STAR WARS ON BLU-RAY - FALL 2011

I for one welcome our new Star Wars Blu-ray collection.  And at this point, I don't even care which version we get as long as the issues with the DVD release are fixed (some audio issues and dodgy lightsaber discoloration).

It would be nice if all the existing features are carried over (along with the SE trailers for Empire and Jedi) but I know it's too early to assume anything. In terms of "vintage moments," I actually put together a small (incomplete) list of existing documentaries that were either filmed during the making of the films or produced for TV years later.

-“The Making of Star Wars” as seen on ABC

-“SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back”

-“Star Wars: Music by John Williams” as seen on the BBC

-“Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi”

-“From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga”

-“From Star Wars to Star Wars: The Story of Industrial Light & Magic” 1999 Fox TV special

-“When Star Wars Ruled the World” as seen on VH1

-“Animal Icons: Star Wars Creatures” as seen on Animal Planet

-“Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed” as seen on the History Channel

-“Star Wars Tech” as seen on the History Channel

-“Star Wars: Feel the Force” as seen on Sky1

Star Wars is also featured in the following AFI specials:

-“100 Movies: America’s Greatest Movies”

-“100 Thrills: America’s Most Heart-Pounding Movies”

-“100 Heroes & Villains”

-“100 Movie Quotes: America's Greatest Quips, Comebacks and Catchphrases”

-“100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies”

-“100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition”

-“America’s 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres”

I can understand that Lucas does not want to invest considerable sums of money to restore versions of these films he feels unsatisfied with. I think it would be nice if he would at least meet fans half way with certain things. There's some nice things he did in his Special Editions, but there are also things that NOBODY likes and he knows it (unless He's just delusional, which is possible). I don't know why he insists on keeping that stuff in and insisting it makes the film better. How can the vast majority of fans be wrong? Take out Greedo shooting first, Jabba scene in ANH, restore "bring my shuttle". Take out the terrible "Jedi Rocks" sequence and like 95% of the complaints would subside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillG 

Take out Greedo shooting first, Jabba scene in ANH, restore "bring my shuttle". Take out the terrible "Jedi Rocks" sequence and like 95% of the complaints would subside.

And don't forget the stupid droids playing outside Mos Eisley and the Jawa singing on the Ronto and.....

Anyone want to guess the MSRP is going to be?

My guess is about $120

My guess: MSRP will be $199.99, we'll get it for $120.

None of it gets taken out because no matter how much people claim not to like it, they don't hate it enough to stop buying the product until whatever offends them is taken out. The product sells, regardless of the litany of complaints, and each sale only helps to validate in his mind that all of his decisions regarding the changes have been correct ones. Nothing will change until people get tired of him not listening and start refusing to buy his product. He'll only start listening when or if sales crash and burn, because the dollar is all that matters. However, that will never happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertR 

 

I'm sure Lucas would sit idly by, not "vent his spleen", and not unleash a horde of lawyers to keep that from happening....

 

Makes one wonder exactly who's really obsessed about the originals issue.

The horde of lawyers must not have heard about that Boston screening a couple weeks back. (And Lucas has prevented screenings of the original Star Wars before.) How much would it cost to scan that Technicolor print and clean it up, I wonder?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin-S 

The product sells, regardless of the litany of complaints, and each sale only helps to validate in his mind that all of his decisions regarding the changes have been correct ones.

Guilty as charged.

Originally Posted by Edwin-S 

Since I suscribe to a customer-driven business model and not an owner-driven model, your response means absolutely squat. My post clearly describes which needs should be the driver in a customer/seller relationship and the owner's wants come dead last to the wants of his or her customers, but you seem to have ignored that fact and are stating something that I have already indicated I don't believe in or even consider as a legitimate consideration. If the owner's wants are more important than customers then don't enter the business of selling wares. As soon as you put your wares up for sale, the wants and needs of your customers come first, not your own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad R 

I can't speak for the man, but I'm pretty sure he'd speak in terms of it being art, not business. And as the artist he believes his wishes are more important.

Lucas ALWAYS wants to have it both ways.  If you tell him him his decisions make no artistic sense, he'll say "that's because I'm a businessman".  If you tell him his decisions make no business sense, he'll say "that's because I'm an ARTIST".  He'll put his "artist" hat on when it suits him, and his "businessman" hat when it suits him.  If he was solely an "artist", he wouldn't have gone from "Greedo shoots first" to "Greedo shoots at the same time as Han", not to mention the various moves done solely to make business profits.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverWook 

The horde of lawyers must not have heard about that Boston screening a couple weeks back. (And Lucas has prevented screenings of the original Star Wars before.)

So you're saying they didn't ask permission from Lucasfilm beforehand, and charged admission?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricardo C 

My guess: MSRP will be $199.99, we'll get it for $120.

