the star wars trilogy. It's like I need a "fix" of the OT every year, and since there isn't a watchable version out there, I feel a sense of emptiness. sorry to exaggerate, but I feel the whole medium of film, past, present, and future can never be enjoyed without the OT, and that the treatment of the OT in this day and age makes me want to abandon anything related to film and television in a heartbeat. I know I really should not blame George Lucas for all my problems, and I know that for many of the person who read this post, they will be very angry at me for expressing opinions that they feel are just beating around the bush. I feel nothing but very bitter emotions when it comes to be associated with SW.
I also honestly feel that many are in denial that things will really turn around in the next couple of years and everything will be magically solved thanks to the power of Lucasfilm marketing. "So certain you are." I don't know what to say anymore, but I think I everybody would be happy I there was a time machine and we could go back 15 years and warn Lucas about the mistake he will make with changing the OT and creating the PT. Because this debate would not exist if there was some care by the creators of this franchise and they would remember to respect the fans and actually give what is needed. But now all things related to star wars is considered now some of the worst crimes against humanity, and it is only the very few things that come out of SW that are good.
Finally, could one really believe that 20 years ago their favorite film( and one of the most important milestones in cinematic history) would be condemned to technology that was to 1973 standards? Do any of you realize that ten years from now, the tyranny that the SE created will outlive the glory once associated with this franchise?
There, I am finished. Go ahead, flay me alive right now, say how this pst is a waste of time and all the flame wars that are certain to follow. But this is how I feel right now about the OT, plain and simple.

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I understand your sentiments. Not having a version of the OT on DVD that is up to the common standard is a rather souring thing. However, I'd suggest you not let that get you down. Take out your VHS copies, in fact, and be satisfied by the fact that even in such low quality the OT is still better than the SEs and 2004 editions.

"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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PaulisDead is your only hope...

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Vintage-Edit/topic/8069.

Just forget official LFL stuff, it will only frustrate you. Personally I am fine watching my VHS when I have to. But the link above is a version of the OOT in HD quality. So thats basically what we ought to be looking forward to. Depending on how good it is, it may nullify any efforts on the part of Lucasfilm since this is close enough to a remastered OOT.
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I would pull out my VHS copies... if they weren't already disintegrating and practically unwatchable. But I did not know about the Paulisdead edit. Thank you very much.
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After Kubrick's phenomenal restoration of "2001", it still astounds me that George Lucas hasn't been inspired (or at least shamed) into doing something similar. With the Blu-Ray and HD editions of meticulous 70mm originals, Kubrick has secured the legacy for himself and his great masterpiece - heck, his 70mm restored prints of "Space Odyssey" are STILL touring the country (and the world).

I just hope that I outlive George, because I have to believe that after he dies, someone on the inside will be eager to right this wrong and do for SW what Kubrick did for 2001.

"Close the blast doors!"
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The recent release of Close Encounters made me cheer up a little because it proved very publicly once and for all that a restoration was and is WAY more feasible than what LFL was portraying in 06. Hit movie, same age, lots of opticals, 3 rereleases, multiple versions, altered after the fact etc.
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Yeah, Im absolutely confident that a remaster can be done, no doubt about that. But Lucas is our sole and greatest obstacle for that to happen.
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I have pretty much written off 2008 for anything OOT related, because this will be the year of Indiana Jones, and definitely a DVD release of Indy IV in the fall, and hopefully a BluRay release of the 4 Indy movies too. If that happens, then we could see a SW BluRay Boxset in the next year or 2, cause the OT came out on DVD in 2004, the year after Indy Boxset came out.

Right now I just don't think it is worth it to get your hopes up towards anything OOT related, cause you have to wait for the BluRay market to mature, and that is our only hope at the OOT being fully remastered. Right now BluRay is in its infancy, so we still have a way to go.

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Mature? Infancy? Oh come on. Sure, people who own players is relatively low compared with standard DVD. But if the OOT came out on Bluray tomorrow, there's a built-in market that would instantly buy up players and the discs. Sales would be huge for both and the format would instantly take off.

McCallum told everyone they were waiting to see which format would win. If one format didn't win, they were going to look at digital downloads. Well, Bluray has won. LFL hasn't said a thing. If it was that important to them, I'd expect some kind of announcement. Maybe we'll hear something at Comic-Con, but I don't have my hopes up.

