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Fang Zei

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14-Oct-2006
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15-Aug-2025
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Post
#298814
Topic
Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298814/action/topic#298814
Time
Yea, I really don't see what their point in announcing this is besides to get attention for the dvd forum, especially if it's not even going to work in the players that are out there now (which, by the way, they keep reminding everyone there are a lot of). They don't need any more than 30 gigs, this is fact. On releases like '300' where the video transfers on both the hd-dvd and the blu-ray disc are identical VC-1 and therefore taking up the same amount of space, blu-ray fills up at least some of the remaining space with a PCM soundtrack. VC-1 and AVC are neck and neck in terms of looks, at least judging from a thread I stumbled upon where a guy compared the japanese AVC hd-dvd release of Chronicles of Riddick to the American VC-1 hd-dvd release and gave the slight but negligible edge to one of them (I don't remember which). Therefore, if using VC-1 on more releases from now on is what will make microsoft happy enough to let hd-dvd loose and end this stupid format competition, so be it. DVD/HD-DVD combo discs are stupid when we're not going to want to watch our movies in standard def NTSC or PAL ten years from now anymore, not to mention they cost more than a blu-ray only disc. Keeping the players themselves backward compatible I would imagine is the more relevant issue in people's minds, especially the ones with gigantic dvd collections. Yes, I understand that people without high def players might not want to pay for the same thing twice and that's the appeal of the dvd/hd-dvd discs, which if fine except for the fact that there's a very high defect rate in their production.

Speaking of this whole high def discussion: I realize this is the off topic section but there's a question that's been on my mind for a while. Were the HD broadcasts of the Star Wars movies running at a true 24 frames per second or were they transferred to 25 frames per second in Germany and 23.976 in the U.S.? This is actually part of a bigger question I have and that is about HD broadcasts in general. Does "high definition" always mean "being displayed at its proper frame rate" or does it just have to do with the fact that it's digital and at a higher resolution?
Post
#298773
Topic
What If The SE Were Only...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298773/action/topic#298773
Time
Adywan has a point. The exact same thing happened with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The last time it was released on vhs was '98 (I think) and it was the latest '98 revision. This was then the only version released on dvd back in 2001 and has been the only version available on dvd ever since. The forthcoming dvd will have all the versions. Whatya say we get onto writing a new petition as soon as that comes out?
Post
#298719
Topic
What If The SE Were Only...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298719/action/topic#298719
Time
Thanks for the info, mielr.

Originally posted by: zombie84
so instead of saying "now its REALLY the last time" they are instead saying "this is a limited release."


I can't find the links but I remember several of those way too many articles back in august of '06 (or thereabouts) stating "this will be the only time the original versions are released on dvd." Sure, that leaves high definition releases totally open to possibility assuming that they're even telling the truth in the first place, but LFL is being explicit here.
Post
#298716
Topic
What If The SE Were Only...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298716/action/topic#298716
Time
Yea, my mistake on the Blade Runner thing. I've been trying to find out the deal with that for a while now, guess I didn't search far enough. The first I time I ever saw the movie at all was back in 2000 when the scifi channel showed the original version in letterbox and made quite a big deal about it since it was the first time in ten years that the original version had been shown on television. Looking at the wiki more closely now, it does say it was released on home video in '83 and apparently also in '92 right around the time the director's cut was released in theaters.
Post
#298712
Topic
What If The SE Were Only...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298712/action/topic#298712
Time
It really pissed me the hell off that the first thing LFL decided to do upon launching the new flash interface for starwars.com on may 25th, 2007 was put up links to the "what has changed?" comparisons between the '04 dvd and the original versions when the damn non-anamorphic discs were supposed to only be available until the end of 2006 and never spoken of again! No, that's not enough for LFL, they have to keep reminding us even on the day of days that we can only watch the OT in acceptable quality so long as it's the revision and not the original.

