Interview Lucasfilm on Star Wars the Complete Saga Blu-ray: Hands on Report (1 Viewer)

I'm still confused. I know I am not the smartest person when it comes to reading comprehension. The screencaps, with the wampa arm corrected and the lightsabers corrected while crossing Palpatine in this write up are not the real Blu Ray screencaptures, but just Blu-Ray images someone took and photoshopped/photo edited somehow to give an example how the final versions look? Also, most of the footage in the released previews and/or trailers, foreign and domestic for this Blu-Ray set were done before all the correction work was done? Hence lightsabers looking too pink when they should be red?

 

[PRO-630HD]

I read the thread overall regarding the release. Very little new about this. They are using dated 7 year old masters for epiodes 4-6 with minimal tweaks in terms of PQ. Lucasfilm states the masters were very ahead of thier time when done and bull$h!+! They were HD masters for dvd in 2004 that was 95% the norm at that time. Lowry did some cleanup, but there was little groundbreaking about them! Lowry had done a number of 4K transfers for dvd by that point in 2004. Using 1.9K elements when they could have used the 35mm elements from the 97 SE and should have been scanned in at 4K. The couple of minutes worth of digital effects for the SE could simply have been upconverted to 4K, no different than Spiderman 3. 1.9K masters for the original trilogy is pretty ridiculous for a bluray release of this magnitude in 2011!

 

[Ethan Riley]

"Q: Is the holiday special on there? A: You’ll have to wait and see! The holiday special is a challenge, but look for some Easter Eggs – what’s a Star Wars release without a couple of Easter Eggs?! " Um...hmm...don't know how to take that one. Psychologically speaking, if they're teasing us like that, then the answer is probably in the affirmative, right? Could it be--

 

[TravisR]

"Q: Is the holiday special on there? A: You’ll have to wait and see! The holiday special is a challenge, but look for some Easter Eggs – what’s a Star Wars release without a couple of Easter Eggs?! " Um...hmm...don't know how to take that one. Psychologically speaking, if they're teasing us like that, then the answer is probably in the affirmative, right? Could it be--

My guess is that the animated segment (with the first appearance of Boba Fett) is on there somewhere but not the entire show.

 

[Dave Farley]

"Q: Is the holiday special on there? A: You’ll have to wait and see! The holiday special is a challenge, but look for some Easter Eggs – what’s a Star Wars release without a couple of Easter Eggs?! " Um...hmm...don't know how to take that one. Psychologically speaking, if they're teasing us like that, then the answer is probably in the affirmative, right? Could it be--

I'm taking it as yes and no. In other words, I think it will just be excerpts from the Holiday Special. I could be wrong, but the words "challenge, but" tell me 'some, but not all'. As Travis mentioned, I think we'll get the Boba Fett cartoon from the special. Maybe even some of the ridiculous singing at the end and Han's interaction with Chewie's family. All for laughs. The kind of painful laughs you get in the dentist's chair with the laughing gas... In addition to that, I wouldn't be surprised if we get the never-released "Return of the Ewok" short with Warrick Davis. It would also be nice if the oddly missing "From Star Wars to Jedi" was an easter egg. I doubt that one.

 

[none]

Steve Bragg wrote: The screencaps, with the wampa arm corrected and the lightsabers corrected while crossing Palpatine in this write up are not the real Blu Ray screencaptures,

The images provided show how the Star Wars film looked before the blu-ray upgrade and after. The graphic illustrations labeled 'DVD' are the before. These images are probably what a LFL employee was looking at when they upgraded these films for the blu-ray release.

Also, most of the footage in the released previews and/or trailers, foreign and domestic for this Blu-Ray set were done before all the correction work was done?

Yes this seems to be the case, until the release of the 6 clips labeled "Star Wars - Episode _ - Film Clip" They can be seen from this post: http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Bluray_Preview_SW_Film_Scenes_In_HD_140119.asp or http://www.youtube.com/starwars (They are possibly 99% accurate. Except these clips have gone through youtube's compression and have been reduced to 720 resolution.) Some of the material like the Comic-Con preview which had lots of frames composed into one image was most likely made earlier using what was available at the time. The blu-ray work may still have been going on. [Aside: Was a stop work date mentioned in this event? They started 3 years ago, did they stop in April, June, July? to get the disc pressed and shipped?] Since it sounds as if the 2004 master is 98% the same as this blu-ray, this worked ok for the most part. (one problem which was spotted was related to the Humdinger frame) The issue for some is LFL said that some of the changes to the 2004 were deliberate creative decisions, but some people believe they are mistakes. So the release of these blu-rays will confirm which issues people has conflicts with if they were actual deliberate creative decisions or something else.

Hence lightsabers looking too pink when they should be red?

This is one of the areas of confusion. Very few people are saying all shots should be pink or red. But certain specific shots people have noticed that a lightsaber which was red has become pink after the 2004 release. (The ESB shot of Vader looking down on Luke for instance Fast forward to 1:10) The blu-ray release will prove if this is a deliberate creative decision or something else. Also you seem to be reading OT.com but posting questions here, consider asking your questions there as well.