There is no reason at all why Lucas can't work on remastering the OOT for Bluray while working on the Clone Wars at the same time. The TPM DVD was worked on at the same time as AOTC was filming. Let's not act like LFL is only capable of doing one thing at a time. All that has to be done is to hire the people necessary to get the job done. This of course assumes they have any intention of ever remastering the OOT in HD for Bluray. I don't believe they do.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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lordjedi said:

Mature? Infancy? Oh come on. Sure, people who own players is relatively low compared with standard DVD. But if the OOT came out on Bluray tomorrow, there's a built-in market that would instantly buy up players and the discs. Sales would be huge for both and the format would instantly take off.

McCallum told everyone they were waiting to see which format would win. If one format didn't win, they were going to look at digital downloads. Well, Bluray has won. LFL hasn't said a thing. If it was that important to them, I'd expect some kind of announcement. Maybe we'll hear something at Comic-Con, but I don't have my hopes up.

There is no reason at all why Lucas can't work on remastering the OOT for Bluray while working on the Clone Wars at the same time. The TPM DVD was worked on at the same time as AOTC was filming. Let's not act like LFL is only capable of doing one thing at a time. All that has to be done is to hire the people necessary to get the job done. This of course assumes they have any intention of ever remastering the OOT in HD for Bluray. I don't believe they do.


lordjedi, I agree about the cause/effect of movies that come out on BluRay which would increase the market. The problem is you have to look at how Spielberg and Lucas handled their movies on DVD, they waited for the market to mature THEN released their movies.

If Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park and SW Trilogy were all available this Christmas on BluRay, the market would expand alot more then it will now with just a bevy of B titles and a few A- titles. The problem is Lucas is going to wait for the market to mature first.

Not that I agree with him, but I can't see him doing anything different then the way he released the SW movies on DVD.
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lordjedi said:


McCallum told everyone they were waiting to see which format would win. If one format didn't win, they were going to look at digital downloads. Well, Bluray has won. LFL hasn't said a thing. If it was that important to them, I'd expect some kind of announcement. Maybe we'll hear something at Comic-Con, but I don't have my hopes up.


Actually, Lucas commented recently. He said now that Blu Ray has won, Star Wars might come out "in a few years" when the format "finally takes off", or words to that effect.

WTF? Talk about the worst, most over-cautious business strategy. But then its just like DVD. This is the company that released a TPM Laserdisk in 1999 but waited until late 2001 before putting it out on DVD, and then waited so long in getting around to making their big super saga DVD boxset that by the time they could start working on it DVD had become obsolete.
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It is as someone said recently: if we started hearing rumors of the '04 box a good year and half before it actually hit, why in the blazes haven't we gotten wind of the blu-ray yet? Granted, it's also as some of you are saying: the new format is barely two years old and it took seven years just for the OT to hit dvd. But I seriously question the likelihood of that happening again.

Observe:

-They waited until '01 to release TPM because AOTC was less than a year away at that point.
-They did your normal waiting period for a dvd release for AOTC since they had the Clone Wars multimedia thing to move on towards.
-The OT '04 set was used as a buildup to ROTS.

No, I ruled out hearing any sort of news this early a long time ago. But after the crazy year of Indy IV, The Clone Wars and Force Unleashed has come to an end, well, we've got '09. I would actually be shocked if 2010 rolled around and we still hadn't heard any more news on the blu-ray than we have right now. I would also hope by that point we at least have rumors of whether or not the OOT will get an HD transfer.
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Speak of the devil, here is Steve Sansweet and the 2008 Plans from LFL:

NYCC08: Steve Sansweet's Lucasfilm Panel

At Saturday's New York Comic-Con panel, Steve Sansweet hosted a panel discussing some of the latest projects from Lucasfilm.

Star Wars Celebrations:
Steve opened the panel talking about the Celebrations and how much fun he has working on them. He showed a video montage (which was really cool) that included footage from all 5 Celebrations, as well as promoting C-Japan at the end. He went on to say that Celebrations are something that he “will continue to work on well into the future”, and that he will begin to discuss C5 sometime in the Fall, which follows the line of thinking that most of us had that C5 details would be released after C-Japan.

The Force Unleashed:
Steve showed the trailer for TFU (the same trailer that is running on the TFU website). He then showed a video of his interview that he had with Brett Rector during SDCC. After that, he showed two new videos that contained footage from the first level of TFU, which takes place at the TIE Fighter Construction Facility, and from the junk planet Raxus Prime. Both videos were taken from the Xbox 360 release of the game. Steve’s quote of “I predict on Sept. 16th there will be a lot of people missing from work” drew a loud cheer from the crowd.

