The Skywalker Saga 4K (1 Viewer)

[battlebeast]

This is not new work drawn over old work. It's an entirely new render and composite with a completely new version of Jabba.

In 1997 the negatives were reconfirmed with new shots featuring the revised effects. However, the original version of Star Wars was completely restored on film prior to any of the SE shots being created. That was the original intention of the project because the SW negative was in very poor shape. Those restored original negatives (or dupes) were used as the plates for the CG effects over the various iterations since 1997. There is no reason to think Lucas would actually trash those original shots, if only to preserve them for future alterations.

Lucas has said he keeps EVERYTHING, never throws anything away. So no chance he junked the trims.

 

[Arthur Powell]

I doubt that George Lucas sold THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL to Disney.

How about the hammer?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m not saying that the trims that were replaced by SE shots don’t exist. I’m saying that they don’t exist as cut negative anymore as they’ve been removed, and that Disney has zero incentive to go back, find and scan every trim, and then redesign and re-execute every change that Lucas designed from scratch. It seemed clear that they were going to do what they ultimately did: scan the negative inclusive of SE material, make some new fixes, and put out the best hybrid possible without starting from scratch. I do not think that we will ever see Disney/Lucasfilm recreate the entirety of the SE material in 4K.

Bryan, I’d be interested in new OT and PT material but I don’t see it happening in the current media landscape, and I don’t expect old material (except commentaries) to carry over since Lucasfilm hasn’t done that in the past. If you want all the SW bonus material you’ve pretty much always had to hold on to each edition. (I’m working on a little personal project to consolidate it all on my HTPC in some workable fashion.) I’d love to be wrong. But I think we’ll get one movie-only UHD disc, one movie-only BD, and one bonus feature disc with some of the material that Disney sells the movies with on iTunes and similar services.

Empire Of Dreams exists in HD and is on Amazon Prime for streaming as a stand-alone title but I don’t see Lucasfilm including it again.

I just don’t think the mega set that many of us would like, inclusive of all bonus features and the major different versions of the films (original versions and SE for the OT, 2D and 3D for prequels and sequels) is ever gonna come out in one package.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Empire Of Dreams exists in HD and is on Amazon Prime for streaming as a stand-alone title but I don’t see Lucasfilm including it again.

It's also on Disney+ along with the films.

Look, everybody around here would love an exhaustive box set. But Disney hasn't done that kind of release for any movie in a long, long time. Thy have been pushing us toward digital for some time now, and that is likely to continue. If this release were coming years ago, before the rise of streaming and the launch of Disney+, they might have done something exhaustive. But at this point, I just don't think that's realistic given their current business practices and strategies. I'd love to be wrong. But I think we should probably all go in with low expectations, and then if they deliver something really fantastic, we can all be surprised instead of being disappointed.

Disney just reissued the first six films that were previously made available by Fox on Blu-ray in September, and reissued their newer films with the same discs as before but matching cover art. Does anyone here know what those reissues of the previously-Fox titles contained? If I were a betting man, I would expect that this set will contain whatever extras were included on those re-releases, and nothing else. I highly doubt they'll author new bonus discs. They'll update the film to include "Maclunckey!" and any other tweaks that are on Disney+, and of course the 4K discs will be in there, but I really don't think they care that much about being complete.

The sales potential for such a set is already pretty low considering a) how many people already own most of these films in some format or other; and b) the availability of them on Disney+ for a fraction of the cost of this box set. Again, I'm not saying I like any of this, but I think it is the truth. The motivation for Disney to go all out just to please those of us who hang out here and like-minded friends is just not there.

Like I said, I'd love to be wrong.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think the previous singles were reissues of the Fox discs, single disc releases. Those discs, besides commentary, don’t include bonus features, which were included in the 2011 box set on separate discs.

You can’t get to 27 discs on this set with just extant discs plus Rise of Skywalker.

And now that Disney has debuted new 4K masters which do include minor tweaks not in other versions, those are almost certainly going to be the versions of record going forward until the next revision, which may not happen again with George no longer at the helm. (Remember that these 4K masters were begun when Lucas still owned the company.)