I think what might really get the ball rolling, so to speak, is the release of Indy IV on home video next fall. Paramount has decided that all of their home video releases for the next 18 months will only be on dvd and hd-dvd but not blu-ray disc, but they explicitly stated that this does not apply to movies directed by Steven Spielberg of which Indy IV is one. However, if I remember correctly Indiana Jones is Lucas's property and Lucasfilm has decided to support blu-ray disc. So I'm betting this means we'll see it on all three formats and maybe then, who knows, maybe they'll decide to coincide that with the other Indy movies in high def and then Star Wars is only a year away just like 2003 with Indy on dvd and 2004 with Star Wars on dvd. Just pure speculation on my part but something to think about nonetheless.
Post
#298691
Topic
What If The SE Were Only...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298691/action/topic#298691
Time
The original U.S. version of Blade Runner was never released on video at all (if I'm not mistaken) and won't be until later this fall when it will be included in the new dvd set. I saw the new final cut of the movie in New York City on Friday night and this is the second time the movie has been re-released theatrically. Where I'm going with this is maybe after the 3D theatrical releases of the Star Wars movies in '09 (or whenever) we'll finally get our remastered OOT.
Post
#298434
Topic
"Lucas can't find home for Star Wars spin-off"
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/298434/action/topic#298434
Time
Originally posted by: TOSCHE-STATION
Yeah, and then what the heck happened to the 'Mandalorians' being defeated by the Jedi during the Clone Wars *??

(*as per the ESB script AND novel, when Boba Fett's character is 'introduced'....)


Once again, Lucas left it up to the Expanded Universe to figure this out. In the comic Jango Fett: Open Seasons, a group of Jedi battle the Mandalorians and kill all of them except for Jango who escapes. This particular part of the story is set in 34 BBY (before the battle of Yavin) which - whether coincidentally or not - is right around the time the Clone Wars were supposed to have happened in the earlier version of the prequel back story.
Post
#297802
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297802/action/topic#297802
Time
Originally posted by: MagnoliaFan
I have a strong feeling that the day that we see an HD release will be about a month or two after a group of fans hunt their own film print down and release an HD transfer onto the net.

Hehe, this was actually my exact thought after reading your last post.

Originally posted by: CO
I am not saying the OOT will replace every SE in all homes, but I have always taken the stance that an inferior OOT is better then nothing, cause most people can't tell the difference anyway! Lucas never wanted these versions out, and I believe he gave into pressure, and I honestly think he just didn't want to invest the money in remastering a product that he felt may not sell, but for the crap they put out last year, it did sell well if you check the numbers, so there is a market for it. Just remember, there is the '97 versions that have never been put out on DVD, and why not? Because nobody wants them, so I still stand by the OOT will make to HD-DVD/Blue Ray someday. It sucks we may have to wait, but there is too much demand for it.


A few points:

-if it weren't for the fact that dvd allows you to go only backwards and not also forwards, we wouldn't have this problem. I envy the shit out of any hardcore fan with only a 4:3 tv who picked up the GOUT and has no idea what anamorphic video is. Heck, I still get riled and I don't even have an HD set! Even with anamorphic video, regular dvd is still stuck with being compatible with the existing tv signals which means 25 frames per second for PAL and 29.97 for NTSC. I'd be just as happy to wait for the HD release - given the OOT is included - and say that I never bought the star wars trilogy on regular dvd (my mom payed for the '04 boxset). Besides, I like to think of the dvd releases of all the movies as "the dvd version" since we also have a longer cut of phantom menace, dozens of tiny changes throughout attack of the clones and a few in ROTS.

-The GOUT sold horribly considering it's STAR WARS. In terms of it being a non-anamorphic POS, I can only believe it did gangbusters.

-the real motives behind the GOUT are questionable. Maybe a straight anamorphic transfer of film elements really would have looked worse than what was released and the cost of restoration would have offset whatever money LFL was sure they'd make otherwise.

-If George does include the OOT in an HD release it would have to be 1080p, 16:9, 2.35:1 and nothing less. Otherwise everyone would notice.
Post
#297766
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297766/action/topic#297766
Time
Originally posted by: generalfrevious
THERE IS NO HOPE now that Lucas controls AFI. They were are only hope.


