FrederikOlsen

zombie84 said:

The sound issues are legitimate technical things. Sometimes scenes are filmed without sound. Sometimes, parts of the soundtrack are damaged and have to be cut out. Sometimes parts of the soundtrack go missing after so many decades. And other times, during the rough cutting, editors will cut and splice unwanted segments out or leave silent certain sections that will require careful sound design later.

Indeed. On the subject of the sound, it has always surprised me that people were complaining about the sudden shifts in sound quality in ANH. Especially during Tarkin threatening Leia. Some of these lines have always sounded awful for some reason. Bad ADR, I guess. So ANH is definitely all over the place when it comes to the sound.

Luke's "It just isn't fair. Biggs is right, I'm never gonna get out of here" has always bugged me - that one sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.

That could be source for that information. I don't know, though. As far as I know, most of the popular LD rips are NTSC. I hope the author has validated this info, cause it does sound a little odd.

What do you mean by the original Stormtrooper lines, Darth Lars? I haven't watched the originals yet, but are you referring to the added "There's no one here" off the 2004 DVD, or to the "Close the blast doors" from the 1977 mono mix (if I remember correctly)?

Didn't even know the films were sped-up for the first Laserdisc editions. That's actually even more disturbing than most of the 97/04/11-changes, in my opinion.

How do the shorter runtimes compare to the runtimes of the "Definitive Edition" and "Faces" sets? Have we actually been watching sped-up versions of the OOT since the 1980's?

Downloading/seeding these now. These will make a great set of supplement discs for the official Blu-ray box. Or rather, the Blu-rays will make a nice set of supplement discs!

Looking forward to seeing your work on my TV, Harmy!

dark_jedi said:

My Little Boy and I just got through TPM & AOTC, we are about to start ROTS, but the one thing I do like is the lightsaber fights, just love the sound, and the bass, even though some of the battles are corny LOL, but just love these weapons.

Yeah, while the picture has its share of flaws for those two films, the audio is pretty cool. Great range and a lot of punch in those mixes.

I've also watched TPM and AOTC. For all the flaws of those films, I enjoyed them for what they are.

I think TPM looks pretty good, actually. I've only owned it on VHS, so I never got to see the LD presentation or the alledgedly horrendous DVD. The BD is quite a step up from that. I'm just glad they took some measures to ensure a certain level of visual consistency between the prequels, even if that includes DNR. The film just never looked that great in the first place, so I can't see what the fuss is all about.

Also, CG Yoda may be the most welcome change to the saga so far. Let's hope Lucas doesn't read that; the puppet in the OT was a nice piece of work, but his TPM counterpart came off as a senile muppet.

AOTC looks fantastic, but it's hardly any quantum leap given the DVD was crystal clear to begin with. In a sense, it's a little disappointing that there's no real "WOW"-experience to be found here, but the disc delivers. It just goes to show how crisp the picture was in the first place.

Tonight, I'll probably be watching ROTS. Given that this also looked spectacular on DVD, I'm not really expecting any surprises. Other than the fact that I am excited to see this on my 42" screen for - as far as I recall - the first time. And then, of course, it's onwards to the not-so-original trilogy. Even with the latest changes in mind (only Vader's "NOOOOO" bothers me that much), I have a feeling it can only be better than the 2004 DVDs.

George made the lousiest decisions when it comes to the storytelling of the PT.

TPM has no great story to tell at all. The political intrigue of the Naboo invasion frankly isn't very exciting. The film introduces the badass who may have turned into the younger generation's Darth Vader, only to kill him off after about five minutes of screen time. The Trade Federation never come off as threatening either, since they're depicted as blundering idiots who wouldn't even be able to tie their shoelaces.

AOTC is better, but Anakin's character development - the supposed backbone of the film - is ruined because of Hayden's woody acting. Anakin is a whiny asshole from the beginning and doesn't come off as Obi-Wan's best friend or a great warrior. When he breaks down after the Tuskin Raider massacre, it's hard to sympathize with him at all. And when he hits on Padmé, he has about as much charm as a child molester. The script doesn't help him much either. "Everything here is soft... and smooth." Yeah, unlike your moves, creep. When the Clone Wars commence and the film finally gains real momentum, it's over. You want to see the Clone Wars that Luke is so curious about in ANH? Go watch a shitty CG film. That's like making a WWII film that ends right as Poland is invaded.

