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Post
#54462
Topic
Have the 'one last time' 1995 Laser Discs been converted to DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/54462/action/topic#54462
Time

I know that the Definitive Collection Laser Discs have been converted to DVD, but does anyone know if the ‘Last time to get the original versions’ Laser Discs have been converted to DVD? These are the ones with Vader, Stormtrooper and Yoda on the covers. If they have been, is there any difference in sound or picture quality? Since these were the last time the original versions were available, I thought the films had some restoration on picture and sound prior to the 97 Special Editions. I could be wrong.

Post
#54098
Topic
my thoughts on originals vs SE...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/54098/action/topic#54098
Time
I'm fairly new here, but I've been reading lots of posts over the last four days or so. I have also already posted my thoughts on the OT vs SE so I won't restate all of that here. If you want to read it go to the Changes in the 2004 DVD thread and go to the last page.

I'm sorry, but the argument that the OT are work prints is just BS. First of all you don't release work prints for the general public to view. Those are for the director, studio execs, editors, sound editor, ect. That's why they are called work prints. If I remember correctly, and please tell me if I'm wrong, but the OT was released into theatres as finished, completed films. The SE are more along the lines of a Directors Cut, but then that doesn't even trully describe them. From my understanding, a Director's Cut is a version of the film that has re-edits of scenes, trims, and the possible insertion of scenes that were originally filmed but for one reason or another were cut from the film. In that case, the only scenes that were cut from ANH and reinserted are the Han and Jabba scene and the Luke and Biggs scene in the Rebel Base. Everything else that was added to these films is BRAND NEW footage that George has 'decided' that needs to be there in order to show his original vision for the films. Fine. However, since the OT was released in theatres these are NOT work prints.

Secondly, no one is arguing that the clean up of matte lines, boxes around the ships, ect are the problem with the SEs of the movies. What everyone dislikes is the complete removal of special effects or models and replaced by CGI. Even the inhancement of certain scenes with CGI is problematic at best. Like the Sarlaac pit, Jabba in ANH and the Han and Greedo scene just to name a few. For myself, most of these changes were just unnessesary and useless while others were just plain dreadful. You can preach until you are blue in the face, but that Jedi Rocks number in Jedi sucks. Period.

It those kinds of things that make the SEs not so special. Finally, the only reason these films are 'evolving' is because GL has a bug up his ass. They were just fine for 20 years. The man has been smoking plant vapors.
Post
#54006
Topic
Stupidest Prequal complaints
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/54006/action/topic#54006
Time
Ok, this is going to be a long one. I've been waiting a long time to get this stuff off my chest. I am not a prequel hater, nor am I a prequel lover. I enjoy the prequels for one reason and one reason only. I'm interested in seeing how and why Anakin became Darth Vader. Period. Having said that, let's begin.