I don't even know if they were any hope in the first place. It's afi.com, not afi.org. As has been brought up already, the original version of Star Wars was the one to win 7 academy awards and - not that academy awards are everything, especially not to GL apparently - the academy is the premiere film preservation authority in this country (correct me if I'm wrong). Has a single Oscar ceremony gone by without that organization's president talking about all the efforts they're taking towards that end?
Post
#297701
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297701/action/topic#297701
Time
I actually learned about anamorphic video in Summer of '04 after starting to collect the 2-disc Star Trek movies. Still, throwing any transfer of the OOT in with the '04 set would've been nice if only because every single person on the planet ran out and bought that set and it wouldn't have been a double dip for the many people who also wanted the unaltereds. But that wouldn't have gone over well at all with ROTS yet to be released plus LFL wouldn't have been able to charge 60 dollars for what are 15 dollar transfers at the most. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if he wasn't going to give it the proper treatment all he had to do was not release it. I was fine up until May of '06.

The Graduate is only just now getting an anamorphic region 1 dvd release. The milking of a classic is to be expected because a happy fan is a fan who has everything he or she needs, although you don't see that happening with some of the other films in the AFI's top 15.
Post
#297699
Topic
Family Guy to kick off season with 1 hour Star Wars spoof
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297699/action/topic#297699
Time
Pretty entertaining from beginning to end.

-hilarious opening crawl. "A long time ago but somehow in the future"
-I noticed Obi-Wan's krayt dragon call was the '04 version.
-"It surrounds us and penetrates us"
-Coach McGuirk in the cantina!
-the 70's cinematography with the blown out lighting from the windows.
-SE Millennium Falcon takeoff but OOT ascent.
-3PO freaking out, "just tell me I don't have to stay in this room"
-"Red October standing by"=awesome
-and yes, that second Airplane reference was golden

It was funny for two reasons, one being it was 100% new and an hour long and two being it's a show based entirely around reference humor and the Star Wars ones have been constant since it came back on the air if not increasing in frequency, the most obvious being the awards ceremony in that episode that aired shortly before ROTS was released.
Post
#297696
Topic
2007 DVD repackage
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297696/action/topic#297696
Time
Plus there was "30th anniversary" on all of the toy boxes. Maybe they honestly decided that was enough for this year, not that next year won't now also be crowded but maybe they decided it was the lesser of two evils in terms of when to publish The Force Unleashed and therefore the dvd set. Also, look at just how these videogames have gone along with dvd's. Battlefront spanned Episodes I, II, IV, V and VI and was released day and date with the '04 set, meaning it spanned all of the movies that had been released onto dvd thus far. The big deal about Battlefront II was all the new stuff from Revenge of the Sith, which was released onto dvd the same day. Then there's the GOUT with coincided with a Lego game centered only around the original trilogy.

Now I could just be setting myself up for major disappointment and probably am, but since Force Unleashed takes place between the trilogies maybe that's how marketing will tie in the boxset. Of course, it will probably be no different from the way Shadows of the Empire handled things, taking its time in the sun until something else came along a few months later (the '97 SE). 2008 will probably be similar, first Force Unleashed in the Spring and then The Clone Wars in the Fall returning Star Wars to the small screen after a long absence just as the SE returned it to the big screen after a long absence.

But I dunno, this is just me theorizing that they wouldn't release a new dvd set without a new videogame and just figured they couldn't wedge in the grand multimedia event of The Force Unleashed when there's a 30th anniversary toys/ comics/ books sale already going on. We'll just have to wait and see what really happens.
Post
#297571
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297571/action/topic#297571
Time
The way I see it, if Lucas does eventually do an SE of the prequels it won't be to go along with the SE of the OT. That's what the original version of the PT was for. So basically it won't be like two totally separate versions of the entire six film saga that follow parallel paths, they will connect in a criss cross pattern. If and when he remasters the OOT, he can do an SE of the PT that goes along better with that. Of course he'll also include his PT and the latest SE of the OT as well. Sorry if I sound like a broken record with my constant suggestion of what the ultimate dvd / high def release should be, I just find it unlikely that GL would give the OT anything more than equal treatment to the PT.
Post
#297467
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297467/action/topic#297467
Time
I wasn't even born until 1985 so I'm one step ahead of you there, sj. It's for that reason above all that I want a high definition transfer of the OOT. At least a whole lot of you older folks actually got to see it in the highest quality possible.

