I love how the catalog called him Chewbacca the Space Wookiee, as if there were other kinds of Wookiees.
I have this on my wall, and it still has a coolness factor.
I was under the impression that Kenny Baker was listed with the cast as a courtesy only. He's 80 and ill, so he's not going to be inside. The model should be able to do anything they need.
I saw the Trilogy like this. Though I do remember the grocery store near me having the 1982 big box release for rent.
Phantom Menace: Theater. I remember being pissed I had to wait a few days to see it because we had to drive to my brother's graduation in upstate New York. My parents made him take me just to shut me the hell up.
Clones: Opening day after school. My mom dropped me off and went to the mall instead of watching it.
Sith: Theater. It was an early showing. My disgust with Star Wars was starting then.
My perfect Star Wars Trilogy
Star Wars
1977 and 1981 crawls via seamless breaching
70mm, Stereo and Mono mixes
Deleted Scenes
Trailers
The Making of Star Wars Vintage Doc
Cantina Drunk Driving PSA
The Star Wars Holiday Special (SD)
The Empire Strikes Back
Deleted and extended scenes
Trailers
SFX: Making of ESB
Mark Hamil on the Muppet Show
Ralph McQuarrie Tribute
Return of the Jedi
Deleted and Extended Scenes
Trailers
Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
Lapti Nek music video
C-3PO and R2-D2 on Sesame Street
From the Vaults
Empire of Dreams
From Star Wars to Jedi
Lucas VHS interview
Previous DVD extras
Then the Ewok Films on a separate Blu-Ray in HD.
unamochilla2 said:
moviefreakedmind said:
Well, I would assume so. Speaking of the Holiday Special, I recall something about how Lucas allowed a documentary filmmaker to have access to the original copy of the Holiday Special back in '04. If the Holiday Special (something I can assure you Lucas hated more than the OOT) was still in watchable condition after 25 years, I'm sure the original parts of the negative cut out for the SE are in a bit better condition then some people may think.
I take it the Holiday Special was shot on film, then?
It looks like it was shot on videotape, probably 1 or 2" 525 line NTSC Quad. You can tell by the "live" look the production has, and most variety stuff was done on videotape. The only stuff shot on film was the stock footage from Star Wars. SD is the best the medium will give you. It can be upconverted, but it won't look any better.
It would easily fit on the extras disc of Star Wars '77.
Additional Info: In this pic you can easily see the the camera was a videotape one, not film.
The Ewok movies were shot on 35mm film, the Ewok Adventure even got a theatrical release in Germany. So they are ripe for a HD remaster and release.
yoda-sama said:
Did the canonical status of the original Clone Wars series officially get stripped? If so, did it go out the window with the Expanded Universe, or sometime before that (in short, explain this canon purge)? Also, does the CG Clone Wars series ever deal with the events directly leading up to Episode III?
Sadly the 2003 Clone Wars series is "Legends", at least as of now. Which sucks, because the two fit together ok.
The closest the CGI series got to EP3 was an arc with Yoda about learning to be a Force Ghost and an arc about Order 66.
In 1986, Kenner was going to do a continuation of their line where the new villian was Atha Prime, Leader of the Dark Worlds, Genetics Master, and Architect of the Clone Wars. He would have been freed from exile after the Emperor's death and use his army of Clones to attack the Alliance. So even the higher ups thought the Clone Wars were Clones attacking the Republic.
emanswfan said:
Disney claiming a slightly modified 1997 version as the original would drive me insane. I really don't believe they'd do that on us. It would be much more work, but even if it isn't THIS release that is the exact originals, atleast sometime within the next decade they will.
If Disney is recreating the originals, then this would be a logical first step. Then you go back and find the original effects shots, either in negative or interpositive form and work them into a releasable effort. If we are getting them in 2015 that step might not have happened yet.
Ever since Disney bought Lucas out, their whole strategy has been one of "We're sorry for the Prequels and the Lucas insanity. Please go see Episode 7." They know the best way to get goodwill is the OOT. It will be the ultimate statement that Lucas' reign is over.