The Phantom Menace. God, where to begin with this movie. I read somewhere (maybe here) that there is a good movie buried under all of that mess. And a mess is a good way to describe it. The one thing in TPM that really bugs me to this very day is the whole 'immaculate conception' crap. I'm sorry, but this really just blew the whole thing for me. Up to that point I was sort of enjoying the story and thrilled to be seeing a new Star Wars movie. When Shmi said that it was Immaculate Conception, I just found the whole thing unbelievable at that point. This whole comparing Star Wars to Christianity has been done since the 70's (Remember the book The Force of Star Wars?). So this premise wasn't...how to say it...unprecedented but it still came off as lame, stupid and GL's juvenile attempt at trying to have some great cosmic deep meaning to an otherwise up front space opera. Setting that aside, this doesn't even begin to examine the vastly large problems with this movie. Jar Jar Binks. While I'm not a Jar Jar hater (that's just too easy) I do think he would look better on toast with a bit of hollandaise sauce. Seriously though, what bugs me about Jar Jar is that he is an out and out obvious attempt to appeal to kids. I don't mind that these films are not that deep, but I dislike out and out pandering to kids. The OT, while appealing to kids, could also be enjoyed by ALL ages. That is the main thing that the prequels are lacking (among a few other things). And before someone brings up the Ewoks, I'll say that I didn't like them either and for the same reasons. The Ewoks are the main reason that Jedi is my least favorite of the OT. The childish aspect of the movie aside, the next major problem for me is the use of too much CGI. Lots of the shots of Naboo and Thead are really spectacular as well as the Coruscant. I don't mind CGI to replace the use of matte paintings. I do like the more realistic backgrounds for the location shots. However, that is not to say that I find the OT matte paintings to be at all inferior. They work quite well in fact. It's when CGI is used instead of models, puppets or other more tried and true techniques of film making that I have a problem with it. With the prequels GL has totally abandoned the 'scotch tape and popsicle sticks' way of doing things. This is why the OT is and always will be, superior to the prequels. They created more magic than the new films do. I feel that the old and be combined with the new to create vastly enjoyable and entertaining films. Look at Lord of the Rings. GL really needs to take a step back and re-evaluate how he is doing these movies. It strikes me that GL has sacrificed character for pure gloss and glamour. It's almost like were watching Star Wars as seen through a cocaine induced Disco haze. It's all bells and whistles with no substance. Rick McCallum has stated that for the OT George had to 'scarified the elements of the story telling because of the limits of technology at the time.' With TPM and AOTC, George has sacrificed the story telling to show off the technology and it shows. The acting is not the best, but I have seen worse. Jake Lord wasn't, at least to me, too awful but the whole yippee and Wahoo stuff was too much. Natalie Portman is ok and I mean just ok. I've seen her do better. The only real solid actor in TPM for me was Ewen McGregor. And in all honesty, I can't really fault the actors considering what they had to work with. The dialogue is, well not good but not awful either. It's just bad. TPM dialogue is better than AOTC, but we'll get into that in a second. I think that this movie must have looked better on paper and something just got lost in the execution of it. But then again, this is supposed to be the beginning so I really wasn't expecting BIG revelations or anything like that. I figured that would come in the next two films. Which leads me to my next point.

I think, at least for me, the reason that most people don't care what happens to these characters is because we already know their fates. Amidala dies shortly after giving birth or within the first few years, Anakin becomes Darth Vader, Obi-Wan takes Luke and hides on Tatooine, Leia is taken to Alderaan, Darth Sideous/Palpatine becomes Emperor, Yoda escapes to Dagobaugh, the Republic falls, the Empire rises, and the Jedi Knights are all but eliminated. So, knowing how it all turns out, it's kind of hard for me to get too caught up in the fates of characters that I already know what is going to happen to them. There is no mystery. As for the secondary characters like Mace Windu, I can pretty much guess what happens to them. Even if I'm wrong, it's still not enough to really hold my interest. I guess I'm looking at the prequels as nothing more that like a historical movie. It's nice to see how it all happened, but I really can't care about these people and their plight. It's doomed anyway.

