logo Sign In

Obi Jeewhyen

User Group
Members
Join date
1-Aug-2006
Last activity
1-Feb-2007
Posts
440

Post History

Post
#239162
Topic
What are you going to do with your SE discs?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/239162/action/topic#239162
Time
Originally posted by: AnchorheadLook, man - next month, go buy the non-anamorphic, LD mastered, widescreen version of Star Wars - the format it's going to be available in - take it home, watch it, enjoy the adventure.....and then go outdoors!


Oooh, I'm looking forward to the day when we can do both at the same time .... Rolling Roadshow has been trying to put together an outdoor screening of Star Wars in Death Valley (aka Tatooine). They're having problems with clearances, as you might imagine ... but it may happen someday. And you better believe I'll be there that day.









(till then, yeah, Star Wars first, daylight afterwards.)
Post
#239156
Topic
2006 OT DVD: Poll: So What are You Going to Do?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/239156/action/topic#239156
Time
Yeah, I'm not really sure what they're aiming at with the '07 box set. More SE changes? Some extras? WTF, who's buying that??

Believing in my heart this is the ONLY OT DVD release, I will certainly buy Star Wars, and perhaps even RotJ. I do think there will be an eventual OT release on whichever hi def format wins the war (ahem, since HD DVD has won the first round in picture quality, it's likely the inferior Blu Ray will be the winner ... if the past is any guide to nimrod consumer trends).

But I'm not holding my breath. I don't even plan on going Hi Def display myself till around 2009, when SED sets might start getting affordable. So this will be my Star Wars for the next five years, at least. Heheh, I'd probably watch the movie about 3 times during that period ... and RoTJ only once (which is why I'm debating even buying it).


If the picture quality is any improvement over the laserdiscs, I will be satisfied (but not happy). If the facsimile crawl has "DEATH STAR" on one line and matches the music cue the way it did in '77, I will be very satisfied. If prison-level laser blasts are returned to their '77 impact, I will be ecstatic. And if more subtle sound effects revert to '77 versions, I will be impressed.


Right now, I'm anticipating a personal reaction from "satisfied" -to- "very satisfied," and I'm not counting on either impressed or ecstatic.



As for sending my SE discs back to LFL, that was never my plan. Alas, my original plan is falling apart - - since this DVD release is not generating the excitement for a line-up on September 11 (where I was planning to tactlessly set fire to towering dual stacks of SE discs).




.
Post
#238580
Topic
So, this is how the DVDs are going to look...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/238580/action/topic#238580
Time
Originally posted by: Anchorhead
Originally posted by: vbangle
Really? I mean, really? .....I guess some of us look deeper at the details than others...

Really?....perhaps some of just choose to actually watch the film instead of constantly bitching about those details.

Nah, I get vbangle's point. The starfield doesn't look that great. But guess what? - - starfields have NEVER looked good on any home release. Not in Star Wars, not in Close Encounters, not in 2001 or in any other film. They look fantastic on the big screen, in 70mm projection ... but are washed out, faded, with maybe 40% of the stars showing on your TV. That's just life outside of the movie theater.

Maybe when everything is reissued in HD, it will be different.

But I'm not holding my breath.


And, yeah, I'm watching the movie and not nitpicking the details of pixels and how many stars are in the upper, right quadrant.




btw, I was one of the people who was not pleased when they removed the film grain from Star Wars. It was never a pristine-looking movie, and anything a smidge better than the laserdiscs will be just fine by me.


.

Post
#238548
Topic
So, this is how the DVDs are going to look...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/238548/action/topic#238548
Time
I realize we're grasping at whatever straws we can get our eyes on for the next 18 days .... but I'll be much less cynical about quality comments once commentators have watched the actual DVDs.

Of course, it will be too late for me by then ... I will have made my purchase already. But while I'm glad for a topic to read and post about, these screen shots prove nothing ... and we'll still have to wait and see.
Post
#238276
Topic
O-OT Star Wars "Bonus Disc" menus (www.starwars.com)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/238276/action/topic#238276
Time
I'm buying Star Wars. I don't care what it looks like.