As long as a new fan is introduced to the OOT at every chance, we will survive. The new generation is our responsibility. They will come into Star Wars with Episode 7. The Prequel Generation is lost, and they don't matter as long as we get the new generation. Let them be the sad footnote in the Legacy of Star Wars and maybe we can save some of them.
If they did the 1997 cut for the scan, it could bode well for the OOT. The question is what happened to the parts of the negative taken out when they "enhanced" the film?
I always viewed the original cut as a grand old dame who is aging gracefully and with dignity. The Special Editions are like a woman who can't bear their age and gets a ton of bad plastic surgery to attempt to look young and just looks a mess.
Does Disney do the thing where they send their goons to confiscate the prints, like Lucas did?
pittrek said:
You guys know what are the problems of the original cuts? NONE.
I have seen the movies, I don't know, maybe 20 times before the 97SE was created? And I have never ever noticed an error. Simply because I WAS ENJOYING THE F***ING MOVIES AS EVERYBODY ELSE. Only AFTER I found sites like this and I read about the errors and mistakes, I noticed them . And do I care? No, I don't. Yes, there are editorial mistakes, yes, there are some low quality special effects (especially in Jedi, I don't remember any "bad" effects in the first movie), yes, there are some garbage mattes, yes, there are colour imbalances, I know that. Do I care? NO.I simply LOVE the movies. And I'm pissed that Lucas instead of fixing these mistakes he created new ones and new continuity errors, that's why I prefer the originals.
Ady's versions are great and fun to watch, but what the hell are they doing in this discussion? This is about the ORIGINAL CUTS released officially, comparing them to an unofficial fan edit is absolutely POINTLESS.
I never noticed the garbage mattes until the DVD and the crushed blacks and color shift made them worse.
About Ben being a liar. As much as I really dislike 99% of the EU, there was a good passage where Luke forgave Ben. He understands that at 19, knowing his father was alive in any form would have caused Luke to run to Vader and he would have fallen to the Dark Side.
Lord Haseo said:
Harmy said:
So? Citizen Kane was released in 1941 and it's still considered a great masterpiece. And by today's standards, the film is very slow but it would just be plain wrong to replace it with a different cut with faster pacing.
Plus, to me, the historical value of Star Wars and its original visual effects are good 50% of the entertainment factor of it. The story and characters are great but I think in reality, they are only a small part of what makes Star Wars a cinematic masterpiece.
I actually started working on the DeEd specifically to be able to show people who've never seen the movie, the original version, so as not to taint their 1st experience with an altered version or a low quality transfer - I actually remember a generic discussion about the morality of fanedits somewhere and I said, that I think making a making a fanedit is perfectly OK, as long as it's not being passed for the original and as long as the person watching has already seen the original - this, being a generic discussion, was of course taking into account, that a fan-edit can make the movie significantly worse, which I don't think Revisited has done by any means but there are some things in it, which I personally disagree with. And there can be some things in the original cut that you or I may personally not like but unlike any other version, it's still the original cut, which won all the Oscars and made the movie into a world-wide phenomenon.
I'm not saying the OUT is bad for fucks sake. Fuck, ANH and ESB are both on my top 5 favorite films of all time. The visuals are kind of dated, that is undeniable and in MOST ways ANH:R and ESB:R are superior and based on empiricism and should be considered the definitive versions. Do I still want the OUT on Blu-Ray? YES. Do the fans deserve the OUT on Blu-Ray? FUCK YES. My point was that we shouldn't be pissing our pants over a rumor when we have better versions. There is nothing else to discuss.
Better is a subjective term. What you are basically saying is that we can have our versions, but they totally suck and the CGI is better because its new. This is the same thinking that got us the SEs in the first place and influenced the Prequels, much to their detriment.
Also we should give Disney a chance to see if they are going to release the OUT or not. If its not out by 2016, baring any legal/restoration troubles that are announced, then we can look at them in another light.
I agree with Tyrphanax 100%. I just want the movies I saw as a kid. The one that made me beg my parents to dig my brother's old action figures out of the closet and let me have my own adventures. Had I been a little older, I would have begged my parents for a laserdisc player to see them in better quality than the old releases that sat on the shelves of my local mom and pop video store.
