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Fang Zei

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14-Oct-2006
Last activity
11-Aug-2025
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2,787

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Post
#273683
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273683/action/topic#273683
Time
I absolutely agree, KM and Guy. This has only really been a problem so long as the movies have been on the dvd format. A theatrical re-release is one thing, that's not something you can actually take home and watch. When the SE's hit vhs later that year, they were just as limited as the previous OOT vhs releases in terms of their format. It wasn't until 2004 when this became an issue, because suddenly the SE was good enough for dvd but not the OOT. Laserdisc was the highest quality way to watch the OOT back then, and guess what? It still is. No one was happy with the GOUT release, but some of them simply accepted it and bought it anyway. The "some people will never be satisfied" argument is only used because there will always be some crazy people out there who want every single Star Wars related thing in existence pertaining to the original movies, and I think that even they too would be quite happy if the OOT was restored and remastered. So I don't want to hear this kind of "some people will never be satisfied" argument anymore. I think the reason the "prequels/Lucas suck" gets lumped in with the "release a high quality original trilogy" is that some people have a hard time seperating the creator from his creation.
Post
#273660
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273660/action/topic#273660
Time
very well said zombie, couldn't agree more

the smashed dividing line you talk about has been a point of contention over the SE's, I also think. Lucas really does live in his own little world and simply doesn't acknowledge that people actually don't want to sit through very obviously pandering updates. Yea, back in '97 I don't think I thought of the updates as anything more than cool things to do now that the movies are back on the big screen. Nevertheless, there was always that part of my brain that clearly recognized "this is from 1977, that is from 1997." Then I found out they were cut into the actual o-neg. Hypocrisy is the only word my vocabulary can muster when he 1) talks about his kids not growing up to enjoy the movies he grew up with, 2) alters the o-negs of three movies simply because he's now the one with legal control and finally 3) cranks out 4:3, borderline unwatchable transfers of 3 of the greatest movies ever made and then makes commercials with parents talking about how their kids can see what they grew up with as if he's doing us some sort of favor. And this was taken from the depths of the Lucasfilm archives?

Another thing about the dividing line is that Lucas isn't revising history to make it seem like all six movies were made concurrently with one another. There's a real sense of history in the '04 discs which is why I'm all the more frustrated with it. Lucas is never getting around the fact that these were first released in '77-'85 anyway unless he just totally remakes it from scratch as you mentioned. That's why he doesn't really have a leg to stand on in regards to the originals "not existing." This is why I can't see any reason for him just not remastering the originals and getting it over with. What really is he afraid of? That if people can watch the originals in the same quality as the SE that they won't watch the SE anymore? I sure as hell don't see why some people would stop watching the SE, they seem to prefer it to the originals (don't ask me why). No, I think Lucas is safe in that respect, but he does still owe it to the fans to stop all of this nonsense. And to the people who say "Lucas owes you nothing" I can't help but get the impression that you think of yourselves as his bodyguards or something. That if you don't go along with what he thinks then you are automatically wrong. Arguing that Lucas doesn't owe the OOT fans anything implies that he does owe the SE fans something.
Post
#273587
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273587/action/topic#273587
Time
That's exactly what I've been thinking ever since the non-anamorphic news broke back in May. Sure, people would've been pissed off having to watch the originals in inferior quality...but at least they'd have them along with the '04 set. That's why I almost felt betrayed. Back in early october of '04 I asked my mom if she could pick up the boxset at costco and in fact she did. It's still sitting on the shelf back home. Lucas had said that the original versions were dead, the boxset had enough bells and whistles to distract me, I accepted it for what it was. Then two years later he tries to sell the exact same thing again (except without the bonus content) just because he knows there are people out there who will pay 60 dollars for something that costed next to nothing to produce.
Post
#273523
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273523/action/topic#273523
Time
Yea, I can't help but think that LFL is doing us a favor in a really wierd way, getting us to just forget about it for this year. They have even less of an excuse to not release the remastered unaltereds anway now. That much less money I'll be spending this year. 2009 is about as far the horizon goes for Star Wars right now, so I certainly can't see it being released any later than that. However, I can't help but put up yet another question mark and wonder if it will even be dvd at all by then. No, I think it will still be dvd anyway, but Lucasfilm is really overanalyzing their economics if they're holding back the boxset on the whim that enough people aren't going to buy it.
Post
#273494
Topic
a rumor from thedigitalbits.com...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/273494/action/topic#273494
Time
the boxset might not happen this year