So I’d bet that the BD discs for the PT and OT will be new discs based on the newly released 4K masters. I bet the stuff that was exclusive to digital when the movies debuted digitally will round out a light bonus disc. (Disney historically has had no trouble using an extra disc for minuscule amounts of content that could have fit with the main feature when they’ve felt having a bigger disc count was a selling point.) TFA, TLJ, and TROS will probably be the same retail sets with new disc art and a new UHD disc for TFA.

Even if Disney was still in the business of doing comprehensive box set, Lucasfilm never has been. For the most part, the DVDs didn’t have the LD bonuses, and the BDs didn’t have the DVD bonuses. I don’t expect them to change now.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

All of us would pony up the maximum asked amount if the original versions were included.

That would have been the best road for Disney to make some stellar sales on this set.

Without them, it ends up being a set that most of us will wait for a rock-bottom pricing.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

​

 

[TheSteig]

I'll politely pass until the original films are restored to their unaltered state. I can't even bare to watch the prequels again (I tried on Disney+) so this probably isn't for me.

Im with you..Im passing until the originals are restored. As for the newer films, Ill get the UHD ones if/when the are sold separately

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, you guys might be waiting for infinity. I just got done watching all 8 Star Wars films as well as Rogue One in 4K/Dolby Vision so I will wait for a price drop, but I'm doing so not because of a slim hope of the originals being restored because I don't think that's ever going to happen. At least, not in my lifetime.

 

[Worth]

I predict that the internet will be filled with the usual griping about how people are refusing to buy because it includes versions they don’t like and movies they don’t want to buy, but that out in the real world, it’ll be the top selling UHD set of all time instantly upon release.

I don't think that those of us who'll be passing because the original cuts aren't included will make much of a dent, but that combined with the fact that the films are so readily available via streaming may make for underwhelming sales.

 

[Nelson Au]

I assume no one knows if the blu rays in this set will have the same transfers from the previous blu ray set? The selling point of the set is the 4K discs for many I’m sure.

 

[dpippel]

I’m just surprised that no one has complained about the packaging yet! Or did I miss it?

 

[ScottJH]

I got out of the OT portion of the marathon a little bit ago. I was hoping to see the new transfers on the big screen but they were still using the older masters. No Maclunkey!

 

[Cranston37+]

It will be interesting to see if the set having a Movies Anywhere code means the digital copies are in 4K and whether that means 4K upgrades at iTunes...

 

[Bryan^H]

I just don’t think the mega set that many of us would like, inclusive of all bonus features and the major different versions of the films (original versions and SE for the OT, 2D and 3D for prequels and sequels) is ever gonna come out in one package.

I don't think you are wrong about this. Wishful thinking aside, we won't have to wait very long before the bonus features are announced.

 

[Wayne_j]

I got out of the OT portion of the marathon a little bit ago. I was hoping to see the new transfers on the big screen but they were still using the older masters. No Maclunkey!

For the extreme limited amount of theaters playing the marathon they probably just didn't think it was worth it to upgrade their DCPs.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Well, if it isn't an omnibus set will all the features from the previous versions, how will they get us to repurchase it 5 years from now?

 

[Worth]

Well, you guys might be waiting for infinity. I just got done watching all 8 Star Wars films as well as Rogue One in 4K/Dolby Vision so I will wait for a price drop, but I'm doing so not because of a slim hope of the originals being restored because I don't think that's ever going to happen. At least, not in my lifetime.

I think the window for that has closed at this point. While I'm sure the original films would sell well in comparison to most catalogue titles, I doubt it's worth the cost and effort it would require on Disney's part. Ten or twelve years ago, when physical media was at its peak, it might have made sense, but with disc sales declining year after year, I don't see it happening now. And regardless of how well it turned out, there would still be complaints about the colour timing, or lack of grain, or excessive grain, or missing sound mixes etc. Maybe one of these days they'll scan it for the sake of posterity and throw it onto Disney+ as an extra.

 

[Worth]

Double post.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Has anyone else seen this analysis of the "HDR" on the 4K versions on Disney+? It certainly looks like they aren't true HDR and Vincent Teoh knows his stuff.