TCFHE Press Release: Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[johnSM]

Originally Posted by Kenny Kraly Jr

I will buy the blu-rays of the star wars flims no matter if it's both or just the se verions in the set.

So you keep saying on just about every Star Wars bluray thread in existance. Are you related to Mr Lucas?! :p

 

[robbbb1138]

Originally Posted by Kenny Kraly Jr

I will buy the blu-rays of the star wars flims no matter if it's both or just the se verions in the set.

I'm in the same boat. I love Star Wars too much to not have these movies in Blu (especially since I can't stand to watch DVDs anymore).

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by Greg_S_H


My unique opinion: George could make everyone happy by releasing both versions!

If the unaltered versions came out tomorrow on blu-ray, there's still be complainers. They'd find something to piss and moan about. It's the internet. Maybe there's be no uncompressed original audio or the title cards would be different or.... There will always be something to complain about when it comes to Star Wars.

 

[cafink]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell


My unique opinion: George could make everyone happy by releasing both versions!

If the unaltered versions came out tomorrow on blu-ray, there's still be complainers. They'd find something to piss and moan about. It's the internet. Maybe there's be no uncompressed original audio or the title cards would be different or.... There will always be something to complain about when it comes to Star Wars.

[/QUOTE]

I don't think this is fair, or true. The last decent release of the original trilogy was fifteen years ago! All we've had since then is a non-anamorphic DVD created from a 13-year-old laserdisc master in 2006. That seems like a fairly reasonable complaint to me, rather than just "finding something to piss and moan about."

 

[Mr. Pacino]

I´m going to buy only the first three movies because I don´t like the later movies at all......

 

[Ricardo C]

Johnny's right, though. If the waters parted and GL announced the unadulterated originals in full HD with uncompressed 7.1 audio, someone would call him out for "lying" when he said he was retiring the originals back in '97.

The guy can't win. A sizable segment of the fan community seems to enjoy the films despite him, not thanks to him or because of him, and I find that sad. We've gone from fans being enraged by the withholding of the originals to a community that likes to pretend the films came into existence ex nihilo.

 

[RobertR]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell


If the unaltered versions came out tomorrow on blu-ray, there's still be complainers. They'd find something to piss and moan about. It's the internet. Maybe there's be no uncompressed original audio or the title cards would be different or.... There will always be something to complain about when it comes to Star Wars.

I don't think that's any more true than saying there are some people who think everything Lucas does is wonderful and displays cinematic brilliance.

 

[Worth]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell

If the unaltered versions came out tomorrow on blu-ray, there's still be complainers. They'd find something to piss and moan about. It's the internet. Maybe there's be no uncompressed original audio or the title cards would be different or.... There will always be something to complain about when it comes to Star Wars.

There's always a small minority that will complain about anything. That said, I don't think there are very many complaints about the Blade Runner or Close Encounters sets, which offer multiple cuts of each film.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by cafink


My unique opinion: George could make everyone happy by releasing both versions!

If the unaltered versions came out tomorrow on blu-ray, there's still be complainers. They'd find something to piss and moan about. It's the internet. Maybe there's be no uncompressed original audio or the title cards would be different or.... There will always be something to complain about when it comes to Star Wars.

[/QUOTE]

I don't think this is fair, or true. The last decent release of the original trilogy was fifteen years ago! All we've had since then is a non-anamorphic DVD created from a 13-year-old laserdisc master in 2006. That seems like a fairly reasonable complaint to me, rather than just "finding something to piss and moan about."


You say to-may-to

I say to-mah-to

Let's call the whole thing off.

 

[AlexCosmo]

"Even if he did it people would still complain." That's a pretty feeble reason not to do something worthwhile. (And the complaining wouldn't even be close to near the same ballpark.)

 

[johnSM]

There may be A New Hope:


http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3768/the_top_20_films_unreleased_on_blu_ray_part_iv/index2.html


"Interestingly, it seems that Lowry Digital, the firm who restored the films for the previous DVD release are once again restoring the trilogy with a little more time up their sleeve than the 3 months they had to previously work within. Interestingly, Chairman John Lowry allegedly made comments that implied that they were also restoring the original cuts of the film too, but no announcements in regards to content have been confirmed. I guess this time next year we will know for sure..."


Can anybody here confirm/deny this report - trying not to get my hopes up here, but if it turns out we'll get the Original-originals sometime this or next year that would be something worth waiting for, and celebrating, to say the least!


- John

 

[Mark Oates]

I wouldn't hold my breath.


I've ordered the Complete Saga box set, and I don't feel remotely dirty. I don't hold out much hope for the original original originals, but my life won't be bereft without them. I have the letterbox transfers if I absotively posilutely have to wallow in nostalgia. Otherwise I'm starting to get a whiff of the excitement I remember from going to the local Odeon to experience a galaxy far, far away back in early 1978.

 

[robbbb1138]

Originally Posted by johnSM

There may be A New Hope:


http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3768/the_top_20_films_unreleased_on_blu_ray_part_iv/index2.html


"Interestingly, it seems that Lowry Digital, the firm who restored the films for the previous DVD release are once again restoring the trilogy with a little more time up their sleeve than the 3 months they had to previously work within. Interestingly, Chairman John Lowry allegedly made comments that implied that they were also restoring the original cuts of the film too, but no announcements in regards to content have been confirmed. I guess this time next year we will know for sure..."


Can anybody here confirm/deny this report - trying not to get my hopes up here, but if it turns out we'll get the Original-originals sometime this or next year that would be something worth waiting for, and celebrating, to say the least!