The first set of bootlegs I bought went all digicrap mid-first viewing. The next set won't play at all on my ancient DVD/laserdisc combo player.

Neither of them would have had the facsimile of the original crawl.

I will crawl to the video store to buy Star Wars on September 12 if I have to. I don't care what it smells like, er, looks like.



.
Post
#237912
Topic
Even Cosmo Magazine is Talking About the 09/12 Release...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237912/action/topic#237912
Time
I found there were a lot more girls in the prequel line-ups than for the O.T. line-ups.


Turns out almost all of them showed up because of Ewan McGregor ..... but most of them left as Star Wars fans. Not even that they particularly liked the prequels ... but the line-up experience of 6-week Hollywood Boulevard festivals suitably immersed them in Star Wars to gain a general appreciation.


.
Post
#237852
Topic
O-OT Star Wars "Bonus Disc" menus (www.starwars.com)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237852/action/topic#237852
Time
Pffts, menus! I dream of having a DVD player that will skip EVERYTHING and go right to the feature, so I can have an experience akin to the movies - - which is what I am trying to emulate when I watch a MOVIE.


That's the one thing I like about laserdiscs ... pop one in, and the movie begins! So, yes, I will think of the new Star Wars DVD as a mini-laserdisc, and I won't bemoan the image quality. But I would rather it be like a laserdisc in simply starting the feature when I insert the disc ... though I will settle for a menu system this time, since the menus are, yeah, really frelling cool.


.
Post
#237832
Topic
It has begun: StarWars.com to celebrate original films
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237832/action/topic#237832
Time
I have to respectfully disagree with that statement. There's far more to "better" than mere visual quality.

I submit that even an approximation of 1977 Star Wars is better than any previous home video release or theatrical re-release of the movie. It's all a matter of opinion, and perhaps those who think of the film as "Episode 4" or "A New Hope" won't care ....


.... but for many of us old folk who experienced the original Star Wars phenomena first-hand, even a half-baked job at presenting the opening of this movie the way it really opens will set the stage for an exceptional experience of Star Wars ... whether or not it looks any better than a laserdisc and whether or not anything that follows is likewise restored to its 1977 condition.


By virtue of the first 30 seconds alone, this will be the "best" Star Wars home release ever ... ahem, says me.






.
Post
#237827
Topic
O-OT Star Wars "Bonus Disc" menus (www.starwars.com)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237827/action/topic#237827
Time
Originally posted by: Darth_Evil
I just might get these. By bootlegs don't have menus at all,


Sigh, my bootlegs won't play in my DVD player. It's really, really old ... but I keep it because it also plays laserdiscs, and I still have a ton of those that I haven't repurchased on DVD and don't intend to ... including The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which I will not be buying on September 12.

So I have to keep the ability to play laserdiscs as long as I can. If it were not for the (perhaps cheating) opening crawl, I doubt I'd be buying Star Wars on September 12 either. Certainly not just for the (admittedly) cool menus.


.

Post
#237596
Topic
Interesting article about SW in Wall Street Journal 8/22
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237596/action/topic#237596
Time
Unfortunately, from the point of view of a publication such as the Wall Street Journal ... the liklihood of an everlasting revenue stream seems brightest if the O.T. is changed on an annual basis and re-released perpetually.

Kids don't care for the prequels any more than Star Was fans generally do. It's got nothing to do with what movies played in theaters when tikes were young. Most Star Wars fans I know never saw the O.T in their original theatrical runs; they fell in love with the movies on home video ... and kids today, tomorrow and forever will be free to do the same. With an equal choice of what disc to watch, quality will out - - even in the minds of 9 year olds.

Being able to spawn revenue from the TV show is iffy. From the prequels is modest. And from anything to do with the O.T. is a veritable endless fountain of money.

