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I would pay $100 to $150 for a truly complete saga that includes the Original (original un-altered, (1 Viewer)

Rolando

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Hi guys, Although I know this thread is likely to muster up some strong feelings let's please keep it clean. The idea is simple; many have said Lucas is losing money/slash leaving money on the table. Many believe the only way to really vote is with our wallet and that as long as we keep complaining but buying the altered OT it means nothing. Personally I think he is truly convinced of his decision and even if he could sell a million copies he would still not release the OOT on Blu Ray. However I am ever hopeful that one day he will do it for the fans, not for the money. But since he is a business man surrounded by many businessmen maybe this will help: I caved in and bought the original trilogy on DVD but actually bought it a second time when it was re-released in order to get the OOT on DVD even though I knew it was non-anamorphic. I have also bought almost every VHS release and LaserDisc release of the Star Wars movies. However: I will not buy this release (money Lucasfilm will not get) yet would Pay $100 to $150 for a release that included the OOT (money Lucas Film is leaving on the table). I would even pay $40 to $60 for a separate OOT only release. The point of this thread is to show who is really in the same camp. Please let's keep it honest. the reason to do this is to accurately show Mr. Lucas and company (if they care to know) how many copies are being left on shelf by potential clients and how many copies would sell if they released this product. Please do not post that you agree and would also shell out $50 for the OOT if you won't really. I want this to almost be a waiting list. a list of people who, like me, if Lucasfilm decided to release the OOT could just call and ask for a credit card number on the spot and done. not: I might buy or I would really consider it. This is me saying: " somebody please take my money" Also please mention if you did buy or will still buy the current release (so no money lost) but would still buy a separate release like many of us did for the DVDs. Once again the idea is to give them real numbers not just complaining on a forum but actually ready to put our money where our keyboard is :D
 

Leo Kerr

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I suppose you might get into some purists asking, "what's original?" Some would say the original release without "A New Hope" at the crawl. And particularly with SW:ANH, it sounds like there were 4-6 different audio mixes in circulation.


That said, if I could get a clean, HD version (not an upconvert) like the CAV:Definitive Collection set (which may have been also used for the CLV FACES set?) I'd go for it. Three movies, around $40/each?


Leo
 

Khai L

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I'd pay $150+ for a truly "ultimate" set, which included the unaltered original trilogy (dont care if it says A New Hope or not) and all the special features that have come before (eg. the extras available on the 2disc sets for the Prequel Trilogy). When I first heard of this current bluray set, I envisioned a box set that would set the standard for others, just like I think the Alien Anthology and Bladerunner sets did when they were released. I think even the LOTR extended edition set is better than this, even if the extras were just copies of the original DVDs and not blurays. But this current Complete Saga set to me isnt all that ultimate at all (probably why they didnt use that type of moniker). Sure it's the Complete Saga with all 6 movies in one set with some nice new extras, but certainly doesnt feel "complete" in the sense that I was expecting. I'd definitely shell out a lot of money ($150+) for a truly ultimate set.
 

SilverWook

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Leo Kerr said:
I suppose you might get into some purists asking, "what's original?" Some would say the original release without "A New Hope" at the crawl. And particularly with SW:ANH, it sounds like there were 4-6 different audio mixes in circulation.


That said, if I could get a clean, HD version (not an upconvert) like the CAV:Definitive Collection set (which may have been also used for the CLV FACES set?) I'd go for it. Three movies, around $40/each?


Leo
The 2006 Bonus disc had both crawls via seamless branching didn't it? There are three documented sound mixes, all of which would be sweet to have on Blu Ray. Empire had a couple slight audio and visual changes between the 70mm and 35mm release. I've bought the bonus discs and Episode III loose on Ebay.
 

SilverWook

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TravisR said:
I'd spend that kind of money too. Unfortunately, the potential to make money is not an issue for George Lucas since he already has more money than he could ever spend.
When he said it was too expensive to restore them at this point in time, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
 

Jesse Skeen

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The 2006 disc does not have "A New Hope" at the beginning. That wasn't added until 1981. A proper Blu-Ray release should include the 70mm magnetic sound mix, 35mm matrix stereo and 35mm mono mixes. And come on- "Blade Runner" has FIVE different versions, even at least one that the director doesn't like, but "Star Wars" can't do the same??
 

