DVD Review *** Official HTF REVIEW & Discussion Thread: Star Wars Trilogy, pt. 1 (1 Viewer)

[Steve Bragg]

I always thought the force was tied to Genetics, as is Luke said in Return of the Jedi,"the force is strong in my family my father has it, I have and my sister has it." If it any average joe blow could be trained to use the force. Then they could have recruited a bunch after the purge.

 

[Neil McCaulley]

For David VP:







The Sandcrawler comparison does not really show us anything. What I mean is that we are all viewing the shot on our computer monitors. It is so easy to just take the clean, clear version, save it as a new file and then blur it and desaturate the colors to make it look like a less refined shot. Don't get offended because I am not accusing you of such dishonesty. I am just skeptical that the one who posted them originally, maybe on another site somewhere is trying to pull a fast one. The only way you can make a true, honest comparison is to play them both side by side on the same brand television with the same DVD player and the same settings on the set. Which I know we can't realistically do since this IS the first and only version of the original Trilogy on DVD. The 1997 version does not exist, per say.

 

[Dharmesh C]

quote:

I feel the opposite; the high quality of the DVD presentation really exposes the grimy, low-tech production design of the OT - or at least the non-tweaked parts, which stand out in stark contrast to the glossy, expansive sheen of the prequels. While some chose to deride Lucas for not making the prequels look like their memories the OT, I think it's a master stroke. Whether Lucas really meant to, or whether the limits of 1970's movie-making really can't be overcome, the rough feel of the OT now stands out as an actual stylistic choice, one that is deliberately being worked into Episode 3.

When the Empire takes over, the Star Wars galaxy tumbles into chaos, and this is highlighted in the look of the films. It's very much a stylish choice.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"The best explanations of the Force are STILL in Episode IV and V. The midichlorian stuff DOES NOT tell the audience what the Force is AT ALL."

Which is why the series shold be viewed in this order:

Episode IV: Star Wars (A New Hope)
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

I'm off today, and I'm finally able to give these discs a proper full-throttle workout, and that's the order in which they reside in my player (minus Episode III, of course).

Just finished Star Wars, on to Empire...

EDIT

Just had to correct this post to fix all the stupid "break return" insertions. Look, I'm a patient guy, I assumed when these formatting issues appeard on the HTF a couple months ago, they would be quickly remedied. They haven't been, and they are starting to finally grate on my nerves.

 

[Tom Brennan]

quote:Still no word from Ron about THX. It appears the outstanding issues have been successfully swept under the rug by Lucasfilm's blanket statement.

It is amazing what a few bannings will do to a controversial subject.

 

[Ricardo C]

Give me a break. People are not being prevented from complaining about the set. The glitches thread is still there, and even if LFL insists on ignoring the flipped surrounds issue, Fox has issued replacements to anyone suffering from playback problems.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Ricardo, we don't discuss those sorts of issues in the open forums. Nor has the glitch thread been closed.







All: I notice that this thread is becoming bogged down in the fanboyish discussion of the movies. Please save that for the discussion thread in the Movies section. This thread is reserved for discussing the DVD reviews and the DVDs themselves -- i.e., picture quality, sound quality, etc., etc. Thanks.

 

[Ricardo C]

quote:

Ricardo, we don't discuss those sorts of issues in the open forums.

You're right, and I'm sorry. I'll edit my post.

 

[Grant H]

In a way, Lucasfilm lucked out that some (or most) of the color problems with the set plagued the visual effects shots since they can get away with subjective evaluations.



"Oh, no. That explosion was SUPPOSED to be magenta now, or that really weird green, or colorless. We WANTED those shots to appear black and white this time around."



People didn't really try to call them on those problems, just the sound, and they managed to make that a subjective issue too instead of admitting any error.



Hopefully, they've now learned that using new toys to restore the FX-heavy films of yesteryear with their multiple elements and variation of print generation, requires a little more time for refinement. Can't blame Lowry; they wanted more time, and some things should have (and hopefully will someday) be completed by ILM.



I wouldn't call any of these problems glitches since they don't have to do with the functionality of the discs or how they were mastered. If the rear channels had been completely swapped, that could be a mastering error--here we have a mixing error. I'd say these issues are true audio and video quality issues, whether they're obvious or not.



I doubt there will ever be an admission of any kind of the inherent problems, but HOPEFULLY those who made the effort to address the companies involved were not completely ignored and the proper effort will be put forth for the next release. I know a lot of hard work was done, and probably 90% of it, if not more, was right (not counting the ANH music issues). Still, we know releasing the films at this time was sort of a last-minute decision and they were rushed. It's sort of a sad truth, considering how long the DVD format has been around and it seems like these movies should have been being prepped from the get-go, but they simply weren't, despite all the rumors over the years.



It's nice to finally have the Trilogy on DVD, but, yeah, it's a little anti-climactic. Maybe with HD on the horizon Lucas figured it didn't matter if it was perfect since they'd be fixed up again in the near future. Even if they'd been perfect (if there was such a thing), it would have been a little anti-climactic to us hardcore home theater people since the release came too late. We wanted them when DVD was new, and now we're anxiously awating something better(HD). Just like the discs themselves. Have them. Now want something better. Perhaps that was the plan all along. Whet our appetites. Look how anxious we are to see what they fix or don't fix for the HD release. Would we be as excited if the presentation was perfect now? Or would we just be crossing out fingers that we got nothing but improved audio and video resolution next time 'round?

 

[Stephen Brooks]

Grant, that was a lucid, intelligent, and well-thought-out post.







Overruled.