If Lucas would have just given us a choice, then most of the hard feelings would have gone away. He didn't for whatever reason. But now we have the chance to have a high quality release of the OOT. Something I though would never happen unless Lucas was dead.
Adywan's Star Wars is a nice variant, but not the Star Wars I and many more will look at the definitive version 20, 30, 100 years down the line.
The real question is, when are the Ewok movies coming out on Blu-Ray?
Has Disney ever done a release in cooperation with another major studio? I could see them sharing profits, to allow the fans to get them ASAP and ease Fox into letting Star Wars go in 2020.
So glad to see the prequel crap finally leaving stores and replaced by OT crap.
I guess I don't mind some of the universe shrinkage, I always imagined the coincidences are manifestations of the will of the Force.
I hope it doesn't involve and major characters, let the Saga proper be their stomping grounds. Boba Fett is the exception.
Easterhay said:
The past few comments do present a strong case for the older fans to simply let go - or at least accept that the prequels have their fanbase and are referenced in modern films as much as the original trilogy was in its day. Ergo, when my kids were on half term recently, two of the films they watched were Hop and Marmaduke, both of which had prominent references to the prequels in them.
Now, you can lament that and typically say "Well, that just show how standards are slipping....films aren't as good as they used to be...etc" - I'd expect nothing less on this forum - but you can't deny the success of the prequels and that these "awful" films exist, will continue to exist, and are the reason Star Wars remains so prominent today.
I can tolerate the prequel fans. Unless they compare Jar Jar to Chewbacca again. Them is fighting words.
I think it is our duty as keepers of the original cuts, to show the kids how good Star Wars was. To show them a less kiddied up version and how imaginative Lucas was before the prequels. Sadly a generation is lost to us, they are the ones raised on the Prequels, Clone Wars (which i did kinda like) and the fact that a freaking X-Wing fighter hasn't been in non-exclusive release for like 10 years. But with Disney giving all the attention to OT characters and situations, we have a chance to save the upcoming little ones.
As long as Disney isn't too greedy and agrees to a fair sharing of profits, I can see Fox playing ball and doing a OOT release. Disney needs to generate good will for Star Wars after the last decade of Prequel-only attention. Fox will have only so long to get money from Star Wars. Do it.
Just get rid of the awful Lowry restoration and use the GL Technicolor print as a color source, it should be good. Disney and Fox know what the fans want, and they want happy fans for 2015.
Did the Rebels have a system for the handling of prisoners in the war? I mean did they have the resources necessary to handle the troops they captured at Endor? Or did they just give them to the Ewoks to eat?
1. The books eventually going up their own ass. Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi were the worst offenders.
2. Super-weapons of the week. Kevin J Anderson used this trope way too much. The Sun Crusher? Darksaber?
3. Every book having "the biggest threat since Palpatine." It got old after the second time they used it. Not every adventure had to be a galaxy-changing deal.
4. Killing off Chewbacca for shock value. Thats like getting the kids a puppy for X-mas and then shooting it.
5. No gay people at all.
I really liked the end of Attack of the Clones. The juxtaposition of Anakin and Padme's wedding and the clones going off to war was great, and it reminded me of the stories of soldiers marrying before they went off to war. Grabbing any happiness you can before it all goes to hell.
1. There was no Han Solo-type (everyman) character. Everyone was way too uptight and it showed.
2. Anakin was extremely unlikable. The Clone Wars' biggest surprise was how they made him actually a heroic guy. They played up his pilot skills and I can see why Ben called him a cunning warrior.
3. The decision to go away from 35mm to digital. Digital will never have the great feel of film.
4. Lucas at that point had surrounded himself with yes men and he had no one to tell him some ideas were crap. It was less a collaborative effort. Plus I think his brain had gone to mush as a result of spending 15 years raising kids.
5. George Lucas should never try to write love scenes. He doesn't strike me as the romantic guy.
6. Turning the Jedi into monks instead of samurai.
My thought was why couldn't they have tried to make him look like he was 45ish instead of 23. It was a half-assed change.