TravisR

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SilverWook said:
When he said it was too expensive to restore them at this point in time, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Yeah. I'd much rather have an honest answer along the lines of "I don't want to spend my money on what I consider incomplete movies" than some silliness about it being too expensive. They're his movies and it would be his money that would be spent on new transfers so I can begrudgingly accept that reason but don't tell me that you can't make money off of it.
 

cafink

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I agree wholeheartedly, and would like to add that I didn't buy the prequel trilogy on Blu-ray for the same reason: the original version of The Phantom Menace is not included.
 

cineMANIAC

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My first Star Wars purchase was the 2004 DVD set, I considered buying the unaltered reissues (but didn't) and I relented and bought the Blu-ray box even after reading about all the problems with it on this forum. And I'm not even a huge fan of the series! I would, however, purchase an "ultimate" set if they did it right. To me, doing it right would mean: 1) Doing at least a 4K scan of the original unaltered trilogy and calling them by the original titles. None of that "Episode I" BS. 2) Every single extra ever produced, from the first VHS through the fancy Laserdiscs and all the DVDs is included. There have been several DVD and BD box sets released over the years that have raised the bar for everything from spectacular PQ to exhaustive extras but this is NOT one of them. Lucas should really be ashamed of himself for not living up to the standards set by the likes of the Alien Anthology and LOTR. And even Ben-Hur, a 50-year-old film, looks phenomenal because it was DONE RIGHT. The only way I see Lucas making an effort to polish the OT and release them the way people really want them is if he did it to benefit a charity.
 

ahollis

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Well I spent that for the two Star Wars Collectors Laserdisc box sets. TWICE. But I am much more jaded and not likely to go that route again. You can count me out and one reason is that it will never happen so no need to get wound up over it. What we have is what we have for at least six years, That is until the films get the 3D home release.
 

Dave H

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I would have no problems paying $50 for each original if it were done in an optimal fashion (4k scan, etc.). Honestly, I would pay even more. They could sell this as a limited collector's edition or something.
 

Jeff Ulmer

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What I would want are the original versions cleaned up to remove artifacts that weren't intended to be there, ie. matte lines. I remember seeing Jedi in the theatre and being pulled out of the film by all the gray rectangles flying around. This is not a trivial restoration, and at this point I hardly think Lucas has any interest in restoring the original cuts to the degree necessary to make them worth releasing. Unlike others, I am not willing to pay a premium for these either, even in their original form. I'm not all that interested in the extras, and have seen all of these films dozens of times. I passed on the blurays and the 2006 releases, and unless these films can be had cheap, I may not buy them again.
 

johnSM

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I'd most certainly pay that amount to purchase the original editions on Bluray, provided a bit of effort went into them. By effort I mean the kind of quality we saw with the Blade Runner and Close Encounters sets, for example. The different sound mixes for Star Wars all present, and correct. The choice of the 1977 or 1981 title crawl via seemless branching. A proper high quality 4K (at least) scan of a decent condition Technicolor print of the film. Dirt removal - yes. ANYthing else, NO! Matt lines were a product of the era in which the film was made, as was the 'rippling' fur effect on King Kong for example. I don't want either 'fixed'. We have the Special Editions for all that (whoops - they didn't fix those problems with the latest blurays either, did they! Promises promises Lucasfilm...). A straight transfer of all 3 films with the minimum of tinkering would be an absolute pleasure to watch :cool: The online squabbling would die-down to a whisper, George would make thousands of fans very happy indeed, and everyone would be able to watch the version(s) of Star Wars they preferred, OR were in the mood for (I rotate which version I see with Blade Runner). Come on George - karma! Do it and feel the love ;)
 

TravisR

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johnSM said:
Dirt removal - yes. ANYthing else, NO! Matt lines were a product of the era in which the film was made, as was the 'rippling' fur effect on King Kong for example. I don't want either 'fixed'.
Thank you. If someone is saying that they want the originals, they should want them warts and all and not the originals with some 'minor' changes. A change is a change.
 