LOL

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

I was listening to the Kershner commentary on Empire yesterday with a friend, and he and I decided that it was easily the least pretentious commentary we'd ever heard. I was especially tickled by his emphasis of the importance of smoke, sparks and fire. He had this impish little laugh in his voice, too, almost as if he was thumbing his nose at other commentaries.







I loved it.

 

[Steve_E]

I get what you'r saying Grant, but if you try and get into the Lucas pysche, he let Star Wars get out there for all those years when he himself didnt think it was finished. So maybe future editions will have problems too because he'l probably be busy with some other project.

 

[Jay Pennington]

quote:Just had to correct this post to fix all the stupid "break return" insertions. Look, I'm a patient guy, I assumed when these formatting issues appeard on the HTF a couple months ago, they would be quickly remedied. They haven't been, and they are starting to finally grate on my nerves.

The PTB can correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that the bug WAS fixed, and only threads that were created during its, um, tenure are affected. I think to fix this thread it would have to be closed and its contents copied to a newly created one, the original buggy code being integral to its current operation.

Or something like that.

 

[Grant H]

Thanks. I don't know what came over me during the weekend.

Really don't know what Lucas' plan is now. I remember when he was worried about what the films would look like on DVD. Perhaps, his focus has shifted (for better or worse depending on how you look at it) to what they will look like on HD. Good, if indeed things will be corrected for HD. Bad, if you consider a "Don't worry too much. It's JUST DVD." attitude was empoyed for the current release.



Lucas is so caught up in the evolution of digital filmmaking, DVD may not be very impressive to him anymore. In '97 it was finally a medium that could give a good presentation of his films.



At the dawn of DVD, the thinking may have been that a truly definitive version would come out on DVD, but with DVD now just a stepping stone to something that will be EQUAL to the quality Lucas now SHOOTS his movies the DVD's may have been less important. We're probably lucky the product we got is as good as it is. The nice thing is a lot of preliminary work for the HD versions is already done. Less to "throw together" next time.



Hopefully, Lucas will want to take a little break after Episode III and Indy 4 (if it happens). Maybe during that time, he can take some time to concentrate on the HD versions of his films. Then again, he might not need any additional money for some time!!

 

[Geoff_D]

I totally agree Grant. Lowry's fancy restoration has created some astonishingly detailed transfers, but they have thrown up a host of errors with regards to colour saturation in the Star Wars films. To be honest, when I first saw the new transfers I thought people would be clogging this forum (and others) bitching about the colours not being right. I mean, what the hell is that blue stuff around the (now black-and-white!) Death Star explosion? But people's reactions to these artefacts - lightsabers withstanding - have been largely apathetic; they know something's not right but it just doesn't bother them that much. I'd guess that the more divisive music issue has also deflected attention from this, certainly here at the HTF anyway.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i just got a chance to spin these disc in my HT this weekned and although i'd read about the audio issues (on this first disc at least) i guess i still can't form any definite conclusions since i may still have some issues with my reciever (which i just got back from the service center after 2 months).
it would probably be best to hold off criticizing it as harshly as i want to.
i may have information from the surrounds bleeding into my front channels which is exacerbating Burtts already lousy mix- the ambient noises, in scenes that should be primarily quieter, come across so loud and overbearing on my system, that it's nails-on-a-chalkboard annoying.
at this point, i don't know whether i would rather it really be the discs that are at fault or my reciever.
FWIW, most other discs sound just fine, if not excellant now, save for the test tones on AVIA.

quote: At the dawn of DVD, the thinking may have been that a truly definitive version would come out on DVD, but with DVD now just a stepping stone to something that will be EQUAL to the quality Lucas now SHOOTS his movies the DVD's may have been less important. We're probably lucky the product we got is as good as it is. The nice thing is a lot of preliminary work for the HD versions is already done. Less to "throw together" next time.

after making brightness (up 12 clicks) and color (down 3) adjustments, there were plenty of times watching the first film where i had to sigh/swoon.



close-ups were gorgeously detailed and the image crisp and punchy -without being edgy.
after a second viewing of the film the next night, i'm even more impressed with image- although i consider the need to make adjustments to your display to get that image to be enough to 'drag its rating down' and definitely keep it off of the 'reference list'.
that is a definite flaw, imo.
but in any event, after tweaks, its seeing images like that that make cravings for HD material recede to the far shores of my mind.
i'm insanely contented with NTSC when it comes out looking as well as it does here- for a film primarily from 1977.

 

[greg_t]

quote:Lowry's fancy restoration has created some astonishingly detailed transfers, but they have thrown up a host of errors with regards to colour saturation in the Star Wars films.

How do we know it's Lowry's fault? According to Star Wars Insider, the HiDef transfers were re-color timed and tweaked before going to Lowry. So it could be that the errors occured prior to Lowry.

 

[Geoff_D]

I know, I know, that was a little uncharitable towards Lowry's efforts, which are greatly appreciated by pretty much everyone who has seen these DVDs in action. The finger of blame must primarily point at those who colour timed the masters, although I wouldn't rule out any untoward side-effects from Lowry's work, especially in light of the extremely rushed nature of the digital restoration.

 

[Stephen Brooks]

Now that they have high-def masters of the films, in the same resolution (1920x1080 24p) that the new prequels are being shot it, are the film elements ever going to be touched on these movies again? Will any farther restoration or preservation occur on film or will the negatives just be allowed to decay into dust now that Lucas has a "good enough" digital master?

 

[Michael Reuben]

This thread continues in part 2 in the HT Software forum.







M.