CatBus

Tobar said:

Craig Good a 30 year Pixar veteran tweeted this earlier today:

Craig Good ‏@clgood

Would you buy a Blu-ray or DVD of the Star Wars theatrical cut? Take & share my informal, personal, unofficial survey. http://fave.co/Us1oeb 

The phrases "cleaned up effects" and "A New Hope" give me some concern about what exactly he would consider a theatrical release, but luckily there's a comments field.  Our fan preservations have raised the bar so high, I have some doubts even an "official" theatrical Blu-ray release could meet that standard.  e.g. if they released A New Hope (Star Wars w/ 1981 crawl/flyover) with the 1993 audio mix and the same unexceptional color timing they used on earlier releases, I'd pass on it and keep watching the Despecialized Edition.  I might go for Empire or Jedi though--I guess it depends how high the bar is for those films by then.

That said, I'd still be in favor of these releases if for nothing other than more raw materials for use in an unofficial preservation.

We just like you so much, Wookums!

Ackbar & Jeff

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...Like a Bossk!

Wheel of Fortuna

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Sweet Sweetback's Zuckusssss Song

georgec said:

While many were saying, "Disney can't do worse than Lucas," I was quietly thinking, "Actually, they can."

I'd take that bet.  While Disney may still begin with terrible concepts, and maybe even follow through with terrible writing, you just can't deliver performances that wooden and lifeless without George Lucas directing.  Worst case scenario, a Disney-produced Star Wars film without significant Lucas interference would be about as bad as Alien vs. Predator.  That is, you may still want to claw your eyes out while watching it, but unlike ROTS, you won't still regret choosing not to for years afterward.

This deal is getting worse all the time!

TV's Frink said:

Fish?

Me too.  Although Firefly has made me retroactively appreciate Harris a bit more.

Thanks for taking more answers from the older set.  I was feeling like this forum was more likely to be able to talk about our favorite characters from Barney Miller than the PT.

    1. In one sentence, what is your description of a villain?

A villain is someone who intentionally thwarts the aspirations of other well-intended characters in the story.

    2. Do you consider yourself a Star Wars fan? On a scale of 1-10, 1 being not a fan at all and 10 being a “super fan”, what would you consider yourself?

I'd say 6.  I probably would have rated myself higher before I ran into this forum, but then I adjusted where the top of my scale was.

    3. In what order did you first watch the Star Wars films?

A. Just to be a bit pedantic, I saw them in this order: 0,5,6,1,2,3.  There was no episode number on the first Star Wars movie I saw.  And, in fact, I remember being excited about Empire being Episode V because that meant that there would be three more movies about what happened in the time between Star Wars and Empire, since Star Wars was implicitly Episode I in my mind.

    4. Who is your favorite character from the films?

Lando.  Seriously.  I'm a sucker for characters with ambiguous allegiances and realistic motivations.  He's a powerful guy who's suddenly put in a tough spot, and he tries to play it both ways to the best of his abilities (sacrificing his friends' opinion of him and a guy he doesn't know in order to save both his friends and his city).  When it's clear this strategy won't work and he's not likely to save his friends or his city, he switches tactics adeptly without tipping his hand to anyone.  And a nice cape too.

    5. Who is your favorite villain from the films?

Boba Fett (yeah, I'm one of those).

    6. What is the first thing you think of when you think of your favorite villain from the film?

I think of how shockingly competent he is compared to those around him.  This helps with my villain definition--it's not really quite enough to just TRY to thwart the heroes and fail repeatedly, you have to actually succeed every now and then.

    7. If your favorite villain was not the Emperor, what is the first thing you think of when you think of the Emperor?

The surprise I felt about the lightning.  I just did not see that coming at all, and it certainly bumped him up on the villain scale for me.  Scared the bejeezus out of me the first time.

    8. If your favorite villain was not Darth Vader, what is the first thing you think of when you think of Darth Vader?

His voice.  Without James Earl Jones, Vader would have been a much emptier suit.

    9. What is Senator Palpatine’s motivation for becoming the Emperor?

    10. What is Anakin Skywalker’s motivation for becoming Darth Vader?

I'm going to have to pass on those.  They weren't adequately explained in the OT, and I was too busy with self-injurious behavior during the PT to notice.

    11. Do you feel sympathy for the Emperor?

No.

    12. Why or why not?

He was presented exclusively as a villain, and the only development was in revealing his various deceits.  I was impressed by his machinations, but that's not quite the same thing as sympathy.

    13. Do you feel sympathy for Darth Vader?

No.

    14. Why or why not?

While he was certainly redeemed at the end, I think it took so long for him to come around to it that I'm not sure I could relate to his motivations for doing anything.

    15. When the Emperor died in Episode VI, what emotions did you feel, if any?

Relief.  There was lightning coming out of his hands fer crying out loud!

    16. When Darth Vader died in Episode VI, what emotions did you feel, if any?

A little boredom, honestly.  I was never the biggest Jedi fan, and this was one of those Soap Opera moments that just dragged for me.  Maybe it would have been different if I'd felt sympathy for him, but either the filmmakers or my cold, cold heart prevented that from happening.

    17. Do you think the Emperor fits into your description of a villain from question one?

Yes.

    18. Why or why not?

Lightning.  Hands.  But seriously, his goal was to crush the rebellion, which was pretty much everyone you cared about in the movie up to that point.  That's serious thwarting.

    19. Do you think Darth Vader fits into your description of a villain from question one?

Yes.

