The ONE and ONLY *OFFICIAL* STAR WARS (Original Trilogy) DVD REVIEW THREAD! (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

That was definitely my impression too. No sane business man would trash the video quality at a press conference that is setup solely to say how great the DVDs are and that everyone should buy a copy.

 

[MielR]

OK, I thought you were referring to his impressions of the DVDs themselves. In the Sound and Vision article, he also mentioned the fact that the film elements were filthy (full of sand, or whatever). It's a bit confusing, though, because I had kind of assumed that the negatives were "cleaned" for the '97 theatrical SEs (based on all the hype at the time).

It does make one wonder about the state of film elements now, and whether or not they've been properly preserved!

Thanks!

 

[Andy Patrizio]

That was the basis for my question, in fact. I asked about the 97 clean up, because I saw stories on the local news in LA doing wipes back and forth across the screen to show the improvements. So that was why I asked him the question and he said the prints looked like they hadn't been cleaned "in 40 years," which was an exaggeration, but if you've read Lowry interviews you know full well he shoots from the hip.

The operative phrase was "I'd still be working on it." He clearly felt the video wasn't done.

And Bill Hunt asked about the masters, which were done in 2k, not the full 4k. Bill was pretty surprised at that revelation.

As for the original negatives, they were crumbling. I know they said they had to do those restorations before the film elements were lost. At least that was the case for Ep 4.

 

[Andy Patrizio]

Lowry's a piece of work. I get the feeling he's a PR person's nightmare. But I wasn't imagining things. I wish I could find my original report on IGN but there was no doubt Lowry wasn't satisfied with the final product.

 

[mike kaminski]

The 2004 "restoration" was also only done in HD if i remember correctly. The 1997 SE full restoration of the physical negative was only scanned at 2K for the CGI-added shots because thats all that technology allowed back in 1997, and the 2004 telecine was only done at HD res. Its purely a home video thing, and because nothing about the actual film was changed it can simply be redone again if it is to be improved or at a greater resolution.

 

[Lee-c]

Are there any rumors yet as to whether the expected 30th Anniversary Star Wars DVD set might include a new anamorphic transfer of the unaltered original Star Wars trilogy?

 

[TravisR]

Unfortunately, The Digital Bits said that there was a RUMOR going around that there may not be a DVD set at all this year. Personally, I'd be surprised if LFL didn't release one though to tie into the big 30th anniversary promo that they're doing. They're even doing a USPS Mail Drop Box 'dressed' like R2-D2 this year!

As for an anamorphic version, my guess is that there's absolutely no chance of it ever happening. Keep in mind that a year ago, I said the same thing about the OOT being on (legal) DVD at all and I was wrong then so I may be wrong now.

 

[flyboy]

Personally I never thought there would be a 30th Anniversary release. Why would you all think there would be? The ONLY thing that might happen would be a repackage of the current releases all in one box with 30th anniversary edition put on it.....of course that would go against everything the moron has said over the last few years.

........this is NOT the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars. That will not happen until the year 2027! The 1977, 80 and 83 versions "no longer exist" remember! Even the ORIGINAL fans of the film who grew up with them as they were being released no longer exist in his mind.

I don't think we will see any "changes" until the HD version come out in a few years. Then we can all hope for some Jar Jar insertions into IV, V AND VI!

 

[flyboy]

hmmm

 

[Grant H]

If anything's going to happen it will be announced at Celebration Whatever. Be sure to enter for your chance to attend at usps.com.

 

[Chris PC]

I cannot believe this edition is non-anamorphic. Is this George Lucas's way of being mean to his fans? Literally a complete waste of time. I have put off buying this because I just haven't gotten around to it, and now I came here to check it out and poof. All hope is lost. I can't imagine it'll be that great if it's just "watchable" it is if I "zoom" it in. On my Constant Image Height 2.37:1 widescreen projector setup of 118" wide it will look worse than the SE dvd set. I was checking out the SE set the other day just testing some things and I thought I'd better check out the "original trilogy" set because I want to see it on my 2.37:1 setup. What a complete joke to get this tease of a set released.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

In retrospect, it seems to me that this release was to just provide some "reference material" for the fans for comparison pruposes between the theatrical originals and 2004 SE's. I don't believe that Lucas really intended for videophiles to accept these transfers as true representations of the way movies originally appeared in the theater.

Or, at least, I *hope* he didn't!

 

[Chris PC]

Yeah, the upscaling of my iScan HD+ is not bad, so I bet it wouldn't look horrible, but it would look less than great and worse than the 2004 SE dvd's.

Nobody would zoom it out to 2.35:1 ... but I would view it in constant height. I do that with the SE dvd's and it looks great. You need a scaler like the iScan HD or higher and an anamorphic lens...but oh man, is it ever sweeet at 118" wide and 50" high