 

[Edwin-S]

I had to say none until the 30 disc 4D version comes out, but it should have been "none, because I don't waste money on DVD movies slapped onto Blu-ray". Also, when the thirty disc version comes out then one of the thirty discs had better be STAR WARS (1977) or I'll just have to wait for the holodeck version and see if Lucas's head at the head museum actually comes to its senses.

 

[Greg_S_H]

  I didn't see that scene from SW (was looking at Empire), but there might have be something (not exactly what you are thinking) in the deleted scenes.

I hope it's the redundant Jabba scene in the deleted section.

 

[Adam_WM]

I don't hate the interior artwork as much as hate the fact that they are in crappy slots instead of on plastic spindles.

 

Steve Bragg wrote: The screencaps, with the wampa arm corrected and the lightsabers corrected while crossing Palpatine in this write up are not the real Blu Ray screencaptures,

The images provided show how the Star Wars film looked before the blu-ray upgrade and after. The graphic illustrations labeled 'DVD' are the before. These images are probably what a LFL employee was looking at when they upgraded these films for the blu-ray release. Sigh.....SO the 2nd photos in the 2 sets of the before/after comparison pics, are photoshopped/edited mock ups of what the HD finals *might* look like? Be clear please.

 

[Johnny Angell]

As for the packaging art, I really liked Bonus Disc 1. And what is that scene portrayed on Bonus Disc 3? I recall nothing like it in the movies. And what is that sculpture of Jabba and Leia? Is that just something they had on hand?

 

[TomTom]

Why was an 8% blow-up done on TPM to begin with? It was thx approved?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell
And what is that sculpture of Jabba and Leia? Is that just something they had on hand?

Its Lucasfilm. Everywhere you looked there was something movie related (usually Star Wars). They just happened to be on the conference table.
https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/
On a different note there seems to be a lot of confusion about the images from my first installment. I'll address those in part two which will *hopefully* go out late tonight.

 

[gallandro]

Steve Bragg wrote: The screencaps, with the wampa arm corrected and the lightsabers corrected while crossing Palpatine in this write up are not the real Blu Ray screencaptures,

The images provided show how the Star Wars film looked before the blu-ray upgrade and after. The graphic illustrations labeled 'DVD' are the before. These images are probably what a LFL employee was looking at when they upgraded these films for the blu-ray release. Sigh.....SO the 2nd photos in the 2 sets of the before/after comparison pics, are photoshopped/edited mock ups of what the HD finals *might* look like? Be clear please.

I think he was clear: The images provided show how the Star Wars film looked before the blu-ray upgrade and after. The graphic illustrations labeled 'DVD' are the before. These images are probably what a LFL employee was looking at when they upgraded these films for the blu-ray release. Meaning Lucasfilm provided the images. The before image is just what he said, what the ILM employee was seeing before their fixes. The Wampa shot is not a screen grab of the blu-ray per se, but I'll bet that's a grab directly from the digital file before it was put to disc.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

It was 1999 when Episode 1 was created; over 2000 visual effects were done, including digital animation, environments and digital compositing. But the entire movie was captured on film, so when we went from film process into the DVD, a lot of the things from the DVD magnify the image of the film, and we lost about 8% of the picture there. With this restoration, we went back to the original digital files for Episode 1, not the film apps, to go through and really check every frame to make sure they were restored. We were also much more selective about minimizing that blow-up, so we have more of that image to see.

Huh?

 

[Paul_Warren]

Sounds to me like this is another fudge release. LFL own the crown jewels in Indiana Jones & Star Wars yet never ever give them the love they deserve when it comes time to release on a new home media format. Go figure but is obviously to do with budget why else would you not employ the best teams in the industry to create seamless branching etc etc. You pay for ILM & Ben Burtt to do their work yet go with the cheaper options elsewhere to maximise profits (its not like this release has not already made millions in pre-orders alone its been no1 since it was announced & will no doubt be the no1 best seller leading up to Xmas worldwide). The packaging alone is simply dreadful if this is the final release it will tear/wear-out/fade etc etc. Cardboard is cheap obviously but that's about it why no thin plastic slipcases! Whoever designed the packaging deserves to be fired....... Episode4 needs the death star explosion to be fixed it was never ever meant to fade to B&W that was obviously a mistake in 2004 which LFL did not want to correct as it was too costly to recall the DVD's......... Where is the TPM The Beginning Doc as thats one of the best ever made on any movie. MIA....why???? Sorry but most of these extras are total rubbish & disc filler at best. The way this is marketed in the UK its the same price to buy the 2 Trilogy boxes as it is to buy the entire set....I wonder why could it be the new extras are mainly worthless!!! A lengthy doc about Star Wars spoofs tells you how much they struggled to get some decent extras within their budget..come on who really wants to watch that for 91mins its not even worth the price of a blank BD!!! Think I will cancel my Complete Collection & just go with the 2 trilogy packages as the artwork is better & hopefully more durable! Hope Fox don't force the 3D re-release trailers before the movies............. If I find any sloppy QA mastering errors in audio/visual because they fell asleep like they did in 2004 this will go back ASAP for a refund until they fix it!!!!!!!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Sorry but most of these extras are total rubbish & disc filler at best. The way this is marketed in the UK its the same price to buy the 2 Trilogy boxes as it is to buy the entire set....I wonder why could it be the new extras are mainly worthless!!! A lengthy doc about Star Wars spoofs tells you how much they struggled to get some decent extras within their budget..come on who really wants to watch that for 91mins its not even worth the price of a blank BD!!!