Young Indiana Jones DVD:
Steve showed footage from Season 3 of the Young Indy DVD release. Nothing else was really covered on this topic.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
Steve gushed over how excited he is to see Indy 4 and how amazing the trailer is. So, he decided to show the trailer on the video screen (which I did not watch a second of or listen to, as I looked away from the screen and stuck my fingers in my ears. I have not seen the trailer, and I want to remain Indy 4 spoiler free!). He then praised J.W. Rinzler and Del Rey Publishing for the outstanding work they did in compiling the “The Complete Making of Indiana Jones” book. He had a copy of the book with him on stage and said this book is right up there on-par with the “Making of Star Wars” book that was released last year. He said the book contains pics and articles that have never been seen before.

New Indiana Jones DVD Boxed Set:
Steve mentioned the May 13th release of the new Indy DVD boxed set. He said these new editions contain loads of new bonus content not available anyplace else.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventure:
Steve showed the trailer for the LEGO Indy game (which is a must-buy for me) and the crowd got a big laugh from it. The game is slated for a June 3rd release

Star Wars Robot Chicken:
Seth Green and Matt Senreich appeared on stage with Steve. He basically conducted the same interview with them as they had done at CIV during their panel. Seth told the story about how the LFL name came up on his caller ID, and how he and Matt were afraid to answer the phone. They discussed how much fun it was to get the chance to work with George Lucas and how excited they were to fly out to Skywalker Ranch. They then showed the scene from Robot Chicken where George was sitting on the psychiatrist couch, and the crowd let out a huge laugh at the end. Steve ended the interview by saying the release date for SW Robot Chicken will be July 22nd, and it will contain over 2 hours of bonus content.

The Clone Wars:
Steve saved the best for last. He started off TCW discussion by giving the fans a brief overview of the story behind TCW and when it takes place in the SW timeline. He then showed a brand new mini documentary with Dave Filoni that discussed the Anakin/Ashoka relationship and what went into coming up with the design of Ashoka. Dave also talked about the vast battles that occur throughout the SW Saga and how that vastness will be carried over to the battle scenes in TCW. When the theater lights came back up, there were five members of the 501st dressed up as Clone Troopers standing in front of the stage. Steve introduced them and they received a loud ovation from the crowd. Steve then said the video will be posted on SW.com for everyone to see after the convention. Steve ended the panel session by showing footage of the interview he did with Dave Filoni and Catherine Winder at SDCC. The theatrical release comes our way on Aug. 15th, with the weekly TV series starting in October
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This week, I watched two more movies that got nice remasters instead of the OOT: Kagemusha (which has interviews with Lucas and Coppola from only a few years ago) and El Topo.

Lucas will wait at least another couple years, wait until the sting from the GOUT has worn off. Then he'll give us what we want. At least I hope so.
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We made enough of a stink that he at least knows what we want. From here on it's just waiting to see how he reacts to that knowledge (and whether or not he's smart enough to see that he'd make money).

"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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I'm content with what we have.....not thrilled with it cuz it looks like shit...but what can ya do?

When you deal with someone who's got their head so far up their ass, they can taste their breakfast.....you learn to live with what you can get.
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is that I'll read reviews of blu-rays saying stuff like "the image is superior to the sd dvd."

....

Umm, I would certainly hope it is.

You do need a pretty big screen to see a really significant difference, I'll give them that. Toshiba definitely thought ahead by throwing in anamorphic widescreen. But then again NTSC is still NTSC and PAL is still PAL.

My point with all this is, it will be hard to get everyone to buy the movies YET AGAIN without throwing in the OOT remastered. Even with a widescreen tv, you're going to need a lot of incentive to rebuy something on blu-ray thanks to the future-proofness of the dvd transfer of the same movie that you already have.
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Fang Zei said:

is that I'll read reviews of blu-rays saying stuff like "the image is superior to the sd dvd."

....

Umm, I would certainly hope it is.

You do need a pretty big screen to see a really significant difference, I'll give them that. Toshiba definitely thought ahead by throwing in anamorphic widescreen. But then again NTSC is still NTSC and PAL is still PAL.

My point with all this is, it will be hard to get everyone to buy the movies YET AGAIN without throwing in the OOT remastered. Even with a widescreen tv, you're going to need a lot of incentive to rebuy something on blu-ray thanks to the future-proofness of the dvd transfer of the same movie that you already have.