That sounds about right, judging by other releases on BD. Closest current analogy is probably the Alien Anthology: MSRP of $139.99 for four movies plus extras. Although I'd change it to "some of us will get it for $120."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian L 

This was linked today from Daring Fireball. I thought it may be of interest here:

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/star-wars-was-born-a-long-time-ago-but-not-all-that-far-far-away-in-1972-filmmakers-george-lucas-and-gary-kurtz-wer.html

 

Brian

I saw this article last night after posting here and thought about putting it up.  Glad somebody did.  It's always nice to be vindicated by true insider information.  I think the statement "George Lucas cares mostly about the money" is pretty well factual instead of opinion at this point.  It doesn't change anything, but it's nice to be right :D  Lucas is the Bizarro-Midas.  ROTJ, the prequels, the last Indy--'nuff said.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce 

 

The owner of the films, thats who...

 

Doug

Too simplistic.  The only art owned solely by the artist is art never released for public consumption.  The line is certainly blurry, but denying the relationship between artist and patrons is ignoring a fundamental aspect of art.

I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan. No surprise to those on the HTF.  But I do feel Lucas' excuse could've been better. Not really sure what he could've said but expensive is hard to swallow coming from George. 

Of course I'm buying these but like one member said I just hate the addition of Hayden's Anakin at the end of ROTJ. It just doesn't fit. I know I've seen & heard GL's reasoning and I actually think his reasoning is the opposite. The man who saved Luke from dying was indeed the older Darth Vader. That persona and part of him was there in Empire and even moreso in Jedi. The man who turned back was that man....not Anakin from Rev. of the Sith. Especially with the very touching moment where Luke unmasks Vader. Such a heart warming moment. 

Ok rant over. For now. 

And this probably goes in the SW thread in the Movies forum anyway. 

So it's safe to think the audio will be Dolby True HD? Although Fox supports DTS-MA. Lucas seems to always do Dolby though. Either way they should sound awesome. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Glover 

 

Of course I'm buying these but like one member said I just hate the addition of Hayden's Anakin at the end of ROTJ. It just doesn't fit. I know I've seen & heard GL's reasoning and I actually think his reasoning is the opposite. The man who saved Luke from dying was indeed the older Darth Vader.

Not that I particularly love the change but young Anakin makes more sense than old Anakin with hair. Anakin looked like Hayden Christensen at some point in his life but he never looked like Sebastian Shaw with hair at any point in his life.

Ricardo, man, how long have you been in the States?  Did you ever end up marrying that girl?  (I seem to recall you breaking it off right before--hope I'm not stirring up bad memories.

On topic: I'm seen as a Lucas apologist around these parts, but I despise the changes to ANH--the Jabba scene and the already-dated Mos Eisley entrance scene worse than Greedo shooting first.  Unless things are seriously improved from the last release, I'm gonna pass.

Hey Greg! Glad to see so many of the old gang still here

I arrived in January. Ashley and I got married back in Venezuela last year. We were going to live there for a while, since she's a big traveler and wanted to get to know the country, but political turmoil made it impossible. So, we applied for a family-based visa, and eight months (and a lot of paperwork and money) later I joined her here. In the meantime, she visited a lot, never staying more than three months at a time. Sucky way to spend our first year of marriage, but now we look at it as just paying our dues, and now we get to be together for good :)

Yeah, we had broken it off, but after a couple years found our way back to each other. So no bad memories being stirred, it all worked out in the end :)

It's great to see you again.  Man, those were the glory days . . . waiting for Sith, talking about the prequels and all things Star Wars.  It's funny how a lot of the crew from those threads has come back of late (Hi, Tim!).  Glad to hear things worked out for you and Ashley.  With Chuck and Travis up towards that way, Tim and I may have to carpool for a little Massachusetts Star Wars party. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin-S 

George Lucas wouldn't know art if it came up and kicked him in the ass. If Lucas was concerned with artistic integrity, he wouldn't have turned his creation into a "money spinner" in the form of an empire of toy sales and plastic landfill in the form of fast food giveaways. Bill Watterson of "Calvin and Hobbes" fame is a guy who respected his art. Lucas is nothing more than a businessman and always has been. The growth of his "Star Wars" empire was and is based on the generation of enormous quantities of revenue through licensing. I'm sure Lucas was thinking how artful it would be to have Darth Vader's likeness on kid's pajamas and cheap plastic cups while a phalanx of his droids were negotiating money making licensing deals. If Lucas tried to use "artistic" considerations as a reason to suppress the original versions of these films, they would be even more hollow and pathetic than his excuse that it costs too much money to restore the films. Even Lucas realizes how ridiculous it would sound to stand on artistic integrity which is why he is attempting to use a financial angle. In fact, his use of a financial angle only proves that he is approaching the whole issue from the point of view of a businessman with a top down mentality, not an artist. The only reason he gets away with his behavior is because he can be entirely assured that, no matter how he disses them, his fanbase will always lap up whatever crap he dishes out and pay him handsomely for it.

