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30-Jun-2004
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16-Oct-2006
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308

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Post
#69905
Topic
Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/69905/action/topic#69905
Time
Quote
Originally posted by: Darth Sheba
The PT dialogue sounds like it came from someone who's just started out writing. Taking down the first thing that comes to mind and not taking any time to find something less trite.


Sorry but I have to side with Sheba on this. The PT dialogue is just rotten. Especially in AOTC. Ugh! That little fireside scene and then that horrible line about dieing a little bit each day. There is no way around it. It stinks.

Post
#68856
Topic
DVD Idea...Not The Films However
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68856/action/topic#68856
Time
This may have already been done and I just don't know it. Has anyone ever thought of making a DVD of Star Wars commercials? Not the commercias for the Kenner Toys but other commercials like the Energizer Bunny one? There may not be enough stuff out there to do this but I think it would be a great idea. Heck, you could even throw the Donny & Marie skit on there as filler.
Post
#68560
Topic
The intelligence of SW Fan boys....
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68560/action/topic#68560
Time
Quote
Dont break your brain on it too much, its really not worth it.


Belive me, I don't. I just find it really strange that most of the 'fan boys' have these totally outrageous ideas about what is going to happen in the next film. It's almost like they can't see the forest for the trees. Know what I mean? They get obsessed about the strangest things. The cave on Dagobaugh. Another of my favorites, does or doesn't Kenobi know about Leia. That has always been pretty obvious to me. Yes, he knew. He's the one to tell Luke that he has a sister. I mean, these things are staring them right in the face and they spend more time speculating on things that when it comes down to brass tacks, the stuff has already been explained. It just makes no sense to me. Talk about wasted energy. Don't get me wrong. I like good, intelligent, logical speculation. I am curious how the events of ROTS are going to play out, but being obsessed with Sifo Dias is silly. The man was killed. How or why really isn't important. The answer to what everyone wants to know is simple. Count Dooku used Sifo Dias' name to order the Clone Army. It's so obvious. Why waste all of this energy trying to fomulate a theory that he was really Qui-Gon? Qui-Gon is dead. He's pretty much out of the story.

My absolute favorite one is still the many, many ways that Palpatine and Sidious absolutely can't be the same person. Bull. I can just hear the fan boy gasps when in ROTS Sidious takes off his hood and it's Palpatine. "Oh my God! It's Palpatine!" Duh! The man becomes Emperor. He's been slowly manipulating these events from the beginning. Have any of the these fan boys EVER read the novels for Star Wars, Empire and Jedi? The answers to just about everything that happens in the prequels is pretty much spelled out. The only things that I can think of that we didn't know before the prequels were who Luke and Leia's mother was or when and exactly how Anakin became Vader.
Post
#68448
Topic
The intelligence of SW Fan boys....
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/68448/action/topic#68448
Time
WOW! Bizzle and Regicidal_Maniac great, great posts. Both of you have very valid points and both have given me a lot to think about. You're right. I just want the movies I grew up with.

To get back to what this thread was originally about. I have visited the official site many, many times and the two big discussions that I find most amusing are the who Master Sifo Dias (I'm not sure how that is spelled) is or was and his so called importance and the Palpatine/Darth Sidious discussions. I've read some really ridiculous things on both topics. Sifo Dias was really Qui Gon, Palpatine isn't Sidious but is really being controlled by him, Sidious will be Emperor after he kills Palpatine, Palpatine is a clone of Sidious, ect. These always strike me as funny and stupid at the same time.

The one thing that I have noticed from most 'fanboys mentality' is that they try to look for hidden meanings that just aren't there. They also tend to read more into these stories. These are simple stories with fairly simple plots. Looking for deeper meanings is, at least for me, a waste of time. Yes, I do speculate about how things will play out from movie to movie. However, I just don't get where some of these outrageous theories come from. I’m guessing from the EU books. Since I don’t read each and every one of those, all I have to base my thoughts, opinions and speculations on are the movies. Anything outside of the movies or the books based on the movie screenplays bears no meaning for me. I have only ever read the original Han Solo trilogy, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and the Thrawn trilogy. I understand that Lucas has taken characters, places and ideas from the EU books and used them in the prequels. However, looking for clues in the EU books just seems rather pointless to me.

Post
#67910
Topic
Changes in 2004 DVDs
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/67910/action/topic#67910
Time
Ok, my two cents.

