I like Melissa ~ she talks quite a bit of sense.
look out for the original's use of different music to rock out on Jabba's barge
~ although i think she means "Jabba's Palace" in that instance?
Is she on these boards? Can i take her out to dinner??
September 25, 2006
Star Wars Trilogy DVDBy Melissa Perenson
For many of us, these three movies are responsible for launching our collective imaginations into the realm of what science fiction cinema could be. But in this age of digital production, when everything is in flux and nothing is permanent, what is the definitive edition of a film?
In and of themselves, the films are worthy of buying for what they are—especially if you've never seen the originals or your memory of the originals is fuzzy.
The question has been on the table for years, and it is revisited once more with Lucasfilm's latest release of the original Star Wars trilogy. Is the original theatrical version that enraptured us as schoolchildren and won Academy Awards the so-called version of record? Or should any of the successive releases, often dubbed "limited edition" or "director's cut" or "remastered"—be considered fair game for the version of record?
The fact is, no matter what improvements those successive versions may bring, the original theatrical version of a film holds a special place both in audiences' hearts and in history. And it is for this reason that these versions cannot be ignored.
So imagine the excitement of Star Wars fans when news first hit that nearly a decade into the DVD revolution, Lucasfilm was going to grant fans with one of their top requests—the original theatrical versions of the first Star Wars trilogy.
In the various special-edition theatrical, home video and DVD releases of the trilogy, we've seen these movies time and again. We've followed the adventures of Han Solo (Ford) and Leia (Fisher), Threepio (Daniels) and R2-D2 (Baker) and traced Luke (Hamill) in his hero's journey from a scrappy Tatooine desert rat to a skilled Jedi Knight who destroys the Sith Emperor and reclaims his father from the Dark Side of the Force.
With the inclusion of the original 1977, 1980 and 1983 films, we finally get to see the films that captivated us in our youth. And those who worship at the feet of Amidala, Anakin and Obi-Wan and company can see the films that started it all.
Unlike last year's long-awaited DVD release of the Star Wars trilogy, these limited-edition versions are being sold individually. The first disc is identical to last year's DVD release; the second disc contains what's being billed as the original theatrical release.
The differences can be striking. Some have been much ballyhooed, and others are more subtle. In Episode IV, for example, in the newer version, some scenes on Tatooine are brighter and have more punch than in the original; you'll see X-Wing fighters taking off from Yavin instead of colored blips, and the Death Star's explosion is a pyrotechnic CGI fireball, not a whimper. Oh, and the original cantina scene in which Han shot first ... well, that small change is palpable and reasserts who Han Solo is.
The changes in the other films are in some ways less momentous but nonetheless add up; in total, they point to Lucas' meddling with the originals to better fit with improved technology and with the second trilogy. In Empire, keep an eye for the original Emperor (no, Ian McDiarmid wasn't the first), a more streamlined Cloud City and the original take on the Millennium Falcon's run through an asteroid field. In Jedi, for example, look out for the original's use of different music to rock out on Jabba's barge, a different vision of Anakin in the parting Jedi-elders shot on Endor and a different Ewok village finale.
Great concept, missed opportunityShould Star Wars fans dare to follow Lucas once more into the realm of these new, limited-edition DVDs? Yes—and no. Last year's DVD release actually constitutes exactly one-half of what you get for your $30 (the films can be found at online retailers for under $20 a pop). I won't fault Lucasfilm for this—after all, the original theatrical versions are valuable educational tools and historical references whose importance in both Star Wars canon and filmmaking annals is only clear when the films are compared with the modernized versions. And at least the films are released individually, so if all you really crave is seeing Han shoot first in the Cantina sequence with Greedo, well, all you have to do is buy a single disc.
In and of themselves, the films are worthy of buying for what they are—especially if you've never seen the originals or your memory of the originals is fuzzy. For that alone, each of these discs rates: These original films were lost to home audiences for so long, it's a delight to see them out from the mothballs.
That said, Lucasfilm missed the chance to score a home run with these discs. And for that reason, the discs must be panned even as they're praised. Compared with the digitally restored and remastered movies released last year, the original theatrical versions—last seen on a randomly accessible disc during the LaserDisc release some two decades ago—look mediocre to shabby. If you're watching them on a standard-definition 4:3 television, the films won't look bad; in fact, you may only notice some minor softness in the image as compared to the newer, remastered versions.
The original versions seen here have unsophisticated menus, and the movie itself suffers from dated video and audio (these versions are encoded with Dolby 2.0 surround sound, not Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, as the newer editions are). Furthermore, while the image is presented in widescreen, it's not optimized for anamorphic displays (a more critical feature if you're using a high-definition widescreen display).
Furthermore, Lucasfilm missed the chance to highlight the changes from one version to the other, and why those happened. The only audio commentaries are found on the new DVD release discs. The original theatrical versions lack any sort of pointers to what was changed and why, and that is a significant omission. Without such an extra feature, many of the subtleties of what changed may be lost on all but the most devoted audiences.
Ostensibly, the original films are set to go out of circulation once the limited-edition discs stop being sold at the end of the year, so this could be your one chance to get the original versions, at least for a while. Of course, with the next-generation high-definition disc formats here, I fully expect we'll see a Blu-ray version of the original films in several years, once the format matures. I can only hope that Lucasfilm will take advantage of the next-gen formats' interactivity to really highlight the old and new versions.—Melissa 
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