Interview Lucasfilm on Star Wars the Complete Saga Blu-ray: Part II Matthew Wood (1 Viewer)

[Adam Gregorich]

My general point it is was covered here, so why link elsewhere for it? . I have no problem linking to over coverage especially if its something we didn't cover, or if they have a different take on it, but when its essentially the same thing we listed earlier in the same thread....


Addressing your actual comments


My opinion is that the previous DVD releases (including prepping the materials) were rushed. Fact is rather than create a new mix with separation they resorted to flipping the surrounds as a way to artificially open the sound stage. Feel free to disagree with the reason they did it, but at the end of the day it was an intentional decision and was done on purpose.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Shelldweller

OK, I think we all saw the CGI Yoda by now... just perfect!!! I really can wait to finally watch the Saga in 1080p.

The question about the US-box being regionfree remains. Does anyone know or can find out whether the set will be regionfree?

I have confirmed that they will be region free.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich




I have confirmed that they will be region free.

Sounds like great news to me because if they are region free it means Fox are probably getting Attack Of The Clones re-classified in the UK and putting the headbutt back in, logically that makes sense because if they didn't then it would be region locked, thus same edition for all over the world.


Unless of course they are pulling a Conan The Barbarian, that disc contains the uncut and the cut UK version via seamless branching and if its a UK player it only plays the censored version, multi region UK owners can buy it and access the uncut edition though, shame they screwed that films soundtrack up though.

 

[Cory S.]

http://www.starwars.com/news/saga_bluray_restoration/index.html

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Cory S.

http://www.starwars.com/news/saga_bluray_restoration/index.html

From that site.


"When Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace arrived in theaters in 1999, it presaged the birth of digital cinema. Though it boasts over 2,000 visual effects shots featuring digital animation, environments and compositing, Episode I was captured and released on film. Its 2001 DVD release -- the first Star Wars movie released in the DVD format -- was acclaimed for its picture and sound quality at the time."


Ummm, no it wasn't.


The Phantom Menace was derided at the time for having massive edge enhancement halo's and a poor image. Indeed both it and Tombstone were the poster child for bad edge enhancement on the DVD format.

 

[Cory S.]

Well, over time it was derided for its problems but when it was first released, it pretty much got a pass from everyone who reviewed the DVD....

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Cory S.

Well, over time it was derided for its problems but when it was first released, it pretty much got a pass from everyone who reviewed the DVD....

Yah, you're right, and thats what now shocks me, i guess many, including myself, were ignorant to this and since then we have seen a small upsurge in people using projectors to view films and issues like edge enhancement stand out when viewed on such screens, indeed television set sizes are larger now, i must admit when i had my 29 inch set i didnt spot the EE on Phantom, i got my projector and it stuck out so bad.


Its also a learning process, i was ignorant to the issues of the day, i decided to learn about it all, still learning, sometimes ignorance is bliss though and its hard to enjoy some of the atrocities released on blu ray even though i should sit back and just enjoy the film.

 

[Scott Calvert]

Feel free to disagree with the reason they did it, but at the end of the day it was an intentional decision and was done on purpose.

Sorry, all signs point to CYA excuse for an obvious error. 1) Simply flipping surrounds doesn't "open up the soundstage" 2) Why wasn't it done on the foreign language tracks (which were also new mixes)?

 

[Mark Anthony]

Like many others i am concerned with GL's attitude to his own films...there was a big fan fare about restoration in 1997 and it turns out they weren't really restored, then the super-duper promised for dvd since around 2000 edition's came out in '04 and they turned out to be rushed (quite why I don't know, given the 4 year run up and that they were supposedly in great condition after the '97 restoration - they weren't and Lowry had only a month to fix them!) Now we have the HD releases based off of 7 year old telecines, the main reason must be due to the number of changes that have been made to the film at HD rather than film resolution over the years and so they could not be output to film for a new telecine or scanned for DI, without doing them all again! Quite what this means for the potential theatrical 3D editions - will they be digital cinema only and based off potentially 10 year old+ telecines too? Either way it means that the crown jewels of the HD era could end up looking poor in comparison to other titles, especially on large screens, and totally unnecessarily. :-(

 

[Brian Borst]

3. JOHN WILLIAMS “I am thrilled to have the chance to go back to something I composed in 1977 and be able to make the entire saga continuous theme-wise. Notably absent in the first movie is the Imperial March. Being able to insert that theme in the first movie will create a much stronger emotional flow throughout the Saga. After the release of Episode III George will enhance the original trilogy with additional scenes and special effects, adding my adjustments to the score this will seamlessly branch the entire Star Wars Saga into one massive romantic space opera. I think something of this magnitude has never been done before." => That's maybe the biggest proof we have. I don't think many people are against the adding of the Imperial March in ANH.

Yes there are. I, and many soundtrack aficionados, would hate it. The Imperial March wasn't composed for Star Wars, but for The Empire Strikes Back. Therefore, it has absolutely no place in a movie that was released three years earlier. The scores are already masterpieces, and any readjusting will only make it worse (just like the movies), Maybe Mr. Lucas should realize that he will never get a saga with episodes that perfectly match. Continuing altering them won't make the episodes "connect". Proper writing and a consistent visual style while making the prequels would have done better than retroactively adjusting movies that were made decades earlier.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst



Proper writing and a consistent visual style while making the prequels would have done better than retroactively adjusting movies that were made decades earlier.