And if the O.T. sells best, then the real trick is to get people to buy it and its related merchandise again and again and again. Special Edition ver. 17.3 by 2026 is the method the Wall Street Journal would be most pleased with.


Bah.
Post
#237590
Topic
Tell imdb.com to separate their rating system for theatrical and altered versions of movies.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237590/action/topic#237590
Time
But a note to IMDB should not come off as if it's all about Star Wars. Their site is all about movies. So, while using Star Wars as an example is great ... the appeal should be made that the issue applies to a great many films and thus serves more of the sites viewers than merely the Star Wars nerds.

THX's short but sweet note was the best written so far, imo. It uses Star Wars as an example, but makes a larger case why IMDB should be open to the suggestion.


.
Post
#237582
Topic
There is another
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237582/action/topic#237582
Time
Yeah, I'm not seeing anything about Episodes 7-9 in that quote.


But I'm also not seeing anything indicating he's got even the vaguest of the prequel story. He seems to know a bit about Return of the Jedi ... and frankly, even that suprises me - what with the way that movie's plot seems have been thrown together at the last minute with leftovers from old Star Wars scripts.


.
Post
#237493
Topic
The music in the prequels.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237493/action/topic#237493
Time
Originally posted by: HotRod
I always thought that Empire especially felt it was like one big long score. It just seemed to flow perfectly!

With the emphasis on big and long.

Don't get me wrong, I think Empire has a terrific score ... but there's almost too much of it. Constant music is a sign of poor film scoring. There was some judicious editing done for the movie, because the unedited score released on CD runs nearly the entire running time of the film! The transitional points from unscored section to music are quite important ... and constant music doesn't allow for that. There seems to have been a fair bit of directorial score editing on The Empire Strikes Back.

It seems Lucas was a better score manipulator with the O.T. than he became with the prequels. Maybe copy-paste wasn't a technical feasiblity back then ... or maybe his talent in this area tanked over time just like his other talents.


.
Post
#237329
Topic
How George Lucas created the O-OT fanbase...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/237329/action/topic#237329
Time
Just to play Devil's Advocate ... I would have to wonder why, on the potential eve of either Blu Ray or HD DVD becoming the new high quality DVD standard, anyone would bother to make much effort at a quality DVD release.

Would we all care to eat some crow with our words if a pristine, meticulously-restored and gloriously anamorphic set of the theatrical OT films were released on whichever high-def version becomes the defacto standard, as soon as the dust settles from that competition?



Ok, I'm just dreaming. But, if it were anybody but George ... I'd expect them to hold off on the high quality release until the Betamax war of the early 21st Century is decided.
Post
#236696
Topic
Remember the mass advertising of TPM?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/236696/action/topic#236696
Time
I don't think TPM would have been any better received if there also hadn't been an offensive marketing overpush. The film was terrible, and would have been loathed on its own demerits quite sufficiently.


* * * * * *

OMG, one of the last remaining bits of Star Wars memorabilia that I haven't given away as gifts is a quadruple set of the Burger King glassware from the RotJ publicity push. Alas, since they also fall into the category of stuff I haven't used in decades ... some lucky fan friend of mine is going to find them under birthday wrapping at some future date.
Post
#236362
Topic
Your Greatest Star Wars Day.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/236362/action/topic#236362
Time
Wow, I had no idea the trilogy repeated in '87. And grrr, I could have traveled the vast distance of 6 miles to Century City to see it! Fine!


Reading other responses reminds me that one of the best pleasures for me of the Star Wars Special Edition playing at the Chinese Theater in '97 was taking all of my young friends, and friends' children, who had been too young to see the original in theaters. It was awesome. These kids who had seen Star Wars on TV dozens of times were blown away, and audiences night after night would cheer and laugh and applaud as though they'd never seen the film before.

Crappy revisions or no, I will always hold one fond spot in my heart for the special editions simply because of this particular theatrical run ... which really generated more audience excitement than any of the two or three previous Star Wars re-releases (none of which, btw, played at the glorious Chinese Theater).