As for the unending rumors that Lucas destroyed every original print he could get his hands on, do we even know if this is true? The form response letter to all of our GOUT complaints back in May of '06 said "existing prints are in bad condition." So while they probably did try to get their hands on every O-OT print, would they really have a good reason to destroy them?
Post
#297382
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297382/action/topic#297382
Time
Originally posted by: COI am watching the list of movies that are coming out in the first two years of HDDVD, and it is almost exactly the list of DVD titles in 1997/98/99.


Yea I noticed that also, Dune and The Thing being the most obvious. This brings up something else I was going to say, and that is Star Wars didn't hit dvd in any form until 2004. The same kind of thing happened back in the vhs/beta days, but that was because home video hadn't nudged theatrical exhibition aside as much. Jedi, for example, was re-released in '85 before it first hit home video in '86. LFL only reissued the SE vhs once and that was 2000, but then again it was getting plenty of revenue from the first two prequels between then and '04. So, as has been said, with no more Star Wars movies on the way LFL will need something special to sell us next time around.

In regards to the AFI thing I think the 121 minute running time may just be them trying to be consistent in their lies, although we've already pointed out the incorrect title of "Episode IV: A New Hope" from 1981 and not 1977, so who knows.
Post
#297379
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297379/action/topic#297379
Time
"I've brought a film print of the original release to screen for all of you tonight. There's an anamorphic dvd enhanced for 16:9 television sourced from a high definition restoration that's available, but this particular version I'm showing tonight is only available to buy in a non-anamorphic dvd that is not enhanced for 16:9 television sourced from a transfer done in 1993."

Seriously folks, you know why I'm not ruling out the possibility of the OOT getting nicely remastered someday? The Graduate only just got an anamorphic Region 1 dvd release last week, and in this past year we've seen several other notable films receive anamorphic transfers for the very first time (Dune, Brazil, The Doors). There's even a rumor that The Abyss won't get remastered until it hits blu-ray, and the same probably goes for a lot of the other movies still on dvd without an anamorphic transfer (Conan the Destroyer, I'm looking squarely at you).

Perhaps all the GOUT ultimately boils down to is LFL's desire to make a quick dollar. It's sad and petty, but not impossible.

The big question in my mind is whether LFL and Fox might decide to accelerate their plans, so to speak, now that Paramount has gone hd-dvd exclusive. If Paramount starts releasing some of their really big catalog titles on hd-dvd within the next year and half (after which they are expected to go format neutral again), the blu-ray exclusive studios will need to fire back with their own titles. As some of you people have said, even a high definition disc release of the holy Star Wars trilogy would need more selling points than simply owning a 1080p transfer of the '04 SE. With the original versions of Close Encounters and Blade Runner, films from the OT's very same era, now being faithfully preserved for all eternity in 1080p24, maybe it's time LFL stepped up to the plate and really deliver something amazing. The '06 release gave us absolutely nothing that hadn't already been released. If they're going to release anything worth hyping, they should go all out and wow us.
Post
#297316
Topic
George Lucas to host showing of Star Wars "1977" for AFI's 40th anniversary.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/297316/action/topic#297316
Time
I'm pretty sure Lucas did in fact get the rights to the original film starting in 1995 with the Faces THX-certified "one last time" release although I could be wrong and it may have happened earlier. Looking at my three official copies of ANH right hurr, the '95 vhs reads "Copyright '77 Fox Corporation. All rights reserved. Trademark and copyright '77 Lucasfilm Limited. Reserved (I'm assuming that's what the R with the circle around it means), trademark and copyright 1995 Lucasfilm Limited. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization."

The '97 vhs reads "Reserved, Trademark and Copyright 1977 & 1997 Lucasfilm Limited. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization."

The '04 dvd reads "Reserved, Trademark and Copyright 1977, 1997 and 2004 Lucasfilm Limited. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization. 'Star Wars' and all associated characters, logos and other elements are the property of Lucasfilm Limited."