ROTS is actually pretty decent, in my opinion. I may be in the minority, but when I rank the films, this usually comes in on a second place after ESB. If it has any major flaws, they are to be found in the previous films. If Anakin was never sympathetic, who's going to care about him turning into Darth Vader? This is particularly frustrating because this film had a lot of moments that showed that Lucas can still be a great director. The "Order 66"-montage is brilliant and actually surprisingly emotional, considering we never really got to know any of these Jedi in the first place. The scene in which Anakin seems to communicate telepathically with Padmé across the Coruscant dusk is another great scene, mainly because of John Williams finally taking a chance with the soundtrack. Anakin turning on his lightsaber, startling the Jedi youngling is such a simple moment, yet it's among the most powerful of the PT. No elaborate CG-environments can rival the sense of dread that you get from this shot and I really wish more of that attitude had gone into the making of the PT.

Of course, ROTS still has its flaws. General Grievous is a dumbass with bronchitis, the romance between Anakin and Padmé is still awkward, the film introduces the gaping plothole of Leia remembering her mother, the incredibly idiotic "NOOOOOOOO" etc. But I don't think the flaws are as distracting as in the previous films, and all in all, it was certainly the best Star Wars installment since ROTJ.

It's a shame the rest of the PT just wasn't as effective because of Lucas' ham-fisted director/writer/producer-combo.

Everything said by Jar Jar. Or any of the Gungans for that matter. Maybe the Nabooneese wouldn't feel superior to the Gungans if the latter weren't complete imbeciles?

Most of Anakin's dialogue - the scene in which he unwittingly blows up the Trade Federation ship is probably the worst offender. That's when "the best star pilot in the galaxy" turns into a clown.

JasonN said:

By any chance, has anyone taken a look at the "Anakin Kills Shaak Ti" deleted scene from EP3?

Is it in decent quality (I had heard once that that scene was cut pretty late in the game, so you'd think that it wouldn't use an pre-vis effects) or is it in the same crap quality as the rest of the PT deleted scenes? (which I suspect is more likely, given that all of the other deleted scenes from the PT got the shaft...)

It's pretty rough. As far as I can tell, it may be in SD, and it's not at all close to being finished. The moment of Shaak Ti being killed could possibly be incorporated if anybody felt like messing with the bluescreen, but the rest probably isn't usable at all. The final moment of Anakin walking out into the hallways of the Jedi Temple is nothing but a crappy animatic.

In comparison, the cleaner of the deleted scenes from the OT fare a lot better.

I caved in and bought the set. The deleted scenes were also - rightfully, in my opinion - very influential. Before you yell at me, let me say that I grew up with the 1997 SE. I had previously viewed the original theatrical presentations on VHS and on TV, but the 1997 presentations were the one I actually saw in the cinema, as a very impressionable 9-year old. The memories of those screenings will stick for me forever. Indeed, a lot of the changes have been cringeworthy. Greedo shooting first, "NO" being Darth Vader's new catchphrase, Hayden in ROTJ, etc. But I'm probably somewhat moderate when it comes to the changes. It'll take a lot more to ruin the saga for me. Changed or not, these films are still solid entertainment.

Of course, that doesn't mean I believe George Lucas should simply have his way with some of the most important films of all time. Not at all. But I do agree with the view that we will get a proper release of the OOT at one point. It just has to happen at some point. George Lucas is a shrewd businessman more than anything else, and making both versions available would be the ultimate Star Wars money machine. Certainly the recent freebie screening of "Star Wars" showed us that there are still great-condition prints in existance. Hell, "Empire of Dreams" did that back in 2004 by showing the original crawl in crystal clear quality. GOUT was a dumb little provocation, but nonetheless a step in the right direction.

Either way, I'm not gonna deny myself the "Star Wars" saga on Blu-ray. It's not the ideal box set, but I'm prepared to pay for that when/if that arrives. And I do plan on buying a decent LD player and the OOT on that format as well sometime. Till then, I am probably gonna enjoy the BD more than I'm going to hate them.