For those of your who do not know, I am a huge Star Wars fan. As such, I had to get the DVDs!
The first thing I must say is that the quality is unprecedented. If you didn't know already that these are 21+ year old movies, you wouldn't by watching the DVDs. To top that off, the Dolby 5.1 surround sound really adds to the experience.
Tos peak specifically about that, I love my surround sound system. It is a middle of the road Kenwood system that I bought on clearance about 2 years ago. It has pretty good clarity and sound quality, and explosions sound like they'r ein the same room with you due to the subwoofer. Star Wars of course takes every advantage of this. When the Death Star exploded, the bass nearly lifted me out of my chair!
For those of you who watched the George Lucas interviews at the beginning of the THX trilogy, you'll nkow that anytime you're watching from inside a fighter, that is a drawn overlay and has a level of transparency. Gone. They look more realistic than ever.
Laser blasted are much more clear, the light sabers are much more sword like than ever before. In fact, having only watched in 4:3 VHS before, I've never seen the actual laser blast when Han shoots Greedo in the Cantina at Mos Eisley. I have seen it now.
Now the bad stuff.
My first gripe is that the movies only include the special edition version of the movies. For what you pay for the box set, and for the amoount of space a dvd contains, I thought that was rather annoying.
Along with this, why not include 4:3 and 16.9 in one set, instead of making us choose? There is no doubt that with in the next few years, widescreen HDTVs will be cheap enough that any could afford them, why make people choose between the formats now. This is a gripe I have with most DVDs. Either release only in 16.9 or include both ont he DVD.
Last gripe, with the amount of unused space on the DVDs, why a seperate one altogether for bonus materials? Why not distribute them to the other DVDs so that you get episode specific bonus materials, instead of lumping htem altogether?
At any rate, I highly recommend the set. The quality is great, the artwork is beautiful, if you are or are not a star wars fan, you can't go wrong watching these.
*Updates*
Other things I've noticed: Luke's lightsaber in "A New Hope"now looks more likethe green one from "Return of the Jedi."
David Prowse is no longer Anakin Skywalker in the shot at the end of "Return of the Jedi" with the 3 ghosts." Hayden Christiansen is now in it. I'm not sure how thrilled I am with this fact.
Some of the dialogue between the Emperor and Vader has change in "The Empire Strikes Back" is new.
Ian McDirmand is the Emporer in all three episodes now, or at least it would appear so. Originall he was only in the latter 2.
If anyone has corrections or more updates please post them!
I also just watched part of ROTJ on my computer to take advantage of the high definition and the difference between it and any other new movie is nearly none.
Posted by Skywalker at September 24, 2004 10:30 AM | TrackBack"For those of your who do not know, I am a huge Star Wars fan."
NO! I would NEVER have guessed that - *Skywalker*.
"If you didn't know already that these are 21+ year old movies..."
yeah...try 25+ year old. (boy I'm particular today, huh?:-P ) Just to give you guys a bit of information about me (that you're not going to care about...that I'm going to share anyway), Star Wars was the very first Sci-fi movie I ever saw at the theater. I was 5yrs old and I thought that Skywalker (mark hamil) was the cutest thing I ever saw. I instantly developed my second crush! (the *first* crush honors went to a guy in my kindergarden class but I'll leave *him* out of this. haha). Unfortunately, I didn't understand the movie much back then (hey, I was only 5...and we all went in celebration of my sisters 7th birthday...she, btw had the hots for Han solo [she apparently went for the "more mature" men.]) but I can't wait until muddy and I can get the DVD's and add it to our Laser disk collection we alread have of them.:-) Glad to hear they're worth having...as if they wouldn't be anyway.:-)
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 24, 2004 11:14 AM21, I was counting from Return of the Jedia back, which came out in 1983 which would make it, 21 and the others fall under the plus sign. :-)
Well,every guy had the hots fo Leia. Particularly after Return of the Jedi. I mean really, I have to take a cold shower after watching it!
Posted by: skywalker at September 24, 2004 11:47 AM"21, I was counting from Return of the Jedia back,..."
Ahh...gotcha. Good point. Ok, sir....cary on.
"Well,every guy had the hots fo Leia. Particularly after Return of the Jedi. I mean really, I have to take a cold shower after watching it!"
Hahaha! I'll bet.:-) I was watching a special of the Star Wars trilogies the other day (they probably have this stuff on the DVD's too, I'm sure) and they were talking with Carrie Fisher (Leia) about the "jobba the hut" scene. She said that with that "outfit" she had to wear - and since it was metal so that it didn't cling and conform to her body...that anyone standing behind her could look down at her and see to Florida.:-)
Just so you know... Mark Hamill looks basically the same as he did 30 years ago.
Posted by: skywalker at September 26, 2004 03:24 AMYeah...he was also on that same special that Carrie Fisher was on. He is still very handsome.:-) Of course, when 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' came out, I followed in my sisters footsteps and also developed another crush on Harrison Ford. Now, he's had some stupid and funky hair do's (more like *don'ts*) over the years but he is also very handsome.:-)
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 26, 2004 08:13 AMHey, even *I* will admit that Harrison Ford is goodlooking, hell I've found myself wishing I looked like him, and I'm a pretty good looking guy!
Posted by: skywalker at September 26, 2004 11:02 AM"...hell I've found myself wishing I looked like him"
haha...na, we love you just the way you are.:-) Of course, *I* found myself wishing I looked like carrie fisher - when 'Return of the Jedi' came out. Especially the body she had back then. OMG! If *I* had that body (or Halley barry's)...I'd go out naked at least once a week just to flaunt!:-) But yes, Harrison Ford is goodlooking...and he acted so cute and funny in those movies!
"...and I'm a pretty good looking guy!"
Toot, toot.:-P
"David Prowse is no longer Anakin Skywalker in the shot at the end of "Return of the Jedi" with the 3 ghosts." Hayden Christiansen is now in it."
Wouldn't sweat it too much....David Prowse would *still* be the ghost of Anakin because Hayden Christiansen is *young* Anakin. Even Darth Vader grows up and grows old and in this case, he apparently turns into David Prowse when he's old and gray.:-)
Not ont he DVDs he doesn't. I amde a mistake...David Prowse was actually in the vader suit. Another guy appeared and was the face of vader when luke takes his mask off, and in every other edition of the trilogy this same guy was the ghost of anakin at the end of ROTJ. In this edition however the ghost of anakin is Hayden Christiansen.
Posted by: skywalker at September 26, 2004 04:07 PM"Another guy appeared and was the face of vader when luke takes his mask off..."
Who was that *un*masked man anyway?! I'll have to look at our LD later and see.
"In this edition however the ghost of anakin is Hayden Christiansen."
OK?? Obviously, I misread that part. So, apparently they aged Hayden Christiansen? Yeah....I don't know why they would have bothered with that. They're sticklers for uneccessary details (or at least one) apparently.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 26, 2004 04:42 PMActually, they didn't even age him. He looked young as he will in Episode 3.
The original Anakin was Sebastian Shaw.
"He looked young as he will in Episode 3."
Now, that just seems stupid. Unless, they're doing a "symbolic" thing to say that since Anakin turned into Vader at a young age then symbolically he "died". I don't know because obviously, *phisically* he still would have aged under that mask and uniform.
You got me. Now I DO have to have this! Oh MONEY...I mean....MUDDY!!!!:-D
Oh, btw
"The original Anakin was Sebastian Shaw."
Thanks.:-)
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 26, 2004 10:44 PMYeah, wait until you see the price tag too!
Posted by: skywalker at September 27, 2004 01:25 AM