Onto AOTC. While, in my opinion, this movie was slightly better than TPM, it wasn't by much. I did like the whole mystery thing going on with Obi-Wan and who ordered the Clone army thing. It was at least something to latch onto to get through the movie. The acting was again very wooden and lifeless. If it weren’t for Ewen McGregor these movies would be worse than they already are. The whole 'romance' between Anakin and Amidala was beyond laughable. Who wrote that God-awful dialogue? It was like watching a bad 80's teen sex movie. No one talks like that. I'm sorry, but I can't take any movie seriously that has lines like 'I've died a little bit everyday since you came back into my life.' Oh phew! Poor, poor Natalie Portman. God, how many takes did it take for her to get that line out with a straight face? The first time I saw the movie, I couldn't believe my ears. I thought to myself, 'no she didn't really say that, did she?' But, of course she did. After the little fireside chat her and Anakin had I should have expected it. To this day I still cringe when I hear that line. I believe that it is the worst line of dialogue that I've ever heard in my life. However, while that in my book is the biggest sin on AOTC, it is by far not the only one. Again, George relied on too much CGI over good character or story. I could have accepted the awful dialogue if I believed in the characters. Since I don't it makes the dialogue all that much worse. In fact, I pretty much found the same things wrong with AOTC that I found with TPM. Too much CGI, poor acting and just a general lack of interest in the story. There is little to nothing for me to 'get into' with the prequels. It's kind of sad. I want to like them more than I do. On the up side, there was less of Jar Jar and at least a somewhat exciting battle at the end. I did like the battle in spite of the fact that it was 99% CGI. Should have used models and stop motion. It was kind of cool to see Yoda kick some butt in spite of the fact that it looked so damn fake. I'm sorry, but it did.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I don't think the OT is perfect either. I think Jedi is the weakest of the three. But even that awful dialogue between Luke, Leia and Han in the Ewok village just can't compare to the mind numbing lines that we are forced to hear in AOTC. But as always, these are just my opinions.



Post
#53950
Topic
Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/53950/action/topic#53950
Time
Hello, I'm new here. I just signed the petition and decided this would be the place to voice my opinion on this topic. I've tried to do this at the official site but every time I try and login there my password is screwed up and the new ones that they send me don't work. So I just gave up.

Anyway, Originals vs. Special Editions. I should begin by saying that I don't hate the SE. I saw the original versions in the theatre when they originally came out, I saw the SE's in the theatre when they came out, I've watched both versions on VHS and now DVD for years. So, like so many others here and elsewhere, I'm very, very familiar with these movies. I'm one of those long time fans. I should also say that I totally do not agree with GL's decision to not release the original versions of these movies on DVD. That is just an out and out crime and I won't waste my breath defending my position. Several people here have already done that for me. I should also say that I don't mind GL trying to 'improve' or 'complete' the films to his satisfaction. That's fine. I just want the films that I saw as a child on DVD in their original versions. That doesn't mean that I'm a SE hater or a prequel hater. I'm not going to get into the prequels here. That's best saved for another thread. And believe me I have opinions on those as well.

Ok, now that the introductions are over, to the topic at hand. The first change from the originals to the SE that I did like was the entire clean up of the films. They looked better than I have ever seen them look. They sounded better than I've ever heard them sound, but let's face it, there were a few problems with the sound. Leia's gun suddenly sounding like a rifle instead of a laser. Someone just dropped the ball there and this is easily fixed.

However, if they fixed the snow battle in Empire then why couldn't they fix the matte lines in the Rancor scene from Jedi or even that horrible, horrible scene between Lando and Han in the hanger. When Lando walks away it still looks so fake. It just bugs me to this very day. It stands to reason that if you're going to take the time to totally fix the snow battle the least that you can do is fix those two scenes in Jedi. I mean, come on.

The added or changed stuff. Well, some of it was fine and some of it was dreadful. Let's do this film by film. Ok, ANH. I did like the new expanded Mos Eisley stuff and the fix to the land speeder. I also did like the Dewback scene that was added. The new Ben Kenobi house, I'm pretty much indifferent on that. The Wolfman in the Cantina, while I do miss him, again, that really doesn't matter all that much to me. The Jabba scene. I like this a lot because I have always felt that it needed to be there, but they really need to improve it. Jabba looked nothing like he did in Jedi or even TPM. Fix that and I'll be happy with it. The tail stepping, well, sort of juvenile, makes kids laugh so fine. Not a real problem. The Death Star and Alderraan explosion rings. Totally unnecessary. We get the point. Why bother? The Falcon taking off from the docking bay 94. Again, kind of unnecessary. We get the point. Again, why bother? It almost seems like at times that GL is dumbing these films down for some reason. Or am I just crazy? Anyway, I did really like the Biggs scene in the Rebel hanger. In fact I was totally shocked the first time I saw it. Bravo, bravo, bravo. Anything with Biggs is a welcome addition. Ok, the Death Star battle. Looked great, but I could tell most of the time what was new and what was old. I didn't think that the original stuff looked all that bad. So again, I was like why bother? It worked for me for 20 years. I also did like the elimination of the cardboard people at the end of the film. Greedo and Han. No, no, no, no, no! This was all-wrong and looked really fake. This was the one moment in the entire film that totally pulls me right out of the movie. Plus it's just plain pointless. There is no logical reason for this change and I don't care what GL says.