Joseph DeMartino

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I remember seeing Jedi in the theatre and being pulled out of the film by all the gray rectangles flying around.
Dirt removal - yes. ANYthing else, NO! Matt lines were a product of the era in which the film was made, as was the 'rippling' fur effect on King Kong for example. I
That's funny. I saw Jedi the first day it went into wide release (IIRC I drove from Westchester County in NY to a 70mm theater in New Jersey for the purpose) and have absolutely no recollection of those "boxes". I do remember being shocked by them the first time I saw the film on TV and VHS. Clearly one of us is misremembering, but my belief has always been that the matte lines and boxes were either not there or virtually invisibile in the theatrical presentation. In that case the moving boxes that leap off the screen on the VHS and LD versions of the films would be (and were) artificats of the video transfer process, rather than inherent to the original film. If I'm right about that, I would have no objection to Lucasfilm minimizing or eliminating the matte boxes to get rid of a video artificat and create something closer to the theatrical presenation. Can someone else check my memory on this point? Of course, all of this moot because Lucas said at the time of the first theatrical release that he simply hadn't kept all of the original elements, and there isn't enough left of the unaltered originals to create prints that would meet today's standards. The situation is roughly akin to the impossibility of a Blu Ray release of Babylon 5. Despite the fact that the show was shot on film in Super35, the SFX were only produced at NTSC resolution in 4:3 apspect ratio. Composite shots only existed in the video realm and were never transferred to film. So doing a true 16:9 BD edition of the series would required expanding every full CGI and CGI composite element beyond the 4:3 frame to 16:9, the rerendering and recompositing them. Even if WB were willing to spend the money required, it still turns out that doing this would be impossbile. All of the original CGI files and models are gone - discarded years ago. In short, the elements needed to do a hi-def version don't exist. Sound familiar? If Lucas is telling the truth, he simply dumped all the stuff that doesn't fit his "revised vision." (Perhaps to prevent anyone else from restoring the "old", "incomplete", versions of the film.) So it is physically impossible to ever produce what so many of us are asking for. Would I pay $150 for an unaltered version of the OT? Maybe. I'd also pay $150 for a night with slave Leia and $300 for a week at pod-racer fantasy camp - or maybe a nice dinner of unicorn steak with ambrosia fries and nectar on the rocks. The price doesn't matter when the object you want exists only in the realm of fantasy. Regards, Joe
 

Khai L

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Indeed I forgot about that one important point others have made. I'd only fork out $150+ if new high def 4k scans were done. Watching the original trilogy in this set, I always just get the feeling that things could have been so much better. Sure it's better than it's looked before on home media, but I was expecting something that would blow me away and would make me want to put the movies on every day (like I used to in the old VHS days when I didnt know better). But with what we got in this set, they're just any other catalog release that doesnt even come close to other releases that have been done right.
 

SilverWook

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cafink said:
I agree wholeheartedly, and would like to add that I didn't buy the prequel trilogy on Blu-ray for the same reason: the original version of The Phantom Menace is not included.
Funny how the theatrical cut only came out on VHS in the U.S. Japan got a nice Laserdisc release.
 

Robbie S

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I bought the Blu Ray. Mostly because I don't think Lucas will give us a non-special OT. That being said, I'm with you. I will pay money for a double-dip that rolls back special features. I'm not feeling too particular on how far back the rollback has to go, although I'd like it to go back to initial theatrical edition. That being said, I'd be happy to have a special edition where Hayden isn't the ghost. That kind of thing. If they really want to go crazy and come up with some way for me to build my own edition (Greedo shoots first, but Jabba is around, and all the lightsabers have the right color), I'd buy that too . While we're at it, I'll pay for the Holiday Special and a complete Droids or Ewoks sets, but not a "best of." I don't know if I'd pay for the made for TV movies. So there you go, George. If you read this, feel free to drain my wallet.
 

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