Given that the DC was THX's first official laserdisc title, (they had a couple other movies under their belts that were released without the label) and there were so many screwups, and then the DVD's surpass those screwups a decade later, I have to wonder if the OT is cursed somehow.
I can recommend the Panasonic AG-1980. Having the TBC built in and the video noise reduction are a godsend on regular VHS tapes. In the nine years I've owned one, only a handful of tapes gave me any playback headaches. It's a damn shame they don't make them anymore. Panasonic's current prosumer line looks like consumer decks at a costume party.
The irony is the Star Wars movies are becoming like computer software. And the new versions have bugs! What are we up to now, Trilogy 3.0? Doom will be around so long as someone keeps porting it over to whatever comes along. You can play the original on an Ipod now!
Actually, all the images ever posted on the site had that right click to save prevention thing going. It used to say "nothing to fear but fear itself."
I was sure infamous spoiler site http://www.idontfear.com would vanish for good once the pic of Anakin's mechanical hand flipping the bird was gone. Nothing left to spoil now, right? Now there's a pic of a planet up. Curious...
Yeah, someone should get Grimlock to do a commentary track for the movies someday. There is another DVD coming out about the same subject. It's becoming a cottage industry!
The talented people who make these things do have lives and probably jobs they need to attend to. (And there always is that pesky money thing.) You should see how antsy Trek fans get waiting for the next installment of "Starship Exeter" to come out.
I have a friend who used to be a projectionist at a college campus theater. They used 16mm all the time for feature films. It's a pity the last 16mm SW print I saw on Ebay had turned green.
I sort of liked it. It's a kooky little slice of Star Wars mania we otherwise wouldn't see had it not been preserved. (I wish someone had made a documentary about the tenth anniversary SW con!) There was plenty of total ignorance elsewhere, especially in the media, about why they were camped out in line for so long, even more so for Episode III. I'm not sure what Lucasfilm will think of Target piggybacking this thing on the Episode III DVD release though. You just know some irate parent is going to miss the profanity warning on the label. Those TFN guys may boast about trashing the DVD, but they're still out five bucks, aren't they?
5-25-77 is supposed to be based on the real life experiences of a young man who was so inspired by Star Wars, he sets off on a journey to meet the people that made it, and ends up at a certain converted warehouse in Van Nuys, California. It will be interesting to see what bits of Star Wars are glimpsed in the film. Since it's set in 1977, you can't simply throw the special edition in there.
Basically, in the version that leaked out, there is a wipe from the shot of Obi-Wan and Threepio in the cockpit of Padme's ship leaving Mustafar to Anakin's mechanical hand grasping at the volcanic soil. The DVD has a straight cut instead.
The Beta and CED versions are the same as all the other early home video releases. Full frame and 2.0 soundtrack. (The rental library version is mono, but a mixdown!) I'm satisfied no official NTSC versions have any surprises or holy grails.
I was so happy Starchaser came out on DVD. The old pan and scan LD is a *horrible* transfer. Looks like VHS even! There is a 3d version floating around transferred from the VHD videodisc format that only was available in Japan. But you'd probably need the electronic LCD glasses for that to work.
When the heck is 5-25-77 coming out? Also, isn't there a Triumph the Insult Comic Dog DVD with the bit where he heckles people standing in line for AOTC?
I don't think Luke ever seriously expected Jabba to play ball. It was all a ploy to get Artoo inside the palace with the lightsaber in case "Plan A" with Leia failed. (Lando having already been working on the inside for an unknown period of time, was probably going to aid in the escape.) I'm still puzzling over Threepio's line about Chewbacca having never returned from Jabba's lair since Chewie and "Boushh" don't show up until later. Marvel comics notwithstanding, it would have been a lot easier to pay Jabba off with the money Han got from the Rebels at the end of ANH.