- John

Is there a lot of efficiency that Lucasfilm could be realizing by having Lowry restore everything now even though the previous versions might be for a release that's still a couple of years off, or is that just not something that would logically be done because of advances in restoration technology?

 

[cafink]

I can imagine George Lucas wanting a freshly-restored version of the original trilogy, even if he didn't plan on releasing it. He's obviously going to be tinkering with these movies for a long time to come. If I were in the position, I think I'd want to have the best possible version of the originals to work from.

That said, I still have my fingers crossed. I'm not especially confident that this release will include the originals, but the same was true of the initial DVD release, and they eventually came out, half-assed though the effort was.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Originally Posted by TravisR

^^^^^^^


What piece was that? Why would Lucas want to spite her? Do you have a link? I'd be interested in reading that article.

There's some conspiracy theory that's been around for years that says that George Lucas made the SEs so he wouldn't have to give money to his ex-wife (the SEs don't have an effect on it) or that he was married to her for 14 years but he's spent double that time trying to get back at her or that he tied her to a train track while twirling his moustache and laughing. It's just internet speculation that seems alot more based in wanting to assign evil motives to everything Lucas does rather than fact.

[/QUOTE]


Is a corporation considered 'evil' and twirling its mustache when it registers abroad to avoid paying taxes?

The 'theory' boils down to a corporate entity disinclined to expend the resources to produce a product for a dwindling base, when some chunk of the profits from that endeavor are going to have to be surrendered to someone else.

Whether petty and vindictive feelings also factor in are a side point. Lucas is a corporate entity. He makes artistic decisions with both eyes on the bottom line. Just like another corporation will parse things down to a fraction of .001% per unit being the difference between being viable or not, I don't find it out of line to think that Lucas operates just as thriftily. If you want to only believe what is fit for press releases out of LFL, that's your prerogative. I don't know the truth either- but I do know that the 'conspiracy theory' is not just the B&W "lucas is petty and vindictive" slag that some fans reflexively paint any critical thought in his direction as.


And before it looks like I'm bashing Lucas yet again, let me say I'm impressed to see how he is offering this package. Splitting the trilogies is something I though he would never do= so I congratulate him on becoming a little more consumer orientated. And it's therefore perfectly reasonable for him to only include the extras on the big ticket package. I hope this augers well for future releases down the line.


Before getting my hopes up on the Lowry comments, I would tend to think that more likely applies to deleted scenes being cleaned up for the extras package...but I could be wrong.

It's complete Horses#it that cgi characters can be composited willy nilly into 30 year old footage, but a simulation of the original cuts can't be achieved without extraordinary production expense. We're talking about what are now trims being digitized and cut and pasted into a D.I. and re-synched with a previous soundtrack.

We all know this is not rocket science, and something like the restoration of original escape from Cloud City, a few windowless shots in the hallways, and the excising of added footage in the wampa cave, is just not that extensive a 'restoration' project.

Again, it's cost vs profit. And the only way I could think of Lucas turning away money on the table is if a good chunk of it has to be surrendered off the bat.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Have you ever head that all the insects on earth equal (or exceed) the weight of all the humans on earth? Well, if computer bits had weight, I think all the bits devoted to whining complaining about Star Wars would also outweigh all the humans on earth.

 

[Worth]

Shouldn't that read complaining and defending?


I actually believe that the original edits will be available someday, but it won't happen anytime soon. Lucasfilm needs a gimmick to re-sell the films yet again.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Worth

Shouldn't that read complaining and defending?


I actually believe that the original edits will be available someday, but it won't happen anytime soon. Lucasfilm needs a gimmick to re-sell the films yet again.

Yeah. It's called "3D".

 

[johnSM]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell

Have you ever head that all the insects on earth equal (or exceed) the weight of all the humans on earth? Well, if computer bits had weight, I think all the bits devoted to whining complaining about Star Wars would also outweigh all the humans on earth.

If folk on here want to call people who champion the preservation of important, landmark films 'whingers', or 'wallowers in nostalgia' as somebody said earlier, then so be it. It's no different than people being concerned about the new colour timing of a classic film (i.e. The French Connection), or a film missing certain sound effects on its surround mix (Psycho on Bluray) and so on. I find some of the snide & sarcastic comments towards those who'd like to see the release of the original 1977/1980/1983 versions quite baffling since much of this site is given over to the love of classic films, with the superb articles covering film restoration by Mr Robert Harris and so on.


I think some of you here need to realise that many of us who comment in this thread aren't all stereotypical nerdy 'Star Wars' whiners, but fans of cinema also. We have every right to complain about the way these films have been treated, and a genuine interest & concern in seeing them preserved for present/future generations to enjoy as they were originally released. Regardless of which version one ultimately prefers, it's nice to see how the film has evolved over the years, rather than trying to pretend one version doesn't exist anymore. It's also cool to be able to watch the version you fancy at any given time like the Blade Runner set, for example. It's fun to watch a different cut and see a familiar film in a slightly different light. Some of it is nostalgia - yes. What's wrong with that? I think you'll find nostalgia for old films isn't something anyone should have to apologise for, and it's the reason many of us are here.


Anyways I'll stop 'whinging' now and respectfully bow out for now


Have fun!

 

[AlexCosmo]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell

Have you ever head that all the insects on earth equal (or exceed) the weight of all the humans on earth? Well, if computer bits had weight, I think all the bits devoted to whining complaining about Star Wars would also outweigh all the humans on earth.

Try to soldier on, man. It'll be rough but you can do it.