Empire. Well, great, great improvement to the snow battle. It was nice to see through the cockpits clearly and not see the scenery behind the matte. The Wampa. This is another one of those times where what was done originally worked just fine so why bother? If it ain't broke don't fix it. I don't mind seeing the Wampa, but it really wasn't necessary for me to see it. I already had an idea of what it looked like. Besides, there was an action figure of it so I had already seen it long before 97. Cloud City. Again, I did like the improved approach to the City and the improved backgrounds and even the Cloud Car fly by thing. However, the windows, while at first glance look really cool, they are also really deceptive. Yes, one minute they are there and the next minute they are gone. Bad, bad, bad execution. Again I think someone dropped the ball. Luke's scream. This was just out and out dumb. It wasn't even his voice and you can totally tell. GL needs a slap for this as well as the Greedo mess. The whole changing of Vader's shuttle line and scene. Again, we get it. Why bother? Again it seems that GL is treating us like idiots. Sorry, but we can figure out on our own how Vader got back to the Star Destroyer. This was just a waste of time and money. I was glad to see that they fixed the shot of Vader looking out the window at the end. At least the backgrounds now all look the same instead of the center window having a grayish look to it. The whole added stuff where Lando announces the Empire is taking over was again just a waste of time and money. It again falls into the 'we get it' category.

Jedi. I'm sorry but that Jedi Rocks thing is the stupidest piece of crap that I have ever seen. It looked just awful. If GL wanted to improve that scene why didn't he just use the original number and replace Sy Snootles with a CGI Snootles and be done with it? And that CGI Sy Snootles looked just terrible. I'm sorry. I've seen good CGI characters and she wasn't one of them. Neither was the Yuzumm. There were so many ways that GL could have re-worked this scene. From the original music video for La Penik (Sorry but I can't spell that correctly), he did use several of the scenes that were inserted into the SE of Jedi so why not just use the original song? It just didn't make any sense to me. The scene with Oola falling down the chute to the Rancor pit. Well, as much as I really like it, again this was one of those 'we get it' moments but it doesn't bother me that it's there. The Sarlaac pit stuff, well, I'm kind of torn on this. While the Sarlaac looked more 'alive' it did still look really fake. That could be better. However, the original version worked for me for 20 years so I didn't see the need for it. I did however like the quick scene of the Bantha heard. That was cool. But Luke in the Rancor pit still bugs me. As does the Lando and Han scene but I've already mentioned those. The end celebration scene. I see from the previous posts that this seems to be a point of controversy. To clear up that mess you have to remember that as GL stated in 77 or 78, this was to be a 9-part saga, not 6. Therefore Jedi was not the last part and therefore the Empire was not overthrown at that point. There was still lots left to 'clean up.' Now that GL has since changed his story and said that there are now only 6 parts, he tried to find a way to bring the whole thing to a close. However, these little shots of Tatooine, Cloud City and the capital (I don't know how to spell it and I'm not going to try) seem really out of place. The changed music and the missing Ewok song, well, I never really liked the Ewok song in the first place so it really doesn't matter to me. I like the new music but the celebration scenes just seem out of place. I guess because I know that Jedi wasn't really the end so there is no reason for the entire galaxy to be celebrating the end of the Empire.

Also, just to