This is proof positive that they shot themselves in the foot with the 9/12 release. If they hadn't bothered with the '05 or '06 releases, the demand they claim isn't there would be there all the more. If this does in fact get pushed back - and who knows, maybe it's only because they're too lazy to think up what to put in the box - but if it does get pushed back a year or two, this had better be, oh, I'd say 12 discs minimum.
Post
#272801
Topic
Getting too old for this sort of thing?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/272801/action/topic#272801
Time
21

one of the earliest Star Wars memories I have is of going through a collection of movies taped onto vhs off of tv airings in the basement of my aunt's house. I don't remember what age I was, 5, 6, maybe even 7, but I decided to watch Return of the Jedi. I didn't even know that it wasn't the third part of the trilogy, I just assumed it was the second because it had the word "return" in it. I don't think I got much farther than "look, captain solo, and he's still frozen in carbonite" before I stopped from not knowing what the hell was going on. And btw, Nanner, I just now read your post, wierd coincidence.
Post
#272151
Topic
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/272151/action/topic#272151
Time
Roughly 4 years ago I missed school for an entire week because of the snow. About halfway through the week I decided to escape from my neighborhood and returned with Bounty Hunter which was a 5 day rental. The sound didn't load on a couple of the levels, it was still fun though. I beat the thing just in time to bring it back on the night it was due.

Pretty soon after that I played through The Clone Wars, Starfighter and Jedi Starfighter and - a couple years later - Battlefront. Jedi Outcast was also fun and I have fond memories from back in the day of playing Jedi Knight and one of the X-Wing games on my uncle's computer. Going even further back, there's Super Star Wars and Super Empire. I played Super Jedi at a friend's house and just a couple years ago I got all three used at a gamestop. Let's not forget Shadows, RS and BfN. Battlefront II was fun to play through. Come to think of it, I don't think there's a Star Wars game I haven't enjoyed.

Still haven't gotten around to the KOTOR games or Republic Commando.
Post
#271269
Topic
Your first reaction to Hayden is ROTJ
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/271269/action/topic#271269
Time
Because it all goes back to this idea that Obi-Wan meant "died" when his actual line was "was destroyed." Granted, Luke does say "then my father is truly dead" to Vader later on in the movie, so take that for what you will. In any event, Obi-Wan was neither destroyed nor killed until ANH and that's why he's still Alec Guinness but Anakin is now Hayden. It's really yet another reason for why it was a stupid change.
Post
#271268
Topic
Do you legally own the OOT?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/271268/action/topic#271268
Time
Yea seriously, vbangle. I actually thought this was the same thread as before.

Technically I own the whole thing except my copy of empire doesn't work. I got the '95 ANH fullscreen vhs for christmas that year and was a damn fool not to make sure I got the rest in due time. About a year and a half ago I stumbled upon used copies of the '95 empire and jedi tapes, both fullscreen, at a record and tape traders in rehoboth, delaware. ANH was not to be found. Perfect coincidence, right? Well, when I eventually play the tapes I discover that the copy of empire is totally shot. There's basically constant static and nothing I do is fixing it. Jedi played just fine though.

About a month prior to this, I found a used copy of the '86 Jedi fullscreen vhs (still in its cardboard box!) at my local potomac video's spring sale. I'm pretty sure it's the copy that they rented out for all those years, it still had the sticker on it from when another company owned the place. So logically this one should've looked and sounded like shit, right? After pressing play and getting past the static of the lead in tape, there was the cbs/fox logo and then it went straight into the movie. Beautiful.

So yea, I've got ANH, two copies of Jedi and a shot copy of Empire.
Post
#270898
Topic
The OT on HBO HD this month, unfortunately it is the SE
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/270898/action/topic#270898
Time
Of course we should be so lucky, but that's another story. You have to wonder how many people are actually bothering to sit down and watch the OT SE in HD on HBO. Are people by and large really that accepting of the SE? Regardless of Sansweet's comments at comicon, no one simply "doesn't care" which version they're watching. There will always at least be a marginal preference for one over the other.

