Latest Star Wars DVD News (From Celebration II) (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Mirza]

I don't know about the rest of you, but nearly all of my laserdiscs have worked flawlessly for the past 13 years! With the exception of two Columbia LDs (out of a collection of 500+), I 'd say that's a good batting average.
My laserdisc players have been OK too... I don't think I've ever noticed a "sell-by" date on any of them
I think I can rest assured that my Star Wars LDs will still play by 2005.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I think I can rest assured that my Star Wars LDs will still play by 2005.

OK ... OK .. So I was exaggerating a little there .
The point that I was trying to make is that the demand for these titles will probably peak around April 2005 and that there will probably be fewer overall LD players still in service at that time and/or the demand for the players and the Star Wars discs will be too much for a format that has not been sold for six years to be able to provide.
Over the course of the next three years more and more people will be upgrading their home theaters to the point that the last official widescreen release of the OT to the home video market (VHS in November 2000) will be rendered unviewable. (I own these VHS Widescreen tapes and I already consider them unviewable on my 96" FPTV system.)
So there will be unprecedented demand for these titles at that time with no ready legitimate source to satisfy that demand.
Or, at least, that's the way I see it.

 

[DennisTuck]

If the releases come for STAR WARS (sorry, I won't call it Episode IV or "A New Hope" cause the damn film was called STAR WARS on the marquee when I saw it), EMPIRE, and JEDI and the original versions aren't included, then I will have to use all of my Force abilities not to buy them.

Can't help it. The Special Editions suck!!! There are little things in each one that ruin it for me.

Star Wars:

- Han Solo shoots first...always has, always will.

- The Jabba footage is crap

Empire:

- I know its tiny, but the small snippet of film when Vader is boarding the shuttle back to the Destroyer from Cloud City and talks in a voice that ISN'T James Earl Jones just screws it up for me. They should paid his fee to get the line. After all, Lucas probably uses $100 bills for toilet paper.

If the original versions aren't on DVD, I'll just keep watching my VHS copies.

Also, as an aside to Spielberg on the off-hand that he has a lacky monitor these types of boards, the name of the film is RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, not INDIANA JONES AND... like when you put out the last VHS release to tie in with that crappy YOUNG INDY series. Treat these treasured films right or lose your faithful audience.

DennisTuck

 

[Matthew_S]

George "may" tinker again with 4-6 for the DVD release, but he did mention he didn't know if the original version will be included as well, but at least he knows its wanted...

First off, I am absolutely for a dvd release of the original, un-cut films in regards to episodes 4-6. But I'm starting to agree with the rationale behind waiting until after episode 3 to release the original trilogy. It would be kind of weird to release them now especially since we will be one episode away from a complete set come the end of this year. It would be like having all six seasons of a tv show with one season missing in the middle. Also, I'm starting to favor a little "tinkering" with the originals. Have you seen the originals lately? How we're supposed to believe that these films take place after episodes 1 thru 3, i don't know. I guess the Stars Wars universe is a place where technology, style, and film resolution go backwards or something. I'd still like the original trilogy in an uncut form, however.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

That's what I figured. I think that Lucas wants Ep4, 5, and 6 to "look" like Ep1, 2 and 3 which means he may even end up "re-doing" the lightsabre battles, among other things, woudn't surprise me.

Weren't the lightsabers changed for the SEs? I recall Starwars.com saying that the sabres had been re-done to look "more swordlike", though I always forget to look for the difference when watching the films...they're so good, I just get sucked in and forget why I put them on in the first place.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I think the sabers were re-done. They definately look slight different ( but better)

 

[Chris Lock]

> Definately no Ep. 4-6 DVDs till after Ep. III

They've been saying that all along.

 

[Richard Kim]

For some time now it's been rumored that a "final print" of the classic trilogy - or at least ANH - was being planned. Among other things, John Williams is said to have been asked to rescore parts of Episode IV to bring it more into chorus with the other five movies: the "Imperial March" being absent, among other things.

Now we seem to have at least partial confirmation that this is being talked about in the halls of Lucasfilm. During a session on Saturday at Celebration II in Indianapolis, producer Rick McCallum was asked if Williams was going to rescore ANH. His response: "you're good. You're very very good."

Also, when someone asked McCallum about the unaltered originals coming out on DVD, there was a big round of applause from the audience. So it's safe to say that Lucasfilm is aware of the demand.

 

[Brian Kidd]

I can second the fact that McCallum says no OT until after Episode III comes out. I also got the impression that a Special SPECIAL Edition isn't in the works right now. He basically said that nothing was planned right now, but that he expects Lucas to be tinkering with the films until the end of time.

And to put you fears to rest, Yoda kicked ASS!!!!! I was a skeptic going in. Now, I'm a believer. It actually worked. I'm more jazzed than ever before for the release of AOTC.

 

[Oscar]

Well, i didn´t mind the changes on the Special Edition. That shows how much of an Star Wars fan i am

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Before we put this topic to rest, I think it would be relevant at this point to review this page from The Digital Bits created in February 2000 in response to the "Star Wars on DVD Campaign". Many of the points made in this article are still true today, with the exception of the fact that we have grown from 5.6 million DVD players in use to about 31 million:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...lucasfilm.html