    20. Why or why not?

He spent almost all of his time chasing down and otherwise making life difficult for the rest of the characters.  A little redemption at the end doesn't mean the character is not a villain in general.

TV's Frink said:

In three years I'll be twice as old as someone having their first legal drink.

...

Oh Good God I'm old.

Now I feel even worse.  You whipper-snapper...

Can anyone who saw episodes 1-3 first please fill out this survey?

I agree, the thread title is pretty limiting.  To fit this requirement, you'd mostly be dealing with people born in 1994 or later, meaning... 19 and under.  Oh Good God I'm old.  Thanks a lot.  And I was looking forward to explaining why Lando is my favorite character in a totally non-ironic way.

Not enough punctuation for FS.  Okay, it's from smoothest to wrinkliest, although by a different definition of smooth, Lando would be on top.

Guess what I'm ordering these characters by!  I've excluded prequel characters because the prequels never happened.

R2-D2
C-3PO
Leia Organa
Luke Skywalker
Lando Calrissian
Han Solo
Chewbacca
Greedo
Darth Vader
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Grand Moff Tarkin
Aunt Beru
Admiral Ackbar
Yoda
The Emperor
Jabba the Hutt

skyjedi2005 said:

with the dnr knobs set to zero

That brings up an important question to me.  I already know Disney DNR's the living hell out of their film-based animated features, but can anyone tell me how they treat film-based live-action stuff?

Laserschwert said:

I prefer 5.1

I'm using that one!  Get your own number!

Maybe 2.5 Service Pack 3 and Update Rollup KB283740?  Kinda rolls off the tongue.

I'd reserve 3.0 for 1080p if it ever happens.

If they released the OOT as a non-half-assed Blu-ray set, the sheer weight of all those VHS tapes hitting the landfill at once would knock the Earth off its axis.  So really they're doing us all a favor.

Sturgeon's Law applies to anime as well.  You have to care enough to dig through the stuff you don't like yourself, find a friend who can recommend stuff based on your tastes, or you can just stay away.  Most choose the last option--they don't care enough to just dive in before they've seen anything they like, and their friends don't make good recommendations for them.

Me, I get some sick enjoyment out of some truly awful crap, so I go with option 1.  I thought the clip Silverwook linked was hilarious, but it's basically just about 10 million inside anime jokes strung together, so it's not necessarily going to make any sense outside a certain circle.  I mean, Love and Death is a brilliant film, but I'm not going to recommend it to someone who's not already familiar with Russian literature.

Ha, that's nice to hear, but I know I'm perfectly capable of losing my temper and then I become a real arrogant git by most accounts.  But thanks nonetheless ;)

AVCHD was chosen as the highest-quality format for the 1.0 versions.  It was chosen because it could fit on a DVD9 and then be played back on many Blu-ray players.

With 2.0, the DVD9 size limitation was abandoned, allowing for less compression.  Currently the highest-quality format in the 2.x series is MKV, but there will also be a Blu-ray ISO in the future.  AFAIK they will have the same video quality, although the Blu-ray may have better audio options.

It sounds like you've found the best versions of all of the films, as they stand right now.

That sounds about right.  The 1.0 versions were designed to fit on a DVD9.  Unfortunately that means they're MUCH more compressed than SW 2.0, but they're still quite good (and much better than any commercial release).

The changes between 2.0 and 2.1 are very minor--slight imperfections removed and color accuracy improved.  Nothing huge, but enough little things have a way of adding up into something amazing ;)  Also the Blu-ray format will have lossless audio and other goodies.

We can probably measure the countdown until the Star Wars 2.1 release date in weeks.  Empire 2.0 isn't even started yet, and I'd hate to hazard a guess.  Well, actually I love guessing but I'm usually very, very wrong.  Empire 2.0 on Feb 19th 2014 at 07:42:53.05 UTC.  You heard it here first, people.

Bingowings said:

Superman The Movie is another one in my book anyway.

That's an origin story but I'd argue it doesn't really qualify as a prequel since prior Superman incarnations were in distinctly different media.  i.e. Lawrence of Arabia could be considered an origin story, but hardly a prequel, even though there were books about the guy before.

TheBoost said:

I stand by my opinion that there's never, ever, ever, been an origin story prequal worth the film it's on.

The Godfather, Part II.

But I agree in principle that origin prequels are by their nature so constrained it would take quite a lot to make them worth watching (such as, make it a prequel and sequel simultaneously).  But it's not impossible.

Bingowings said:

Anyways what about them crazy Star Wars eh?

If you want to talk about Star Wars, go find a Star Wars forum.

Haven't heard anything from schorman13 since September.  I hope he's okay.  Anyone know?

SilverWook said:

The Tusken's reputation is such they are "framed" for the Jawa slaughter in the original film. Why the stormtroopers want to avoid being fingered for local murders when the Empire is blowing up entire planets is anyone's guess. ;)

Well, there is a way to reconcile those things.  The whole point of blowing up planets was for people to know about it ("Fear will keep the local systems in line"), so obviously they're not going to cover that up.  On the other hand, while there was no way to prevent people from getting the idea that they were looking for droids (asking "How long have you had those droids?" to everyone passing by), they may have wanted to cover up the fact that they were so completely desperate to find them, lest someone say "Hey! Maybe these droids they're looking for have something valuable I can sell to the rebels."  So it's not that they're trying to cover up who the true perpetrator is, they're just trying to cover up the perpetrator's motives, and this was an easy way.  But they didn't count on the mystery-solving aptitude of Magruff the Crime Jedi!

Yeah, it's not the best explanation, but it's not the worst plot-hole either.  I give it a pass.