By the way, I don't know what eros' problem is. To reiterate what I said, my computer monitor is high enough resolution for 16:9, 480p (anamorphic dvd resolution) but only barely enough. That's why I couldn't care less about watching the OOT in 720 or 1080 because I don't have anything to watch that high resolution of a picture on. I just want my remastered, anamorphic OOT dvd.
Post
#270651
Topic
Star wars Refferance in Lost
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/270651/action/topic#270651
Time
Also, I caught at least one Trek reference while watching it with my roommate a few months ago. Two of the guys are walking around, one younger one older, and the younger guy starts talking about red shirts on away missions. The older guy had never seen the show and, upon hearing about Captain Kirk, says something to the effect of "Sounds like one dumb captain." I just thought it was a funny referance since JJ Abrams (one of the creators of the show) is producing the new Star Trek movie.
Post
#270648
Topic
Seeing the Saga in order - a review by a first-time viewer....
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/270648/action/topic#270648
Time
Originally posted by: SW
Abit off topic but the PT dvds put the OT dvds to shame coz of the extres . TPM has 6 hours of extres
and loads more on ep II and III.

That's because AOTC and ROTS were new movies and LFL wanted to meet the industry's expected standard for releasing a new movie on dvd in a nice two-disc set with loads of extras, etc. TPM was a bit different because they waited a couple years to release the dvd instead of releasing it at the same time as the vhs, which itself didn't hit shelves until a good year after the movie hit theaters.

That's why the OT dvd was like one huge tradeoff. We got good pq and sq, startlingly good at times, but it was the SE. In terms of the extras, it was very retrospective but there were always mentions of the changes made in '97/'04 and how "it's the way George wants it now."

Originally posted by: SW
I think if GL made all six movies back in the 70s and 80s then it would have been better. After all six came out in 2005 GL did say to watch them 1-6 . The only thing is the pt is all CGI which makes them differnt.


He kept insisting that it was all his. The PT could've been done much differently and much better if Lucas had just collaborated with the kind of people he worked with on Empire and Jedi. I mean seriously, no one can say for certain that those two movies would've been quite as good if Lucas had directed them. Look at a movie like The Return of the King, made during the same era as the PT. 1500 special effects shots, but in a 200 minute movie like that you have no where near every shot using them. That's called good filmmaking. All George felt like doing was playing with the technology at his disposal. As for collaboration, the farthest he ever went was bringing Johnathen Hales to co-write the AOTC screenplay.
Post
#270465
Topic
Seeing the Saga in order - a review by a first-time viewer....
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/270465/action/topic#270465
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Heh, that's cute about your niece.

She's my friend's niece. I should've made that a little clearer.

Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I think your other story, about your friend, really proves that you have to watch the PT after the OT or not at all, not the other way around.


Well yea, but if you're going to watch the OT first then what's the point of watching the PT at all?
Post
#270372
Topic
Did Anakin's fall start with Qui-Gon?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/270372/action/topic#270372
Time
Ok, I see what you're saying. Just as long as Qui-Gon's not there by the time of "the big duel," because that's something that's been talked about ever since the early 80's or whenever it was first brought up. Your alternate storyline for Qui-Gon could've worked just as well as, if not better than, what we got in TPM. I think what we got instead was Anakin killing Mace with Palpatine's help.

Your alternate storyline seems motivated out of a desire for a family dynamic that continues throughout the entire PT, similar to Leia, Luke and Han in the OT. As it is, Obi-Wan and Anakin are barely acquainted by the end of TPM, and just in time to get a different actor to play Anakin in AOTC. I do see where this is coming from, though. Like you said, it would've been nice to see more Jedi like him.
Post
#270357
Topic
great quote on the radio re the changes
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/270357/action/topic#270357
Time
Originally posted by: Puggo - Jar Jar's "Yoda"
Yesterday I was listening to the John & Ken show on the local radio station... they were discussing having watched Star Wars on television the night before. The hosts commented that the 1977 special effects didn't stand the test of time, and the example they used was -- the scene with Han and Jabba!!!

George, are you listening?


That's so awesome it defies words.

A few nights ago I was watching the GOUT dvd of ROTJ with some other people. During Lapti Nek this girl said that she loved the scene because it looked real and fake at the same time. Again, too awesome for words.