It never ends. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertR 

So you're saying they didn't ask permission from Lucasfilm beforehand, and charged admission?

It was free. But it was implied that this was flying under the radar...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEctWVF4J_w

The guy who puts on revival screenings in my neck of the woods has expressed frustration that he can't even rent the SE's from the studio.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverWook 

It was free. But it was implied that this was flying under the radar...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEctWVF4J_w

 

The guy who puts on revival screenings in my neck of the woods has expressed frustration that he can't even rent the SE's from the studio.

I'd say that situation is different from what was discussed.  It "slipped through his fingers".  You can BET Lucas would utterly smother any attempt to market a nonofficial Blu-ray of the originals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertR 

So you're saying they didn't ask permission from Lucasfilm beforehand, and charged admission?

I guess you missed the thread in the Theatrical forum:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/302634/senator-theatre-farewell-screenings-of-star-wars-technicolor-ib-print#post_3715437

I changed my mind. It's not worth it.

Good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin-S 

George Lucas wouldn't know art if it came up and kicked him in the ass. If Lucas was concerned with artistic integrity, he wouldn't have turned his creation into a "money spinner" in the form of an empire of toy sales and plastic landfill in the form of fast food giveaways. Bill Watterson of "Calvin and Hobbes" fame is a guy who respected his art. Lucas is nothing more than a businessman and always has been. The growth of his "Star Wars" empire was and is based on the generation of enormous quantities of revenue through licensing. I'm sure Lucas was thinking how artful it would be to have Darth Vader's likeness on kid's pajamas and cheap plastic cups while a phalanx of his droids were negotiating money making licensing deals. If Lucas tried to use "artistic" considerations as a reason to suppress the original versions of these films, they would be even more hollow and pathetic than his excuse that it costs too much money to restore the films. Even Lucas realizes how ridiculous it would sound to stand on artistic integrity which is why he is attempting to use a financial angle. In fact, his use of a financial angle only proves that he is approaching the whole issue from the point of view of a businessman with a top down mentality, not an artist. The only reason he gets away with his behavior is because he can be entirely assured that, no matter how he disses them, his fanbase will always lap up whatever crap he dishes out and pay him handsomely for it.

I think Lucas respects his art just fine - it's just that I don't think he considers Star Wars "art" in the sense the fans do. He sees THX 1138 and American Graffiti as art, and it shows when he talks about those films (especially the former). Star Wars? He sees it as a technical means to an end, and a commodity. I think he sees the craftsmanship at all the different levels of Star Wars, but he doesn't strike me as someone who sees the nuances of art in Star Wars. At best he has some overarching themes in his mind. Otherwise, they're tech projects and financial security and a way for.... drumroll please.... him to have fun with his toys (those being ILM, Skywalker Sound, etc.).

Just listen to the passion he has on the commentary for THX 1138 as compared to when he talks about Star Wars and this becomes crystal clear, IMO.

I think the most interesting fact of Celebration V has to be Gary Kurtz, and then the Blu Ray announcement.

I would love to see isolated soundtracks for all 6 films

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_S_H 

It's great to see you again.  Man, those were the glory days . . . waiting for Sith, talking about the prequels and all things Star Wars.  It's funny how a lot of the crew from those threads has come back of late (Hi, Tim!).  Glad to hear things worked out for you and Ashley.  With Chuck and Travis up towards that way, Tim and I may have to carpool for a little Massachusetts Star Wars party. 

Hehe Plenty of room in the house!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway 

I think Lucas respects his art just fine - it's just that I don't think he considers Star Wars "art" in the sense the fans do. He sees THX 1138 and American Graffiti as art, and it shows when he talks about those films (especially the former). Star Wars? He sees it as a technical means to an end, and a commodity. I think he sees the craftsmanship at all the different levels of Star Wars, but he doesn't strike me as someone who sees the nuances of art in Star Wars. At best he has some overarching themes in his mind. Otherwise, they're tech projects and financial security and a way for.... drumroll please.... him to have fun with his toys (those being ILM, Skywalker Sound, etc.).

 

Just listen to the passion he has on the commentary for THX 1138 as compared to when he talks about Star Wars and this becomes crystal clear, IMO.

Still, he went around and made changes to THX 1138 and American Graffiti as well, to the point that none of his movies are available as they were released theatrically. Someone should send him a copy of the Blade Runner Blu-ray, to see how good a restored movie can look. Or Close Encounters, or countless other examples of directors who, in spite of their preference, include the theatrical cut.

And about Lucas' artistry, he's been going on about doing smaller, experimental films since Revenge of the Sith, but he keeps going on milking Star Wars and Indiana Jones. What does that say?