The Jabba scene. First of all, I have to say (inspite of the poor CGI effects) that I like the scene. I always have. Ever since I read it in the novelization of Star Wars. Now, if I remember correctly, in the novel Jabba isn't described as a huge slug. I would have to pull the book off the shelf to verify this, but I seem to recall that Jabba came across (at least to me) as just some crime lord who Han happened to owe money to. For me, I have always felt that the scene needed to be in there just because I think seeing Jabba is important. I understand that not seeing Jabba until Jedi does add mystery to the character and makes his reveal in Jedi that much better. Yes the scene was cut because it was redundant. Some one even states this in Empire of Dreams. I just happen to like the scene and I'm glad that it is in the film. Granted, they still haven't gotten Jabba to look right in the scene but the way it is now I can live with it. It's far from perfect. And yes, it has been known for years (and even stated by Lucas himself) that as ROTJ progressed the design for Jabba changed. I serioulsy don't think that Lucas really had anything in mind at the time the original Jabba scene in ANH was filmed.

Now, if anyone has listened to the commentary on the new DVDs Lucas himself states that he never intended to go back and film the prequals. I don't remember which film he states this on, but he does say it. It was only after the ground breaking CGI of Jurassic Park that he began to think about the prequals. Lucas states that they way he originally invisioned the trilogy was that of a Saturday Matinee serial. I don't remember his exact quote on the subject, but that is why he started with Episode IV. He simply wanted to drop the audience right into the middle of the story and he really never had any intention of ever doing Episodes I-III. Yes, I know that he wrote an outline for the back story, but that was more for his own use to help him shape the story of Episodes IV-VI. This at least makes sense to me.

Now, all of the above is completely contradictory to what he stated in 77 and 78 that the whole story was a 9 part saga. I do believe that it was a nine part story, but I don't think that he really intended to go back and film the rest. If you look at IV-VI, it's really not necessary to see the events of I-III. All of the pertinent events of I-III are mentioned in IV-VI. As a kid and later as an adult, I did speculate on what had led up to Anakin becoming Vader, but in all honesty it wasn't all that compelling for me to see it. As I stated all of the important information is contained in the original trilogy.

Post
#66790
Topic
You'd think they'd clean this up - the unfixed issues of the 2004 OT SE DVD release...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/66790/action/topic#66790
Time
The sad thing is, I don't think that this will be the last release of these film nor do I think that this will be the last time that they will be tinkered with.

As far as the lightsaber colors go, that is a minor thing to me. Also the boxes around the ships. I don't notice them. However, the Emperor slug thing is ridiculous. How could they not have fixed that? When I saw the SE of Jedi in the theatres it was fixed but when they came out on VHS they were back.
Post
#66448
Topic
I'm Ashamed To Admit It...But The New Box Set (2004 OT DVD SE release)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/66448/action/topic#66448
Time

Is kind of impressive. At least what I’ve seen so far. Now you have to keep in mind that I don’t have a ‘home theatre system.’ That means no wide screen TV, and no surround sound. I have a 36" stereo JVC TV and a Sony DVD player (it was the top of the line model about 4 years ago). So, I’m not going to notice things like the messed up surround sound when I watch these. However, I did notice the Tarkin lines were a bit muffled and the music at the start of the Death Star battle is almost lost in the sound effects. And that isn’t the only place that the score seems drowned out.

All of that aside, I was rather impressed by what I’ve seen so far. The first thing that I did was to put in the bonus disc and watch the gag reel. This wasn’t as good as I had hoped for, but there are a few really funny moments. The one thing that I thought they would use a lot of were scenes of R2 running into walls. There wasn’t a single one. There were a couple of shots of Stormtroopers falling down. The big disappointment with the gag reel for me was that there wasn’t a whole lot of what I would consider to be genuine bloopers. Instead of laugh out loud moments there were more chuckle moments.

After the gag reel, I watched all of the trailers and TV spots. The restoration work that went into the trailers was fabulous. The trailers still don’t look pristine, but at least they look better than I have ever seen them. And, they didn’t re-use every single trailer that was released on the LD sets. With the exception of two or three, these were all trailers that I haven’t seen before. The teaser trailer for Jedi (When it was called Revenge of the Jedi) has a real quick clip of the sandstorm scene. That was WAY cool to see. All of the TV spots for Star Wars look rather bad, but then again I didn’t expect 25-year-old TV commercials to look all that great anyway. The one thing about the Star Wars TV spots that I was bugged about was that each of the commercials were commercials from AFTER the movie was a huge hit. Where were the teaser TV spots? I did remember seeing them in 77. There was the infamous ‘It’s the story of a boy and a girl’ TV spot that I was SO looking forward to seeing again. Alas it wasn’t there. Oh, well. What we got was really neat to see. I didn’t remember ever seeing any of the Empire or Jedi TV spots before so these were a real treat.