I thought NTSC and PAL were essentially obsolete with the advent of LCD TVs, digital signals, ATSC tuners, and HDTV? My 50" HDTV CRT TV and Cyberhome DVD player don't seem to care about PAL anyway.
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You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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You don't need a big screen to see a difference. Even on a 19" screen its like night and day. If you have a good monitor and good source that is--when most people say "theres not that big a difference", they have seen 720p examples of some crappy HD television broadcast compressed to death on a crummy TV to begin with. If you can't spot Blu Ray on a 19" 1080p television I would say you might need to get your eyes checked.

NTSC and PAL aren't obsolete yet, because standard def is not obsolete. Not only is standard def not obsolete but its by a huge margin the majority format. One day it might be though, but not for a while. LCD's and digital signals don't make a difference.
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I had this notion that LFL might do the OOT right this year, if only to broadly promote the clone wars and the videogame, and make this "new wave Star Wars" more all-inclusive to everybody, the focus seems very narrow now, mainly kids. And kids have a LOT competing for the attention. (Plus, Indiana Jones is such an exercise in stroking the nostalgia of 30 somethings, a restored 77-80-83 trilogy with a bunch of old school packaging would fit right in with that)
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Baronlando said:

I had this notion that LFL might do the OOT right this year, if only to broadly promote the clone wars and the videogame, and make this "new wave Star Wars" more all-inclusive to everybody, the focus seems very narrow now, mainly kids. And kids have a LOT competing for the attention. (Plus, Indiana Jones is such an exercise in stroking the nostalgia of 30 somethings, a restored 77-80-83 trilogy with a bunch of old school packaging would fit right in with that)


It is really weird why Lucas won't just put out a great edition of the OOT, and create another fanbase to milk every few years. Think about it, he has the Saga fans that he can keep putting out SE/new changes to the OT/PT movies, and they will keep buying them. He can put out EU books/cartoons that another segment of fanbase will always keep up with. He then has the toys/videogames for kids/teenagers for every new system. Why not remaster the OOT on DVD, and then remaster it on BluRay 3 years down the road and double dip us!
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Baronlando said:

(Plus, Indiana Jones is such an exercise in stroking the nostalgia of 30 somethings, a restored 77-80-83 trilogy with a bunch of old school packaging would fit right in with that)


This is exactly what I'm becoming more and more convinced LFL will eventually do.

Baronlando said:

It is really weird why Lucas won't just put out a great edition of the OOT, and create another fanbase to milk every few years. Think about it, he has the Saga fans that he can keep putting out SE/new changes to the OT/PT movies, and they will keep buying them. He can put out EU books/cartoons that another segment of fanbase will always keep up with. He then has the toys/videogames for kids/teenagers for every new system. Why not remaster the OOT on DVD, and then remaster it on BluRay 3 years down the road and double dip us!


Irony: Fans of Lucas's completed saga constantly demand updates to it.

As for it being released on standard dvd again, I'm convinced that won't happen unless there's a day and date Blu-ray to go along with it. Ya think maybe people are getting tired of double/triple/quadruple dips?
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Fang Zei said:

As for it being released on standard dvd again, I'm convinced that won't happen unless there's a day and date Blu-ray to go along with it. Ya think maybe people are getting tired of double/triple/quadruple dips?


Have you seen the Indiana Jones Special Edition DVDs with no BluRay in sight? Yeah, I wouldn't put it past Lucas to give us the OOT on DVD again.

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doubleofive said:

Have you seen the Indiana Jones Special Edition DVDs with no BluRay in sight? Yeah, I wouldn't put it past Lucas to give us the OOT on DVD again.


It begs the question of just what the situation with Indy on blu-ray is. Paramount has finally gone blu-ray, so that's not an issue. But Spielberg hasn't released a single one of his movies on blu-ray besides Close Encounters.

This double dip I see as nothing but a redux of the '03 set. It's like if Lucas hadn't waited until '04 to release Star Wars and then released it again in '04 anyway to take advantage of ROTS.

At the same time, this kind of points to only one real possibility: we get a day and date blu-ray of Indy IV this fall with the original movies getting the treatment at some later time. Unless of course this really is a collector's market and they're planning on releasing the originals this fall anyway, who knows.
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Its just a quick cash-in on KOTCS coming to theaters. When Indy IV is on video there will be new boxsets made containing all four films. Thats likely when the Blu-Ray version will be out. I mean why bother doing a Blu-Ray trilogy when you will just need to do another 4-film boxset nine months later?