This is so true, if he had shot 35mm he could have future proofed the films for later technological advances in the home, as it is they are stuck forever more at no more than a 2K resolution, well apart from The Phantom Menace.


Shooting 35mm would have also kept them more in line with the original trilogy, instead he seems to be downgrading the originals to match the look of the prequels, just the wrong way to do it if you ask me, much like what i said about altering the voice of Boba Fett, doing it all the wrong way and making the film slightly worse as a result.

 

[Cory S.]

So, we're going to crucify him now for trying to advance digital cinema just because he shot the last two prequels on digital? I get what you guys are saying but come on, you're basically saying he should've never tried shooting digital so to preserve the look of the Original Trilogy...

 

[johnSM]

My general point it is was covered here, so why link elsewhere for it? . I have no problem linking to over coverage especially if its something we didn't cover, or if they have a different take on it, but when its essentially the same thing we listed earlier in the same thread....


Addressing your actual comments


My opinion is that the previous DVD releases (including prepping the materials) were rushed. Fact is rather than create a new mix with separation they resorted to flipping the surrounds as a way to artificially open the sound stage. Feel free to disagree with the reason they did it, but at the end of the day it was an intentional decision and was done on purpose.

Does it really matter which link I posted if they both say the same thing? I actually meant to post the link to yours, but obviously made a deliberate creative decision... Secondly, my point was that if this was deliberate - and not a mistake - then why were the foreign soundtracks ON THE SAME DISC not similarly afflicted with reversed channels? To me this just sounds like Lucasfilm making lame excuses for a rushed product, along with the other recent excuse from these bluray interviews that it's the way that DVD treats colour-space that resulted in the pastel lightsaber colours of the 2004 DVD transfer. In short - codswallop! I'd love to see Jeremy Paxman interview Lucas/film about this release...

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst



Yes there are. I, and many soundtrack aficionados, would hate it. The Imperial March wasn't composed for Star Wars, but for The Empire Strikes Back. Therefore, it has absolutely no place in a movie that was released three years earlier. The scores are already masterpieces, and any readjusting will only make it worse (just like the movies), Maybe Mr. Lucas should realize that he will never get a saga with episodes that perfectly match. Continuing altering them won't make the episodes "connect". Proper writing and a consistent visual style while making the prequels would have done better than retroactively adjusting movies that were made decades earlier.

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Mr. Williams conduct the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra play the score for all three Special Edition theatrical trailers at a Showest Convention 1996. It was truly an amazing event and he is a very talented individual with much more to his credit than the Star Wars or Indy scores.

 

[dpippel]

Originally Posted by Brian Borst

Yes there are. I, and many soundtrack aficionados, would hate it. The Imperial March wasn't composed for Star Wars, but for The Empire Strikes Back. Therefore, it has absolutely no place in a movie that was released three years earlier. The scores are already masterpieces, and any readjusting will only make it worse (just like the movies), Maybe Mr. Lucas should realize that he will never get a saga with episodes that perfectly match. Continuing altering them won't make the episodes "connect". Proper writing and a consistent visual style while making the prequels would have done better than retroactively adjusting movies that were made decades earlier.

X2...

 

[Roonan]

So, when can we expect part III?

 

[David Weicker]

Does it really matter which link I posted if they both say the same thing? I actually meant to post the link to yours, but obviously made a deliberate creative decision... Secondly, my point was that if this was deliberate - and not a mistake - then why were the foreign soundtracks ON THE SAME DISC not similarly afflicted with reversed channels? To me this just sounds like Lucasfilm making lame excuses for a rushed product, along with the other recent excuse from these bluray interviews that it's the way that DVD treats colour-space that resulted in the pastel lightsaber colours of the 2004 DVD transfer. In short - codswallop! I'd love to see Jeremy Paxman interview Lucas/film about this release...

Actually, its not unusual that the foreign versions differed from the US versions. As he said, the US versions were the correct version - as intended. But because they drive on the wrong side of the street in other countries, they decided to play the music out of the wrong side of the speakers. David

 

[Shelldweller]

I have confirmed that they will be region free.
 

 

OK, thank you very very much!

 

[Douglas Monce]

It was, and it's an answer I don't buy from him. The surrounds for the foreign language versions on the same DVD weren't reversed... And even it was a product of the surround process, the rear channels could easily have been switched to make them correct before the product was released!

How would they be "correct" or "incorrect", when the films never had split surrounds before the special edition release? Even the 70mm 6 track used mono surrounds as that was the format before Apocalypse Now introduced the 5.1 format we know today. Doug

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce



How would they be "correct" or "incorrect", when the films never had split surrounds before the special edition release?

Because a tuba playing from the right front speaker (correct, as recorded) should not be heard also coming from the left surround channel. Violins are always seated on the left when facing the orchestra and on stereo recordings (like Star Wars) they are heard from the left speaker. Give the soundtrack album a listen. Except in the case of the 5.1 mix on the 2004 DVD where the violins are heard coming from the left front and right surround. And this also effects source music during the cantina scene. But this has been addressed and that old 2004 mix is now right where it belongs.