Those were my thoughts going in, but having seen two of the three extras discs, I have done a 180. They extras are well worth getting, especiallly if you will be getting all six films.

 

[Dave Farley]

 
Those were my thoughts going in, but having seen two of the three extras discs, I have done a 180.  They extras are well worth getting, especiallly if you will be getting all six films.

I agree. I haven't seen them up close like you have but discs 7 and 8 look great on paper. Disc 9 and the lack of certain special features is where I take issue. They included three of the four classic docs and the new 'Conversation with the Masters' yet used nearly three hours on spoofs and the 501st costume group? All this while leaving off 'From Star Wars to Jedi' and the previous laserdisc special features such as the '93 'Definitive Collection' extras, the Lucas/Maltin interview from the '95 'Faces' set, and the 'Making of the Special Edition' featurette from the '97 SE set. I would have liked the material from the previous bonus DVD's to have been included on a 10th disc but at least we already have those in a disc format, playable on our Blu-ray players. However, it would have been nice to have included the features I mentioned above, as those have never been released past VHS/LD. Those above-mentioned features are virtually the only previously-released home video special features that haven't been released on a modern format(DVD/BD). At the very least, they should have included 'From Star Wars to Jedi' in place of the 84 minutes on the 501st costuming group. It's never been released past VHS/LD and now we have the other three on this set but FSWTJ is MIA. The people at Lucasfilm that believed the 501st doc represented what fans wanted to see definitely missed the boat on that one. The 501st doc better represents the cream of the crop and best of the best more than 'From Star Wars to Jedi' to the folks at Lucasfilm? Who does that doc appeal to, young or old, other than members of the 501st themselves?

 

[grimjim]

The 2011 Star Wars Saga Blu-rays - First Insights "The Supervising Sound Editor on the Blu-rays for Skywalker Sound, Matthew Wood, gave us a pretty detailed demonstration of the new 6.1 DTS-HD MA uncompressed audio mixes on these Blu-rays. (For those wondering why 6.1 and not 7.1, Matt said that 6.1 was chosen because it builds nicely on the 5.1 EX mixing work that was done for the Prequel films.) The first scene he showed us was the beginning of the assault on the Death Star at the end of Episode IV. Now, I suspect he showed us this scene for exactly the thing I noticed immediately upon previewing it. Some of you may recall that on the 2004 DVD, when the X-Wings begin their dive down to the Death Star, the familiar John Williams trumpet fanfare was buried in the mix so you could barely hear it. No longer! The trumpets ring true in the Blu-ray mix loud and clear. When I heard this, I couldn't help thrusting my arms up in the air in a bit of happy relief. I then turned to Matt, who as it happens was standing right next to me, and saw him give a little smile and nod - he knew exactly what I was reacting to. When I leaned over to thank him for fixing it, his simple reply made me smile as well: "Trust me, I read the blogs too..." So the next obvious question is, how to the films look in HD based on what we say on Friday morning? The answer is very good indeed. Do they look better than the 2004 DVDs? Absolutely. Do they look better than recent 1080p HD cable and satellite broadcasts? Again, yes - not just for the fixes to problem A/V issues that have been done but also because of the added video and audio data rate afforded by the Blu-ray format, and the fact that each film comes on its own BD-50 disc. And don't forget that Episodes I, II and III should look fantastic simply for having been mastered directly from the digital production files.#

 

[johnSM]

Bill Hunt has got his early impressions up about the set now also (hope it's OK to post the link here): http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/starwarsbds/preview.html He mentions that the reverse-surround channels on Star Wars have now been corrected. So technically what this means is that Lucasfilm lied to the public when this issue was first raised in 2004, when they explained it away as a "deliberate creative decision", instead of doing the right thing and admitting to the flaw, and issuing replacement discs. With that in mind, I think I'll take whatever answers are given from Lucasfilm in these Q&A sessions with a huge pinch of salt... To be fair though, this part does sound encouraging to those that don't mind the Special Editions: "I have to say, I'm very encouraged by what I've seen so far with regard to these Blu-rays, and by the answers I've gotten to the questions I've asked about them. Like many of you, the last few DVD releases of these films have always left me... wanting. It just always felt like they were rushed somehow, and that all too many little important quality details just were overlooked. But this Blu-ray set feels very different. Finally, it appears that these films may have gotten the attention they deserve on home video at long last - especially the Original Trilogy. In fact, I think this may be the first time since that 1994 Definitive Edition laserdisc box set that the films have been so carefully handled, and that so many of the fan irritant A/V problems have been properly addressed."