Then it was onto the first movie. First I have to comment on the menus. These are really great menus. My favorite is the Death Star menu. Especially the scene selection menu. The way that the camera zooms over the surface of the Death Star is really fun. This is what GOOD CGI is and what it can really do when used properly. In fact all of the menus are cool. I can’t wait to see the ones for Empire and Jedi. Well, now the first movie. What can I say about this that hasn’t already been said before? The picture was just out of this world. I was able to see things that I hadn’t seen before. Everything was SO clear. You could even see through Princess Leia’s sleeves on her dress. I don’t remember seeing that before. I could also hear things that I hadn’t heard before. Lines of dialogue that I hadn’t heard before. Especially from 3PO. Also his line about the tractor beam sounds the smoothest that I’ve ever heard it. In fact, a lot of the dialogue sounded smoothed out. It was far less easy to tell looped in lines or pick up lines. That was a plus for me. Vader, well there was something about his voice that didn’t sound like it used to. At least to me. He sounded less threatening or menacing. They did fix his eyes, thank God. It was far less easy to see David Prowse inside the mask this time around. I didn’t notice if they fixed the scene where you can see Kenney Baker inside R2 or not. I really didn’t notice. The things that I did notice were that all of the continuity errors were still there. That was a big plus to me. While it does make the movie look rather cheap and rushed, that was always part of the film’s charm to me. In Docking Bay 94, the radar dish is still missing. R2 still walks or rocks down the steps. All in all the film was a real joy to watch. Yes even with the changes.

However, the two big things were still not at all right. Jabba still doesn’t look right. He looks too dark and there is just something not right about his texture. It doesn’t look as smooth as it did in Jedi or even TPM. They still didn’t get it right in my opinion. It’s kind of a bummer since I do like the scene. Ok, the Han and Greedo scene. It still sucks. It looks ‘better’ but that doesn’t mean much. Yeah instead of Han just shifting his head, now his whole body moves out of the way. It’s just pointless. It will always be pointless. Just put back the original scene. I can live with the new version but I think it would look better if the original scene was there. So, they’ve tried twice to get both Jabba and the Greedo scene right and so far both times they have missed the mark. Strike two! One more and they’re out.

The Death Star battle looks almost like it did in 97, but I think that they may have tweaked some of that stuff as well. Certain shots seem to look better and be for fluid than they did in 97. It just may be me. I don’t know the 97 versions as well as the originals. Don’t get me wrong. There are still certain shots that just don’t look right while others look frame for frame exactly like the original versions. This could still use some work if Lucas is going to continue to work on these films. Let’s face it. From my standpoint, he still hasn’t achieved what I would consider to be his ‘definitive’ version of the film. It’s still a work in progress. And like in 97, it shows.

To give credit where credit is due, in my life there is nothing that evokes as many fond memories as Star Wars does. As I was watching the movie last night, several things came flooding back to me. The night that I saw it for the first time was quite vivid to me. I remembered seeing the Making of show and the Holiday Special. So much of my childhood is tied up with this movie that it’s really hard for me not to get caught up in it all again. Even if this isn’t the version that I saw in 77. I still want the original on DVD and I will continue to do what I can to support this effort. I still believe that they should be on DVD along side of these new versions. I’m not sorry that I have this set but it would be a perfect set if it had the originals as well.

Then I switched to Empire of Dreams. The A&E version of this documentary really only scratched the surface of what is on the DVD. I found the documentary to be very informative and entertaining as well. Carrie Fisher is a riot. She had me in stitches last night. Actually Hamil, Ford and Fisher were all very enjoyable to see and hear from. I wish that there had been more on the merchandising of Star Wars but we did get some stuff. Just not enough for me. All in all this was a great documentary.

Well, that’s it. My opinions of the set so far. Tonight I will see how Empire looks and maybe watch part of Jedi. As I said at the beginning, I’m ashamed to admit it but this set is pretty cool. If it had the original versions of the films it would almost be perfect.

So did I loose all integrity on this board?